guide to meditation from a Buddhist monk

Mediation is an absolute cornerstone to reality and Happiness.The average american goes day to day scatter brained, ADD ridden, tense, tired, stressed, angry, and ignorant. They lack the Buddha's teachings, and they lack, meditation. While you watch these videos remember, the Buddha himself said to never follow anything dogmatically. Meditate and contemplate on his teachings and if you don't agree don't follow it, but if you do, follow it and live up to it. I have, and it's one of the the best things I've ever done.

Enjoy.




But he can say it better than I can.







And if you'd like to keep up with this man, watch ask a monk, it's an amazing YouTube series thats constantly updating, he releases new videos all the time. I recommend watching all of them and following him on his channel. www.youtube.com...

Trouble sitting still?

Meditating and herbal usage mix together is in my opinion the most relaxing thing you can do, thanks for the videos im going to give a few a watch, and maybe the rest if I have time.

reply to post by Nobama
You say herbal usage. What do you mean by that? pot? Also yes, please watch all of them eventually.
Live up to what this man says, and ask me if you have any questions, i'll do my best to answer them.









all the best,
Jacob

Sorry for the double post, but the videos you posted are not the newest ones, not sure if you already knew, but you might wanna switch out the videos.

reply to post by Nobama
I was aware but i'm not sure if i'v watched the newer version, I check for new ask a monk videos daily though. please feel free to post the new ones if you want. Would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks for posting these. Will give them a watch tomorrow.

Since its 4 in the morning i guess i better hit the hay

Peace

reply to post by XxRagingxPandaxX


I have a few problems with Buddhism

First, not exhorting one to follow anything dogmatically is initself, dogmatic.

I do not think Buddhism doesnt have value because it does; particularly to Easterners, but this notion that Buddhism possesses the ultimate key to human salvation is just pure ignorance of other spiritual traditions; like Kabbalah for instance.

Buddhism thus seems to be the acme of human wisdom to end sufferring....It is not initself though recieved - Kabbalah means recieved in Hebrew - and thus is all over the place in its ruminations....

No spiritual system is as complete as a system as the kabbalah. It came from above and is the real deal. Anyone who has studied Hebrew thoroughly at the esoteric level cant possibly see greater wisdom in Buddhism than in the Biblical Hebraic tradition.

Buddhism destroys the world and the purpose the creator has in creating it. Buddhism sees it as nothing more than the projection of mind. Another major issue i have with Buddhism is its complete moral relativism. In Hanayana, it encourages disengagement; asceticism, and ultimately the approval of spiritual selfishness..In Mahayana, one which i particular find the most conscientious, you get a value system that parallels that of Judaism. It encourages social and communal betterment. The concept of the transmutation/clarification of emotion again jibes with the kabbalistic idea of Tikkun, which means the rectification of this world through performance of mitzvot (commandments - both those derived from Torah but more plainly anything the conscience shows to be right and just)..The worst and most gnostic of all though is vajrayana which sees everythng, despite the actual reality of the situation, as perfect the way it is. The so called "fasttrack"
to Bhuddahood.. This again is purely selfish and negligent of the way things actually are. And also avoids a solution.

But most of all, the thing that irks me most about Buddhism is its contempt for G-d. I say contempt because of their arrogance in asserting that even if he did exist, hes not relevant. What kind of attitude is that? What spiritual arrogance!

Buddhism although sincere in its desire to help others also has this subtle demonic desire to elevate and deify man as god, which indeed in tibetan buddhism is a common title for confident and succesful men. This may be why Buddhism is so popular amongst the elite. It appeals to their arrogance.

G-d exists. And his word is the Torah. This can be discerned when one studies this remarkable work at the esoteric level. Since this is true, man must realize that G-d gives us te choice to elevate this world by inclding him within the very fabric of creation through ACCEPTANCE of his Malkhuth - his kingship - over every soul. Because man includes all the worlds within him, when he accepts G-d, G-ds presence (His shekinah) descends and enters the lower world. This literally unifies the two disparate realities of spirit and matter. Some Buddhism cannot do. Buddhism may be practical, and may help one find that bliss he seeks, but Buddhism in the end if it chooses to ignore the reality of the creator is selfish, and on a level beneath that of Judaism which conversely seeks to unite the created world with its creator. The universal man - Adam - with G-d.

reply to post by dontreally


Opinions are a beautiful thing. It's all perspective though, isn't it? What do you think of meditation? I mean, to understand reality a person needs to objectively observe reality. I believe that's why he said to not be dogmatic, because man can never explain what spirituality is, he can only experience it. It's rather difficult to say that X > Y, if we don't know the values of either variable. If you could, in further detail please, explain your logic.

Thank you.

reply to post by XxRagingxPandaxX


Bravo to you my friend!

Spread the love!

reply to post by TheDarkestHour


Dontreally comes into all the Buddhism threads and tries to sway people away from it. The truth is he does not see it as a positive thing so he never looks deep enough into it or never contemplates long enough on the concepts to make a fair assessment. That is ok as I have never studied the Kabballah or any other forms of Judaism. The only difference is that I do not seek to speak out against Judaism or sway people away from it because I know nothing of it other than a brief introduction, much like he knows about Buddhism.

Dontreally: You still are claiming Buddhism is solely about teaching that everything is suffering which is not true. That is only a part of the philosophy, one that is focused on far too much by westerners. You also are continuing to infer that it is something like Nihilism, which is also not true. Here are two of the more essential teachings of Buddhism that I would like to see you debate: Everything (our senses can experience) is impermanent (Annicca), nothing has independent self (Anatta).

On topic: yuttadhammo is an excellent teacher and I recommend his videos.

reply to post by dontreally
You have the rite to believe in whatever you want. You have your teachers and I have the Buddah. I'm not a monk but I do strive to follow his teachings. My suggestion would be to meditate on the Buddah's concepts. Because you are seriously misunderstanding them.


All the best, Jacob

Double post

What do you think of meditation

reply to post by TheDarkestHour


Meditation is such a generic term. Meditation can mean contemplation, or it can mean simple focus on one thing, or it can be entirely empty. The former "active" meditation is a truly useful and purposeful exercise. Focus and strenghtening concentration can be good if it has a defineable purpose, but emptineness? The buddhist obsession with nothingness is the very reason why it has no real moral values. It acknowlegdes some things as good, yet in the very same breath can contradict itself and say the very opposite is good for others.

So meditation is good and fine. Nothing aganst meditation. Judaism infact is one long meditation, or more so "kavannah" which means intention. Every aspect of life is imbued with an elevated intention which raises the "fallen sparks" of this lower reality to its supernal source, through intention.

I mean, to understand reality a person needs to objectively observe reality.

Thats why i said Buddhism is the acme of HUMAN Wisdom. Its perception is that of a created mortal analyzing creation. Buddhism makes no claim to anything higher; but Judaism does, and infact is - the Torah, 5 books of Moses - from the creator himself.

Thus Buddhism is subjective, while Judaism (or the Biblical tradition, which only the Jews have carried on. The Christians dont even have knowledge of Hebrew let alone understand the esoterics of the Bible), being from the perspective of G-d himself, is Objective. Buddhism deals with the reality of the Subject, the person in this world, sufferring, while the Torah is the Object, the purpose and goal that G-d has in creation.

I believe that's why he said to not be dogmatic, because man can never explain what spirituality is, he can only experience it.

Thats not true. We have two basic functions or ways of looking at the world. Both equally important. Logic nd intellect, which deals more with the outer world, and intution and feeling, which deals with the inner. One is objective, while the latter is subjective. To regard everything as "feeling" while ignoring that which we can know and understand in this temporal reality is initself not objective. You are excluding one reality in favor of another. Both have reality and both should compliment rather than be pushed apart. Buddhisms concentration on the one true infinite reality is good, but it should also be understood in context to the particular. You cannot isolate the particular from the general. They must work together.

TM is great, it helped me in my youth.

i still use it when i need to relax, i do not do it enough. lazy a** that i am.

it works. period.

btw, buddah's birthday is may 10th, public holiday here.

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy

much like he knows about Buddhism.

So i was wrong about breaking up Tibbetan Buddhism into those three schools? Granted. I havent studied Buddhism not even 1/20th that which i have studied Kabbalah, but i have a few books on the subject, like Kalu Rinpoches 3 books excellent buddhism, profound buddhism, and secret buddhism, and it does seem to give me a clear idea of what Tibettan Buddhism teaches. Im not as ignorant of the subject as you think i am.

like Nihilism

I said Moral Relativism, which it definitely is. Nihilism is something more applicable to a person like Trugpa Rinpoche.

Everything (our senses can experience) is impermanent (Annicca)

Indeed it is, and i have nothing negative to say about this teaching.

Like i said, and honestly meant, Buddhism has some very pratical and benevolent advice for how one should live. And i also think its singular purpose is to overcome sufferring. Wasnt that afterall the motivation for the Buddhas leaving his kingly vocation? Didnt he think there was something more? Wasnt there an aspect of sufferring?

nothing has independent self (Anatta).

I have independant self. I guess you mean to say ultimately we are one, which is true. But there ARE distinctions in the Real created world between one thing and another. Im not like you, and you are not like me. We each have are own unique characteristics, and indeed a person with a face that the world will never see again!. Also, Humans are ABOVE animals, although as Solomon said we all recieve our existence and life from the same source, but again, Humans have something entirely different from any animal. The main thing humans have that animals do not have is the ability to recognize "i exist". Animals thus are robots in a sense. They have instincts, and they cannot go against those instincts. Man however has two conflcting natures. A divine, and a animalstic. One may tell me to go on way, but the other, the higher part, the part that is apart of the very creator Himself lets us transcend the animal. To so to speak "Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that crawl on the earth." as it says in genesis 1:28...

What happened to yuttadhammo? His website hasn't worked for a while

Originally posted by dontreally
The main thing humans have that animals do not have is the ability to recognize "i exist"

You dont exist. Only God Exists . That is the Teaching of the Old Testament
Adonai Echod = God One
Not One God but Oneness.
You dont like it because of your love for your Ego.

Buddha says:

Mind is Irrelevant

reply to post by RRokkyy


What do you mean i dont like iit?

I like it just fine.

As for the Shema, i say it every night before bed. My whole life is built around the simple truth that G-d is one.

My point was that despite that, we still have egos and cant exist in this world without them. We should always do things selflessly but at the same time we have to take care of ourselves. Torah, Judaism and Kabbala teaches that there needs to be a synthesis between conflictng realities; between the infinite and finite, between self and self nullification, left, right, love and fear etc.... One cannot be truly serving the infinite unless every aspect of created reality partakes in that relationship.

reply to post by dontreally


I appreciate your considerate reply. It seems you are more open to these ideas then before even if you still do not agree with them, and that is great. I would like to just clarify a few things that may help if I could.

1. You have no independent self, that is an illusion. Your mind (beliefs, opinions, emotions...) is like water, it is shaped by its surrounding environment. Sure you have an instinctual drive that underlies the mind, but that too was created and shaped by your surrounding environment. We, as in the mind and body, are mere reflections of our surroundings, thus we are not independent of them. You and me may appear (to the unenlightened mind) to have different characteristics but we both share the same qualities of the mind and body, maybe on different levels or at different times due to environmental circumstances. We both share the feelings of anger, joy, envy, love, hatred, serenity... We both share the desire's of sex, survival, freedom, happiness... The story of The Garden of Eden pertains to this illusion of independent self as well, that is why Adam and Eve were "kicked out of the garden". To transcend this illusion of self one must shed the attachment to the independent mind and body and realize the truth of Self/God/Brahman.The Buddha never emphasized these words of "Self/God/Brahman" only because he felt they distracted the seeker from achieving liberation. He felt liberation could be achieved without the need to focus on these things, but he never denounced them as untrue, he simply just never addressed them in a satisfactory manner for the person who sought these answers of what is "Self/God/Brahman".

2. Humans only appear to be above their surroundings (other animals) because we live inside of this illusion of independent self and attach our existence to that of the ego's. You said Humans are separate from animals because we have the ability to recognize "I exist." and they don't. This is not true and if you look into some studies of behaviorism of animals you can see they also have they ability to recognize the "I exist" phenomena. This has repeatedly been shown as true in dogs, cats, dolphins, rats... and so on. The strength of this "I exist" phenomena may be stronger in humans, or it may just be that the human mind cannot fully grasp the level of consciousness that our surroundings have/share. Plants, and even cells and atoms, may also have this ability to recognize the "I exist" phenomena but again we may not be able to recognize this within them. It is a common misperception, even in Buddhism, that animals cannot also become enlightened but they can. Again it may be more difficult for them, it may be that our level of consciousness is "stronger", or it may be that our minds cannot fully grasp their level of consciousness. This idea of animals being lesser in Buddhism started later on in the Mahayana school (larger vehicle) and did not apply in the earlier school of Hinayana (smaller vehicle) that the
Shakyamuni Buddha taught.

3. You are correct, the Buddha was driven by the realization of suffering to seek liberation. This is the essential basis for Buddhism, to reach liberation from suffering. But to continuously fixate on the notion that "everything is suffering" does not enable the seeker to transcend suffering, rather it only enables the seeker to realize that there is no salvation from suffering in this world. The Buddha gave over 84,000 teachings because he continuously sought to find new ways to help people find liberation, and this teaching of "everything is suffering" was only a part of the first teaching, being the Four Noble Truths. Also the word "suffering" does not perfectly translate from his more ancient language, as many words don't, and we must remember this.

Have a good week friend.