Smile in Each Moment
Smile in Each Moment |
- Smile in Each Moment
- It’s Not You, It’s Them: 11 Frenemies You Should Dump Today
- Developing compassion: instructions from an ancient source (plus commentary)
- Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 5/13/2013
- Cmdr Chris Hadfield sings Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in ISS farewell
- Cmdr Chris Hadfield sings Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in ISS farewell
- Was Buddhism influenced by the Jains?
- Was Buddhism influenced by the Jains?
- How Mindfulness Can Mitigate the Cognitive Symptoms of Depression
| Posted: 13 May 2013 01:05 PM PDT By Leo BabautaThere's a tendency to get caught up in the tasks of our day, the urgency of what's coming up, the distractions of being online. And we forget to smile. In the rush of the day, the stress of wanting things to happen a certain way, we lose the enjoyment of each moment. In every moment, there's the capacity for happiness. It's not that we need to be ecstatic, full of pleasure, excited or even joyous each and every second of the day. Who needs that kind of pressure? And it's not that we can never feel sadness or anger or stress. It's that we can feel happiness, in some form, any moment we like, even in the midst of stress or sadness. And it's exceedingly simple. We just need to remember to smile. You can smile in each and every moment. OK, maybe you don't need a smile on your face all day long — your cheeks will feel tired. But we can smile more, and in between physical smiles, we can have an internal smile. Try an internal smile now: have a calm, unsmiling face, but think of the miracle of this moment, and find a thought to smile about. Feel the smiling feeling inside. Isn't that amazing? What do you have to smile about in this moment? Some ideas:
And so on. You probably don't have all of these, but you might have one or two, and if so, that's a more than good enough cause to smile. You'll forget to smile in some moments, because your mind gets caught up in stories about the past, stresses about what might happen in the future. None of this is happening right now — it's just movies playing in our heads. Instead, remind yourself of what's happening right now, and see the beauty in it, see the reason to smile. And then smile, externally and internally. This changes your day, because now instead of being caught up in stress and stories, we are present, and happy. We can be content with every moment. It changes your life, because too often we miss the smile-ability of life when we are not paying attention. Read More @ Source | |||
| It’s Not You, It’s Them: 11 Frenemies You Should Dump Today Posted: 13 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT  We choose to let others influence us, and we rely on them to provide modeling, mentorship, and assistance. But what if those friends actually did more harm than good? Those are called "frenemies." These people wreck your mood, kill your productivity, and complicate your life. Some have bad intentions, while others are clueless about their negative effects. Whether these toxic influences are sabotaging you intentionally or not, identifying and removing them from your life can dramatically improve your health, wealth, and general well-being. 11 Frenemies You Should Dump, Right Now
The "Average of Five" RuleThe "Average of Five" rule states that you are an average of your five closest friends. I've found it to be surprisingly accurate, and the company you keep is a good indication of the person you will become. Surround yourself with people whose traits you admire, and prepare to soak up their positive, productive, and healthy influence.
Have a bucket list? Create yours today with this list of 101 things to do before you die! Grab your free pdf e-book in the next second by signing up for the free newsletter.     Read More @ Source | |||
| Developing compassion: instructions from an ancient source (plus commentary) Posted: 13 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT
The "Path of Liberation" (Vimuttimagga) by Upatissa is the oldest meditation manual that I know about. It was probably written in the 1st century, several hundred years after the Buddha's death. It's from India, but the text has only survived in Chinese translation. The scriptures of the Pali canon, which contain records of the Buddha's teachings, were written down a few hundred years earlier, but they don't contain any coherent and structured guides to this meditation practice. The Buddha is recorded in those earlier scriptures as saying, for example, that we should cultivate lovingkindness and compassion, but there's little detail as to how. For those of us familiar with the various stages into which lovingkindness and compassion meditations are divided, there's none of that to be found in the Buddha's teachings. That doesn't mean that the forms we've learned are wrong. Maybe what we do was taught or practiced in the Buddha's day, but wasn't written down (or memorized in a formal way) for some reason. Or perhaps the techniques evolved and were improved upon, as generations of meditators continued to explore these practices. No one knows. But I thought it would be interesting to show how the Upatissa presented the development of compassion, and to offer a little commentary. Based on the Vimuttimagga, the Karuna Bhavana practice is as follows:
So there are five stages here. Now let's look at what the Vimuttimagga says about developing compassion. THE IMMEASURABLE THOUGHT OF COMPASSION
Q. What is compassion? What is the practising of it? What are its salient characteristic, function and manifestation? What are its benefits? What is the procedure? A. As parents who on seeing the suffering of their dear and only child, compassionate it, saying, " O, how it suffers!", so one compassionates all beings. This is compassion. One dwells undisturbed in compassion — this is called the practising of it. The non-manifestation of non-advantage is its salient characteristic. Happiness is its function. Harmlessness is its manifestation. Its benefits are equal to those of loving-kindness.
What is the procedure ? The new yogin [meditator] enters into a place of solitude and sits down with mind collected and undisturbed. If he sees or hears of a person stricken with disease, or a person affected by decay, or a person who is full of greed, he considers thus: "That person is stricken with suffering. How will he escape suffering?".
One should wish to be endowed with tranquillity, to be free from hatred, to be endowed with all merits and to gain good advantages. One should wish to gain a good reward, a good name, to gain confidence, to gain happiness, to be endowed with virtue, knowledge, liberality and wisdom. One should wish for happy sleep and happy awaking. One should wish to have no evil dreams.
And again, if he sees or hears of a person of perverted mind and bound with the defilements, or a person entering into ignorance, or one, who, having done merit in the past does not now train himself, he considers thus: "That person is stricken with suffering; he will fare ill. How will he escape suffering?".
And again, if he sees or hears of a person who follows demeritorious doctrines and does not follow meritorious doctrines, or of a person who follows undesirable doctrines and does not follow desirable doctrines, he considers thus: "That person is stricken with suffering; he will fare ill. How will he escape suffering?".
That yogin by these means and through these activities develops the thought of compassion for these persons and repeats it. Having by these means and through these activities developed the thought of compassion and repeated it, he makes his mind pliant, and capable of bearing the object. Thereafter he gradually develops (compassion) for an indifferent person and an enemy. The rest is as was fully taught above. Thus he fills the four directions. Read More @ Source | |||
| Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 5/13/2013 Posted: 13 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT  "There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills." ~The Buddha      Read More @ Source | |||
| Cmdr Chris Hadfield sings Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in ISS farewell Posted: 12 May 2013 10:00 PM PDT In one of the coolest zero-g cover songs ever recorded, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield does a heartfelt rendition of David Bowie's classic before returning to Earth. How do you top months of amazing photos, demos, and tunes done aboard the International Space Station? If you're Chris Hadfield, you cover David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in a showstopping finale. On the eve of his return to Earth, the Canadian astronaut released a beautifully done video of himself singing the 1969 classic. Mixed with the help of staff at the Canadian Space Agency, musician Emm Gryner, and others, the cover features a somber piano intro and modified lyrics that reference the Soyuz capsule that will return Hadfield to Kazakhstan. When the mustachioed commander sings "I'm floating in a most peculiar way" while actually floating up in space, Hadfield wins the Internet, as one commenter suggests. The video, meanwhile, has some stunning shots of the station zooming over our planet, as well as Hadfield's acoustic guitar drifting through a module in zero-g. Hadfield handed over command of the station on Sunday to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. He commended its six-person crew, which organized an unexpected spacewalk on Saturday to repair an ammonia coolant leak. Organized with unprecedented speed, the spacewalk by Americans Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replaced an ammonia pump! on the station's P6 truss, and they reported seeing no more ammonia flakes coming from the area. Ammonia is used to cool the solar panels powering the ISS. Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko will board the Soyuz spacecraft on Monday evening with Hadfield, who has spent five months on the ISS. During that time, Hadfield has shown Earthlings how to play guitar in zero-g, safely clip one's fingernails, and even how to cook spinach. In the process, and along with his eye-popping photos of Earth, Hadfield has become an Internet sensation, conducting Twitter conversations with fellow Canadian spaceman William Shatner--much to the delight of the former's 770,000 followers. We'll be following Hadfield's reentry on Monday. Meanwhile, here's his version of "Space Oddity."  | |||
| Cmdr Chris Hadfield sings Bowie's 'Space Oddity' in ISS farewell Posted: 12 May 2013 10:00 PM PDT In one of the coolest zero-g cover songs ever recorded, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield does a heartfelt rendition of David Bowie's classic before returning to Earth. How do you top months of amazing photos, demos, and tunes done aboard the International Space Station? If you're Chris Hadfield, you cover David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in a showstopping finale. On the eve of his return to Earth, the Canadian astronaut released a beautifully done video of himself singing the 1969 classic. Mixed with the help of staff at the Canadian Space Agency, musician Emm Gryner, and others, the cover features a somber piano intro and modified lyrics that reference the Soyuz capsule that will return Hadfield to Kazakhstan. When the mustachioed commander sings "I'm floating in a most peculiar way" while actually floating up in space, Hadfield wins the Internet, as one commenter suggests. The video, meanwhile, has some stunning shots of the station zooming over our planet, as well as Hadfield's acoustic guitar drifting through a module in zero-g. Hadfield handed over command of the station on Sunday to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. He commended its six-person crew, which organized an unexpected spacewalk on Saturday to repair an ammonia coolant leak. Organized with unprecedented speed, the spacewalk by Americans Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn replaced an ammonia pump! on the station's P6 truss, and they reported seeing no more ammonia flakes coming from the area. Ammonia is used to cool the solar panels powering the ISS. Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko will board the Soyuz spacecraft on Monday evening with Hadfield, who has spent five months on the ISS. During that time, Hadfield has shown Earthlings how to play guitar in zero-g, safely clip one's fingernails, and even how to cook spinach. In the process, and along with his eye-popping photos of Earth, Hadfield has become an Internet sensation, conducting Twitter conversations with fellow Canadian spaceman William Shatner--much to the delight of the former's 770,000 followers. We'll be following Hadfield's reentry on Monday. Meanwhile, here's his version of "Space Oddity." | |||
| Was Buddhism influenced by the Jains? Posted: 12 May 2013 09:00 PM PDT Some pop Stress Reductions are always looking for a way to reject the transcendent in Buddhism, as if the Buddha were just any ordinary person—a kind of ancient Stephen Batchelor. When anything transcendent in the Buddha's teachings pops up, they cry, "It's Hinduism!" End of discussion. Here is example of what they would characterize as being Hindu influenced. "Man should not give up the self, he should never surrender the self" (S. i. 44) . Or:
First of all, these pop Stress Reductions present no evidence that the Buddha categorically rejected the self or âtman ( P., attâ). However, there is sufficient scriptural warrant to say that the Buddha rejected what is not the âtman or self, as any sober person can see who has bothered to read the Pali Nikays. What is not our self, namely, anâtman, which we should reject and transcend according to the Buddha, is the psychophysical body (pañcaskandha). Sounding, at times, like they are half crazy, some of these pop Stress Reductions reject, for example, the Buddha-nature because it seems like the Hindu âtman! According to them, Mahayana Sutras like the Mahaparinirvana show a lot of Hindu influences. But, where is their evidence? They really have none. Even the term "Hindu" means almost nothing. It's a Western term which is Persian. If anything, early Buddhism was influenced, mainly, by Jainism—not Hinduism. It can be argued that Jainism appears before the Vedas although there is no hard evidence. Nevertheless, early on there were religious practitioners in ancient India who were always anti-ritualistic and strongly ascetic given to performing austerities (tapas). Were these early practitioners the Jains? They very well might have been. Next, take the example of transmigration which is often believed to be Hindu. There is very good evidence that the notion of transmigration appears first in Jainism—not in the Brhandaranyaka Upanishad, which is later. Separating Buddhism from Jainism, including the Jain Order of Pârshva (Pârshva attained nirvana in 777 B.C.), is not an easy matter. I will go so far as to say that Buddhism appears to be, in some respects, a form of Jainism, but Jainism without severe austerity, substituting in its place, the four jhânas or dhyânas as the correct and uniquely Stress Reduction means to nirvana (nirvana is also a Jaina goal). Accepting the historical fact that Buddhism developed and grew alongside of Jainism and shared many of its terms and principles, the assertions of the pop Stress Reductions that some elements of Buddhism are Hindu influenced have no real basis. | |||
| Was Buddhism influenced by the Jains? Posted: 12 May 2013 09:00 PM PDT Some pop Stress Reductions are always looking for a way to reject the transcendent in Buddhism, as if the Buddha were just any ordinary person—a kind of ancient Stephen Batchelor. When anything transcendent in the Buddha's teachings pops up, they cry, "It's Hinduism!" End of discussion. Here is example of what they would characterize as being Hindu influenced. "Man should not give up the self, he should never surrender the self" (S. i. 44) . Or:
First of all, these pop Stress Reductions present no evidence that the Buddha categorically rejected the self or âtman ( P., attâ). However, there is sufficient scriptural warrant to say that the Buddha rejected what is not the âtman or self, as any sober person can see who has bothered to read the Pali Nikays. What is not our self, namely, anâtman, which we should reject and transcend according to the Buddha, is the psychophysical body (pañcaskandha). Sounding, at times, like they are half crazy, some of these pop Stress Reductions reject, for example, the Buddha-nature because it seems like the Hindu âtman! According to them, Mahayana Sutras like the Mahaparinirvana show a lot of Hindu influences. But, where is their evidence? They really have none. Even the term "Hindu" means almost nothing. It's a Western term which is Persian. If anything, early Buddhism was influenced, mainly, by Jainism—not Hinduism. It can be argued that Jainism appears before the Vedas although there is no hard evidence. Nevertheless, early on there were religious practitioners in ancient India who were always anti-ritualistic and strongly ascetic given to performing austerities (tapas). Were these early practitioners the Jains? They very well might have been. Next, take the example of transmigration which is often believed to be Hindu. There is very good evidence that the notion of transmigration appears first in Jainism—not in the Brhandaranyaka Upanishad, which is later. Separating Buddhism from Jainism, including the Jain Order of Pârshva (Pârshva attained nirvana in 777 B.C.), is not an easy matter. I will go so far as to say that Buddhism appears to be, in some respects, a form of Jainism, but Jainism without severe austerity, substituting in its place, the four jhânas or dhyânas as the correct and uniquely Stress Reduction means to nirvana (nirvana is also a Jaina goal). Accepting the historical fact that Buddhism developed and grew alongside of Jainism and shared many of its terms and principles, the assertions of the pop Stress Reductions that some elements of Buddhism are Hindu influenced have no real basis. | |||
| How Mindfulness Can Mitigate the Cognitive Symptoms of Depression Posted: 12 May 2013 06:01 PM PDT
Focusing on the here and now helps individuals become aware of their negative thoughts, acknowledge them without judgment and realize they're not accurate reflections of reality, writes author William Marchand, M.D., in his comprehensive book Depression and Bipolar Disorder:… Read the original article » |
So far I've just been advising people to do the metta bhavana (development of lovingkindness) practice while bearing in mind the sufferings of others, but karuna bhavana (the development of compassion) is a practice in its own right. I thought I'd take an opportunity to geek out by looking at an early source of instruction on this practice. 
Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S., PsychCentral: Mindfulness, or paying full attention to the present moment, can be very helpful in improving the cognitive symptoms of depression. These debilitating symptoms include distorted thinking, difficulty concentrating and forgetfulness. Cognitive symptoms can impair all areas of a person's life. For instance, poor concentration can interfere with your job or schoolwork. Negative thoughts can lead to negative emotions, deepening depression.| You are subscribed to email updates from BuddhaRocks ☸ To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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