The word Dhukka suffering. In The Buddhas' teachings he taught the Four Noble Truths, The first of the Noble truths is that Life is suffering. Buddha spoke of how to live is to suffer in countless forms of pain, anguish, fear, and physical torments,as well as psychological maladies and emotional discomforts. There is no way to over come the outer causes of suffering but we can over come our internal suffering by following the Buddhas' teachings.
The main reasons for the suffering in the world is the nature of incarnate life, it is not perfect and neither is the planet we live on. During all of our lives, we will be unable to avoid physical suffering like bodily pain, sicknesses, injuries, fatigue, old age, and eventually death. There are all kinds disagreeable psychological forms of Suffering, including Sadness, Fear, Frustration, Disappointment, and Depression, that we all must endure.
Every unpleasant experience we have in this life time has an equal and pleasurable reaction. All the different levels of Dhukka will pass and be replaced by pleasurable experiences while we are still living. We generally like to think of suffering as the opposite of pleasure, but in fact it is the opposite.
Ease, Comfort and Happiness, are thought of as being the opposite extreme to displeasure. Life is complex but in order to make it tolerable for the masses there must be ease and pleasure to look forward to. Complexity is simply imperfect and incomplete, because humans, plants and every living being in this world are subject to impermanence, there is a means to an end.
Impermanence means that we will never be able to keep permanent hold of the things that we strive for, including our homes, cloths and jobs. Even though we are able to enjoy pleasurable moments, sadness and reality of misfortune to come are always looming. Eventually we ourselves and our loved ones will have to pass on and leave this body and life behind.
Suffering is the first noble truth. We must come to terms with this reality, learn from our misfortunes and let them pass. Every experience we have in this life is an opportunity to take wisdom with us as we pass through on our journey to enlightenment.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Buddhas' First Nobel Truth
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Labels: Buddha, dhukka, emotion, moments, noble truth, permanent, reality, suffering
Monday, March 2, 2009
Direction of Consciousness
For many cultures the fact that the human body is a finely tuned energy system has not disputed. Now with the scientific knowledge of string theory the human energy system can be deeply explored and proven in such a manner that it will change the world forever. Traditional medicines in the East refer to the major energy systems as chakras, Each of the seven chakras has a role and responsibility for different aspects of the endocrine system, it is likely that with time and the right tools the human race will finally be able to answer their deepest questions about life on earth.
Each chakra is directly responsible for aspects of the body, in the same way that each organ is responsible for its own bodily functions by using subtle electrical pluses. Our bodies take in these electrical pluses with the food we eat, the air we breath and from other people we interact with everyday. I am sure that you have felt the energy drain from your body when you are talking to someone who can't stop complaining about how horrible their life is, or had a surge of excitement after an inspirational speech by someone you respect.
Feelings and emotions are as normal and unpredictable as the weather. In order for you to become fully aware you must be able to ride out the feelings that pass through your consciousness. Feelings are something you can not control, just as you can not control the actions or feelings of another person. Sometimes your feelings may be chaotic but chaos is necessary, it is easier said than done but you need to let your self go, trust your self.
In all of us there is a connection to the bigger things in the universe, part of us has no idea, and the other knows it all, let the part of you that knowns nothing just tag along. Our lives here in earth are short, but our spirit or life energy will go on, we are all connected by a force called critical mass. Critical mass is when a mass of people understand a concept, the rest of society instantly understands, which means that your world is a direct result of your thoughts.
Posted by J_Mac at 12:26 PM 0 comments
Labels: Chakra, consciousness, Critical mass, culture, emotion, endocrine system., energy system, feelings, inspirational, society, Spirit, traditional medicine
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The Basic Human Being
If you have ever thought that there was something more to your life than the everyday hustle? As children we have huge dreams, anything is possible, and the only thing that matters is fun. Children live in the moment, when they want to do something they just can't wait! This feeling all kids have and their way of life may get covered up and forgotten as they grow older but it never goes away. Inside all of us is an inner child, sometimes called the basic Self in order to succeed in life we must get to know this basic human being.
In his book Way of the Peaceful Warrior Dan Millman learns valuable life lessons about the seven levels consciousness and the three selves. On his journey Dan discovers that the basic self closely resembles the characteristic personality of a child of a four to seven year old. Even though your basic self has more confidence and strength than a child the qualities are the same. Just as a child, the basic self is closely in tune with the physical body but not so in touch with the conscious brain. It takes time for a child to learn to listen to their conscious and their sense of right and wrong.
Our Basic self is the source of bodily wisdom, and is where our instinct, intuition and gut feelings come from. The basic self is in charge of our body, it uses the involuntary nervous system to generate our energy for life and keep us out of danger. Just like a young child the basic self is open to subconscious energy healing.
When our subconscious is content and the basic self is relaxed we are likely to have more energy, inspiration and playfulness. We tend to be more loyal yet spontaneous with much greater determination.
Sometime we let our conscious get control of us, when we are working too much or there is too much stress. When this happens we ignore and suppress our basic self, devaluing it so that it becomes blocked. The basic self will withdraw and sometimes sabotage our bodies, this will lower our immune system giving us a higher risk for illness.
In order to stay healthy and create a higher state of awareness, we must become conscious of our subconscious. Listen to your instincts, follow your gut feelings and take time everyday to clear your thoughts. By challenging ourselves we a can actually have more energy and sense of self worth, in the long run this will lead to better overall health.
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Labels: balance, basic self, conscious self, consciousness, Dan Millman, emotion, energy, Enlightenment, Higher self
Sunday, January 11, 2009
The Location of the Chakras
The Seven major chakras of the body each have their own purpose in the body. They are arranged in ascending order from the root close to the earth to the crown at the highest point in the body. Each Chakra is vibrating at it's own frequency which means that each has a specific purpose in the body. No chakra is more important than another they must all work together in order to create balance and harmony in the body.
The Root Chakra or Muladhara is closest to the earth, it is the base support for the 3 main psychic channels, ida, pingala and sushumna. Unless you are born with a “gift” these channels remain dormant in the body until the kundalini shakti, also known as great spiritual potential, is taped into and refined, thus causing an evolution in human psyche. Muladhara draws down spiritual energy and allows that energy to assume a physical existence. The Root Chakra is located at the perineum near the anus, it is closely related to the reproductive process and feelings of fear and guilt. This chakra's symbol is represented on a lotus flower with four petals,by the colour red and the Earth element.
All of the lower chakras govern emotions, which is where you get the term “gut feeling”. The Sacral chakra is located about two finger widths below the belly button where it governs feeling and sexuality. When this chakra is balanced, your feelings will be able to flow freely, and you can express yourself without being over-emotional. The Navel chakra is helpful when asserting yourself in a group, when balanced you feel in control and you have positive self esteem. It is located just below the sternum and can be recognized by it's yellow colour. Naturally the Heart chakra is about love. When it is balanced, you are more freely compassionate and friendly. The heart as you can imagine is located in the chest and is represented by green which is the next colour in the spectrum.
The upper chakras are in charge of logical processes and creativity. The Throat chakra governs self-expression and talking which make sense because it is located in the throat. When it is balanced, you will have no problem expressing yourself, but is it is easy to block this chakra by telling lies and talking too much. The Third Eye is found on the forehead where it governs insight and visualization. The third eye does not help you to see the physical world, but intuition and dreams grow here. Be aware of an over-active third eye where you begin to live in a world of fantasy. The Crown chakra also known as Sahasrara is the center of wisdom and being one with the world. It is located at the top of the head and is the most subtle of all the chakras. The Crown is represented on a violet lotus flower with 1000 petals, arranged in 20 layers each with 50 petals. This chakra is related to pure consciousness, and it is from here that all other chakras emanate.
Each of the Seven major chakras have a distinct purpose in the body. Where they are located, as you have seen, is indicative of the task each Chakra is responsible for. The vibrations tell the body how to act and respond in any given situation. Without our chakras our bodies would be empty shells and they must all work together in order to create balance in our lives.
Posted by J_Mac at 9:57 PM 0 comments
Labels: Chakras, color, colour, consciousness, creative, emotion, location, logic, representation, spectrum, wisdom