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Archive for October, 2008

Buddha Air

October 29th, 2008
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Marcelo,

Maybe off topic, but a friend of mine visited Nepal and flew with Buddha Air.

I wonder, are there any other airlines named after spiritual leaders?

Will it be a safer plane to fly with than a normal plane? What is the food like on board?

Volker

Buddha

Sunday, isn’t it?

October 26th, 2008
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Marcelo,

Thank you for the rich content and the writing you are doing.

I am well, thank you. Weekend. I have been busy over the last few days, including a great time management/personal organisation seminar. See post in my Blurb!

So, what do I need to do? I need to sit down and empty my head. As simple as that. I need to get my vision/goals and focus where they should be before I get them down to actions, e.g. mediation for one thing.

I need to chill and think. You write so wonderful things but I need a rest at the moment, rewiring the brain before I can start thinking again. This might take a day or two, maybe a week.

Hope things are going well with you?

Love
Volker

self development

Buddhism Teachings – The six realms of rebirth

October 25th, 2008
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From the book “Transform your life” Geshe-la teachs about the six realms of rebirth, or the six realms of samsara, or even the six possibilities of rebirth, in which realm we will reborn and what are the causes that will give us that state of rebirth.

“…To form a mental image of the six realms, we can compare them to the floors of a large, old house. In this analogy the house represents samsara, the cycle of contaminated rebirth. The house has three storeys above ground, and three below. Deluded sentient beings are like the inhabitants of this house. They are continually moving up and down the house, sometimes living above ground, sometimes below.

The ground floor corresponds to the human realm. Above, on the first floor, is the realm of the demi-gods – non-human beings who are continually at war with the gods. In terms of power and prosperity they are superior to humans, but they are so obsessed with jealousy and violence that their lives have little spiritual value.

On the top floor live the gods. The lower classes of gods, the desire realm gods, live a life of ease and luxury, devoting their time to enjoyment and the satisfaction of their desires. Though their world is a paradise and their lifespan is very long, they are not inmortal and they eventually fall to lower states. Since their lives are filled with distractions, ir is difficult for them to find the motivation to engage in spiritual practice. From a spiritual point of view, a human life is much more meaningful than a god’s life.

Higher than the desire realm gods are the gods of the form and formless realms. Having passed beyond sensual desire, the form realm gods experience the refined bliss of meditative absorption and possess bodies made of light. Transcending even these subtle forms, the gods of the formless realm abide without form in subtle consciousness that resembles infinite space. Though their minds are the purest and most exalted within samsara, they have not overcome the ignorance of self-grasping, which is the root of samsara, and so, after experiencing bliss for many aeons, eventually their lives end and they are once again reborn in the lower states of samsara. Like the other gods, they consume the merit they have created in the past and make little or no spiritual progress.”

So, which form of samsara’s being do you want to be? Which realms do you want to remain in?

Only human form can help us to attain Nirvana.

L&K

Marcelo



gods, human beings, rebirth, samsara, six realms

Meditation – relying upon mental stabilization

October 25th, 2008
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What do we really want for our lifes?
We want a family, a lovely partner, friendships, good job, enough money for all position or gods we desire, good house, reputation, respect from “ALL” others, happiness, peace, time for living and to enjoying our possessions.
Unfortunately, our infinite desires to get in life brings us only discontentment and unhappiness.
We need to find our balance within us.
Shantideva gives us a Path to achieve a mental stabilization. We just need to get a try.
“…I, who am decaying moment by moment, have attached to others
Who are also decaying moment by moment.
As a result of this, I shall not be able to see
Pure, attractive objects for thousands of lifetimes.
If I do not see someone whom I find attractive,
I become unhappy and cannot place my mind in concentration;
Yet, when I do see that person, I find no satisfaction
But am just as tormented by attachment as I was before.
Having strong attachment to other living beings
Obstructs the correct view of emptiness,
Prevents renunciation for samsara,
And causes great sorrow at the time of death.”
Have a thought about this beautiful words and get a time for yourself meditating on your attachments and what could they give to you?
Remember in certain way, we need to have friends and things in life, but we do not need to be attached to them. Not in the way that their absence or lack of having them could cause us a lot of sufferings.
L&K
Marcelo

causes of sufferings, happiness, meditation

Weekends

October 25th, 2008
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Great Volker! How have you been? Enjoying your special time in life…your weekends.

It’s the time to get closer to yourself, resting, relaxing, joying friends, family and your special lover.

I don’t mean the other aren’t for that purpose, but We are not wiser enough to realize that. It’s foolish, but we make some confusion in life, believing that everything happens outside of our mind and for that, we need time to make contact to our inner side.

One day we will achieve the balance within our actions and all and everything will become enjoyable.

Have a lovely day

L&K

Marcelo



emptiness, enjoying life, mind

Laughing on the doubts

October 21st, 2008
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Good Morning Volker… from the deepest of my respect to you, you have made me to laugh a lot on this post. Buddhists always laughing and enjoying their life, even when they have got a bad time.

As Geshe-la uses to play with us, he says: I want you to get crazy….

Ok, answering your questions.

First of all, you are still mixing concepts, Karma is not causes and conditions. To die in a aircrash you need to create the conditions, actually you and all other passangers have to gathered together the conditions for the airplane to have engines, electrical or any other problem and then having a crash!

If you have a good karma?, uhhhh… Look at yourself, at now, of course you have a wonderful karma. Your whole is fulfiled by enjoyments, you are a Human Being, you have got a good job, wife, money, friends, family and so on, and I believe good mental state and good minds. Maybe, you have create causes to change this karma in the future, but no one can predicte it, only Buddha knows everything. Because that, is very important to practice Dharma sincerely.

You wont know what will happen to us tomorrow, this afternoon, this lunch time…It is impossible, we are in samsara. But we can weak our negative karma practising virtuous actions all the time.

No, Buddhas wont take any actions to you, they will not establish anything to you. Everything is related to you karma. By your present actions you will create the causes and conditions to ripen a positive karma and not the negative one. The concept of God in Buddhism does not exist in same way as Catholics.

Been honest to you, I want to get you even craisier than now, it’s urgent to let our delusions, previous concepts go, let them go now! Get crazy and find our your own scape from samsara.

I am very glad that you are thinking to get back to Geshe-la. Yeah, take your own time, enjoy the Path, be constantly happy and make others even happier than you.

Enjoy your day.

L&K

Marcelo



causes and conditions, enjoying life, karma

doubts and questions

October 20th, 2008
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Marcelo,

I have been thinking. Thinking a lot about various things.

I cannot and I do not want to believe that I would not die in an airline crash (using that as an example), if I had good karma. Everytime I go on a longer trip, I donate something to my Buddha, asking for protection, asking to come back as I have not yet fnished what I started.

That is my humble opinion. Maybe I have fulfilled my purpose already and it is not up to me to decide. But, who decides? Buddha is not like a god that is above us all, is he? Is it the law of the universe?

So, given the circumstances, that – and I assume that – I have a good Karma. What would happen if I had been in a crash. Would I die or not?

I don’t even want to picture it, because it is almost like “I don’t mind having an accident, because I have a good Karma”. However, I understand that if we decide to kill ourselves (jump in front of a train) or drink and drive, we are changing our Karma, even if last minute, to die? Did I understand that correctly?

Marcelo, when do I know if I have good Karma. When do I know I have finished what I set out to do in this life? Will I ever know?

I need to go back. I need to revisit Gelshe’s books. I need to visit the centre and I need to find my path. And, I need to do that in my own time. I need to do that whilst I start meditating more regularly.

Thanks for your input.

How are things with you.

Love and Kindness – from a train to Leeds
Volker

Buddhism, causes and conditions, karma, offerings, personal development, self development, way of life

Buddhism teachings

October 20th, 2008
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Karma – The six realms of rebirth

The seeds that ripen when we die are very important because they determine what kind of rebirth we shall take. Which particular seed ripens at death depends upon the state of mind in which we die. If we die with a peaceful mind, this will stimulate a virtuous seed and we shall experience a fortunate rebirth; but if we die with a disturbed mind, in a state of anger, say, this will stimulate a non-virtuous seed and we shall experience an unfortunate rebirth. This is similar to the way in which nightmares are triggered by our being in an agitated state of mind just before falling asleep.

The analogy of falling asleep is not accidental, for, as explained in the chapter on reincarnation, the process od sleeping, dreaming, and walking closely resembles the process of death, intermediate state, and rebirth. Whil we are in the intermediate state, we experience different visions that arise from the karmic seeds that were activated immediately before death. If negative seeds were activated, these visions will be nightmarish, but if positive seeds were activated they will be predominantly pleasant. In either case, when the karmic seeds have matured sufficiently, they impel us to take rebirth in one or other of the six realms of samsara.

The six realms are actual places in which we can be reborn. They are brought into existence through the power of our actions, or karma. There are three types of actions: bodily actions, verbal actions, and mental actions. Since our bodily and verbal actions are always initiated by our mental actions, or intentions, ultimately the six realms are created by our mind. For example, a hell realm is a place that arises as a result of the worst actions, such as murder or extreme mental or physical cruelty, which depend upon the most deluded states of mind.

Have a thought and let us talk about it later…

L&K

Marcelo



buddhist realms, karma

Meditation – Purify Negativity

October 20th, 2008
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Dear Volker and all other Mother Beings,

To purify our negativies we created by ours previous non-virtuous actions in this life or in the past lifes, we can apply some methods, such as, regret, patience, acceptance, collection of merits, purification practices, offerings (to the Buddhas and all Living Beings), but we need to that holding up a happy mind.

We can performance these purifications during our formal meditation or meanwhile we are engaging in all other duties of our life.

Shantideva in his book “Guide to the Bodhisattva’s way of Life, tells us:

“… To the Able Ones, the supreme objects of offering,
I offer all the beautiful, scented flowers -
Mandaras, upalas, lotuses, and so forth -
And exquisite garlands, finely arranged.”

” To maintain this precious mind of Bodhichitta,
I make excellent offerings to the oceans of good qualities -
The Buddhas, the stainless jewel of th holy Dharma,
And the assembly of Bodhisattvas.

However many flowers and fruits there are,
And all the different types of medicine;
All the jewels there are in the world,
And all the pure, refreshing waters;

Mountains of jewels, forest groves,
And quiet and jouful places;
Heavenly trees adorned with flowers,
And trees whose branches hang with delicious fruits;

Scents that come from the celestial realms,
Incense, wish-granting trees, and jewelled trees;
Harvests that need no cultivation,
And all ornaments that are suitable to be offered;

Lakes and pools adorned with lotuses,
And the beautiful call of wild geese;
Everything that is unowned
Throughout all worlds as extensive as space -

Holding these in my mind, I offer them well
To the supreme beings, the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.
O Compassionate Ones, holy objects of offering,
Think of me kindly and accept what I offer.”

Make offerings in this way, holding up a very peaceful and beautiful mind we are applying a powerful method to overcome our attachements to material things and supassing one of our root delusion.

Even, when we go to drink some still water, and at the time we develop a thanksful mind and offer that as a precious treasure to Buddhas and dedicating this to the benefit of all Living Beings, we will be creating such strong causes to receive the Buddhas’ blessings upon our body, speech and mind.

Please, try it! Develop a peaceful mind, take breaths in and out, relax a bit, and imagine as much as you can, the space around and in front of you, full of offerings – beautiful ones, and then make a offering to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Do not forget, after it and after all our virtuous actions, we have to dedicate the merit we have created by performance these meaningful actions.

L&K

Marcelo



buddhism meditation method, meditation, meditation guidance, merits, offerings, purification

causes and conditions

October 20th, 2008
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Good morning Volker, hope you have enjoyed so much your weekend.

When you have said “purpose and fulfilment”, in Buddhism we say “causes and contitions”.

Accidents and all phenomena that happen to us in according to the causes we have created for it and the conditions that ripen at the moment it happens to us.
Maybe in time of an accident we could created causes for it to happen, but we did not create enough causes to dye.

If our conditions that we might created at the time of the accident, e.g., is the speed of the car we are driving up is too fast without safe belt or we are driving down after some pits of beer we are creating the conditions to suffer a lot.

Even though, if in the past we did not created the causes to dye, will not dye at that moment, but if those conditions are atrong enough fot that time, we might created a such strong karma by it that could dye in that accident.

Remember conditions we created in the earlier past of this present life or long ago in the previous life, they could ripen right now or sometime in the future.

I hope it’s helpful to you to understand this great Law…

L&K

Marcelo

causes and conditions