Flower Meditation

(Buddhist value: Fresh and beautiful flowers of today will become withered and ugly tomorrow. This reminds us of the Buddha's teaching that all things are impermanent.) Imagine that you are a beautiful flower. What kind of flower are you? See the colour of your petals. Appreciate that you are now a beautiful flower. Someone comes along and buys you from the flower shop. She puts you into a vase filled with water. You are gently sucking up the water and blooming more beautifully than before. You are fresh and sending off a sweet fragrance. The lady puts you on the table and offers you to the Buddha. You stand beautifully in the vase, bringing joy and happiness to people's hearts when they see you. One day has passed. Slowly, the colour of your petals becomes dull. You are no longer sending off a sweet fragrance. Your petals become withered and discoloured. You are ugly and faded. Although you are a withered flower, you are still happy in your heart. You know that you have an important role to play. Your role is to remind people of the Buddha’s teaching that all things are impermanent. All things are constantly going through change. Everyone’s body too, like your petals, will wither and pass away. Everyone should keep impermanence in mind and live in the
present.
From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

Meditations for Children - Part 2

Concentration of the Mind This step is focusing the mind at one point. i. Visualise a point on your upper lip and concentrate at that point. Draw all the energy and attention into that point while staying very relaxed. Let any stray thoughts or memories pass through, always gently drawing the attention back to the point. 4. Expansion of the Mind Once the children’s bodies, emotions and minds are quiet, they are ready for the fourth step: true meditation – turning inside for their own answers and wisdom. Guide the children to expand their imagination and awareness through guided imagery. By using guided imagery, the children will learn to see themselves on a movie screen in their minds as a caring, loving, patient etc. person. This will aid them to perform better as a human being as their thoughts are slowly being transformed into wholesome and positive ones. 8 5. Productive activity i. Slowly bring your attention back to your body. Feel all your body parts. Slowly wriggle your fingers and toes. Rotate your head. When you are ready, slowly open your eyes. It is now time for the fifth step: grounding the newfound energy, wisdom, insights and heightened awareness into some useful and productive activity. Direct the children to channel this newly focused energy and creativity into dance, art, story writing, music, sharing, class discussions, creative communication, awareness games or academic work. The tone of voice to use Please remember that when you are speaking, you will do so in a very slow, relaxed voice, pausing to let the scene sink in, so that the child, whose eyes are closed and who is focusing inward, can easily visualise and feel the scene. The way you use your voice is very important. You will find it best to drop your voice by a few tones, speaking more and more slowly, with a soothing quality.

From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

Meditations for Children - Part 1

Extracted from Moonbeam – the book of (Extracted from Moonbeam – a book of meditations for children by Maureen Garth) 5 How to do it? The meditations for children include five steps: 1. Relaxing the body 2. Deep breathing 3. Concentration of the mind 4. Expansion of the mind 5. Productive activity 1. Relaxing the Body Some stretching or yoga exercises will be recommended. After the yoga exercises, have the children tense and relax each body part, starting with the toes and ending with the top of the head. Or you can do the waterfall relaxation meditation with the children. 2. Deep Breathing i. Gather the children to sit cross legged on the cushions, left palm over the right palm 6 ii. Keep the back straight and also relaxed as that will allow a natural flow of energy up and down the spine iii. Have the children close their eyes iv. Practise deep breathing for a few moments a. Breathe in to a count of three, hold the breath and breathe out to a count of three; b. As you breathe, you breathe in fresh energy, love, joy and peace. They are entering and spreading throughout your body; c. As you breathe out, imagine any negative feelings — sadness, boredom, anger or tiredness — coming out through your nose and leaving your body and disappearing. 7 by Maureen Garth) 5 How to do it? The meditations for children include five steps: 1. Relaxing the body 2. Deep breathing 3. Concentration of the mind 4. Expansion of the mind 5. Productive activity 1. Relaxing the Body Some stretching or yoga exercises will be recommended. After the yoga exercises, have the children tense and relax each body part, starting with the toes and ending with the top of the head. Or you can do the waterfall relaxation meditation with the children. 2. Deep Breathing i. Gather the children to sit cross legged on the cushions, left palm over the right palm 6 ii. Keep the back straight and also relaxed as that will allow a natural flow of energy up and down the spine iii. Have the children close their eyes iv. Practise deep breathing for a few moments a. Breathe in to a count of three, hold the breath and breathe out to a count of three; b. As you breathe, you breathe in fresh energy, love, joy and peace. They are entering and spreading throughout your body; c. As you breathe out, imagine any negative feelings — sadness, boredom, anger or tiredness — coming out through your nose and leaving your body and disappearing.

From - Guided Meditation for Primary Students

Just observe whatever the mind can be aware of - Part 2

In the evening when it feels like the practice is not so good, don’t try harder in order to ‘fix’ it or something. Fix your attitude and meditation will happen by itself.Meditation is paying attention and not the result of it.e mind in the background (watching mind) is the important thing not the object.Never do anything in a hurry.If you feel groggy! (unsteady, shaky) take some mindful deep breaths.An American professor arrived today and introduced us all to the latest American term: “Obsessive Compulsive”!When the mind gets calm, samadhi arises. the mind should use these qualities for attentiveness, otherwise sleepiness will come in.When restlessness arises, turn it into your object of observation. It does not matter for how long. Awareness is what matters. Later on when you see the cause of it all it will stop by itself. Don’t try to stop it.Keep looking and asking: How does the mind feel?e simplest thing in daily activities is to know if you are aware or not. at’s all. e important thing is that you are aware all the time.e state of the mind is what is important not the actions, movements etc. See the thought process but not the content. Just process, just feeling.You don’t identify, you don’t analyse, you don’t reject what you are experiencing. You don’t identify with anything at all. Not even good thoughts.inking creatively all the time can become a problem.If you like you can stay with one object that’s fine. Get into it, below surface level and observe it. But you don’t have to. You can switch to another object or other objects.When you feel hunger, coldness, don’t judge and name these sensations, just observe them and they will go away.If you know that there is awareness, it means that you are mindful already.
from - Contemplation of the Mind

Just observe whatever the mind can be aware of - Part 1

Just observe whatever the mind can be aware of, at the moment. See how it goes to objects, how it feels, be aware of it. When it gets stronger it will be aware of many objects.You can stay with one object but don’t force awareness to stay with one thing and start struggling with it.Don’t think that you have to stay with one object for the sake of developing samadhi. at is not good practice. Just be aware of what is happening in the present moment.When something fruitful happens in meditation the mind feels like its done its job and starts getting slack. Watch out for that mind. Get to know it.You can’t help losing your mindfulness. Your effort is to start again and again.Kilesa are always waiting there for a chance to creep in.What can you be aware of when you are walking? Your whole body? When you find that you are not comfortable look at how you feel about it in the mind.When mental feeling occurs make it your priority. ere is always a certain way the mind feels about things. Look at that mental feeling be aware of it. e same applies to daily activities practice too.In order for the mind to be observed constantly, it has to be balanced, relaxed, settled. Check all the time the state of your mind. Relax and watch, relax and watch, and the practice balances up. So balance the mind, be mindful, happy and keep going on.Never think or ask about the momentum to come.Just meditate.Peacefully.Continuously check attitude and relax.
from - Contemplation of the Mind

YAMA AND NIYAMA - Part 2

A similar difficulty with wives has caused some masters to recommend celibacy. In all these questions common sense must be the guide. No fixed rule can be laid down. The "non-receiving of gifts," for instance, is rather important for a Hindu, who would be thoroughly upset for weeks if any one gave him a coconut: but the average European takes things as they come by the time that he has been put into long trousers. The only difficult question is that of continence, which is complicated by many considerations, such as that of energy; but everybody's mind is hopelessly muddled on this subject, which some people confuse with erotology, and others with sociology. There will be no clear thinking on this matter until it is understood as being solely a branch of athletics. We may then dismiss Yama and Niyama with this advice: let the student decide for himself what form of life, what moral code, will least tend to excite his mind; but once he has formulated it, let him stick to it, avoiding opportunism; and let him be very careful to take no credit for what he does or refrains from doing -- it is a purely practical code, of no value in itself. The cleanliness which assists the surgeon in his work would prevent the engineer from doing his at all. (Ethical questions are adequately dealt with in "Then Tao" in "Konx Om Pax," and should be there studied. Also see Liber XXX of the A. A. Also in Liber CCXX, the "Book of the Law," it is said: "DO WHAT THOU WILT shall be the whole of the Law." Remember that for the purpose of this treatise the whole object of Yama and Niyama is to live so that no emotion or passion disturbs the mind.)
from - THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT OF GENIUS

YAMA AND NIYAMA - Part 1

THE Hindus have place these two attainments in the forefront of their programme. They are the "moral qualities" and "good works" which are supposed to predispose to mental calm. "Yama" consists of non-killing, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-receiving of any gift. In the Buddhist system, "Sila", "Virtue," is similarly enjoined. The qualities are, for the layman, these five: Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt drink no intoxicating drink. For the monk many others are added. The commandments of Moses are familiar to all; they are rather similar; and so are those given by Christ in the "Sermon on the Mount." Some of these are only the "virtues" of a slave, invented by his master to keep him in order. The real point of the Hindu "Yama" is that breaking any of these would tend to excite the mind. Subsequent theologians have tried to improve upon the teachings of the Masters, have given a sort of mystical importance to these virtues; they have insisted upon them for their own sake, and turned them into puritanism and formalism. Thus "non-killing," which originally meant "do not excite yourself by stalking tigers," has been interpreted to mean that it is a crime to drink water that has not been strained, lest you should kill the animalcula. But this constant worry, this fear of killing anything by mischance is, on the whole, worse than a hand-to-hand conflict with a griesly bear. If the barking of a dog disturbs your meditation, it is simplest to shoot the dog, and think no more about it.
from - THE WAY OF ATTAINMENT OF GENIUS