Principle 4

4 - Recognize the mental states that fill consciousness. Shift from unhealthy states to healthy ones.

Rolf Gates had written: 'I often lose sight of this. My practice becomes an obligation, a necessity, yet another thing to knock off my to-do list. When I approach my practice with this attitude, not only is it a whole lot less fun, but I am also missing the point. A fundamental principle of yoga is that the conjuction of the seer (us) with the seen (life) is intended to be educational. Our entire lives are one big lesson. In microsom, our time spent on the mat is meant to be an exercise in self-study, or svadhyaya. ... the divine spark, the magic, the beauty that we yearn for are our own. This is what we are studying, and the asana are our classroom.'

This just highlights an example of an unhealthy state of mind, where he had a poor attitude about what he was doing, he then recognized he was thinking this way and how it was negatively affecting him and his practice and then he made the choice to shift his mental state to a healthy postive one.

Sure i,or Google, could give you lists full of healthy and unhealthy states, but the main point is you know if how you are thinking is causing you or your experience or others around you to not feel your best|their best, then its apparent that the opposite mindset will give you and others the opposite reaction.

As Honey Nut Cheerios says: 'Bee happy, bee healthy!'

posted from Bloggeroid

26 Principles of Buddhist Psychology

1. See the inner nobility and beauty of all human beings.

2. Compassion is our deepest nature. It arises from our interconnection with all things.

3. When we shift attention from experience to the spacious consciousness that knows, wisdom arises.

4. Recognize the mental states that fill consciousness. Shift from unhealthy states to healthy ones.

5. Our ideas of self are created by identification. The less we cling to ideas of self, the freer and happier we will be.

6. Our life has universal and personal nature. Both dimensions must be respected if we are to be happy and free.

7. Mindful attention to any experience is liberating. Mindfulness brings perspective, balance, and freedom.

8. Mindfulness of the body allows us to live fully. It brings healing, wisdom, and freedom.

9. Wisdom knows what feelings are present without being lost in them.

10. Thoughts are often one-sided and untrue. Learn to be mindful of thought instead of being lost in it.

11. There is a personal and universal unconscious. Turning awareness to the unconscious brings understanding and freedom.

12. The unhealthy patterns of our personality can be recognized and transformed into a healthy expression of our natural temperament.

13. There are both healthy desires and unhealthy desires. Know the difference. Then find freedom in their midst.

14. If we cling to anger or hatred, we will suffer. It is possible to responnd strongly, wisely, and compassionately, without hatred.

15. Delusion misunderstands the world and forgets who we are. Delusion gives rise to all unhealthy states. Free yourself from delusion and see with wisdom.

16. Pain is inevitable. Suffering is not. Suffering arises from grasping. Release grasping and be fre of suffering.

17. Be mindful of intention. Intention is the seed that creates our future.

18. What we repeatedly visualize changes our body and consciousness. Visualize freedom and compassion.

19. What we repeatedly think shapes our world. Out of compassion, substitute healthy thoughts for unhealthy ones.

20. The power of concentration can be developed through inner training. Concentration opens consciousness to profound dimensions of healing and understanding.

21. Virtue and integrity are necessary for genuine happiness. Guard your integrity with care.

22. Forgiveness is both necessary and possible. It is never too late to find forgiveness and start again.

23. There is no seperation between inner and outer, self or other. Tending ourselves, we tend the world. Tending the world, we tend ourselves.

24. The middle way is found between all opposites. Rest in the middle and find well-being wherever you are.

25. Release opinions, free yourself from views. Be open to mystery.

26. A peaceful heart gives birth to love. When love meets suffering, it turns to compassion. When love meets happiness, it turns to joy.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Secret to Non-Suffering!

Jack Kornfield writes : 'It is not given to us to know how our life will affect the world. What IS given to us is to tend the intentions of our heart and to plant seeds with our deeds. Do not doubt that your good actions will bear fruit, and that change for the better can be born from your life.'

This is not to be confused with thinking about outcome or control. Its about having faith that the actions we take will handle themselves, without our constant manipulation. As is written in the Bhagavad Gita - 'to act well without attachment to the fruits of your actions.'

You've heard me write before about letting go and nonattachment. On the small scale we practice letting go in the moment, letting go of harsh thoughts, or anxieties in situations such as getting cut off on the highway or misplacing our wallet when in a checkout line. On the small scale of nonattachment we practice freeing ourselves from our ego dettaching ourselves from our possessions, realizing that the objects we own are not us, that if something breaks or is stolen or lost, that we ourselves are still intact. So how than do we apply these concepts and practices to the large scale? (Well one 'large' vs 'small' scale is all an illusion, its really all the same, every small thing we do is large, and every large thing we do is small, but for the sake of trying to illustrate a point, I will break things apart as 'large' and 'small' in this post.)

Adyashanti writes- 'The great spiritual teacher Krishnamurti once said, "When you teach a child that a bird is named 'bird', the child will never see the bird again." What they'll see is the word "bird". That's what they'll see and feel, and when they look up in the sky and see that strange, winged being take flight, they'll forget that what is actually there is a great mystery. They'll forget that the thing flying through the sky is beyond all words, that it's an expression of the immensity of life. It's actually an extraordinary and wonderous thing that flies through the sky. But soon as we name it, we think we know what it is. We see "bird", and we almost discount it. A "bird", "cat", "dog", "human", "cup", "chair", "house", "forest" - all of these things have been given names, and all of these things lose some of their natural aliveness once we name them. Of course we need to learn these names and form concepts around them, but if we start to believe that these names and all of the concepts we form around them are real, then we've begun the journey of becoming entrance by the world of ideas.'

Jack Kornfield firther writes - 'Freedom from views is like a cleaning of the glass, a breath of fresh air. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki calls this open-mindedness "beginner's mind". Listen to Rachel Carson, the great naturalist, as she evokes it: "A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over all the children, I should ask her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life."
'When we are free from views, we are willing to learn. What we know for sure in this great turning universe is actually very limited. Seung Sahn, a Korean Zen master, tells us to value this "dont-know mind". He would ask his students questions such as "What is love? What is conciousness? Where did your life come from? What is going to happen tomorrow?" Each time, the students would answer, "I don't know". "Good", Seung Sahn replied. "Keep this 'dont-know mind'. It is an open mind, a clear mind".'

And my favorite Dove chocolate wrapper quote, 'Marcel Proust-"The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes".'

The 'large scale' example of letting go and nonattachment is letting go of the illusion that we have any control over anything outside of our actions in this life. We must learn to not be attached to any outcome 'good' or 'bad'. True satisfaction, and utter peace is knowing we have no control, and being ok with that truth.

'It is not given to us to know how our life will affect the world. What IS given to us is to tend the intention of our heart and to plant beautiful seeds with our deeds. Do not doubt that your good actions will bear fruit, and that change for the better can be born from your life.'

posted from Bloggeroid