Beginners in meditation were guided by Bro. Tan in a separate class in Sumangala Room.

Report by Yee Sook Fen  |  Photographs by Gan Jia Cheng

On Wednesday 9 July, Nalanda Centre was again filled with devotees eager to learn and practice Dhamma.  In his Dhamma talk, Bro. Tan shared some practical and beneficial tips on how to deal with disappointments.  In our daily life, it is not uncommon to encounter disappointments of varying degrees, which constantly disturb our mental serenity.  To deal with it, Bro. Tan shared that we need to put ‘problems’ in the proper perspective, and thus gradually developing ‘Right View’.

Bro. Tan sharing some enlightening insights in his talk.

We can also talk about our ‘difficulties’ to friends who are reliable, calm and wise.  If the negative feelings persist, we can temporarily ‘distract’ ourselves with wholesome activities or chores.  This relieves us from the unpleasant feelings momentarily, so that we break the force of dwelling on them.

Bro. Tan also cautioned that it takes time to heal the ‘disappointments’ in our hearts.  Hence, we need to be positive about the happenings in life – always reflect on what we can learn from them.  As we cannot prevent ‘disappointments’, we therefore need to develop mental resilience to prevent our minds from falling into unwholesome states again.

Hour-long meditation to calm ourselves before the Dhamma teaching by Bro Tan.