Tag Archives: meditation

22Jan/18

25 Meditation Practices Leading to Enlightenment

01/22/2018buddhism, meditation, shurangamabest practice, buddha, enlightenment, meditation, shurangama sutraTCN

Once upon a time, the wisest soul around lovingly gathered his top students. All beings who became enlightened through 25 practices circled around the Buddha one balmy evening. The Buddha Shakyamuni knew that his students have valuable lessons to share with those of the present and future, so he asked each: “Tell me how you entered meditative absorption and actualized your potentiality for wisdom and compassion.”

06Jan/18

3 Analogies that Describe Enlightening Progress in Your Practice

01/06/2018awareness, buddhist, listening, meditation, spiritual, zenbuddhism, clarity, heart, meditation, mind, shurangama, states of mindTCN

It helps to know that you are on track with your practice, Here are 3 similes in Mahayana Buddhist texts that enlightened beings often employ to describe mostly indescribably states of mind.

13Nov/17

10 Benefits from the Shurangama Mantra

11/13/2017mantra peace prayer, meditation, shurangamabenefits, buddhist, mantra, meditation, shurangamaTCN

Why supplement the practice of listening with a practice around the Shurangama mantra? In general, some spiritual humps are difficult to overcome on your own. The Shurangama mantra is the lever that bounces you right over any obstacle. You can memorize this long mantra and recite it regularly, you can…

26Oct/17

4 Foundational Purifications for Enlightenment

10/26/2017buddhist, buddhist text, mantra peace prayer, meditation, shakyamuni buddha, shurangamabuddha, buddhist, buddhist text shurangama, mantra, meditation, precepts, teachingTCN

If you expect to evolve spiritually, you must exert yourself. If you expect miracle to strike simply because you willed it, it’s not likely to happen. You must cultivate the terra firma of your soul so it flowers fruits. You must cleanse the vessel that carries the messages of wisdom and compassion. You must polish the instrument that ignites and channels the transcendental. According to the Shurangama Sutra, a Mahayana Buddhist text that is revered for its teachings on meditation a long and powerful Buddhist mantra, here are four ways to dig deep into the soil of your soul, to bath your messenger, and to make your physical instrument for practice shine.

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…

09Mar/17

6 Buddhist Antidotes to Suffering

03/09/2017buddhism, dharma, meditation, suffering, Uncategorizedantidote, being, buddhism, compassion, healing, meditation, misery, pain, practice, sufferingTCN

Since evicted from a U.S. monastic order about eight years ago, I have been told many times that I suffer because of my karma, bad karma. Often this sentiment is coming from those I presume to be perpetrating intentional harm. This sentiment also becomes a sort of shaming and humiliation…

05Dec/10

Remember to Exercise During the Holidays — Exercise Empathy!

12/05/2010compassion empathy holidays neuroscience contemplation neuroplasticity CCARE CALM Mind and Life Institute Richard Davidson meditation science brain male femalebrain, CALM, CCARE, compassion, contemplation, empathy, holidays, male, meditation, Mind and Life Institute, neuroplasticity, neuroscience, Richard Davidson, scienceTCN

Identifying a male or female by sight is easier than identifying a male or female brain. Full from the over-seasoned stuffing and booming television commercials, the holiday party moves closer to the fireplace. Having been immersed in the blinking Christmas lights and the background holiday music for so long,…

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.