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Tenzin Priyadarshi ran away from boarding school in Asansol, West Bengal, at the age of 10 to find the place that kept appearing in his dreams — a mountain peak with men in sunset-coloured robes. When he found the place of his dreams at last, it turned out to be a Buddhist monastery in Rajgir, Bihar, Northern India.
Now a Tibetan Buddhist monk, the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi heads the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. His recently released memoir, Running Toward Mystery, is an account of his journey as a spiritual seeker.
Interviewed by The Hindu, he offered some fascinating insights such as "Mainstream at times is overrated. During his own lifetime Buddha challenged the mainstream and its assertions on caste divisions, wealth disparity and violence. Human nature is a difficult pattern to work with and so are the institutions it creates. Buddhism emphasizes a journey of inquiry, reflection and transformation for each individual. It is not one size fits all."
Asked about the "blind faith" required by other religions, Priyadarshi said the Buddha did not endorse this: "Faith can be of several types. Most often we think of it in terms of blind faith. However, Buddha encouraged students not to take his teachings at face value or believe in them simply out of reverence. He suggested that we critically analyze the teachings as a goldsmith analyses the purity of gold. I believe this was the spirit with which Buddhism was studied and practiced in our ancient institutions."
Now a Tibetan Buddhist monk, the Venerable Tenzin Priyadarshi heads the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the U.S. His recently released memoir, Running Toward Mystery, is an account of his journey as a spiritual seeker.
Interviewed by The Hindu, he offered some fascinating insights such as "Mainstream at times is overrated. During his own lifetime Buddha challenged the mainstream and its assertions on caste divisions, wealth disparity and violence. Human nature is a difficult pattern to work with and so are the institutions it creates. Buddhism emphasizes a journey of inquiry, reflection and transformation for each individual. It is not one size fits all."
Asked about the "blind faith" required by other religions, Priyadarshi said the Buddha did not endorse this: "Faith can be of several types. Most often we think of it in terms of blind faith. However, Buddha encouraged students not to take his teachings at face value or believe in them simply out of reverence. He suggested that we critically analyze the teachings as a goldsmith analyses the purity of gold. I believe this was the spirit with which Buddhism was studied and practiced in our ancient institutions."
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Stand up for what you know is right. The principles of fairness and justice are always worth fighting for. - Diane Lu
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Living morally is very simple for some people and very, very difficult for others. It all depends on the assets of goodness and kindness stored within a person's karma. - Ajahn Summano
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. . . Don't give up! Don't let a problem meditating become an excuse to stop. That's advice from Erik K. Van Horn who explains: "Everyone encounters problems and difficult patches in the course of meditating, so don't let them get you upset. Don't view them as signs that you're making no progress or that you're a hopeless meditator. Problems are an excellent opportunity for figuring out where you have unskillful habits and learning how to do something about them."
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Positive thinking isn't merely a good idea. More and more research supports this philosophy of life. Here are three studies:
First: Optimism is good for heart health, at least among men, a new study shows. University of Rochester Medical Center researcher Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., found that men who believed they were at lower-than-average risk for cardiovascular disease actually experienced a three times lower incidence of death from heart attacks and strokes.
Second: Researchers know that half of all people who take up exercise quit during the first six months. However, what researchers have not studied is the way people's thoughts and feelings during workouts affect their decision to drop out. Those who view exercise positively continue exercising. That's the conclusion of a study led byJoanne Kraenzle Schneider, Ph.D., R.N., questioned 364 women over 55 after they finished exercising. She found that those who believed in the health benefits of working out tended to exercise more often, more intensely or for longer periods than those with negative beliefs. "It appears that if you can interpret your experience positively, you will want to exercise more," Schneider says.
Third: Consider this insight: negative thinking leads to weaker, unhealthier brain function. Persistently engaging in negative thinking patterns may raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new University College London led study. Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, the study of people aged over 55, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, researchers found 'repetitive negative thinking' (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's.
(feel free to repost and / or link to your social media)
First: Optimism is good for heart health, at least among men, a new study shows. University of Rochester Medical Center researcher Robert Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., found that men who believed they were at lower-than-average risk for cardiovascular disease actually experienced a three times lower incidence of death from heart attacks and strokes.
Second: Researchers know that half of all people who take up exercise quit during the first six months. However, what researchers have not studied is the way people's thoughts and feelings during workouts affect their decision to drop out. Those who view exercise positively continue exercising. That's the conclusion of a study led byJoanne Kraenzle Schneider, Ph.D., R.N., questioned 364 women over 55 after they finished exercising. She found that those who believed in the health benefits of working out tended to exercise more often, more intensely or for longer periods than those with negative beliefs. "It appears that if you can interpret your experience positively, you will want to exercise more," Schneider says.
Third: Consider this insight: negative thinking leads to weaker, unhealthier brain function. Persistently engaging in negative thinking patterns may raise the risk of Alzheimer's disease, finds a new University College London led study. Published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, the study of people aged over 55, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, researchers found 'repetitive negative thinking' (RNT) is linked to subsequent cognitive decline as well as the deposition of harmful brain proteins linked to Alzheimer's.
(feel free to repost and / or link to your social media)
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In 1966, long before he became well known in the West, Thich Nhat Hanh published a book called Wake Up, written specifically for young people. In it he offered this advice about religion:
Study your religion intelligently, in all its depth and beauty, so that it can nourish your spiritual life. A healthy religion is a living religion. It should be able to evolve and learn to respond to the difficulties of our time. Meet with friends from other religions. Open your hearts to one another and learn to work together. Work with the pure intention to serve people, and not to expand the power and influence of your own group. Religion must serve humanity, not humanity religion. Don’t let anyone suffer or lose their life in the name of religion.
Study your religion intelligently, in all its depth and beauty, so that it can nourish your spiritual life. A healthy religion is a living religion. It should be able to evolve and learn to respond to the difficulties of our time. Meet with friends from other religions. Open your hearts to one another and learn to work together. Work with the pure intention to serve people, and not to expand the power and influence of your own group. Religion must serve humanity, not humanity religion. Don’t let anyone suffer or lose their life in the name of religion.
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Yogasana is a recent addition to the yoga dictionary and it means yoga without philosophy, meditation, pranayama (breath control), savasana and more. In fact, some very notable, traditional yogis - such as Prashant Iyengar the son of BKS Iyengar - says yogasana isn't yoga, period and it should be called something else.
This concern is accurate and valid. Unfortunately, the trend will continue to grow for at least these two reasons.
First, the yoga teacher training is highly deficient. Most of them do not include in depth training in philosophy, meditation, pranayma or yoga history and evolution. As a result, teachers emerge who are primarily engaged in body activity not different from any other group fitness class. This weak training also produces instructors who are offering Beer Yoga, Wine Yoga, Rock and Roll Yoga, Naked Yoga, Cat Yoga, Goat yoga, Mariujana Yoga, etc.
Secondly, yoga studio operators are making classes far too short. Many classes are 45 - 60 minutes. Not good! Not enough time for meditation, breathing, savasana. When yoga first began appearing in American communities most classes were 2 hours - 120 minutes. Pause and think how much a teacher could include. Little by little, that time frame eroded: 90 minutes, 75 minutes, 60 minutes, 45 minutes. Some studios even offer a yoga "quickie" - 30 minutes over the lunch time.
This pattern won't change until yogis and yoginis begin supporting studios and teachers who are offering traditional Yoga (upper case). This means finding properly trained instructors who are offering classes which allow time to include the full spectrum of Yoga to heal body, mind and spirit.
(feel free to repost and/or link to your social media)
This concern is accurate and valid. Unfortunately, the trend will continue to grow for at least these two reasons.
First, the yoga teacher training is highly deficient. Most of them do not include in depth training in philosophy, meditation, pranayma or yoga history and evolution. As a result, teachers emerge who are primarily engaged in body activity not different from any other group fitness class. This weak training also produces instructors who are offering Beer Yoga, Wine Yoga, Rock and Roll Yoga, Naked Yoga, Cat Yoga, Goat yoga, Mariujana Yoga, etc.
Secondly, yoga studio operators are making classes far too short. Many classes are 45 - 60 minutes. Not good! Not enough time for meditation, breathing, savasana. When yoga first began appearing in American communities most classes were 2 hours - 120 minutes. Pause and think how much a teacher could include. Little by little, that time frame eroded: 90 minutes, 75 minutes, 60 minutes, 45 minutes. Some studios even offer a yoga "quickie" - 30 minutes over the lunch time.
This pattern won't change until yogis and yoginis begin supporting studios and teachers who are offering traditional Yoga (upper case). This means finding properly trained instructors who are offering classes which allow time to include the full spectrum of Yoga to heal body, mind and spirit.
(feel free to repost and/or link to your social media)
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The medical industry is an industry, not a wisdom tradition. It is a product of capitalism, of the more factor—the endless and unrelenting desire for more of everything—and it does not know when to stop. - V. R. Sasson
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(public domain photo www.pixabay.com)
This week’s full moon, which fell close to the fall equinox when day and night hours are nearly equal everywhere on Earth, is significant in many cultures, including Buddhist ones. Here are two reasons Buddhists celebrate the September full moon:
1. In Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, this moon marks the Honey-offering Festival, which celebrates the story of when animals brought food to the Buddha to help him survive he was isolated in the wilderness.
2. In Sri Lanka, this moon also marks Binara Pura Pasalosvaka Poya day, the day the bhikkhuni order of Buddhist nuns was first established.
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To evolve morally and spiritually, Buddhism offers the eightfold noble path. Number six is “right effort”, the cultivating of positive qualities and releasing negative ones. Buddhism fine tunes right effort into sub categories called “four big efforts”.
1. The effort to avoid negative not yet existing in our lives.
2. The effort to overcome negative which already exits in our thoughts and acts.
3. The effort to preserve the positive already developed in our thinking and acting.
4. The effort to develop the positive not yet existing in our minds, hearts and actions.
Driving the four big efforts teaching is the understanding that too many people have right intentions but neglect to put good ideas into practice, into daily life. This weakness is further strengthened by putting off for another day what we know should be done today. That’s why it’s important to cultivate the four great efforts daily – to avoid, overcome, preserve, and develop.
1. The effort to avoid negative not yet existing in our lives.
2. The effort to overcome negative which already exits in our thoughts and acts.
3. The effort to preserve the positive already developed in our thinking and acting.
4. The effort to develop the positive not yet existing in our minds, hearts and actions.
Driving the four big efforts teaching is the understanding that too many people have right intentions but neglect to put good ideas into practice, into daily life. This weakness is further strengthened by putting off for another day what we know should be done today. That’s why it’s important to cultivate the four great efforts daily – to avoid, overcome, preserve, and develop.