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Browse every published article connected to E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
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Browse every published article connected to E. (anagarika eddie) Raymond Rock, or search within this exact expert archive.
Have you noticed that more and more people are going through red lights in their rush to compete in this frantic world, and that no cops are there to stop them. We have only a token representation of police to give the impression that we are being protected. It’s an illusion. Many cheat on ...
2. Living consciously. (From a talk by Ajahn Jagaro, the abbot of Wat Pah Nanachat when Janet and I trained in Thailand as a Buddhist monk and nun in 1981) "Now this (contemplating death) really does free us up, enabling us to live our lives more fully. The contemplation of death, rather than ...
Saints have fourteen unforgettable characteristics that distinguish them, and when even just one of these traits are observed in someone, that observation prompts us to exclaim, "He/She is a saint!" As we read about these fourteen traits, we might think that we can become saintly too by simply practicing what saints do, however, it never quite works out that way. Mimicking secondhand or academic information never leads to an authentic shift in our basic behavior.
One good way to find God is to lose yourself! Which is easier said than done, because in order to lose yourself, you must first discover what your "self" is! Once that discovery is made, then you can decide which is more important; yourself... or God? Assuming that you decide God is far more ...
A John replied, "Your selfless service in helping others during the end times of your sphere has rewarded you with an opportunity to exist without the burden of a body, but still able to enjoy the senses of sight, hearing and thinking. Without deeper understanding however, your return to a ...
Politics, defined as "social relations involving authority or power," dominate a religious organization when the religion is no longer relevant; the operational words being "social," and power." When a religion becomes more of a social event instead of living up to the original tenets of ...
Everyone wants happiness. Happiness is the driving force behind almost all of our actions, and even when we are unhappy, we are involved with somehow changing that unhappiness into happiness for ourselves. When we are confronted with someone or something, we either have a compulsion to pull ...
I am not trained in psychology, nor do I completely understand psychological terms. I am strictly speaking in a nonprofessional manner using nonprofessional terms about psychology, and about how I believe psychotherapy fails to address the primary problem regarding the mind. The primary ...
Take a look at your life and see if it's not true that the pursuit of pleasure and happiness involves just about everything you do. From watching TV or playing on the internet, to working at a career in order to make money - so that you can spend it and be happy with the resulting pleasure or save it and be happy with the resulting pleasure of security. To pursuing sensual sights, wonderful smells, sensual sensations, great food, great sex, warm family interactions, self expression . . .
Everything built up will fall, and all that falls will rise again - this could be called the cycle of existence. When things are about to fall in this cycle, there are premonitions that wash through our hearts, and the premonitions have definite signs: We lose our Generosity: We become ...
The forest was deliciously cool now, waiting silently, reverently for the day ahead, while lively birds and animals greeted the new morning with their familiar cries. The trail was a lush, fragrant tunnel of large ferns, bamboo groves, and tropical flowers surrounded by endless trees, foliage, ...
It can really get heavy at times. I was recently corresponding with a good friend of mine who mentioned that he didn’t think that he was capable of developing a calm mind in such a chaotic world, which might be a common problem for a lot of us. With stress levels at an all time high, a ...
When we think about prayer, what comes to mind is some kind of request or solicitation of God . Maybe we are ill and ask to get better, or ask forgiveness, or maybe a little help with the lottery. These are the kinds of prayers that we mostly engage in. We might also repeat a mantra, for example, the "Our Father," or Hail Mary" as an act of devotion or contrition. Then there are the holy thoughts about God, heaven, the saints and Jesus as we sit quietly. Or, we might thank God for something good that has happened to us and ask for protection from the bad.
To give you a tiny sampling, a flavor of what Theravada Buddhist monks chant every morning, following are a few stanzas of the Buddha's exact teachings in his native Pali language (with translations), which have been precisely kept intact by his order of monks for over 2500 years, or since three ...
In a bubbling stream, And a lonely wind, That whispers Through an endless night.nn************************* In the crying of a baby, And its anxious mother, That whispers 'Till it's light.nn************************* At the end of a rainbow, And the start of the journey. And the end of ...
According to Patricia Cohen of the New York times, A new five-year analysis of the nation's death rates recently released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the suicide rate among 45-to-54-year-olds increased nearly 20 percent from 1999 to 2004, the latest year ...
As with all advice, always check with your health care practitioner before embarking on any regimen, especially one that you haven’t tried before. Everybody’s body is different. Having said that, I would like to introduce you to the secrets I discovered about sleep while living as Buddhist monk ...
Have you ever wondered what makes a saint, a saint? We have heard expressions such as, "He has the patience of a saint," but what other qualities do saints have that sets them apart from us normal people, and how have they attained these qualities? Were they just blessed by God because God liked ...
Huge shifts are occurring all over the world. It’s as if a new awareness is in its beginning birth pangs. People who have been repressed and treated unfairly for years, generations, are suddenly and spontaneously rising up, rejecting the old, fighting for justice and truth regardless of personal safety. It’s as if a new consciousness is being born.
They knew how to chord a guitar, how to live together, how to relax, and how to live on a shoestring (and off Mom and Dad mostly!) And they didn't know about money or power – that would have been way too square! Hippies were a brief respite on this road of life, one of those strange eras that ...
Of course, most of us have seemingly innocent alliances that are common to ordinary folks, like our friends and relatives. But is this where the really dangerous alliances lie? How can a relationship with Auntie Bess and Uncle Bill be harmful for us? They are loving, warm, giving, and have encouraged and guided us throughout our lives. But is there a sinister aspect to their association with us?. An alliance is when we get together for a common interest. But what makes alliances dangerous?
When you do good, you get good in return; when you do bad, bad things happen to you. Doing good expands and loosens the heart; doing bad restricts and tightens the heart until the heart shrivels and dies. Then there is just a shell left, full of hatred and fear. Discipline is the first step in ...
When you say to someone, not of your religion, that "because your good book says it is true, therefore it must be true," don't you ever notice that the person, instead of falling down in worship, rolls their eyes? Do you smugly continue to be a "work in progress," and proud of it, justifying your careless actions by pointing out that sinners have no chance to improve themselves? . . . Convenient. Are you peaceful, calm and loving, or are you ever trying to make something happen in your faith.
While we are praying silently, we are going to let go of all the baggage we carry on our shoulders regarding the past and future.
An onion is peculiar in that it has many layers. It also causes you to cry when you peel off the layers. So we could say that the state of the onion is complex, as well as tearful! Our country is kind of like an onion. Fifty states all wrapped around a flag that gets more tattered every day. There are those that say we should live by state's rights and forget about the federal government. That sounds okay, but then all the liberals would move away from Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, and into Massachusetts, Oregon, and Vermont!
If you have ever tried to walk with only one leg, you have discovered, for yourself, the importance of two legs. Likewise, when we meditate, two aspects of meditation are necessary if our practice is to be balanced. Samadhi (concentration) and Vipassana (mindfulness) are the two aspects that ...
Images. . . . What are images? None of our religions asks us to look into images, which would be a shift of consciousness. Instead, our religions reinforce our images. So, what are images, and why do we create them? More importantly, why do we then use images to direct our lives, instead of ...
"Surface happiness comes and goes," A John continued, "no different than breathing in and breathing out. We cannot breathe in always, we must eventually breathe out. The deeper happiness, however, is constant. If we are continuously lost in the surface happiness, and the temporary pleasure it ...
When we fall in love, we are blinded from these three signs. This is Mother Nature's way of making sure that babies happen! After about two years, however, we regain our perspective, and these three signs begin to show up. If you are very aware, you can notice them almost immediately even ...
The first five steps of sainthood spelled out in my previous two articles on the subject are not too difficult to understand. These last five, however, can be challenging, especially to common, non-saintly folks like us who might not have personal, deep discussions with God to fall back on! ...
Mindfulness meditation is free. There are no health insurance premiums, drug costs, or expensive therapies. And it works! But first you have to understand the authentic instructions, and secondly you must practice diligently. If you do this, mental and physical problems will melt away. Try it! How can you lose?
This is an article about the root problem that forms the basis of our many problems, from the shooter who randomly kills on campus, to the worry that plagues us daily; to the restlessness we feel when we are bored. This problem is seldom explained adequately. Tragedies are usually explained by ...
Weeja apparently felt that he was making a crucial point as he repeated it to make certain we understood: " Contact is that instant when a sound touches my ear or a sight touches my eye. This contact lasts but an instant because right after the moment of contact, a feeling arises; desire, ...
Florida has been hit hard by the housing downturn. At the peak of the housing frenzy, people from all over the world, legal and illegal, flooded into Florida, fueling the burgeoning job market. Banks doled out cash like drunken sailors to housing contractors and mortgage companies, and ...
A Thai farmer is in a ditch planting rice in the searing, Southeast Asian heat. He is old, uneducated, ill, toothless, and his body is small and frail, weathered from years of hard labor. Is this old, useless farmer less than you? You, who are educated, beautiful, healthy, relatively young, ...
My first stop was the coliseum where the king's army was training. These were hardened, career soldiers, all experienced in killing and tough as nails. I dismounted and walked deliberately up to the commander of all the forces. He was the strongest and most feared, and he was sharp as well, and ...
These are three of the most common underhanded tactics used in debates.They come into play as an attempted deflection from the main argument that your opponent is usually losing and can no longer argue intelligently. If you watch out for them and keep bringing your opponent back to the original premise of the debate, your opponent will have no choice but to discuss the actual facts of the argument instead of trying to wiggle out of them. 1. Red Herring (Changing the subject) Example: "I should not be prosecuted for stealing songs off the internet.
To most of us, God is an abstract thing, so isn't it curious that we fight over our differences conce ing God? Maybe this is because few actually devote their lives to piercing the abstract and coming face-to-face with God. The reason, perhaps, that few search for God is because when they do, ...
I am Buddhist, and while practicing meditation, I detected thoughts blossoming, one after the other, in a corner of my mind. Each one initially appeared as a single frame but quickly developed into a storyline, a dramatic movie. It might begin with a picture of myself sitting cross-legged and ...
If we at least had enough to live on and make expenses, that would be enough. And enough to pay off the house, which isn't worth much anymore. Oh, and maybe provide for our healthcare, which is going to get very expensive in the very near future, and we better pay it or they will take our house! Oh, and enough in the bank for emergencies, home repairs, vehicle replacements; and maybe some investments to stave off inflation, and maybe enough to help out our kids, and help our grandchildren with college, and an occasional holiday or vacation.
The mind is a curious thing. Oddly enough, it seeks security in such silly concepts as the past. But what if the mind learned not to do that? What if the mind trained itself not to seek security in the past and only focused on what was happening in the present? What would happen then? That, ...
There have been occasions when I have been told that “Jesus is the Son of God and the Buddha was just a man, therefore, the Buddha is a false prophet.” Okay, I respect everybody’s freedom to voice their opinion. I also know how views and opinions are formed, and why they become so entrenched. We are, after all, merely a product of our experiences, environment, heritage, culture, intelligence, upbringing, education . . . and in Buddhism, our past lives and karma!
Human beings go through an interesting process when reinca ating, a process that unless explained would probably go unnoticed. This article will explain the steps. All major religions recognize reinca ation. This especially true with Eastern religions.
Weeks drifted by with no sign of Ariya, or anybody else for that matter, but the silence was eerie, compelling me to look over my shoulder more often now. I was back where my enemies might find me, and my life was definitely in grave danger. They knew that I was still alive. n One morning just ...
This is a very important question; what interests you most, because your answer to this question determines your destiny. So before you answer, look carefully at all the options and decide which is truly the one thing that interests you more than any other. n The obvious ones - relationship, ...
Walking meditation can be done in many ways and for many purposes, but I have found this technique to be outstanding in relieving stress. It's easy to do, and you should feel a distinct benefit from the first fifteen minutes of trying it.n n This technique is particularly effective for those who ...
Conqueror was lying motionless next to the black horse. I saw immediatelty that their injuries would eventually prove fatal, but only after many long days of agony . . . and I could never let that happen. I retrieved the fiance's knife, as the black horse continued to struggle trying to get up ...
Once the Buddha was asked if anyone can become enlightened, even if they were not a follower of the Buddha. His answer - a resounding; "Of course!" He even went further than that. He warned about becoming attached to the religion itself, and suggested that one only use Buddhism as a raft to cross over from delusion to enlightenment. Then, just as one who has crossed a river in a raft gets out of the raft on the far shore and leaves it behind, so an enlightened person should do the same with Buddhism.
Evenings are a blessed relief in Thailand; warm, but without the smothering heat of the day that gratefully surrenders to the night’s relative coolness. If I wasn’t in my solitary hut meditating in the evenings, I would be in the main hall at dusk chanting along with the other monks, or maybe ...
When we talk, or when we write articles, the number of times that we use the word "I" can indicate the level of confusion we might have in our minds about ourselves. This wouldn't ordinarily be a problem if we are not attached to ourselves emotionally, and only use the term conventionally; ...