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Post by Ceran on Mar 26, 2018 10:45:46 GMT
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Post by Ceran on Mar 26, 2018 10:46:11 GMT
VT DHAMMA TALKS
The 4 Buddhist remembrances by Kobi
1) The Precious Human Birth
2) Annica. or Impermanence (Death)
3) Karma. In our responsability lies our freedom
4) Samsara. Liberating ourselves from the wheel of life
Developing a relationship with your mind by Pazit
• I am not my thoughts. Who we are is the reflective power which is aware of our thoughts. As we have the capacity to observe and to take distance with our thoughts, how can we identify ourselves with them ? Do we think we are the chair that we see in front of us ? So why do we think we are our thoughts ?
The Self is the one observing what is happening.
The purpose of our mind is to serve our SOUL ! (Instead of serving our ego).
Mind is beautiful servant but a terrible master !
Q. Do I have a relationship with my mind ?
Q. Am I aware that there is a difference between my thoughts and me ?
• What are the characteristics of the mind ?
- Mind is automatic, has its own way of thinking/patterning and we have very little control over it
- Mind is programmed, full of patterns and habits. Works in a pattern way.
There is a core range of feelings/opinions/emotions/thoughts that we most of the time experience only this core.
(Which can be a good way as habit/automation are powerful to forge character)
- Mind is always moving, always jumping from one thought to another
- Mind is transcendental, mind get filled from outside information and in the same time affect our external environment (positive thinking, good vibes, etc..)
(We ought to be careful to what we submerge our mind with (television, books, internet, social media)
- Mind works in contrast, always work in like/dislike ; hot/cold ; light/dark ; craving/aversion
- Mind is an entity ; we can influence it through food ; breathing ; activity (slow our breath to slow our mind ; junk food gives a junk mind).
• How our mind gets conditioned ?
- Mind gets conditions because of past impression (SAMSKARA in yoga tradition).
SAMSKARA. Chit/Purusha is the pure consciousness untainted by our experience.
Chit becomes Chitta when our consciousness becomes tainted by our experiences.
Those are event that we live in and get an impression on our belief system.
E.g : If we have been grown in our family where our parents were fighting/divorced, we will have a certain belief about marriage and parenting.
We see the world through filters(run by our beliefs) born from our past experiences. (DELUSION OF THE REALITY/MAYA)
Every moment we receive thousand of information from our senses. Our brain only makes us aware of a very small percent of all information received in order we can process them. Most of the information go buried in our unconscious.
Mind choose what is important and not. Mind choose to show us what reinforce our original beliefs. If we think world is a bad place, mind will show us evidence that reinforce this beliefs !
All our life event leave a mark (imprint)on our mind. Those imprints greatly influence our behavior/actions/thoughts etc...
Repetition and emotional energy makes those imprint stronger !
The sum of samskraa defines our personality.
To break those samskara : TAPAS & MEDITATION. Motivate people to take a TAPAS.
Q. What are my main patterns ?
Q. Which of one of my non beneficial habit do I reinforce ?
Q. Take the determination to do TAPAS
• Going deeper into Meditation
Obstacles of meditation (Body pain ; Restlessness ; Drowsiness ; unconsistency ; Boredom ; Mind attack).
The 2 wings of meditation :
- See things when they happen (labeling)
- Equanimity / No Reaction / Balance
RAIN FORMULA
Recognize it ; Accept it ; Investigate it ; Non Identification
Notice it ; Accept it ; Let it go
Energy ; Prana & Chakra by Pazit
• Prana ; Chi ; Ki ; BioEnergy is the subtle lifeforce present in every living beings.
• According to Yoga tradition everything is universe is made of the same energy (Prana) and everything is interconnected. The individual is part and made of the same energy as the universe. Atma and Brahma.
• Atma is the individual soul & Brahma is the Universal Consciousness. We feel separation because of our ego. All Yoga techniques is to transcend our ego in order that Atma dives/joins once again Brahma.(Liberation)
• Energy is made of 5 elements (Akasha which gives birth to Air, Fire, Water, Earth). Our body is made of those 5 elements, a tree is made of those 5 elements (in a different proportion).
• Energy goes where our attention are. As human being we can increase the energy present in our body and make us more vibrant (MEDITATION& PRANAYAMA & MUSCLE ACTIVATION).
• Energy expands/retracts depending on the attitude, behavior, beliefs, actions of the individual.
• We can protect ourselves from being too depleted by building core strenght ; being grounded (walking barefoot, nature) ; cleaning our aura ; vizualization ; physical gesture.
• Energy is in the body circulates through Nadis (similar to nerves). When many nadis met together, they form a Chakra. Our body is made of thousand of Chakra from our foot to the top of our head. There are 7 main chakras in our body (where Nadis met together the most) and 3 majors channels (Ida ; Pingala ; Sushuma)
• Chakras have to be balanced. If unbalanced it will results in many issues like illness ; suffering ; emotional instability ; fears etc...
• The first 3 chakras (Lower Triangle) are responsible for our identity. They take care mainly of our security/survival ; creativity/sexuality ; Ambition/Personnality.
• The next 3 chakras (Upper Triangle) are connecting us to an higher ideal (we can call it God, Universe, Cosmic Force, Creator etc..). Expressing our Truth, Connecting with our Intuition ; Transcending the Self are the matter of those chakras.
• The heart is where the lower triangle and upper triangle get connected. The more balance are our Heart, the better we will be able to use our strong root (the first 3 chakras) in order to give full expression of our Self (the last 3 chakras).
• It is very important that the lower chakras are well balanced. Without strong roots we cant go far on the path. Working on the matter of the first 3 chakras allows us to balance them (our family, our sexuality, our goals).
Working on non beneficial pattern/habit that we have received from our family
Establishing our own belief system.
Working on our Values gives birth to expression and connection to our Self.
Q. Which habits/patterns received by my parents that are not beneficial for me ?
Q. What are your 5 most important values in your life ? (list of values) ; Are those values present in your life ? if not, how can you make them more present ?
Q. What would you like people to say at your funeral ?
Yoga Sutra ; The Yamas by Kobi
• Yoga Sustra of Patanjali ; exploring the whole philosophy of Yoga.
• 8 limbs of Yoga (Asthanga Yoga)
Yama ; Niyama ; Asana ; Pranayama ; Pratyahara ; Dharana ; Dhyana ; Samadhi
Each one nourrish each other, each one is of equal importance. It is an organism.
We need harmony and balance between the 8 limbs.
Starting from Yama and finishing by Yama.
• Yama is capital. Helps us to ensure that our behavior is ethical and moral and in benefice of the society.
• Ahimsa first component of the 5 yama (Ahimsa, Satya, Asteya, Bhramacharya, Asparigha)
• Non violence in deeds, speech and thoughts.From gross to subtle.
Bhagavad Gita ; Chapter 1&2 by Kobi
• PART I : Introduction to Bhagavad Gita
Display the dialogue between the spiritual seeker Arjuna and the Divine Krishna
Come during a time of great suffering for Arjuna, about to wage war against his own friends/family
Is on the middle of battefield just before the war start and is overwhelmed by depression and about to just give up
Krishna will convince him that acting and doing war is the dhamma way, is the way to go.
Bhagavad Gita is a story part of a bigger story called Maharabharata (Great India) written by Vyasa around 400BCE.
Display 2 families ; the Pandava and Kaurava who will go into war to each other.
The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written".[5][6] Its longest version consists of over 100,000 śloka or over 200,000 individual verse lines.
The first section of the Mahābhārata states that it was Ganesha who wrote down the text to Vyasa's dictation.
Q. When the war was about to start, Arjuna asks Krishna to drive me at the middle/center of the battlefield.
Why do you think Arjuna ask this ? (introducing the middle way)
• PART II : Introducing the middle way of Bouddhism
Starting with meditation
awareness of the right side (right hand, arm, elbow, hips, leg,foot)
then awareness of the left side
and joining both side on the center
Then speaking about the middle way of Bouddha
Avoiding extremes (indulgence in materialism vs. ascetism)
Story of Bouddha/Siddharta who was a prince and had every one of his desires accomplished but still was feeling empty inside
who took the road of the monk (Going Forth) and practiced Ascetism during 6 years until the point where he realized that it was not the way as well.
Then he found the middle way (avoiding extreme) and honoring human nature instead of fighting it. Just being aware, just being the observer)
Dukkha can be defined as not being in our optimal state.
First step of suffering is acknowledging that we are suffering.
1st of the 4 noble truths (Introducing the Chapter 1 of Bhagavad Gita ; The yoga of despondency)
• PART III : Chapter 1 ; The Yoga of despondency
The first chapter of Bhagavad Gita is only about Arjuna describing his high state of depression.
He doesnt want to fight his family, he doesnt want to kill his mentors, friends.
What is the point of fighting for honor when honor is killing those who are close to us ?
What is the point of fighting for a better future when the future will be built on ashes and death, when nobody will be left to be on this future.
Arjuna is all about lamenting the consequences of the war.
The state of Arjuna describes the inner battle that each human being have to face.
Doubts/fear/depression/anxiety/cravings is part of our nature
each day we have to face them and win over them.
I want this cake but I want as well an healthy diet.
This state describe as well the source of yoga.
Yoga is born from suffering, from doubts, from unease, from dukkha.
Without suffering there is no search/quest, without suffering there is remise en question.
The first sentence of Krishna is summing up all the Bhagavad Gita.
The first sentence of Krihsna is a call for action.
The first sentence of Krishna is a call for us to fight our demon in order to give birth to our light
We need to face and fight our sorrow, our depression, our anxiety, we need to overcome them in order to get reborn stronger.
The spiritual way is a way of action. In action we find and realize ourselves.
Meditating is just a tool for us to cultivate qualities that will be decisive in the quality of our actions.
Creating actions no tainted by desire/craving/egoism/aversion.
WAKE UP ! STAND UP AND FIGHT !
• PART IV : Introduction to Samkhya philosophy
Dualistic philosophy ; creation of the world is born out of 2 forces :
(as the clap of two hands creates sound)
-Purusha : The Self ; The Unseen ; The Constant ; The Awareness
-Pakriti : The Nature ; The Seen ; The Changes ; The Matter
It is when those two comes into contact, that reality is being created.
Through this creations comes Avidya (Ignorance).
We live in delusion as we perceive Purusha as Prakriti. In our ignorance, we see Prakriti and Purusha as one.
We take things which are transient (our mind, our body, our possesions) as our Self.
How can be the body be the Self when the body is ever changing ?
How can the mind be the Self when the thoughts/personality are ever changing ?
This is where comes from our suffering. Taking transient things as permanent things.
The whole process of Yoga is to disentangle Purusha from Prakriti, to detach Purusha from Prakriti.
In order to really see who we are. That we are not our body, our mind (prakriti) but we are the eternal consciousness behind it, we are the observer, we are the eternal Self which is ever constant(purusha).
The only constant is our awareness. the only place in our being that doesn't change is our awareness.
Prakriti are the waves on the surface of the ocean. Always rising up and down. Always getting born and die.
Prakriti is the fire. Each moment the fire dies and get reborn. Each moment the fire is totally unique and different from the last moment.
Purusha is the deep ocean, the never changing, the constant that hold everything together.
Through meditation, we need to get through the waves (vrittis) in order to see beyond, in order to dive into the deep ocean.
Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ // yoga is the cessation of the waves of consciousness.
Story of 2 gods who are arguing about what the self is and decide to go to see a sage to get the answer.
Have to wait 32 years before seeing him.
Brahmin replied the body then the mind then the self is who is playing !
We have to dance the dance, we have to go in life, to get absorbed in life, to take actions.
Self realization comes from Actions ; not from meditation.
Life is LALA.
• PART V : Meditation to give us the power of CHOICE !
60,000 thoughts a day
95% of them are repetitive (we have the same yesterday)
Most of them are non beneficial (anxiety, depression, self beating, past/future etc..)
1st step is to recognize we are not our thoughts !!!!
How can we be our thoughts if we are able to notice/see them ?
Will you think you are a chair when you see a chair ?
Beautiful how the mind can see himself thinking. Stepping back !
We are the one who is able to notice the thought ; we are PURUSHA
We live in a vicious circle.
Thoughts fuels emotions which give birth to even more thought, more emotions, more thought etc...
Starting from something tiny frustrated can grow into a tantrum.
Example : we have a thought : beautiful car ; I want this car ; but dont have enough money to pay this car ; why I am so bad to not earn enough moeny ? why life is so hard ? why my parents did not gave me the mean to earn a lot of money ?
Frustration is building, next thing we do is to shoot at our partner/child/friend for something totally unrelated and tiny because of the frustration inside that we dont have enough money.
Here we have a CHOICE to make !!
Either being slave of our thoughts and following the thought (beautiful car etc..)
OR taking the decision to just NOTICE it and thats all ! (I notice I have this thought of beautiful car) and not going further !!
IT IS OUR CHOICE. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE OF OUR THOUGHTS.
Either we fuel the thought or either we get disengage with them and dont let them dictate how we feel and what we think.
Meditation gives us the tool to create this space of choice !
To be free to act the way we want to act.
the way we want to direct our life to.
NOTE IT ; KNOW IT ; LET IT GO
Label the thought ; know it is only transient (comes and go) and accept it (dont hold on it)
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Post by Ceran on Mar 26, 2018 10:48:42 GMT
STORIES
The lost of Adam and Eve's innocence
Knowledge will destroy innocence. That is the meaning of the biblical story of Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden of Eden. They were naked like children. They were not aware of the body; they were not aware of anger, greed, lust, sex or anything. They were unaware. They were like children, innocent. But God had forbidden them to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge. The tree of knowledge was forbidden but they ate, because anything forbidden becomes inviting. Anything forbidden becomes attractive! They were living in a big garden with an infinite number of trees, but the tree of knowledge became the most important and significant because it was forbidden. Really, this forbidden-ness became the attraction, the invitation. They were as if magnetized, hypnotized by the tree. They couldn't escape it, they had to eat. But this story is beautiful because the tree is named the tree of knowledge. The moeent they ate the fruit of knowledge they became non-innocent. They became aware; they came to realize that they were naked. Immediately, Eve tried to hide her body. With awareness of the body they became aware of everything -- anger, lust, greed, everything. They became adult, so they were expelled from the garden.
So in the Bible knowledge is sin. They were thrown out of the garden, they were punished, because of knowledge.
Unless they become again like children -- innocent, not-knowing -- they cannot enter the garden. They can enter the kingdom of God again only if they fulfill this condition of becoming innocent again.
The whole thing is just the story of humanity. Every child is expelled from the garden, not only Adam and Eve. Every child lives his childhood in innocence without knowing anything. He is pure, but the purity is of ignorance. It cannot continue. Unless it becomes a purity of wisdom, you cannot rely on it. It will have to go, sooner or later you will have to eat the fruit of knowledge.
You cannot exist in it without knowledge. And the moment knowledge comes, division enters.
You begin to divide between what is good and what is bad. So for tantra the division into good and bad is impurity
Can you recognize the mud in the lotus?
The lotus comes from the mud. If you have never seen a lotus growing from the mud and a lotus flower is brought to you, can you conceive that this beautiful lotus flower has come up from the ordinary mud of a pond?
Buddha is a man, but he has come to his ultimate growth. He has become a lotus flower; you cannot recognize the mud, but that doesn't mean that the mud is not there. It is there, but not as mud. It is a higher unity. That is why in Buddha you can feel neither hate nor love. That is still more difficult to understand because Buddha appears totally loving -- never hating, always silent -- never angry. But his silence is different from your silence. It cannot be the same.
Buddha and the King of Kashi
That is why Buddha was a beggar, but yet an emperor. Buddha came to Kashi when he became enlightened. The king of Kashi came to see him and he asked, "I do not see that you have anything, you are just a beggar, yet I feel myself a beggar in comparison to you. You do not have anything, but the way you walk, the way you look, the way you laugh makes it seem as if the whole world is your kingdom. And you have nothing visible -- nothing! So where is the secret of your power? You look like an emperor." Really, no emperor has ever looked like that -- as if the whole world belongs to him. "You are the king, but where is your power, the source?" So Buddha said, "It is in me. My power, my source of power, whatsoever you feel around me is really within me. I do not have anything except myself, but it is enough. I am fulfilled; now I do not desire anything. I have become desireless."
Goether and Beethoven
Goethe has said that when Beethoven was on stage directing his group, his orchestra, he looked like a god. It could not be said that he was an ordinary man. He was not a man at all; he was superhuman. The way he looked, the way he raised his hands, was all superhuman. But when he came back from the stage he was just an ordinary man. The man on the stage seemed to be possessed by something else, as if Beethoven was no more there and some other force had entered into him. Back down from the stage he was again Beethoven, the man. Because of this, poets, musicians, great artists, creative people are more tense -- because they have two types of being.
Hui Neng
I will tell you one story... Hui Neng, a Chinese master, was working under his master. When Hui Neng went to his master, the master said, "For what have you come here? There is no need to come to me." He couldn't understand. Hui Neng thought that he was not yet ready to be accepted, but the master was seeing something else. He was seeing his growing aura. He was saying this: "Even if you do not come to me, the thing is bound to happen sooner or later, anywhere. You are already in it, so there is no need to come to me." But Hui Neng said, "Do not reject me." So the master accepted him and told him to go just behind the monastery, in the kitchen of the monastery. It was a big monastery of five hundred monks. The master said to Hui Neng, "Just go behind the monastery and help in the kitchen, and do not come again to me. Whenever it will be needed, I will come to you." No meditation was given to Hui Neng, no scriptures to read, study or meditate upon. Nothing was taught to him, he was just thrown into the kitchen. The whole monastery was working. There were pundits, scholars, and there were meditators, and there were yogis, and the whole monastery was agog. Everyone was working and this Hui Neng was just cleaning rice and doing kitchen work. Twelve years passed. Hui Neng didn't go again to the master because it was not allowed. He waited, he waited, he waited... he simply waited. He was just taken as a servant. Scholars would come, meditators would come, and no one would even pay any attention to him. And there were big scholars in the monastery. Then the master declared that his death was near, and now he wanted to appoint someone to function in his place, so he said, "Those who think they are enlightened should compose a small poem of four lines. In those four lines you should put all that you have gained. And if I approve any poems and see that the lines show that enlightenment has happened, I will choose someone as my successor." There was a great scholar in the monastery, and no one attempted the poem because everyone knew that he was going to win. He was a great knower of scriptures, so he composed four lines. Those four lines were just like this... the meaning of it was like this: "Mind is like a mirror, and dust gathers on it. Clean the dust, and you are enlightened." But even this great scholar was afraid because the master would know. He already knows who is enlightened and who is not. Though all he has written is beautiful, it is the very essence of all the scriptures -- mind is like a mirror, and dust gathers on it; remove the dust, and you are enlightened -- this was the whole gist of all the Vedas, but he knew that was all that it was. He had not known anything, so he was afraid. He didn't go directly to the master, but in the night he went to the hut, to his master's hut, and wrote all the four lines on the wall without signing -- without any signature. In this way, if the master approved and said, "Okay, this is right," then he would say, "I have written them." If he said, "No! Who has written these lines?" then he would keep silent, he thought. But the master approved. In the morning the master said, "Okay!" He laughed and said, "Okay! The man who has written this is an enlightened one." So the whole monastery began to talk about it. Everyone knew who had written it. They were discussing and appreciating, and the lines were beautiful -- really beautiful. Then some monks came to the kitchen. They were drinking tea and they were talking, and Hui Neng was there serving them. He heard what had happened. The moment he heard those four lines, he laughed. So someone asked, "Why are you laughing, you fool? You do not know anything; for twelve years you have been serving in the kitchen. Why are you laughing?" No one had even heard him laugh before. He was just taken as an idiot who would not even talk. So he said, "I cannot write, and I am not an enlightened one either, but these lines are wrong. So if someone comes with me, I will compose four lines. If someone comes with me, he can write it on the wall. I cannot write; I do not know writing." So someone followed him -- just as a joke. A crowd came there and Hui Neng said, "Write: There is no mind and there is no mirror, so where can the dust gather? One who knows this is enlightened." But the master came out and he said, "You are wrong," to Hui Neng. Hui Neng touched his feet and returned back to his kitchen. In the night when everyone was asleep, the master came to Hui Neng and said, "You are right, but I could not say so before those idiots -- and they are learned idiots. If I had said that you are appointed as my successor, they would have killed you. So escape from here! You are my successor, but do not tell it to anyone. And I knew this the day you came. Your aura was growing; that was why no meditation was given to you. There was no need. You were already in meditation. And these twelve years' silence -- not doing anything, not even meditation -- emptied you completely of your mind, and the aura has become full. You have become a full moon. But escape from here! Otherwise they will kill you. "You have been here for twelve years, and the light has been constantly spreading from you, but no one observed it. And they have been coming to the kitchen, everyone has been coming to the kitchen every day -- thrice, four times. Everyone passes through here; that is why I posted you in the kitchen. But no one has recognized your aura. So you escape from here."
Bouddha and the middle way
Shrown was a prince who were living very wealthy and indulging in every pleasure until he crossed Bouddha and then became a renunciant. He was a very harsh renunciant, fasting, meditating under the sun etc..
Buddha went to Shrown one night and asked him, "Shrown, I have heard that when you were a prince, before initiation, you used to play on a VEENA, a sitar, and you were a great musician. So I have come to ask you one question. If the strings of the veena are very loose, what happens?" Shrown said, "If the strings are very loose, then no music is possible." And then Buddha said, "And if the strings are very tight, too tight, then what happens?" Shrown said, "Then too music cannot be produced. The strings must be in the middle -- neither loose nor tight, but just exactly in the middle." Shrown said, "It is easy to play the veena, but only a master can set these strings right, in the middle." So Buddha said, "This much I have to say to you, after observing you for the last six months -- that in life also the music comes only when the strings are neither loose nor tight, but just in the middle. So to renounce is easy, but only a master knows how to be in the middle. So Shrown, be a master, and let these strings of life be just in the middle -- in everything. Do not go to this extreme, do not go to that one. Everything has two extremes, but you remain just in the middle."
Moving from one extreme to another like a pendulum
Look at a pendulum: if you have any old clock, look at the pendulum.
The pendulum can go on moving the whole day if it goes to the extremes.
When it goes to the left it is gathering momentum to go to the right. When it goes toward the right, do not think that it is going toward the right -- it is accumulating momentum to go toward the left. So the extremes are right-left, right-left.
Let the pendulum stay in the middle, then the whole momentum is lost.
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Post by Admin on Nov 13, 2018 9:42:18 GMT
BHAVACAKRA - Karma,Rebirth & Nibbana
• Etymology
Bhava means "being, worldly existence, becoming, birth, be, production, origin
The word Chakra derives from the Sanskrit word meaning "wheel," as well as "circle" and "cycle
Bhava denotes the continuity of becoming (reincarnating) in one of the realms of existence
Wheel of suffering but wrong it is the wheel of liberation.
• Elements of the wheel
1.The pig, rooster and snake in the hub of the wheel represent the three poisons of ignorance, attachment and aversion.
2.The second layer represents karma.
3.The third layer represents the six realms of samsara.
4.The fourth layer represents the twelve stages of dependent origination.
Represent the causality of actions. Every actions has consequences. Put in motion a chain of event. Because of this, that. Nothing exits separately. This is the cause of suffering and liberation.
5.The fierce figure holding the wheel represents impermanence (Yama or Death)
6.The moon above the wheel represents liberation from samsara or cyclic existence. Potential for liberation. Celestial body which provides light in darkness. Illuminate the path for those who want to escape reality.
7.Boddhisatva in clouds, sky, heaven Buddha pointing to the white circle pointing the way to free ourseelve from suffering.
• How does it work ?
the three poisons give rise to positive and negative actions;
these actions and their results are called karma.
Karma in turn gives rise to the six realms
dependent origination
The origin of the suffering (3 poisons) and their consequences giving birth to rebirth
• The Three poisons
Everything that exist come down to 3 forces (Trinity ; Brahma, Vishnu,shiva ; Son Father Holy Spirit) creation, sustain, destruction
That the cause of the entire wheel to spine
From these three poisons, the whole cycle of existence evolves
//The pig stands for ignorance; the most foolish of animals
sleeps in the dirtiest places and eats whatever comes to its mouth
// The snake represents aversion or anger; this is because it will be aroused and strike at the slightest touch
the snake and bird are shown as coming out of the mouth of the pig, indicating that aversion and attachment arise from ignorance. T
he snake and bird are also shown grasping the tail of the pig, indicating that they in turn promote greater ignorance.
• Second layer : Karma
One half-circle (usually light) shows contented people moving upwards to higher states, possibly to the higher realms.
The other half-circle (usually dark) shows people in a miserable state being led downwards to lower states, possibly to the lower realms
These images represent karma, the law of cause and effect. The light half-circle indicates people experiencing the results of positive actions. The dark half-circle indicates people experiencing the results of negative actions
Moving from light to light
Moving from light to darkness
Moving from darkness to light
Moving from darkness to darkness
Actions that create benefit create benefit for everyone
Actions that create suffering create suffering for everyone
The results we experience will accord with the quality of our actions.
• Third layer: the six realms of samsara
Represents worlds of rebirth but also psychological states
process of cycling through one rebirth after another
Heaven and Hell are psychological states.
All is inside of us. Constant battle between good and bad to control our psyche, to control our kingdom
//God realm
having everything we want : health, beauty, money, reputation
lives full of pleasure and abundance,
but they spend their lives pursuing meaningless distractions
never think to practice the dharma.
completely unprepared for death ;
have completely exhausted their good karma
// Demi-god realm (Asura & Titan)
have pleasure and abundance almost as much as the gods,
but spend their time fighting among themselves or making war on the gods.
constant fighting and jealousy, envy
wounded in their wars with each other and with the gods
// Human realm (Precious human birth)
suffer from hunger, thirst, heat, cold
not getting what they want, and getting what they don't want
suffer from the general sufferings of birth, old age, sickness and death
uman realm is considered to be the most suitable realm for practicing the dharma, because humans are not completely distracted by pleasure (like the gods or demi-gods) or by pain and suffering (like the beings in the lower realms).
//Animal realm
being attacked and eaten by other animals
constant fear.
exploited by humans
Driven by their pulsion
Having no freedom
//Hungry ghost realm
huge bellies and long, thin necks
extreme hunger and thirst
wander constantly in search of food and drink
only to be miserably frustrated any time they come close to actually getting what they want
he food or water burns their neck as it goes down to their belly, causing them intense agony.
//Hell realm
endure unimaginable suffering for eons of time
eighteen different types of hell
• Notes
Our attitude, actions, thoughts create the quality of our life
good actions give birth to good results
No need to do big actions, small daily good action are what we want to strive for. Caring for other, acting out of generosity and goodwill, being a good human, smiling, bringing joy around of you. Doing good action for ourselve and others.
Taking charge of our perspective & attitude
Nibbana means cessation of the circle, cessation of the flow, cessation of suffering.
Nibbana is also state of being.
Heaven and hell are right now. Not above, not below, not in future. Samsara and Nibbana is right now. State of consciousness determines right now where we are.
How do we perceive everything we experience.
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Post by Ceran on Apr 21, 2020 2:08:16 GMT
HOW DOES WORK THE MIND
• I am not my thoughts.
Who we are is the reflective power which is aware of our thoughts. As we have the capacity to observe and to take distance with our thoughts, why do we identify ourselves with them ? Do we think we are the chair that we see in front of us ? So why do we think we are our thoughts ?
The Self is the one observing what is happening.
The purpose of our mind is to serve our SOUL ! (Instead of serving our ego).
Mind is beautiful servant but a terrible master !
Q. Do I have a relationship with my mind ?
Q. Am I aware that there is a difference between my thoughts and me ?
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• What are the characteristics of the mind ?
- Mind is automatic, has its own way of thinking/patterning and we have very little control over it
- Mind is programmed, full of patterns and habits. Works in a pattern way.
There is a core range of feelings/opinions/emotions/thoughts that we most of the time experience only this core.
(Which can be a good way as habit/automation are powerful to forge character)
- Mind is always moving, always jumping from one thought to another
- Mind is transcendental, mind get filled from outside information and in the same time affect our external environment (positive thinking, good vibes, etc..)
(We ought to be careful to what we submerge our mind with (television, books, internet, social media)
- Mind works in contrast, always work in like/dislike ; hot/cold ; light/dark ; craving/aversion
- Mind is an entity ; we can influence it through food ; breathing ; activity (slow our breath to slow our mind ; junk food gives a junk mind).
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Mind gets conditions because of past impression (SAMSKARA).
Chit/Purusha is the pure consciousness untainted by our experience.
Chit becomes Chitta when our consciousness becomes tainted by our experiences.
Those are events that we live in and get an impression on our belief system.
E.g : If we have been grown in our family where our parents were fighting/divorced, we will have a certain belief about marriage and parenting.
We see the world through filters(run by our beliefs) born from our past experiences. (DELUSION OF THE REALITY/MAYA)
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Every moment we receive thousand of information from our senses.
Our brain only makes us aware of a very small percent of all information received in order we can process them.
Most of the information go buried in our unconscious.
Mind choose what is important and not. Mind choose to show us what reinforce our original beliefs.
If we think world is a bad place, mind will show us evidence that reinforce this beliefs.
All our life event leave a mark (imprint)on our mind. Those imprints greatly influence our behavior/actions/thoughts etc...
Repetition and emotional energy makes those imprint stronger.
The sum of those imprints, samskraa defines our personality.
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To break those samskara : SELF KNOWLEDGE & TAPAS & MEDITATION.
Q. What are my main patterns ?
Q. Which of one of my non beneficial habit do I reinforce ?
Q. Take the determination to do TAPAS
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Going deeper into Meditation
Obstacles of meditation (Body pain ; Restlessness ; Drowsiness ; unconsistency ; Boredom ; Mind attack).
Using the two wings of meditation (Equanimity & Noting)
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RAIN FORMULA
Recognize it ; Accept it ; Investigate it ; Non Identification
Notice it ; Accept it ; Let it go
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Mind is a mechanism of desiring.
Mind is always in desire, always seeking something, asking for something.
Always the object is in the future; mind is not concerned with the present at all.
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Mind needs the future in order to move.
In this very moment the mind cannot move -- there is no space.
It can move either in the past or in the future. It cannot move in the present; there is no space.
The truth is in the present, and mind is always in the future or in the past, so there is no meeting between mind and truth.
All these techniques of Shiva's are simply turning the mind from the future or the past to the present.
You cannot be a mind in the present, that is impossible. Just now, if you are here and now, how can you be a mind? Thoughts cease because they cannot move.
The present has no space in which to move; you cannot think. If you are in this very moment, how can you move? Mind stops, you attain to no-mind.
Time is really past and future. The present is not part of time. The present is part of eternity.
The now is always here. It is ALWAYS here! This now is eternal.
Time means you move on a plane, on a straight line. Or we may call it horizontal.
The moment you are in the present the dimension changes: you move vertically -- up or down, toward the height or toward the depth.
But then you never move horizontally. A Buddha, a Shiva, live in eternity, not in time.
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Mind has to be turned from seeking to non-seeking.
Lao Tzu says, "Seek not; otherwise you will miss. Seek not and find. Don't seek and find."
But when the mind starts seeking the truth the very effort becomes nonsense, because the truth is here and now and the mind is always then and there. There is no meeting. So understand the first thing: you cannot seek truth. You can find it, but you cannot seek it. The very seeking is the hindrance.
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If you are going to doubt anything, doubt first your own mind.
And your mind has brought you to the state you are in. If you are in a hell, your mind has brought you to this hell, and you never doubt this guide. You can doubt any teacher, any master, but you never doubt your mind.
And your mind has brought you to the mess, to the misery that you are.
And whenever your mind says something, think twice.
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Do not allow your mind to create a pattern
Do not allow the mind to create a pattern of expectations; do not allow the mind to move in the future.
Then your master will be every day new, your friend will be every day new.
And everything is new in the world except the mind.
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Mind move from one extreme to the other
That is the way of the mind -- to move from one extreme to another.
So it happens every day: a person who was mad after wealth renounces everything, becomes a naked fakir.
Just like a pendulum, from one extreme to the other. So a person who was after wealth, mad after wealth, will become mad against it, but the madness will remain -- that is the mind. The extreme has a fascination for the mind.
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Because in the middle, mind dies.
Look at a pendulum: if you have any old clock, look at the pendulum.
The pendulum can go on moving the whole day if it goes to the extremes.
When it goes to the left it is gathering momentum to go to the right. When it goes toward the right, do not think that it is going toward the right -- it is accumulating momentum to go toward the left. So the extremes are right-left, right-left.
Let the pendulum stay in the middle, then the whole momentum is lost.
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Mind is just like a pendulum
You decide one thing on one extreme, and then you move to another.
You are angry; then you repent.
You decide, "No, this is enough. Now I will never be angry." But you do not see the extreme.
You have been angry, then please, at least do this: do not repent. Do not move to the other extreme. Remain in the middle. Say, "I have been angry and I am a bad man, a violent man. I have been angry. This is how I am." But do not repent; do not move to the other extreme. Remain in the middle. If you can remain, you will not gather the momentum, the energy to be angry again.
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Meditation means the death of the mind.
The whole of tantra is concerned with how to transcend the mind.
It is bound to destroy the mind. Mind lives with definitions, laws and disciplines; mind is an order.
But remember, tantra is not disorder, and that is a very subtle point to be understood.
If you move deep, you will find that your identity is just like an onion. You peel off one layer and another layer comes up; you peel off another layer and still another layer comes up. You go on peeling layers off, and ultimately you come to a nothingness.
With all the layers thrown off, there is nothing inside. Body and mind are like onions. When you have peeled off both body and mind, then you come to encounter a nothingness, an abyss, a bottomless void.
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Meditation is no mind
When mind is, what is there? A process of thinking.
When there is nomind, what is there? No process of thinking.
If you go on decreasing your process of thinking, if you go on dissolving your thinking, by and by, slowly, you are reaching nomind. Mind means thinking; no mind means non-thinking.
If the process of thinking becomes less dense, is decreased, is slowed down, you are helping yourself toward no-mind.
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Mind can never be clear, it cannot have clarity, because mind is by nature confusion, cloudiness.
Thoughts together, millions of thoughts, give you the illusion as if mind exists. It is just like a crowd, millions of people standing in a crowd: is there anything like a crowd? Can you find the crowd other than the individuals standing there? But they are standing together, their togetherness gives you the feeling as if something like a crowd exists – only individuals exist.
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And in those gaps between two thoughts, SATORIS happen.
The deeper you go, you will find more and more gaps, bigger and bigger gaps. A thought floats, then comes a gap where no thought.
If you are unconscious you cannot see the gaps; you jump from one thought to another, you never see the gap.
If you become aware you will see more and more gaps. If you become perfectly aware, then miles of gaps will be revealed to you.
And when awareness is absolute, then there is only a vast gap of nothingness.
The vast blueness of the sky is lost, you are covered with clouds. Then you go on watching: one cloud moves and another has not come into the vision yet – and suddenly a peek into the blueness of the vast sky.
The same happens inside: you are the vast blueness of the sky, and thoughts are just like clouds hovering around you, filling you. But the gaps exist, the sky exists. To have a glimpse of the sky is SATORI, and to become the sky is SAMADHI.
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///Thoughts are like visitors in the house of the mind
Mind doesn’t exist as an entity – the first thing. Only thoughts exist.
The second thing: the thoughts exist separate from you, they are not one with your nature, they come and go – you remain, you persist.
Thoughts are not yours, they don’t belong to you. They come as visitors, guests, but they are not the host.
This is what hell is. You are the master of the house, the house belongs to you, and guests have become the masters.
The mind becomes the problem because you have taken thoughts so deeply inside you that you have forgotten completely the distance; that they are visitors, they come and go. Always be attentive to that which never comes and never goes, just like the sky.
Of course, there are bad visitors and good visitors, but you need not be worried about them. A good host treats all the guests in the same way, without making any distinctions.
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About the thoughts
First, Do not to be identified with that which comes and goes.
Otherwise you forget the eternal and the MOMENTARY becomes significant. The momentary is the world; the eternal is divine.
This is the second insight to be attained, that you are the host and thoughts are guests.
The third thing is that thoughts are foreign, intruders, outsiders. NO THOUGHT IS YOURS.
This will be the third insight about thoughts, that they are things, forces, and you have to handle them very carefully.
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Post by Ceran on Apr 21, 2020 2:28:01 GMT
HOW DOES WORK OUR EMOTIONS
There is not such things as negative emotions.
Sadness or pain – The message is “I believe I lost something,” or “I have been hurt.” When you feel sad or hurt, ask yourself, “Is this a true loss? Or one I believe I have suffered or am afraid of suffering, or something I interpret as a loss because I set an unrealistic expectation?” If it is a true loss, and not something you can recover (and life is filled with these), accept the loss, let yourself feel it and grieve it.
Anger- Someone or something has lead to you feeling hurt or threatened (sadness or fear). It comes from your boundaries having been overstepped.
Message – is there something you need to do to take care of yourself? Is someone trying to hurt you? Or is it a belief about someone not respecting you that is really the culprit? Figure out what you need to do to protect yourself, and do it.
Frustration- is often a low level of anger, resulting from your expectations not being met.
Fear– can be useful in telling you there is a threat.
Ask yourself, “What if the worst happened?” Imagine it. What would you do? Would you survive? What if you didn’t? Is there anything you can do to make the potential outcome better?
Guilt and regret– The message is that you violated your values.
When you feel this, ask if you may have caused offense. You may need to check it out with others. Then is it possible to make amends (admit what you did, ask forgiveness)? Can you forgive yourself? Or are you assuming responsibility for something that isn’t in your control?
Shame – is feeling unworthy or not good enough, more for who you are than for something you have done. This feeling is often a signal that you have beliefs of not being worthy or that you think you have to be perfect. The message is to look at your beliefs about yourself and accept your imperfections, and to consider believing that all humans are worthy of love and respect, including yourself.
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