Monday, January 31, 2011
Ponderance~
Srimad Bhagavatam 2.1.12
kim pramattasya bahubhih / parokshair haayanair iha
varam muhurtam viditam / ghatate shreyase yatah
“What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start
in searching after his supreme interest.”
kim pramattasya bahubhih / parokshair haayanair iha
varam muhurtam viditam / ghatate shreyase yatah
“What is the value of a prolonged life which is wasted, inexperienced by years in this world? Better a moment of full consciousness, because that gives one a start
in searching after his supreme interest.”
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Karma ~
Karma is not fatalistic or predetermined. Karma means our ability to create and to change. It is creative because we can determine how and why we act. We can change. The future is in our hands, and in the hands of our heart.
Buddha said:
Karma creates all, like an artist,
Karma composes, like a dancer.
Buddha said:
Karma creates all, like an artist,
Karma composes, like a dancer.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Meaning of Existence ~
The Meaning of Existence
Everything except language
knows the meaning of existence.
Trees, planets, rivers, time
know nothing else. They express it
moment by moment as the universe.
Even this fool of a body
lives it in part, and would
have full dignity within it
but for the ignorant freedom
of my talking mind.
- Les Murray
Everything except language
knows the meaning of existence.
Trees, planets, rivers, time
know nothing else. They express it
moment by moment as the universe.
Even this fool of a body
lives it in part, and would
have full dignity within it
but for the ignorant freedom
of my talking mind.
- Les Murray
Friday, January 28, 2011
Bodhisattva spirit
Bodhisattva Prayer
The way of the Bodhisattva
Thus by the virtue collected
Through all that I have done,
May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away!
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse,
For the sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed!
May a rain of food and drink descend
To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger,
And during the eon of famine
May I myself change into food and drink
May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute;
May I turn into all things they need
And may these be placed close beside them!
Whether those who encounter me
Conceive a faithful or angry thought,
May that always become the source
For fulfilling all their wishes!
May all who say bad things to me
Or cause me any other harm
And those who mock and insult me
Have the fortune to awaken fully!
The way of the Bodhisattva
Thus by the virtue collected
Through all that I have done,
May the pain of every living creature
Be completely cleared away!
May I be the doctor and the medicine
And may I be the nurse,
For the sick beings in the world
Until everyone is healed!
May a rain of food and drink descend
To clear away the pain of thirst and hunger,
And during the eon of famine
May I myself change into food and drink
May I become an inexhaustible treasure
For those who are poor and destitute;
May I turn into all things they need
And may these be placed close beside them!
Whether those who encounter me
Conceive a faithful or angry thought,
May that always become the source
For fulfilling all their wishes!
May all who say bad things to me
Or cause me any other harm
And those who mock and insult me
Have the fortune to awaken fully!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Dzogchen ~
The Dzogchen Tantras, the ancient teachings from which the bardo instructions come, speak of a mythical bird, the garuda, which is born fully grown. This image symbolizes our primordial nature, which is already completely perfect. The garuda chick has all its wing feathers fully developed inside the egg, but it cannot fly before it hatches. Only at the moment when the shell cracks open can it burst out and soar up into the sky. Similarly, the masters tell us, the qualities of buddhahood are veiled by the body, and as soon as the body is discarded, they will be radiantly displayed.
Ponderance~
"Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed... I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other."
—Thomas Merton
—Thomas Merton
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
On Love...
To love and be loved,
is to feel the Sun from both sides".
~ David Viscott
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Ponderance~
"Then it was as if I suddenly saw the secret beauty of their hearts, the depths of their hearts where neither sin nor desire nor self-knowledge can reach, the core of their reality, the person that each one is in God's eyes. If only they could see themselves as they really are. If only we could see each other that way all the time, there would be no more war, no more hatred, no more cruelty, no more greed... I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other."
—Thomas Merton
Mind& Body~
In the West, people tend to be absorbed by what I call “the technology of meditation.” The modern world, after all, is fascinated by mechanisms and machines and addicted to purely practical formulas. But by far the most important feature of meditation is not the technique but the spirit: the skillful, inspired and creative way in which we practice, which could also be called “the posture.”
The masters say: “If you create an auspicious condition in your body and your environment, then meditation and realization will automatically arise.” Talk about posture is not esoteric pedantry; the whole point of assuming a correct posture is to create a more inspiring environment for meditation, for the awakening of Rigpa.
There is a connection between the posture of the body and the mind. Mind and body are interrelated, and meditation arises naturally once your posture and attitude are inspired.
The masters say: “If you create an auspicious condition in your body and your environment, then meditation and realization will automatically arise.” Talk about posture is not esoteric pedantry; the whole point of assuming a correct posture is to create a more inspiring environment for meditation, for the awakening of Rigpa.
There is a connection between the posture of the body and the mind. Mind and body are interrelated, and meditation arises naturally once your posture and attitude are inspired.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Law of Attraction -
That Which Is Like Unto Itself Is Drawn... Everything that you perceive here in your physical environment is Vibration, and the life you are living is your Vibrational interpretation.
The powerful Law of Attraction is at the root of everything that you experience; and the stable, never-changing, always-accurate premise of this Law is: that which is like unto itself, is drawn.
When you give thought to something, you begin the attraction process of the essence of that subject into your own life experience. Once you have activated a Thought Vibration within yourself by giving your attention to the subject, the progression of expansion occurs.
The powerful Law of Attraction is at the root of everything that you experience; and the stable, never-changing, always-accurate premise of this Law is: that which is like unto itself, is drawn.
When you give thought to something, you begin the attraction process of the essence of that subject into your own life experience. Once you have activated a Thought Vibration within yourself by giving your attention to the subject, the progression of expansion occurs.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Compassion ~
One powerful way to evoke compassion is to think of others as exactly the same as you. “After all,” the Dalai Lama explains, “all human beings are the same—made of human flesh, bones, and blood. We all want happiness and want to avoid suffering. Further, we have an equal right to be happy. In other words, it is important to realize our sameness as human beings.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
A Cosmic theme - two variations...
A newer version.
http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/
The original from 1977 - coutesy the Eames brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
http://primaxstudio.com/stuff/scale_of_universe/
The original from 1977 - coutesy the Eames brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
Friday, January 21, 2011
Vow ~
For as long as space exists
And sentient beings endure,
May I too remain,
To dispel the misery of the world.
~SHANTIDEVA
Thursday, January 20, 2011
ponderance~
Loss and bereavement can remind you sharply of what can happen when in life you do not show your love and appreciation, or ask for forgiveness, and so make you far more sensitive to your loved ones.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross said: ‘What I try to teach people is to live in such a way that you say those things while the other person can still hear it.” And Raymond Moody, after his life’s work in near-death research, wrote: “I have begun to realize how near to death we all are in our daily lives. More than ever now I am very careful to let each person I love know how I feel.”
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Ponderance~
"You experience joy and misery through the ear. Therefore, avoiding the cruel arrows of harsh words, one should use words that are sweet, pleasant and soft. With that softness, add the sweetness of truth. To make the words soft, if falsehood is added, it would only clear the way for some more misery. Hence, a spiritual aspirant should use very soft, sweet, true and pleasant words." - Sathya Sai Baba
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Ponderance~
There is only one religion, the religion of Love;
There is only one language, the language of the Heart;
There is only one caste, the caste of Humanity;
There is only one law, the law of Karma;
There is only one God, He is Omnipresent. – Sai Baba
Monday, January 17, 2011
Ponderance~
I often think of the great masters and imagine beings who have their depth of realization as magnificent mountain eagles, who soar above both life and death and see them for what they are, in all their mysterious, intricate interrelation.
To see through the eyes of the mountain eagle, the view of realization, is to look down on a landscape in which the boundaries that we imagined existed between life and death shade into each other and dissolve. The physicist David Bohm has described reality as being “unbroken wholeness in flowing movement.”
What is seen by the masters, then, seen directly and with total understanding, is that flowing movement and that unbroken wholeness. What we, in our ignorance, call “life” and what we, in our ignorance, call “death” are merely different aspects of that wholeness and that movement.
~ SOYGAL RINPOCHE
To see through the eyes of the mountain eagle, the view of realization, is to look down on a landscape in which the boundaries that we imagined existed between life and death shade into each other and dissolve. The physicist David Bohm has described reality as being “unbroken wholeness in flowing movement.”
What is seen by the masters, then, seen directly and with total understanding, is that flowing movement and that unbroken wholeness. What we, in our ignorance, call “life” and what we, in our ignorance, call “death” are merely different aspects of that wholeness and that movement.
~ SOYGAL RINPOCHE
Meditation ~
When I teach meditation, I often begin by saying: “Bring your mind home. And release. And relax.”
To bring your mind home means to bring the mind into the state of Calm Abiding through the practice of mindfulness. In its deepest sense, to bring your mind home is to turn your mind inward and rest in the nature of mind. This itself is the highest meditation.
To release means to release the mind from its prison of grasping, since you recognize that all pain and fear and distress arise from the craving of the grasping mind. On a deeper level, the realization and confidence that arise from your growing understanding of the nature of mind inspire the profound and natural generosity that enables you to release all grasping from your heart, letting it free itself to melt away in the inspiration of meditation.
To relax means to be spacious and to relax the mind of its tensions. More deeply, you relax into the true nature of your mind, the state of Rigpa. It is like pouring a handful of sand onto a hot surface, and each grain settles of its own accord. This is how you relax into your true nature, letting all thoughts and emotions naturally subside and dissolve into the state of the nature of mind.
~SOYGAL RINPOCHE
To bring your mind home means to bring the mind into the state of Calm Abiding through the practice of mindfulness. In its deepest sense, to bring your mind home is to turn your mind inward and rest in the nature of mind. This itself is the highest meditation.
To release means to release the mind from its prison of grasping, since you recognize that all pain and fear and distress arise from the craving of the grasping mind. On a deeper level, the realization and confidence that arise from your growing understanding of the nature of mind inspire the profound and natural generosity that enables you to release all grasping from your heart, letting it free itself to melt away in the inspiration of meditation.
To relax means to be spacious and to relax the mind of its tensions. More deeply, you relax into the true nature of your mind, the state of Rigpa. It is like pouring a handful of sand onto a hot surface, and each grain settles of its own accord. This is how you relax into your true nature, letting all thoughts and emotions naturally subside and dissolve into the state of the nature of mind.
~SOYGAL RINPOCHE
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Join the ASTRO FORECAST gathering
Truth~
Truth without a veil is always uninteresting to the human mind.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Nectar of the heart....
We have to practice, because suffering must blossom into Bliss,
and limitation must explode into Unboundedness.
And so we drink of the Ecstatic Serenity."
Paul Muller-Ortega
and limitation must explode into Unboundedness.
And so we drink of the Ecstatic Serenity."
Paul Muller-Ortega
Ponderance~
~ Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices, and everything is possible. ~
Cherie-Carter Scotts
Friday, January 14, 2011
UNITY in realization --
"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."
—Albert Einstein, Letter of 1950, as quoted in The New York Times (29 March 1972) and The New York Post (28 November 1972).
This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security."
—Albert Einstein, Letter of 1950, as quoted in The New York Times (29 March 1972) and The New York Post (28 November 1972).
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Show your Brilliance...
"It is a dishonor to others
and yourself to
make yourself 'less than',
because you believe
if you show your brilliance
that others will feel bad."
"SHOW YOUR BRILLIANCE!"
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Consciousness -
There is no deep reality.
Reality is created by observation.
Reality is an undivided wholeness.
Consciousness creates reality.
The world is twofold, consisting of potentials and actualities.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Education on death --
It is crucial now that an enlightened vision of death and dying should be introduced throughout the world at all levels of education. Children should not be “protected” from death, but introduced, while young, to the true nature of death and what they can learn from it.
Why not introduce this vision, in its simplest forms, to all age groups? Knowledge about death, about how to help the dying, and about the spiritual nature of death and dying should be made available to all levels of society; it should be taught, in depth and with real imagination, in schools and colleges and universities of all kinds; and especially and most important, it should be available in teaching hospitals to nurses and doctors who will look after the dying and who have so much responsibility to them.
Why not introduce this vision, in its simplest forms, to all age groups? Knowledge about death, about how to help the dying, and about the spiritual nature of death and dying should be made available to all levels of society; it should be taught, in depth and with real imagination, in schools and colleges and universities of all kinds; and especially and most important, it should be available in teaching hospitals to nurses and doctors who will look after the dying and who have so much responsibility to them.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Giving--
Giving is best done in a spirit of unconditional love. Many people give only with the expectation of a reward - more good luck, their name on a plaque on the wall, public recognition, etc. No. We must learn to practice giving without expectation of reward. This is Lord Krishna's message in Bhagavad Gita. When we give in this way, we experience freedom and live in bliss. Forget the ego and think of what is good only. We live on Earth only a short while. During this time, help as many other souls and beings as possible.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Vow ~
For as long as space exists
And sentient beings endure,
May I too remain,
To dispel the misery of the world.
~SHANTIDEVA
Saturday, January 08, 2011
Service..
To learn how to die is to learn how to live; to learn how to live is to learn how to act not only in this life but in the lives to come. To transform yourself truly and learn how to be reborn as a transformed being to help others is really to help the world in the most powerful way of all.
Let us dare to imagine now what it would be like to live in a world where a significant number of people took the opportunity, offered by the teachings, to devote part of their lives to serious spiritual practice, to recognize the nature of their minds, and so to use the opportunity of their deaths to move closer to buddhahood, and to be reborn with one aim, that of serving and benefiting others.
Friday, January 07, 2011
Perception -
Perception defines our reality
"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend."
Henri Bergson
"There is no reality in the absence of observation."
The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Thursday, January 06, 2011
Ponderance~
You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.
- Brihadaranyaka Upanishad IV.4.5
Wednesday, January 05, 2011
On love...
Sarah Brightman - Love changes everything
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUgMNS18bGA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUgMNS18bGA
Tuesday, January 04, 2011
INNER FIRE ~
“How do we keep our inner fire alive? Two things, at minimum, are needed: an ability to appreciate the positives in our life – and a commitment to action. Every day, it’s important to ask and answer these questions: ‘What’s good in my life?’ and ‘What needs to be done?’”
(Nathaniel Branden)
(Nathaniel Branden)
Monday, January 03, 2011
onward and upward...
Many around you want to point out "reality" to you. They say, "Face the facts. Look at what-is." And we say to you, if you are able to see only what-is—then, by Law of Attraction, you will create only more of what-is... You must be able to put your thoughts beyond what-is in order to attract something different or something more.
--- Abraham
--- Abraham
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Intentions...
Have you set your intention for this day, to avoid be governed by the thoughts and feelings of yesterday?
These words will help you get started:
***ALL GOOD IS COMING TO ME TODAY
***ALL MY DESIRES ARE MET TODAY
***MIRACLES AND MAGIC WILL FOLLOW ME EVERYWHERE TODAY
Saturday, January 01, 2011
NEW intentions...
We are inspired with the motivation to dedicate our practice, and our life, to the enlightenment of all beings in the spirit of this prayer, which all the buddhas of the past have prayed:
By the power and the truth of this practice:
May all beings have happiness, and the causes of happiness;
May all be free from sorrow, and the causes of sorrow;
May all never be separated from the sacred happiness which is sorrowless;
And may all live in equanimity, without too much attachment and too much aversion,
And live believing in the equality of all that lives.
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