Mandala Meditation

Mandalas are a representation of the cosmic creation in a geometric form. The word literally means cosmos. Used in Tibetan Buddhism it is related to the Yantras of Hinduism.

Mandalas are used for meditation to induce stillness of the mind. The focus should be from the outer to the inner concentrating on the centre.The way to meditate is to gaze at the mandala with your eyes relaxed.

This is mandala that I painted, just to give you an idea.

Visual Meditation

VISUAL MEDITATION

Temple bells die out.The fragrant blossoms remain.A perfect evening!
Haiku by Matsuo Bassho.

Such a wonderful image painted with words. Perfect to meditate upon. Bring the picture alive in your mind and exclude all else!

Why Meditate?

Nan-in, a Zen master, was approached by a learned professor who wanted to know what Zen was all about and why anyone should adopt Zen. The master asked one of his disciples to bring tea for the guest. He poured the tea into the cup and kept on pouring till the tea overflowed and the puzzled professor pointed out to him that there was no more place in the cup for it to hold any more tea. Nan-in told him that his mind was like the cup; overfull with notions and ideas and conditioning and unless he first emptied it of all that was already in it there was no use trying to understand what Zen was! "Empty your mind of all it's conditionings first", he said.

One way of emptying your mind is to meditate. There are so many different forms : all you need to do is find one that you are comfortable with and 'empty your cup of tea' :)

And it's never too early to start!!!

For the wanderer whose destination is enlightenment.

"Being neither teacher nor guru, and since from the first not a thing is ,the most one can do is to offer a glimpse or help point the way. In the end it resides in you"

The Wanderling

Do wander into his labyrinth of a website if you are interested in Zen ,Advaitha or any kind of path to enlightenment. I say this knowing that you might never wander back here!!

http://www.geocities.com/the_wanderling/awakening101.html

Power Places

I had a class for two interesting young men a couple of days ago. They were both from different cultures, countries and back grounds but amazingly there were so many aspects that bound them. Really heart warming to see that we aren't all that different after all. There's still hope,people!
During the class we were discussing 'power places'. Places that exist on our planet ( probably all over the universe; Mars probably has a couple of craters that are more comfortable than others. But I'm being facetious!) where there is a lot of positive, vibrant energy. In earlier ages, when people built temples or other such structures of sanctity and worship they would check to see if the place was a 'power place' They made sure the vibrations were positive and strong. This was true of every ancient culture, be it The Egyptians with their Pyramids, Hindus with their temples , Mosques dotted all over the ancient Arab cultures, the Celtic Druids with their Stonehenge, Shamans with their sacred spaces, Machu Pichu in Peru; I could go on and on.
Sadly the practice of studying the energies of a place before building a spiritual centre seems to have died out; happily we now seem to seeing something of a revival. Vaasthu Shastra (Vaastu- physical environment and Shastra- knowledge/ text/ principles) is now making a big comeback in India. Science explains Power Places with magnetic energy fields. Beyond the scope of this little article; do look it up if you're interested.

MAKING YOUR OWN POWER PLACE


You can make your own sacred space with Reiki and a few other aids. Find a comfortable place in your home or garden where , generally, you will be able to spend time alone, or be able to sit meditatively with 'like minded' people. Sit quietly till you feel calm and relaxed. You can now do your Chakra meditation or any other meditation. Connect to Reiki and ask for the space to be filled with positive energy, ask for peace, harmony and beauty to fill the space. Allow Reiki to flow as long as you sit there. Do this for a few days and over a period of time you would have created a power place to enhance the effects of your meditation and Reiki. You can also energise your power place further by lighting incense or candles. Placing an alter or crystals in the space will also enhance the energy and give it a sense of sanctity.