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“There seem to two kinds of searchers: those who seek to make their ego something other than it is, i.e. holy, happy, unselfish (as though you could make a fish unfish), and those who understand that all such attempts are just gesticulation and play-acting, that there is only one thing that can be done, which is to disidentify themselves with the ego, by realizing its unreality, and by becoming aware of their eternal identity with pure being.”

~~ Fingers Pointing Toward the Moon by Wei Wu Wei

Last week I indicated that I’d like to devote a few articles to the subject of Buddhism and how it relates so closely to meditation. Let’s face it, there must be some correlation, because I’ve never met a Buddhist who didn’t have a regular practice of meditation in their life. I have now written 16 articles on the subject of meditation over the past several weeks. I also wrote a few more over the entire time that I’ve been keeping this blog. Those of you who have been reading these writings know that I consider meditation vital to everyone’s life, whether they are following a Buddhist lifestyle or not. This is something that everyone should do in order to find inner peace and happiness. By looking at some of the basics of Buddhist teaching and seeing how those teachings relate to our own lives, I’m hopeful that you’ll all begin to see why I feel this is so important.
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… But first, here is your meditation for this week. This one is about 3 minutes long and is the sounds of beautiful waterfalls. The pictures that accompany it are also quite beautiful if you would like to keep your eyes open. I always like to use nature sounds and sights when I can as these are both great doorways into good meditations. Take two deep cleansing breaths and enjoy your meditation.

Here’s a link if the video doesn’t start when you click the “PLAY” button:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_dnjW6xcQQ

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Rather than get into the life story of Buddha, I’ll get right into the basics of his teaching. There are many web sites and books that have the story of Buddha’s life. Here is one that does a good job.

http://orias.berkeley.edu/visuals/buddha/life.html

What is a Buddha? According to most dictionaries, it is someone who has achieved a state of perfect enlightenment. The study of Buddhism has as its focus the achievement of “awakening” or “enlightenment”. The word “Buddha” is often interpreted as meaning “awake”. “The Buddha” is said to be the enlightened one or the awakened one.

In some of the past articles on this blog, I have talked about the Four Noble Truths that are so much a part of the Buddhist teachings: (1) the suffering, (2) the cause of suffering, (3) the cessation of suffering and (4) and the Eightfold Path. These are a way to free ourselves from attachments and delusions – and – reaching an understanding of the Truth about all things. Great emphasis is put on the practical aspect, because it is only through practice (meditation and right living) that one can attain a higher level of existence and finally reach Nirvana.

Here’s a quick review :

First Noble Truth: Life can be filled with suffering. There’s disease, injury, high rent, final exams, warm beer, complaining spouses, natural disasters, and yes, even death. Sure, there is a lot of good stuff about life, but we have this tendency to spend so much of our time trying to protect ourselves from all the bad stuff, that we forget to pay attention to the good. Even when you’re feeling happy, there always seems to be something lurking in our thoughts that makes us feel some sort of stress. People end up worrying about tomorrow or fretting about the past. It seems like our brains are constantly chattering about the stuff we should have done, or we’re worrying about what we’re going to do next. We’re either suffering, or we’re in pain, or we’re dissatisfied (or all three), about one thing or another. If you truly think about it, you’ll see that this is the truth.

The Second Noble Truth: The origin of suffering is the craving for pleasure. This is the reason for the First Noble Truth. We get it in our heads that we want things, and our minds then become an instrument for chasing after those things. Or, you get in your head that you don’t want something, and you end up running around trying to make things you don’t like go away. The actual objects we’re chasing after are irrelevant. Wanting things — anything — severely limits a person’s capacity to be joyful and serene. We focus so much of our consciousness on wanting things and more things. We have convinced ourselves that if we can only get the things we desire, we’ll be happy. One of the lessons Buddha taught is that nothing is permanent, so even when we get what we want it doesn’t last, so we start craving more and more. Even after we get the things we crave, we don’t stay happy — the glow wears off after a while and we start wanting more things. As Buddha said, the things we get don’t last. They break, they get lost, they wear out, they leave, they get old, they die. It’s our attachment to the things we crave and our resistance to losing them that adds to this suffering in our lives.

The Third Noble Truth: The Truth of the cessation of suffering. Some people say that all this talk about suffering makes Buddhism a pessimistic way of living. And, perhaps it would be if not for the Third Noble Truth — that there is a way to end the suffering in our lives. This is great news, right? This is what the Buddha discovered — it was the main aspect of what he learned. Ridding ourselves from suffering can happen to anyone, anyplace, here and now. There is a catch, though. We have to do something to end the suffering in our lives. One of things we have to do is to bring the practice of meditation into our everyday lives. The “thing” that’s messing us up in the Second Noble Truth is our ego-mind, and one of the best ways to get it under control is through meditation. The key to end all suffering is to get all desire, ill will and ignorance out of our lives. The Buddha didn’t leave it there, though. He gave us the answer when he told us the Fourth Noble Truth.

We will continue this next week with the Fourth Noble Truth.
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Those glimpses we get of peace, love, acceptance and happiness when we’re meditating will soon grow into more than glimpses if we keep faithfully practicing. Keep those feelings alive. A meditation can be as simple as one, deep, conscious breath. When something happens in one of your moments to cause you to suffer, just stop and take one of those breaths and remember, “This too shall pass!” Another thing that is wonderful, especially at this time of year, is to have a fresh flower where you work. Just stop from time-to-time and look at it — don’t label it — don’t judge it — just be with it for a couple of moments.

“Each flower is a soul blossoming out to nature”

~~~ Gerard de Nerva

Even though the live webcasts of the Eckhart Tolle New Earth classes are now concluded, you can still download the entire course. I highly recommend it. It’s completely free. All you really have to do is get the book, “A New Earth — Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose” by Eckhart Tolle. You can access the course online at: http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/webcast/ane_marketing.html. You’ll find everything you need there — all 10 classes. If you happen to have iTunes on your computer, you can also access the course by subscribing to it through the podcast link in iTunes. I did take the course, and I’m on my second reading of the book. For me, this has been life-changing. Check it out. Several million people around the globe took part in this amazing spiritual teaching. I hope you’ll soon be one of them. This is how we can create a new consciousness on the New Earth.

“It’s a strange thing how human consciousness is so determined to hang onto the past, hold it in the present, and make it reappear in the future. This is the heart of most of our problems. ”

~~~ James Arthur Ray — Creator of Harmonic Wealth ®

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If you’re new to us here, be sure read the entire series about meditation. If you look on the upper left of the sidebar, you’ll see a list of the categories. Click the one called “Meditation” and you’ll be able to read the articles you missed. They start with the January 24, 2008 post. The video meditations that I included with the earlier articles may no longer function. I’m sorry about that, but those are out of my control. Hopefully, they’ll all still be working.

Do include meditation in your daily life. If you’re just starting out, make it a 10 minute meditation. If you’ve been doing this for a while, try to do a minimum of 20 or 30 minutes. The longer you can maintain your focus on just your breath, the better. And, remember, anytime you take a deep, conscious breath — that’s a breath where you’re putting your focus only on that breath — that’s a meditation. Do it often every day — especially when you’re feeling stressed. I guarantee, you’ll find more peace and happiness in your life if you’ll do this.

“Those who really seek the path to Enlightenment dictate terms to their mind. Then they proceed with strong determination.”

~~~ Buddha

Namaste!

And, as I always say in closing — remember these words …

You are the most precious gift you can give yourself. Every day look in the mirror and say, “I’m available to more good than I have experienced, realized or imagined ever before in my life!” Do this every day while you look into your own eyes.

You are special — and you are loved. You are the greatest gift you can be.

Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

~~~ Buddha

~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com

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I don’t know if any of you, my fine readers of this blog, have an interest in starting a blog of your own, but if you do, I have something I’d like to pass along to you.

Over the past few days I’ve been reading a new ebook written by Kevin Brown. Now, I know that a lot of people don’t want to start a blog of their own because they think it’s too complicated. Well, after you read this ebook, your fears will be gone for good!

Kevin is something of a WordPress expert and has recently released a new ebook that goes into great detail on how to install and set up WordPress blogs. This blog you’re reading is written using WordPress, and I also use it for my other blog. Kevin’s book, BlogStorm Blueprint, is the most up-to-date book I’ve ever seen about WordPress with screenshots from the very latest version.

I highly recommend it — especially since it’s being sold at a giveaway price of under ten dollars. It’s really a bargain when you realize that you’ll be getting 106 pages of clear, well-written details.

I’ve been using WordPress for a long time and I think I know quite a bit about how to work with it. I can say that after reading Kevin’s book, I discovered that I don’t know everything. Even though some of the information was basic for me, I still learned loads from the book and heartily
recommend it to you.

It’s the BlogStorm Blueprint — and you can get it here:

Click this link —> http://tinyurl.com/4a5ncq

P.S. Oh, and just so you know, WordPress is free! Learn how to use it with Kevins book …

…… Click this link —-> http://tinyurl.com/4a5ncq

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