tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36040573394145413712008-05-14T21:26:25.830-07:00Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-14222294312005500892008-03-30T17:36:00.000-07:002008-03-30T17:41:25.545-07:00

The three ‘excellences’ (sometimes ‘supremes’, excellencies or ‘frames’) give us a framework in which to place our meditation practice. As a basic framework it is very simple, it just says that we should develop a ‘perfect’, ‘virtuous’ or ‘supreme’ beginning, middle and end to our practice. The perfect beginning is to start with the Supreme Preparation by developing Bodhicitta. Bodhicitta

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-16743960884135060262008-02-18T13:34:00.000-08:002008-02-18T13:38:28.803-08:00

“Metta Bhavana” meditation practice is one of the oldest and most beloved practices there is. Today, over two thousand years since its introduction, many thousands – if not millions – of people around the world practice it regularly. For many people this is their main meditation practice, that they spend their whole life developing. So what is “Metta Bhavana”? Metta is the Pali word for

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-38349507021736647702008-02-18T13:27:00.000-08:002008-02-18T13:48:34.835-08:00

The Full Metta Practice: The full Lovingkindness Practice (Metta Bahavana) is a highly structured one which leads us through the process of generating unconditional lovingkindness to all ‘sentient beings’. The understanding is that all beings suffer, and that as we are all deeply connected then it is right that we wish them all to be well, happy and free from the causes of suffering. The full

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-12040767857707543352008-01-19T15:48:00.000-08:002008-01-19T15:54:07.521-08:00

Metta: Metta is a Pali word that is usually translated as ‘Lovingkindness’. Strictly speaking it can also be translated more simply as ‘love’, but in the West we are so hung up about the passionate or sentimental aspects of love that it is not so useful. Thus we use the rather cumbersome ‘lovingkindness’ when introducing the concept of Metta. In reality, part of the value of Metta meditation

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-189023588121099472008-01-05T20:42:00.000-08:002008-01-05T20:53:49.052-08:00

Sometimes it feels like modern life is characterized by a detachment from reality – a feeling that we are sleepwalking through a world of extreme sensory input from television, the news, music, advertising and the hustle and bustle of business life. It may come as a surprise then to know that this feeling is nothing new, and that the stresses we see in societies and individuals today were

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-48863586507484313562008-01-01T09:56:00.000-08:002008-01-01T11:05:08.798-08:00

The core of Buddhist thought is captured in the four noble truths, the first of which is: "Life is dukkha". Dukkha is a Sanskrit word which is usually translated as 'suffering', although it is generally agreed that this is too narrow an interpretation. Often the rather clumsy translation of 'unsatisfactory' is used. Probably the best translation I have heard is the colloquialism: "Life Sucks".

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-85109603953647406042007-12-23T09:50:00.000-08:002007-12-28T10:39:44.240-08:00

Using a Focus. As we start to meditate, we quickly learn how capricious our mind is. It wants to take us here and there, and despite our best efforts we unknowingly get dragged into a thought conversation with our self about tonight’s dinner, tomorrow’s work or yesterday’s troubles at home. We start to meditate, and suddenly ‘wake up’ to the fact that we have spent several minutes wandering down

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-4430288196194384002007-12-23T09:30:00.000-08:002007-12-23T09:48:35.871-08:00

Why Meditate? There are many reasons why you might want to meditate – to calm down, to help cope with stress, increase focus or performance, curiosity, to help on a spiritual path, to experience bliss or to gain enlightenment. All of these are good and valid reasons, and meditation has helped individuals develop in these ways for many thousands of years. Above all, though, meditation is personal

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604057339414541371.post-18358633704904462152007-12-18T09:37:00.000-08:002007-12-28T10:35:38.206-08:00

Know all things to be like this: A mirage, a cloud castle, a dream, an apparition, without essence, but with qualities that can be seen. Know all things to be like this: As the moon in a bright sky in some clear lake reflected, though to that lake the moon has never moved. Know all things to be like this: As an echo that derives from music, sounds, and weeping, Yet in that echo is no melody. Know

Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14492765731928964043noreply@blogger.com