My internal alarm clock has got itself adjusted to the timing here. I woke up and laid wide awake at 4:00am, even before the gong bell strikes. My blood pressure is at an all-time low at 118/75. Unbelievable. Matter affects mind and mind controls matters.

I wonder what practice I will continue keeping once I return to the outside world. I probably will try to wake up early (but not at 4:00am), meditate each day, go veggie. Here, we learn to be aware and to act equanimously to deal with what’s going on inside our body, sensations, reactions to events, people, words, internal and external effects.

My heart feels so heavy… So many sankaras I’ve created in this life; out of ignorance, out of greed, out of envy and hatred. How can I undo them all?

According to Buddha, you just need to stop creating sankara, and all previous ones will be washed away. The butcher becomes buddha the moment he puts away his knife. It doesn’t seem fair though …

My tummy no longer growls in the afternoon. I’m able to eat less. For breakfast, I have once slice of bread, 1/2 banana, 1 glass of soy milk. For lunch, 1/2 cup of brown rice, 1 cup of broth, 1/2 cup of vegetables. At tea time, 1/2 banana, hot tea. No dinner. Our body adapts to whatever is available.

The afternoon now seems to be longer because of the continuous 3-hour meditation followed by 1-hour break for tea, then another 3-hour meditation session. I guess that’s why I start snoring the moment my back hits the mattress at 9:05pm :)