Tag: <span>Metta</span>

May I devote my life to learning.

May my highest self shine forth

May I uplift my soul through meditation & prayer

May I join with others to share love & truth.

 

This Sunday we’ll be practicing Metta Meditation at The Sanctuary.   Metta, or loving-kindness is one of the heavenly abodes according to Buddhist thought.  It’s a particular state of mind, of being, that is imbued with peace, love, & harmony.  It feels good.  It feels great to practice it with others.  Lot’s of others.

The spiritual practices of the east are very comforting to me. Yoga relaxes the flesh and Meditation reorganizes the mind.  Once you’ve got flesh & mind calmed down life is good.  The difficulty is that something inevitably  changes, and  peace is disturbed. When a pebble lands in the pond, the mind  alerts and the body, due to the time and culture we live in, immediately goes into fight/flight/freeze.  There’s very little pause and reflect anymore, which of course is a YUGE problem everywhere.

When we meet for metta practice, we are acknowledging that some of our life’s challenges are other people, or better said, our relationships with other people.  Metta Meditation is a way to relieve the stress of our internal conflicts with people, places, or things.

The Jersey Shore is packed, already.  It’s like it was when I was a kid.  It’s time to see with ‘new eyes’ again.

Jai Bhagwan.  Om Shanti Om.

Asbury Park Blogging Meditation The Jersey Shore

 

 

Once again my own words fail me.   Here are some from the Buddha.

 

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in safety,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

The Metta Sutra

 

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Today, my own words fail me.  Here are some from the Buddah

This is what should be done
By one who is skilled in goodness,
And who knows the path of peace:
Let them be able and upright,
Straightforward and gentle in speech.
Humble and not conceited,
Contented and easily satisfied.
Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways.
Peaceful and calm, and wise and skillful,
Not proud and demanding in nature.
Let them not do the slightest thing
That the wise would later reprove.
Wishing: In gladness and in saftey,
May all beings be at ease.
Whatever living beings there may be;
Whether they are weak or strong, omitting none,
The great or the mighty, medium, short or small,
The seen and the unseen,
Those living near and far away,
Those born and to-be-born,
May all beings be at ease!
Let none deceive another,
Or despise any being in any state.
Let none through anger or ill-will
Wish harm upon another.
Even as a mother protects with her life
Her child, her only child,
So with a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings:
Radiating kindness over the entire world
Spreading upwards to the skies,
And downwards to the depths;
Outwards and unbounded,
Freed from hatred and ill-will.
Whether standing or walking, seated or lying down
Free from drowsiness,
One should sustain this recollection.
This is said to be the sublime abiding.
By not holding to fixed views,
The pure-hearted one, having clarity of vision,
Being freed from all sense desires,
Is not born again into this world.

Reposted from Aug, 2008

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As we run around our lives finding a corner for this, and a corner for that, in feng-shui-speak ……..it’s good to remember to dedicate a space to Chiron, the wounded healer. He’s been quite a teacher to me, and for that I send him Metta.

So, pull out your astrocartography map and find Chiron’s line and where it’s pointing.

Chiron is in constant companionship with Neptune and the North Node these days, moving ever closer to it’s highly anticipated conjunction with Neptune, a major event for sure.  For more information on this visit Dan’s site.….it’s quite informative.  I am planning a series of workshops at home and on the road to take advantage of these wonderful healing vibrations.  Join my email list (look over on the right for the link) or contact me here with a comment.

May all beings heal. May all beings feel love. May peace be with us always. Once you’ve located Chiron’s spot in your space, begin to take out ‘clutter’. (It’s good to have a conversation with a feng shui consultant to determine what is and what is not clutter.).

Ancient Wisdom Astrology Feng Shui Yoga Therapy

meditation

Sylvia Boorstein, an esteemed teacher of Theravada Buddhism, once led me into a meditation exercise where I was asked to notice every thought and to label it as painful, pleasurable, or neutral.

Easier said than done.

First, ‘notice your thoughts’. Anyone who has practiced meditation in any of its forms immediately comes face to face with the difficulty in this seemingly simple task. I have been practicing yoga & meditation since the mid 70’s so some of those initial obstacles to the task have become somewhat easier.

Putting these thoughts into three simple categories was also not quite as simple as it seems. The first thing I discovered was that I had to ‘think’ about it. Many of my thoughts seemed to span across all three categories and could fit into any one of them depending on the time of day, time of year, or present day circumstances of my life. Consider the thought, “I am hungry”. If that thought is accompanied by strong, uncomfortable sensations in my belly the thought might be quite painful. If the thought is occuring just as I drive by a wonderful restaurant, the thought would fit in the pleasure column. And, if the thought occurs in the middle of a yoga asana, neutral would be the proper categorization.

The purpose of this exercise is to bring further into the light of consciousness how our desire nature governs our minds and actions. The same thing applies to that part of ourselves that resists pain. Neutrality, the middle path, brings us closer to separating reality from illusion. Nearly all thoughts that fall into the pain/pleasure column take us away from the present moment into either the past or the future. When we are thinking about past/future our mind becomes disengaged from our body. The body is always here, now. The mind is the time traveler and when it’s not here, now, is when suffering occurs. (according to G. Buddah)

The yogi’s have their own way of teaching these same truths. The Klesha’s represent the obstacles to enlightenment and mirror the same obstacles set forth by the Buddhists. Essentially it all comes down to greed, aversion & delusion.

Whew…………..heady thoughts for a quiet Sunday morning. I just finished reading Breakfast with Buddah. A good read.

zafu

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The I-Ching is an amazing tool if you work with it over a long period of time……like decades. You really can hear the ‘voice’ of the Sage. It’s quite amazing.

Today, I drew hexagram #33. “Conditions are not in your favor at this time”. Hmmmm. Do I dare to read on?

I had a few changing lines……..thanks (?) to all that is………… lines #3,4,5 are all changing from the yang to the yin. Whew! No wonder I’m feeling exhausted without having accomplished much.

Line 3 = ‘”You are prevented from leaving a situation which is not in your own best interests”.

…….yup, she squeaks.

Line 4 = “Make your retreat with courtesy and grace”.

Yes. I can do that.

Line 5 = “If you choose the right moment…………………………”

Astrology helps me here…………..like all the gods, goddesses, kings, queens, priests, shamans, & yogi’s all rolled up into ONE huge cosmic ball of goodness. Om shanti.

May all beings be happy.

May all beings live in peace no matter what.

Time to practice………..I love metta for times of strife & chaos.

Ancient Wisdom journal entry Meditation

zafuIn 2001, I had the great good fortune to meet Sylvia Boorstein, a meditation teacher from the Theravada tradition of Buddhism. I loved her at first sight. She was the epitome of The GrandMother archetype for me. Round, jolly, sparkling, and chock full of the kind of everyday wisdom that only comes from deep study and years of personal practice. I assisted her with her 5-day program at Kripalu Center and became enamoured of Metta Meditation as a spiritual practice. Every summer for the following four years I returned to Kripalu to assist, practice and learn from Sylvia all about metta and the practice of lovingkindness.

Metta Meditation is a practice that was given to the Buddah’s students whereby particular phrases are repeated over and over, as in a mantra practice. The difference is that the phrases are first oriented towards oneself, then directed towards someone else, and finally for the well being of All beings. Beginning with oneself is critically important as the following quote of Gautama Buddah suggests.

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection”

Nice.

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