<![CDATA[A CEO, and Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk - BLOG]]>Fri, 16 Jan 2026 18:32:16 +0800Weebly<![CDATA[Personal Meditation Guides]]>Mon, 09 Mar 2020 04:25:09 GMThttps://www.theceomonk.com/blog/personal-meditation-guidesPeople asked me if I still meditate everyday.  My reply: "Of course! Twice a day - morning when I wake up, and night before I sleep"
They asked: "How do you keep it up? I mean it is so hard to meditate... My mind keeps wandering.. I cannot stop thinking."
Me: "Me too. To stop the mind from thinking and wandering is almost impossible. I just let it focus on simple things to keep it wander less."
Others: "But how do you discipline yourself to do it everyday?"
Me: "I skip sometimes when I am physically tired at the end of a day.  Or I am in a rush to wake up to go somewhere.  It not an option, but it's still a choice."
Others: "I don't get it.  It's not an option, but it still a choice. What do you mean?"
Me: "Hmm.. maybe this example might help.  I like to take a shower every morning before I go out on my day. It makes be feel fresh and smelling good.  I also like to take a shower before I change to go to bed.  It makes me feel clean and comfy.  These are my personal choice of my routine that I do everyday wherever I went; even when I travel to places during Winter. Since I don't compromise on it, hence it is not an option.  However in rare situation when skipped showering, I don't beat myself over skipping it, because it is still a choice I could make.  Because mentally it does not require a conscious decision to do it or not do it. I just do it as part of a routine. Only when the option (to shower) becomes limited, I make the conscious decision to do it or not do it.  Meditation is the same - I do it because it part of my day.  I don't do it when it becomes very difficult keep to it."
Others: "Still, to do it well everytime, it hard to meditate well."
Me: "I have recorded some voice over to guide myself to meditate.  These voices on a audio podcast helps me meditate when I needed a guide to keep my wandering mind to calm down."

Here is the link to some podcast which anyone could use. 
https://themonkeymind.podbean.com/

]]><![CDATA[Do Christians Meditate?]]>Mon, 26 Aug 2019 03:25:19 GMThttps://www.theceomonk.com/blog/do-christians-meditatePicture
A couple of days ago, I was invited by a friend, Kathy, to her house for a small group meditation session conducted by a Catholic Father. I was very excited to learn meditation from any masters of all schools and groups.  I had been told, very strongly, by some of my closest Catholic friends and some Christian friends (not certain which denominations), that meditation is not permitted by their church elders.  Hmm.. I failed to convince them that it has little to do with religion, God or any spiritual worship.  Meditation is just a journey into our inner self to find that pure inner peace and happiness that we had forgotten as we live in our material world.

Some even countered : "But for a Buddhist like you, meditation is part of your religion."  They did not know that I was not and am NOT a Buddhist. Just because I was ordained as a monk, and studied the Buddha's teaching for year, did not make me a Buddhist.  We tend to differentiate people by labels, race, ethnicity etc, even though we know we should not, but inside our mind, we still do.

After I was ordained as a Buddhist Monk in 2017 and 2019, I made it a personal mission to spread the benefits of meditation experience to as many people as possible, aiming to reach 1million people before my life is done. I don't need to convert everyone to be a meditator, only to share and hopefully spark their journey to find inner peace through meditation.

When I met Father Laurence Freeman, I was not disappointed.  He provided a simple and clear way to explain meditation to a room full of Christian, Catholics and Buddhist.  He introduced a mantra to guide one's mind into stillness during meditation that I found very soothing. The mantra is Ma-ran-na-tha which means "come lord".  I am trained by Buddhist monks to use "Samma-Ara-Hung" as the mantra, which means "the Pure and Virtuous".  Both mantra are very easy to recite and somewhat rhythmic and soothing to the mind.  We meditated for about 15 minutes and felt very refreshed.
After his sessions, I felt a lot more confident that Christians and Catholics do meditate too!  He asked about my journey and experience in Thailand being a Monk and he had also meditated in Thailand with Buddhist monks as well.  I gave a copy of my book, "A CEO an Entrepreneur, a Tourist and the Monk" to Father Laurence and he gave me his book titled "Good Work".  I am reading it now, and already found it very good.  It helps me understand perspectives from the biblical  side and certainly reaffirm my hope for world peace through inner peace.  Father Laurence started a meditation center for christians as part of the World Community for Christian Meditation (WCCM), in France.  I hope I get to attend a retreat there some day and expand my exposures to meditation from a Benedictine monk.

For more information about Father Laurence meditation, you may visit this link: 
https://www.wccm.org/content/laurence-freeman-osb
https://bonnevauxwccm.org/
]]><![CDATA[A Transformational journey]]>Thu, 15 Aug 2019 10:27:17 GMThttps://www.theceomonk.com/blog/a-transformational-journey
]]><![CDATA[Alex Butt Wai Choon: Wise Words of ‘Successful Happiness’ from a former Microsoft Chief]]>Fri, 28 Dec 2018 16:00:00 GMThttps://www.theceomonk.com/blog/alex-butt-wai-choon-wise-words-of-successful-happiness-from-a-former-microsoft-chief
https://www.businesstoday.com.my/2018/12/29/alex-butt-wai-choon-wise-words-of-successful-happiness-from-a-former-microsoft-chief/
]]><![CDATA[Radio Interview 89.3FM by Howie Lim]]>Wed, 26 Dec 2018 16:00:00 GMThttps://www.theceomonk.com/blog/radio-interview-893fm-by-howie-limPicture
https://www.moneyfm893.sg/guest/alex-butt-author-managing-partner-and-executive-coach-glides-partners/
]]><![CDATA[Interview by BFM 89.9 Malaysia radio]]>Sun, 22 Jul 2018 16:00:00 GMThttps://www.theceomonk.com/blog/interview-by-bfm-899-malaysia-radio
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https://www.bfm.my/podcast/enterprise/raise-your-game/ent-ryg-a-ceo-an-entrepreneur-a-tourist-and-the-monk-alex-butt​
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