In the East, it is believed that there are three types of major disasters in life: natural disasters by fire, water and wind; wars and diseases; and poverty. The global pandemic we all are experiencing now is certainly one of them and is affecting us like a World War. The rising death toll, the failing businesses, the family separation due to travel restrictions, and the uncertainty make it impossible for people to predict the future.

Confucius wrote in ‘The Analects’ (論語), “Wise men like water" (知者樂水).

Yesterday, I took two of my students to the beach at 4AM. Since the sun rises around 5:45AM these days, it was the perfect time to perform sunrise meditation. Chung Hom Kok beach is a lesser known beach located between Stanley Beach and Repulse Bay Beach at the south of Hong Kong. It was a 30-minute taxi ride from Central. We were the only people on the entire beach, due to the early hour.

This is an awe-inspiring story about my 11-year-old niece.

I have two incredibly cute nieces who love animals, as most children do. They enjoy visiting Jeju Island because they usually stay at a sheep farm there, where they play with different kinds of farm animals such as rabbits, chickens, ducks, horses, dogs, goats, sheep, cows, and cats all day long. At the dinner table, they excitedly talk about the freshest news on the animal families, such as which dog is grounded for biting which sheep's leg, how silky the new born black goat's hair is, how the cat's injured leg is healing slowly, and why the other mysterious grey cat only comes near the cabin after dark because his home is right under the porch, and so on.

A few years ago, I asked someone who had just returned from attending the 14th Dalai Lama's teachings in India for two weeks, if he felt any extraordinary energy radiating from him. Dalai Lamas are believed to be the manifestations of Avalokiteshvara (觀音, Gwanyin), the bodhisattva of compassion. During the whole two-week period, he sat in the front row with monks and nuns and had the opportunity to witness the Dalai Lama walk past very closely a number of times. I almost slapped my knee when he answered, “I felt absolutely nothing special. He was just like any other grandpa next door.”

“What is the difference between having hopes and dreams and being greedy?”

This used to be my burning question. I asked this question to many different teachers, practitioners and religious people, and they all tried their best to give me an answer but none of these answers was clear enough until I met my qigong master.

Once, my teacher Master Seol-won took me to the Unmunsa (雲門寺, Cloud Gate) temple in Mount Crouching Tiger in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Korea. It is an old Zen temple first built in the 6th century, and since the 50s, it has been used as the largest training centre for nuns under the Jogye Order.

This is a story from The Tathāgatagarbha Sutra (如來藏經, Rulai Tripitaka).

Many treasures were buried, hidden in the basement cave of the poor woman. She was completely oblivious of these treasures because nobody ever told her about them, and none of her family members knew about it; so, she was struggling to get by.

When it comes to traveling to India, people usually have opposing views—they either love it or hate it. India is a big country that is densely populated. Even while riding a car along the windy mountain roads that are hours away from the nearest city, you would still be able to see more people walking on the roadside, be it day or night, than in any quiet city elsewhere.

I have a special story with the picture Treasure #1818 at the Botasa temple in Seoul.

In 2011, I visited the Gaeunsa temple — a 14th-century temple right at the back gate of Korea University, only 30 minutes away from the city hall by subway. It's not known to the public, but the temple serves the seasonal vegetable Bibimbab with temple-made chili paste for lunch. So, yes, this took place at the dining hall of the temple. The lady who happened to share our table strongly suggested that we — my sister, brother-in-law and I — visit the temple next door, and even volunteered to take us there herself. It is only one hundred steps away, she emphasised!

A few years ago, I was waiting in the studio for one person who had insisted on showing up for a group class despite the black signal for heavy rain, while everyone else had cancelled already. A young lady then showed up looking like a drowned rat.

We may have heard of many stores in our lives, some of which are beyond our comprehension. This story is about a 1,300-year-old tree at the Buseoksa temple in Korea.

About a decade ago, I indulged myself in a 10-day Spartan retreat in silence under the guidance of my Buddhist nun teacher, Ven. Hyun-Young.

Story one

A couple of months ago, I was watching a documentary of a Buddhist monk and calligrapher who has been living alone for 30 years in a remote mountain area situated in Korea. The crew were filming every second of his life of solitude in the mountain while staying with him for a few days. Since it was right before the winter season, the monk was busy gathering firewood on a daily basis. He has one rule that he adheres to while gathering the firewood. No matter how desperate, he only gathers dead trees and branches. By removing the dead branches scattered around, he keeps the mountain area in a neat and tidy condition.

This is a true story I heard from Ven. Hye-Guk Sunim.

About 30-40 years ago, there was an old abbot at a small Zen temple in the high mountain ranges of Korea. The abbot had been wanting to rebuild the main building of the temple as it was old and falling apart. Everyone donated money, and finally there was enough money gathered to start the work. So the abbot announced the news and thanked everyone for their generosity.

The hardest thing about being on a diet – more than dieting itself – is going right back to where you were at lightning speed unless you change your lifestyle permanently. It takes months to get there and days to come back with guilt and self-hatred in a gift bag.

I have met many practitioners who possess abilities beyond the normal range of human capabilities. Korean Zen master Venerable Hye-Guk Sunim was one of them. My first connection with him was over the phone, because I was living in Canada at that time. I boldly made a call to his monastery's general line for my burning questions. The lady on the phone wasn't sure if he'd be around to take the call, but she put me through.

Tap-tap... tap-tap-tap.

That's the sound of a big split bamboo stick tapping on the shoulder of a monk.

Qigong (氣功) is a millennia-old ancient Eastern practice of balancing the body, mind and spirit by cultivating the energy centre (丹田, Dantien) in our body through body alignment, breathing and meditation.