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The best signs of success are a decreasing of self-centeredness and the easing of mental afflictions. —Gampopa
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1. Exercise. Sure, this may be the last thing you really want to do but physical activity is good for body, mind and spirit.
2. Write or email a note of gratitude or encouragement to a friend. You'll feel better expressing yourself this way and so will your recipient.
3. Stream a comedy program or a comedian via a streaming service or on You Tube.
4. Meditate. Ten minutes of silently focusing on your breathing - inhaling and exhaling - can leave you feel refreshed mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
5. Listen to music that you really, really love, music which lifts you spirits no matter how low they may be.
6. Tune into a podcast of someone who has overcome a major life trauma. This will inspire you to keep chipping away at the burden of grief.
7. Bake. Bread, cookies, a cake. Enjoy what you've created. Then, enjoy it more by sharing your baked goods with a neighbor.
8. Create a gratitude list. Write down a dozen things which are good, right, positive in your life. Don't think too much about it or censor yourself. Just let the gratitude flow out of you.
9. Donate money to a person in need or to a charity.
10. Change your posture. Your body reflects how you feel. Hold your head high, straighten your back when you walk anywhere.
2. Write or email a note of gratitude or encouragement to a friend. You'll feel better expressing yourself this way and so will your recipient.
3. Stream a comedy program or a comedian via a streaming service or on You Tube.
4. Meditate. Ten minutes of silently focusing on your breathing - inhaling and exhaling - can leave you feel refreshed mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically.
5. Listen to music that you really, really love, music which lifts you spirits no matter how low they may be.
6. Tune into a podcast of someone who has overcome a major life trauma. This will inspire you to keep chipping away at the burden of grief.
7. Bake. Bread, cookies, a cake. Enjoy what you've created. Then, enjoy it more by sharing your baked goods with a neighbor.
8. Create a gratitude list. Write down a dozen things which are good, right, positive in your life. Don't think too much about it or censor yourself. Just let the gratitude flow out of you.
9. Donate money to a person in need or to a charity.
10. Change your posture. Your body reflects how you feel. Hold your head high, straighten your back when you walk anywhere.
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Many Buddhist traditions do prostration or bowing as an important element of practice. Each country and lineage offers specific ways for prostrations to be performed. The practice of prostration is believed to date back to the time of the Buddha and the Pali canon mentioning that both monks and lay people prostrate before the Buddha. There are two types of prostration, short and full. In short prostration five points of the body touch the ground - forehead, two hands, two knees. In full prostration the entire body is place on the ground like a tree trunk which has fallen.
Here are some reasons why this is done:
Here are some reasons why this is done:
- to acknowledge the wisdom of the Buddha
- to cultivate humility
- to show gratitude and honor for the three jewels - the Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha
- to burn away negative karma
- to prepare the body for meditation
- to be centered in the present moment
- to honor a teacher
- to gain swifter spiritual realization
- to connect with one's Buddha nature
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The planet can feed everyone but not via a meat based diet. Here are some obscure but fascinating facts on this:
(cited in The Key Of Immediate Enlightenment, by Master Ching Hai)
- Using a piece of land to grow crops provides fourteen times as much food as using the same land to grow fodder for animals
- Plants from each acre of land provide 800,000 calories of energy but when these plants are used to raise animals which are then eaten as food, animal meat can only provide 200,000 calories of energy. So, 600,000 energy calories are lost
- Consequently, the math reveals that a vegetarian diet is more efficient and economical than a meat based diet
(cited in The Key Of Immediate Enlightenment, by Master Ching Hai)
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When someone with whom you are interacting becomes angry, that is out of your control. What is within your control is how you meet it. Despite feeling hurt, you can meet others’ anger with patience, kindness, and balance, rather than fear and retaliation. - Gina Sharpe
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One of the most common issues for people concerning meditation is the inability to shut down or slow down the thinking mind. If that's you, then here's a way to think and meditate offered by Tracey Anne Duncan:
"Try a death meditation. No, I’m not joking. It may sound heavy, but meditating on your own death can actually make you happier. Not only does death meditation give you something really engaging to stay focused on, it can help you put the life you’re living in perspective. As Lisa Cohen, clinical professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, told me: “It does help you see what’s really important and what’s not important. Things related to status, self-esteem, or markers of status become much less important and you focus on what’s really a priority.”
"Try a death meditation. No, I’m not joking. It may sound heavy, but meditating on your own death can actually make you happier. Not only does death meditation give you something really engaging to stay focused on, it can help you put the life you’re living in perspective. As Lisa Cohen, clinical professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, told me: “It does help you see what’s really important and what’s not important. Things related to status, self-esteem, or markers of status become much less important and you focus on what’s really a priority.”
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Buddhist monks are helping to protect a large swath of forest in Cambodia. The Monks Community Forest (MCF) site covers 71 square miles of land in northeastern Cambodia. Six villages of approximately 4,000 people use the forest, making it the largest community-managed conservation site in Cambodia.
The main purpose of the Monks Community Forest is to protect the forest from deforestation and maintain biodiversity in the region. Monks and volunteer villagers patrol the protected areas unarmed to discourage illegal hunting and logging. Monks also wrap the trunks of the oldest and largest trees in the forest in saffron robes during tree ordination ceremonies. According to a report by the United Nations Development Program, “To cut down a tree or hunt wildlife within the ordained forest is considered as serious as harming a monk.”
The forest is home to populations of at-risk species in the forest, such as the sun bear, gibbon, leopard, and pangolin, which depend on the dense evergreen and semi-evergreen forest for protection. Since the early 2000s, industry and foreign investment in Cambodia have resulted in rapid deforestation. While protected forest areas were established by the government, illegal logging and hunting continue to damage the vulnerable forests.
The monks have worked with local populations since 2002 to increase stewardship for the land. The monks also encourage villagers to use traditional forms of fishing and gathering to support sustainable environmental practices. Villagers can sell any resources they gather in local markets, providing them with additional income.
(source:www.lionsroar.com)
The main purpose of the Monks Community Forest is to protect the forest from deforestation and maintain biodiversity in the region. Monks and volunteer villagers patrol the protected areas unarmed to discourage illegal hunting and logging. Monks also wrap the trunks of the oldest and largest trees in the forest in saffron robes during tree ordination ceremonies. According to a report by the United Nations Development Program, “To cut down a tree or hunt wildlife within the ordained forest is considered as serious as harming a monk.”
The forest is home to populations of at-risk species in the forest, such as the sun bear, gibbon, leopard, and pangolin, which depend on the dense evergreen and semi-evergreen forest for protection. Since the early 2000s, industry and foreign investment in Cambodia have resulted in rapid deforestation. While protected forest areas were established by the government, illegal logging and hunting continue to damage the vulnerable forests.
The monks have worked with local populations since 2002 to increase stewardship for the land. The monks also encourage villagers to use traditional forms of fishing and gathering to support sustainable environmental practices. Villagers can sell any resources they gather in local markets, providing them with additional income.
(source:www.lionsroar.com)
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I saw a maple tree that had grown around a big rock, wrapping it with its large roots. I imagine that this large rock must have caused the tree a lot of trouble, yet the maple managed to not only grow around it, but also embrace the rock and make it a part of itself. We all face big obstacles too. But with patience and natural simplicity, we can be like that tree—accepting, embracing, and transforming our suffering, no matter how major, as integral parts of our being. - Liu Yingzhao
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While visiting a large used book store in Dallas, Texas, I picked up a small book titled The Key of Immediate Enlightenment. It's by a contemporary Buddhist nun, Master Ching Hai. In it she has some strong convictions about being vegetarian and offers some fascinating points about the importance and wisdom of being vegetarian. Here are five takeaways -
1. You will feel much less guilt. "The more we eat vegetarian, the better our conscience. We will have fewer guilty feelings in our subconsciousness, and we will sleep better with fewer nightmares.
2. You will be healthier. "Vegetarianism is better for our mind, for our heart, for our health and for everything."
3. You will be spiritually stronger. "Most people care about health, diet and figure when they talk about vegetarian food. The spiritual aspects of a vegetarian diet is that it is very clean and non-violent. 'Thou shalt not kill!' When God said this to us, he did not say human being, he said all beings."
4. You are not a vegetarian if you eat fish. During a Q & A after a lecture, she was asked "Is fish all right to eat?" Her answer: "It's all right if you want to eat fish. But if you want to eat vegetarian, fish is not a vegetable."
5. You will experience great peace and security. "If we want a healthy mind, a healthy body, a good conscience and a good night's sleep, then we should have more compassion for other people and for animals. If we give others peace and security, then we will also get peace and security.
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What are the two most common goals for people who live in the world? Wealth and fame. To gain these goals people are willing to lose everything, including the health of their body, mind and spirit. Not a very good exchange. - Han Shan