Peace Of Mind

Gratitude - Give Thanks, Enjoy and Rejoice

2008-04-15T02:42:00.001-07:00

What if any and every moment you experience anger, frustration and stress could be reinterpreted through understanding, forgiveness and love? Would you not be grateful for such a shift in your perceptions?

Remember in the Godself's view, there is no experience or expression other than that of love or a call for love, a call for assistance. Thus if in any moment you perceive that your brother doing is something that is causing you anger, frustration and stress, then understand that not only is he asking for assistance, but that you yourself are asking for assistance. Yes, you have unconsciously asked your brother to help you bring forth to your conscious mind those areas in your life where you still perceive that reactions and expressions of frustration, anger, and stress are correct and proper responses to God's creation.

Where the ego-self has trained you to act and react with frustration, anger and stress, the Godself is trying to remind you of the true gift that your brother is offering. Remember that every moment that the ego-self defines with frustration, anger and stress, that same moment is seen by the Godself as a gift to be grateful for. The gift is allowing you to consciously bring up the blocks to your awareness of love's presence. The blocks must be brought to the surface, seen, experienced and understood before they are dismantled, and that is what your brother is offering you. Once the blocks to your awareness of love's presence are dismantled, all that is left is the awareness of love's presence in every moment. Would you not be grateful to your brother or sister for this offering? Would you not be grateful to them once and for all for assisting you in dismantling the blocks of frustration, anger and stress and showing you the moment as it truly is? Is not the replacement of anger, frustration and stress with love a wondrous gift? Would gratitude not be the proper response to such a gift?

So forgive your brother or sister for what you think they have done to you. Forgive the moment for your interpretation of it. Your forgiveness is in truth a way of saying thank you for your brother or sister's participation in your remembering process. Thus, instead of using judgment as a response to your brother or sister's action, understand and remember what your brother or sister is truly offering, and forgive and thank him or her for it.

If you were awake, you would be thankful for each and every moment. Gratitude is the knowledge that God's will is being done. My friend, if you can take any of the ego's efforts and, instead of judging or cursing them, offer gratitude for them, the shift you will feel and experience will be not only noticeable, but life changing. It will be life changing for if you can see one of the ego's efforts as an illusion that you can simply forgive, it will open the flood gates to the knowledge that you can treat all the ego's illusions the same. My brother and sister, imagine for a moment how your life would change if what you once cursed and judged you now forgive and bless. How would this change your life? Would gratitude not be your response to such a change?

Try shifting your perception from a thought system based on lack and scarcity to a thought system based on kindness, abundance and gratitude. What do you have to lose? You have tried it the ego's way and have been rewarded with judgment, sorrow, regret, animosity, hostility and pain. Know that God is in you as well as in your brother and sister. Know that the part of you and your brother and sister that is God recognizes, acknowledges, salutes and blesses even the smallest gifts or the slightest kind word you offer. Believe me when I say that even the most Lilliputian of efforts to be kind and loving to your brother and sister is honored by God.

Continue to work on re-training your mind, for as your mind begins to heal, the world itself will begin to heal. There will be days when you experience life through the ego. There will still be days when you allow the ego to tell you what is right. On those days you will experience judgment, stress and pain. But now there will also be days when you will simply listen to your Godself. These days you will experience love, peace of mind and joy. Do not judge yourself for listening to the ego, but simply stop when you experience judgment, stress or pain and ask yourself if this is truly what you desire. Regardless of what kind of day you are choosing to experience, offer gratitude for it, for it is bringing you into closer alignment with your Godself. As author Dan Millman writes in his book, No Ordinary Moments:

Life has cycles. Whatever goes up, comes down, and what falls can rise again. Progress can be slow: We remember, then we forget, then we remember; we take two steps forward, then one step back. No matter how enlightened we become, we still face the realities of daily life.

A lesson on enlightenment may be learned from the following anecdote:

A young man had spent five arduous years searching for truth. One day, as he walked up into the foothills of a great mountain range, he saw an old man approach from above, walking down the path carrying a heavy sack on his back. He sensed that this old man had been to the mountaintop; he had finally found one of the wise-ones who could answer his heart's deepest questions.

"Please, Sir" he asked. "Tell me the meaning of enlightenment."

The old man smiled, and stopped. Then, fixing his gaze on the youth, he slowly swung the heavy burden off his back, laid the sack down and stood up straight.

"Ah, I understand," the young man replied. "But, Sir, what comes after enlightenment?"

The old man took a deep breath, then swung the heavy sack over his shoulders and continued on his way.

Socrates (character in the story) once told me, "A flash of enlightenment offers a preview of coming attractions, but when it fades, you will see more clearly what separates you from that state-your compulsive habits, outmoded beliefs, false associations and other mental structures." Just when our lives are starting to get better, we may feel like things are getting worse because for the first time we see clearly what needs to be done.

"After illumination," Socrates continued, "difficulties continue to arise; what changes is your relationship to them. You see more and resist less. You gain the capacity to turn your problems into lessons and your lessons into wisdom.

The Sigalovada Sutta

2008-04-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

The Sigalovada Sutta

This Sutra is a record of the words of the Buddha to Sigalo, a young middle class man, who was on his way to worship the six directions, east, west, north, south, up, and down. His father had died and asked him to worship in this very ancient fashion in remembrance of him. The Buddha, wishing this ritual to have more meaning for the young man, advised him in detail about how to live a good life as a layman. He phrased himself, as he apparently so often did, using lists, and begins by warning him against many of the evils of the layman's life.

The four vices:

1. The destruction of life
2. Stealing
3. Sexual misconduct
4. Lying

The four things which lead to evil:

1. Desire, meaning greed, lust, clinging
2. Anger and hatred
3. Ignorance
4. Fear and anxiety

The six ways one dissipates ones wealth:

1. Drinking and drugs
2. Carousing late at night
3. Wasting away your time at shows
4. Gambling
5. Keeping bad company
6. Laziness

And he provides details regarding these last six that demonstrate the manners in which drink, etc., lead to one's downfall.

Then he provides a lesson on friendship -- how to distinguish good friends from bad friends. There are four types that are not really your friends, but will make your life miserable in the long run:

1. The leech who appropriates your possessions
2. The bull-shitter who manipulates you
3. The boot-licker who flatters you
4. The party-animal who encourages you to do the same

A good friend, on the other hand, is one who...

1. is always ready to help you
2. is steady and loyal
3. provides good advice
4. is sympathetic

The Buddha even gives some advice regarding one's finances:

1. One quarter of your earnings should be used to cover your expenses.
2. Two quarters should be re-invested in your business.
3. One quarter should be put into savings for times of need.

Finally, the Buddha discusses how one might best benefit from worshipping the six directions.

Regarding the east, a child should be good to his or her parents: support them, help them, keep their traditions, be worthy of your inheritance, and offer alms in their honor when they die.

A parent should be good to his or her children as well: keep them from getting into trouble, encourage them to be good, train them for a profession, make sure they are suitably married, and provide a good inheritance.

Regarding the south, a student should be good to his or her teachers: show respect, work hard, and be eager to learn.

A teacher should be good to his or her students: teach them well, make sure they understand, help them achieve their goals.

Regarding the west, a husband should be good to his wife: treat her well, be faithful to her, share authority with her, and give her jewelry ;-)

A wife should be good to her husband: be gracious, faithful, industrious, and frugal.

Regarding the north, a friend should be good to his or her friends: be generous, helpful, loyal, protective, and so on.

Regarding the nadir ("down"), an employer should be good to his or her employees: assign work according to their abilities, provide food and wages, take care of them when they are sick, share delicacies with them, and grant them occasional leave.

Employees should be good to their employers: Get to work early, leave late, perform their duties well, don't pilfer from the supply closet, and uphold their employer's good name.

And finally, regarding the zenith ("up"), lay people should be good to people who have devoted themselves to the spiritual life: kind deeds, kind words, kind thoughts, opening one's home to them, and supplying them with their physical needs.

And people in the spiritual life should be good to lay people: keep them from doing evil, encourage them to do good, make sure they hear the dharma, clarify what they don't understand, point out the way, and generally love them.

Keep these relationships in mind, he tells Sigalovada, and the ritual your father asked you to keep will have greater benefits than he ever dreamed of. Although some of the details may be a bit dated -- it has been some 2500 years, after all -- it can still serve quite well as a guide to moral behavior for the common man or woman of today!

Buddha concludes with a poem:

Who is wise and virtuous,
Gentle and keen-witted,
Humble and amenable,
Such a one to honor may attain.

Who is energetic and not indolent,
In misfortune unshaken,
Flawless in manner and intelligent,
Such a one to honor may attain.

Who is hospitable and friendly,
Liberal and unselfish,
A guide, an instructor, a leader,
Such a one to honor may attain.

Generosity, sweet speech,
Helpfulness to others,
Impartiality to all,
As the case demands.

These four winning ways make the world go round,
As the linchpin in a moving car.
If these in the world exist not,
Neither mother nor father will receive,
Respect and honor from their children.

Map of Buddha's world

2008-04-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

Anapanasati Meditaion

2008-04-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

Ānāpānasati (Pali), meaning 'mindfulness of breathing' ("sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation), is a fundamental form of meditation taught by the Buddha. According to this teaching, classically presented in the Anāpānasati Sutta,^[1] practicing this form of meditation as a part of the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the removal of all defilements (kilesa) and finally to the attainment of nibbāna (nirvana).

Buddhist origins

The Buddha's teaching in this matter was based on his own experience in using anapanasati as part of his means of achieving his own enlightenment .The Anāpānasati Sutta specifically concerns mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, and recommends the practice of ānāpānasati meditation as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening: sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (analysis), viriya (persistence), which leads to piti (rapture), then to passaddhi (serenity), which in turn leads to samadhi (concentration) and then to upekkhā (equanimity). Finally, the Buddha taught that, with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of ānāpānasati would lead to release (Pali: nibbāna; Sanskrit: nirvana) from suffering (dukkha).

The practice

The practice of anāpānasati varies. Typically, one begins by sitting in a comfortable position, with the back and neck straight, in a comfortable and peaceful environment.

The meditator should breathe naturally, without attempting to change the length or depth of the breath.{Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta No. 118, Section No. 2, translated from the Pali} If the breath is short, the meditator should simply observe that the breath is short. If the breath is long, the meditator should simply observe that the breath is long.

While inhaling and exhaling, the meditator practises:

training the mind to be sensitive to one or more of: the entire body, rapture, pleasure, the mind itself, and mental processes
training the mind to be focused on one or more of: inconstancy, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment
steadying, satisfying, or releasing the mind.
Tutors will explain that, in an untrained mind, thoughts constantly arise, disturbing the focus. They arise and fall away, like waves in an ocean. If one disregards them, they slowly wither and disappear. On the other hand, if one pays them attention, one is soon lost in a web of thoughts.

In this tradition there are two types of thoughts: thoughts from the past and thoughts about the future. These may bring happiness or sadness. It is said that, when left unattended, the mind will flit from one thought to another, wandering aimlessly.

Practitioners are tutored to avoid their practice being disrupted by passing thoughts and to nudge themselves into concentrating on their breathing once again.

A popular non-canonical method used today, loosely based on the Visuddhimagga, follows four stages:
counting each breath at the end of exhalation
counting each breath at the beginning of inhalation
focusing on the breath without counting
focusing only on the spot where the breath enters and leaves the nostrils (i.e., the nostril and upper lip area).^[6]
Stages of Anāpānasati

Formally, there are sixteen stages — or contemplations — of ānāpānasati. These are divided into four tetrads (i.e., sets or groups of four). The first four steps involve focusing the mind on breathing, which is the 'body-conditioner' (Pali: kāya-sankhāra). The second tetrad involves focusing on the feelings (vedanā), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (Pali: citta-sankhāra). The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself (Pali: citta), and the fourth on 'the truth' (Pali: dhamma). (Compare right mindfulness and satipatthana .)Any anāpānasati meditation session should progress through the stages in order, beginning at the first, whether the practitioner has performed all stages in a previous session or not.

Link with pranayama

Although anapanasati is a core meditation practice in Buddhism, especially in the Theravada school, and involves merely being a "passive observer of the natural involuntary breathing process," ^[7] rather than being in control of the breathing, yet it also has some similarities to pranayama, which does involve "breathing techniques or breath control," ^[8] as a yogic practice. In any case, anapanasati is not the only breathing-based type of Buddhist meditation. For example, in the Buddhist meditation practices of Tibet, Mongolia and Japanese Zen meditation, control of the breathing is an important element.

In the throat singing so widely prevalent in the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet and Mongolia^[9] the long slow outbreath during chanting is the core of the practice, just as it is in the yogic breathing method of pranayama. The sound of the chant also serves to focus the mind in one-pointed concentration samadhi, while the sense of self dissolves as awareness becomes absorbed into a realm of pure sound. In Zen meditation, the emphasis is upon maintaining "strength in the abdominal area" ^[10] (tanden) and slow deep breathing during the long outbreath, again to assist the attainment of a mental state of one-pointed concentration.

Arguably, therefore, there are many interesting parallels between the overtly yogic methods of the pranayama of Patanjali and those of Buddhist meditation. Whether this apparent convergence is historically traceable is open to question as over two centuries of time lie between Gautama and Patanjali. But it seems likely that elements of yogic breathing have indeed become incorporated into mainstream Buddhist meditation practices. It is also arguable that the connection between the breathing and the mental state has been observed in both traditions, and that breath regulation leads into meditative states; control one and you naturally gain control of the other.

Benefits of Meditation

2008-04-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

When we start practicing meditation, we start feeling relaxed, peaceful and happy. This is a kind of inter-generative process. You meditate and you get the reward in forms of joy and happiness, which in turn motivates you to meditate more. In course of time, it becomes your automatic practice, a kind of ‘sanskar’. You feel uneasy and think something is missing from your life if you do not meditate on any particular day. When you start your day with meditation, the peace and joy generated last with you whole day whatever the nature of your activities. It is like taking a healthy and nourishing diet before the start of a strenuous and stressful routine of the day.

Meditation enables you to become aware of your inner resources of joy and peace. You can tap them whenever you feel stressed and worried. You acquire a habit of detached observation. So if something wrong and irritating happens in course of your day, you can view it as a detached observer. You learn to understand the monkey tricks of your mind. You thus get an inner poise that ultimately percolates into your daily life. The peace and joy that you acquire become infectious to those around you. In this way you try to make the whole environment happy and peaceful.

Although meditation is a great tool for relaxation and peace of mind, it can become a path for our spiritual quest for the ultimate spiritual goal of self-enlightenment and God realization or nirvana. Meditation may help us overcome our ego and body consciousness which are the main causes of most of human suffering, tensions, conflicts at personal and larger levels. Meditation helps us understand that our real nature is an integral part of the divine or transcendental consciousness.

Scientific studies have conclusively proved the benefits of meditation for our mind and body. According to search results released by the University of Wisconsin-Madison, meditation has been shown to produce lasting beneficial changes in immune-system function as well as brain electrical activity. “Researchers found about 50 percent more electrical activity in the left frontal regions of the brains of the meditators. Other research has showed that part of the brain is associated with positive emotions and anxiety reduction.”

Art Of Living

2008-04-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

Everyone seeks peace and harmony, because this is what we lack in our lives. From time to time we all experience agitation, irritation, disharmony. And when we suffer from these miseries, we don't keep them to ourselves; we often distribute them to others as well. Unhappiness permeates the atmosphere around someone who is miserable, and those who come in contact with such a person also become affected. Certainly this is not a skillful way to live.

We ought to live at peace with ourselves, and at peace with others. After all, human beings are social beings, having to live in society and deal with each other. But how are we to live peacefully? How are we to remain harmonious within, and maintain peace and harmony around us, so that others can also live peacefully and harmoniously?

In order to be relieved of our misery, we have to know the basic reason for it, the cause of the suffering. If we investigate the problem, it becomes clear that whenever we start generating any negativity or impurity in the mind, we are bound to become unhappy. A negativity in the mind, a mental defilement or impurity, cannot coexist with peace and harmony.

How do we start generating negativity? Again, by investigation, it becomes clear. We become unhappy when we find someone behaving in a way that we don't like, or when we find something happening which we don't like. Unwanted things happen and we create tension within. Wanted things do not happen, some obstacle comes in the way, and again we create tension within; we start tying knots within. And throughout life, unwanted things keep on happening, wanted things may or may not happen, and this process of reaction, of tying knots—Gordian knots—makes the entire mental and physical structure so tense, so full of negativity, that life becomes miserable.

Now, one way to solve this problem is to arrange that nothing unwanted happens in life, that everything keeps on happening exactly as we desire. Either we must develop the power, or somebody else who will come to our aid must have the power, to see that unwanted things do not happen and that everything we want happens. But this is impossible. There is no one in the world whose desires are always fulfilled, in whose life everything happens according to his or her wishes, without anything unwanted happening. Things constantly occur that are contrary to our desires and wishes. So the question arises: how can we stop reacting blindly when confronted with things that we don't like? How can we stop creating tension and remain peaceful and harmonious?

In India, as well as in other countries, wise saintly persons of the past studied this problem—the problem of human suffering—and found a solution: if something unwanted happens and you start to react by generating anger, fear or any negativity, then, as soon as possible, you should divert your attention to something else. For example, get up, take a glass of water, start drinking—your anger won't multiply; on the other hand, it'll begin to subside. Or start counting: one, two, three, four. Or start repeating a word, or a phrase, or some mantra, perhaps the name of a god or saintly person towards whom you have devotion; the mind is diverted, and to some extent you'll be free of the negativity, free of the anger.

This solution was helpful; it worked. It still works. Responding like this, the mind feels free from agitation. However, the solution works only at the conscious level. In fact, by diverting the attention you push the negativity deep into the unconscious, and there you continue to generate and multiply the same defilement. On the surface there is a layer of peace and harmony, but in the depths of the mind there is a sleeping volcano of suppressed negativity which sooner or later may erupt in a violent explosion.

Other explorers of inner truth went still further in their search and, by experiencing the reality of mind and matter within themselves, recognized that diverting the attention is only running away from the problem. Escape is no solution; you have to face the problem. Whenever negativity arises in the mind, just observe it, face it. As soon as you start to observe a mental impurity, it begins to lose its strength and slowly withers away.

A good solution; it avoids both extremes—suppression and expression. Burying the negativity in the unconscious will not eradicate it, and allowing it to manifest as unwholesome physical or vocal actions will only create more problems. But if you just observe, then the defilement passes away and you are free of it.

This sounds wonderful, but is it really practical? It's not easy to face one's own impurities. When anger arises, it so quickly overwhelms us that we don't even notice. Then, overpowered by anger, we perform physical or vocal actions which harm ourselves and others. Later, when the anger has passed, we start crying and repenting, begging pardon from this or that person or from God: “Oh, I made a mistake, please excuse me!” But the next time we are in a similar situation, we again react in the same way. This continual repenting doesn't help at all.

The difficulty is that we are not aware when negativity starts. It begins deep in the unconscious mind, and by the time it reaches the conscious level it has gained so much strength that it overwhelms us, and we cannot observe it.

Suppose that I employ a private secretary, so that whenever anger arises he says to me, “Look, anger is starting!” Since I cannot know when this anger will start, I'll need to hire three private secretaries for three shifts, around the clock! Let's say I can afford it, and anger begins to arise. At once my secretary tells me, “Oh look—anger has started!” The first thing I'll do is rebuke him: “You fool! You think you're paid to teach me?” I'm so overpowered by anger that good advice won't help.

Suppose wisdom does prevail and I don't scold him. Instead, I say, “Thank you very much. Now I must sit down and observe my anger.” Yet, is it possible? As soon as I close my eyes and try to observe anger, the object of the anger immediately comes into my mind—the person or incident which initiated the anger. Then I'm not observing the anger itself; I'm merely observing the external stimulus of that emotion. This will only serve to multiply the anger, and is therefore no solution. It is very difficult to observe any abstract negativity, abstract emotion, divorced from the external object which originally caused it to arise.

However, someone who reached the ultimate truth found a real solution. He discovered that whenever any impurity arises in the mind, physically two things start happening simultaneously. One is that the breath loses its normal rhythm. We start breathing harder whenever negativity comes into the mind. This is easy to observe. At a subtler level, a biochemical reaction starts in the body, resulting in some sensation. Every impurity will generate some sensation or the other within the body.

This presents a practical solution. An ordinary person cannot observe abstract defilements of the mind—abstract fear, anger or passion. But with proper training and practice it is very easy to observe respiration and body sensations, both of which are directly related to mental defilements.

Respiration and sensations will help in two ways. First, they will be like private secretaries. As soon as a negativity arises in the mind, the breath will lose its normality; it will start shouting, “Look, something has gone wrong!” And we cannot scold the breath; we have to accept the warning. Similarly, the sensations will tell us that something has gone wrong. Then, having been warned, we can start observing the respiration, start observing the sensations, and very quickly we find that the negativity passes away.

This mental-physical phenomenon is like a coin with two sides. On one side are the thoughts and emotions arising in the mind, on the other side are the respiration and sensations in the body. Any thoughts or emotions, any mental impurities that arise manifest themselves in the breath and the sensations of that moment. Thus, by observing the respiration or the sensations, we are in fact observing mental impurities. Instead of running away from the problem, we are facing reality as it is. As a result, we discover that these impurities lose their strength; they no longer overpower us as they did in the past. If we persist, they eventually disappear altogether and we begin to live a peaceful and happy life, a life increasingly free of negativities.

In this way the technique of self-observation shows us reality in its two aspects, inner and outer. Previously we only looked outward, missing the inner truth. We always looked outside for the cause of our unhappiness; we always blamed and tried to change the reality outside. Being ignorant of the inner reality, we never understood that the cause of suffering lies within, in our own blind reactions toward pleasant and unpleasant sensations.

Now, with training, we can see the other side of the coin. We can be aware of our breathing and also of what is happening inside. Whatever it is, breath or sensation, we learn just to observe it without losing our mental balance. We stop reacting and multiplying our misery. Instead, we allow the defilements to manifest and pass away.

The more one practices this technique, the more quickly negativities will dissolve. Gradually the mind becomes free of defilements, becomes pure. A pure mind is always full of love—selfless love for all others, full of compassion for the failings and sufferings of others, full of joy at their success and happiness, full of equanimity in the face of any situation.

When one reaches this stage, the entire pattern of one's life changes. It is no longer possible to do anything vocally or physically which will disturb the peace and happiness of others. Instead, a balanced mind not only becomes peaceful, but the surrounding atmosphere also becomes permeated with peace and harmony, and this will start affecting others, helping others too.

By learning to remain balanced in the face of everything experienced inside, one develops detachment towards all that one encounters in external situations as well. However, this detachment is not escapism or indifference to the problems of the world. Those who regularly practice Vipassana become more sensitive to the sufferings of others, and do their utmost to relieve suffering in whatever way they can—not with any agitation, but with a mind full of love, compassion and equanimity. They learn holy indifference—how to be fully committed, fully involved in helping others, while at the same time maintaining balance of mind. In this way they remain peaceful and happy, while working for the peace and happiness of others.

This is what the Buddha taught: an art of living. He never established or taught any religion, any “ism”. He never instructed those who came to him to practice any rites or rituals, any empty formalities. Instead, he taught them just to observe nature as it is, by observing the reality inside. Out of ignorance we keep reacting in ways which harm ourselves and others. But when wisdom arises—the wisdom of observing reality as it is—this habit of reacting falls away. When we cease to react blindly, then we are capable of real action—action proceeding from a balanced mind, a mind which sees and understands the truth. Such action can only be positive, creative, helpful to ourselves and to others.

What is necessary, then, is to “know thyself”—advice which every wise person has given. We must know ourselves, not just intellectually in the realm of ideas and theories, and not just emotionally or devotionally, simply accepting blindly what we have heard or read. Such knowledge is not enough. Rather, we must know reality experientially. We must experience directly the reality of this mental-physical phenomenon. This alone is what will help us be free of our suffering.

This direct experience of our own inner reality, this technique of self-observation, is what is called Vipassana meditation. In the language of India in the time of the Buddha, passana meant seeing in the ordinary way, with one's eyes open; but vipassana is observing things as they actually are, not just as they appear to be. Apparent truth has to be penetrated, until we reach the ultimate truth of the entire psycho-physical structure. When we experience this truth, then we learn to stop reacting blindly, to stop creating negativities—and naturally the old ones are gradually eradicated. We become liberated from misery and experience true happiness.

There are three steps to the training given in a meditation course. First, one must abstain from any action, physical or vocal, which disturbs the peace and harmony of others. One cannot work to liberate oneself from impurities of the mind while at the same time continuing to perform deeds of body and speech which only multiply them. Therefore, a code of morality is the essential first step of the practice. One undertakes not to kill, not to steal, not to commit sexual misconduct, not to tell lies, and not to use intoxicants. By abstaining from such actions, one allows the mind to quiet down sufficiently in order to proceed further.

The next step is to develop some mastery over this wild mind by training it to remain fixed on a single object, the breath. One tries to keep one's attention on the respiration for as long as possible. This is not a breathing exercise; one does not regulate the breath. Instead, one observes natural respiration as it is, as it comes in, as it goes out. In this way one further calms the mind so that it is no longer overpowered by intense negativities. At the same time, one is concentrating the mind, making it sharp and penetrating, capable of the work of insight.

These first two steps, living a moral life, and controlling the mind, are very necessary and beneficial in themselves, but they will lead to suppression of negativities unless one takes the third step: purifying the mind of defilements by developing insight into one's own nature. This is Vipassana: experiencing one's own reality by the systematic and dispassionate observation within oneself of the ever-changing mind-matter phenomenon manifesting itself as sensations. This is the culmination of the teaching of the Buddha: self-purification by self-observation.

It can be practiced by one and all. Everyone faces the problem of suffering. It is a universal malady which requires a universal remedy, not a sectarian one. When one suffers from anger, it's not Buddhist anger, Hindu anger, or Christian anger. Anger is anger. When one becomes agitated as a result of this anger, this agitation is not Christian, or Jewish, or Muslim. The malady is universal. The remedy must also be universal.

Vipassana is such a remedy. No one will object to a code of living which respects the peace and harmony of others. No one will object to developing control over the mind. No one will object to developing insight into one's own nature, by which it is possible to free the mind of negativities. Vipassana is a universal path.

Observing reality as it is by observing the truth inside—this is knowing oneself directly and experientially. As one practices, one keeps freeing oneself from the misery of mental impurities. From the gross, external, apparent truth, one penetrates to the ultimate truth of mind and matter. Then one transcends that, and experiences a truth which is beyond mind and matter, beyond time and space, beyond the conditioned field of relativity: the truth of total liberation from all defilements, all impurities, all suffering. Whatever name one gives this ultimate truth is irrelevant; it is the final goal of everyone.

May you all experience this ultimate truth. May all people be free from misery. May they enjoy real peace, real harmony, real happiness.

MAY ALL BEINGS BE HAPPY

Peace OF Mind

2008-03-31T02:43:00.000-07:00

With out mind peace we can not develop ourself. Because what we do or act or thing every thing depends on our mind we can say our mind is the supreme of our all action.
So control your mind- Learn Why its important to control your mind

Control your mind influences his body profoundly. The man’s has as much potential to be a medication as it has to be a poison. When the mind is vicious, it can kill a being but when it is steady and diligent it can benefit others. When the mind is concerted on right thought, and supported by right effort! And understanding, the effect it produces is immense. A mind with pure and wholesome thoughts leads to healthy relaxed living.

The Buddha says: “No enemy can harm one so much as one’s thoughts pf craving, thoughts of hate, thoughts of jealousy and so on.”

A man who doe not know how to adjust his mind according to circumstances is as if dead. Turn your mind inwards, and try to find pleasure within yourself.

It is only when the mind is controlled and properly directed that it becomes useful to it owner and society. An unruly mind is a liability both to its owner and to others. All the havoc wrought in this world is the creation of men who have not learned the way of mind control, balance And poise.

Calmness is not weakness. A calm attitude at all times shows a man of culture. It is not too hard for one to be calm when things are favorable, but to be composed when things are wrong is hard indeed. It is this difficult quality that is worth achieving, for by exercising such calm and control, a man builds strength of character.