Takes away your breath:
On July 2, 1942, most of the children of lidice, a small village in what was then czechoslovakia, were handed over to the office of the gestapo of łódź. These 82 children were then transported to the extermination camp of chelmno, 70 kilometers from there. Once they arrived on site, they were gassed to death. This remarkable sculpture by Marie Uchytilová commemorates this massacre.
What is meditation?
“Meditation is a conscious effort to change how the mind works. The Pali word for meditation is ‘bhavana’ which means ‘to make grow’ or ‘to develop’.”
~ Buddhanet.net
Well that was an easy and painless post… not quite. What really is it? How do you do it? What different types are there? I get so many questions about this subject when it comes up that I am a practicing Zen Buddhist. Let’s hope what follows will make it a little more clear as we briefly cover these questions while discussing five different types of meditation. I practice Zazen, so it is the one I know the most about but I have experimented with the other forms and am pretty familiar with all of them to a degree.
First, how do you meditate? All of them in general have the same basic form:
1. Sit comfortably in one of the following positions (The uppermost being the most ideal, but whatever is comfortable):
a. Full Lotus (legs crossed with each foot resting on the opposite thigh)
b. Half Lotus (legs crossed with one foot resting on the opposite thigh; the other foot on the floor)
c. Burmese (thighs spread so that the knees are resting on the floor and both feet are close to body)
d. Kneeling with a cushion or bench
e. Sitting in a chair (feet flat on floor and the back away from back of the chair)
2. Spine straight.
3. Head up.
4. Hands in proper mudra.
5. Eyes slightly open and unfocused.
Zazen
This is the form of meditation I personally practice and is practiced by Zen Buddhists and means “just-sitting”. The goal is to free the mind of ANY kind of thinking. Beginners are often suggested to follow their breath or count their breaths. This helps in allowing you to clear the mind.
The Soto school of Zen practices what is known as shikantaza, which means “nothing but sitting.” While the Rinzai school practices Zazen and Koan study. “Koans are a paradoxical teaching question or story designed to confound linear, rational thought, and therefore to help condition the mind for enlightenment” (Essential Buddhism by Jack Maguire) The koans serve as a meditation catalyst and not purely the focus of the meditation.
For a more detailed explanation watch the following video by the late great John Daido Loori of Zen Mountain Monastery describe Zazen:
I will briefly discuss the other forms of meditation:
Samatha Meditation
Translated as calm abiding meditation practiced by Theravada school. You focus the mind on something in particular: observe the breath at the tip of your nose, sound of the rain, sound of traffic, etc. Additionally some focus on a virtue such as compassion or loving-kindness.
Vipassana Meditation
This is what is known in this country as insight meditation and is practiced by the Theravada school. Your primary focus is on your own thoughts and feelings.
Mantra Meditation
Use of a power laden syllable or series of syllables, such as Om. You use a constant still repetition such as the more complex myoho-renge-kyo (glory to the lotus sutra).
Visualization Meditation
This form of meditation is practiced by the pure land school. You mentally envision an image, often a Buddha or a particular bodhisattva.
In an upcoming post I will cover ways to be mindful besides meditation in your everyday life and your spiritual practice.
The Three Treasures
The Three Pure Precepts
The Ten Grave Precepts
The 10 Zen Oxherding Pictures
Verse by 廓庵師遠 Kuoan Shiyuan [Kakuan Shien], 12th century.
Translated by Philip Kapleau (1912-2004).
Paintings by 直原玉青 Jikihara Gyokusei (1904-2005).
Gifted to Zen Mountain Monastery.
Among the various formulations of the levels of realization in Zen, none is more widely known than the Oxherding Pictures, a sequence of ten illustrations annotated with comments in prose and verse. It is probably because of the sacred nature of the ox in ancient India that this animal came to be used to symbolize man’s primal nature or Buddha-mind.
The original drawings and the commentary that accompanies them are both attributed to Kakuan Shien (Kuo-an Shih-yuan), a Chinese Zen master of the twelfth century, but he was not the first to illustrate the developing stages of Zen realization through pictures. Earlier versions of five and eight pictures exist in which the ox becomes progressively whiter, the last painting being a circle. This implied, that the realization of Oneness (i.e., the effacement of every conception of self and other) was the ultimate goal of Zen. But Kakuan, feeling this to be incomplete, added two more pictures beyond the circle to make it clear that the Zen man of the highest spiritual development lives in the mundane world of form and diversity and mingles with the utmost freedom among ordinary men, whom he inspires with his compassion and radiance to walk in the Way of the Buddha. It is this version that has gained the widest acceptance in Japan, has proved itself over the years to be a source of instruction and unfailing inspiration to Zen students:
The man actively seeks the ox in the forest.
The Ox has never really gone astray, so why search for it? Having turned his back on his True-nature, the man cannot see it. Because of his defilements he has lost sight of the Ox. Suddenly he finds himself confronted by a maze of crisscrossing roads. Greed for worldly gain and dread of loss spring up like searing flames, ideas of right and wrong dart out like daggers.
Desolate through forests and fearful in jungles,
he is seeking an Ox which he does not find.
Up and down dark, nameless, wide-flowing rivers,
in deep mountain thickets he treads many bypaths.
Bone-tired, heart-weary, he carries on his search
for this something which he yet cannot find.
At evening he hears cicadas chirping in the trees.
The man discovers its tracks.
Through the sutras and teachings he discerns the tracks of the Ox. [He has been informed that just as] different-shaped [golden] vessels are all basically of the same gold, so each and every thing is a manifestation of the Self. But he is unable to distinguish good from evil, truth and falsity. He has not actually entered the gate, but he sees in a tentative way the tracks of the Ox.
Innumerable footprints has he seen
in the forest and along the water’s edge.
Over yonder does he see the trampled grass?
Even the deepest gorges of the topmost mountains
can’t hide this Ox’s nose which reaches right to heaven.
The man spies the ox in the distance.
If he will but listen intently to everyday sounds, he will come to realization and at that instant see the very Source. These six senses are no different from this true Source. In every activity the Source is manifestly present. It is analogous to the salt in water or the binder in paint. When the inner vision is properly focused, once comes to realize that that which is seen is identical with the true Source.
A nightingale warbles on a twig,
the sun shines on undulating willows.
There stands the Ox, where could it hide?
That splendid head, those stately horns,
what artist could portray them?
The man catches the ox.
Today he encountered the Ox, which had long been cavorting in the wild fields, and actually grasped it. For so long a time has it reveled in these surroundings that breaking it of its old habits is not easy. It continues to yearn for sweet-scented grasses, it is still stubborn and unbridled. If he would tame it completely, the man must use his whip.
He must tightly grasp the rope and not let it go,
for the Ox still has unhealthy tendencies.
Now it charges up to the highlands,
now it loiters in a misty ravine.
The man tames the ox.
With the rising of one thought another and another are born. Enlightenment brings the realization that such thoughts are not unreal since even they arise from our True-nature. It is only because delusion still remains that they are imagined to be unreal. This state of delusion does not originate in the objective world but in our own minds.
He must hold the nose-rope tight and not allow the Ox to roam,
lest off to muddy haunts it should stray.
Properly tended, it becomes clean and gentle.
Untethered, it willingly follows its master.
The man rides the ox home.
The struggle is over, “gain” and “loss” no longer affect him. He hums the rustic tune of the woodsman and plays the simple songs of the village children. Astride the Ox’s back, he gazes serenely at the clouds above. His head does not turn [in the direction of temptations]. Try though one may to upset him, he remains undisturbed.
Riding free as air he buoyantly comes home
through evening mists in wide straw-hat and cape.
Wherever he may go he creates a fresh breeze,
while in his heart profound tranquility prevails.
This Ox requires not a blade of grass.
Once home, the man forgets the ox and is left with himself alone.
In the Dharma there is no two-ness. The Ox is his Primal-nature: this he has now recognized. A trap is no longer needed when a rabbit has been caught; a net becomes useless when a fish has been snared. Like gold which has been separated from dross, like the moon which has broken through the clouds, one ray of luminous Light shines eternally.
Only on the Ox was he able to come Home,
But lo, the Ox is now vanished, and alone and serene
sits the man.
The red sun rides high in the sky
as he dreams on placidly.
Yonder beneath the thatched roof
his idle whip and idle rope are lying.
The man forgets the self as well.
All delusive feelings have perished and ideas of holiness too have vanished. He lingers not in [the state of “I am a] Buddha,” and he passes quickly on through [the stage of “And now I have purged myself of the proud feeling ‘I am] not Buddha.'” Even the thousand eyes [of five hundred Buddhas and Dharma masters] can discern in him no specific quality. If hundreds of birds were now to strew flowers about his room, he could not but feel ashamed of himself.
Whip, rope, Ox and man alike belong to Emptiness.
So vast and infinite the azure sky
that no concept of any sort can reach it,
Over a blazing fire a snowflake cannot survive.
When this state of mind is realized
comes at last comprehension
of the spirit of the ancient Patriarchs.
The man is returned to the source of his being.
From the very beginning there has not been so much as a speck of dust [to mar the intrinsic Purity]. He observes the waxing and waning of life in the world while abiding unassertively in a state of unshakable serenity. This [waxing and waning] is no phantom or illusion [but a manifestation of the Source]. Why then is there need to strive for anything? The waters are blue, the mountains are green. Alone with himself, he observes things endlessly changing.
He has returned to the Origin, come back to the Source,
but his steps have been taken in vain.
It is as though he were now blind and deaf.
Seated in his hut, he hankers not for things outside.
Streams meander on of themselves,
red flowers naturally bloom red.
The man enters the marketplace to serve with helping hands.
The gate of his cottage is closed and even the wisest cannot find him. His mental panorama has finally disappeared. He goes his own way, making no attempt to follow the steps of earlier sages. Carrying a gourd, he strolls into the market; leaning on his staff, he returns home. He leads innkeepers and fishmongers in the Way of the Buddha.
Barechested, barefooted, he comes into the marketplace.
Muddied and dust-covered, how broadly he grins!
Without recourse to mystic powers,
withered trees he swiftly brings to bloom.
Wisdom
Morality
Mental Discipline
Wisdom
Morality
Mental Discipline
Commentary:
All life is suffering.
The common translation of the Sanskrit word duhka is suffering. It also has several other translations including: unsatisfactory, imperfection, bothersome, incoherence, and possibly most importantly impermanence. These words are important to keep in mind while considering the Four Noble Truths. It basically comes down to we are mortal, hence we age, get sick and die eventually. You must also consider the fragility of our possessions and the instability of our relationships, fortunes, moods, thoughts and convictions.
The cause of suffering is desire
Desire. The cause of suffering is desire. One can simply rationalize that upon reading those lines. To fully understand it in a Buddhist context you must consider the word desire comes from the Sanskrit word trishna, which also means thirst and craving. Additionally the concept in Buddhism of no-self is important here especially how it breaks away from the Hindu concept of a self that is passed on in a soul-like form from one lifetime to the next. This touches on the break in how Buddhists consider you are reborn from one lifetime to the next with some casual influence depending upon your past life, whereas Hindu believe in reincarnation with the soul being passed on between lifetimes.
Why is this important?
The Three poisons are: greed, anger, and ignorance which all feed into desire and the urge to win, or to overpower. Buddha’s teaching was the self does not exist as a spiritual entity, but is the name given to a temporary personality made up of five important factors. Buddhism taught these factors or aggregates are: matter (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind), sensations (raw data of these senses), perception (naming of the sensations), Mental formation (best summarized in the Buddha’s words, “We are what we think.”), and consciousness (awareness of the perceptions). From which you can conclude, “suffering exists, but not the sufferer” as Buddhaghosa did in the fifth century.
Suffering can be ended.
This is the good news, which moves us on to four with little explanation needed.
The way to end suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path.
This is not a list that can be broken down and followed in a linear path. Most people will find right speech much easier than right thought for instance. It may be the most difficult. I will explain the Eightfold Path in an upcoming post in detail.
“Someone whose faith is not grounded in reason is like a stream of water that can be led anywhere”
~ Tibetan Proverb
Cyclothymia (sy-kloe-THIE-me-uh), also called cyclothymic disorder, is a rare mood disorder. Cyclothymia causes emotional ups and downs, but they’re not as extreme as those in bipolar I or II disorder.
With cyclothymia, you experience periods when your mood noticeably shifts up and down from your baseline. You may feel on top of the world for a time, followed by a low period when you feel somewhat down. Between these cyclothymic highs and lows, you may feel stable and fine.
Although the highs and lows of cyclothymia are less extreme than those of bipolar disorder, it’s critical to seek help managing these symptoms because they can interfere with your ability to function and increase your risk of bipolar I or II disorder.
Treatment options for cyclothymia include talk therapy (psychotherapy), medications and close, ongoing follow-up with your doctor.
Symptoms
Cyclothymia symptoms alternate between emotional highs and lows. The highs of cyclothymia include symptoms of an elevated mood (hypomanic symptoms). The lows consist of mild or moderate depressive symptoms.
Cyclothymia symptoms are similar to those of bipolar I or II disorder, but they’re less severe. When you have cyclothymia, you can typically function in your daily life, though not always well. The unpredictable nature of your mood shifts may significantly disrupt your life because you never know how you’re going to feel.
Hypomanic symptoms
Signs and symptoms of the highs of cyclothymia may include:
• An exaggerated feeling of happiness or well-being (euphoria)
• Extreme optimism
• Inflated self-esteem
• Talking more than usual
• Poor judgment that can result in risky behavior or unwise choices
• Racing thoughts
• Irritable or agitated behavior
• Excessive physical activity
• Increased drive to perform or achieve goals (sexual, work related or social)
• Decreased need for sleep
• Tendency to be easily distracted
• Inability to concentrate
Depressive symptoms
Signs and symptoms of the lows of cyclothymia may include:
• Feeling sad, hopeless or empty
• Tearfulness
• Irritability, especially in children and teenagers
• Loss of interest in activities once considered enjoyable
• Changes in weight
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Sleep problems
• Restlessness
• Fatigue or feeling slowed down
• Problems concentrating
• Thinking of death or suicide
Causes
It’s not known specifically what causes cyclothymia. As with many mental health disorders, research shows that it may result from a combination of:
• Heredity, as cyclothymia tends to run in families
• Differences in the way the brain works, such as changes in the brain’s neurobiology
• Environment, such as traumatic experiences or prolonged periods of stress
Risk factors
Cyclothymia is thought to be relatively rare. But true estimates are hard to pin down because people may be undiagnosed or misdiagnosed as having other mood disorders, such as depression.
Cyclothymia typically starts during the teenage years or young adulthood. It affects about the same number of males and females.
Complications
If you have cyclothymia:
• Not treating it can result in significant emotional problems that affect every area of your life
• There is a high risk of later developing bipolar I or II disorder
• Substance misuse is common
• You may also have an anxiety disorder
• You may be at increased risk of suicidal thoughts and suicide
Prevention
There’s no sure way to prevent cyclothymia. However, treatment at the earliest indication of a mental health disorder can help prevent cyclothymia from worsening. Long-term preventive treatment also can help prevent minor symptoms from becoming full-blown episodes of hypomania, mania or major depression.
Sources: The Mayo Clinic, NAMI, NIH, NIMH
This is the Ancient Royal Game of Ur – Will We Ever Understand It, how it’s played?
The Royal Game of Ur is a Sumerian version of the ancient Middle Eastern game generically called The Game of Twenty Squares, in Royal Tombs of Ur in Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1926-1927, and is dated to roughly to 2500 BCE. One of the copies from Ur is kept in the British Museum.
The original rules of the Royal Game of Ur are unknown, but have been reconstructed by a few different historians based on a cuneiform tablet found in 1880 in Iraq, which is now located in the British Museum. The tablet was written in 177-176 BCE by a Babylonian Scribe Itti-Marduk-balatu.
The problem with most rules proposed by historians, such as RC Bell and Irving Finkel is that the game is boring and not challenging. Considering that different versions of this game were found in many Mediterranean and Middle Eastern countries with over 100 examples found archaeologically, we can assume that the game was popular and I interesting.
Historians who reconstructed rules of play lumped the Royal Game of Ur together with Egyptian Aseb, Jiroft Game of 20 Squares, and Shahr-i Sokhta Game of 20 Squares, which used the same board, but did not have any of the square markings, and since the boards are all similar looking and contain 20 squares. However, The Royal Game of Ur board is so much more elaborately designed than Aseb, Jiroft, and Shahr-i Sokhta that it would make more sense that this game is a similar type of game, but the rules are different.
The statues and pyramids, the Nile river and the desert, the hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone get all the press, but the ancient Egyptians enjoyment of play and especially games from athletic demonstrations of strength to board games which we’ll focus upon the most popular one here. They had toys made of clay and wood and fashioned balls out of leather. They loved to dance and also loved to swim in the Nile River. Board games and pictures depicting people dancing in circles have been found in tombs dating back thousands of years.
Senet was the most popular game of the ancient Egyptians. The oldest hieroglyph resembling a senet game dates to around 3100 BC. The full name of the game meant the “game of passing” in ancient Egyptian. One of the oldest known Senet board representations ever found was a painting from 2,686 B.C. in the tomb of Hesy-Ra. The board game had three rows of ten squares. Some of the squares had symbols which represented bad and good fortune. Two sets of pawns were used to play the game. The object of the game was to be the first player to pass into the afterlife unscathed by bad fortunes along the way. People are depicted playing senet in a painting in the tomb of Rashepes, as well as from other tombs of the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties (c. 2500 BC). The oldest intact senet boards date to the Middle Kingdom, but graffiti on Fifth and Sixth Dynasty monuments could date as early as the Old Kingdom.
At least by the time of the New Kingdom in Egypt (1550–1077 BC), senet was conceived as a representation of the journey of the ka (the vital spark) to the afterlife. This connection is made in the Great Game Text, which appears in a number of papyri, as well as the appearance of markings of religious significance on senet boards themselves. The game is also referred to in chapter XVII of the Book of the Dead. Senet also was played by people in neighboring cultures, and it probably came to those places through trade relationships between Egyptians and local peoples.
The senet gameboard is a grid of 30 squares, arranged in three rows of ten. A senet board has two sets of pawns (at least five of each).The movement of the counters was decided by throwing four two-sided sticks or, in some cases, knucklebones. Although details of the original game rules are a subject of some conjecture, senet historians Timothy Kendall and R. C. Bell have made their own reconstructions of the game. These rules are based on snippets of texts that span over a thousand years, over which time gameplay is likely to have changed. Therefore, it is unlikely these rules reflect the actual course of ancient Egyptian gameplay. Their rules have been adopted by sellers of modern senet sets.
Hounds and Jackals is an ancient Egyptian game, which came into existence during the Middle Kingdom (circa 2135 – 1986 BCE). It is a racing game, in the same category as Senet, Aseb, and the Royal Game of Ur.
The game was originally discovered by William Mathew Flinders Petrie and published by him in 1890. Since then over 40 examples of the game have been found in Egypt, Israel, Syria, Iran and around the Levant and Mediterranean.
The original name of the game is unknown. Petrie called The Game of 58 Holes, since the game board that he found contained two sets of 29 holes. Later, when Howard Carter discovered the fanciest known copy of the game, the modern name was invented,The Game of Hounds and Jackals, since the playing pieces had heads of dogs and jackals on them. Carter found one complete gaming set in a Theban tomb that dates to the 13th Dynasty. A third, least common, common name for the game was Shen for the Egyptian hieroglyph which was written on some of the examples, around the big hole at the top of the game.
The original rules for Hounds and Jackals are unknown. There have been many reconstruction attempts by historians and archaeologists. Gaming pieces are ten small sticks with either jackal or dog heads. The aim of the game was perhaps to start at one point on the board and to reach with all figures another point on the board. Players navigate their ivory pegs through the holes on the surface by rolling sticks, dice or knuckle-bones. To win, a player must be the first one to move all of their five pieces off the board. In the 1956 movie The 10 Commandments, Pharaoh Seti and Nefretiri are depicted playing the game.
Mark Bere Peterson’s Counterculture, Urban Legends, Paganism & Witchcraft 