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The art of transformation
Tantra yoga is not a clear classification within western yoga because for thousands of years it has been passed from master to student, and because of inherent dangers within tantric practices the real knowledge has been kept out of the public domain. So unless one is raised within Hindu or Buddhist societies engaged in tantric practise, understanding tantra in any classical sense is impossible without years of detailed study.
Most hear of Tantra as a new age buzz word that has evolved over the past 50 years. Mention tantra to many people and they think of kinky sex and a mystical union between men and women. This is a limited view because there is no
Continue reading Yoga Tantra
The future is in our hands
I invite you to play this short video to your right in which Neil deGrasse Tyson argues the case of science and our collective knowledge about what works as a means for our decision-making.
We can use this rational scientific approach to ask whether peace is better than war or whether we should have greater social equity or to continue shaping the world based on sociological and economic systems that are failing.
Can take his dialogue further and ask what is the meaning of life?
For many, life has no meaning at all and as individuals we have absolutely no responsibility and no need of any morality. For others life has become a quest
Continue reading Recognising Science
Towards an Ethical Way of Life
Spash Art via Tumblr
Most of us have heard the term karma, a Sanskrit word (कर्म) implying the interlinking of cause and effect. Karma signifies a moral caution and a stimulus to become responsible in life because when we cause harm to others by accident or even design, consequences will come back to us at some point.
The Dhammapada is one of the most sacred and best-loved of Buddhist texts. It points out the method of self-realization, by the way of moral conduct:
Like garlands woven from a heap of flowers, Fashion from your life as many good deeds.
The text further enlightens on the nature of the karmic fruit:
For while the
Continue reading Understanding Karma
Connecting and uplifting
In contrast to music and song designed to soothe or stimulate one’s heart and mind towards some short-term happiness, the intent of mantra is to help an individual to transcend the mundane and enter a super conscious existence.
Much of our modern music can stimulate right action towards greater peace and harmony that like the brokenhearted cowboy songs it serves to reinforce a sense of hopelessness and limitation. Some music will set your body free to move and dance while some music facilitates greater reflection.
Mantra if you like is the most sophisticated of reflective sound. The melody or arrangement of sounds is conducive to brain function and the activation of intelligence rather than emotion. The words
Continue reading The Sound of Mantra
Finding meaning in the legend
There are many legends of Buddha’s wife, some close to truth and some completely fabricated. But it’s an accepted fact that he was married and left his life in the palace sometime after his marriage.
This is not mentioned in the Tipiṭaka or Pali canon, the collection of primary Pali language texts which form the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism. In the Tipitaka she is only ever referred to as Rāhulamātā, that is ‘Rāhula’s mother.’ In the earliest reference to her, she is called Bhaddakaccānā, which may be her real name (Bv.26,15) whereas Yasodharā is an honorific title meaning ‘Fame-bearer’ and became the name of legend. Other than this, there is almost no information
Continue reading Buddha’s Wife
Enlightenment does not discriminate!!
Women can achieve Buddhahood, the story of Yeshe Tsogyal
Yeshe Tsogyal who lived between 757 and 817 was the consort of the great Indian tantric teacher Padmasambhava, the founder-figure of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
Nyingma tradition considers her equal in realization to Padmasambhava himself and both the Nyingma and Karma Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism recognize Yeshe Tsogyal as a female Buddha.
The meditational practices related to her stress her enlightened aspect, and are similar in form to tantric deity practices in general. She is sometimes equated with the deities Vajravārāhī, Tārā and Sarasvatī.
The spiritual biography of The Lady Yeshe Tsogyel is an important milestone in Western understanding of the Tantric tradition.
The
Continue reading A Female Buddha
The Heart of Wisdom Sutra
Buddha image taken at Borabador, Java
Introduction: The heart of wisdom Sutra is a short text defining the nature of existence as being non-existent. In other words it is describing the nature of existence that we perceive as an illusion.
What we think of as reality is perceived only within our own minds and consciousness, if you think for a moment that when you see something, the light is refracted from the object and that lighters reflected onto the retina in the back of the eye and from there an electrical signal passes to the brain which then interprets the signal and deciding what one is seeing. This is true for all our five
Continue reading Prajnaparamita
Entering the light
Enlightenment is a term especially common within Buddhism, Hinduism, Yoga and Tantra, but the idea of ‘seeing the light’ is a common expression in most cultures implying that the seer has realised something of importance.
What enlightenment means in an ultimate sense is to know the nature of existence or the meaning of life. This may sound far fetched and even irrelevant in terms of day to day living, work, paying bills, keeping up with people, gossip and struggling to survive.
This survival struggle is punctuated by moments of learning, pleasure and perhaps real joy. But so often these moments are the result of external things happening. For example people feel good on payday, they feel great
Continue reading Enlightenment
And the nature of suffering
Most people at some stage in their lives, and more so if they fall into the middle and lower socio economic classes in Western society will disparage their life and experience of time passing. How often have you heard someone say that they hate their life or that they can’t wait for it to be over?
There are many reasons to take on such an attitude. When we are very young, adults tend to act very nonsensical and as such child’s minds are filled with trivia until such time as they can make sense of their world. There is a time and place to go “goo goo gaga” but very often parents do not know
Continue reading Entrapment
When he said “Ignorance is a Cause of Suffering?
Buddha is one of the most remarkable men in recent history. He was born between 600 and 700 BC* and is renowned as the first person who clearly defined the nature of suffering, then described the steps to be taken to end suffering.
There are two primary levels of suffering, there is the individual suffering the doubt and confusion of one’s own mind and emotions as well as the pain or discomfort in one’s own body. Then there is a collective suffering that is experienced by communities.
The suffering that we experience within ourselves and the suffering experienced by our wider community, (including all the wars and famines in the
Continue reading What did Buddha Mean
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