This is my second Nyung Nay Retreat. Deepest appreciation to the great kindness of Khentrul Rinpoche which I did both my retreat with him leading. This is the first time the Sakya College nuns come to Singapore and it is their efforts that touched my heart.
Practicing Buddhists know that Nyung Nay is a fasting retreat and the main deity is Avalokiteshvara. We are doing the Thousand arms from Bhikshuni Palmo. The purpose of me doing this retreat is for purification. Let alone the benefits that this retreat will bring, I hope to enhance my compassion. It is beneficial to do 8 sets or more and I hope I have the opportunities to do so with my health. Life is short and I want to make the most out of it now when I am able.
The retreat ended well although bodily I am tired from the 7 sessions of prayers and prostrations. Waking up at 3.30am and sleeping on hard floor is something this fat and pampered me need to get accustom to. Sharing the same wash area and waiting for my turn, sleeping in a big hall with people whom I do not know and with different sleeping habits is to check my tolerance. I thought the fasting of no food and not even swallowing one's saliva is the hardest however due to faith, all these are overcome easily.
This is Saka Dawa month and our retreat day ran into a few auspicious days making it even more meaningful. In this we practiced all the offerings which some of us did not get to do on our own. I have broken my vows along the way and this is the opportunity to confess and accumulate wisdom at the same time understand the suffering of beings from various realms is something I must do. We are achieving not just for our own sake, but for the sake of many beings.
Beautiful pictures taken by Norsang. If you ask me "how do you know your retreat is well"? What I can say is the happy faces you see in the pictures and the determination to come back for more said it all.
CHEERS TO ALL THE PARTICIPANTS....GREAT JOB DHARMA BROTHERS AND SISTERS!
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