Buddhas' Third Noble Truth

For those of you who know the noble truths taught by the Buddha, you already know that to live is to suffer and that the good things in life must be taken in context and not for granted. The good news is that the Third Noble Truth is that the end of suffering is attainable.

The end (cessation) of suffering can be attained through something called nirodha. Nirodha means the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment, in other words it means that to stop our suffering we must first let go of our attachments. Which is easier said than done, because right now we are attached to everything and everyone around us! We must remember that when we pass on we will not be able to take anything with us, we must let go of everything but our minds.

The third noble truth is an expression of the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion or letting go living in the moment with peace. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment, from the cloths we wear to the people we love. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. This does not mean to only do things that feel good because you will inevitably suffer again when the pleasure wares off.

Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels, including meditation and deep thought, that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana is a state of freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it, but that does not mean that it is not impossible to reach this state with lots of time, practice, patience and following the teachings of the Buddha.

Easy Meditation For Beginners

Meditation is an important tool used in most ancient cultures, spiritual practices and new age groups. The purpose of meditation is to relax the body and mind, it is ofter believed that while meditating one can gather information or guidance from beings in other realms. Here I will guide you through the process of preparing for meditation and a simply visualization to open your chakras.

When learning to meditate is is important to be completely at rest with nothing to disturb you, (turn off your phones and send the kids out for a walk with the dog!) To begin prepare the meditation space with colours and lighting that suit your mood, turn off big lamps and light some candle if you like, some soothing music might help you to relax or perhaps it will interfere with your concentration. You be the judge of what best fits your personality, don't get discouraged if the setting you imagine in your head is not what works in reality.

Breath is very important during meditation so find a comfy spot to sit (you will be there for a while) and start by taking big deep breaths. Fill your lungs right down to your abdomen, relax every muscle one at a time. Now take your right thumb and close your right nostril, take a deep breath (this opens the left lobe of your brain) relax, open your right nostril but keep you hand up, put your index finger over your left nostril and breath. Rotate between both nostrils for between 3-5 full breaths to insure both lobes of your brain have adequate oxygen. When you have finished rest your hands on your thighs.

Close your eyes, let all tensions flow out of you like water running off your body in the shower. Visualize in your minds eye you are holding in your left hand eight balloons on strings, each balloon is a different colour on the visual color spectrum plus one pink balloon. Next, visualize the red balloon moving across your field of vision from left to right. Let go of the string and focus on the balloon as it floats up and out of sight. One at a time let each balloon follow the same path, each one being the next colour in the spectrum (ROY G. BIV) visualize the orange balloon floating in the same pattern as red one took. Continue through each colour balloon until only the pink balloon is left, now it too moves across your field of vision and floats away as far as your consciousness will allow. Imagine each balloon goes progressively farther than the one before it. Next envision the balloons in your right hand and repeat the exercise.

By doing this meditation you are balancing the chemistry in your brain, which will open up your chakras, allowing your body to release pent up stress and negative energy. It is a simple meditation that can take as little or as long as you would like. It can be a quick panic reliever or a deep relaxation technique.

Chakras: Tradition verses New Age

Traditionally Chinese medicine relies on the model belief that the human body is an energy system, consisting of seven chakras located through the body on a horizontal line from the Root chakra on the genitle area up to the Crown chakra at the top of the head. The New Age movement has created an increased interest in Western cultures including the chakras. Some people in New Age practices claim that there are chakras, besides the seven major ones, for instance, ear chakras. Although it cannot be proven that this is entirely untrue it is certainly up for debate.

People from the East and West who study or tap into the chakras energy system know that there is a correspondence between the position and role of the chakras, and those of the glands in the endocrine system. Each chakra is responsible for different aspects of the body just like each organ is responsible for its own functions.

The chakras are described in the tantric texts as Sat-Cakra-Nirupana, and the Padaka-Pancaka, where they radiate an electrical consciousness, an energy which pours down from the spiritual like the suns rays. They then create these distinct levels of chakras (simular to oil settling on top of water), which eventually settle in the Muladhara (root) chakra. This energy that came into creation, called the Kundalini, will lie coiled and sleeping until it is taped into through tantric yogi, reiki or meditation to arouse the energy, and encourage it to flow back up through the increasingly subtler chakras, until union with god is achieved in the Sahasrara (crown) chakra at the top of the head.

It is believed that the energy of the chakras is continuously flowing (like a stream), if it is not respected and given the proper care then the energy can become blocked (by a dam). For instance when a child gets and ear ache it could be caused by a number of things ranging from physical illness or a damaged ear drum. But physicians tend to over look the chakras energy system which could be blocked causing the tissues in the ear to break down. To ease the discomfort in the child's ear many doctors will mask the pain with medication. But the inflammation can be reduced simply by placing a hand over the ear and concentrating on the corresponding chakra. As the energy pulses through the blockage it will allow the body to heal naturally.

In the end it does not matter which set of beliefs you follow, all that matters is that you treat your energy centers with the same care and respect that you would treat any other part of your body. when you can find balance in your life it becomes much easier to focus less on the negative and more on what is positive.

The theory of the soul

Often thought of as mysticism by non believers the spiritual energy system that flows though all of us is much like any other system in our body. For example: Our digestive tract regulates the amount of nutrients our body stores and eliminates, our bloodstream carries oxygen to our muscles and organs and our brain receives messages from all over our body telling us how to react or move about our day. These examples are no different than the way our chakra system tells us how to feel emotionally and keeps our body's working in tip top shape.

Without our chakras we would only be organic robots going about our lives with no emotional connection to the world around us. Humans as a species have pondered life questions like, what it is that makes us love somebody or hate somebody else, where do we get our intuition, and why do we have such strong individual personalities? Some people will say that God is our creator there for he has given us our souls. Others will say that our soul is held in our brain or hearts. In reality there is no proof of a man sitting in the clouds handing out personality and our organs have a job to do - they don't have the capacity to govern our emotions.

I believe that the chakras are the answer to the question of where our emotions, and to a greater extent our souls come from. It is no coincidence that people will say that “your soul comes from deep within your heart”, they are not talking about the heart muscle but the heart chakra that flows through our chest. The proof for my theory is this: A Nadi (plural: Nadis) is an energy channel in which prana (life force) energy flows connecting each chakra.

Nadis also are responsible for extrasensory function of empathic and instinctive responses. They were first thought to extend only to the skin of the body, but are now known to extend to the boundary of the aura. The Ida and Pingala nadis refer to the two hemispheres of the brain. Pingala is extroverted, and corresponds to the left hand side of the brain. Ida is the introverted, and refers to the right hand side of the brain. The two nadis are stimulated through the practice of pranayama, which involves alternate breathing through left and right nostrils, which is done before meditation.

In todays high stress life styles people are being told by doctors and health professionals everywhere that they need to take better care of themselves. Most people who do not meditate, practice yoga or any other relaxation techniques could be in danger of having a healthy body but drained pranas causing blockages in the chakra system. This is extremely detrimental to the long term life of your soul.

Wheel of Dharma

The wheel or wheels of Dharma are the tools in which Buddha uses to teach us how we can reach enlightenment. Physically there are eight spokes on the wheel of Dharma and each spoke is a representation or reference point to the eight fold paths to enlightenment. When each of these paths is followed continuously through out a persons life then they will finally have inner peace.

The meaning of the word Dharma is protection. When a person follows the eight fold path they will be protecting themselves from suffering and other problems of this earth. As humans we strive every day of our live to reach a point where we no longer have to come up against metaphorical walls, or problems, but because from the beginning of time, we have created more and more chaos around ourselves there is no way we can run. Everyday during our lives, we as a race are ignorant, we chose not to see this even though it will never go way on it's own. By practicing Dharma we can finally find the means to an end.

Our quality of life is dependent on or inner peace and happiness, not the items we own or our status in society. External development and material things have blurred our view of what is truly important in life. The only way to improve our quality of life is not to go subscribe to corporate greed but to practice Dharma and get control of our inner selves. Think about it, do you really need a big fancy TV or a big expensive house? Even if those things do make you happy for awhile, how long does the feeling last? The point is not give these things up completely but to live life in moderation. Buddha can teach us how to find pure, lasting happiness by using Dharma as a guide!

When we decide that it is truly time for a change, and accept Buddha's teachings into our daily way of life we can over come the obstacles of greed and use each problem we encounter as a gift to learn and grow. Without inner peace, outer peace is impossible. When we can control our thoughts and minds by following spiritual paths then outer peace will flow naturally into our lives.

The origin of chakras

The Chakras are the energy center or node in the human body, they were first discovered when practicing spiritual beliefs and practices. The word comes from the Sanskrit "cakra" meaning "wheel, circle", and it is sometimes referred to the "wheel of life". Today the Chakras and their energy is channeled by most “New Age” healers, holistic medical practitioners, they are commonly used in alternative medicine like reflexology, reiki, and yoga.

In Hinduism, meditations would be done on a particular chakra in order to tap into its spiritual energy systems. Each energy system is vibrating at a different frequency than the others, therefor it is responsible for different aspects of the physical and emotional body. People who practice yoga and other related eastern cultural traditions know full well that each chakra holds a unique set of energy's, and when one is blocked it effects all other parts of the body.

The chakras are known- when properly used- to vitalize the physical body of anything from headaches to blood clots and are also associated with interactions of mental nature like depression so schizophrenia. They are considered loci of life energy, or prana, which flow among them along pathways called nadis much like the neropathways in the brain.

There are seven main chakras and many smaller more specific chakras, each is recognized as a three dimensional sphere aligned along the body in an ascending column from the base of the spine (root) to the top of the head (crown). Each chakra is associated with a certain color from red at the root through the spectrum to violet at the crown. Each has multiple specific functions depending on where it is located in the body and which organs it is attached to. They are associated with an aspect of consciousness, a classical element (earth, air, fire or water) and many other distinguishing characteristics.

The chakras are very powerful elements in our bodies that most people do not recognize, they are in control of every aspect of our lives and perhaps hold the secret to our souls. Until humans can scientifically understand the chakra system we will have to trust that it is there and take care if it like we would take care of any other part of your body. We can do this by meditating each day, going for regular check ups, getting plenty of rest. It is important to cleanse your soul, so be sure to take the time on a regular basis to do something for your happiness.