Tag Archives: listening

02Feb/18

5 Reasons that Listening and Compassion Foster One Another

02/02/2018attentiveness, awareness, buddhism, compassion, meditation, shurangamabuddhism, communication, compassion, enlightenment, listening, meditation, shurangamaTCN

When you reach a psychological, social, spiritual impasse or bottleneck, you’re usually short of time and likely want to push forward or give up completely. That’s precisely the moment to take a little time to listen to the sound of silence, to the internal voice or higher power. Setting aside the problems for a little while allows you to hear possible creative solutions.

25Jan/18

24 Reasons for Choosing Listening as an Enlightening Practice

01/25/2018avalokiteshvara, buddhism, listening, meditation, shurangama, Uncategorized, wisdomawareness, buddhism, listening, meditation, sage, shurangama, wisdomTCN

Listening by contemplating on the source of the ear organ is the recommended practice for this era because only sound can be heard through walls and all around. You can practice all hours of the day; even while you’re asleep or deep in a dream, you can hear sounds, including the sound of silence. The sound of silence is a sound with a source in you who hear. You first notice sounds in movement and stillness, then you realize that the object of sound neither comes into being nor ceases. Instead of listening to the wisdom of others, why not listen to that which listens? Contemplate: who is it that listens? Listen until even listening ceases.

20Aug/17

11 Steps to Listening: a Buddhist Meditative Practice

08/20/2017buddhism, Buddhism Buddhist teachings scripture teacher advice patience text sacred learning Chinese English, buddhist, Buddhist canon, Buddhist teachings, listening, meditation, practice, spiritual, zenbuddhism, listening, meditation, shurangamaTCN

1. Find an uninterrupted period of time, whether five minutes or an hour. 2. Find a quiet place that you can hopefully establish as your sacred space for regular practice. 3. Sit down on a cushion or your bed. It helps to have a cushion or pillow below your buttocks. Sit with your legs crossed.

10Aug/17

8 Types of Sounds

08/10/2017buddhism, listening, shurangamabuddhism, listening, meditation, shurangama, silence, soundTCN

What types of sounds do you tend to notice? Pleasant sounds or unpleasant sounds? Music or noise? Loud sounds or white noise? A preeminent Chinese Buddhist teacher, Master Jiaoguang, developed some illuminating and useful categories of sounds for people who practice listening as a meditation. Check and see if you…

10Aug/17

8 Listening Exercises

08/10/2017buddhist, Buddhist teachings, listening, shurangama, spiritual, zenbuddhism, emptiness, listening, shurangama, sound of silence, zenTCN

1. Listen for the sounds around you now: people’s voices, TV, music, cars, chirps, breeze. . . Stop what you’re doing. For three seconds, still yourself and hear what’s around you. 2. Listen for the sound of silence. Turn off any noise in your control. At a time when all’s…

13Jun/17

7 Paradoxical Teachings in Buddhism

06/13/2017buddhism, buddhist, Buddhist teachings, guanyin, heart, listening, spiritual, wisdom, zenbuddhism, emptiness, hearing, listening, practice, public speaking, sacred, speaking, thought, voicesTCN

Typically, we reject contradictions. Buddhists, however, embrace a number of oxymora that serve as levers for opening into profundity likened to light at the end of the tunnel. The unexpected folding into of what is unfolding, and the unfolding of that which is enfolded bend our conscious mind so that…

23Aug/09

Meditation & the Brain: Everlasting Happiness

08/23/2009attentiveness, awarenessbrain, Jill Bolte Taylor, listening, meditation, mind, mindfulness, neuroplasticityTCN

Aren't we really voluntarily shutting off our left brain by meditating? There's the joy we can access anywhere and any time. There is more beyond being in a state of oblivion for oneself though.