Meditation or Dhyāna or Jhāna and BFoW #3

A sharing by Assaji, written by an attendee.

Meditation is usually misunderstood by many as a session to contemplate, to blank out or to bring oneself to a mental holiday. But the type of meditation, founded by the Buddha, or a state of vipassana is not a temporary solution to our daily stressful life. It is a method that brings us to a higher mental state which allows us to cope better with future problems. 

Two types of meditation

Samatha - usually associated with mindfulness. calmness. clearing your mind, focusing on the breath. most people regardless of religion usually practice this state of meditation

Vipassana - distinct(vi) observation(passana). It is encouraged to be practice together with Samatha. When one is in the state of vipassan, one is able to accept noise as noise and the changes to the environment or our body as the changes itself - being aware yet not disturbed or wavered by these changes. Soon, you will find how all these disturbances are impermanent and the state of peace during meditation can be brought out into our working life. People may be harsh on you but you will gain the ability to separate the content from the emotions, using the former to improve on yourself and ignoring the latter. 

Eventually, meditation will help to reach a point where the mind is free from the five hindrances — craving, aversion, sloth, agitation and doubt

Some people in the west tends to practice meditation without the understanding of the dhamma while some in the east perform rituals (check out buddhist fact of the week #3 below!) without much application of the dhamma to their life or having regular meditation. Both are not advised as they do not help with the improvement to our mental state. 

Below are a few types of meditation. 

- meditation on breath

- walking meditation

- mantra meditation

- metta meditation

    11 benefits to practicing Metta (loving kindness meditation:

             1.      You will sleep easily

             2.      You will wake easily

             3.      You will have pleasant dreams

             4.      People will love you

             5.      Devas (gods or angels) and animals will love you

             6.      Devas will protect you

             7.      External dangers, such as poisons, weapons, and fire, will not harm you

             8.      Your face will be radiant

             9.      Your mind will be serene

             10.  You will die unconfused

             11.  You will be re-born in happy realms

          (from Anguttara Nikaya 11.16)

          (from http://www.dhammawiki.com)

Quick sharing: I was at a bowling competition this weekend and i manage to make it to the semi-finals for the first time. It was very stressful as all eyes were down to the 2 competing trios team. Semi-final and finals were in the form of step-ladder, hence it was all down to one game each, adding more stress to every player. At that moment, I tried to practice mantra meditation. It was the most time-effective meditation in the noisy environment. I manage to cope with the mental stress and bowl my way into the finals, winning the highest game for female in the category I participate in. This goes to show that meditation can be a quick fix for our lives especially when we have so much emotions built up within ourselves that we can not handle it alone. Different meditation works differently with different people and under different situations.

So do take some time each week to try them all to find out what is best for you!

Buddhist Fact of the Week  #3

 Are you a victim of the Ten defilements that cause negativity in oneself?

1.       The Pali canon's Sutta Pitaka identifies ten "fetters of becoming"

2.       belief in a self (Pali: sakkāya-diṭṭhi)

3.       doubt or uncertainty, especially about the teachings (vicikicchā)

4.       attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāso)

5.       sensual desire (kāmacchando)

6.       ill will (vyāpādo or byāpādo)

7.       lust for material existence, lust for material rebirth (rūparāgo)

8.       lust for immaterial existence, lust for rebirth in a formless realm (arūparāgo)

9.       conceit (māna)

10.   restlessness (uddhacca)

11.   ignorance (avijjā)

Another version of Ten defilements

1.       sensual lust (Pali: kāma-rāga)

2.       anger (paṭigha)

3.       conceit (māna)

4.       views (diṭṭhi)

5.       doubt (vicikicchā)

6.       attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa)

7.       lust for existence (bhava-rāga)

8.       jealousy (issā)

9.       greed (macchariya)

10.   ignorance (avijjā).


Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!

The Heart Sutra - Maha Prajñāpāramitā Sutra

Last week's session was really light hearted and full of laughter. Quite the opposite of what I expected as the Heart Sutra, or Maha Prajnāpāramitā Sutra, is the most concise yet the one of the most profound scripture one can come across. 

So much was covered within the hour, and I am sorry to say it is pretty impossible for me to summarize everything here. I tried jotting the points into my phone but they had unfortunately been accidentally deleted as I was clearing the files in my phone. So I won't be doing a summary here but only putting up some relevant documents we have discussed, an incentive for those have went for the session ;) 

Here is one thing I clearly remember from the session:

 In the heart sutra, it emphasizes greatly on compassion: compassion is the greatest gift one can have and give for all beings. 

The discussion was based on a book, which Natasha found on Amazon and it looks like this:

The discussion started off trying to unfold what 'maha' and 'prajna' meant. 

**CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TEXT ON THE 'MAHA' AND 'PRAJNA' FROM THE BOOK**

I cannot scan the entire book, so you can try Amazon if you are interested in purchasing the book. 

For the benefit of all, I have also uploaded a copy of Heart Sutra translated into English and given out to us during a similar session with Ch'an Meditation Group last year. Hope you will find it beneficial. 

**CLICK HERE TO VIEW The English translation of the Heart Sutra**

P.S.  Once again, I apologize for the absence of a proper summary. To prevent missing out on such a good discussion in the future, I do suggest all of you to come for the session actively. 

Talk #1 - How to apply Buddhism to our (school) life and Fun Fact #2

Dear all,

Sorry for the delay in session updates.
Last week, we had a talk on 'How to apply Buddhism to our (school) life'
We were honoured to have Ven. Ariyarathana from London Buddhist Vihara to share with us how can we lead a more wholesome life in a learning environment.

**CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SYNOPSIS OF THE TALK**

A point to note, Bhante (or Ven.) replied to a question regarding how to meet deadlines, especially when there is still much to do with the limited time. He mentioned that, when needed, we have to sacrifice our time in order to meet your target or yield desired results. Waking at 4.30am to work is a good way to coop with your piling work as dawn is the time your brain function best.

Some may find it surprising that Bhante had such a view point and feel that buddhism should be about taking better care of the body than to risk your health in exchange for academic grades. Personally, I am sure that you all know piling up your work to the last minute is never the best plan. But if you are stuck in this situation, plan to sacrifice your sleep now only when you know you have sufficient time to recuperate after your deadline. Also, you may try to practice short meditations after you wake up, before your meals, before you start working and before you turn in. Soon, you will find that you do not have to sleep for a full 8 hours to feel refresh.

This leads to Buddhist Fact of the week #2: Buddhist Monks usually have 4 to 5 hours of sleep each day, to have physical rest. It is their mediation sessions that keep them mentally refreshed throughout the day.

A session update for this week's heart sutra sharing will be up soon.

Sadhu! Sadhu! Sadhu!