No Self

Thanksgiving

The Reclining Buddha

How absolutely beautiful!

Waldo Finds Himself

Process of Prayer - Supplication, Meditation, Appreciation, Application by Susan Helene Kramer.

Meditation and Reflection

Meditation is the medication for healing ignorance of our eternal Self. We know about our sensory organs; we know about our emotions; we know about our thinking mind; but until we still our body, emotions, and thinking mind, we do not have conscious contact with our self - which is part of the main eternal core of Self. The joyful effects experienced from the inner stillness of meditation eventually flow outwardly into daily life. Joy invigorates us with plenty of lively energy for caring and sharing; in joy we feel happy and fulfilled.

Meditation The medication healing ignorance Of our permanent nature of joy.

Going within - reflecting - brings forth clarified reality. When we perceive past and ongoing events clearly, we see where we are heading. Living each moment with caring and in our highest consciousness of good allows happiness in our present and future.

Perceptions refined by reflection Quiet time Clarified mind. 

We aid ourselves in fulfilling our human potential by maintaining and nurturing a stable secure base. When we are out of balance the results of our actions are, also. To produce results for the highest good we need to consistently live from our highest consciousness. By living a balance of work, play, and contemplation we stay centered.

Directives from conscience 
Perceived through peaceful thoughts 
Feelings of contentment 
Energized body 
Directives from conscience 
Always for the best. 

Summary by Susan Helene Kramer

Natural Nirvana

Being Separate is Good? Maybe not!

From an early age we are taught to excel, be better than the other guy...be supreme...at times run over the other person in order to get ahead. We learn to be separate...break away from the pack and be rewarded with trophies, accolades, money and jealousy. We are glad others are envious because it shows we are the best. You know where that ultimately leads us? Isolated and alone. It is wonderful to have talent and achieve, and I'm not saying do not create and develop your gifts, but shutting ourselves off from people who all possess talent in some way is NOT good. I may have abilities different from yours but that does not make me better than you. The sooner I realize that the sooner I get along with others and stop putting me first. The world is a better place for that.

Mantra Based on the Prayer of St. Francis

Here is a wonderful mantra based on the Christian saint, St. Francis. It is wonderful to anchor your attention on the sound of it as you recite the mantra and ponder its meaning. Loving Kindness and mindfulness meditation rolled into one!

May I be an agent of love in this world.
Where there is hatred, let me bring loving kindness;
Where there is injury, forgiveness;
Where there is doubt, insight;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

May I console as well as be consoled.
May I understand as well as be understood;
May I love as well as be loved;
For in giving we receive;
In forgiving, we are forgiven;
In dying to self-centeredness, we are born to the deathless.

Bill Moyers: Faith & Reason: Pema Chodron

Watch Faith & Reason: Pema Chodron on PBS. See more from Bill Moyers.

Nothing and Everything

"Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
Love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves."

Money, Karma, or a Zen Strawberry?

Money, Karma, or a Zen Strawberry?

Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Dev, Wisdom Quarterly

Good verbal actions, by helping others, are also a store of merit (michaelsaso.org)

 

(Aswin/flickr.com)

For the love of money people will do a great deal. But it is not the money. Paper money grows on trees. We add the significance.

Few love money for money. "Money" is, of course, what it symbolizes -- the effective power to sway.

Money buys lots of things: speech, education, sex, medicine, life, death, knowledge, Congress, the presidency, the Internet, armies, mercenaries, even slaves.

Wait, there's something I can't buy?!

Of course, there is much moneywill not buy: intelligence, wisdom, kindness, empathy, compassion, rebirth in one of the heavens, enlightenment, happiness... These things are of inestimable value. So it is good they are free.

WTF? (idropkid/flickr.com)

 We obsess about money even as our government crashes the "greenback" dollar. Bye-bye, bank account. There will be real property, gold, silver, food, and abilities. When the gas stops flowing, we can put ethanol (alcohol) and vegetable oil in our cars. But will we know how to garden, farm, or grow edible plants? Will we have learned to survive in the concrete jungle? Do we know where every household has a few gallons of potable water hidden without knowing it?

Quit money: Interview

Get it now while it lasts -- get all that money will buy and learn about the things it won't. With a little leisure -- rather than squandering it lamenting or ruminating -- we can get all the industrial world has to offer. Soon enough the famine comes, soon the killing fields, soon the struggle overcomes us. But we are here now.

So be here now. Why worry? Act. Why stress? Do. Why not smile? Smile.

Or ask, WHAT WOULD A WISE PERSON DO RIGHT NOW?

For an answer, think of the original British comedy Bedazzled (1967). The devil is up a telephone pole in Berkshire with a foolish man named Stanley, who sold his soul for seven wishes. Half of them are used up, and he has little prospect of finding happiness and fulfillment trying to use the rest of them. The devil always outsmarts him by giving him exactly what he asked for, which naturally comes with an unsavory twist.

Image of the Buddha

For most people, the word "Buddha" conjures up the image of a statue of an Asian male seated in meditation. It may seem contradictory for a religion that is otherwise considered relatively abstract to give such a central place to images of this kind.

These images, however, are generally not worshipped by Buddhists in the same sense that other religions are said to have worshipped their gods and saints. Rather, they are symbolic depictions of the sublime qualities possessed by Buddhas and bodhisattvas to which practitioners aspire. Ideally, they function as a kind of mirror to aid practitioners in perceiving the profound dignity of their own lives and in manifesting that dignity in their actions.

How to Meditate When You Are Sick

Some of you may know that I have been rather ill with the flu for the past week. So how do you meditate when you are sick? What do you do when you can hardly drag yourself out of bed? Here are some simple instructions I have found to easily meditate and simply be even if you're under the weather.

How to Meditate When You’re Sick

Sickness comes in many shapes and sizes, but it’s something which everyone experiences and no one can escape from. I’m sure you all know many ways to prevent getting sick in the first place, so I won’t dwell on that.

This meditation instruction is going to tell you what to do once you do get sick to help alleviate suffering.

1. Get comfortable

Or as comfortable as you possibly can. Sit down, lie down, or stand up. Prop your head up with pillows, if you need to. Keep a box of tissues near you.

2. Close your eyes. Focus on your breath.

Breathing is one of the most fundamental aspects of meditation. If you’re able to breathe normally through your nose, wonderful. Let the breath flow naturally – don’t control it, just concentrate on it. Count your breaths, or focus on the feeling of the air as it enters and exits your nostrils.
If it’s difficult to breathe through your nose, then breathe through your mouth.

3. Pick a starting point

Identify the primary source of discomfort in your body. This can be physical pain such as headaches, muscle soreness, or broken bones. It can be uncomfortable feelings like nausea, aches, chills, or itching. It can be feelings of tightness that come with swelling, clogged sinuses, bloating, or pressure. Identify what is bothering you most.

4. Become aware of the discomfort

Focus on your starting sensation, whatever it is. Let yourself feel it. Think “I am aware of x” (x being your headache, stuffy nose, back pain, whatever). Explore the feeling, mentally.
Don’t judge it, critically examine it, or let yourself have an emotional reaction to it. When you feel discomfort, how do you typically react? If you get a headache in the morning, do you find yourself thinking, “This will ruin my whole day if it sticks around”?The goal here is to separate your physical pain from your immediate emotional reaction to it. So really examine the pain. Concentrate on your discomfort and all of the sensations connected to it.
If you do this for long enough, you’ll find yourself becoming distanced from the pain. The discomfort might not lessen, but you may become aware of the sensation more as just a physical reaction to something taking place within your body. The pain is not a part of you.

5. Continue to explore

As you concentrate on one discomfort, others will arise (probably steadily and rapidly). Don’t feel obligated to brush them aside and concentrate only on the primary pain. As soon as you become aware of another pain, allow yourself to become aware of it. Think, “I am aware of x,” and then gently bring your mind back to the focus of your concentration.When you feel you are ready to move on, then explore the other discomforts that previously arose. Give the same attention to each one of them as you gave to your primary pain. And if the main discomfort resurfaces in your mind, treat it as you did the others: consciously become aware of the sensation, think, “I am aware ofx,” and bring your attention gently back.

Have Fun!

 Don't be afraid to let go and simply have fun! It's ok! It really is!