Harumi

Yes, but how am I to get rid of unwanted burdens?

Will meditation help with that too?

Harumi

Answerer, if I expected quick results, I wouldn't still be drawing after 12 years.

Thank you for the encouragement.

Seraphim

By Harumi

Yes, but how am I to get rid of unwanted burdens?

Will meditation help with that too?

Yes, Meditation (or any other activities which could get your mind of your problems for while) would help but only up to a certain level.

In the end, it is still up to you, your beliefs (not necessary means God, more like how you approach life and its questions) and how you deal with them.

Harumi

Okay.

I will now be going off to practice meditation, so I won't be coming back for awhile.

And the thread's pretty much died anyways.

If I have any more problems, I'll pm you, okay?

Thanks for everything.

andy_d

Drawing is definitely a meditation. I paint, and it's very like my meditation to me.

Meditation is a good idea for people who are able and have the opportunity. It's also a good idea to try and work with your state of mind when you're not meditating. It wouldn't be very useful to you if you could have very successful meditations but still couldn't cope with your life

My advice is to use any meditation you do as a signpost to point you in the right direction. At the end of the day, doing the job of living your life is still your main concern.

Seraphim

By andy_d

Drawing is definitely a meditation. I paint, and it's very like my meditation to me.

Not sure about painting since I'm not an artist type, but a lot of people do claim such. So painting is good.

Meditation is a good idea for people who are able and have the opportunity. It's also a good idea to try and work with your state of mind when you're not meditating. It wouldn't be very useful to you if you could have very successful meditations but still couldn't cope with your life

I don't think anyone could be good in Meditation while they couldn't cope with life.

When I've meditate, that's when problems appears in my mind, clogging the mind from relaxing. You HAVE to take care of your problems either way and meditation IS not a shortcut OR a way out of your problem. It is simply like a rest period for your exhausted mind to shut up, sit down and rest before going back to thinking again.

My advice is to use any meditation you do as a signpost to point you in the right direction. At the end of the day, doing the job of living your life is still your main concern.

Very Good Advice.

By Harumi

If I have any more problems, I'll pm you, okay?

One of the weirdest problem you most likely to have is a weird sensation like "falling" out of your body, or floating out, or just falling (like over a tall building). That's just part of your brain acting up because the sudden reduction of oxygen (which you will reduce during meditation). Relax and just allow it past through.

Good luck.

gsx1138

I started doing some Yoga every morning (almost). It is very light, AM Yoga with Rodney Yee, but I can already feel a huge difference. Of course it doesn't help that I don't excercise. I haven't been back the Buddhist Temple in awhile. The last time I was there I couldn't get centered at all and was just too emotionally involved in finals week to have a pleasant time. I don't know if I want to go back or not.

Waning Moon Conrad

Stupidity is universal and the potential for enlightenment is too.

This I agree with or I wouldn't be a Buddhist.

I think that Seraphim does have a point in saying that a lot of Westerners are used to having the answers served up to them on a platter but I would suggest that there are many Easterners who want the same thing.

It wouldn't surprise me though to find that on a per capita basis there are more Westerners of that ilk than Easterners for the simple reason that Abrahamic religions give us the answers and expect us to be satisfied.

Buddhism and Taoism are (according to my limited understanding) more about an open process than about a static, definitive result.

Christianity is more about a static, definitive result. The answer is given, the answer is Jesus and you will burn if you don't accept it.

All Buddhist teachings are ultimately a means to an end, the end being enlightenment which is a state where you can clearly see the truth. Buddhism does not claim that any of its teachings actually are the absolute and final truth. Buddhism says that it is a boat by which you reach the other shore (enlightenment). It does not claim to actually be the other shore or the destination.

They don't speak about the yanas (or vehicles) for nothing.

Thus you take it and you travel with it. It's a process. It's open.

I'm pretty sure that Tao means "the way" which would make it similar. Anyone who knows something about Taoism may feel free to disabuse me of any misconception.

For people used to definitive, final answers this can be difficult.

In the novel "Dune" there appears a saying, "the meaning of life is not a question to answer, it is a reality to experience".

How many of us ask about the meaning of life as if it is actually a question with an answer?

Seraphim

by Waning Moon Conrad

Stupidity is universal and the potential for enlightenment is too.

To someone who gives up half way, the journey is always a tough one.

I think that Seraphim does have a point in saying that a lot of Westerners are used to having the answers served up to them on a platter but I would suggest that there are many Easterners who want the same thing.

It wouldn't surprise me though to find that on a per capita basis there are more Westerners of that ilk than Easterners for the simple reason that Abrahamic religions give us the answers and expect us to be satisfied.

I agree that many Easterners now are going toward the trend of wanting to get fast answers served to them ... they are fast becoming too lazy to think for themselves.

All Buddhist teachings are ultimately a means to an end, the end being enlightenment which is a state where you can clearly see the truth. Buddhism does not claim that any of its teachings actually are the absolute and final truth. Buddhism says that it is a boat by which you reach the other shore (enlightenment). It does not claim to actually be the other shore or the destination.

Not exactly ... the end (Enlightnment) is not something you will get at the end of your life. The journey of a person doesn't stops when he dies ... it only takes a break. In another word, as long as you exist (in whatever forms), your journey continues.

I'm pretty sure that Tao means "the way" which would make it similar. Anyone who knows something about Taoism may feel free to disabuse me of any misconception.

Toaism and Buddhism is very different to each other. Toaism is something being in harmony with yourself, nature and the universe. It is very much on living and cling to life.

Buddhism is the opposite. It doesn't encourage it's followers to cling to their lives needlessly but teach them to let go slowly so when death comes, it will be less painful and life in whole will be less complicated during living than it already has.

How many of us ask about the meaning of life as if it is actually a question with an answer?

Depends on the answer, I guess.

Those who cling to live, the meaning of live is in the living.
Those who cling to the dead (and their words), the meaning is pre-written.
Those who seeks the answers, the meaning is in the journey of find those answers.

In the end, the meaning is what we define ourselves ... no one could answer it for us.

Answerer

Yeah, the evidence for the above could be seen in the number of people (in Asia) proclaiming that they are 'saved' after turning towards Christinity and Islam in the current years while attacking the people of other religions as idol-worshippers.