News, Links & Stories
2017-01-29
Question: Why does the Sydney Contemplation Society meditate for 24 minutes as opposed to the 20 minutes usually encountered in other practices in this area?
This is a group that encourages questions and it
started with the question, why over the years have we been instructed to meditate for multiples of 20 minutes. After some research here are three of the references we found that led to the adoption of the 24 minute (ghatika) meditation practice.
An excerpt from "What the past did for us" By Adam Hart-Davis
An article on the site Mystery of India entitled "The Ancient Indian Water Clock"
http://www.mysteryofindia.com/2015/10/ghatika-yantra-the-ancient-indian-water-clock.html
A pdf entitled "meditation instruction" taken from the first chapter of Alan Wallace's book "Genuine Happiness".
(If you Ctrl + F on your keyboard, type ghatika and hit Enter it will take you to the word in the article).
http://www.sbinstitute.com/sites/default/files/meditation.pdf
"And in the end I guess we just want to be different, but not too different"!
Interesting program on CBC The Nature of Things the evening of 26 Jan 17 entitled "Myth or Science: The Secrets of our Senses". The Link is below.
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/myth-or-science-the-secrets-of-our-senses
Also of interest might be a program entitled "The Brain's Way of Healing. Link Below.
http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/the-brains-way-of-healing
What is the Mind?
Following on from our meditation session of 26 January 17 I thought it might be useful to have an understanding of a Buddhist concept of mind, to that end you will find below a link to an article taken from the book MindScience edited by Daniel Coleman and Robert Thurman Published in 1991 by Wisdom Publications.
http://www.lamayeshe.com/article/what-mind
Hope you find this beneficial.
19FEB2017
Are You Practicing Stupid Meditation?
"If our practice is not about being present but being better, we’re misusing meditation"
Interesting article from "tricycle magazine"
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/stupid-meditation/
14MAR2017
Mindfulness can be a wonderful tool ..... BUT!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matthieu-ricard/caring-mindfulness_b_7118906.html
17MAR2017
NEW BOOK by TERRY GIBBS
"To all my friends who are doing great things in the world..."
19MAR2017
Recommended reading following-up on todays practice session
Mindfulness Meditation as a Buddhist Practice
02APR2017
How to knot elastic beading thread securely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCwz9dOPq3w
Dalai Lama reciting prajna paramita heart sutra mantra
09APR2017
Book Recomendation
"The Heart Attack Sutra" a new commentary on the Heart Sutra. by Karl Brunnholzl
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/the-heart-attack-sutra-a/9781559393911-item.html?ikwid=heart+attack+sutra&ikwsec=Books&ikwidx=0
23APR2017
The Heart Sutra and Key Concepts of Buddhism
You will find many different translations of the Heart Sutra, some with only slight variations.
Here is a site that outlines some key concepts, contained within this sutra, line by line.
http://webdharma.com/ctzg/heartsutra1.html
29APR2017
The Six Paramitas
A Chan perspective on the Six Paramitas. Too much?
http://chancenter.org/cmc/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/TheSixParamitas.pdf
07May2017
Buddhism 101: The Eightfold Path
https://www.buddha101.com/p_path.htm
17 June 2017
Practicising Zazen Meditation
"If you think, “I breathe,” the “I” is extra. There is no you to say “I.” What we call “I” is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no “I,” no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door." Shunryu Suzuki Roshi
https://tricycle.org/magazine/practicing-zazen/
02 Aug 2017
“The general or universal definition of pratityasamutpada (or “dependent origination” or “dependent arising” or “interdependent co-arising”) is that everything arises in dependence upon multiple causes and conditions; nothing exists as a singular, independent entity.” Thich Nhat Hanh
http://buddhaweekly.com/understanding-dependent-co-arising-critical-buddhist-practice-great-causes-discourse-maha-nidana-sutta/
12 Aug 2017
Who do you Think you are ???
13 Aug 2017
Perhaps, who you think you are is like a dream created in part by the phenomenal mind (mind of the senses).
But the essence of who you are is beyond the limits of the phenomenal mind.
This you, is beyond concepts and cannot be know by thinking.
17 Aug 2017
THE NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Below are links to four sessions from the two day dialogue with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Russian scientists on the topic "The Nature of Consciousness" from New Delhi, India on August 7-8. 2017.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjoTszyjvC8&t=11s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFo7yF8rjPU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBc_cFrLN3c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JupVsXXMvis
If you still have some popcorn left after that, here is a link to the first of the The Mind and Life XXVI conference from Drepung Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, India, held on January 17-22, 2013. Twenty of the world's foremost scientists and philosophers with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other senior Tibetan scholars will address topics over the course of the week that include the historical sweep of science and the revolutions in our understanding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOpVrprggG0
05 Sept 2017
The Mind-Body "Problem"
Is Mind dependent on the Brain?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG1k8E_YDjo
07 Sept 2017
"Consciousness Explained" by Daniel Dennett
Philosopher Dan Dennett makes a compelling argument that not only don't we understand our own consciousness, but that half the time our brains are actively fooling us.
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_dennett_on_our_consciousness
27 Sept 2017
"The search for an origin is a seductive task, but one to be wary of. As Nāgārjūna pointed out a long time ago, nothing ever really comes into being as such. Any entity we might identify is both composite and has developed through the mutual dependence of causes and conditions. The idea of an ‘origin’ supposes that we can identify a source that cannot be broken into composite parts and is free from any previous causes."
Sam van Schaik, based at the British Library, working for the International Dunhuang Project.
28 Sept 2017
"YOU" may not like This!
"Maya, the Illusion of the Self"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bw9zSMsKcwk
06 Oct 2017
"Our minds can be hijacked"
“The technologies we use have turned into compulsions, if not full-fledged addictions,”
08 Oct 2017
THE SIX PARAMITAS
Over the coming weeks we will be exploring the six invaluable qualities known as “the six paramitas”.
The Six Perfections, or paramitas, are guides for Mahayana Buddhist practice. They are virtues to be cultivated to strengthen practice and bring one to enlightenment.
Below is a link to one site with an overview of the six paramitas.
http://www.rinpoche.com/teachings/paramitas.htm
And here's a site that goes a little deeper.
http://www.dhagpo.org/en/index.php/multimedia/teachings/166-the-six-paramitas
28 Oct 2017
Life’s in-between moments don’t have to drive us crazy—they can calm us down.
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/cool-boredom/
24 Nov 2017
Alan Watts ~ Discovering & Surrendering Your Suffering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkIKYDEbyzY&feature=push-u&attr_tag=CowYneiNmMqZfBtS-6
26 Nov 2017
The Third Moment Method
04 Dec 2017
HART SUTRA (gary dyson - club mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5Z83a1lZTQ
07 Dec 2017
The Mind of Absolute Trust
http://www.selfdiscoveryportal.com/cmSengTsan.htm
12 Dec 2017
We are in training to be nobody special
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/training-nobody-special-sandy-boucher/
05 Jan 2018
EMPTINESS - POSSIBLY THE MOST MISUNDERSTOOD WORD IN BUDDHISM
https://www.thoughtco.com/sunyata-or-emptiness-450191
07 Jan 2018
Tai Chi Class in Sydney, New for 2018
Originating in China, Tai Chi combines mindfulness/meditation with gentle movements and is suitable for all ages and abilities. This combination of mental and physical dimensions makes Tai Chi the world’s most powerful form of exercise, offering benefits to everything from mental health and blood pressure to balance, strength and flexibility. It is the most important method for preventing falls in the elderly.
There are many forms of Tai Chi. Most important is to learn the inner secrets of Tai Chi that promote healing and to apply these techniques to easy-to-learn and safe set of traditional movements. Dr. Michael Milburn has 30 years experience with Tai Chi, having studied with some of the world’s foremost Tai Chi masters. He has carefully studied the highest levels of Tai Chi but also how to teach it effectively.
This class will introduce a simple Tai Chi set based on Sun style, that is safe, simple to perform and very powerful way to improve your health. There is even a seated version for those who cannot stand. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is to learn. Come out, make some friends and improve your health in 2018!
Tuesday’s at 1:00 PM
Sydney-Riverview Y Service Club
54 Riverview Dr., Westmount
Contact Dr. Mike for more information:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
902-562-2507
www.OptimumHealthCB.ca
10 Jan 2018
Zen Mind Beginners Mind Book PDF.
http://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvindgupta/zenmind.pdf
ZEN MIND BEGINNERS MIND YouTube AUDIO FILE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ote01_Oof8U&t=67s
21 Jan 2018
Shunryu Suzuki ♡ Zen & Excitement ♡ In The Midst of Noise & Change Your Mind Will Be Calm & Stable
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0m5K4My_wk
13 Feb 2018
The Power of Intuition
If you have access to Netflix you may find this inspiring.
Innsaei
https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80135273
14 Feb 2018
Book Recommendation
The Four Noble Truths: Geshe Tashi Tsering
"Like so much in Budhism, different explanations are designed to cater to people of diverse interests and dispositions. Some of us use Buddhism as a tool to make sense of our busy lives and have neither the time nor the inclination to delve into the more esoteric philosophies. We are searching for ways to keep our lives under control and gain some degree of peace. Others might have an opportunity for deeper study or the wish to put the teachings into practice in more depth and want to go a bit further than that. It is very helpful to read up on different traditions and search for common ground, and then from that basis choose whichever is suitable for your own mentality and your own lifestyle. It is really what speaks to you at this moment that will help you."
17 Feb 2018
Book Recommendation
Shobogenzo: (正法眼蔵, lit. "Treasury of the True Dharma Eye") is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japanese by the 13th century Japanese Buddhist monk and founder of the Japanese Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen.
"The Treasure house of the eye of the true teaching, a trainee's translation of great master Dogen's spiritual masterpiece."
FREE PDF DOWNLOAD (English):
https://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/Shobogenzo.pdf
22 Feb 2018
Zen Clappers
At our last sitting the question was asked, "Do we use the wooden sticks, ie. "Zen Clappers", to indicate the end or beginning of walking meditation and where did this tradition come from?"
Answer: We have traditionally used "Zen clappers" to indicate the END of a walking meditation. They are struck once which offers a contrast to the one stroke of the large bowl-bell that indicates the end of a sitting meditation practice. Alot of us began our meditation practice in the Shambhala tradition and in that tradition we were taught that practice.
But Zen Clappers, as far as I know, are not from a Tibetan tradition. To get an understanding as to why this item was adopted by Shambhala practitioners we have to understand that Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, the head of the Shambhala lineage, had for a time a close relationship and admiratioin for the way the Zen master Shunryu Suzuki-roshi was introducing Zen Buddhist at the San Francisco Zen Centre. It is probably from this association that certain Zen practices were adopted into Shambhala practice.
http://www.cuke.com/bibliography/trungpa-born.html
https://terebess.hu/zen/szoto/hangszersz.html (See items 22 & 23)
Hope this helps.
26 Feb 2018
Tai Chi walking (meditation in motion) YouTube video
https://youtu.be/8rN5h9-YW-0?list=FLTGMHoxPVcSPj_QXrkHVLGQ
11 Mar 2018
https://files.acrobat.com/a/preview/13a601be-1516-4619-88e5-753e6fac41fe
15 Mar 2018
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" free pdf book download.
http://drdavidlawrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Wherever-You-Go-There-You-Are.pdf
27 Mar 2018
"What exactly is Vipassana Mediation"
https://tricycle.org/magazine/vipassana-meditation/l
29 Apr 2018
Mirror Like Mind
"It has been said that the highest wisdom lies in detachment, or, in the words of Chung-Tzu, 'The perfect man employs his mind as a mirror; it grasps nothing; it refuses nothing; it receives but does not keep.' Detachment means to have neither regrets for the past nor fears for the future; to let life take its course without attempting to interfere with its movement and change, neither trying to prolong the stay of something pleasant nor to hasten the departure of things unpleasant. To do this is to move in time with life, to be in perfect accord with its changing music, and this is called enlightenment. In short, it is to be detached from both the past and future and to live in the eternal Now. For in truth neither past nor future have any existance apart from this Now; by themselves they are illusions. Life exists only at this very moment...
You may believe yourself out of harmony with life and its eternal Now; but you cannot be, for you are life and exist Now---otherwise you would not be here. Hence the infinite Tao is something which you can neither escape by flight nor catch by pursuit; there is no coming toward it or going away from it; it is, and you are it. So become what you are."
~Alan Watts~
Mind Like a Mirror
https://tricycle.org/magazine/mind-mirror/
06 May 2018
Lest we Forget: The Upajjhatthana Sutta ("Subjects for Contemplation") The Five Rememberances
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upajjhatthana_Sutta
19 Jan 2019
Vipassana Group Book Recommendation: "Why Buddhism is True"
28 Jan 2019
The number 108 has an auspicious place in Hindu and Yogic culture.
According the ancient holy scriptures of India, the Vedas, our body has 108 main energy lines called the nadis and we repeat a mantra 108 times, we fill out these 108 nadis with the energy of the mantra. The word nadi has the word nad in it, and nad means sound in Sanskrit, so these energy lines are actually carriers of the sacred sound current. Energy is sound, life force is sound, so we immersing our whole body in the sound current of the particular mantra.
There is also some mathematical expressions of 108.
Renowned mathematicians of Vedic culture viewed 108 as a number of the wholeness of existence. This number also connects the Sun, Moon, and Earth: The average distance of the Sun and the Moon to Earth is 108 times their respective diameters. Such phenomena have given rise to many examples of ritual significance.
According to yogic tradition, there are 108 pithas, or sacred sites, throughout India. And there are also 108 Upanishads and 108 marma points, or sacred places of the body.
In Buddhism, according to Bhante Gunaratana[3] this number is reached by multiplying the senses smell, touch, taste, hearing, sight, and consciousness by whether they are painful, pleasant or neutral, and then again by whether these are internally generated or externally occurring, and yet again by past, present and future, finally we get 108 feelings. 6 × 3 × 2 × 3 = 108.
Tibetan Buddhist malas or rosaries (Tib. ཕྲེང་བ Wyl. phreng ba, "Trengwa") are usually 108 beads;[4] sometimes 111 including the guru bead(s), reflecting the words of the Buddha called in Tibetan the Kangyur (Wylie: Bka'-'gyur) in 108 volumes. Zen priests wear juzu (a ring of prayer beads) around their wrists, which consists of 108 beads.[5]
_of_Tulasi_wood_with_108_beads_-_20040101-02.jpg)
Japa mala, or japa beads, made from tulasi wood, consisting of 108 beads plus the head bead.
The Lankavatara Sutra has a section where the Bodhisattva Mahamati asks Buddha 108 questions[6] and another section where Buddha lists 108 statements of negation in the form of "A statement concerning X is not a statement concerning X."[7] In a footnote, D.T. Suzuki explains that the Sanskrit word translated as "statement" is pada which can also mean "foot-step" or "a position." This confusion over the word "pada" explains why some have mistakenly held that the reference to 108 statements in the Lankavatara refer to the 108 steps that many temples have.[8]
In Japan, at the end of the year, a bell is chimed 108 times in Buddhist temples to finish the old year and welcome the new one. Each ring represents one of 108 earthly temptations (Bonnō) a person must overcome to achieve nirvana.
19May 2019
Recommended Read
The Noble Eightfold PathThe Way to the End of Suffering by Bhikkhu Bodhi
http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/noble8path6.pdf
19 Oct 2020
Recommended Netflix series
THE MIND EXPLAINED (Episode 4 Mindfulness)
https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81098586