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I just came back from a very beautiful meditation retreat. It was really a fine way to spend 7 days of my holiday in a serene temple situated in a Malaysian village as I get to breathe in fresh air every day, listen to nothing but silence (except Dhamma talks at night) and feel the positive energy illuminating the meditation hall.

Through this retreat, there was also a very important realization I would love to share with all of you and that is a simple word - Gratitude.

Every day before my meals, while waiting for food reflection to start, I looked at the food in front of me with a heart of happiness. The happiness surrounded me because I reflected on how fortunate I was to be able to have such wonderful conditions to practice the Buddha's teachings. I was grateful for the Buddha's compassion and wisdom for teaching us the Dhamma; to my parents for allowing me to attend this retreat; to Sayalay Dipankara for being so compassionate to us - teaching and guiding us despite her ill health and the Dhamma workers who prepared food for us, translating Dhamma talks for us every night and ensuring conditions are always fine for us to practice throughout the 7 days.

I still recall that during my previous retreat, I did not have sufficient time for meditation and on the first few days, I kept lamenting on why I was doing all those work when I was there for a meditation retreat. However, as the days passed, I started to pick up some skills on cooking vegetarian dishes, being kappiya for the Sayalays staying at that temple, helping Sayalays with the Sunday class preparation and developing close spiritual friendships with the fellow Dhamma workers. From the 3 ^rd day on, I decided that lamenting on conditions does not help. With less lamenting and better time management (with the duties I had to fulfill), I had sufficient time for self-practice and more importantly, I also brought back with me experiences and precious friendships which I shared with my fellow Dhamma workers.

For this retreat, conditions are different as I am a yogi while we had Dhamma workers preparing everything just for us. The meditation experience throughout the 8 days was great. Everyday, I just had to wait for the bell to signal us to wake up, proceed to the meditation hall for morning meditation, and proceed to the dining area for our meals, and so on. Everyday, I did not have to think of what I had to do next but just to meditate and when time is up, I just proceed to take food to nourish my body, bathe to cleanse my body, sleep to replenish my energy. All of a sudden, I felt an immense sense of gratitude to the Dhamma workers for a stress free meditation. Imagine not having other commitments daily for 8 days, devoting time only for meditation; that was possible only because we had a dedicated group of workers during the retreat to see to our every need.

Till this point, you may be thinking that it is so much better to be a yogi than a Dhamma worker. I can safely tell you that it is neither good nor bad to be a yogi or a Dhamma worker. Before I move on, let me share with you one of my favourite phrases from the Dhammapada "Mind is the forerunner of all states; Mind is chief, mind-made are they". It could have been a bad retreat for me if I chose to waste my time away; not putting in right effort to meditate and learn for the 7 days; but for me, it was rejuvenating. For my previous retreat, if I continued lamenting throughout the 10 days, I would not have registered that experience in my memory as a pleasant one. Oh, how dependent we are on our minds!

A friend once told me that as Buddhists, we should learn to be grateful to the Triple Gems; and to be grateful to the Triple Gems is to help provide conditions for people to get in touch with the Dhamma; because we had also once been touched by the Triple Gems. How true it is especially after attending this retreat; I see how dedicated the Dhamma workers are in ensuring that we have the best conditions to practice and learn.

Having read this, isn't it time to reflect on how much we had benefited from the Triple Gems? We are all still learning on the spiritual path and may not be as inspiring as Venerables are, but having the aspiration to serve and bring the Dhamma to others is already a wonderful thought and effort.