{"id":1360,"date":"2009-02-27T01:19:49","date_gmt":"2009-02-26T17:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2009-06-16T23:00:44","modified_gmt":"2009-06-16T15:00:44","slug":"from-small-talk-to-dharma-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/2009\/02\/from-small-talk-to-dharma-talk\/","title":{"rendered":"From Small Talk to Dharma Talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I seem to be having a strange problem. But really, this problem has been there all along, only aggravated by the expansion in my jobscope, which made me busier. What is this problem? Because I do Dharma work, I’m particular about not spending work hours dwelling on even the littlest of non-work matters. Since I started my vocation in 1997, I had always been a largely silent worker, making little small talk or private chats with visitors and even colleagues, because, at the back of my mind is always this thought… My work is funded by donors of the ten directions, which is why I have to do my best to share the Dharma with beings of the ten directions (on and offline), and not spend work-time doing non-Dharma stuff instead. As time goes by, colleagues increasingly leave me out of chit-chat. The impression might be that I’m an anti-social loner better left alone? But I’m really just a misunderstood workaholic. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n

Recently, a colleague attended a Dharma discussion I was presenting at Awareness Place. (Yes, this is part of my work.) At the end of it, she exclaimed surprise that I was ‘so passionate’ in teaching, that it contrasts a lot with my persona in our office where I do research and writing. I think this sums up the irony – Strangers whom I have never met before (at Dharma sessions) know me and my passion more than colleagues whom I meet much more often. I’m more expressively interactive with the first than the latter. Hell, I even crack jokes and guffaw away with the audience. Another Dharma friend also expressed shock at my contrasting personas, saying I usually seem mild-mannered, but become ‘dragon-like’ when sharing the Dharma. (I figure that’s a compliment?)<\/p>\n

I used to wonder which is the real me but have since decided that neither are, because there is no one ‘me’ anyway. Still, with strangers, I’m indeed much more comfortable with ‘Dharma talk’ than small talk. But I do see this as a serious problem – because if I’m truly skilful, I should be able to use small talk in any situation to lead up with ease to ‘Dharma talk’. The problem arose from having overly segregated small talk from ‘Dharma talk’. To fare better at Bodhisattva practice, I ought to more diligently connect with others beyond Dharma discussions (on and offline). It’ll be a struggle, I know, due to habitual forces. I remember a secondary school yearbook labelling me ‘a man of few words’. Am I really one? Just look at the number of words in this blog! And wait till you see me sharing Dharma live. :-]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I seem to be having a strange problem. But really, this problem has been there all along, only aggravated by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[48,125],"class_list":["post-1360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mix","tag-anatta","tag-communication","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moonpointer.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}