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Angel meditation Tuesday, 20 May 2008 - 8:03 AM SL Time |  | |
Wesak (Buddha Day) - First Full Moon in May - around 20th May 2008
Wesak or Vesak, also known as Buddha Day, celebrates the Buddha`s birthday, enlightenment and death. It is the most important day in the Buddhist calendar. In Japanese Buddhism, 8th April marks the birth of the Buddha, 8th December his enlightenment and 15th February his death.
During Wesak, Buddhists celebrate the life of the Buddha and his teachings. They remember the night of his enlightenment and his insights into his previous lives, as well as his revelations about the nature of death, karma and rebirth, suffering and desire.
Wesak is celebrated with great joy and vivid colours. Homes are cleaned and decorated in preparation. Celebrations begin before dawn, when devotees throng the temples early in the morning to meditate and take the Five Precepts. Sutras are chanted by monks.
Celebrations vary from one country to another. `The Bathing of the Buddha` often takes place. Water is poured over the shoulders of statues of the Buddha as a reminder of the need to purify the heart and mind. Offerings are made to the monks and the temples, and may be laid on the altar as a sign of respect for the Buddha and his teachings.
In China, traditional elements from Chinese culture, such as dancing dragons, are incorporated into celebrations. In Indonesia, Wesak lanterns are made from paper and wood. Another popular custom in some countries is the release of caged birds, symbolising letting go of troubles and wishing that all beings be well and happy. Buddhists in some parts of the world make origami paper cranes which are used as decorations or sometimes floated down rivers to symbolise the same thing.
Many Buddhist temples serve vegetarian food (as many Buddhists avoid eating meat). Special lectures on the teachings of the Buddha are given, and candle lit processions take place through the streets. Observers are made welcome, both in processions and at temples.
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groovygirl
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 20 May 2008 01:11:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Hi Taseela
How are you? Hope all is well with you!
Do you practice meditation? Did not know about angel meditation!
gg |
MarkLevinson
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 20 May 2008 01:17:40 GMT Report for Abuse
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Oh look whos in to Angelic meditation!
Angel meditation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00rhPYuauVA
Edited By - MarkLevinson - 20 May 2008 01:18:26 G |
Berty
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 20 May 2008 01:44:57 GMT Report for Abuse
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Hi Thangatchi
How nice to see you posting some interesting articles. Hope everything is well with you.
Nice article.
I wish they had a Ceasefire atleast during this holy period. |
AnuD
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 20 May 2008 02:24:18 GMT Report for Abuse
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Thasheela Nangi:
Lot of good information:
I did not know about how other countries celebrate Wesak,and also some rituals.
Angel meditation is from what country ?
Thasheela is a very courageous woman.
Edited By - AnuD - 20 May 2008 02:51:10 GMT |
MarkLevinson
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20 May 2008 07:40:43 GMT Report for Abuse
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Thasheela is a very courageous woman.
:):):):):):):):):):):):):) |
thasheeeela
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20 May 2008 13:37:52 GMT Report for Abuse
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Thanks gg i am fine. though meditations has different names all leads to the same goal. And i don't think there is much different in the methods too.
thanks Betry anna.
Anud yes i am courageous... i will never give up my eelam dream.:) |
thasheeeela
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20 May 2008 13:51:17 GMT Report for Abuse
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Wesak actually is a colorful festival. I think it is also a way of meditating. that's why i choose this meditation clip.
Thousands of tiny bulbs find their way on to pandols during this season. They create striking patterns. And it is this colour and vibrance that create the very aura of feisty joy on a Wesak day.
Edited By - thasheeeela - 20 May 2008 13:55:35 GM |
groovygirl
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20 May 2008 23:46:16 GMT Report for Abuse
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And i don't think there is much different in the methods too
You need lot of discipline, i guess, I cannot sit in one place for more than 30 min.:)), so I prefer doing yoga, instead, either astanga or vinyasa, guess it's a different kind of meditation!,
Are you into yoga?
gg
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thasheeeela
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21 May 2008 02:19:13 GMT Report for Abuse
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Yes the different methods have different diciplines. but the idea is same i guess, concentrating the mind or iner peace. I don't do any perticular meditation. but i am trying to sit down half an hour from 5 to 5.30 am every day without thinking any thing. Also I never sleep after 5am or in day time. that's all i can do so far. I think doing any kind of physical meditation like yoga without proper teacher is dengarous.
Here is what Swami Vivekanandha said about meditation.
Why Meditate?
By
Sri Swami Venkatesananda
The basic problem in the world today seems to be that there is no interest in meditation as such. It is partly the fault of people who preach and do propaganda for meditation. When you want to spread the practice of meditation and encourage people to take it up, you persuade them that there is some benefit in it. In order to do that the preachers suggest, Practise meditation. You will be completely free of all tension. The moment that aspect enters the field of meditation, the whole practice is ruined. From there on you are not sitting completely relaxed, meditating, but you are tense, looking at the state of relaxation which the preacher suggested was your goal. Trying to reach out to it you become more tense.
The moment you introduce a goal to meditation, it is gone. Happiness in life comes not by manipulating what you want to achieve but by paying attention to something seemingly totally unconnected with it. In order to make the mouth laugh, you tickle the foot. This seems to be of fundamental importance. Concentration of mind is not achieved by concentrating the mind, but by going right round doing something completely different. That is actually what the great masters of yoga suggested when they said to sit down and repeat your mantra.
The problem is that our minds are in a terrible state of disorder, our attention is not steady at all. Physically we are tense, mentally we are distracted. We go to a teacher and he says 'Sit down and repeat a mantra.' While you pay attention to the mantra, which is totally unrelated and unconnected with the problem you are really trying to solve, the problem gets dissolved. You don t have to solve the problem, the problem can be dissolved. That is much simpler, otherwise when you have a problem and someone tells you to solve it, the solution becomes another problem! The confused brain creating another solution, is in worse confusion. The mind, after all, is one thing, not a supermarket. You are happy sometimes and you are unhappy sometimes. When you are unhappy, what happens to that happy person? And when you are happy, what happens to the unhappy person? Are you one or two? It is not difficult for you to see that you are one thing.
The mind is one substance which seems to assume several successively different disguises.
Edited By - thasheeeela - 21 May 2008 02:32:55 GM |
thasheeeela
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21 May 2008 02:20:39 GMT Report for Abuse
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Continuous
It is not possible for the mind to be in two moods at the same time, and even when one is able to juggle the moods quickly, it only means that the mind is able to change very fast.
There is no more mystification about meditation than this. The master, by suggesting that you sit down and go on repeating a mantra, has made you temporarily forget your problem. A problem that is forgotten does not exist, unhappiness that is forgotten is happiness. It can come back again, but never mind. If you have been unhappy for 6 or 7 hours at a stretch, you have at least had 20 minutes of happiness. That is marvellous the unhappiness was a mental state, nothing more than a mood.
In real life we see quite plainly that if an external situation was responsible for one s unhappiness, that situation is not going to be changed by being unhappy. Therefore the yogi said 'Free yourself from this external compulsion and realise that unhappiness is a mental mood.' The mind substance is still there, it has temporarily assumed the form of unhappiness, the character of unhappiness. You can be sure that even if you are in the worst of all moods now, the sun is not going to be veiled because of you, it will still shine brilliantly. And if you shake off your bad mood and get into the sun, it is to your advantage. You have been unhappy before, you may be unhappy later so what ! All the problems are there waiting outside let them! For the next half hour sit down and say your mantra, and as you go on in this way, suddenly you discover that the unhappiness is not there any more. Suddenly you realise that you (or something in you) is totally independent of the happiness or unhappiness that the environment imposes upon you. Coming out of your meditation room you are able to say so what , right in front of the unhappiness that faces you again.
So it is possible to free yourself psychologically from external compulsion, external imposition. Sitting there in that room for half an hour you have tasted it. The mind being of one substance was fed with this mantra, or something totally unconnected with all worries and anxieties, happiness and unhappiness.
You have not been struggling, you have not been praying to God to please take this problem away. (That is useless another one will come.) But in the meantime you have discovered that it is possible for you, without changing the external environment, to be happy within yourself. You taste it. The most important thing in meditation is not to try to solve the outside problem, but to taste the present mood of peace and joy and happiness that is flowing inside. Then when you come out you are able to face this problem. |
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