There is No Buddha Outside Of the Mind

Sound healing is a very powerful technique to relax, to find a balance in the own life. The posts of this blog are often dedicated to the sounds and their use for meditation. I found 2 interesting videos with mantras today. these sounds were studied for centuries and maybe for millenniums to touch the most deep and important strings of our soouls. There are only 2 monasteries teaching this kind of singing as I know.

In any case you will enjoy the holy silence and majestic beauty of excellent film about Himalayas



The other example of deep singing

Space Gazing

Meditation is an excellent way to regain calm and forces, to relax and to forget about the problems this last is equal to health. One of the meditation techniques is to practice it in an open place or near the sea 'in those environments where you can stay in touch with infinite.



“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless - like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup, you put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle, you put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” Bruce Lee

Tea Ceremony

«чайная церемония» на Яндекс.Фотках

Did you know that the Tea Ceremony was born as a meditation of the Buddhist monks of Japan? Only in the Middle Ages the tea Ceremony left the monasteries and become comon custom in all the houses till it became one of the most important tourist attractions for the European and American visitors of the country. What an interesting transformnation.
And, finally, the ancient tradition turns back to it's origins in the teachings of the buddist monks like Tich Nath Hahn who explains this meditation to his western disciples. You can read about it here
http://www.intent.com/yumi/blog/illustrated-meditation-drinking-tea
and here The Tea Ceremony by Thich Nhat Hanh

Making Diagnose Of The State Of Your Soul -More About Chakra Cleaning

Years ago when I read Lam Rim for the first time I nticed an interesting affirmation. It was said: you have to clean the room where you want to make your practice before you begin it. It was very important condition. I was sceptic about it. What is the difference, if you clean the room or not? Ah, forgot, they said, the Gods and Goddesses do not come in a dirty place.

It seemd strainge to me. Specially if we think about those persons that come home after a working day, tired etc. They eat and sit with intention to meditate. They have not forces to clean the room in that moment. Why have they do it?

I read an article about this theme today. The author said, he (or she?) can diagnose what chakras are close lookig what places in the house of the person are not enough clean. I don't know what is your reaction now. Time ago I would say, these are stupidities. An other "guru" tryes to introduce his/her new alternative therapy to sell it.

Well, I don't want to say, I've changed the opinion. Those poor chakras, only the greatest igler did not write about chakra healings and chakra cleanings. All they made so, that I do not believe more in this things.

But I understood finally, Lam Rim was right.
Not that you have to clean the room. If your room is dirty, it means, your soul is not in the right state to make practice. Your soul has a problem. An invisible problem maybe. But it manifests in your "apathy". You don't want to do anything, you are tired. You need the relaxation, other solution -if it's about something more serious. So, your soul in it's depth is worried about other things than a good practice. And it means, you cant reach a good connection, good results. And your practice has not it's deep sense. "The Gods do not come in the dirty place". Not because they do not like dirty place but because you are not in the right state to make your practice.

Concentration

These two photos of a praying monk impressed me very much. The author tells, this monk comes in this place for a temple every day (the photo was taken in Hainan). I don't know what precisely seems to me so special -probably his concentration. Or maybe the question: WHY does he it every day there? Maybe, I see it from my european point of view and there is nothing special, simply buddhist practice...



«Монах» на Яндекс.Фотках


«Молитва» на Яндекс.Фотках

Different Types Of Meditations (part 3) Standing Meditation

After we have watched so interesting Walkng Meditation and Water Meditation in my previous posts, now is the high time to pass to the QiGong technique -Standing meditation very clearly explained in this video:



I hope you are very entertained to learn that there are so various possibilities to meditate and not only the good known lotus position. They all are great. I gave you only the idea and you have to discover more about the type you are interested in yourself. In any case you can't say you have not time or place for meditation. The only thing you can "have not" is the wish to meditate. :0)))


«йогиня на берегу моря, Морджим» на Яндекс.Фотках

Different Types Of Meditations (part 2) Walkng Meditation

With this post I continue to speak about Different Types Of Meditations (and this link is to part 1 about water meditation).

Here I want to post videos about an other interesting type of meditation -walking meditation. I just tryed to do it, this meditation, and did an error, so I wanted to tell about it to warn you. If you want to begin with this meditation, choose carefully the place where you do it. If you walk on the road where the cars can pass, it's not good. You could damage the passing cars if you are too absorbed to notice them.
:0)))

I adore the meditations teached by Thich Nhat Hanh, specially the Tea meditation. If you are interested in them, you have to visit his site.

Different Types Of Meditations (part 1) Water Meditation

There are many different types of meditations. And it's very difficult at the beginning of the Path of Buddhismus to understand what and how is necessary to do them. I remember I was interested to begin to meditate, but I live too far from the places where one can find a Teacher. So I tryed with the books. I read clever books but I could not understand the essence. This was some years ago, about 2000-2004.

Today the life is much more easy for those who are interested in Buddhismus because there are internet teachings of the most important Teachers of different schools and there are many videos that help in the meditations.

You Tube offers me videos that could be interesting for me. There were videos about the meditations among them. So I want to post those I think are useful.

Here is water meditation. I post thisd video as first because I know nothing about this meditation and it seems interesting for me. If somebody of you could explain me the sense and the technique -approximately is good too would be great. I don't pretend to learn the techniques of meditations through this blog, I'm only interested to learn more about it.



Read
Different Types Of Meditations (part 2) Walkng Meditation
Different Types Of Meditations (part 3) Standing Meditation

Relaxation Session With Voice Of The Sea

I ask to pardon me those friends that have just seen this video in my posts about our visit of the beach (The Voice Of The Sea and Our Favourite Beach)

This registration I wanted to make long time ago. If you know the problem, you noticed that it is practically impossible to find a registration of "pure" sounds of the nature in internet. Not only a simple registration but that it is long enough to allow a meditation or relaxation session. It means, it has to be at least 5 minutes long. If it will be possible, I'll make a more long regisration later.

The image is not very good -it is turnd on the side for about 1 minute. Ehhh... Well, I neededthe sound first of all...

Where to find joy in the modern life

This post is not about religions and other difficult things. But I need some sentences with "embarrassing" words to introduce the theme.

Maybe you will not believe me, but I had great controversies with different persons from different nations, that practice buddhismus, discussing it. Joy is one of the most important demands for a practicioner, I said. Texts say, you will have more realizations if you practice with joy, I said. But -as always and you are accustomed of it too- I forgot, where I read about it. I have this sort of memory: I remember the content, but I don't remember the author or the title.

Yesterday I was very sad and in anxiety, could not do anything and decided to make a catalog of buddhists text I have, those I learned in the ILTK.
I opend "The Precious Garland" by Abbot Dragpa Ghieltsen to write summary... and began to read it. This text is a comment to "Bodhisattvacharyavatara" (Shantideva) -one of the very important texts speaking about actions of a Bodhisattva (once, I think, Dalai Lama said, this is the most important book in his life).

Bodhisattva is a person with many precious qualities. Every Bodhisattva has to reach different Perfections (from 6 to 10) to become Buddha.

What is interesting for me this time: one of these Perfections is Joy.

"the fulfilment of the aim of every action is possible with joyful effort"
"It's unpossible that concentration can appear in a lazy person, you have to generate joyful effort day and night."
"joyful effort of the non-indolence is reached through the help to others"
"method to increase virtue is joyful effort"

In this world, wild and mad elephants
are not able to make damage
similar to the most deep infernal sufferings
caused by the rabid elephant of my mind. (5.3)

...all types of enemies
will be curbed
by only subdue of my mind... (5.5)

"... has to supervise own mind to avoid that it turns to the mistaken objects"

"... all those manifestations are only produced by the negative mind..."

All these quotations are very good, will say somebody, but the life is something where the joy is rare thing. Go out in the street -you will find mostly sad, indifferent, wicked persons. Specially in great cities. Try to smile to every person you meet in the street.
You are right. Unfortunatelly our existance is mostly infernal. And more we follow our negative mind more deep is our hell. And one day we understand that we become negative person. Always negative. And, the "best", we don't want to change.

First I read in on place that to become positive we have to exercise us remembering positive feelings.
For example. Look at the joy your body feels when you begin to wash yourself. Look at the joyful feeling your body has when after working day it touches the soft sheet. ecc.
You know, it's really iteresting. Personally I had never noticed these peculiarities. The joy of my skin after bath... ( photo)

And than I found one site of the followers of Thich Nhat Hanh (there are many sites) and different practices always full of joy there. Every movement is for him a meditation, every movement is the occasion to be happy.

As example I copy here his Tea meditation. No, think about it: tea time as meditation. Because meditation for him is joy -just as all texts want it.

Tea meditation is a time to be with the Sangha (group of followers) in a joyful and serene atmosphere. Just to enjoy our tea together is enough. It is like a “good news” occasion, when we share our joy and happiness in being together.

Than I was interested to read other practices (on the left of that page). It was really great reading for my research: where we have to find joy in the modern life.

Related links:
Raja Yoga Meditation for positive thinking
About happyness and positive thinking
"Positive thinking" or "joy of the life"
Emotional mistreatment -"bad" chief, parents, friends
How to do?-Everyday meditation for everybody and disrespect and emotional mistreatment
Satipatthana sutta -Thich Nhat Hanh ( italian )

Benefits of meditation about death

( all photo )

We know, everybody will die. There is nothing and nobody in this world that will remain here forever. There were many persons that did all they could to reach the point of eternal life -pharaons, Chingis Chan, Chinese Emperors and many-many others, but the death came to all of them. Today we know about them from those their trials to win the death.

Nothing to do, one day we will leave this world too. ONE DAY.

This is an other very important preparative practice in Buddhismus, that says: remember the death.

Some persons think: it's too brutal usage, to pretend that I think about my death. But it's not true. Because those persons don't know WHAT it means. I want to write here about this moment today.
My sourse is "Lam-Rim" by Lama Tzong Khapa, but the same explanations you will find in any other "related" Teaching. Different schools of Buddhism, Bon ecc.

So, as said, we are conscious, that we are mortal. One day I'll die. ONE DAY. But not today, surely. Next day we think too: Yes, I'm mortal, but I'll die maybe later, not today.

All our life we plan this and that, think about what we have to do today and tomorrow. We create sufferings to other beings, we go forward without thinking about beings we meet on the way. If we understand that we've made something bad we think: well, I'll ask him excuses tomorrow. But tomorrow we have not time, we are angry or what else...
In this way we create mostly bad, negative actions in our life.

Some of us wants to dedicate ourselves to Dharma (read: positive living). Yes, I'll practice the paramitas, I'll study texts, I'll take the votes. No, today not. Today I have to do many things, but from tomorrow I'll begin with the Teaching. Ah, no, tomorrow I have a party, we have to go to my mother-in-low, we have to buy gifts. Well, after these holidays.

But if we think about it, we can understand: the life of an human being is very fragile. There are incredible things and situations that can kill us in every moment. One slips on the wet stone-floor, other falls from the stairs or ledder, the driver in the other car was too distracted -continue the list, it's infinite.

The main idea is:
we can die in every next moment. There is nobody and nothing that can assure us, that we will be alive till tomorrow. We can't extend our life and it becomes shorter and shorter.
If we remember that it is possible, we will not wait till tomorrow to caress our child, to kiss the wife, to make excuses to those we have offended.

If we remember about our death, maybe we will not kill that spider or butterfly because it's life is more short as ours. Very-very short life. Maybe only some hours. And I don't give it even these some poor hours of life, I kill it!

This thought about the possibility to die in the next moment wants to explain us that we have not time to do good things later. We have to do them now.

And in the moment of our death nobody and nothing can help us. We can't take money with us, we can't take things. We can't take our friends or relatives.
We will be alown there, only with our mind, our consciousness about good or bad things we've done.

And maybe the good memory of our existance will help us, the memory about lives we have saved, the memory about good, positive emotions we gave to our relatives, to completely fremd persons or animals or plants (I'm sure they have souls too).

So, this is the meaning of the meditation on the death.

-it's the only thing that is true in this world
-nobody and nothing can give you an insurance that you will not die in the next moment
-in the moment of the death only Drahma can be useful for you

And now you have to make your decision.

There are many conditions for death
but those that alow us to survive are not numerous
and even those (conditions), that alow the life, become (conditions of) death.
Hence, make treasure from Dharma

Sleeping Buddha and energetic chanels

Sri Lanka, Polonnaruwa and other places on very beautiful photos of Juergen Schreiber
I looked at the persons on the photos, those praying for the statues and remembered an interview with Dalai Lama.
Do you see this little statue of Tara? -said he- Do you feel something special when you see it? No. For everybody, including the actual Dalai Lama, this statue is only a little statue. But for the V-th (I think) Dalai Lama this statue was an alive being that told him all the Teachings he had wrote later.

But I looked for the Sleeping Buddha photo to have a confirmation ... that Buddha is sleeping on the right side.

There is a little peculiarity -for those who doesn't know- why he does it in this way. To explain it we have to remember energetic chanels of human body. Two of them, precisely. Red and white, those that begin in the nostrils. Right chanel is for negative emotions, left is for positive emotions (contrary for women). Dreaming on the right side Buddha presses the chanel of negative emotions and positive emotions can circulate without disturbances. If he was a woman he would sleep on the left side. The position of the hands and legs during the meditation ( Photo here ) would be contrary too.
Water Meditation Room

More about relaxation and healing trouble techniques

It's true maybe, that when you look for something that is important in your life -not from your but from "cosmic" intentions (Till today I don't know how to name this to be accepted by all points of view)- the informations will come to you from very incredible parts.

All you know -and I become just noisy with this my idea fix- that I tryed to understand what is necessary to do to make the persons more happy.

In the last posts I told you about techniques of positive thinking, that are not very good interpreted by many of them hat practice them. Today, in the blog Yang Town I found a post How to Let Go of an Emotional Trauma that tells about other interpretation of this technique. The name is Tapas Acupressure Technique and is the great mix of 7-point prayer, marma points and positive thinking sentences.

First of all, The marma points here are not massaged but only touched.
Sincerely, I feel bad when I massage some marma points that are recomended to all as preventive and not dangerous.
From my experience I can confirm, the 7 point prayer is very effective.

Than I liked the 7-point prayer here. Hope the author will forgive me that I copy it.
Attention! These are only sentences.For the technique visit the link over.

Technique:

The healing I am about to do will also benefit all of my ancestors, my family, everyone involved, all parts of myself and all points of view I have ever held.

Step 1 - The Problem: This happened.
Step 2 - The Opposite of the Problem: This happened, it's over and I'm okay. I can relax now.
Step 3 - The Places: All the places in my mind, body and life where this has been stored are healing now.
Step 4 - The Origins: All the origins of this are healing now.
Step 5 - Forgiveness Part 1: I apologize to everyone I hurt related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace.
Forgiveness Part 2: I forgive everyone who hurt me related to this and wish them love, happiness and peace.
Step 5 - Forgiveness Part 3: I forgive everyone I blamed for this, including God and myself.
Step 6 - Parts: All the parts of me that got something from this are healing now.Step 7 - Whatever's Left: Whatever’s left about this is healing now.
Step 8 - Choosing: I choose ________. Fill in the blank with a statement of how you want to feel or any positive outcome that you want. Make sure it's positive such as "I choose to feel love towards my parents," and not "I choose to forget all the pain my parents caused me."
Step 9 - Integration: This healing is completely integrated now.
Step 10 - Gratitude: Simply give thanks to God, life, source energy etc. for the healing that has taken place.

Relaxation and meditation timers

Time ago when I looked for meditation timer I could not find it. Later, surfing the web I found the timer of Berkeleymonastery and I use it. For those who looks for these timers today I post here my "collection"

This timer I found in this interesting blog
Relaxation & Meditation Timer and you can use it opening this page

I wrote that I prefere the timer of http://www.berkeleymonastery.org/meditate.asp
but logically everybody has to choose what is more good for him/her and that is why I post all timers I know.

Other 2 you'll find here:
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/timer/timer.html
http://themiddleway.net/

Raja Yoga Meditation for positive thinking

As you know, I'm very interested now to find a receipe for happy life.
Not becase I'm so unhappy, I'm unhappy in the same way as all of us.
I want to find this receipe because I see too many negativities around me.
To give you the most evident example I remember you the persons that take a gun and shoot their family, friends. I ask you: can a happy person do it? Can this state of soul be created from one day to other? No.

We spoke about positive thinking too (see Related posts on the bottom of this).

We said, positive thinking is something very hard to reach and maintain.
But it's unpossible to live without it.

Why does positive thinking not work in many cases?
Because we point on mistaken aims. We have not to begin with "I'm milioner". This is not the root of our problem. You have to post many "Why's" to find the root.

Here I want to tell you about Raja Yoga Meditation site's advises for the morning. Note the difference .
Technique:
every morning when you wake up repeat

I am a peaceful soul,
my aim today is to radiate peace
to every person that I come into contact with.

And then for 15 minutes this text

(Try to experience the stillness of mind of being a peaceful soul as other thoughts emerge in the mind do not judge or focus on them but repeat)
............ I am a peaceful soul
............. I am a peaceful soul
............ My mind is filled with peace
.............. I radiate peace to the world
............... I feel the gentle waves of peace flowing across my mind
........... As these peaceful thoughts emerge in my mind
I feel the stillness and silence envelopes my mind
................. I am the peaceful soul
...... I am a peaceful loving soul
............ My mind feels light and free from worries
........... I realize my real nature is peace
.......... Peaceful thoughts flow through the mind and I feel the self becoming light
...................... I am a being of light shining like a star
....................... I radiate peace and light to the world
...................... The light and peace envelopes me and the waves of peace
and light shine like a lighthouse

I did this practice too. For 40 days I repeated the thoughts of positive thinking according to my state of soul. I can confirm: it works.

Related links:
Where to find joy in the modern life
About happyness and positive thinking
"Positive thinking" or "joy of the life"
Emotional mistreatment -"bad" chief, parents, friends
How to do?-Everyday meditation for everybody and disrespect and emotional mistreatment
these 2 last posts contain explanations of the technique described here as Raja Yoga Meditation but seen by other schools

Meditation practice

Here I post the video with some explanations of the meditation practices.
Not only this, it's interesting to see Teachers and behaviour.



This other video I like for musik and chant that is very good for relaxation.



The faces of children are sad and some of photos are made with our mentality. I think they don't reflect the real life. So I appreciate this video for chant and music only.