Kategorie: Meditation

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https://scribe.rip/@kiyoshimatsumoto/wabi-sabi-japans-simplistic-way-of-life-40fbb0ec3492

Wabi-Sabi is Japanese acceptance of imperfections as both meaningful and in their own way, beautiful — a refuge from the modern world’s obsession with perfection. Wabi-sabi is a concept of aesthetics, which helps us see the world in a whole new way. With roots in Zen as well as the tea ceremony wabi-sabi serves to remind us that everything in nature is impermanent, imperfect and incomplete. It promotes imperfection as the natural state of all things, including ourselves. A belief in wabi-sabi takes the pressure off the need to pursue perfection, allowing us to relax more in everyday living.

Here is a beautiful quote by Richard Powell, author of Wabi-Sabi Simple. “Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect”.

This quote captures the essence of wabi-sabi and is a lesson for life. Life moves on whether we are ready for it or not. The fact we are here is a wonderful miracle. Let’s harness our strengths, our true nature — faults and all. And get moving. Love who we are. Your face will change. Your body will change. So too will your knowledge and abilities. Regardless of how we each look, think, or feel, we will always be us. You will always be you. I will always be me. And time will always move on.

Below a link for the traditional tea ceremony in Japan:

TEA CEREMONY IN JAPAN
https://mai-ko.com/travel/culture-in-japan/tea-ceremony/japanese-tea-ceremony/

The founder of the tea ceremony Sen no Rikyu stated that the meaning of tea ceremony means being present at the moment and realizing that every moment only occurs once. His philosophy is known as ichi go ichi e : one time – one meeting. This phrase roughly translates as “every moment occurs only once” or “cherish every moment” or “once in a lifetime chance.” 

The tea ceremony is not about the taste. It is all about enjoying the moment and remembering that this moment will never repeat. We have to forget about everything and just focus on drinking tea in harmony. Even when two people meet in the same room and drink from the same cup, it is not the same moment. The tea meeting, which may seem like a simple routine, should be deeply enjoyed as that tea moment will never come back.

TEA CEREMONY IN JAPAN

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A journey into Wim Wenders’ meditative cinema: Perfect Days, a breath of fresh air that celebrates the extraordinariness of the everyday through a personal visual and auditory reflection, capturing the landscapes of Tokyo’s working class and the philosophy of the hic et nunc. A photograph of Komorebi, the natural phenomenon of sunlight filtering through the trees.

Hirayama embodies the quintessence of Komorebi (木漏れ日), a japanese word describing sunlight shining through the leaves of trees, creating overlapping layers of light and darkness; a powerful metaphor for the central theme of this meditative cinema: a way to recognize and surrender to the invisible and transcendental beauty of the here and now.

“At a certain point in his life, Hirayama decided to leave a condition of extreme privilege for a simple life, cleaning toilets, and he does it with pleasure; he is happy. He lives modestly as a service person, invisible to others, but he sees everything. The routine is not a burden for him; instead, it gives him a lot of freedom. In our lives, the term ‘routine’ often carries a negative connotation, but he experiences it as a ritual, and each time he performs it as if it were the first.” (Wim Wenders)

Quelle: Perfect Days – EN – Muse

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Dass es ein künstliches Bewusstsein geben wird – daran zweifelt der Philosoph Metzinger nicht. Doch was bedeutet das für die Menschheit? Im Podcast Ethik Digital spricht der Philosoph über Leiden, Digitalisierung und die Kraft der Meditation.

Quelle: Philosoph Thomas Metzinger über die Klimakrise und die Erforschung unseres Bewusstseins | Sonntagsblatt – 360 Grad evangelisch

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10 Remarkable Ways Meditation Helps Your Mind — PsyBlog.

Meditation is about way more than just relaxing.

In fact, if I listed the following mental benefits from a new pill or potion, you’d be rightly sceptical.

But all these flow from a simple activity which is completely free, involves no expensive equipment, chemicals, apps, books or other products.

I’ve also included my own very brief meditation instructions below to get you started.

But first, what are all these remarkable benefits?

1. Lasting emotional control

Meditation may make us feel calmer while we’re doing it, but do these benefits spill over into everyday life?

Desborders et al. (2012) scanned the brains of people taking part in an 8-week meditation program, before and after the course.

While they were scanned, participants looked at pictures designed to elicit positive, negative and neutral emotional responses.

After the meditation course, activation in the amygdala, the emotional centre of the brain, was reduced to all pictures.

This suggests that meditation can help provide lasting emotional control, even when you are not meditating.

2. Cultivate compassion

Meditation has long been thought to help people be more virtuous and compassionate. Now this has been put to scientific test.

In one study participants who had been meditating were given an undercover test of their compassion (Condon et al., 2013).

They were sat in a staged waiting area with two actors when another actor entered on crutches, pretending to be in great pain. The two actors sat next to the participants both ignored the person who was in pain, sending the unconscious signal not to intervene.

Those who had been meditating, though, were 50% more likely to help the person in pain.

One of the study’s authors, David DeSteno, said:

“The truly surprising aspect of this finding is that meditation made people willing to act virtuous–to help another who was suffering–even in the face of a norm not to do so.”

3. Change brain structures

Meditation is such a powerful technique that, after only 8 weeks, the brain’s structure changes.

To show these effects, images of 16 people’s brains were taken before and after they took a meditation course (Hölzel et al., 2011).

Compared with a control group, grey-matter density in the hippocampus–an area associated with learning and memory–was increased.

The study’s lead author, Britta Hölzel, said:

“It is fascinating to see the brain’s plasticity and that, by practicing meditation, we can play an active role in changing the brain and can increase our well-being and quality of life.”

4. Reduce pain

One of the benefits of changes to the brain’s structure is that regular meditators experience less pain.

Grant et al. (2010) applied a heated plate to the calves of meditators and non-meditators. The meditators had lower pain sensitivity.

Joshua Grant explained:

“Through training, Zen meditators appear to thicken certain areas of their cortex and this appears to be underlie their lower sensitivity to pain.”

5. Accelerate cognition

How would you like your brain to work faster?

Zeidan et al. (2010) found significant benefits for novice meditators from only 80 minutes of meditation over 4 days.

Despite their very brief period of practice—and compared with a control group who listened to an audiobook of Tolkein’s The Hobbit—meditators improved on measures of working memory, executive functioning and visuo-spatial processing.

The authors conclude:

“…that four days of meditation training can enhance the ability to sustain attention; benefits that have previously been reported with long-term meditators.”

Improvements seen on the measures ranged from 15% to over 50%.

The full article: Cognition Accelerated by Just 4 x 20 Minutes Meditation

6. Meditate to create

The right type of meditation can help solve some creative problems.

A study by Colzato et al. (2012) had participants take a classic creativity task: think up as many uses as you can for a brick.

Those using an ‘open monitoring’ method of meditation came up with the most ideas.

This method uses focusing on the breath to set the mind free.

7. Sharpen concentration

At its heart, meditation is all about learning to concentrate, to have greater control over the spotlight of attention.

An increasing body of studies now underline the benefits of meditation for attention.

For example, Jha et al. 2007 sent 17 people who had not practised meditation before on an 8-week training course in mindfulness-based stress reduction, a type of meditation.

These 17 participants were then compared with a further 17 from a control group on a series of attentional measures. The results showed that those who had received training were better at focusing their attention than the control group.

The full article: How Meditation Improves Attention

8. Improve multitasking at work

Since meditation benefits different aspects of cognition, it should also improve work performance.

That’s what Levy et al. (2012) tested by giving groups of human resource managers tests of their multitasking abilities.

Those who practised meditation performed better on standard office tasks–like answering phones, writing email and so on–than those who had not been meditating.

Meditating managers were better able to stay on task and also experienced less stress as a result.

9. Reduce anxiety

Meditation is an exercise often recommended for those experiencing anxiety.

To pick just one of many recent studies, Zeidan et al. (2013) found that four 20-minute meditation classes were enough to reduce anxiety by up to 39%.

More about anxiety: 8 Fascinating Facts About Anxiety

10 Fight depression

A central symptom of depression is rumination: when depressing thoughts roll around and around in the mind.

Unfortunately you can’t just tell a depressed person to stop thinking depressing thoughts; it’s pointless. That’s because treating the symptoms of depression is partly about taking control of the person’s attention.

One method that can help with this is mindfulness meditation. Mindfulness is all about living in the moment, rather than focusing on past regrets or future worries.

A recent review of 39 studies on mindfulness has found that it can be beneficial in treating depression (Hofmann et al., 2010).

Read on: Depression: 10 Fascinating Insights into a Misunderstood Condition

Beginner’s guide to meditation

Since it is so beneficial, here is a quick primer on how to meditate.

The names and techniques of meditation are many and varied, but the fundamentals are much the same:

1. Relax the body and the mind

This can be done through body posture, mental imagery, mantras, music, progressive muscle relaxation, any old trick that works. Take your pick.

This step is relatively easy as most of us have some experience of relaxing, even if we don’t get much opportunity.

2. Be mindful

It’s a bit cryptic this one but it means something like this: don’t pass judgement on your thoughts, let them come and go as they will (and boy will they come and go!). When your mind wanders, try to nudge your attention back to its primary aim.

It turns out this is quite difficult because we’re used to mentally travelling backwards and forwards while making judgements on everything (e.g. worrying, dreading, anticipating, regretting etc.).

The key is to notice, in a detached way, what’s happening, but not to get involved with it. This way of thinking often doesn’t come that naturally.

3. Concentrate on something

Often meditators concentrate on their breath, the feel of it going in and out, but it could be anything: your feet, a potato, a stone.

The breath is handy because we carry it around with us. Whatever it is, though, try to focus all your attention onto it.

When your attention wavers, and it will almost immediately, gently bring it back. Don’t chide yourself, be compassionate to yourself.

The act of concentrating on one thing is surprisingly difficult: you will feel the mental burn almost immediately. Experienced practitioners say this eases with practice.

4. Concentrate on nothing

Most say this can’t be achieved without a lot of practice, so I’ll say no more about it here. Master the basics first.

Explore

This is just a quick introduction but does give you enough to get started. It’s important not to get too caught up in techniques but to remember the main goal: exercising attention by relaxing and focusing on something.

Try these things out first, see what happens, then explore further.

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‚When someone has spiritually awakened, he resembles the moon’s ‘residing’ in water: the moon does not get wet nor is the water shattered. Although the moon is a great, broad light, it lodges in the tiniest bit of water. The moon at its fullest, as well as the whole of the heavens, lodges within the dewdrop poised on a blade of grass, just as it lodges in any single bit of water. Spiritual awakening does not tear a person asunder; thus, it is like the moon’s not making a dent in the water. A person no more impedes his spiritual awakening than a dewdrop impedes the moon in the heavens. The deeper the reflection, the higher the light: how long the period of your spiritual awakening will last depends on how large your drop of water is and how full your moon is seen to be.‘ (out of ‚Shobogenzo‘ by Eihei Dogen)
 
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(The Shōbōgenzō (Treasury of the True Dharma Eye) is the master work of the Japanese Sōtō Zen Master Eihei Dōgen (1200 – 1253). It consists of a series of lectures or talks given to his monks as recorded by his head monk, Ejo, who became his Dharma successor although Dōgen was involved in the editing and
Shobogenzo cover
recording of some of the Shōbōgenzō. This is the first major Buddhist philosophical work composed in the Japanese language.
There were only two complete English translations of the Shōbōgenzō previous to this version: Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross’s Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō in four volumes (available from Windbell Publications) and Shobogenzo, The Eye and Treasury of the True Law, by Kosen Nishiyama and John Stevens. There are many translations of sections of the Shōbōgenzō. There are also many commentaries on Dōgen and his work. A search on this website will uncover articles on Dōgen and his teachings.The Gudo Nishijima and Chodo Cross’s Master Dōgen’s Shōbōgenzō in four volumes is now available for download for free, courtesy of the BDK English Tripitaka Project. (click on the Digital Text link) You can download from their site or from thezensite: Dogen Teachings pageThe Complete Shōbōgenzō is available here (this site) and here from Shasta Abbey, translated by Rev. Hubert Nearman.
WARNING: the complete text is 1144 pages in .pdf and 8, 675 Kb. Not recommended for dial-up modems. If you have difficulty downloading this from this website, try the Shasta Abbey link. Below are links to each of the 96 chapters and other parts of the book. All pages are in .pdf format.)

 

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Yoga boomt – Neumodische Wohlstandserscheinung oder mehr?.

Zunehmend nutzen Medizin und Psychologie Yoga als unterstützende Therapie gegen verschiedene Krankheiten wie Depressionen, Krebs oder Rückenleiden. Wie sind diese Entwicklungen einzuschätzen? Ist der Yoga-Boom am Ende vor allem eine Wohlstandserscheinung? Gert Scobel diskutiert mit seinen Gästen, ob durch Yoga das Wohlbefinden verbessert werden kann und prüft die Bedeutung von Yoga.

 

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Running with the Mind of Meditation — Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.

Accomplished runner and leader of Shambhala, Sakyong Mipham has found physical activity to be essential for spiritual well-being. In this practical and inspiring book, he offers simple lessons that meld mindfulness with physical movement which can be used by anyone – regardless of age, spiritual background, or ability. The result is an enhanced way of life – more energy, more focus, more patience – that will appeal to runners, spiritual seekers and anyone interested in great health and wellbeing.

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GENJÔKÔAN
Actualization of the open mystery

When all things are buddha-dharma, there is delusion and realization, practice, birth and death, buddhas and sentient beings.
When the myriad things are without a self, there is no delusion and realization, no buddhas and sentient beings, no birth and death.
The buddha way is, basically, leaping clear of the many and the one; thus there are birth and death, delusion and realization, sentient beings and buddhas.
Yet in attachment blossoms fall, and in aversion weeds spread, and that is all.

To carry yourself forward and actualize the myriad things through practice is delusion.
That myriad things come forth and actualize yourself through practiceis awakening.
Those who have great realization of delusion are buddhas.
Those who are greatly deluded about realization are sentient beings.
Further, there are those who continue realizing beyond realization, who are in delusion throughout delusion.
When buddhas are truly buddhas they do not necessarily notice that they are buddhas.
However, they are actualized buddhas, who go on actualizing buddhas.

When you see forms or hear sounds fully engaging body-and-mind, you grasp things directly. Unlike things and their reflections in the mirror, and unlike the moon and its reflection in the water.
When one side is illumined the other side is dark.

To penetrate the buddha way is to penetrate yourself.
To penetrate yourself is to forget yourself.
To forget yourself is to be actualized by myriad things.
To be actualized by myriad things is the droppimg away of your body and mind as well as the bodies and minds of others.
No trace of realization remains, and this no-trace-realization continues endlessly.

When you first seek dharma, you imagine you are far away from its environs.
But dharma is already correctly transmitted; you are immediately your original self.

When you ride in a boat and watch the shore, you might assume that the shore is moving.
But when you keep your eyes closely on the boat, you can see that it is the boat that moves.
Similarly, if you examine myriad things with a confused body and mind you might suppose that your mind and nature are permanent. When you practice intimately and return to where you are, it will be clear that nothing at all has a self.

Firewood becomes ash, and it does not become firewood again. Yet, do not suppose that the ash is future and the firewood past.
You should understand that firewood abides in the phenomenal expression of firewood, which fully includes past and future and is independent of past and future. Ash abides in the phenomenal expression of ash, which fully includes future and past.
Just as firewood does not become firewood again after it is ash, you do not return to birth after death.
This being so, it is an established way in buddha-dharma to deny that birth turns into death. Accordingly, birth is understood as no-birth. It is an unshakable teaching in Buddha’s discourse that death does not turn into birth. Accordingly, death is understood as no-death.
Birth is an expression complete this moment. Death is an expression complete this moment. They are like winter and spring. You can not say that winter becomes spring, or that spring becomes summer.

Awakening is like the moon reflected on the water. The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken. Although its light is wide and great, the moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide. The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in dewdrops on the grass, or even in one drop of water.
Awakening does not divide you, just as the moon does not break the water. You cannot hinder awakening, just as a drop of water does not hinder the moon in the sky.
The depth of the drop is the height of the moon. Each reflection, however long or short its duration, manifests the vastness of the dewdrop, and realizes the limitlessness of the moonlight in the sky.

When dharma does not fill your whole body and mind, you think it is already sufficient. When the dharma fills your body and mind, you understand that something is missing.

For example, when you sail out in a boat to the middle of an ocean where no land is in sight, and view the four directions, the ocean looks circular, and does not look any other way.
But the ocean is neither round or square; its features are infinite in variety. It is like a palace. It is like a jewel. It only looks circular as far as you can see at that time. All things are like this.
Though there are many features in the dusty world and the world beyond conditions, you see and understand only what your eye of practice can reach.
In order to learn the nature of the myriad things, you must know that although they may look round or square, the other features of oceans and mountains are infinite in variety; whole worlds are there. It is so not only around you, but also directly beneath your feet, or in a drop of water.

A fish swims in the ocean, and no matter how far it swims there is no end to the water. A bird flies in the sky, and no matter how far it flies there is no end to the air.
However, the fish and the bird have never left their elements. When their activity is large their field is large. When their need is small their field is small. Thus, each of them totally covers its full range, and each of them totally experiences its realm.
If the bird leaves the air it will die at once. If the fish leaves the water it will die at once.
Know that water is life and air is life. The bird is life and the fish is life. Life must be the bird and life must be the fish.
It is possible to illustrate this with more analogies. Practice, enlightenment, and people are like this.
Now if a bird or a fish tries to reach the end of its element before moving in it, this bird or this fish will not find its way or its place.

When you find your place where you are, practice occurs, actualizing the open mystery. When you find your way at this moment, practice occurs, actualizing the open mystery.
For the place, the way, is neither large nor small, neither yours nor others‘. The place, the way, has not carried over from the past and it is not merely arising now.
Accordingly, in the practice-realization of the buddha way, meeting one thing is mastering it – doing one practice is practicing completely. Here is the place – here the way unfolds.

The boundary of realization is not distinct, for the realization comes forth simultaneously with the mastery of buddha-dharma.
Do not suppose that what you realize becomes your knowledge and is grasped by your consciousness. Although actualized immediately, the inconceivable may not be apparent. Its appearance is beyond your knowledge.

Zen master Baoche of Mt. Mayu was fanning himself.
A monk approached and said, „Master, the nature of wind is permanent and there is no place it does not reach. Why, then, do you fan yourself?“
„Although you understand that the nature of the wind is permanent,“ Baoche replied, „you do not understand the meaning of its reaching everywhere.“
„What is the meaning of its reaching everywhere?“ asked the monk again.
The master just kept fanning himself. The monk bowed deeply.

The actualization of the buddha-dharma, the vital path of its correct transmission, is like this. If you say that you do not need to fan yourself because the nature of wind is permanent and you can have wind without fanning, you will understand neither permanence nor the nature of wind.
The nature of wind is permanent; because of that, the wind of the buddha’s house brings forth the gold of the earth and makes fragrant the cream of the long river.

Genjôkôan, the first fascicle of the Shôbôgenzô.

This was written in mid-autumn of the year 1233 and given to the lay student Yô Kôshû from Chinzei.

Edited in 1253.