Buddhist Are the Inventors of the Meditation Techniques

It seems to be very near the truth, if we say that Buddhist were the inventors of the meditation. The Buddhist meditation techniques are the best and worldwide recommended for the stress relief. In fact, meditation is a top priority element of the Buddhism. You will find dozens of meditation techniques based on Buddhist phenomena. The holy script of the Buddhist reveals complete details of meditation techniques. Lord Buddha adopted these meditation techniques for peace of mind during his life.

Practice is an essential part of the meditation and important than theoretical knowledge of its techniques. There are two basic techniques which are commonly used in these days due to their best productivity.
Tranquility or peace is the first method in the Buddhist meditation techniques. The main purpose of this technique is concentration of mind. The learner can choose any subjects from the 40 topics. It includes ten stages of concentration lessons, like discs of different colors, candle flame or other lights, water, etc. It also includes a variety of bodily decay such as rotting corpse. Breath control is usually the next technique including deep breathing exercises. This mindfulness breathing technique is fundamental and compulsory meditation exercise for every student. There are many benefits of this exercise. It helps to calm the mind by removing the inner chatter. The student feels much confident and pays accurate attention. With the help of this technique, students gain control over many mental hindrances of their life, such as sensual desire, doubt and sloth, anxiety, and ill-will. The next stage is the final stage where the student feels actual happiness.

Insight is the next method in the Buddhist meditation techniques. In this technique, the students learn to see the things as their actual existence. The students get rid of aversions in this technique to reduce the effects in rational judgment. They learn to accept the truth, even if it is not according to their taste. This is the initial stage in this technique and called as bare awareness. The students also needed three existence marks, which are essential in the phenomena. These three marks are suffering, not-self, and impermanence. The breath meditation exercise is also a part of this technique which helps them gain the enlightenment.

However, many people use both Buddhist meditation techniques at the same time in their practical life.

Next stage is the developing of kindness and loving. This technique directly changes the emotional habits of the students and helps them become more positive in their emotions. The students become more patient, kind to others as well as to themselves, and keen to understand others. This technique also teaches them to forgive others on their mistakes.

Mantra meditation is adopted by the every student of the Buddhist meditation techniques. In this technique, the followers use a simple phrase of their choice and repeat it at even-pace whether loud or internally. It helps them to calm their mind against any damage and pain due to any mischief. Most of the people think that this technique is only consist of spiritual phrases, but it is not true, you can select any poem as mantra to calm your mind during anxiety.

Original article

Shaktipat Meditation and the 12 Levels of Spiritual Growth

Shaktipat meditation uses Divine, living energy to carry teachings from the mind of the teacher into the mind of the student. It's the fastest path to realization, and it forms the most highly evolved teacher/student relationships on our planet.

Shaktipat is a type of subtle energy -that is particles of energy too small for modern science to observe or detect. However science can observe the effects of subtle energy. The experiments of Clive Backster, the inventor of lie detector machine, demonstrate the effects of thoughts and subtle energy on plants.

It's essential that the Shaktipat meditation teacher is not only fully realized, but is also completely clean and clear. It's simply not possible for any teacher to give anyone a state of meditation that they don't already have themselves, and realization, or enlightenment, is the goal of Shaktipat teaching. As the Shaktipat energy flows through the teacher, it picks up the teacher's essence. If the teacher is polluted with cravings or suppressed emotions, these detrimental energies will be passed on to the student along with the beneficial teaching. If the teacher full of love, peace and bliss, that is what the student will experience.

Realization is defined here as having experienced all of the twelve levels of consciousness listed below. These twelve levels are taken from the writings of the great Yogi Vivekananda and rewritten here to render them more understandable to present day readers. The complete writings of Vivekananda are available on the internet.

Shaktipat Meditation can leap frog students through these levels, allowing them to go directly to the higher levels such as god realization, oneness and emptiness. This is accomplished by the teacher putting his own state of meditation directly into the student. It is then the student's responsibility to meditate dedicatedly in that state until it becomes anchored in him. If the student fails to do his meditation work, the great gift his teacher has given him will be lost quickly, leaving behind only a beautiful memory.

These twelve levels are usually experienced by most practitioners. It's common to be growing in several levels at once. Levels may be experienced in a different order than listed here. Some practitioners never consciously experience some levels. Some traditions focus completely on God while others ignore God and go into Oneness. There are many differences in opinion about the higher levels of Samadhi. The levels are presented here as a general guide.

1. Understanding the purpose of our existence. We are Spiritual beings enjoying an earthly experience, not human beings searching for a Spiritual experience. You attain this level when you consciously begin your Spiritual work.

2. Seeing the suffering of others. When you begin seeing past your own selfishness to the needs of others, you begin wanting to help them.

3. Removing the suffering of others. Consciously working to heal and teach others gives you the fastest growth.

4. Finding passion, peace and love. When we work selflessly for others we become very passionate about our practice and work. We also discover peace in ourselves and universal Love, love with a capital L.

5. Conversion of negative energies to positive. Anger, fear, sadness, negative thoughts and entities striking your aura are transformed to Love by the Love emanating from you.

6. Opening the Third Eye. Your psychic abilities awaken.

7. Bliss. You experience limitless joy. You become able find happiness in all circumstances because bliss wells up from your internal being and is not dependent on external circumstances.

8. The Source. You experience your direct connection to the Supreme Being, also called Allah, Jehova and God the Father.

9. Becoming The Source. You become an inexhaustible source of energy exactly like God.

10. Oneness. You experience that our entire universe is one conscious, living, intelligent organism with no division or separation. Everything is one very alive energy field.

11.Nothingness. Your complete being, all your experiences and creations dissolve completely into blackness. All egoic mind structures disappear. You become able to experience reality and create real structures.

12. Nirvana or nether being or non being. There is much debate about this state and if anything lies beyond it. It can only be experienced. It cannot be explained in understandable terms.

Completing these twelve levels can be compared to graduating from a Western university with a Bachelor's degree that prepares the student for post graduate work. Attaining realization allows people to experience reality and to begin learning how to work in it.

This process of learning how to working in reality goes on for the remainder of the person's life as they go deeper and deeper into meditation. Once again, Shaktipat meditation teaching from a person ahead on the path can speed learning greatly.

Richard Crown has spent more than thirty years in Asia. Living in diverse cultures has allowed him absorb their Spiritual practices in a first-hand, useful way. Shaktipat meditation is the fastest and best of all the many meditation techniques he has experienced. You can experience Shaktipat meditation with Richard & Remedia Crown at http://shaktipat-meditation.org/. They are both realized meditation teachers who share their abilities with loving compassion.
You will also be able to download a free PDF of Richard's book Ascension In Love: Our Spiritual Journey, a true account of their own Shaktipat awakening presented in the form of easy to read conversations.

Original article

Meditation or Dhyan Yoga

Meditation is the practice of bringing your mind inward by focusing the attention on a single object in total concentration. Since it is the nature of the mind to continuously create thoughts and keep your attention jumping from one thing to the next, single-pointed concentration is essential for meditation to happen. However, over time, the effort and perseverance of daily meditation practice will pay off, as the thought waves will diminish and your mind will become calm and quiet.

Why Meditate?

Meditation creates an empty space within by quieting the mind. That space provides an uninterrupted flow of clarity and energy, because the usual preoccupations with the world completely disappear. That space allows you to tap into your true nature, and all ego-driven fears and emotions vanish. At the highest levels of meditation, duality also disappears and there is nothing but oneness with the Divine. This is called Samadhi. The permanent state of Samadhi is what we call Liberation or Self-realization, and it is the aim of all forms of yoga and all spiritual paths. Liberation is the ultimate aim of human life, and meditation is both the practice and the door to attaining it.

So the ultimate benefit of meditation is Self-realization, but a daily meditation practice will provide many other advantages, both on a physical and emotional levels, as well as in terms of spiritual development. Since it purifies the body in general, and the nervous system in particular, it can greatly enhance your overall health and prevent or improve any type of disease. Your energy levels and mental powers will increase as well; your creativity and intuition will be enhanced, and inner joy will becomes a regular experience. Meditation can highly reduce stress levels, and the medical community is starting to realize the value of the different practices yogis have been doing for thousands of years, particularly hatha yoga and meditation, and integrating them into the hospital environment.

If you are able to meditate at least for a half hour daily, you will become level headed and face life with peace and spiritual strength. Meditation is the most powerful mental and nerve tonic. Divine energy freely flows during meditation and exerts a benign influence on your mind, nervous system, and sense organs. It opens the door to intuitive knowledge and to other realms of reality. When your mind becomes calm and steady, inner peace becomes real and part of your experience.

With practice, duality disappears and Samadhi, or the superconscious state, is reached. Be patient and consistent, because reaching this state takes a long time, but what you acquire along the way, such as clarity and inner peace, are just as priceless.

Important Guidelines for Meditation

* As purity begins with the physical body, cleanse your body before meditation.

* The seat for meditation or asana should be made of wool on the bottom and cotton cloth on the top. Avoid sitting on the bare ground, since your energy may be drained off, and-most importantly-do not share your asana with anyone.

* Regularity of time, place, and practice are important, as they condition your mind to slow down, paving the path to deeper levels of meditation. Ten minutes every day is better than one hour every now and then.

* The best times to meditate are early dawn and dusk, when the atmosphere is quiet and charged with special spiritual energy. If it is not possible to sit for meditation at these times, choose a specific time and stick to it everyday.

* Try to have a separate room for meditation. As meditation is repeated, the energy will increase and the atmosphere will be filled with peace and purity.

* When sitting, face North or East in order to take advantage of favorable magnetic vibrations.

* Sit in a steady, comfortable, cross-legged position with the spine and neck straight but not tense.

* Keep your breathing rhythmic: inhale for three seconds and exhale for three seconds. The breath, the prana (vital force) and the mind are connected. Regulating and controlling one will regulate and control the other.

* Do not force your mind to be still, as this will just set in motion more thought waves. Allow it to wander without focusing or following any thought, by concentrating on a mantra (word of power) or specific technique. With practice, it will eventually become still.

* Select a focal point for your mind to rest. Most people choose the Ajna chakra (third eye), as it is close to the eyes and easy to focus on. Eventually, you may choose the Anahata (heart) chakra to go deeper.

* If you are not using a mantra, you can also focus on a neutral or uplifting object or image while concentrating on your breath as you inhale and exhale.

* Attempt to live a pure, pious, sattvic life. Treat your body as a temple. Strive to eat pure, nutritious food and avoid intoxicants. A vegetarian diet will certain decrease toxic energy and accelerate your spiritual development.

Yol Swan is an Intuitive Spiritual Counselor & Life Purpose Coach helping people understand who they are and what their purpose is, to heal emotionally and achieve their dreams. Her expertise of over 27 years includes: Intuitive Spiritual Counseling, Life Purpose Coaching, Distant Energy Healing, Numerology, Meditation, Emotional Freedom techniques, Vedic and Metaphysical Sciences, and Spiritual Tools for Self-Growth. She offers services in person and long distance, and is currently writing a self-help book to reach a broader audience. Book a service online now! Or visit Intuitive Spiritual Counseling for more information and resources.

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