One day when the Buddha was teaching, a person came along and spit in his face. The Buddha's reaction was ,"Thank you, now I am free." he was now free from the karmic bondage of that particular situation. His response to not react in anger freed him from the cyclical affects of karma. When you react in anger, you get anger in return...... it does not matter if you are right or wrong. Reacting in anger ties one to the "Wheel of Samsara." In sanskrit, samsara literally means "same suffering".
Your argument might be, " what if someone has hurt me so deeply that he/she deserves my retailiation?" If you respond in anger, then you will create more oppurtunities in the future for you to be angry. Remember, You are responsible for making your world the way you want it. Ask yourself the question, "Do I want to be right or do I want to be free?" By chosing freedom, you become aware that you have a choice and that you have access to evolving your reactions to outer events. You no longer act like a child, you are peaceful in the moment and you are creating a more peaceful future.
This is how you fix things at the very root of the problem and not react with frustration to the affects of the problem. You can probably think of a time where you tried to fix a problem after it has been created. It is very, very difficult to do--all involved parties have to want to change fully and completely. By going to the root-- your mind and its reactions--- you insure a better future outcome.
All of your reactions to outer circumstances come from you. Knowing this, you can sit down everyday and do some mental gardening. Go back mentally to a situation that caused you to react in anger and make a vow to yourself to choose a different reaction. See yourself reacting differently. You are planting new karmic seeds that are like brand new plants. They are fragile and you have to protect them. Everyday you practice having better and beter reactions. Eventually, all troublesome situations will stop..not because the world is different but because you are different. You have chosen being free over being right.
If you have led a life that has been full of anger, pain, and frustration and you find it difficult to meditate on change, then doing physical asanas, like twisting or inversions like shoulderstand and headstand, can help. Twisting asanas help because they act on the abdominal region which is the seat of the ego and egocentric reactions. Inversions help because the physical act of turning the body upsidedown turns your mental perspective upsidedown as well. Patanjali said in the Yoga Sutra," when experiencing troubling thoughts, think the opposite thought."
The teaching of yoga as found in Patanjali's Yoga Sutra does not say that anger is wrong or right or good or bad or justified or not. Patanjali does not pass a value judgement on any action for it's own sake. He speaks to those who seek enlightenment, to those who want to disentangle themselves from the cycle of karma. To them he says choose your actions wisely, according to the results they will bring, be sure that those results are in alignment with your aims.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Advanced Meditation--What's in it for me????
There are a lot of students currently taking asana classes with me, but i would have to say that not many of them have a regular meditation practice. Even advanced students.....they find meditation unglamorous. What would happen if you sat and watched your breath on a regular basis????? It would change your life and they way you view reality......you would realize that things that you see come from you and you alone. All blame rests squarely in your lap for the good and the bad.
When you start to advance your meditation practice, the focus of your mind is strengthened much like it is when you workout. You know that the first time you workout benefits are already starting to happen even though you can't see them yet. When you are new to meditation, counting the breath for 5 breaths is difficult... but results are starting to happen. If you advance to 5 unbroken minutes, your concentration has become so much greater than the average person. The average person's mind is very distracted....it's hit by thousands and thousands of mental images in a five minute period of time. It's a miracle that we can form a complete thought!!! If you can advance your meditation practice to 15 undistracted minutes, your consciousness begins to shift....the point that you are focusing on becomes big like a screen in front of your eyes. This is an amazing moment for you because now you are open to experiencing freedom.....freedom from the anger, fear, and frustration which is a baseline to most lives. Now you want to meditate.
However, meditation takes discipline and people need a little bit more of a carrot than just freedom. They want to earn money, have a perfect relationship, be radiantly healthy and really, really thin.
What are the karmic causes for these things????? Actually His Holiness The Dalai Lama is speaking about this subject tomorrow in NYC..... The karmic cause for having wealth is being generous. The karmic cause for having a perfect relationship is to respect other people's relationships and taking your vows and the vows of others seriously. The karmic cause for having radient health and being thin is to protect the life and health of others. Most people would think just the opposite--to horde money and ideas, to hit on other peoples partners, or to be self absorbed , vain and somewhat of a hypochondriac. Karma has to do with causes not effects, those are all responses to effects. Hospitals can only respond to effects--do you see--nurses and doctors actually contribute to this cyclical illness stuff.
You have to get in at the root of the effect that you want....you plant the seeds for this stuff in meditation. When you sit in uninterrupted concetration, you are actually painting the picture of your life. This is a high tantric practice.......to see ultimate reality by stilling the mind.
Yes , it is true that we create our lives all of the time. The problem is that your mind is not strong enough....the focusing. Things you want come into your awareness along with other things that confuse and distract you. You don't have a clue because the mind is getting hit with so much information all of the time. When unaware, you go with something easy.....
when aware, you accept only what you want.
I can say that i've been working on these things for at least four years or so.....about as long as i've known Gesche Michael and about as long as I decided that i was sick of living under life's thumb. I was sick of the pain of not having enough money, duplicitous relationships, and tired and injured everyday in my career. It took a while......because now i'm starting to see the effects that i want.....if I can do it, you can do it too. I'm only an ordinary person.
When you start to advance your meditation practice, the focus of your mind is strengthened much like it is when you workout. You know that the first time you workout benefits are already starting to happen even though you can't see them yet. When you are new to meditation, counting the breath for 5 breaths is difficult... but results are starting to happen. If you advance to 5 unbroken minutes, your concentration has become so much greater than the average person. The average person's mind is very distracted....it's hit by thousands and thousands of mental images in a five minute period of time. It's a miracle that we can form a complete thought!!! If you can advance your meditation practice to 15 undistracted minutes, your consciousness begins to shift....the point that you are focusing on becomes big like a screen in front of your eyes. This is an amazing moment for you because now you are open to experiencing freedom.....freedom from the anger, fear, and frustration which is a baseline to most lives. Now you want to meditate.
However, meditation takes discipline and people need a little bit more of a carrot than just freedom. They want to earn money, have a perfect relationship, be radiantly healthy and really, really thin.
What are the karmic causes for these things????? Actually His Holiness The Dalai Lama is speaking about this subject tomorrow in NYC..... The karmic cause for having wealth is being generous. The karmic cause for having a perfect relationship is to respect other people's relationships and taking your vows and the vows of others seriously. The karmic cause for having radient health and being thin is to protect the life and health of others. Most people would think just the opposite--to horde money and ideas, to hit on other peoples partners, or to be self absorbed , vain and somewhat of a hypochondriac. Karma has to do with causes not effects, those are all responses to effects. Hospitals can only respond to effects--do you see--nurses and doctors actually contribute to this cyclical illness stuff.
You have to get in at the root of the effect that you want....you plant the seeds for this stuff in meditation. When you sit in uninterrupted concetration, you are actually painting the picture of your life. This is a high tantric practice.......to see ultimate reality by stilling the mind.
Yes , it is true that we create our lives all of the time. The problem is that your mind is not strong enough....the focusing. Things you want come into your awareness along with other things that confuse and distract you. You don't have a clue because the mind is getting hit with so much information all of the time. When unaware, you go with something easy.....
when aware, you accept only what you want.
I can say that i've been working on these things for at least four years or so.....about as long as i've known Gesche Michael and about as long as I decided that i was sick of living under life's thumb. I was sick of the pain of not having enough money, duplicitous relationships, and tired and injured everyday in my career. It took a while......because now i'm starting to see the effects that i want.....if I can do it, you can do it too. I'm only an ordinary person.
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