The Dharma Corner: July 2009

July 30, 2009

As a mother watches over her only child...

As a mother, at the risk of her life,
Watches over her only child,
Let him cherish an unbounded mind
For all living beings.
Let him have love for the whole world,
And develop an unbounded mind,
Above, below and all around,
Boundless heart of goodwill, free of hatred,
Standing, walking, sitting or lying down,
So long as he be awake,
Let him cherish this thought,
This is called divine abiding here.

Karaniyametta Sutta

Ghau

I bought a little ghau. It's nothing fancy, just a little silver ghau with an AH on it.

I love it because it looks like a normal pendant but inside are some little treasures. I keep a bit of a cord blessed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, a chulen pill with thousands of blessings, and a couple of mantras in it.

It's like a little secret that I wear close to my heart. I don't know if it really offers any protection or not, but I like wearing it.

Illustrated Story of the Buddha

I enjoyed this illustrated story of the Buddha.

The 32 Signs of the Great Man

There are 32 main characteristics

1. He has feet with a level sole (Pali: supati thapado). Note: "feet with level tread,/ so that he places his foot evenly on the ground,/ lifts it evenly,/ and touches the ground evenly with the entire sole." (Lakkhana Sutta). It is called Flat feet today.
2. He has the mark of a thousand-spoked wheel on the soles of his feet (Pali: he thapadatalesu cakkani jatani).
3. He has projecting heels (Pali: ayatapa ni).
4. He has long fingers and toes (Pali: digha nguli).
5. His hands and feet are soft-skinned (Pali: mudutalahathapado).
6. He has netlike lines on palms and soles (Pali: jalahathapado).
7. He has high raised ankles (Pali: ussa nkhapado).
8. He has taut calf muscles like an antelope (Pali: e nimigasadisaja ngho).
9. He can touch his knees with the palms of his hands without bending. (Pali: thitako va anonamanto). Just like a monkey can touch his knees with very long hands.
10. His sexual organs are concealed in a sheath and exudes a pleasant odor similar to vanilla (Pali: kosohitavatguyho).
11. His skin is the color of gold (Pali: suva n nava no). "His body is more beautiful than all the gods." (Lakkhana sutta)
12. His skin is so fine that no dust can attach to it (Pali: sukhumacchavi).
13. His body hair are separate with one hair per pore (Pali: ekekalomo).
14. His body hair are blue-black, the color of collyrium, and curls clockwise in rings. (Pali: uddhagalomo).
15. He has an upright stance like that of brahma (Pali: brahmujugatto).
16. He has the seven convexities of the flesh (Pali: satusado). Note: "the seven convex surfaces,/ on both hands, both feet, both shoulders, and his trunk." (Lakkhana Sutta)
17. He has an immense torso, like that of a lion (Pali: sihapuba dhakayo).
18. The furrow between his shoulders is filled in (Pali: pitantara mso).
19. The distance from hand-to-hand and head-to-toe is equal (Pali: nigrodhaparima n dalo). Note: incidentally, these are also the ideal proportions according to Vitruvius, and depicted in Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man.
20. He has a round and smooth neck (Pali: samva d dakhando).
21. He has sensitive taste-buds (Pali: rasagasagi).
22. His jaw is like that of lion's (Pali: sihahanu).
23. He has a nice smile
24. His teeth are evenly spaced (Pali: samadanto).
25. His teeth are without gaps in-between (Pali: avira ladanto).
26. His teeth are quite white (Pali: sukadanto).
27. He has a large, long tongue (Pali: pahutajivho).
28. He has a voice like that of Brahma (Pali: brahmasaro hiravikabha ni).
29. He has very blue eyes (Pali: abhi nila netto). Note 1: "very (abhi) blue (nila) eyes (netto)" is the literal translation. Nila is the word used to describe a sapphire and the color of the sea, but also the color of a rain cloud. It also defines the color of the Hindu God Krishna. Note 2: "His lashes are like a cow's; his eyes are dark./ Those who know such things declare/ 'A child which such fine eyes/ will be one who's looked upon with joy./ If a layman, thus he'll be/ Pleasing to the sight of all./ If ascetic he becomes,/ Then loved as healer of folk's woes.'" (Lakkhana Sutta)
30. He has eyelashes like an ox (Pali: gopa mukho).
31. He has a white soft wisp of hair in the center of the brow (Pali: una loma bhamukantare jata). Note: this became the symbolic urna.
32. His head is like a royal turban (Pali: u nahisiso). Note that this denotes his cranial protrusion, visible on Buddhist iconography.
--(Pali: Lakkhana Mahapurisa 32)

The 80 secondary characteristics
Prince Siddhartha Gautama as a bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha.

1. He has beautiful fingers and toes.
2. He has well-proportioned fingers and toes.
3. He has tube-shaped fingers and toes.
4. His fingernails and toenails have a rosy tint.
5. His fingernails and toenails are slightly upturned at the tip.
6. His fingernails and toenails are smooth and rounded without ridges.
7. His ankles and wrists are rounded and undented.
8. His feet are of equal length.
9. He has a beautiful gait, like that of a king-elephant.
10. He has a stately gait, like that of a king-lion.
11. He has a beautiful gait, like that of a swan.
12. He has a majestic gait, like that of a royal ox.
13. His right foot leads when walking.
14. His knees have no protruding kneecaps.
15. He has the demeanor of a great man.
16. His navel is without blemish.
17. He has a deep-shaped abdomen.
18. He has clockwise marks on the abdomen.
19. His thighs are rounded like banana sheafs.
20. His two arms are shaped like an elephant's trunk.
21. The lines on the palms of his hands have a rosy tint.
22. His skin is thick or thin as it should be.
23. His skin is unwrinkled.
24. His body is spotless and without lumps.
25. His body is unblemished above and below.
26. His body is absolutely free of impurities.
27. He has the strength of 1,000 crore elephants or 100,000 crore men (a crore is 10 million).
28. He has a protruding nose.
29. His nose is well proportioned.
30. His upper and lower lips are equal in size and have a rosy tint.
31. His teeth are unblemished and with no plaque.
32. His teeth are long like polished conches.
33. His teeth are smooth and without ridges.
34. His five sense-organs are unblemished.
35. His four canine teeth are crystal and rounded.
36. His face is long and beautiful.
37. His cheeks are radiant.
38. The lines on his palms are deep.
39. The lines on his palms are long.
40. The lines on his palms are straight.
41. The lines on his palms have a rosy tint.
42. His body emanates a halo of light extending around him for two meters.
43. His cheek cavities are fully rounded and smooth.
44. Seated Buddha, Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE. Tokyo National Museum. His eyelids are well proportioned.
45. The five nerves of his eyes are unblemished.
46. The tips of his bodily hair are neither curved nor bent.
47. He has a rounded tongue.
48. His tongue is soft and has a rosy-tint.
49. His ears are long like lotus petals.
50. His earholes are beautifully rounded.
51. His sinews and tendons don't stick out.
52. His sinews and tendons are deeply embedded in the flesh.
53. His topknot is like a crown.
54. His forehead is well-proportioned in length and breadth.
55. His forehead is rounded and beautiful.
56. His eyebrows are arched like a bow.
57. The hair of his eyebrows is fine.
58. The hair of his eyebrows lies flat.
59. He has large brows.
60. His brows reach the outward corner of his eyes.
61. His skin is fine throughout his body.
62. His whole body has abundant signs of good fortune.
63. His body is always radiant.
64. His body is always refreshed like a lotus flower.
65. His body is exquisitely sensitive to touch.
66. His body has the scent of sandalwood.
67. His body hair is consistent in length.
68. He has fine bodily hair.
69. His breath is always fine.
70. His mouth always has a beautiful smile.
71. His mouth has the scent of a lotus flower.
72. His hair has the colour of a dark shadow.
73. His hair is strongly scented.
74. His hair has the scent of a white lotus.
75. He has curled hair.
76. His hair does not turn grey.
77. He has fine hair.
78. His hair is untangled.
79. His hair has long curls.
80. He has a topknot as if crowned with a flower garland.

--Wiki

Speaking of faults of other Dharma practicioners.

If I impelled by negative emotions, I relate the faults
Of other bodhisattvas, I will myself degenerate
therefore to not talk about the faults of anyone
who has entered the Mahayana is the practice.

As Buddha nature is present in all beings;
Not a single one of them lacks it.

The various different doctrinal views
Are all the very teachings of the Victorious One.
Instead of a blaze of enmity by the demon of sectarianism,
how much finer to see everything lit up
by the radiant jewel of pure perception. Gyalse Thogme. _/\_

July 29, 2009

Head & Heart Together--Bringing Wisdom to the Brahma-viharas

By Thanissaro Bhikkhu

The brahma-viharas, or "sublime attitudes," are the Buddha's primary heart teachings — the ones that connect most directly with our desire for true happiness. The term brahma-vihara literally means "dwelling place of brahmas." Brahmas are gods who live in the higher heavens, dwelling in an attitude of unlimited goodwill, unlimited compassion, unlimited empathetic joy, and unlimited equanimity. These unlimited attitudes can be developed from the more limited versions of these emotions that we experience in the human heart.

Of these four emotions, goodwill (metta) is the most fundamental. It's the wish for true happiness, a wish you can direct to yourself or to others. Goodwill was the underlying motivation that led the Buddha to search for awakening and to teach the path to awakening to others after he had found it.

The next two emotions in the list are essentially applications of goodwill. Compassion (karuna) is what goodwill feels when it encounters suffering: It wants the suffering to stop. Empathetic joy (mudita) is what goodwill feels when it encounters happiness: It wants the happiness to continue. Equanimity (upekkha) is a different emotion, in that it acts as an aid to and a check on the other three. When you encounter suffering that you can't stop no matter how hard you try, you need equanimity to avoid creating additional suffering and to channel your energies to areas where you can be of help. In this way, equanimity isn't cold hearted or indifferent. It simply makes your goodwill more focused and effective.

Making these attitudes limitless requires work. It's easy to feel goodwill, compassion, and empathetic joy for people you like and love, but there are bound to be people you dislike — often for very good reasons. Similarly, there are many people for whom it's easy to feel equanimity: people you don't know or don't really care about. But it's hard to feel equanimity when people you love are suffering. Yet if you want to develop the brahma-viharas, you have to include all of these people within the scope of your awareness so that you can apply the proper attitude no matter where or when. This is where your heart needs the help of your head.

All too often, meditators believe that if they can simply add a little more heart juice, a little more emotional oomph, to their brahma-vihara practice, their attitudes can become limitless. But if something inside you keeps churning up reasons for liking this person or hating that one, your practice starts feeling hypocritical. You wonder who you're trying to fool. Or, after a month devoted to the practice, you still find yourself thinking black thoughts about people who cut you off in traffic — to say nothing of people who've done the world serious harm.

This is where the head comes in. If we think of the heart as the side of the mind that wants happiness, the head is the side that understands how cause and effect actually work. If your head and heart can learn to cooperate — that is, if your head can give priority to finding the causes for true happiness, and your heart can learn to embrace those causes — then the training of the mind can go far.

Happy, at rest, may all beings be happy at heart. Whatever beings there may be, weak or strong, without exception, long, large, middling, short, subtle, blatant, seen & unseen, near & far, born & seeking birth: May all beings be happy at heart.

Let no one deceive another or despise anyone anywhere, or through anger or irritation wish for another to suffer.

— Sn 1.8

How to Deal With Mara

How to deal with Mara

Recognise and name our suffering - acknowledge, but don’t identify with it
Let it manifest

Look into its nature and origins,

seeing the Four Noble Truths of suffering,

its cause, cessation and the skilful path
Let it recede

Who is Mara?

In Buddhism, Māra is the demon who tempted Gautama Buddha by trying to seduce him with the vision of beautiful women who, in various legends, are often said to be his daughters.[1] In Buddhist cosmology, Mara personifies unskillfulness, the "death" of the spiritual life. He is a tempter, distracting humans from practicing the spiritual life by making the mundane alluring or the negative seem positive.

The early Buddhists, however, rather than seeing Mara as a demonic, virtually all-powerful Lord of Evil, regarded him as more of a nuisance. Many episodes concerning his interactions with the Buddha have a decidedly humourous air to them.

In traditional Buddhism four senses of the word "mara" are given.

* Klesa-mara, or Mara as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions.
* Mrtyu-mara, or Mara as death, in the sense of the ceaseless round of birth and death.
* Skandha-mara, or Mara as metaphor for the entirety of conditioned existence.
* Devaputra-mara, or Mara the son of a deva (god), that is, Mara as an objectively existent being rather than as a metaphor.

Early Buddhism acknowledged both a literal and "psychological" interpretation of Mara. Mara is described both as an entity having a literal existence, just as the various deities of the Vedic pantheon are shown existing around the Buddha, and also is described as a primarily psychological force - a metaphor for various processes of doubt and temptation that obstruct religious practice.

"Buddha defying Mara" is a common pose of Buddha sculptures. The Buddha is shown with his left hand in his lap, palm facing upwards and his right hand on his right knee. The fingers of his right hand touch the earth, to call the earth as his witness for defying Mara and achieving enlightenment. This posture is also referred to as the 'earth-touching' mudra.

Source

July 28, 2009

The Triple Gem

~~Understand the purpose of taking refuge. According to Buddhism, the first noble truth is that life is suffering. This means that all of life including the parts that we generally think of as pleasant are in some way fundamentally unsatisfying. Buddhists deal with this state of suffering by taking refuge.

~~Take refuge in the Buddha. Buddha generally refers to Siddhartha Gautama, but in some cases can refer to any one of many beings throughout history who have achieved a state of enlightenment, or Buddhahood. These beings exist in a state of perfected love and harmony, and serve as an example to anyone who wishes to become a Buddhist. In some traditions the Buddhas are also considered to be able to respond to the prayers of their followers by providing aid.

~~Take refuge in the dharma. The Dharma is the teaching of Buddha on how one should practice in order to achieve enlightenment. Taking refuge in the dharma means studying it and applying it in one's own life, especially when facing challenges.

~~Take refuge in the sangha. The sangha is the religious community, particularly the ordained monks and nuns. Anyone who wishes to become a Buddhist should use this community as a resource, because the sangha is entirely devoted to the Buddhist teachings and lifestyle.

~~When you have made your decision and decided to take refuge, repeat the following three times: "I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the dharma, I take refuge in the sangha." If you like, you may be able to do this in an official ceremony with a Buddhist teacher and community. After you first take refuge, you should commit to repeating this process at least once every day.

~~Begin a meditation practice, if you don't already have one. Meditation is a very important part of dharma. Try to spend at least some time sitting quietly and clearing your mind of all thoughts. Meditation is simple to explain, but takes a lot of practice. If you have trouble getting started, consider taking a meditation class.

~~Be aware of the five noble precepts. These are the five major lifestyle directions provided by Buddha. You are not required to follow these rules in order to become a Buddhist, but you will probably want to if you are serious about following the teachings. The five precepts are: do not kill, do not steal, do not be sexually irresponsible, do not lie, do not use intoxicants.

~~Continue studying the dharma and deepening your understanding of Buddhism.

The Prayer

Namo Buddhaya
Namo Dharmaya
Namo Sanghaya

I go for refuge to the Buddha,
I go for refuge to the Dharma,
I go for refuge to the Sangha.

or, the Tibetan (Mahayana) version:

Until I am enlightened,
I go for refuge to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.
Through the virtue I create by practising giving and the other perfections,
may I become a Buddha to benefit all sentient beings.

Source

More on the Triple Gem

1. PHYSICAL APPROACH :
This implies the acts of, for instance, paying obeisance to the Buddha's image, a Bhikkhu or monastery whenever the Buddhists see one, whether on the way or while passing a monastery. These reflect the docile or manageable condition of their minds.

2. VERBAL APPROACH :
Buddhists declare themselves as such through the recitation of the passages 'Buddham.gif (73 bytes) Saranam.gif (73 bytes) Gaccha.gif (845 bytes)mi; Dhammam.gif (73 bytes) Saranam.gif (73 bytes) Gaccha.gif (845 bytes)mi; Sangham.gif (73 bytes) Saranam.gif (73 bytes) Gaccha.gif (845 bytes)mi, which mean, I go to the Dhamma and the San.gif (66 bytes)gha as Refuges.' They also recite other Scriptural passages and to engage in Dhamma talks or discussion.

3. MENTAL APPROACH :
It is the willingness to accept the Buddha's Teachings that a Buddhist is rightfully said to be following the Buddha's Path. This application of the Buddha's and His disciples' practices are both a refinement of the mind and the development of its intellectual aspect. What results therefrom is the ability to see things as they really are, with the consequent reduction and then removal of Defilements (Kilesa). Such practices are, for instance, dispensing charity, observing the Five or Eight Precepts (or more) and clothing the mind with the Four Brahmaviha.gif (845 bytes)ra (Divine States) viz. Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy and Equanimity. These will enable the aspirants with faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and San.gif (66 bytes)gha to have the condition of their minds more refined and their wisdom intensified.

Source

Touching the Earth

Bowing down…

I touch my forehead - to bow down my mind

I touch my mouth - to bow down my speech

I touch my chest - to bow down my heart

I spread my arms out - to bow down my body

I prostrate to touch the earth and I am empty
I turn my palms up to show that I have let go

.Impermanence

The view of impermanence in our daily mandala is revealing the lack of inherent being in the interdependent existence.

_/\_

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6b7iro-qZ4

July 26, 2009

An Overview of Loving-Kindness Meditation

Metta meditation

The Pali word 'Metta' is commonly translated in English as 'loving-kindness.' Metta signifies friendship and non-violence as well as "a strong wish for the happiness of others." Though it refers to many seemingly disparate ideas, Metta is in fact a very specific form of love -- a caring for another independent of all self-interest -- and thus is likened to one's love for one's child or parent. Understandably, this energy is often difficult to describe with words; however, in the practice of Metta meditation, one recites specific words and phrases in order to evoke this "boundless warm-hearted feeling." The strength of this feeling is not limited to or by family, religion, or social class. Indeed, Metta is a tool that permits one's generosity and kindness to be applied to all beings and, as a consequence, one finds true happiness in another person's happiness, no matter who the individual is.

The Practice

The hard work and repetition required of an individual engaged in Metta practice endows the four universal wishes (to live happily and to be free from hostility, affliction, and distress), with a very personal inner love, and by so doing, it has the power for personal transformation. Although serious practitioners of Metta meditation offer Metta for an hour or more morning and evening, you may wish to begin by offering Metta for just 10-15 minutes each day. You may do your practice as a formal sitting meditation or while walking (preferably without destination). You may also choose to integrate your Metta practice with daily chores.

To begin, take a few moments to quiet your mind and focus your attention on the experience of loving kindness. You will begin by offering Metta to yourself. If distracting thoughts arise, acknowledge them, make a mental note to return to them after your Metta practice, but quickly move them aside to maintain concentration.

Recite the following phrases to yourself at a pace that keeps you focused and alert.

1. May I be safe and protected.

2. May I be peaceful and happy.

3. May I be healthy and strong.

4. May I have ease of well being (and accept all the conditions of the world)

Continue reciting the phrases in the first person.

Then when you are comfortable, try offering Metta to a beneficiary, someone who supports you, who has always "been on your side." Forming visualizations of this person while reciting the phrases can be helpful; for example, imagining this beneficiary as a child or grandparent, can assist in 'opening the heart.'

1. May s/he be safe and protected.

2. May s/he be peaceful and happy.

3. May s/he be healthy and strong.

4. May s/he have ease of well being (and accept all the conditions of the world)

Next offer Metta to a loved one.

1. May s/he be safe and protected.

2. May s/he be peaceful and happy.

3. May s/he be healthy and strong.

4. May s/he have ease of well being (and accept all the conditions of the world)

Once your Metta flows easily to a loved one, begin to include in your practice one or more of the following categories of persons to whom you will offer Metta:

* A close friend.
* A neutral person (someone you neither like nor dislike)
* A difficult person (no need to start with the most difficult person, but someone whom you have a distaste for)
* All beings, individuals, personalities, creatures (choose whichever word to describe all 'beings' that you please; it may be helpful to break up this category into subcategories; i.e., all men, and then all women, all enlightened ones, and then, all unenlightened ones, all beings who are happy, and then all beings who are both happy and suffering, and all beings who are primarily suffering.

1. May s/he/it be safe and protected.

2. May s/he/it be peaceful and happy.

3. May s/he/it be healthy and strong.

4. May s/he/it have ease of well being (and accept all the conditions of the world)

Although one traditionally starts by offering Metta for 'oneself ' and ends by offering Metta to 'all beings,' please do not expect to be able immediately to offer these phrases to all beings from the onset of your practice. We all struggle to offer this unconditional love to many people in our lives, and it is truly difficult to include everyone, though this aspiration is reasonable if we are committed to Metta practice. Between these two 'categories' -- oneself and all beings -- one should choose freely from any category or any number of categories. Categorical divisions serve only as tools to keep Metta from overwhelming someone new to the practice. They should not create restrictions within the practice once one gains familiarity with it.

In truth, any one individual may fit into a number of different categories. This ambiguity should be expected and embraced. Awareness of our feelings toward another is always the first step in converting this energy into loving-kindness. Noticing a feeling of aversion, or indecisiveness, when evoking the image of a particular person in your practice does not mean you are failing to offer Metta. Rather, you are leaping forward in your practice. According to Buddhist teachings, the worst plague a human being can suffer is one that s/he cannot identify, or does not even know exists. Similarly, aversions (and cravings) that lie below the level of conscious awareness fuel habit patterns of the mind that inevitably lead to suffering. So, as you peel away the layers of self, allow any negative emotions to arise, so that you can actively replace them with Metta, a loving-kindness.

May you be safe and protected.

May you be peaceful and happy.

May you be healthy and strong.

May you have ease of well being. (and accept all the conditions of the world)

source

Resources for readers interested in learning more about Metta:

Metta. The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love by Acharya Buddharakkhita (1989). The Wheel Publication No. 365/366. Sri Lanka, Buddhist Publication Society (Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/bps/wheels/wheel365.html).

Loving-Kindness. The Revolutionary Art of Happiness by Sharon Salzberg (1995). Boston: Shambhala.

The Three Kayas

The late Kalu Rinpoche compared the dharmakaya to the sun the direct perception of which is impossible for us, the samboghakaya is the disc form that we see and of which we say, "It is rising " or "It is setting," and the nirmanakya is the light and heat we experience.

July 25, 2009

Pacify thoughts by meditative concentration.

Don't try to not think on elephants or mind is filled with them. Don't try to push thoughts in a closed kettle; fire can make them cooking.

Shantideva: "there is no difficult task that cannot become easy if we persevere and become skilful through training."

Even when we pacify the traffic of wild thoughts and gross emotions is there still a stream of thinking, like a cascade coming from the high mountains.
But if we persevere in meditation: fewer thoughts will arise and they will lose power. the result is a more peaceful state. No need to judge, no need to worry.

Actually there are still many subtle almost invisible thoughts creating a constant background static. Training in concentration without effort will help even we can sometimes lose courage in familiarization.
When subtle thoughts subside, is there the stage of steadiness attained. Distractions have not easy influence anymore. This is like a calm ocean that ussually remains calm, except when strongly disturbed; like by a storm. Even without mental constructs can we lose by noises, sensations our focus.
By perfect concentration, mind will effortless remain on the chosen object. Mind is vividly and clearly focused and nothing will shake the calm.

A mountain in a huge storm. Great!

Mind becomes clear and serene, the body feels like a feather in openess of peace.
May all be in a state of mind in genuine comfort.

Zhi gnas. In own words based on Shechen teachings. _/\_ _/\_ _/\_

Return kindness.

Even if one I've lovingly cared for like my own child, regards me as an enemy; to love him even more as a mother loves a sick child;

Even if my peers out of pride do all they can to debase me; to respectfully consider them like my teachers on the crown of my head is the practice of a Boddhisattva.

Gyalse Ngulchu Thogme. _/\_

July 23, 2009

Treasure of nature.

With some luck we can gather lots of possessions, lots of stuff in this life. And then?
And then there are other kinds of wealth, resources like wisdom, compassion, diligence, faith, generosity; those multiply as fast as we use them!

These treasures or wealths are free of all shortcomings of Samsara!

To nourish ourselves on sustained calm and deep insight; the joy of serenity will be tasted. We will escape the torments and famine of ignorance and be naturally into meditation which will not be something apart from daily life.

Reflections based on teaching from Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse. _/\_

July 22, 2009

To the moon.

When I see those men hopping on the moon and from there the view of the blue planet what we call earth is this bringing a simple reflection.

Here on this planet we are trying to get power over eachother like stupid beings together. We hurt each other, dominate each other and know everything better than others. We are better than others.

What a mistake! This prevent us to live happy together. This prevent us to see conventionally truth is not separated from Ultimate truth. It is one truth.

And looking from the space to this blue boll; we sentient beings like the human family are even not to see!

Therefore let us be there for each other instead of grasping power which is like collecting clouds in a shoe box! Let us stop to destroy own happiness and make others happy!

Even it looks more difficult than going to the moon; no doubt we can use our intelligence in a positive way.

July 21, 2009

Fundamental innate mind of clear light.

The primordial ground, self arising wisdom which is beyond limitation in scope of magnitude is

empty in essence like the sky,
clear by nature like the sun or moon,
and pervasive in its compassion like rays of light.

These three properties, indivisible in essence, abide within the basic that has always been beyond any transition and change and they have the nature of the wisdom of the three kayas.

The empty essence is the Dharmakaya, the clear nature is the Sambhogakaya and the pervasive compassion is the Nirmakaya. Ultimate ground of all is uncompounded. Beyond limitations of idea.

The great self arising wisdom in the jewel palace of the heart. Longchenpa. _/\_

The Kayas and Buddhahood are both intrinsic to the fundamental innate mind of clear Light.

July 20, 2009

Today time is marvelous.

This day start with the thought of the great opportunity to use the wealth of offered time as flooding gold in the peace of awareness.
When view is unaltered is there peace. Waves of the sea are not disturbing the depth of the sea.

July 19, 2009

One family.

This morning I saw on tv a man who was very worry because lots of people asking Asylum are coming to live in the new building where he lives. He said; " I have nothing against them but this is no way of doing! What we will get for problems? Does anyone realize that? All sicknesses we can get?" And so on. The man was obviously afraid!
But then the authorities said: "all people are checked in medical center". This is a needful and to recommend care but this did not really decrease the fear of the man.

I think it is a kind of instinct humans have like other beings to protect the self, to protect the own area. to protect the "me". From that point all trouble is coming in duality. Own trouble which we learn to our children, our human fellows with whom we interact.

To realize that, there will be a vaster area of peace in our world when we see "others and me" as one big family; then we will spread positive thoughts and fear will decrease.

muni

July 17, 2009

To avoid.

The eighteen root vows require that you abandon below actions of body speech and mind:
1. Praising yourself and denigrating others. You must avoid praising yourself and, with delusion, criticising and denigrating others through wanting to gain offerings, respect or some sort of profit. Praising yourself and criticising, denigrating or complaining about others creates heavy negative karma as well as breaking this root bodhicitta vow.

2. Not giving wealth and Dharma. If you refuse to help others with financial assistance or Dharma teachings when you are able to do so in response to their requests, you will break this root vow. You must practise generosity of material things and generosity of Dharma to those who are suffering, confused and dissatisfied. You should teach those who want teachings and show them how to meditate and remove their suffering. This root vow is part of the perfection of generosity

3. Not forgiving though someone apologises. Refusing to accept the apology of someone who wrongs you and then apologises, breaks this root vow. Also, if someone breaks vows or precepts and confesses that negative action to you, you must be prepared to accept their confession.

4. Abandoning the Mahayana. If you reject the Mahayana, or any part of it, saying that it is not the teaching of the Buddha, you will break this root vow. To some, the Mahayana seems complicated and overly mystical. The teachings assert the existence of countless manifestations of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Some people are unable to come to grips with this vast scope and such things as the sophisticated tantric methods contained in the Mahayana. They may come to think, or even say to others, 'The Mahayana is mixed with non-Buddhist practices. It is not a pure teaching of the Buddha as is the Hinayana.' By thinking in this way you abandon the Mahayana and break this vow

5. Stealing offerings to the Three Jewels. ("Kings vow") You break this root vow if you steal anything that was offered, or intended to be offered, to the Three Jewels. Even stealing from others or taking things intended for others will break this vow.

6. Abandoning the Dharma. ("Kings vow") Criticising or claiming that any part of the Hinayana, Mahayana or Vajrayana is not part of the Buddha's teachings will incur this root downfall. You should not criticise or denigrate a teaching from the Vinaya, sutra or Abhidharma baskets of the Dharma.

7. Disrobing monks or nuns. ("Kings vow") If you force monks or nuns to give up their ordination by disrobing, or force them to do actions which break their ordination, you break this root vow. Harming the Sangha must be avoided as they are essential to the continuation of Buddhist teachings.

8. Committing the five heinous crimes. ("Kings vow") The five heinous karmas are killing one's father, killing one's mother, killing a Foe Destroyer (Arhat), wounding a Buddha and creating a schism in the Sangha. Doing any of these very heavy negative actions will break this root vow.

9. Holding wrong views. Wrong views are such as denying the existence of the Three Jewels, the law of cause and effect, the conventional and ultimate truths, the four noble truths, the twelve links of Dependent Origination and so on. Holding such wrong views will break this root vow because you will be unable even to benefit yourself, let alone others. For example, by denying karma you will not be concerned about the consequences of your actions and, with such carelessness, will continue to create negative karma and hurt others.

10. Destroying towns and so on. ("Kings vow") If you completely destroy any place inhabited by living beings, you will break this root vow. Destroying a city or country habitat, whether by means of fire, bombs, black magic or any other means, will kill many living beings.
11. Teaching emptiness to the untrained. ("Minister vow") If you teach the profound subject of emptiness to those who are not able to interpret it properly, or perhaps do not wish to practise it anyway, you will break this root vow. The danger is that some may misinterpret emptiness to mean nothingness, or non-existence, and fall to the nihilist extreme denying the relationship of cause and effect. The true meaning of the emptiness of inherent existence of self and phenomena is very profound and difficult to understand. Many believe that the great Acharya Nagarjuna, who strongly propagated this system, was a nihilist, but this was because they missed the brilliant subtlety of his thought. You should therefore only teach the final view of the nature of phenomenon to those who are ripe to understand it.
Please note this response from Nawang Gehlek Rinpoche during an interview with Dave Benn (19th April 2002):
"Question: It states in Buddhist scriptures that one must never teach emptiness (Sunyata) to a person who is not ready to receive these teachings. What do you do when you wish to share such a wonderful experiential jewel?Rinpoche: True. But it is easier to teach an educated Western person emptiness than someone for example from China or South East Asia, even to some extent Tibetans. This is particularly so if the Western happens to be a scientist, a physicist who has studied Einstein's 'Theory of Relativity'. They are half way there! It is definitely much easier to talk about emptiness to an educated Westerner than to traditionally Buddhist people."

12. Reversing others' aspiration for complete enlightenment. Inducing someone who is practising the Mahayana into the Hinayana path will break this root vow. If you were to tell someone that the six perfections are beyond his capacity and suggest that, since he will never attain enlightenment, it is better to practise the Hinayana - whereby liberation is attained quickly. You will then lead him or her from a greater goal into a lesser one and break this root vow.

13. Causing someone to abandon individual liberation. You must not cause others to abandon their individual liberation vows, whether they be the two hundred and fifty three precepts of a monk, the thirty-six precepts of a novice, the eight or five precepts of a layman, or the practice of the ten virtues. You should never suggest that these are part of the lesser vehicle and not important for the Mahayanist. Neither should you encourage someone to ignore their vow not to drink alcohol, or other vows, by implying that such vows are of a lower level than the Vajrayana vows and therefore not important. If you cause others to abandon their individual liberation vows, you will break this root vow

14. Denigrating the Hinayana. If you disparage the Hinayana with a negative mind, especially in the presence of a Hinayanist, you break this root bodhichitta vow. Some say that the Hinayana is a very low vehicle and it takes a long time to traverse that path, and therefore it is better that to practise the great Mahayana and rapid Vajrayana. This is not a suitable attitude because both the Hearer and Solitary Realiser paths lead to liberation and to the realisation of renunciation, which are fundamental to the Mahayana path.

15. Falsely claiming to have realised emptiness. Falsely claiming to have the full realisation of the emptiness of inherent existence of self and phenomena breaks this root vow. It is a specific form of lying, whereby you deceive others into believing that you have special attainments. It is not necessary to claim explicitly that you have high realisations to break this vow. Just implying that you have high realisations also incurs the downfall. An example would be to suggest to others that if they practise according to your instructions they will also gain great powers and spiritual attainments. Or to say, 'If you practise the three principal paths diligently you will gain similar experiences of bliss to my own!' The Buddha said that even when you have attained the paths of insight or liberation you should never openly say to others, 'I have this or that realisation' or 'I have attained this or that path'. Publicly stating such things will only cause confusion and suspicion. Cynics will believe that you are lying to improve your status and reputation, and the gullible will follow you blindly rather than because of the quality of your teachings. Deceiving other people into thinking that you have realisations when you do not is particularly dangerous. Tibetans have a poor opinion of the person who boasts about his qualities and claims to have special clairvoyance or an ability to communicate with the Buddhas. On the other hand, we have the greatest respect for the truly humble practitioner who hides his attainments and leads a quiet and simple life practising the Dharma diligently.

16. Receiving the property of the Three Jewels.If you accept things that were originally offered to the Three Jewels, then stolen or misappropriated and given to you, you will break this root vow. It also refers to people such as kings or government ministers who use their position of power to unjustly acquire wealth and then pass some or all of it on to you. Accepting such gifts is a form of wrong livelihood.

17. The person practising concentration giving his belongings to others. Where a yogi, engaged in a concentration retreat, reluctantly accepts the offerings of a benefactor and then with some anger gives the offerings to others who are not seriously engaged in Dharma practice, he will incur this root downfall.

18. Giving up bodhichitta. If you give up your aspiration to attain enlightenment, or your determination to benefit all living beings, or any single living being for that matter, you will incur this downfall. Having taken a vow to benefit all living beings, to give up this purpose is to abandon them and doing so cheats all living beings. You destroy the very basis of your Mahayana practice.
If you break the vows 9. Wrong View, or 18. Giving up Bodhichitta; you break completely your bodhichitta ordination, without requiring below four conditions to be present.
However, in breaking any of the other sixteen root vows, four factors must be present for you to completely break your bodhichitta vows. The four conditions are not unique to the bodhichitta vows. No precept is totally broken, nor is any non- virtue complete unless the four factors are present. These four factors also contribute to the heaviness of a negative karma. Karma becomes increasingly heavy, as more of the factors are present, and is most heavy when all four are present. The four factors are: 1. Not thinking of the action as faulty. 2. Not intending to abstain from the action in future, or retaining the continuous desire to break the precept. 3. Rejoicing in the action, or enjoying having broken the vow. 4. Not having any regret about the action.
Killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and so on are not complete negative karmas if the four factors are not present. If you were to break any of the root vows other than the 9th and 18th and then had sincere regret, or otherwise reversed the four factors, your bodhichitta ordination would not be completely broken.
Having taken the bodhichitta vows, you should endeavour to keep them purely. If you transgress your vows then you should regret doing so and quickly practise purification. In that way your development of bodhichitta will progress constantly.
Besides the 18 root vows, there are 46 secondary vows. Together they form the method for developing bodhichitta and prevent it from degenerating. The vows are therefore the source of happiness and the way to avoid harming living beings.

The forty-six branch vows require that you abandon the following actions:
Vow 1- 7 are related to the perfection of generosity.

1. Neglecting to pay homage to the Three Jewels each day. Having taken the bodhichitta vows it is necessary to accumulate merit. You should therefore take refuge in the Three Jewels, make physical offerings and prostrations, verbal praises, requests and mental homage each day.

2. Following the mind of desire. If you do not restrain yourself from acting out delusions, indulging in desire, and do not know contentment, you will constantly grasp at material comforts and the enjoyments of cyclic existence and break this branch vow.

3. Not respecting elders. Elder Bodhisattvas, that is those who have taken the bodhichitta vows before you, are objects of respect and objects of offering. Not showing them respect will break this branch vow.

4. Not replying to questions. *When someone trusts you and sincerely asks a question of you, and if you become angry or, due to laziness do not give the appropriate answer, you will break this branch vow. Any time that you avoid skilfully and appropriately answering questions on the Dharma and other matters is an infraction of this branch vow. For example, if somebody asks you to explain how to meditate on impermanence and you respond with an explanation of bodhichitta, you will have broken this vow. Even if you respond on the subject of impermanence, but in an inappropriate or unsatisfactory way, that is an infraction. This branch vow applies whether you have full ordination or lay vows, and also with respect to the practice of the ten virtues, about unconditioned phenomena, such as space or emptiness.

5. Not accepting invitations. If you decline an invitation without a proper, valid reason, that is an infraction of this vow. The vow specifically refers to refusing an invitation because of anger, jealousy, and laziness and so on. It is acceptable to decline an invitation if you have a good reason for doing so. For example, you may be sick, too busy, doing a retreat, or if accepting the invitation could cause an obstacle to your Dharma practice or cause others to be unhappy or jealous. When people invite you to their home for dinner, they are extending their friendship. A refusal will cause them to feel rejected and make them unhappy. So, in general you should try to accept invitations but, before you do, check first to ensure that you will not be led into creating negative karma or breaking a vow. For example, if you have a vow not to drink alcohol and are invited to a function where old friends may put a lot of pressure on you to drink, then it may be best to refuse such an invitation politely and gently.
6. Not accepting gold and so on. When a benefactor sincerely offers gold, silver or other precious things, to decline them through malice, anger or laziness breaks this branch vow.

7. Not giving the Dharma to those who desire it. Refusing to teach the Dharma to those who genuinely wish to learn and practise it because of delusions such as anger, jealousy or laziness is an infraction of this vow. There are valid reasons not to give teachings, such as being to busy, not familiar with the subject, believing that there is not a suitable time, or that the student lacks faith. In those cases it is acceptable not to teach, but to refuse to teach the dharma due to laziness and so on breaks this vow.
Vow 8-16 are related to the perfection of ethical self-discipline.

8. Forsaking those who have broken their moral discipline. These people will need advice and help with releiving their guilt. They should not be treated with contempt or be ignored.

9. Not observing the (Hinayana) trainings in order to generate or sustain faith in others. If, for example one breaks the monastic vows saying 'I need to help others', but with the motivation of gaining others' respect.

10. Doing little to benefit other sentient beings.Bodhisattvas need not observe the Vinaya disciplines exactly in the same manner as the Hinayana. For instance, the minor rule for an ordained person not to keep new robes for more than ten days without blessing them is not a natural negativity but a negativity decree; that is, a decree of the Buddha for the ordained. However, to place too much importance on such minor rules compared to taking opportunities to benefit other living beings will incur this downfall. You must compare which course of action will serve the greater purpose and act to provide the greatest benefit to other living beings When you are in a situation where you can help another living being, but doing so requires that you transgress one of the Vinaya rules and you pull back from helping by thinking, 'I should not break a vow', then you incur this downfall.

11. Not knowing the full purpose of compassion.If it serves a special purpose for others, it is permissible for a Bodhisattva to commit the seven non-virtues of body and speech. If you refuse to commit a such a non-virtue, when by doing so you could help numberless sentient beings, you will incur this downfall. Generally, you have to avoid all non-virtues. But when the circumstances arise in which, through compassion, you can help numberless sentient beings by engaging in one of the seven non-virtues of body and speech, then you must do so. For instance, suppose you were living in the country and a hunter came by and asked you whether you had seen any deer. If you had seen some and decided not to lie, you would keep your Vinaya precepts and retain observance of the seven virtues, but the hunter would kill the deer. In this case you should rather tell a lie than follow the normal rule. This judgement obviously requires wisdom.

12. Deliberately accepting things which are acquired by wrong livelihood. If, with selfish motivation you deliberately acquire wealth, reputation and so on by any of the five wrong livelihoods you incur this downfall.The five wrong livelihoods are: a) Hypocrisy: for example acting as though you are a great and holy lama full of love, compassion and limitless insight in order to win the devotion offerings of others. b) Flattery is praising others with the negative motivation of gaining something from them c) Hinting is gaining something by asking for it indirectly. An example would be saying to your benefactor, 'Last year you gave me a thousand dollars which was a wonderful help in supporting my retreat to benefit all living beings. This year I am going to do a special retreat again...??' Or, 'You are so incredibly successful and wealthy and have always been so kind and generous to me.' d) Artful acquisition is gaining things by sneaky methods or pressuring others. For example, by insulting them about their miserliness and lack of caring for the desperate plight of such deserving individuals as your good self. e) Seeking reward for favour is giving a small gift in the expectation that you will get something much greater in return

13. Indulging in frivolity with agitation, delusion and lack of mindfulness you make fun of others, laugh loudly, make loud noises and so on, you incur this downfall. Being agitated in this way is an obstacle to concentration and the practice of Dharma because your attachment will be increased. If you are constantly joking, singing, dancing, drinking and carrying on, you will be unable to concentrate and will also distract other people, It is acceptable to sing, listen to music, laugh, joke and so on if you have a good purpose for doing so. If, with compassion and love, you want to relax or cause others to be relaxed and happy, then singing, joking and the like can be useful. The branch vow refers to doing these things through agitation and delusion.

14. Claiming Bodhisattvas should remain in cyclic existence. Holding the view that Bodhisattvas should not be attracted to liberation, not be afraid of delusion and not to become separate from delusion, but rather that a Bodhisattva's job is to roam in cyclic existence for three countless aeons while cultivating enlightenment, incurs this downfall. Such an attitude shows that you do not understand the nature of cyclic existence, delusion and the Bodhisattva path. Instead, a Bodhisattva is to achieve liberation and full enlightenment in order to be of greatest benefit to others.

15. Not avoiding a bad reputation. A bodhisattva can often help others better when having a good reputation. Even joking too much can be tricky when people misunderstand one's real intentions. Also, when others criticise you and damage your reputation. you should endeavour to clear your name.

16. Not employing the methods to overcome others' negativities. If it is possible to overcome others' negativities of body and speech through forceful methods, but you elect to use flattery and help them save face instead, you incur this downfall. You should make an effort and use all your skill and suitable methods to help those who create negative actions, break their vows, harm others and so on. Where possible, teach them ways to purify negative karma, such as the 4 opponent powers, and practise such methods yourself as an example.
Vow 17- 20 are related to the perfection of patience

17. Not practising the four noble disciplines. The four dharmas are to be patient and 1. not responding to anger with anger2. not responding to physical harm with physical harm3. not responding to criticism with criticism4. not responding to verbal argumenting with verbal argumentingThese four noble disciplines are said to distinguish a real practitioner, as they refer to the causes of anger and lack of patience. If you retaliate in any of the four circumstances you break this branch vow.

18. Not caring about those who are angry. Do not add fuel to the anger of others by neglecting or ignoring those who are angry with you. Instead of closing yourself off, try to communicate and dissipate their anger. If you cause a problem for others or you have suspicious projections that they are harming you, and then through pride, laziness, malice or other delusions you do not clear the air by apologising when you have the opportunity you incur this downfall.

19. Not accepting others' apologies. If others harm you and then apologise according to the Dharma, but through malice or resentment you do not accept their apology you will incur this downfall. This vow is the same as the third root vow except that the four conditions are not required here to break it.

20. Not checking the angry mind or acting out thoughts of anger. When you become angry with someone and make no effort to try to control anger but let it continue unchecked instead, you incur this downfall. .

Vow 21- 23 are related to the perfection of joyous effort.

21 Gathering a circle of followers because of desiring wealth and fame. If you gather a circle of followers and other people for the selfish purpose of gaining respect. fame, profit, praise or security, you will incur this downfall.

22. Not eliminating the three types of laziness.The three types are: sloth, attraction to negative actions and self-pity or discouragement. If due to laziness, you sleep excessively during the day or late in the morning but you do not make an effort to eliminate laziness you break this branch vow. Note that laziness is not just being non-active, one can very well be hyper-active in useless or negative activities and because of that be spiritually lazy.

23. Engaging in senseless talk through attachment. If you waste your time gossiping with attachment about royal families, politics, wars, relationships, divorce, crimes and so on, you incur this downfall.
Vow 24- 26 are related to the perfection of concentration

24. Not seeking the meaning of concentration. Although you need to develop concentration, if through malice or laziness you refuse to seek out instruction and advice on the means for its development, or refuse to practice after having received the instructions, you will incur this downfall. You should make an effort to listen, study and meditate on the development of concentration

25. Not removing obstacles to concentration. There are five obstacles to concentration: (1) agitation and regret (2) malicious thoughts, (3) sleep and sloth, (4) longing desire, and (5) doubt. Not making an effort to overcome these obstacles when they arise causes you to break this branch vow.

26. Viewing the taste of concentration as being its main quality. The 'taste of concentration' refers to the bliss and pliancy that arise from this practice. The main quality, or real purpose, of concentration is to prepare the mind to be able to engage the very subtle object that is the true nature of phenomena, its emptiness of inherent existence and the development of compassion. If you become attached to the taste of bliss and pliancy while viewing it as being the main quality, or real purpose, of concentration, you will incur this downfall. Although it may be acceptable for Hearers and Solitary Realisers to enjoy the complete relaxation, peace and bliss of concentration for long periods; because the Bodhisattva is bound to help other living beings, he should not waste time like this, but move on to realising emptiness and developing compassion.
Vow 27- 34 are related to the perfection of wisdom.

27. Abandoning the Hinayana. To assert that listening to the Hinayana, memorising its texts and engaging in its practices, though necessary for the Hinayana, is not required by Bodhisattvas, or to proclaim this to others, will incur this downfall, A Bodhisattva must tread the small and medium scope paths in common with the Hinayana Hearers and Solitary Realisers to gain the proper foundation for the explicitly Mahayana practices of the great scope. A Bodhisattva must also be able to communicate the Dharma to all living beings, many of whom will have the Hinayana potential, so it is important to know the Hinayana path. This vow looks similar to the root vow 13, but that vow refers mostly to vows of individual liberation, and this secondary vow one relates mainly to the Hinayana explanation of selflessness.

28. Applying great effort to the Hinayana while currently engaged in the Mahayana . When you have become fully involved in the Bodhisattva practices and you set them aside and engage in the Hinayana practices instead, you will incur this downfall. To be able to benefit all living beings requires that you make use of the precious opportunity to practise the Mahayana. The keyword here is balance; study the Hinayana, but do not forget to put effort on the Mahayana practices.

29. Applying effort to non-Buddhist teachings while currently engaged in the Buddhadharma. When involved in the Buddha Dharma, if you set this practice aside in preference for the study of non-Buddhist systems, you will incur this downfall. Generally, studying these systems will strengthen the wrong view holding an inherently existent self. If however you have a good reason, such as wishing to be able to communicate with people from other religious backgrounds, then it is acceptable to study their systems.

30. Excessive involvement in non-Buddhist subjects. With a specific purpose in mind, you will sometimes have to study non-Buddhist texts but if you allow yourself to become attached to them, completely involved and take great pleasure in them you will break this branch vow.

31. Abandoning the Mahayana. Denigrating any Mahayana teaching or teacher, and suggesting that they are of no benefit and will not help others, will incur this downfall. Although is looks similar to the root vow 4, this vow specifically relates to the teachings and practice of wisdom of emptiness.

32. Praising yourself and denigrating others.When, motivated by pride or anger, you praise yourself and denigrate others you incur this downfall, this is the same as the first root vow except that the four conditions are not required to break it.

33. Making no effort to study Dharma. If through pride or laziness you do not go to teachings, Dharma discussions and so on you will break this branch vow. It relates mainly to the realisation of wisdom, for which one needs to study.

34. Deriding guru and word rather than relying on the meaning. If instead of viewing your guru as a Buddha and making offerings, you knowingly deride him or make fun of him. And, if instead of relying on the meaning of the teachings, you rely on the words instead of their meaning or you chase after pleasant sounding words instead of the teachings, you will incur this downfall.

35 to 45 are related to the perfection of going to the assistance of those in need, or the "11 ways of benefiting others".

35. Neglect to help whoever needs assistance.Not providing counselling, teaching, protection, shelter, guidance and so on when you have the opportunity and capability to do so, but through anger, laziness or other delusions you decline to help, you will break this branch vow. This relates especially to situations where you promised to help.

36. Avoiding taking care of those who are sick. When you have the opportunity to look after a
sick person or animal and you do not do so due to anger, laziness or other delusions, you will incur this branch downfall

37. Not dispelling sufferings of others. If you do not help to dispell the suffering of the blind, deaf, handicapped, those who are exhausted, afflicted by the five obstacles, under the influence of malicious thoughts and superstition, and those derided by others, you will incur this downfall
38. Not guiding the reckless. If through anger or laziness you do not skilfully guide those who are wrongly involved in the purposes of the present and future you will incur this branch downfall. Recklessness relates to a lack of consideration for others.

39. Not returning kindness. If through malicious thoughts or laziness, you fail to repay the kindness of others who have helped you or been generous you will break this branch vow.

40. Not relieving the grief of others. If, due to malice or laziness, you do not dispel the grief of relatives, friends and others who are stricken with misfortune, poverty, depression and so on, you will break this branch vow.

41. Refusing charity to the needy. If someone asks for charity and due to malice or laziness you refuse him or her, you will incur this downfall. If, however, there are good reason not to give them something, like when it would cause them harm then it is suitable not to give.

42. Not taking care of friends, disciples, servants etc.If you do not give teachings and look after the wellfare of people who trust in you, you will incur this downfall.

43. Not being considerate of the wishes of others. If you do not act agreeably toward others due to laziness or malice, you will break this branch vow. You should avoid arguing with, or harming friends, relatives and those with whom you associate. Rather, be considering and endeavour to respond to their needs and aspirations, as long as it does not bring harm to oneself or others.

44. Not praising others' good qualities. If, due to malice or laziness, you do not praise the knowledge, virtuous qualities of others, you will incur this downfall. One should encourage others' good qualities and show interest in them instead.

45. Not using force when necessary. If, due to laziness malice, you do not expel, punish or deflate the pride of those who need it, you will incur this branch down-fall. Some situations may require forceful action to stop harm.

46. Not using miracle powers, threatening activities and so on. You should use whatever wrathful or miracle powers you may possess if doing so will benefit other living beings. If you do not use them when appropriate, you will incur this branch downfall. You should be very careful, however, not to make a display if it is not really of great benefit; bodhisattvas should not show their miraculous powers without a good reason.
The purpose of keeping these 18 root and 46 branch vows is to prevent your bodhichitta degenerating and to make it develop continuously. A person who has taken the bodhichitta vows should endeavour to keep them purely. The bodhichitta vows are the means to help other living beings, the means to avoid harming them and the way to accumulate merit. All positive thoughts and deeds are encompassed by the root and branch bodhichitta vows. You take the bodhichitta vows with the intention to attain enlightenment in order to benefit all living beings. It may take many lifetimes to attain enlightenment. So it is important to ensure not only that your bodhichitta vows do not degenerate during this life, but also that circumstances do not arise that will prevent you from maintaining the practice of the vows in future lives. _/\_ _/\_ _/\_

July 16, 2009

A Tara for Muni

I'd like to thank Muni for consistently sharing such valuable information and personal reflections. This is her first blog, and what a marvelous blogger she is! Here are some recent writings from Muni, taken from BuddhismWithoutBoundaries.com I did some slight editing, only for grammar.

7/16/09:
"Allowing ordinary thoughts which transform in the body-mind as clinging and obscured strong emotions are like filling our rucksack with heavy senseless stones on our trekking through our life."

7/14/2009
"I think the way we wake in the morning has an influence on our daily awareness. If the first thought we wake up with is a depressed, worried, or confused thought, it is not a great thought. Should we wake in the earliest moment of the day with these thoughts, we believe we will suffer whole day.

To make the day a perfect expression of our original thought is a good start. Meditation is in the morning is a very fresh way to begin our day with awareness."

A Tara for you Muni...

M u d r â s

Buddhas and Bodisattvas and frequently other deities are shown with their hands forming a number of different ritualized and stylized poses (Mudrâs). They may be holding different objects as well within these poses. Each by itself and in combination with others have specific meanings. Some of the more common ones are depicted below.

Right-Hand Gestures
"Gesture of Protection" (abhaya) This gesture is also called "Gesture of Fearlessness" or "blessing" or "fearless mudra". Generally, this position is shown with the palms(s) facing outward and the fingers extended upwards. The arm is elevated and slightly bent. You can find abhayamudrâ sometimes also as a left-hand gesture. This mudra is characteristic of Buddha Shakyamuni and Dhyani Buddha Amogasiddhi.
"Gesture of Argument" (vitarka) Also called "The Gesture of Debate" or "discussion" mudra. In this gesture the tips of thumb and index finger touched forming a circle. All the other fingers are extended upwards. This is the mystic gesture of Taras and Bodhisattvas, often used when explaining the Buddha�s teachings.
"Gesture of Witness" (bhumisparsha) This gesture is also called "touching the earth" mudra or "calling the earth to witness" mudra. The right arm hangs down over the right knee. The hand with the palm turned inward and all the fingers extended downward with the finger touching the lotus throne. The left hand lies on the lap with palm upward. This gesture symbolizes Shakyamunis victory over Mara. The Dhyani Buddha Akshobhya shows the same Mudra.
"Gesture of Charity" (varada) This gesture is also called "Gift bestowing Gesture of Compassion" or "conferring boon" or "grace" mudra. The arm is extended all way down with palm facing outwards. You can find varadamudrâ sometimes also as a left-hand gesture. This is the mudra of Dhyani Buddha Ratnasamhava, Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara and (sometimes) standing Buddha Shakyamuni.
"Gesture of ascetic" (shramanamudrâ) This gesture is also called renunciation mudra. The hand points downward away from the body as a symbol for renunciation of secular pleasures.
"Gesture of Understanding" (cincihna) In this mudra, the thumb and index finger grasp a fine object as a a grain of truth. This is a symbol for spiritual understanding.
"Gesture of Threatning" (tarjana) This gesture is also called "warning" mudra. Only the index finger is raised either horizontally or vertically, while the other fingers are locked up in the fist. You can find abhayamudrâ sometimes also as a left-hand gesture. This mudra is characteristic of most of the wrathful deities.
"Gesture of Banishing" (karana) also called the "The Gesture Warding off Evil", this mudra indicates with the hand stretched out, either horizontally or vertically, palm turned forward. The thumb presses down the middle two fingers (like the horns of a Yak against an enemy), while the index and little fingers extend straight upwards. You can find abhayamudrâ sometimes also as a left-hand gesture. Ekajata and Yama, as well as Vajrapani and Bhutadamaravajrapani are frequently shown in this mudra.
"Gesture Beyond Misery " (Buddhashramana) Also called the ascetic�s Gesture of Renunciation.. In this mudra the right hand is lifted in line with the shoulder, the wrist bends backwards and the fingers and the palm face upwards. The fingers point outward, away from the body. The is the gesture of Vasudhara and Usnishijaya.
"The Performance of Homage Gesture" (tarpana) The arms are bent at the elbow with hands raised even with shoulders. The fingers are slightly bent with the fingertips extending toward the shoulders. The palms of the hands face downwards. A mudra frequently used by Namasangiti.
"The Lion Gesture" (harina) In this mudra the thumb along with the second and third fingers touch the tips, forming a ring. The little and the index fingers extend upwards. Frequently, symbols or emblems are held in this manner. Also denotes rabbit or hare, or elephant.
"Gesture of Knowledge" (Jnana) The tips of the index finger and the thumb join, forming a circle, the other fingers are extended straight. This mudra is held against the chest, palm towards the chest. In this way, it differs from the vitarka mudra in which the palm faces away from the body.
"Gesture of Discord" (kartari) This mudra is held with the hands at shoulder level. The thumb and the ring finger (third finger) touch the tips forming a circle. The index and middle finger extend straight resembling rabbits ears or the horns of a deer. Frequently, symbols appear between these two fingers.
Left-Hand Gestures
"Gesture of leisure" (avakasha) The sitting person is holding the left hand on his/her lap, palm upwards.
"Flower-holding Gesture" (kataka) A fist-like mudra in which the fingers bend together until the thumb and the index finger meet, forming an open tube. This position is frequently used in icons in which fresh flowers or other venerated objects are inserted.
Both hands Gestures
"Gesture of Meditation" (dhyana) It is also called Samadhi or Yoga Mudra. Both hands are placed on the lap, right hand on left with fingers fully stretched and the palms facing upwards. This is the characteristic gesture of Buddha Shakyamuni, Dhyani Buddha Amitaba and the Medicine Buddhas.
"Gesture of Meditation with bowl" The Gesture of Meditation is also shown with a begging bowl, but not with any other kind of bowl.
"Gesture of Teaching" (dharmacakrapravartana) In this gesture both hands are held against the chest, the left facing inward, covering the right facing outward. The index finger and the thumb of each hand making a circle. It is characteristic of Dhyani Buddha Vairocana. It is also a gesture of hands exhibited by Lord Buddha while preaching the first sermon in Sarnath.
"The Embracing Gesture" (vajrahûmkara) also called "The Om Sound Gesture". The wrists are crossed at the breast. The hands hold the Vajra (=thunderbolt, male) and Ghanta (= bell, female). The right hand crosses over the left at the wrist, palms facing inwards towards the chest and usually over the heart, symbolizing the union of method and wisdom. This is the gesture of Adi Buddha Vajradara, Samvara and Trailokyavijaya.

"Gesture of Knowledge Fist" (vajramudra) The right hand makes a fist, thumb enclosed, index finger extended upward, palm out; the left hand forms a fist, palm inward and encloses the extended index finger. You will find this gesture very often mirror-inverted.

"Gesture of Perfection" (uttarabodhi) This gesture is also called "best-perfection" mudra. In this position all fingers are intertwined. The index fingers extend straight up and are together. Frequently, Shakyamuni Buddha as liberator of the Nagas presents this mudra
"Gesture of Nectar Sprinkling" (kshepana) Also called "Sprinkling of Ambrosia" mudra. The two hands join, palm to palm, and the index fingers extend together and usually point downwards toward a vase or container. The other fingers and the thumbs are interwined.
"Gesture of Praying" (namaskara or anjali) Also called the simple namaste (prayer) position (means "I bow to you.") In this gesture, the hands are kept close to the chest in devotional attitude with the palms and fingers joined. This is the special gesture of Avalokiteshvara with more than two arms.
"Gesture of Holding the Jewel" (manidhara) The hands are arched and hold a wishing jewel, which can not be seen because of its transparency. This is a mudra of Avalokiteshvara, and is often confused with the similar gesture of greeting.

"Warding Off Evil Gesture" (Bhûtadâmara) Also called "Trailokyavijaya" or awe-inspiring mudra. It shows the hands crossed at the wrist, the right hand over the left hand, palms turned outwards. Usually the two middle fingers are slightly bent and the hands may both hold additional symbols like Vajras and Ghanta. This gesture is frequently seen in the representations of Vajrapani and Bhutadamaravajrapani

Here with illustrations: http://www.buddhas-online.com/mudras.html

July 15, 2009

Liberation Upon Seeing

Terma Revelation by Terton Migyur Dorje, Given to Kunzang Palyul Chöling by H.H. Penor Rinpoche to be affixed to the Migyur Dorje Stupa and distributed as widely as possible for the benefit of all.

Dream Yoga.

←

→ TIBETAN DREAM YOGA
His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama said: "Tibetan Buddhism considers sleep to be a form of nourishment, like food, that restores and refreshes the body. Another type of nourishment is samadhi, or meditative concentration. If one becomes advanced enough in the practice of meditative concentration, then this itself sustains or nourishes the body."

Dreams are a significant part of our life. They are as real and unreal as life itself. Dreams are extremely personal - and transpersonal, too. Our dreams are a reflection of ourselves: in dreams, no matter how many characters appear, we meet ourselves. Dreams are mirrors to our soul. They can help us to better understand ourselves, our world, and the nature of reality. Dreams introduce us to other dimensions of experience. Here, time and space are much more liquid and plastic; they can be shaped and reshaped almost at will. Dreams hint of other worlds, other lives. They are a glimpse of our afterlife. Everyone dreams, although not all dreams are remembered equally. Fifty-six percent of Americans have had a lucid dream - that is, a dream in which one is aware that one is dreaming. Twenty-one percent say they have a lucid dream once a month or more. Meditators report vividly clear, self-aware dreams weekly and even more often.
How Dreams Can Help Us Great healers have long recognized the power of dreams to inform and support us. Hippocrates said, Dreams are one of the most important ways to diagnose a patients illness." Sigmund Freud's turn-of-the-century work. The Interpretation of Dreams, marked the beginning of the era of modern psychology and psychoanalysis. Certain dreams can convey subconscious, valuable information to the dreamer. A week before the event, Abraham Lincoln dreamed that he would be assassinated. The emperor Constantine dreamed of radiant Greek letters spelling the name of Christ and was converted, leading to the dramatic conversion of the entire Byzantine Empire. I, myself, have received messages, teachings, and blessings through my dreams from the spiritual masters I have known and loved in this lifetime.
Some contemporary psychologists consider lucid dreaming a valuable practice for personal growth. This model is, however, different from Tibetan dream yoga. The spiritual practice goes deeper, helping us work with the great passages of life and death. Tibetan dream yoga teaches us how to navigate the groundlessness of moment-to-moment existence, which typically makes no intellectual sense. It is at this level that we cut through the illusory nature of mind and truly experience our marvelous human existence.
Cultivating our innate ability to wake up within the dream can:
• Increase clarity and lucidity, both waking and sleeping • Help us realize the transparent, dream-like nature of experience • Free the mind • Release energy blockages and accumulated tension and stress • Loosen habits and make us more open, attuned, and flexible • Unleash and mobilize creativity • Bring repressions and denials into consciousness • Clarify and dispel confusion • Solve problems • Reveal the process of death and rebirth • Heal and relax us • Expose fantasies • Unlock aspirations and potentials • Facilitate direct encounters with our shadow nature • Provide spiritual blessings, visions, and guidance • Help open our innate psychic capacities • Remove hindrances and obstacles • Help prepare (rehearse) us for death and the afterlife
Awakening within the dream
The seminal Chinese philosopher Chuang Tzu dreamed he was a butterfly. Upon awakening, he wondered whether he was a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was a man. Chuang Tzu's musings underscore a fundamental truth: life is like a dream.

Spiritual life is about awakening from the dream of unreality. The word Buddha itself is from the word bodhi, "awakeful." Buddhist wisdom and practice help us to awaken to who and what we truly are, and to recognize the difference between the real and the unreal in our daily life. All of our spiritual practices are designed to awaken us from the daydream of illusion and confusion, where we are like sleepwalkers, semiconsciously muddling our way through life.

Self-knowledge through spiritual awakening helps us become masters of circumstances and conditions, rather than victims. This is why the Armenian spiritual master George Gurdjieff said: "Contemporary man is born asleep, lives asleep, and dies asleep. And what knowledge could a sleeping man have? If you think about it and at the same time remember that sleep is the chief feature of our being, you will soon understand that if man wishes to obtain knowledge, he should first of all think about how to awaken himself, that is about how to change his being."

South American shamans call this awakening from the dream of life "shapeshifting": entering into a spiritual journey with the explicit purpose of transformation. Shapeshifting and other forms of conscious dream-work can, through regular practice, help us experience other realms of existence, visit our dear departed, and achieve spiritual mastery.

Australian aborigines say we all live in the dreamtime: we are like dream characters, living out our lives beyond the illusion of being born and dying. Tibetan masters call this dreamtime the bardo, or intermediate stage. Bardos exist between the ending of one state and the beginning of another, such as birth and death - or death and rebirth. Dreaming, too, is a bardo, marking the seemingly unstructured zone between waking and sleeping.

Tibetan Buddhism is unique among Buddhist schools in teaching us how to awaken within the dream and how to practice spiritually while sleeping. This is the essence of Tibetan dream yoga, and the focus of all the practices associated with it. The Yoga of the Dream State, an ancient Tibetan manual on the practice of dream yoga and lucid dreaming teaches that we can learn five spiritually significant wisdom lessons through assiduously practicing this path of awakening:

• Dreams can be altered through will and attention
• Dreams are unstable, impermanent, and unreal — much like fantasies, magical illusions, mirages, and hallucinations
• Daily perceptions in the everyday waking state are also unreal • All life is here today and gone tomorrow, like a dream; there is nothing to hold on to • Conscious dreamwork can lead us to the realization of wholeness, perfect balance, and unity. For centuries, Tibetan masters have taught their students how to use dreamtime and dream space to further spiritual progress by increasing awareness during the dream state. Tibetan Dream Yoga brings you these same techniques for realizing the five wisdom lessons and reaping the benefits of awakening within the dream.
The Six Yogas of Tibet Tibetan dream yoga is one of the renowned Six Yogas of Tibet, an ancient Buddhist teaching that originates with the enlightened yogic adepts (siddhas) -of ancient India. These yogas (or practices), utilized for a millennium by all four schools of Tibetan Buddhism, help us to utilize the body/mind/spirit as a vehicle for awakening and enlightenment — by day, by night, and in the afterlife (bardo). The Six Yogas are: • Inner heat (mystic incandescence) yoga • Illusory body yoga • Dream yoga • Clear light yoga • Bardo yoga • Conscious transformation yoga The Six Yogas tradition was first brought to Tibet thirteen hundred years ago by the Indian tantric master Padmasambhava, founder of the Ancient School (Nyingmapa) of Tibetan Buddhism. Padmasambhava himself received the teachings he codified as The Yoga of the Dream State from a mysterious yogi named Lawapa. In ensuing centuries, as Buddhism grew and flourished in Tibet, Marpa the Translator and other Tibetan sages made the grueling journey on foot to India to study from yogic masters, then brought the teaching back with them. Through practicing the Six Yogas, we come to realize the infinite emptiness/openness, ungraspable quality, and luminosity that is the true nature of reality. Dream interpretation, the use of dreams for predictions and healing, and the development of psychic powers and healing abilities can arise naturally from the continuous practice of dream yoga and the related yogas (especially clear light, inner heat, and illusory body).
The Spiritual Benefits of Tibetan Dream YogaHis Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama has this to say about awakening our dream body and using it for spiritual progress and development: "There is said to be a relationship between dreaming, on the one hand, and the gross and subdue levels of the body on the other. But it is also said that there is a 'special dream state.' In that state, the special dream body is created from the mind and from vital energy (prana) within the body. This special dream body is able to dissociate entirely form the gross physical body and travel elsewhere." One way of developing this special dream body is first of all to recognize a dream as a dream when it occurs. Then you find that the dream is malleable, and you make efforts to gain control over it. Gradually you become very skilled in this, increasing your ability to control the contents of the dream so that it accords to your own desires. Eventually it is possible to dissociate your dream body from your gross physical body. In contrast, in the normal dream state, dreaming occurs within the body. But as a result of specific training, the dream body can go elsewhere. This first technique is accomplished entirely by the power of desire or aspiration. There is another technique that arrives at the same end by means of prana yoga. These are meditative practices that utilize the subtle, vital energies in the body. For these techniques it is also necessary to recognize the sleep state as it occurs.
According to sleep researchers, we typically experience four stages of sleep.• Hypnagogic sleep - the state of drowsiness we experience as we begin falling asleep • Ordinary sleep- here, we enter a true sleeping state, but can still be easily awakened . Deeper sleep - vital functions slow down, and we are more likely to sleep through disturbances• Deep sleep - muscles are totally relaxed, and it would be difficult to wake us up (we only spend about fifteen percent of our sleeping hours at this stage)
It takes about an hour to cycle through all four stages; then we go back in reverse order to stage 1. Before beginning the cycle again, however, we experience rapid eye movements (REM) under our closed lids. Research shows that this is when we dream. We spend twenty to twenty-five percent of our sleep time in this state. In order to practice dream yoga, we must introduce awareness during the periods of REM sleep (which last from a few minutes to half an hour). If we can identify that stage while asleep -perhaps with the help of an assistant or a dream-light device - we can further incubate, develop, and enhance the awareness practice of becoming conscious and lucid within the dream state.
Dreaming Tibetan dream yoga texts teach us that, in general, there are three types of dreams: Ordinary, karmic dreams, arising mostly from the day's activities, and from previous life activities, thoughts, experiences, and contacts.
• "Clear light" dreams: spiritual visions, blessings, and energy openings • Lucid dreams, which are characterized by awareness that one is dreaming
Under these three broad divisions, dreams can be divided into a further six categories:
• Dreams of events that occurred while we were still awake • Dreams about other people, alive or dead • Forgotten elements emerging from the subconscious • Archetypal content, evocative symbols, and so on • Extrasensory perceptions, profound dreams, and omens • Radiant, luminous, spiritual dreams
Recurrent dreams, nightmares, dreams of death, and other kinds of commonly reported dreams all fall within the first four dream categories. In the interests of developing deeper awareness of your dreams, you may find it helpful to identify the category that applies whenever you recall a particular dream.
The Practices of Tibetan Dream Yoga
It is important to create a spiritual context for the practice of Tibetan dream yoga. Lucid dreaming can easily be misused to perpetuate the problems we experience in our waking lives. For example, one might direct one's dream toward a gratifying encounter or a vengeful fantasy. You will find that the techniques on Tibetan Dream Yoga somehow don't work as well when used for such purposes.
Tibetan dream yoga practice comprises three parts:
• Daytime practice, designed to help us recognize the dreamlike nature of all existence and thereby prepare us to experience our dreams as vividly as we do our waking activities • Morning wake-up practices that help us recall our dreams, and confirm our determination to recall more of them . Night time practice, which prepares the ground for lucid dreaming and spiritual
Daytime Practice :
During the day, practice these four points:• Contemplating the body as illusory and unreal • Contemplating the mind and mental activities as similarly insubstantial • Regarding the world and all phenomena and experience as dreamlike, insubstantial, impermanent, and unreal • Recognizing the relativity and ungraspable quality such as time, space, knowledge, and awareness
Reminding ourselves of these four truths throughout our waking hours helps to dissolve the barrier between the dream of life and the sleeping dream. As we become more adept at these practices, we begin to regard our nighttime dreams as continuations of our waking dream and we learn how to bring habitual awareness to both.
Mirror Practice
The following mirror practice is an effective way of perceiving the dreamlike nature of “reality”, and especially of “self”. From time to time during the day, take a few minutes to do it.
1 Stand in front of a mirror and look into your own eyes.
2. Hold up a hand mirror behind your right or left ear and look at its reflection in the larger mirror. Keep angling the hand mirror so as to fragment and multiply your image as much as possible. Let your mind fragment along with the image.
3. After a few minutes, angle the hand mirror back until you return to the original, single image in the mirror in front of you.
The analogy of a mirror image is, like dreams, traditionally used to describe the insubstantial nature of our everyday experience. The mirror practice helps bring that teaching to life. The fragmented image is the kind we might see in a dream; yet we are seeing it while we're fully awake — or are we?
Allowing your mind to "fall apart" also helps ventilate the solidity we typically attribute to our world, and especially to our "self."
Partner Exercise
Here is a traditional dream yoga practice you can do with a partner. This is an immensely useful technique, not only for challenging the distinction between sleeping dreams and the dream of being awake, but also for applying your training to practical, everyday situations.
1 - Insult, blame, and criticize your partner. Your partner should listen to all of this as echoes; empty sounds.
2 – Trade places. Now have your partner disparage you, while you practice just hearing the sounds and not taking the words to heart
3 – Try doing this same exercise using praise and flattery instead of blame. In either case, the listening partner should practice not reacting in any way, recognizing what is being said as a dream. At first, you may find it difficult to maintain equanimity while you do this practice. Stay with it – you will find that doing so yields rich rewards over time.
Wake-up Practice
The moments immediately after waking are the most fertile for recalling dreams. The following practices are designed to support and strengthen your recall. They will also facilitate a mindful transition between the sleeping and waking dream states. Upon waking in the morning, practice:
• The lion's out-breath - breathing out with the sound "ah"
• The lion-like posture for awakening and purifying - sitting up in bed with raised head and gazing and emphasizing the exhalation, repeating the "ah" out breath three times
• Raising the energy - standing up, reaching the fingertips to the sky, and repeating the lion's out-breath
• Entering into mindful reflection on the transition between the states of sleeping, dreaming, and waking reality - coming into the present moment, recording dreams. Thus, you will enter the day recognizing that all things are like a dream, illusion, fantasy, mirage, and so forth.
Nighttime Practice
After going to bed, practice these four points in order to create the conditions for mindful, lucid dreaming.
• Chant the following prayer three times to remind you of and strengthen your resolve to awaken within the dream, for the benefit of the ultimate awakening of all beings: “May I awaken within this dream and grasp the fact that I am dreaming, so that all dreamlike beings may likewise awaken from the nightmare of illusory suffering and confusion”.
• Lie on one side with your legs together and knees slightly bent. Let your bent arm take the weight of your torso by resting your head on your open hand. This is the posture of the sleeping Buddha, as he has been traditionally depicted at the moment of passing into nirvana (death).
• Bringing your attention to your throat chakra, visualize your energy rising up out of your body. Feel it rise up from your heart chakra with your breath and pass into your "third eye" or brow chakra: the point between your eyebrows. Visualize it as a full, luminous moon behind your eyes. Go into the light.
• Visualize the letter "A" (symbolizing infinite space) on the surface of the moon.
• Notice whatever images begin to appear on the sphere of light behind your eyes.
Deepening Your Practice
To progress still further in Tibetan dream yoga,
• Pay careful attention to your dreams
• Record your dreams in a dream journal upon waking each morning
• Recognize recurrent images, themes, associations, and patterns
• Contemplate the archetypal, symbolic content and meanings of your dreams
• Reflect on the similarities and differences between night dreams, daydreams, fantasies, visions, ideas, projections, and so on
• Wake yourself up during the night to reaffirm your resolve to awaken within the dream and grasp the fact that you are dreaming
• Sit up in meditation posture while sleeping to maintain continuous awareness while inducing and incubating lucid dreaming
• Have a dream assistant at hand to guide you while asleep, helping you learn to retain conscious presence during dreams
• Meditate alone in darkness to develop the inner clarity of the Clear Light Mind - the mind unaffected by illusion
• During the day, maintain awareness that everything you experience is like a dream
• Chant the dream yoga prayer by day and by night to help reinforce your intention to awaken within the dream. (if you want, or change the wordings)

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

July 30, 2009

July 29, 2009

July 28, 2009

July 26, 2009

July 25, 2009

July 23, 2009

July 22, 2009

July 21, 2009

July 20, 2009

July 19, 2009

July 17, 2009

July 16, 2009

July 15, 2009

>> July 30, 2009

>> July 29, 2009

>> July 28, 2009

>> July 26, 2009

>> July 25, 2009

>> July 23, 2009

>> July 22, 2009

>> July 21, 2009

>> July 20, 2009

>> July 19, 2009

>> July 17, 2009

>> July 16, 2009

>> July 15, 2009

Search This Blog

Pages

Categories

Blog Archive

Translate This Blog

Visitors

Subscribe To Dharma Corner

Total Pageviews