zen-enlightenment

4 Steps of Modern World Zen Meditation

Sun, 26 Sep 2010 02:26:10 +0100

Zen Meditation: Stop and Smell the Roses!

How many of us walk through life wondering what our purpose is? How many of us look in a mirror and wonder who we are and what we want out of life?

Why is it that we do so? How many times have you said, 'I would like to purchase that' or 'I want to go there.' But who is 'I'? Do you really know yourself? Zen is the process of knowing who you truly are.

This is generally done by living the right way and practicing your meditation. When you live a Zen lifestyle, you can achieve happiness and contentment.

1) Importance

We rush, day to day, to do the things that need to be done. Little Johnny needs to get to soccer practice, Susan needs to get to dance, the report needs to be on your boss desk by 10 a.m., you need to make lunches, get dinner, etc.

We get to the point in which we are extremely burned out and are ready to pull someones hair out. This type of stress can age you quickly. One of the first things you should do is figure out what is important in your life.

What do you want to be doing with your time? Do not just think about it; write it down. Write down four to five things that you want to accomplish with your life, as well as four to five things you want to get done at your job.

Also, put down four to five people with whom you truly want to spend time. This should give you an idea of what is really important to you.

Next, figure out if you truly need all the commitments you have going.

Do your children really need to have three after-school activities per day? Do you need to take on more things when you are already very busy? You need to prioritize your life by choosing the things that are really necessary in your life. Instead of doing eight things a day, do three.

Take the things out of your life that you do not need to do so that you can focus more on the things that you do need to do.

2) Slow Down

One of the best ways to live a Zen lifestyle is to stop and smell the roses.

Before I had children, I rushed through my everyday tasks and landed in a heap on the couch shortly before 11 p.m. Then I had children and truly learned the meaning of the word 'multi-tasking.'

One day my three-year-old stopped me and pointed out a little caterpillar on the road. I had almost stepped on it! I was moving so fast to get to my destination that I forgot to look around at where I was going.

Most of us all rush around without noticing our surroundings? We take for granted the area in which we live. Whether you are in the city or in the country, there is always something to see.

Try slowing down when you brush your teeth, or when you are cooking supper. When you take things at a slower pace, and live in the MOMENT, you can find true enjoyment in every task.

3) One Thing at a Time

As I said, once I had children, 'Multi-task' became my middle name. I was able to cook supper, prepare my girlfriend's lunch, make the morning coffee, and work at my internet business all at the same time.

Did I enjoy it? Absolutely not.

There was no part of those tasks that was enjoyable to me, and I got to the point that I hated doing it. Instead of multitasking, try single-tasking. Do one thing at a time and do it well.

When you are making your sandwich for the next day, make an amazing sandwich. Add pickles and other vegetables and make it a truly amazing sandwich. Not only will you slow down, but you will have a wonderful sandwich to enjoy the next day.

4) Solitude

A big part of the Zen lifestyle involves learning how to live with solitude. Some people are scared of the quiet and being alone, but there is nothing to be scared of.

The quiet and solitude can give you time to meditate about your day and about your life. Even if you choose to sit back and quietly enjoy a book, the silence gives your brain time to work through everything that has occurred since the last moments you had in silence.

Living a Zen lifestyle is about minimizing the things you do not need and maximizing the things that are important. In doing this, you can achieve peacefulness and a sense of self.

Written By: Tenzin Pemo

About the Author: Learn Chinese Astrology Compatibility with my free tools! Also, get your amazingly accurate Free Tarot Reading and use my amazing tools for better decision and better relations!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/zen-meditation-stop-and-smell-the-roses-388308.html

10 Simplified Steps to Zen

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 19:52:27 +0100

Life is more often than not too fast, complicated and cluttered. Simplify and you'll be on the right track of inner peace and happiness. Both are foundations to Zen!

Slow down, take a deep breath and try to do nothing for a half an hour. Can you even do this? If you can't, you need to work on this. Inner peace is something that cannot be achieved during stress!

Bellow you will find the basics that will lead you to happiness, inner peace and Zen.

The 10 Steps to Zen

1. Slow down, take it easy

2. Breathe right; deep into your diaphram

3. Less materialism, more spiritualism; get rid of the clutter and live simple

4. Less TV, more doing; reading, writing, singing or dancing

5. Less work more play (perhaps the hardest step of all)

6. Don't worry about things you can't change or the future; live more in the here and now

7. Less effort, more focus; do what is needed to be done, not what you feel like doing

8. Less driving; do more walking, jogging or cycling

9. Less intake, more output; less consuming, more creating, inventing and doing

10. Eat right; less garbage more nourish

There you have it in a nutshell. These tips alone will not automatically allow you to reach Zen, but they may make you think about the path necessary to achieving Zen. This could be the key to your path to achieving Zen.

At the bottom of the page, you will find lots of free ebooks on Zen, as well as some that I can't afford to give out but that I am offering at rock-bottom prices. I suggest you start with the free selections, but I would not go without eventually reading The Book of Five Rings or the Tao Te Ching.

Zen Spirit, Mind, Brain & Body Biology Lesson for Enlightenment (video)

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 11:35:18 +0100

A higher spiritual awareness of the biology of the spirit, brain, mind and even the body can significantly advance one towards Enlightenment and Zen. The science of biology says that the our thoughts are just the result of cells doing work, and teachings on spirituality talk about having a silent mind of Zen.

The bottom line is, that although little has been known about how our brains “produce” consciousness up to now, neuroscientists and quantum physicists are close to explaining consciousness in terms of material brain processes, as well as creating “self-aware” and “sentient” robots through AI. That's right, Artificial Intelligence is no longer science fiction or fantasy. For more on consciousness, read my free downloadable report, The Creation of Matter from Nothingness in Relation to Survival of Consciousness.

Written By: Thomas A. Retterbush

Buddhism in a Nutshell

Sun, 22 Aug 2010 06:01:35 +0100

Buddhism arose on the northern border of India around 500 B.C. in response to the Hinduism of its day. Like the Judaism around the time of Christ, Hinduism was a religion of rituals, with an elite priesthood who administered a multifaceted theology. It supported a society in which people were strictly divided into a caste system of statue, role and power.

Like medieval Christian reformers, Buddha proposed drastic changes to the religion of his day, which in many ways resembled the ideals of the Protestant reformation.

Buddha called for individual effort, plain language and simple means. His approach put emphasis on direct experience rather than relying on priests. He taught that all people were equal and by the same token capable of spiritual development.

Although most sects soon after considered him divine, Buddha himself spoke of himself only as "one who is awake." Original Buddhism was more of a philosophy, maybe even a psychology, and less like a religion.

Buddhism quickly spread to India, China, Tibet and Southeast Asia, where it mutated with native beliefs to produce results as different as the colorful cheerfulness of Tibetan monks.

Buddhism didn’t arrived in America until the 19th Century. Zen attracted the interest of several prominent American artists of the Beat Generation, including Allen Ginsberg and John Cage.

Buddhism arrived in the US a second time after a wave of Tibetan lamas (driven out by the Chinese invasion of 1950) arrived in America the 1970s, established centers like the Naropa and Nyingma Institutes, set up schools and publishing houses, and began teaching on a wide scale.

Buddhism has attracted a large following among American intellectuals, perhaps because Buddhism contains so much insight on how to use the mind.
The Message of the Buddha

Buddha described his message in simple terms (the Four Noble Truths) that are somewhat difficult to discuss, because they do not refer to ideas so much as to experience.

1. Life is Suffering

To live is to suffer. Life is accompanied by inevitable pain, sickness, disappointment, disillusion, decay and death. This place we live on, the earth plane, is characterized by inevitable and unavoidable dissatisfaction, disappointment, rejection, failure, pain, yearning, decrepitude, and loss. "Suffering" in Buddhism refers not only to physical pain, aging, sickness, and death, and to emotional pain like fear, loss, jealousy, disappointment, and unrequited love, but also to the existential sense that, somehow, deep down, life is permanently out of joint. Everything is touched by the shadow of dissatisfaction, imperfection, disappointment. Suffering, in the Buddhist sense, is a pervasive condition. No one escapes it. Even enlightened teachers grow old, suffer the pains of decay, and die.

2. Suffering is Caused by Attachment

Suffering arises because everything changes, everything is impermanent. Everything is in process, all the time. Whenever we hope to find any lasting happiness by means of something that is changing, suffering results. This means that nothing in the realm of ordinary human experience can provide lasting happiness, and trying to force things to stand still and make us happy is itself the main source of misery.

"Attachment" in Buddhism extends far beyond the sense of "greed" or "clinging" to something closer to what the Christian tradition would call "pride"--a self-centered isolation, the separate selfhood, "ego" in the worst sense.

This selfhood acts upon others and the world as if they were forever separate from oneself, generating what author Charlene Spretnak described as "the continuous chain reaction of craving, jealousy, ill will, indifference, fear, and anxiety that fills the mind." This is a deep, pervasive, but normal kind of alienation--one seemingly built into the nature of the human nervous system.

In Buddhism, three concepts are said to characterize all things:

• Anicca -- Nothing is permanent. Everything changes.
• Anatta (or anatman) -- There is no separate self. What appears separate and enduring turns out to be changeable and "composite." What we experience as identity turns out to be a changing constellation of varying influences.
• Dukkha -- to believe otherwise, to cling to any thing or anyone (including yourself), expecting it to be enduring, whole, and a self, is to create and amplify suffering. And we all do it -- at least until we become, we hope, enlightened.
Naturally, these concepts have been interpreted in many ways by many thoughtful people, including the Mayahana interpretation that our ordinary self is a non-self, but that we have a deep, true Buddha-nature that can be awakened.

The most pervasive form of self-centered suffering takes place as we project upon everyday experience a huge burden of extraneous interpretations, associations, fantasies, emotions, painful memories, and diversions. We act then with the Buddhist big three problems: greed, aversion, and delusion. Greed sucks things in to our purposes, violating their natures as necessary. Aversion shoves things away, denies, distorts, destroys them--again violating their natures. In the state of delusion, we float, confused, not seeing, not knowing, insulated from the pain and salvation of deep experience.

Instead of seeing each moment as it is, we react to each moment from our past pain and frustration; then we react to the pain and frustration; then we react to that reaction; and so on and on. In this way a special form of mental torment is created that consists of seemingly endless layers of pain, negative emotion, self-doubt and self-justification--known in Buddhism as "samsara," the illusory world we think of as real. It is what, in honest moments, many people might call "normality."

I think of it this way: Instead of experiencing life directly, we create a worldview and experience it. That worldview serves to protect us through a system of explanations; but it also makes each of us into an isolated self, separated from nature, from real experience, from spirituality, and from one another--causing all experience to be distorted and "out of joint," and ourselves to suffer from living at one remove from life. We are nearly always, in some degree, outsiders to the world and even to our own experience.

Buddhists have given deep attention to the ways human beings are at once empowered and entrapped by the categories we create for thought and language. Racial prejudice is a straightforward example of what Buddhists mean by suffering that is created by the mind; it is based on mental categories that distort perception and project our expectations onto others. The fundamental Buddhist act is to accept responsibility for one's projections, and to learn to know, first hand, how the mind creates illusion and amplifies suffering.

3. Freedom from Attachment is the Cure for Suffering

If we could be released from attachment, we would be released from suffering. And our primary attachment is to the concept of a separate, isolated self--from which we derive all other attachments and experience all other sufferings.

This I understand to be the central belief of Buddhism: When we fully face, accept, and lighten the self-amplified sufferings of our lives; when we begin to experience life beyond our delusions and confusions, beyond self, beyond culture, beyond knowledge--what we find is not a meaningless universe of alien forces, but our true home.

Life is real. Reality is good. Goodness, gratitude, love and joy are the natural state of the awakened heart.

When people begin to feel released from their self-sustained sufferings, they experience life more fully; they become more cheerful and compassionate. Most people have heard of the ultimate release--"nirvana"--a state of mystical unity with the cosmos. Fewer people know the moving story of how the Buddha and his major followers throughout history have approached nirvana, only to turn back from that mystical escape and devote themselves to a life of helping others in this imperfect world.

Enlightened people do not cease to experience the pain of existence. They only stop creating illusions that amplify that pain and cause new suffering. The rest of us, far from being enlightened, might try to stop making things worse than they are, to stop creating unnecessary suffering, and, by accepting life as it is, accept also the depth and vibrancy of experience.

4. The Way Out of Suffering is through the Eightfold Path

Buddha taught a method to lead away from self-sustained suffering toward a more enlightened and compassionate life--through the pursuit of morality, meditation, and wisdom, described as eight pursuits: right speech, right action, right livelihood, right concentration, right mindfulness, right effort, right understanding and right thought.

Because it avoids the extremes of asceticism and indulgence in favor of a life of moderation, nonviolence and compassion, Buddhism is known as the "Middle Way."
In the West, we tend to expect theological concepts to come in the form of logical propositions -- something that traces back at least as far as Aquinas' adaptation of Aristotle. Buddhism has a philosophical literature, to be sure, but most of the Buddhist writings encountered by lay persons seem not to be theo-logical as much as they are concepts that inspire and guide practice.

In this sense, Buddhism bears a resemblance to hatha yoga, Taoism, or tai chi. These are not systems of thought as much as they are systems of action -- practices. Theology, belief, and faith are surely intended to change the mind and heart. Practices such as the Buddhist practice of meditation and the other aspects of the eight-fold path, are another method to change the mind and heart, a method that -- as I understand it -- depends less on what you believe about God than on what you do each day.

Some Buddhist teachers emphasize the use of "skillful means," something kin to the Jesuit's willingness to adapt Catholic rituals to accommodate local customs. In skillful means, you take on a set of practices and concepts -- not because they stand for eternal truths, but because they get you somewhere. And, once you get there, once you cross the stream, you no longer need to carry the raft on your shoulders. In the words of St. Paul, you put away childish things. Indeed, perhaps all beliefs, all ideas, all concepts are but skillful means.

Buddhist Meditation

Meditation is but one part of the Buddhist path, but it is a part that is accessible to anyone, anywhere. Though Buddhist meditation cannot be learned in any depth without a teacher, the basic practice is simple. In meditation, Buddhists do not remove themselves from the world as some other schools of meditation do; rather, Buddhists practice a kind of awareness that enables them to be more fully present in the world.

Original Buddhist practices (known today as "vipassana" or "insight meditation") are sometimes austere. They may require years of daily sitting in silent meditation. In several cultures, such as Tibet, Buddhism developed into a multifaceted religion ("Mahayana" and "Vajrayana" Buddhism) which adds singing, movement, temples, ceremony, priests, scriptures, art, and other "religious" activities, so that it appeals to a greater variety of people. Still, vipassana meditation remains the underlying mental technology upon which Buddhism rests.

In a characteristic Buddhist meditation, you sit quietly and, in a non-directive way, allow attention to gently settle upon the ever-changing process of your breathing. When you become aware that your attention has shifted to something else, notice this fact, label that moment simply as "thinking," and guide your attention back to the breathing.

Why would anyone do this? Over time, this kind of mental inventory has the effect of changing the relationship you have with your thoughts and feelings. Little by little, you stop blindly reacting to them and begin to develop a space in which to choose how to respond, how to act, what to intend. You start to unhook the automatic cycle of reactivity and gain some freedom, as if your thoughts were only clouds floating across an immensely large, deep sky. It is important, however, not to blame yourself for having reactive thoughts and feelings. Those seem to be a natural part of being human. It is also natural to apply yourself in a disciplined way to learn to live less reactively.

Another instruction attributed to the Buddha directs you toward feeling love, kindness, and compassion progressively for yourself, those close to you, other people, those who have wronged you, and ultimately for all beings.

To the Western mind, it seems absurd that millions of people, sitting in silence, can change the world, end wars, improve humanity, feed the poor, care for the sick, etc. But it not so different from the Christian belief that prayer prepares one to be more loving and more just.

Meditation is an attempt to address the most fundamental causes of human misery. The Buddhist attempt to end war begins with cultivating inner peace, developing an unwavering ability to see things as they are, and treating all beings with compassion and respect.

The Buddhist View of the World

A few Buddhists concepts seem strange to the modern mind. Buddha inherited the Indian belief in reincarnation: Each person has lived before, and past lives influence how you experience this one.

More strange, Buddha said that, although people reincarnate, they have no souls. In part, this seems to be a reaction to the ancient Hindu belief in an immutable, eternal soul (atman) that migrates through many lifetimes.

In part, though, Buddha arrived at this conclusion by his radical method of awareness. Buddhism invites you to look unwaveringly at every experience and ask, "Is it solid, unchanging, whole?"

The answer, Buddhists say, is always, "No"--even when asked of the soul. Everything changes. Everything is impermanent. It is our attempt to attach ourselves to impermanent things, and gain happiness thereby, that guarantees and perpetuates suffering.

In some important ways, the Buddhist view of the universe resembles the view developed by 20th-century physics. Except for the mental categories we impose upon experience, we find nothing in experience that is immutable. There is no constant but our own misconceptions and our own doomed instinct to deny change. Every "thing" is actually a process--it arises, develops, flourishes, declines, and dissipates. All nouns are still-photos from the movie of life--which is made up of verbs. All that we see around and inside us is the result of trillions of simultaneous processes, arising and declining in a symphony of different overlapping rhythms at once. All that appears solid in this cosmos is in reality a shimmering, substanceless dance of energy in flux.

This shimmering immensity of inexhaustible becoming, out of which all things arise and to which they return, is lightly labled by such terms as emptiness, the void, the one reality, and Buddha-mind.

But where the shimmering reality of physics leaves us adrift like meaningless specks in an incomprehensible universe, Buddhism envisions a reality beyond meaning and meaninglessness, beyond knowing, beyond self, beyond duality, beyond suffering--a dance of all things, in which we can become enlightened, interconnected, and compassionate dancers.

The crucial distinction, I believe, is this: Many people have looked deeply into the human condition and come back cynical, ironic, bitter, or insane. Buddhists would say that such people did not look deeply enough into suffering to detect their own contribution to it, and hence the direction out.

Buddhists teach this: True insight leads to compassion. Insight is compassion. Seeing your own condition, your own imperfections, your own joys and thoughts, pains and disappointments, illusions and delights, shows you, not "your" separate and individual mind, but "mind" itself--the universal shared experience of all people.

Pain is not just "your" separate and individual pain. It is "the" pain that others, everywhere, feel.

Joy is not "your" separate and individual joy. It is "the" joy that others, everywhere, feel.

When you dig deep enough, all the wells run together in a place where every wave celebrates that it is the ocean moving through form after form.

People ask, "Is there a God?" "Do we live after death?" "Does life have meaning?"--To all such questions, the Buddha replied with directions to attend to the immediate problems caused by the way we use our minds to distort life and amplify suffering. He taught that we must first remove the poisoned arrow from our consciousness. Afterwards, we can have intricate discussions about where the arrow was shot from, who made it, what wood it is made from, how the point was sharpened, what kind of bow was used, and whether there is a God or an afterlife.

Meanwhile, act now to counteract the habits that poison the mind. Act now to remember the clarity, compassion, and joyfulness of your true nature. Nothing else is as urgent. And this human life, right now, is a rare, precious opportunity to choose to return to the roots of your being, avoid reactivity, and promote clarity, kindness, and compassion.

According to Buddhism as I understand it (and I am not a Buddhist, only a grateful student of human spirituality) the dance of process, continuous change, and boundless creative vitality is what is ultimately real; and we are born with the potential for knowing it directly -- and most directly in the most ordinary moments of our daily lives. As some Zen practitioners put it, everything is interconnected; therefore, if one thing is real, everything is real. So attend wholly to the one thing before you, and it will make all the rest of the universe stop reeling and become real again. And the radiance of the entire universe will dwell in that one small thing.

Where Christianity envisions Heaven and Hell, Buddhism directs our attention to the several tastes in the tea, to how the changing light shines through each particular leaf, to the way this person is speaking to us now -- and to the eternal moment inside ordinary things.

No matter what our abstracting mind and categorical language tell us, there is no dance separate from the dancers. The dancers and the dance are one. And one with us.

For further reading

The one book I most recommend to start with is: Pressing Out Pure Honey, available as a free download bellow.

Next, I would read the Tao Te Ching, written around the 6th century BC by the sage Laozi, also available bellow. Unfortunately I have not been able to attain this ebook as a free download, so you would need to order it for $2.95 and wait up to 24 hours for delivery. Still, this book, as well as The Book of Five Rings, also $2.95, are both worth the money and the wait.

Next time, read; Zen in a Nutshel

5 Mindful Steps to Zen Enlightenment

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 08:37:11 +0100

Basic Mindfulness Training is built around five core practices. You don’t necessarily have to learn all five, although most people like to at least sample them all. Because these practices are strongly contrasting, the chances are very good that even if you don’t take to all of them, at least one or two will really work for you. Furthermore, if a particular practice doesn’t work at a given time, then it’s very likely that one of the other four will.

A practice is said to “work” if, in a reasonable time frame, it delivers one or several of the following.

• Reduction of your physical or emotional suffering
• Elevation of your physical or emotional fulfillment
• Deeper knowledge of who you are
• Positive changes in your objective behavior

I refer to these core techniques as the “5 Ways of Basic Mindfulness.”

The 4 Roles of the 5 Ways

1. Each is a skill-building exercise –A way to strengthen your concentration, clarity and equanimity muscles.

2. Each is a basic response strategy –A way to deal with life’s challenges and utilize nature’s grace.

3. Each is a way to know yourself –Revealing a facet of your spiritual essence.

4. Each is a tradition –A modern and secular reworking of one of the basic approaches to enlightenment developed historically within Buddhism and other Eastern (as well as Western) traditions.

An Outline of the 5 Ways.

1. Focus Inward

Keep track of your subjective experience in terms of visual thoughts (“Images”), mental conversations (“Talk”) and emotional-type body sensations (“Feel”).

At the psychological level this clear tracking allows you to break negative states into small manageable pieces, thus loosening their power over you. By negative states I mean things like difficult emotions, limiting beliefs, judgments, urges leading to unproductive behaviors and so forth. By manageable pieces I mean individual images, individual self-talk phrases and specific body locations where the emotional sensations are arising. Learning to focus on just one of these at a given moment will reduce your sense of overwhelm. You stop being like a ping pong ball pummeled about by words in your head, emotions in your body and pictures on your mental screen.

At the spiritual level FOCUS IN allows you to become free from the “small self.” The small self is the sense that your identity is limited to your mind and body. When you can clearly separate your subjective states into Feel, Image and Talk, those states will be a home where you can live, but from which you can venture out…venture out into a deeper, broader sense of identity. On the other hand, when Feel, Image and Talk get tangled and meshed, they become a prison that confines your identity. With enough practice, the FOCUS IN technique will allow you to break free from the prison of small self.

The name FOCUS IN comes from the fact that you are turning your attention inward to your thoughts and emotions, monitoring them as tangible sensory events. This technique represents a modern reworking of the early Buddhist “divide and conquer” strategies such as the Five Aggregates or the Four Foundations. In terms of modern neuroscience, it is a way of detecting when your brain’s “default attention network” has become active, pulling you into memory, planning, fantasy and judgment.

2. Focus Outward

Anchor yourself in the present moment by focusing on external vision (“Sight”), external hearing (“Sound”) and physical-type body sensations (“Touch”). This is based on a practice commonly given to new monks in Zen temples, allowing them to remain in a meditative state while effectively performing their daily tasks.

At a psychological level, this is similar to an approach known in psychotherapy as “distraction.” When a client experiences meltdown in a session, the therapist may encourage them to “ground” themselves in external sights, sounds and so forth. A similar strategy is sometimes used by runners to increase endurance. However, there is a subtle but highly significant difference between distraction and the FOCUS OUT practice. FOCUS OUT is not a momentary coping strategy.

It is a sustained and systematic apparatus designed to permanently increase your base level of concentration, sensory clarity and equanimity.

At the spiritual level, FOCUS OUT fosters an experience of merging with the outside world. The FOCUS IN method allows you to clarify how Feel, Image and Talk create the \ subjective world of past, future and fantasy. By way of contrast Touch, Sight and Sound are always now.

Put succinctly, the FOCUS OUT practice is a tangible way to harness the Power of Now.

3. Focus on Rest

Learn to detect and enjoy naturally occurring restful states such as physical relaxation, mental blank, emotional peace and quiet moments in your head.

These states often occur spontaneously. The problem is that people don’t know how to detect them or how to utilize them. The FOCUS ON REST technique teaches you what to look for and where. You can then utilize these restful states for a wide range of purposes.

For one thing, the more intently you focus on restful states the better you feel, motivating you to focus even more intently. This clever strategy creates a positive feedback loop that revs up your baseline of concentration power. The restful states can also be used to create a container of equanimity within which emotions, physical discomfort and negative urges can come and go with less identification.

Finally, the restful states can evolve into a self-contained source of sensory fulfillment, one that is available on-demand, independent of external circumstances. This is particularly important for people who live in physical discomfort and also for people in recovery. People in physical discomfort need to have a source of pleasure despite the discomfort in order to avoid becoming depressed. People in recovery need a free, legal, healthy and anti-addictive “high” to replace that of the substance/behavior they are trying to abstain from.

In terms of traditional categories, the FOCUS ON REST technique represents a contemporary reworking of the classical absorption (jhâna) practices of early Buddhism.

4. Focus on Something Positive

The four techniques described above represent different ways of (briefly) going beyond the human self. FOCUS IN “deconstructs” the self back to its sensory components. FOCUS OUT helps you merge into the oneness with the outside world. FOCUS ON REST replaces your ordinary body (physical touch and emotional feel) with a restful body (physical relaxation and emotional peace). It also replaces your ordinary mind (mental image and internal talk) with a restful mind (mental blank and internal quiet). FOCUS ON CHANGE dissolves everything into energy and vanishing. Each of these four represents a different flavor of No Self. But to deconstruct your self is only half of the story. To balance and complete the process, one must also learn to reconstruct your self into human goodness. That is what FOCUS ON POSITIVE practice is for.

Like FOCUS IN, FOCUS ON POSITIVE works with Feel, Image and Talk, but in a very different way. Instead of just observing Feel-Image-Talk as it arises, FOCUS ON POSITIVE has you actively create positive Images and Talk. These then prime the pump for pleasant emotional Feel—joy, interest, enthusiasm, love, friendliness, compassion, gratitude, forgiveness and so forth. You then use your concentration power to spread that pleasant feeling over your whole body and then radiate it beyond your body out to the people and objects around you. In this way you subtly bless everything you see, hear or touch. When you get good at this practice it dramatically changes the way you relate to the world. Equally important, it changes the way that the world relates to you!

Every moment becomes a moment of subtle service to those around you. Every day you deliver a silent sermon from all the pores of your skin.

5. Focus on the Way Things Change

Paying attention to how things change and when they vanish can be enormously liberating. You come to realize not “this too shall pass,” but rather “this too is passing”—right now, second by second. When you’re faced with physical discomfort, emotional discomfort, mental confusion, or urges leading to unproductive behaviors, focusing on their impermanence allows you to get some
sense of immediate relief.

At a spiritual level, continuously noting when things change facilitates their break up into a kind of subjective “energy,”which in Asian medicine (and martial arts) is referred to as qi (ch’i).

Also, by noticing the very moment when things vanish, your attention is directed to the Source from which they arise. This leads to the classical experience of “Cessation” referred to by the mystics of the world as True Self, No Self, Nothingness and so forth.

The Art of War in Zen Philosophy

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 07:28:47 +0100

The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare, it has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategy.

You may wonder, what does The Art of War have to do with Zen, enlightenment and peace of mind. It is ironic, that in order to achieve peace, we must understand war. In order to realize happiness, we must know agony, to feel love we must perceive hate and to aquire riches we must grasp poverty.

"Life is War, and ever Day is a Battle" - Thomas A. Retterbush

War, by definition, is a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air (Dictionary.com, 2007). Sun Tzu’s theory(s) are very interestingly approached in his book, “Art of War.” One could especially find this analysis interesting if Tzu’s contents are compared to current world events, wars, politics, etc. One could argue that war is based on man power, numbers, military warfare, chemical warfare & other military means. Sun Tzu shows that war is not only about weaponry and ammunition, but rather, non-military means such as diplomatic, political and economic forces of power. Tzu’s theories also correlate well with the current war on terror in that peace & war are difficult to distinguish from each other. Also, they are part of the same ongoing conflict. From a broad perspective, Tzu shows how wars can be won in the psychological, economic and diplomatic means which can be used to break through enemy lines in other ways then through blood and carnage. The mind is a powerful tool, and to manipulate the mind of the enemy could yield a victory in ways that war is not defined. This paper will analyze the concepts of psychological warfare, economics and the influence of diplomacy.

Psychological Warfare

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. (Giles, 1910 pg. 2)

When approaching the art of war, Tzu has numerous statements that have to do with the psychological aspect of getting into the enemy’s head. As shown above, war has everything to do with counteracting against “What might be” in unison with “What really is”. In Griffins translation, Tzu’s states, The enemy must not know where I intend to give battle. For if he does not know where I intend to give battle he must prepare in a great many places. And when he prepares in a great many places, those I have to fight in any one place will be few (Griffith, 1971 pg. 98). As these theories are applied to the current day, terrorism can easily come to mind. If terrorists do not know where US troops are, they will not know when to expect a battle. This strategy, along with present day technology, has been a great help to the US Military in the current war on terror.

Another psychological portion of the current war that correlates with Tzu’s theories is how war and motives are perceived. In the Middle East there is a depression of economic growth. The Middle East has been this way for many years. When these struggling countries see the economic growth of Western Civilization, they resent the progression and gain the perception that we are going to make our way a standard among them. A.S. Hashim states that because of this perception, these Middle Eastern nations have failed to modernize, attain political legitimacy and economically develop (Hashim, 2001 pg. 16) As such, it is easy to see the work that is cut out for the American Government and Military. A change of mind, a change of heart, a change of thought, a change of perception must happen for trust to be garnered and for economic growth to really begin. Another great example of psychological warfare is Saddam and the Iraqi people. Saddam played into the role of anti Semitism and controlling the content and information given from the enemy. According to Tzu, this is one of the most powerful tools in war.

Economics

To keep with the “non military” theory of Tzu, economics comes into play as a stratagem to divide and conquer. In Chapter 11 of Giles translation it states:

When you leave your own country behind, and take your army across neighborhood territory, you find yourself on critical ground. When there are means of communication on all four sides, the ground is one of intersecting highways.

We are not fit to lead an army on the march unless we are familiar with the face of the country

The U.S. provides assistance funding to global coalitions against terrorism. The fact is that U.S. military and government is funding counter-terrorism research and development, & Homeland Security. The US is also disrupting the funding of terrorist groups which is slowing the progression of terrorism in a widespread manner. In every time of war, the economy of a warring nation plays a great role in the deployment and development of war strategy. When ones means of communication can help to alter economic growth and/or economic power, that entity is beginning to penetrate deeper into the heart of the war more than a bullet or bomb could do.

Diplomacy

Tzu shows how using political and diplomatic methods can increase a nations power to win any war. There has to be a balance between military and diplomatic efforts. When diplomatic steps are taken to ally a country with another, they both ensure a greater strength and protection for each other in time of great need. In Griffins translation, Tzu States: “Look into the matter of his alliances and cause them to be severed and dissolved. If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy’s position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy’s position weak.” (Sun Tzu, The Art of War, p. 78)

Through diplomatic relationships gained by whatever means necessary, a nation increases its chances of winning future wars. Many friends (nations) make for many numbers, and there will always be strength in numbers. As such, diplomatic relationships play great roles in the progression/digression of winning or losing a war.

Through this analysis of Tzu’s “Art of War”, one will be able to see how political, economical and Diplomatic stratagem may be taken to divide and conquer. Tzu’s writings are vague in detail and rich in theory, and there are many approaches to life that can be taken from his words.

Much of our daily lives we can relate to war. Every day we fight for our survival. We fight for our health. For money. For love. Even for happiness. If we can understand the art of war, then we can understand how to conquer life.

~Tom

Written By: Thomas A. Retterbush

The Wisdom of Zen

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 09:31:21 +0100

Living in the world yet not forming attachments to the dust of the world is the way of a true Zen student.

When witnessing the good action of another encourage yourself to follow his example. Hearing of the mistaken action of another, advise yourself not to emulate it.

Even though alone in a dark room, be as if you were facing a noble guest. Express your feelings, but become no more expressive than your true nature.

Poverty is your treasure. Never exchange it for an easy life.

A person may appear a fool and yet not be one. He may only be guarding his wisdom carefully.

Virtues are the fruit of self-discipline and do not drop from heaven of themselves as does rain or snow.

Modesty is the foundation of all virtues. Let your neighbors discover you before you make yourself known to them.

A noble heart never forces itself forward. Its words are as rare gems, seldom displayed and of great value.

To a sincere student, every day is a fortunate day. Time passes but he never lags behind. Neither glory nor shame can move him.

Censure yourself, never another. Do not discuss right and wrong.

Some things, though right, were considered wrong for generations. Since the value of righteousness may be recognized after centuries, there is no need to crave immediate appreciation.

Live with cause and leave results to the great law of the universe. Pass each day in peaceful contemplation.

How to have a Beautiful, Fruitful, Zenful Day

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:19:43 +0100

It is not necessary to lead a frantic life to accomplish many things. If you follow some of the simple steps bellow, you will not only have the time to do what you thought you needed to do, you will even have time to do what you WANTED to do.

Get Up Early

If you start your day in a state of hurry you’ll carry that feeling with you throughout the rest of the day. We rush through breakfast, run out the door, sit in traffic tapping our hand against the steering wheel impatiently and muttering, “Come on, I’m late, where’d you learn to drive?” at other drivers under our breath, and arrive at our morning’s destination frazzled and disheveled. You can avoid the morning rush by getting up earlier.

Don’t Crowd Your Day

Sit down and make a list of all the activities that fill up your days: all of the associations you belong to, all of the activities you’re signed up for, and all of the commitments you’ve made to others. Now take a red pencil and cross out everything that is not necessary or beneficial to you.

After doing this you’ll find that you have more time to do the things that are really important to you and more time to spend with those you love. In addition, you’ll have time to do things for yourself such as exercising and finding time each day to spend in meditation and quiet contemplation.

Keep sight of the most important things each day.

Slow Down Your Mind

Eknath Easwaran uses the analogy of driving a car in his book, “Take Your Time”, to describe what happens when your mind speeds up. He explains that when you’re driving and you’re going too fast, you can’t control the car. In the same way, when your mind is racing you can’t pay proper attention to what is going on around you, heed warning signs, and make the right judgment calls.

He adds that there is nothing more disobedient than an untrained mind, and there is nothing more obedient than a trained mind. We can train our minds to slow down by listening to our thoughts, slowing down our pace of life, learning to prioritize, doing one thing at a time, and through reflective practices such as yoga, tai chi, meditation, and so on.

Master the Art of Concentration

Give your attention to one thing at a time; complete concentration is genius. Again, Eknath Easwaran uses the analogy of a car: imagine that you get into your car and start driving north toward your house; then, all of a sudden, the car turns left and starts heading toward the supermarket; then it makes another sudden turn and starts headings toward your sister’s house; then . . . you get the picture. When it comes to our attention we often have as little control over it as we had over that car.

Follow Buddha’s advice: whatever you’re doing, do it mindfully.

Turn Your Attention to the Present

When your mind is rehashing the past and recycling old resentments, or worrying about the future, it’s ill equipped to handle the challenges of the moment. Learn to remain focused completely on the present.

Take Steps to Put an End to Information Overload

Stop trying to be on top of it all. You can’t read everything, you can’t be constantly aware of the latest breaking news or fad, and you can’t absorb every bit of information that is thrown at you. Accept that. You have to make choices: decide what information is really important to you and discard everything else.

Zenhabits describes the process for putting an end to the email overload in 3 steps:

The first step is to reduce the flow of e-mails coming in: take action to stop nonessential e-mails from getting to your in-box. For example, unsubscribe from newsletters that don’t really interest you and post your e-mail policies on your blog or web site.

The second step is to deal effectively with the flow of emails that comes in. He advises to stop checking your emails constantly; instead, check it at regular periods.

The third step is to stop dealing with the same e-mail over and over again: make a decision, take action, and move on. That is, delete, file, forward, write a short reply, or add to your to-do list.

Make Time for Relationships

Relationships are usually the first casualty when your life speeds up and you’re overbooked. Especially when it comes to children, slow down and move at their rhythm, instead of expecting them to scurry to keep up with yours. Get back into the habit of sitting together with your family at meal times and eat at a leisurely pace.

Convey Serenity to Others

One person slowing down and not putting others under pressure helps everyone else to relax. Choose to be the person that remains calm when everyone else is rushing about, setting an example for others to relax as well.

Repeat a Mantra

By repeating a mantra–such as “Rama”, “Peace”, “All is well”, or anything else that works for you–you’re applying a break to the mind. When the mind begins to race off with thoughts of worry, frustration, fear, or anger, we can effectively slow it down by repeating our mantra.

In addition, repeating a mantra can help you to focus. I once read of a monk who taught his students to repeat in their heads the tasks they were engaged in at the moment. So if they were walking they would repeat: “walking, walking, walking”; if they were doing the dishes they would repeat: “doing the dishes, doing the dishes, doing the dishes”; and so on.

By: Tom Retterbush

Daily Zen as a Lifestyle

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:46:38 +0100

Zen can be a tricky theory to comprehend. The dictionary defines it as "meditation" or "to figure out something by meditation” or “by a sudden flash of enlightenment ".

Zen can be alleged as a new acceptance on how to live one's life. Demanding self-control, perseverance and persistence, living Zen everyday is not easy, but can in due course lead to an exceptionally worthwhile and meaningful life.

Zen does not tell you what to do. Zen is not a religion. Zen can be practiced every time by anyone. The goal of Zen is to increase self-awareness and develop an understanding of everything around you. Throughout life, people are lead into believing things without thinking. Zen promotes release of lifelong conditioning, enabling deeper understanding of yourself and reality. Zen frees the mind to live life with heightened awareness, enriching and improving your life experiences.

Achieving Zen is discovering ones inner truth. This comes from getting to know the true you through constant practice. This can be achieved through daily meditation, respect and compassion for all things around you.

Zen meditation is the primary technique in the path to Zen. There are numerous meditation techniques that can be used to assist you in this process.

Zen living is to live a life with respect for all living things. Zen deals with the present and have practical relevance in one's life and discourages perception of things that do not matter in ones daily experiences. Zen promotes living for the moment. Zen encourages looking at things in different ways in order to make them take on more meaning and greater enjoyment.

To obtain the full benefits Zen has to offer, it should be practiced daily and its ideas should be incorporated into one's lifestyle. To assist in reaching a more fulfilled and pleasurable life, Zen should become the central goal of one’s life.

Written By: Thomas A. Retterbush