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Post by ichigo on Nov 24, 2013 13:59:47 GMT 8
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Post by ichigo on Nov 24, 2013 14:00:06 GMT 8
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Post by wiley on Nov 24, 2013 21:39:36 GMT 8
kadampa.org/en/books/the-new-meditation-handbook/How to Meditate Each of the twenty-one meditation practices has five parts: preparation, contemplation, meditation, dedication, and subsequent practice. The instructions that explain these twenty-one meditation practices are called the “stages of the path”, or “Lamrim”. The realizations of these meditations are the actual spiritual paths that lead us to the great liberation of full enlightenment. The first part, the preparatory practices, prepare us for successful meditation by purifying hindrances caused by our previous negative actions, by accumulating merit (or good fortune), and by enabling us to receive the blessings of enlightened beings. The preparatory practices are very important if we wish to gain deep experience of these meditations. For this purpose, we can begin our meditation with Prayers for Meditation, which can be found in Appendix I. A commentary to these practices can be found in Appendix II. The purpose of the second part, contemplation, or analytical meditation, is to bring to mind the object of placement meditation. We do this by considering various lines of reasoning, contemplating analogies, and reflecting on the meaning of the instructions. It is helpful to memorize the contemplations given in each section so that we can meditate without having to look at the text. The contemplations given here are intended only as guidelines. We should supplement and enrich them with whatever reasons and examples we find helpful. When, through our contemplations, the object appears clearly, we leave our analytical meditation and concentrate on the object single-pointedly. This single-pointed concentration is the third part, the actual meditation. When we first start to meditate, our concentration is poor; we are easily distracted and often lose our object of meditation. Therefore, to begin with, we shall probably need to alternate between contemplation and placement meditation many times in each session. For example, if we are meditating on compassion, we begin by contemplating the various sufferings experienced by living beings until a strong feeling of compassion arises in our heart. When this feeling arises, we meditate on it single-pointedly. If the feeling fades, or if our mind wanders to another object, we should return to analytical meditation to bring the feeling back to mind. When the feeling of compassion has been restored, we once again leave our analytical meditation and hold the feeling with single-pointed concentration. Both contemplation and meditation serve to acquaint our mind with virtuous objects. The more familiar we are with such objects, the more peaceful our mind becomes. By training in meditation, and living in accordance with the insights and resolutions developed during meditation, eventually we shall be able to maintain a peaceful mind continuously, throughout our life. More detailed instructions on the contemplations and on meditation in general can be found in Transform Your Life and Joyful Path of Good Fortune. At the end of each session, we dedicate the merit produced by our meditation towards the attainment of enlightenment. If merit is not dedicated, it can easily be destroyed by anger. By reciting the dedication prayers sincerely at the end of each meditation session, we ensure that the merit we created by meditating is not wasted but acts as a cause of enlightenment. The fifth part of each meditation practice is the subsequent practice. This consists of advice on how to integrate the meditation into our daily life. It is important to remember that Dharma practice is not confined to our activities during the meditation session; it should permeate our whole life. We should not allow a gulf to develop between our meditation and our daily life, because the success of our meditation depends upon the purity of our conduct outside the meditation session. We should keep a watch over our mind at all times by applying mindfulness, alertness, and conscientiousness; and we should try to abandon whatever bad habits we may have. Deep experience of Dharma is the result of practical training over a long period of time, both in and out of meditation. Therefore, we should practise steadily and gently, without being in a hurry to see results. To summarize, our mind is like a field. Engaging in the preparatory practices is like preparing the field by removing obstacles caused by past negative actions, making it fertile with merit, and watering it with the blessings of the holy beings. Contemplation and meditation are like sowing good seeds, and dedication and subsequent practice are the methods for ripening our harvest of Dharma realizations.
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Post by wiley on Nov 25, 2013 9:11:45 GMT 8
kadampa.org/en/books/understanding-the-mind/Concentration Makes the Mind Peaceful The main function of virtuous concentration is to make the mind peaceful. In Precious Garland Nagarjuna says: From giving comes wealth, From discipline comes happiness, From patience come attractive forms, From effort comes the fulfilment of wishes, From concentration comes peace, And from wisdom comes freedom from obstructions. When our mind is free from the turbulence of distracting conceptions it becomes calm and smooth. When we are enjoying internal peace and happiness our craving for external sources of pleasure naturally declines and it is easy to remain content. Pure concentration also helps to make our body and mind comfortable, flexible, and easy to use in the practice of Dharma. This serviceability of the mind, which is called ‘suppleness’, is one of the main benefits that come from concentration. Although at present we have a certain degree of concentration when we meditate, it is relatively weak and short-lived, and so the suppleness it produces is subtle and difficult to recognize; but as our concentration becomes stronger and more stable our suppleness will also improve. It is not just the intensity of suppleness that is important, for suppleness must also be firm and long-lasting. If we have suppleness that lasts for twenty-four hours a day we shall always find it easy to engage in virtuous actions because we shall never become physically or mentally tired; and we shall always be delighted to listen to, contemplate, and meditate on Dharma teachings. With this joy in Dharma practice we shall find no difficulty in accomplishing the five paths, the ten grounds, and the realizations of the two stages of Tantra. Suppleness is the real opponent of laziness. According to Dharma, laziness is not just attachment to sleep and physical ease – it is any mind that is disinclined to engage in virtuous activities. There is no more important spiritual task than to eliminate laziness. With suppleness, virtuous activities such as contemplation or meditation become a pleasure and there is no reluctance to engage in them. The attainment of suppleness depends upon concentration, concentration depends upon effort, effort depends upon aspiration, and aspiration depends upon recognizing the benefits of concentration. Ordinary people regard samsaric enjoyments, possessions, and money as beneficial and so they put all their effort into acquiring these; but Dharma practitioners see the great benefits of concentration and strive earnestly to attain it. Concentration gives us the freedom to accomplish whatever we wish for. Without concentration our mind has no freedom but is forced to go wherever it is led by attachment, hatred, or other delusions. A person who has good, virtuous concentration has control over his mind, and his mind does what he wants it to do, like a well-trained horse that obeys its rider. By improving our concentration we can attain tranquil abiding, superior seeing, clairvoyance, and miracle powers, and eventually complete all the paths to enlightenment; but if we lack concentration we shall not be able to make any progress on the paths and grounds of the Mahayana, and so we shall not be able to attain Buddhahood. Therefore, all mundane and supramundane attainments depend upon concentration. We need concentration not only during formal meditation but also when we are listening to teachings or reading Dharma books. For example, if we read a book with a distracted mind we shall not understand the meaning clearly. We may think that the fault lies in the book but in reality it lies in our distracted mind.
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Post by donut42day - 不战而胜 on Nov 25, 2013 19:32:28 GMT 8
ichigo must be dating ... is tis his gf? hehe
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Post by wiley on Nov 25, 2013 22:24:33 GMT 8
kadampa.org/en/books/universal-compassion/A Meditation on Love There are three kinds of love: affectionate love, cherishing love, and wishing love. We can understand these by considering the following example. If a mother is reunited with one of her children after a long separation, she is very happy and feels great affection for her. This special feeling of affection is affectionate love. Out of affection, the mother considers her child to be very precious and wants to take special care of her. This special feeling of caring is cherishing love. Because she has affectionate love and cherishing love for her child, if she sees that she is unhappy she immediately wishes to restore her happiness. This wish for others to be happy and to help them to achieve happiness is wishing love. First we need to generate affectionate love and then cherishing love for other living beings. Then, if we meditate on their lack of happiness, we will naturally develop wishing love. It is this wishing love that is our motivation for engaging in the practice of giving. Motivated by such love, we resolve, “I will give happiness to all living beings.” In Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life Shantideva explains how to meditate on giving: And to accomplish the welfare of all living beings, I will transform my body into an enlightened wishfulfilling jewel. We begin by thinking: May my virtuous karma ripen upon all living beings, and thus may they attain both temporary and ultimate happiness. With this strong prayer, we imagine that our body transforms into a wishfulfilling jewel, sparkling with light, whose rays reach all six realms of samsara. These rays purify all environments throughout the six realms and bestow upon all the beings inhabiting them everything they could possibly desire. The beings in the hot hells receive cooling rain, those in the cold hells receive warming sunshine, hungry ghosts receive food and drink, animals receive wisdom, human beings fulfil all their wishes and needs, demi-gods receive peace and satisfaction, and gods gain freedom. We develop the conviction that they are all fully satisfied and experiencing uncontaminated bliss, and we generate a feeling of great joy at their newly found happiness. We then maintain this feeling of joy by meditating single-pointedly on it for as long as possible. This meditation on giving happiness to others is a supreme method for accumulating merit and increasing our mind of love.
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Post by wiley on Nov 26, 2013 12:20:26 GMT 8
kadampa.org/en/books/ocean-of-nectar/How Everything is Merely Imputed by the Mind Chandrakirti, in his commentary to Aryadeva’s Four Hundred, and Je Tsongkhapa, in Clear Illumination of the Intention, use the analogy of an imagined snake to show how all phenomena are merely imputed by thought. A man walking through a field at dusk comes across a coil of speckled rope in the grass and, mistaking it for a snake, develops fear. Even though a snake appears vividly to his mind, that snake does not exist from its own side. It is merely a projection of his mind, imputed by conceptual thought in dependence upon the rope. Other than this, no snake can be found because neither the coil of rope as a whole nor any part of it is a snake. In just the same way, all phenomena are merely imputed by conceptual thought. For example, the I does not exist from its own side. It is merely a projection of the mind imputed by conceptual thought in dependence upon the aggregates. If we try to find an I other than the mere conceptual imputation ‘I’ we shall not succeed because neither the collection of the aggregates nor any individual aggregate is the I. Existing phenomena such as the I differ from the imagined snake in that they are valid imputations; but there is no difference from the point of view of their being merely imputed by conceptual thought. In the analogy, because the man sees the rope in the twilight he mistakenly apprehends a snake and develops fear. To remove this fear he must remove the mind apprehending a snake by realizing that there is no snake. Even then, if the rope is left in the same place there is a danger that the same mistake will be made in the future. The only way to remove this danger is to remove the rope. Similarly, sentient beings observing their aggregates in the darkness of their ignorance mistakenly apprehend an inherently existent I. This mind grasping at an inherently existent I is the root of samsara and the source of all fear. To remove the fears of samsara we must remove this mind by realizing that there is no inherently existent I. Even then, there will be a danger of the mind grasping at an inherently existent I recurring if we continue to grasp at inherently existent aggregates. Therefore, the only way to remove the fears of samsara entirely is first to realize the lack of inherent existence of the I, and then to realize the lack of inherent existence of the aggregates. Again, we can use other analogies such as seeing a spider on a wall where there is only a mark, seeing a person in the distance where there is only a pile of stones, or generating fear during a film. By contemplating these analogies we can understand how all phenomena are merely imputed by thought.
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Post by ichigo on Nov 26, 2013 21:14:14 GMT 8
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Post by ichigo on Nov 26, 2013 21:17:27 GMT 8
ichigo must be dating ... is tis his gf? hehe no lah....nowzadays I work busy n go out wif frens so hardly log in. see you around.
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Post by wiley on Nov 27, 2013 11:20:33 GMT 8
kadampa.org/en/books/meaningful-to-behold/Training in Concentration Shantideva summarizes the third concluding activity after bodhichitta has been fully accepted as follows: Today, in the presence of the protectors, I invite all sentient beings to a banquet of unsurpassable delight. Let all those who appreciate dharma, you gods, demi-gods, nagas and humans – rejoice and be happy! [34] So far Shantideva has given extensive explanations of various Dharma methods, but how do we actually put them into practice? This is done by means of analytical and placement meditation upon the teachings we have received. First, we must take a critical look at each subject, trying to understand its meaning and relevance for our lives. Judging, testing and trying to understand the teachings in this way is called analytical meditation. Once we have done this and have come to some conclusion concerning the object of meditation we should place our mind upon it single-pointedly. This is what is known as placement, or formal, meditation. If we think that meditation is sitting with an empty mind we shall receive no benefit no matter how long we meditate. The object of meditation can be a particular aspect of the teaching – such as the benefits of bodhichitta – or the form of a personal deity or even our breath. Whatever object we choose, we should examine it fully to gain a clear idea of it. For example, in order to develop single-pointed concentration we could meditate upon the visualized figure of a buddha, choosing such a figure because it represents all the wisdoms and methods of the path. We can begin by selecting a painting or a statue that represents such a figure clearly. We should examine this image minutely, scrutinizing it from the crown of its head to its feet and back to the crown again. By doing this well we shall gain a rough concept of a buddha’s body. This then becomes our object to visualize in meditation. When we sit quietly and try to see this image in our mind’s eye, holding onto the object with mindfulness and checking with alertness, we shall be engaged in placement meditation. This entire process can be likened to setting out on a journey. If we wish to go to London we must first gain an accurate understanding of which road to take, otherwise we might arrive in Manchester! In a similar fashion, if we want to engage in placement meditation and dwell upon an object single-pointedly, we must first gain a thorough understanding of that object by means of analytical meditation. Otherwise our efforts will be wasted and many faults will arise. This point cannot be overstated: it is a big mistake to try and meditate on nothing. If we have a proper object of meditation, there is the possibility that we can progress along the nine stages of mental development and achieve the single-pointed concentration of tranquil abiding (Skt. shamatha). Without a proper object of meditation, there will be little to show from even a thousand years of sitting. Everything that has been explained so far in this commentary, and everything that will come hereafter are all objects for meditation. There is not a single teaching in Shantideva’s text which is not meant to be meditated upon. Thus it is very important to learn the art of meditation correctly and to be able to apply it in our everyday life.
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