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Today's Challenge: Contemplation Those of us who live our lives out "in the world" have to fashion a spirituality that fits our way of life without looking for a fast-food cop-out. Maybe we will choose to pray the rosary on the way to work--or to use a mala and chant a mantra! What is important is that we find creative ways to pray. We need to deepen our call to love and service in ourselves, our neighbors and in all of creation. The path before us may seem overwhelming at times, so we must choose a spiritual practice that will prepare us for the long haul. But that's O.K. The good news is that we do not have to hurry. God has graced us with a whole lifetime. But we have to turn off our mystical microwave for a while and begin the journey--one step at a time. Our purpose Today! is to give an overview of some Peace "full" options FOR contemplative prayer:
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Prayer ...
.... the act of communicating with a deity (especially as a petition or in adoration or contrition or thanksgiving)
A Prayer to the Mother ...The Hail Mary Hail Mary! Full of Grace
The Lord is with Thee
Blessed art Thou amongst Women
And Blessed is the Fruit of Thy Womb, Jesus
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Pray FOR us,
Now and at the Hour of Our Death. Amen
A Prayer to the Father ...The Our Father Prayer Our Father who art in Heaven,
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy Kingdom come,
Thy Will be done on Earth
As it is in Heaven
Give us this day our daily bread
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us to your kingdom.
Amen.
Prayer Wheels ... prayer wheels: Copies of the mantra "Om Mani Padme Hung," as many as possible, printed on very thin tisssue paper (or these days on microfilm), are wound around a spindle and covered with a protective cylinder. The wheels are made to be turned by hand or by wind, water, or fire power.
A Prayer to Buddha ... OM MANI PADME HUNG: the mantra used most often by practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism, invoking the wisdom and power of the buddha of compassion, Chenrezig (Avalokiteshvara). This is the mantra typically found in prayer wheels. Avalokiteshvara: the Buddha of Compassion (called Chen re zig in Tibetan). mantra: a series of sylables invoking a spiritual power or blessing; a mantra may be directly meaningful ("Lama, please think of me") or quite abstract (OM MINI PADME HUNG).
OM MANI PADME HUM
Tibetan Buddhists believe that saying the mantra (prayer), Om Mani Padme Hum, out loud or silently to oneself, invokes the powerful benevolent attention and blessings of Chenrezig, the embodiment of compassion. Viewing the written form of the mantra is said to have the same effect -- it is often carved into stones, like the one pictured above, and placed where people can see them. Spinning the written form of the mantra around in a Mani wheel (or prayer wheel) is also believed to give the same benefit as saying the mantra, and Mani wheels, small hand wheels and large wheels with millions of copies of the mantra inside, are found everywhere in the lands influenced by Tibetan Buddhism. It is said that all the teachings of the Buddha are contained in this mantra: Om Mani Padme Hum can not really be translated into a simple phrase or sentence.
 | Click on the above symbol to hear the mantra chanted by a Tibetan Lama
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The Mani mantra is the most widely used of all Buddhist mantras, and open to anyone who feels inspired to practice it -- it does not require prior initiation by a lama (meditation master). The six syllables of the mantra, as it is often pronounced by Tibetans -- Om Mani Padme Hum -- are here written in the Tibetan alphabet: Reading from left to right the syllables are: Om
(ohm) | Ma
(mah) | Ni
(nee) | Pad
(pahd) | Me
(may) | Hum
(hum) |
The vowel in the sylable Hu (is pronounced as in the English word 'book'. The final consonant in that syllable is often pronounced 'ng' as in 'song' -- Om Mani Padme Hung. There is one further complication: The syllablePad is pronounced Pe (peh) by many Tibetans: Om Mani Peme Hung. The mantra originated in India; as it moved from India into Tibet, the pronunciation changed because some of the sounds in the Indian Sanskrit language were hard for Tibetans to pronounce.
People who learn about the mantra naturally want to know what it means, and often ask for a translation into English or some other Western language. However, Om Mani Padme Hum can not really be translated into a simple phrase or even a few sentences. All of the Dharma is based on Buddha's discovery that suffering is unnecessary: Like a disease, once we really face the fact that suffering exists, we can look more deeply and discover it's cause; and when we discover that the cause is dependent on certain conditions, we can explore the possibility of removing those conditions. Buddha taught many very different methods for removing the cause of suffering, methods appropriate for the very different types and conditions and aptitudes of suffering beings. For those who had the capacity to understand it, he taught the most powerful method of all, a method based on the practice of compassion. It is known as the Mahayana, or Great Vehicle, because practicing it benefits all beings, without partiality. It is likened to a vast boat that carries all the beings in the universe across the sea of suffering. Within the Mahayana the Buddha revealed the possibility of very quickly benefiting all beings, including oneself, by entering directly into the awakened state of mind, or Buddhahood, without delay. Again, there are different ways of accomplishing this, but the most powerful, and at the same time the most accessible, is to link ones own mind with the mind of a Buddha. In visualization practice we imagine ourselves to be a Buddha, in this case the Buddha of Compassion, Chenrezig. By replacing the thought of yourself as you with the thought of yourself as Chenrezig, you gradually reduce and eventually remove the fixation on your personal self, which expands your loving kindness and compassion, toward yourself and toward others, and your intelligence and wisdom becomes enhanced, allowing you to see clearly what someone really needs and to communicate with them clearly and accurately. In most religious traditions one prays to the deities of the tradition in the hopes of receiving their blessing, which will benefit one in some way. In the vajrayana Buddhist tradition, however, the blessing and the power and the superlative qualities of the enlightened beings are not considered as coming from an outside source, but are believed to be innate, to be aspects of our own true nature. Chenrezig and his love and compassion are within us.
| Sanskrit form | Om Mani Padma Hum mantra of Avalokiteshvara | | Tibetan form | Om Mani Peme Hung mantra of Chenrezig |
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Meditation ...
.... continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature
Meditating .. A Treatment for the Effects of Stress If you go to your Doctor for stress related problems, she or he will likely tell you that perhaps the best treatment for stress is Meditation. They will suggest that you start meditating and this leads you to two problems. The first is where to get appropriate direction in how to meditate. By finding this website, you've already solved that problem. The other is understanding exactly what Meditation is.
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Meditation is a three step process that leads to a state of consciousness that brings serenity, clarity, and bliss. As depicted in the first illustration, our "normal" state of mind is actually quite abnormal. We receive sensory stimuli and react in a completely uncontrolled way (although we tell ourselves we have great control). We bounce from one thought to another and follow with our emotional and physical reactions. The same thought can bring about diametrically opposite reactions at different times. For instance, we may see a dog and then start a thought process that reminisces about a pet dog we once had and loved. Emotionally, we then start feeling all warm and cuddly; physically, we feel very relaxed. Another time, we may see the same dog and fear it may attack us and start thinking paranoid thoughts, get fearful and uptight physically. The second illustration demonstrates Concentration. This is the first step in Meditation and is the start of gaining control over the mind and thereby life. The procedure is deceptively simple and seems like it would be very easy to do, but there are few tasks more difficult to master. The idea is to pick an object/subject to place your attention on and then to focus exclusively on it without diversion. An example of this would be if you decided to focus on love. To start, you would relax your body, sit in a comfortable position, calm your emotions and begin repeating the word "love" over and over. The problem is that your mind has been your master your whole life and won't easily relinquish its position. To trick you back into obedient slavery, your mind will divert your attention, often by giving you a tantalizingly interesting distraction. It usually goes something like this: You're sitting there repeating love, love, love when your mind suddenly adds "I love candy. They sell the candy I love at the 7-11 up the road. I can get into my car and drive there and get that candy. I know it will be delicious when I bite into it ..." and so there you are --- instead of concentrating on love, you're eating an imaginary candy bar at a 7-11. What you are supposed to do is to witness your being distracted and return to concentrating on the object of your meditation. Concentration is well worth persevering in and ultimately liberating, spectacular and a blessing. The third illustration depicts Meditation. Here we have unbroken attention. The classic description of the difference between Concentration and Meditation is given in the example of pouring oil from a bottle into a bowl. At first the oil drips out a drop at a time. This is concentration. Then the oil comes out in a steady stream. This unbroken pouring out is Meditation. If you really examine the process closer, you would notice that when the oil was coming out drop by drop, each drop caused a splash and the droplettes of the splashing can be considered analagous to the distractions that interrupt our concentration. Once the stream starts becoming steady it flows effortlessly. Similarly, when Concentration flows into Meditation, the attention paid to the object of Meditation becomes deeper and deeper effortlessly and spontaneously, true knowledge about the object presents itself. Using love as the example again, you would concentrate on love, love, love, love. You might then find your mind filling with thoughts of love -- motherly love, fatherly love, love of country, love of money, qualified love, unqualified love, puppy love. Everything in the universe that love is connected to will come to you. Every feeling of love, every sensation, every thought. And since, as Albert Einstein tells us, everything in the universe is relative to everything else, ultimately your meditation on "love" will connect you to everything. At this point, the unity of the object of your meditation and your mind, as illustrated in the fourth illustration, occurs. This is the state of Contemplation and is the pentultimate state of consciousess. Where we usually are only conscious of our body and ego and consider ourselves apart from the rest of the universe, with the experience of Contemplation we become conscious of the cosmos and know ourselves to be a part of it and realize our unity with all of it. This is Realization, Cosmic Consciousness. It is our birthright and destiny to know this exquisite state first hand and enjoy the Truth, Consciousness, and Bliss that is our eternal true nature. Thus the justification in expending whatever energy is necessary to learn to meditate and to begin to make Meditation an important part of our lives.
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At first, the Union of Sound and Emptiness is simply an intellectual concept of what our meditation should be. Through continued application, it becomes our actual experience. Here, as elsewhere in the practice, attitude is all-important.
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There are Many Ways to Pray ... As this story about a teacher in Tibet illustrates: The teacher had two disciples, who both undertook to perform a hundred million recitations of the mantra of Chenrezi, OM MANI PADME HUNG. In the presence of their lama, they took a vow to do so, and went off to complete the practice. One of the disciples was very diligent, though his realization was perhaps not so profound. He set out to accomplish the practice as quickly as possible and recited the mantra incessantly, day and night. After long efforts, he completed his one hundred million recitations, in three years. The other disciple was extremely intelligent, though perhaps not as diligent, because he certainly did not launch into the practice with the same enthusiasm. But when his friend was approaching the completion of his retreat, the second disciple, who had not recited very many mantras, went up on the top of a hill. He sat down there, and began to meditate that all the beings throughout the universe were transformed into Chenrezi. He meditated that the sound of the mantra was not only issuing from the mouth of each and every being, but that every atom in the universe was vibrating with it, and for a few days he recited the mantra in this state of samadhi. When the two disciples went to their lama to indicate they had finished the practice, he said, 'Oh, you've both done excellently. YOU were very diligent, and YOU were very wise. You both accomplished the one hundred million recitations of the mantra.' Thus, through changing our attitude and developing our understanding, practice becomes far more powerful."
Today!'s Share & Invitation:
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AVE! Celebration, Ancient Wisdom, Ritual & Sacred Worship Dear Divine Souls, My spiritual journey began as a child. At that time, as many Catholics, I wanted to be a Nun. As I grew older, life took me on another path, a path of inclusion. On my journey I have studied many religions, and this site is dedicated to the enrichment of all facets of the diamond that we call spirituality. The essence of all beings, when devoted to their own contemplation of life, leads them into directions they may not have fathomed prior to that evolution of spirit in their own lives. In the above Lesson as in my life, I have been the student that was diligent: One of the disciples was very diligent, though his realization was perhaps not so profound. He set out to accomplish the practice as quickly as possible and recited the mantra incessantly, day and night. After long efforts, he completed his one hundred million recitations, in three years. Although in my life, it relates to my learning of many things at once.... the benefit of prayer, meditation and mantras ... and it has been over a twelve year period. I wanted to share some of my own personal experiences and invite you to do the same with others by organizing an IMPROVdinner focused on "contemplation." To do this, please send me a request to receive more details on how to organize an IMPROVdinner in your area, and receive monthly "videos" of our talks on "contemplation" and other such topics of Today! We invite you to learn, share and COME PRAY!
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