- financial considerations - burial requires the expense of preparing the body such as embalming, the purchase of land, paying for coffins, tombs as well as markers and monuments;
- issues of land use - cremation eliminates conflicts over land for the living or land for the dead;
- as an act of compassion and generosity - sky burial is common in Tibet, Mongolia and parts of China where a body is placed on a mountaintop to be consumed by hungry birds and animals. Remaining bones are allowed to decompose naturally.
While funeral rites and ceremonies vary according to country and culture, Buddhism strongly favors cremation as the most natural way to deal with a corpse. The Buddha, himself, was cremated and his cremains divided among his key disciples. Cremation is preferred for a variety of reasons including:
Through the power of meditation, we can find lasting peace and happiness, and, more importantly, we can bring peace and happiness to others. - Lama Zopa
This is a photo (taken yesterday) of my friend's grandson. The beautiful little boy is almost 6 months old and already doing his first yoga pose. It's 'happy baby' pose (ananda balasana in Sanskrit). His pleasure at doing the pose shows how natural and how pleasant it is for the body to do yoga. Here are some benefits of happy baby pose:
How to do it. (Keep in mind that it's usually much easier for a flexible baby than it is for us adults whose bodies have tightened up with time.) 1. Lie down on your back; 2. Support your head (if you like) with a pillow or folded blanket; 3. Bend your knees and bring them up towards the stomach; 4. Have the soles of your feet face up toward the ceiling; 5. Spread the legs at least hip distance apart; 6. Reach up and to hold the inside or outside edges of your feet. 7. If you can't quite reach the feet, hold a belt or yoga strap around both feet. Difficulties exist only that you may grow strong by overcoming them. So overcome all difficulties, one by one, patiently. If you fail ten times, do not despair. If you fail a hundred times, do not be disheartened. If you fail a thousand times, rise up and march on boldly. Failures are indeed stepping stones to success. - Swami Sivananda The mind is under the constant influence of what is with you, in you and around you. Therefore, you should learn how to reset your surroundings in order to realize the one unity and essence. - Satyananda Saraswati
IF YOU'RE NOT SEEKING ENLIGHTENMENT THEN YOU'RE JUST A MUNDANE (BORING) HUMAN SAYS THE BUDDHA9/7/2019
Mundane persons do not believe in pursuing good and receiving its reward, or in practicing the Way and attaining enlightenment. Neither do they believe in rebirth and retribution for unskillful acts, nor in accumulating merit by helping others. Believing that these are false, they totally reject such a pure vision. Further, by so doing, they cling to their own views more tenaciously. - The Buddha
Intelligent children may be more likely to be vegetarian as they grow and become adults, suggest researchers. Vegetarianism may be is linked to lower cholesterol levels and a reduced risk of obesity and heart disease. This might help to explain why children who score higher on intelligence tests tend to have a lower risk of coronary heart disease in later life.
The study, spanning 20 years, involved 8179 men and women aged 30 years whose IQ was tested at age 10 years. Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher occupational social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians, although these differences were not reflected in their annual income, which was similar to that of non-vegetarians. Higher IQ at the age of 10 years was associated with an increased likelihood of being vegetarian at the age of 30. This relation was partly accounted for by better education and higher occupational social class, but it remained statistically significant after adjusting for these factors. You have much more than you believe! You have . . . vast potential, . . . colossal courage, . . . immense wisdom, . . . great intelligence. Remain steady, strong, stable. You can see it through! - Victor M. Parachin Meditation is the way to make your mind calm, clear and stable; it is the way to stop creating harm. Meditation is the way to have peace; ultimately it is the way to stop creating problem. But just to have peace of mind yourself is not sufficient. The most important purpose of practicing meditation is to develop the good heart bodhichitta - the aspiration to givve others less harm and more benefit. - Lama Zopa
Problems and the absence of problems do not come from outside. Problems and the absence of problems, as well as all peace and all happiness, only come from your own mind. Your mind has the potential to stop the problems that come for your mind. - Lama Zopa
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Victor M. Parachin ...is aVedic educator, yoga instructor, Buddhist meditation teacher and author of a dozen books. Buy his books at amazon or your local bookstore. Archives
May 2024
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