My altar and daily practice

Question: Could you post a picture of your altar or your “area” please? And what’s your typical practice like? Thanks!

I sure can! 🙂

Luckily I’ve managed to get all the essential “tools” like a bell (I have two) and Motak (Mokugyo; wood drum), and of course a nice collection of statues 🙂

As far as my typical practice. This post is the basis of what I do and chant. It’s from Thich Nhat Hanh’s book Chanting from the Heart, which just so happens to be (for the most part) the same text my Temple uses during services.

 

Smile and be well!

Disciplining the Mind

There are many topics and ways to discipline the mind. In Buddhism, the general understanding and meaning when you hear or read about discipling the mind is to have a calm mind, an aware mind. But for right now, I’ll just talk about disciplining the mind from anger.

The Eight Antidotes

These are the Eight Antidotes (Pratipakṣa) to the Five Faults of meditation.

The Five Faults

In Tibetan Buddhism, the Five Faults (ādīnava) are factors in Samatha (calmness and stillness of the mind) meditation. The Five Faults identify obstacles in the meditation practice, and the Eight Antitodes are applied to overcome these obstacles. Though mainly a Vajrayana practice, these still apply to everyone’s meditation practice and would be helpful to everyone to know, use, and overcome.

The Awakening Mind

This is a chant mostly chanted in Vajrayana Buddhism, however, for any Mahayana (including Vajrayana) practitioner who aspires to be a Bodhisattva, this is a wonderful chant to recite (three times) before beginning any readings, ceremonies, or practices.  

With the wish to free all beings,
I shall always go for refuge
to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha
until I reach the heart of awakening (or, until the attainment of full enlightenment).

Enthused by wisdom and compassion,
today in the Buddha’s presence
I generate the mind for Enlightenment for the benefit of all beings.

As long as space remains,
as long as sentient beings remain,
until then, may I too remain
and dispel the miseries of the world.

Smile and be well!

Meditation Laziness

We’ve all experienced meditation laziness. Meditation laziness happens when we become distracted, have wandering thoughts, become tired, or even fall asleep. Meditation laziness happens because your concentration is weak. Meditation is all about your concentration power and the energy you put into concentration. If you concentrate correctly, it takes little power to do so, but for beginners it takes up all your power to focus your concentration.

Where and how to begin Buddhism

Question: “hello 🙂 i’ve been interested in Buddhism for a long time, ever since i began to meditate as a way to control my anger and anxiety. i think that traveling that path would improve me as a person and my outlook on life, but i have a problem. i am not sure how to approach it or where to begin! it would help me so much if you could point me in the right direction. thank you so much. :)”

Just by “searching” and asking you’re already on the right path! Initial steps are usually always the hardest, so the fact that you’ve already taken it is great!

Like any step to learn anything new, research and read! Read as much as you can! It’s not about reading so many different topics, but just by reading the same topics like the Four Noble Truths or the Eightfold Path by different authors can always teach you new things! Because Buddhism is always understood differently by each person, every different description and point of view is a beautiful and liberating read!

So read! Read, read, read! Visit your local library or discount book store and read through some 101 or foundation books. One of my favorite books is The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh. Once you have a solid foundation of the basics, apply what you’ve read in your daily life (compassion, loving-kindness, mindfulness, meditation, etc.). Practicing is the best tool to learning. You can read all you want and be “book smart” in Buddhism, but if you never apply those teachings then you’re not really wise.

My blog as well as several other blogs are also great resources of information (though, besides mine, I haven’t seen very many blogs that have direct informative content – mostly just quotes and images).

 

Smile and be well!

The Ego and Self

The ego is a powerful thing. It’s what makes us people. It’s the little voice in our heads that control our biases, ignorance, greed, hate, and delusion, but it’s also our compassion, love, and kindness. Our ego is what tells us to get angry and frustrated at the things that are dissatisfying and don’t go our way. It controls what we like and don’t like, who and what we like, love, and hate. It’s the cockiness that might sometimes make us feel like we’re the best, the number one at something(s).

Siddharta Gautama and Yasodhara

Yasodharā was wedded to her cousin, the Shakya prince Siddhartha, in his 16th year when she was also 16 years of age. At the age of 29, she gave birth to their only child, a boy named Rāhula. On the day of his birth, the Prince left the palace. Yasodharā was devastated and overcome with grief.

Hearing that her husband was leading a holy life, she emulated him by removing her jewellery, wearing a plain yellow robe and eating only one meal a day. Although relatives sent her messages to say that they would maintain her, she did not take up those offers. Several princes sought her hand but she rejected the proposals. Throughout his six year absence, Princess Yasodharā followed the news of his actions closely. When the Lord Buddha visited Kapilavatthu after nlightenment, Yasodharā did not go to see her former husband but ask Rahula to go to Buddha to seek inheritance. For herself, she thought: “Surely if I have gained any virtue at all the Lord will come to my presence.”

According to fulfill her wish Lord Buddha came to her presence and admired her patience and sacrifice will helped him to fulfill his wishes not in this birth but also in previous birth.

Some time after her son Rāhula became a novice monk, Yasodharā also entered the Order of Monks and Nuns and within time attained Arahantship. She was ordained as Bhikkhuni included among the five hundred ladies following the Prajapati Gotami to establish Bhikkhuni Order. She was declared as foremost in possessing the supernatural power among the nuns.

In many legends of the Buddha’s life, Yashodharā meets Siddhārtha Gautama for the first time in a previous life, when as the young brahmin Sumedha, he is formally identified as a future Buddha by the then current Buddha, Dipankara.

Waiting in the city of Paduma for Dipankara, he tries to buy flowers as an offering to the Enlightened One, but soon learns that the king already bought all the flowers for his own offering. Yet, as Dipankara is approaching, Sumedha spots a girl named Sumidha (or Bhadra) holding eight lotuses in her hands. He speaks to her with the intention of buying one of her flowers, but she recognises at once his potential and offers him five of the lotuses if he would promise that they would become husband and wife in all their next existences.

Why we chant Sutras and Mantras

Way-back-when during Buddha’s time, all of his teachings were passed down and spread orally. There was no written documents until hundreds of years after Buddha’s extinction. Just like we wouldn’t remember a bunch of texts and sermons just by listening to them, neither did the ancients. We can, however, learn a bunch of lyrics and songs. So that’s what was done to memorize and remember the Sutras until they were finally in written form.

Showing Compassion

Compassion. A central part of Buddhism. How and what ways can we give and show compassion? On the superficial, dictionary meaning, compassion means to be sympathetic. However, in Buddhism, compassion is a little more than that. Compassion also incorporates the practice of loving-kindness and putting others before yourself. So what can we do?