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Mind is mystic energy that uses the brain and nervous system as a medium for its functions. That mind is a powerful gift of Nature for the soul to work out its evolution. It must not be misused, nor should it be left stagnant, without proper use. - Swami Jyotirmayananda
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In the midst of activity, there must be a quiet time – a time for contemplation, for meditation, for input from the Universe. - Wu Wei
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Some fascinating research is concluding that Yoga does reduce violence and criminal acts of young men by challenging their "identity constructions" and replacing that identity with positive components. The research is being done by Professor Ross Deuchar is director of the Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Crime, Policing and Social Justice within the University of the West of Scotland, and author of the new book, Gangs and Spirituality: Global Perspectives
Over the past two years, Deuchar has conducted in-depth interviews with Danish men with a history of violent offending and who had recent experience of participating in two Yoga programs, Breathe Smart and Prison Smart.
He notes that Scotland and Denmark have comparable population sizes, but very different violent offending rates with Denmak reporting much lower rates of violent crime than Scotland. The difference between the two countries is Yoga. Though skeptical about doing yoga asana and pranayama (breath work) due to perceived feminization, male prison inmates agreed to participate. Deuchar found:
"Longer-term participants in the programmes now associated masculinity with domestic and family roles, instead of physicality, aggression and violence. As one ex-offender reflected, 'I realise now that being macho doesn’t necessarily involve hitting people or walking around with a knife ... it means taking care of your family.' Another told me how he had come to appreciate that he hadn’t been born ' a ‘tough guy’ but as a creature who was 'full of love and creativity”. Through engaging in breathing and meditation practices, he now felt that this propensity towards love and compassion was coming to the fore again."
(read more: www.thescotsman.com)
Over the past two years, Deuchar has conducted in-depth interviews with Danish men with a history of violent offending and who had recent experience of participating in two Yoga programs, Breathe Smart and Prison Smart.
He notes that Scotland and Denmark have comparable population sizes, but very different violent offending rates with Denmak reporting much lower rates of violent crime than Scotland. The difference between the two countries is Yoga. Though skeptical about doing yoga asana and pranayama (breath work) due to perceived feminization, male prison inmates agreed to participate. Deuchar found:
"Longer-term participants in the programmes now associated masculinity with domestic and family roles, instead of physicality, aggression and violence. As one ex-offender reflected, 'I realise now that being macho doesn’t necessarily involve hitting people or walking around with a knife ... it means taking care of your family.' Another told me how he had come to appreciate that he hadn’t been born ' a ‘tough guy’ but as a creature who was 'full of love and creativity”. Through engaging in breathing and meditation practices, he now felt that this propensity towards love and compassion was coming to the fore again."
(read more: www.thescotsman.com)
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Transmit waves of love towards those who are in disharmony with you and towards those who sustain feelings of animosity towards you, because they are not your true enemies. They are merely patients with psychological ailments. - Swami Jyotirmayananda
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(public domain image from www.pixabay.com)
That fat Buddha statue commonly adorning Chinese restaurants is not Gautama, the historical Buddha. It's a 10th century Chinese Buddhist monk named Buddai. His name literally means "cloth sack" because he was a wandering monk who carried a cloth sack which he hung over his walking stick. While his biography is sketchy, he is described as "fat and jolly" and usually depicted with a smile on his face.
Not much remains concerning his teaching except that he used his cloth sack as an educational object. For example, Buddai is famous for asking, “What is the meaning of Zen?” His answer was to drop his cloth bag and then ask: "How does one realize Zen?" Again his answer was to pick up his cloth bag and walk away.
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Various studies worldwide continue to reinforce traditional yoga teaching that practicing yoga brings health to body, mind, and spirit. Here are eleven common health issues which are positively impacted by yoga:
1. Chronic stress
2. Anxiety
3. Depression
4. Heart disease
5. Back pain
6. Improved memory
7. Anger management
8. Prevent falls and reduce risk of injury
9. Thyroid issues
10. Diabetes
11. Boost your immune system
So, get to a yoga class and . . . get there more than once a week. A weekly yoga class is not sufficient to gain these benefits. When it comes to yoga, more is better.
1. Chronic stress
2. Anxiety
3. Depression
4. Heart disease
5. Back pain
6. Improved memory
7. Anger management
8. Prevent falls and reduce risk of injury
9. Thyroid issues
10. Diabetes
11. Boost your immune system
So, get to a yoga class and . . . get there more than once a week. A weekly yoga class is not sufficient to gain these benefits. When it comes to yoga, more is better.
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Give yourself a a moment of peace and your will understand how foolishly you have scurried about.
Learn to be silent and you will notice that you have talked too much.
Be kind and you will realize your judgment of others was too severe. - Ajahn Brahm
Learn to be silent and you will notice that you have talked too much.
Be kind and you will realize your judgment of others was too severe. - Ajahn Brahm
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I've been dismayed recently when some Buddhist magazines and blogs began promoting drug use to "enhance" the mind. Clearly this violates the fifth Buddhist precept - "I vow to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for carelessness."
So it was with interest I read a feature in Tricycle magazine (Buddhist) by Brad Warner who emphatically states: "People get mad when I say it’s not right for drugs to be promoted as Buddhism. But that’s OK with me. Sometimes you have to make people mad."
In his past, Warner experiment with various drugs finding them to be hindrances rather than helps for consciousness and mind expansion. Here are some of his comments and observations:
The idea that psychedelic drugs can somehow enhance Buddhist practice makes no sense to me at all. How is my real experience of life in the present moment enhanced by messing with the chemistry of my brain?
I do know that for a lot of people, sobriety is a very fragile thing. They’re looking for any excuse at all to get back into the drugs. I can’t say anything positive about drug use and still maintain a clear conscience.
When lots of Buddhists start rambling on about how drugs can be a doorway to deeper practice or accelerate spiritual growth, I feel like there are people out there who need someone with the authority to do so to tell the truth, they need someone to say clearly and unambiguously that that is a lie.
Read the entire article at : https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/psychedelics-buddhism/)
So it was with interest I read a feature in Tricycle magazine (Buddhist) by Brad Warner who emphatically states: "People get mad when I say it’s not right for drugs to be promoted as Buddhism. But that’s OK with me. Sometimes you have to make people mad."
In his past, Warner experiment with various drugs finding them to be hindrances rather than helps for consciousness and mind expansion. Here are some of his comments and observations:
The idea that psychedelic drugs can somehow enhance Buddhist practice makes no sense to me at all. How is my real experience of life in the present moment enhanced by messing with the chemistry of my brain?
I do know that for a lot of people, sobriety is a very fragile thing. They’re looking for any excuse at all to get back into the drugs. I can’t say anything positive about drug use and still maintain a clear conscience.
When lots of Buddhists start rambling on about how drugs can be a doorway to deeper practice or accelerate spiritual growth, I feel like there are people out there who need someone with the authority to do so to tell the truth, they need someone to say clearly and unambiguously that that is a lie.
Read the entire article at : https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/psychedelics-buddhism/)
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We cannot solve the problems of the mind with the mind. In meditation, we often simply leave personal problems behind – we move out of the neighborhood where they live. - Eknath Easwaran
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Imagine you are dining in a Buddhist restaurant where the meal concludes with a fortune cookie which contains a slip of paper with this wisdom sentence - abandon hope.
“Abandon hope” appears as a Buddhist teaching in various lineages and is one of the 59 Lojong slogans used for mind training in Tibetan Buddhism. In Western thought, hope is regarded as a positive concept which can help a person deal with life. However, Buddhism views hope with suspicion and Lojong slogan #28 rejects it - Abandon any hope of fruition. Don’t get caught up in how you will be in the future, stay in the present moment.
Here are fifteen reasons why Buddhism is skeptical about hope.
1. Hope is a form of fear; the fear that we are inadequate, incapable and incompetent of dealing with our present life.
2. Hope is denial . Rather than face and deal with what’s going on now, we shift our attention to some fanciful future when we hope things will be more pleasant.
3. Hope is an obstacle to action. Hoping something will go away or change by itself keeps us stuck with the issue.
4. Hope is childish, wishful thinking that there is somewhere better to be, someone better to be.
5. Hope pushes away bad news and clings to good news thereby missing the truth that something bad may offer an important lesson.
6. Hope deepens unhappiness. Hoping for something in the future keep us unhappy in the present.
7. Hope is self-paralyzing leaving us in an emotional coma hoping things will change.
8. Hope seeks what is comfortable and pleasant at the expense of relating to problems in constructive ways.
9. Hope prolongs suffering by promoting the view that everything can be changed, fixed, or removed.
10. Hope fuels the feeling of being powerless with it’s focus on how life is supposed to be.
11. Hope feeds the ego. Too often we work with ulterior, self-serving motives. For example, when we are nice to people we “hope” they will like us.
12. Hope erodes current peace and tranquility because hope is future focused - the good life is down the road, sometime in the future.
13. Hope keeps us in a state of agitation and anxiety by denying us the opportunity of simply releasing and relaxing into the present.
14. Hope breeds insecurity by it’s constant demand for reassurance that life is unfolding according to some plan.
15. Hope keeps us stuck in expectations of better outcomes while downsizing attention to our present circumstances.
Abandoning hope is not defeatist and depressing but results in patience and peace by living fully in the power of now.
(feel free to re-post and/or link to your social media)
“Abandon hope” appears as a Buddhist teaching in various lineages and is one of the 59 Lojong slogans used for mind training in Tibetan Buddhism. In Western thought, hope is regarded as a positive concept which can help a person deal with life. However, Buddhism views hope with suspicion and Lojong slogan #28 rejects it - Abandon any hope of fruition. Don’t get caught up in how you will be in the future, stay in the present moment.
Here are fifteen reasons why Buddhism is skeptical about hope.
1. Hope is a form of fear; the fear that we are inadequate, incapable and incompetent of dealing with our present life.
2. Hope is denial . Rather than face and deal with what’s going on now, we shift our attention to some fanciful future when we hope things will be more pleasant.
3. Hope is an obstacle to action. Hoping something will go away or change by itself keeps us stuck with the issue.
4. Hope is childish, wishful thinking that there is somewhere better to be, someone better to be.
5. Hope pushes away bad news and clings to good news thereby missing the truth that something bad may offer an important lesson.
6. Hope deepens unhappiness. Hoping for something in the future keep us unhappy in the present.
7. Hope is self-paralyzing leaving us in an emotional coma hoping things will change.
8. Hope seeks what is comfortable and pleasant at the expense of relating to problems in constructive ways.
9. Hope prolongs suffering by promoting the view that everything can be changed, fixed, or removed.
10. Hope fuels the feeling of being powerless with it’s focus on how life is supposed to be.
11. Hope feeds the ego. Too often we work with ulterior, self-serving motives. For example, when we are nice to people we “hope” they will like us.
12. Hope erodes current peace and tranquility because hope is future focused - the good life is down the road, sometime in the future.
13. Hope keeps us in a state of agitation and anxiety by denying us the opportunity of simply releasing and relaxing into the present.
14. Hope breeds insecurity by it’s constant demand for reassurance that life is unfolding according to some plan.
15. Hope keeps us stuck in expectations of better outcomes while downsizing attention to our present circumstances.
Abandoning hope is not defeatist and depressing but results in patience and peace by living fully in the power of now.
(feel free to re-post and/or link to your social media)