Mental Hindrances

It is important for the meditator to have a thorough knowledge of the Five Nivarana, or the Five Mental Hindrances, since they cloud the mind, cause suffering, and are the worst enemies of Samadhi.

The mind in its natural state is extremely pure (pabhassara) and free from hindrances. However, it has been clouded because of the visiting defilements. As the Buddha has said,

Surah Rahman – Beautiful and Heart trembling Quran recitation by Syed Sadaqat Ali

Download the video from here:

http://www.al-masumeen.com/quran/syed…

THE RECITOR IS SADAQAT ALI

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said:
‘Everything has a bride, and the bride of the Qur’an is Surrah Al Rahman’

The Holy Prophet has also said:
“Whoever reads it, Allah will have mercy on his weakness and be regarded as having thanked Allah for it”

The Dhammapada: the Buddha’s path of wisdom
By Acharya Buddharakkhita

The most beloved Buddhist classic of all time, the Dhammapada is an anthology of over 400 verses on the ethics, meditation, and wisdom of Buddhism. This translation by a long-term student of the work transmits the spirit and content as well as the style of the original.

Mool Mantra

ik-oNkaar sat naam kartaa purakh nirbha-o nirvair akaal moorat ajoonee saibhaN gur parsaad.

One Universal Creator God. The Name Is Truth. Creative Being Personified. No Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existent. By Guru’s Grace ~

The Yoga Sutras of Patańjali By Patańjali

One of yoga’s most important and influential works, this classic forms a keystone of Indian philosophical and religious thought.

The five aggregates: understanding Theravāda psychology and soteriology
By Mathieu Boisvert, Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion

“If Buddhism denies a permanent self, how does it perceive identity?” According to Buddhist texts, the entire universe, including the individual, is made up of different phenomena, which Buddhism classifies into different categories: what we conventionally call a “person” can be

Ram Dass: Seva Foundation

Ram Dass speaks about founding the Seva Foundation along with Wavy Gravy, Larry Brilliant and others. This is a good charity organization that will use your donations to help the needy all around the world. If you have some monies you would like to help needy with, I encourage you to donate to this organization. This is Love in action! Namaste!

http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer

The Brahmavâdin, Volume 4

Thoughts without a thinker: psychotherapy from a Buddhist perspective
By Mark Epstein

Thoughts Without a Thinker is the landmark book that brought the worlds of Buddhism and psychotherapy into contact with each other, and changed thousands of lives. Drawing upon his own experience as therapist, meditator, and patient, Mark Epstein, a New York-based psychiatrist trained in classical Freudian methods, integrates Western psychotherapy and the teachings of Buddhism.In accessible, intimate

The Ten Perfections

In the early centuries after the Buddha’s passing away, as Buddhism became a popular religion, the idea was formalized that there were three paths to awakening to choose from: the path to awakening as a disciple of a Buddha (s›vaka); the path to awakening as a private Buddha (pacceka-buddha), i.e., one who attained awakening on his own but was not able to teach the path of practice to others; and the path to awakening as a Rightly Self-awakened Buddha (samm› sambuddha). Each path was defined as consisting of perfections (p›ramı) of character,

Cultivating wisdom, transforming “Mano”

Cultivating wisdom, transforming “Mano” from Plum Village on Vimeo.

Peace All Over The World

We met Robert Bradley while shooting our first film, “Playing for Change: A Cinematic Discovery of Street Music.” Robert is originally from Detroit, Michigan, but we filmed this song in Los Angeles in front of a Playing For Change graffiti wall painted by a local artist. We had just finished a take of Robert singing “Playing For Change Blues,” a song we created while filming across America, and were beginning to interview him. All of a sudden he started speaking the lyrics to this song… We immediately grabbed another mic for his guitar, plugged it directly into the camera and asked him to perform it for us. Enjoy!

ShimShai Communion

Lokah Samasta by Miten and Deva Premal

Lokah Samasta Sukino Bhavantu… Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi…

I wanted to make a video that showed our universal common ground. We all experience birth and death, we celebrate new beginnings and mourn our losses, we all labor in some way and we all feel a deep urge to create, we have a deep seated need for beauty and dread of what is not… Children, Women, Marriages, Births, all manner of Work, all manner of Art, all manner of Worship, Spiritual Elders and simple peasants, Death and Mourning… silent moments of prayer or thought… Somehow these ways in which we share our most human emotions and experiences – that which becomes archetypal and mythic – these form the seeds of our Divinity. May those seeds bear fruit in your spirit. Peace to all, happiness to all, Grace be in your heart, no matter your path!

An original home-made video for the sacred chant Lokah Samasta as recorded by Miten and Deva Premal:
From the cd “Soul in Wonder” from White Swan Records copyright 2007

MC Yogi: Give Love, Give Your Love Away

MC Yogi – Give Love (Giving4Living Mix) from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

The Noble Eightfold Path

The Noble Eightfold Path describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by Siddhartha Gautama. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things.

Shurangama Mantra Meditation Dharma Talk 000 Lines 1-9 – Refuge in Triple Jewel of Buddhism

Listen to the audio

Demons: Deviant views and the three ‘poisons’ are the demon king

If one loses the resolve to cultivate all good roots, one is still engaging in demonic deeds. (FAS )
Deviant views and the three ‘poisons’ are the demon king. (PS 307)

When one’s inner fire departs, a demon takes possession. (Chinese saying)

In Buddhism the word translated as ‘demon’ is the Sanskrit , which means ‘bringer of death’. The Chinese translation is often explained as meaning , another character with the same sound which means to rub or polish. Therefore, it has been said:

The Dance of Shiva also known as Nataraj

Introduction

Every culture has their symbol of the triumph of “Good over Evil” . This is the statue of the Dancing Shiva, also known as Nataraj, which, in the Hindu culture, symbolizes the triumph of Good over Evil. It was a “mist”ical moment this morning. This statue of the Dancing Shiva reminded me of the Bharat Natyam and Kuchipudi dancers who, before every dance recital, and especially during the Arangetram (a graduation of sorts) ceremonies, say a prayer to him.

My Birthday
Dear sisters and brothers, from all across the world who visits this blog, in where we have developed this blessed virtual relationship. I just wanted to express my happiness today, a day that I am very appreciative to experience again and again. It is the day I was conceived, out from my mothers precious womb, into this world. I could just picture the loud cry I must of let out, as my little body was shocked by the cold air. I could just imagine the great overwhelming emotions my mother was experiencing at that moment.