Review: Reiki and the Healing Buddha – Maureen J. Kelly

Reiki and the Healing Buddha – Maureen J. Kelly
Full Circle, 2001, 206pp, 8176210323.

It’s rare to find a book that as soon as I see it I want it. It’s even rarer to find a book that as soon as I see it and realize how horrible it will be I want it, but I’m a masochist and this book didn’t disappoint in this respect. The basic premise of this fairy tale book is that Reiki is actually an ancient Buddhist form of healing, and if you connect all the pieces you can realize that. The author leads us through her exploration of different traits of the Healing Buddha and his practice, and Reiki, and how they link in her mind.

So where to start with this book? First let’s tackle the title. “Reiki and the Healing Buddha,” the healing Buddha refers to Sangay Menla, or Bhaishajya Guru, also known as the Medicine Buddha. The cover of the text has a picture of Chenrezig on it though, a completely different figure. Why? Frankly I think it suits how much the author knows about both Buddhism and Reiki, but let’s build that case.

The author thanks Mikao Usui (founder of Reiki) for “rediscovering Reiki, for bringing it out of the Buddhist monastery” (iii) which would imply Reiki wasn’t created by Usui-sensei, and that Buddhists were hiding it all this time. What a fun fantasy. Strange that there are no Buddhist texts or teachings that match the idea of Reiki as energy healing. Also it makes perfect sense for monks, being the horrible people that they are, to keep the secrets of health to themselves, let everyone else suffer is the motto of the Buddhist monks, right?

“Because Reiki comes from Buddhism…”(11) at this point in the book she’s made no case that Reiki has anything to do with Buddhism, you’re just supposed to trust her, but the way she creates evidence would be frightening if it weren’t hilarious. Some may just be translations and traditions, like her chart of the Buddhas and their colours and directions being wrong (14), but others is just made up. “The Reiki Master symbol can be found within the first two vows made by the Healing Buddha” (23) which she later explains that when the Medicine Buddha says “I have been born into the world” (26) it really means being initiated with the “Reiki Master symbol” (27), because that’s not a stretch, and being born is too obvious. She constantly tries to link ideas, but can never support, and rarely explains. For instance she takes four of the eight symbols in the ashtamangala, decides they are the real important ones, and that they secretly represent the four Reiki symbols (50). She very briefly explains it later, but it is literally less than one sentence for each connection (77). She explains the idea of paying for Reiki (which the insistence on it purely a Western thing) comes from the Healing Buddha sutra that says people won’t understand the Medicine Buddha’s teaching unless they pay for it (193). Admittedly it’s been a while since I read that, but I don’t remember that, and it seems not to be the right attitude. I guess it’s let everyone else suffer, unless they can afford my hourly rate?

Her knowledge of Buddhism is flawed, she makes reference to the Earth Goddess in Buddhism (who is the same as Sekhmet, Isis, Mary, Hera, and so on (31)), and that Chenrezig became Tara because there wasn’t a female Bodhisattva (32) which if you know the stories of Tara’s first vow is more insulting to women than anything. Since she believes Reiki is Buddhist she recommends the readers just go out and get Buddhist initiations (34/35) because it’s not like it’s a religion and you should take it seriously, and it’s not like these initiations have vows you have to obey for the rest of your life and should be thought out and prepared for. Her sources and translations are just as odd as everything else, according to her in the sutra of the Healing Buddha untimely death is caused by “illness treated by hoodoo.” (38) It’s a little known fact that the ancient Buddhists of India hated hoodoo, totally true.

Her Reiki understanding is just as bad, but it’s typical for what you’d see from a practitioner of a Takata-lineage of Reiki. What surprises me is she’s somewhat aware of the history and process, but ignores it. She mentions how there are twelve hand positions, but some teach twenty-seven or more, and they may not be part of the original system of Reiki. (They weren’t, they were added in by Hayashi because some students were too “dull” to sense where Reiki needed to be) Despite this, she still explains that these twelve are really and truly representations of the Twelve Yaksha generals (51) despite the fact that there weren’t in the original system or created by Usui-sensei (sorry, “rediscovered”). (Sidenote: “Rediscovered” irks me throughout the book, nowhere does she make a case for Reiki being a pre-existent tradition, so it cannot be rediscovered. It can be Buddhist inspired (and it was to a degree, but not how she thinks) but that doesn’t make it a “rediscovery” any more than my version of my mom’s vanilla cake is a “rediscovery” of what cake is.) She mentions there is no proof that Usui-sensai studied at Chicago University, or headed a Christian school in Japan (147) (he did neither) but then goes on to explain that he studied at Chicago University and headed a Christian school in Japan (149) because she likes that story, creatively ignoring of facts, even after she discredits them. She also claims that once you reach the “third degree” you have to pick a higher being “similar to or the same as Angels” (129) to work with, and idea so removed and alien from Reiki it boggles me, but hey it supports her idea to connect it to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas so why not?

She has gems of logic like “The Power symbol is the only Reiki symbol which does not come from a written language which may mean that it is older than most written languages” (84) which is another hilarious jump in logic. It’s not a word, so obviously it’s pre-text, that’s right, Reiki now goes back to before writing existed. Or that the “Mental/Emotional symbol” is actually Long A from the Gupta Alphabet (96), but if you know your symbols, go look at the alphabet, see if you agree. She also spends a surprising amount of time analyzing clockwise and counter-clockwise symbols and how horrible clockwise is to our bodies (86) unfortunately for her the original symbol she’s talking about was clockwise, somewhere in Takata’s lineage it got reversed. Or that because Manjushri’s text was translated into Chinese (from Pali/Sanskrit) in the third century, it makes sense that he was linked to the Japanese tradition at the time (114), if you understand that, please let me know.

It’s not just Buddhism and Reiki she gets wrong, but reality. “It is my belief that the Rei of Reiki is one of the rays of the light spectrum which has yet to be discovered by scientists.” (6) It’s energy sure, but she lists the entire Electromagnetic Spectrum, and apparently Reiki is hiding beyond the edges somewhere, making it weaker that AM radio, or more powerful Cosmic Rays. Scientizing the occult is one thing, but bad scientizing is horrid. It’s worse, for “scientists have found that memories of things learned by a parent can be passed on to a child through the memories contained in genes.” (104) Which is another fun fantasy. “In quantum physics it is said that quantum waves can go both forward and backward in time” (122) because her science wasn’t bad enough yet. She calls the Mesopotamian religion one of “Light/Life” (13) which means she’s never read anything about it.

All of this bad research and horrible synthesis is made worse by the self-description of “being a very practical, feet on the ground, type of person” (129) who just assumes everything is a sign of ancient Reiki. What gets me is I could have agreed with some parts of her synthesis if she talked about it in terms of personal experience, of unsubstantiated personal gnosis, or personal symbolism. By trying way way too hard to pretend to be well researched and historical, whatever value she put forth in this book was ruined. While I picked this book up not expecting anything good, it was horrible to a degree I didn’t expect, and even for that perverse pleasure I don’t recommend this text be bought by anyone.

If I were to sum up her logic and argument in a simple image it would be this:

Mala Divination

I was trying to find a website explaining Tenmo (mala divination or ‘phrengbamo for Wylie fans) for a friend of mine to save me having to write up this entry. While I found many pages talking about it, they all seem to have been copying from the same errant source. I don’t mean it’s a different system and thus can’t work in a spiritual sense, I mean the source they’re copying doesn’t physically work. What does this mean? It means I’m writing this entry when I was trying not to.

So I’ve talked about malas once or twice before but I didn’t talk much on the divination side of it. I don’t use it much, I’d rather stick with my dice or my tarot, but on the other hand I always have my malas on, so if I really need an answer quickly when I’m out and about I can turn to my mala, and for that purpose knowing how to do this is a great help.

To begin the divination say the mantra of the figure you want to ask the question to for a complete japamala (108 times, a complete count on the mala). Traditionally that’s Manjushri being the Buddha of Wisdom, though any figure you work with who may be more relevant may be used. Personally I perform the permutations of the Divine Name (IAOAOIOIAAIOIOAOAI) and say a quick prayer to my Holy Guardian Angel.

Once this is done ask your question, when you see how the responses are formulated later you’ll get a sense on how to phrase the questions, but it is largely yes/no. Then hold the mala between your hands and grab two beads at random, and stretch the section without the guru or triple gem bead(s) out. There are two methods from here (and this is where other sources have messed up), you count the beads toward the centre by groups of three until you are left with one, two, or three beads. The left hand represents wisdom, so in some traditions you only count the beads by three with the left hand. Others have you alternate left, then right, repeat until you have three or less beads left. I use the left hand only method, the point is to count off three beads toward the centre until you can’t do so anymore.

One bead is called ‘The Falcon,’ two beads is ‘The Raven,’ and three is ‘The Snowlion.’ From here the answers are quite simple. When you receive the Falcon it means that the God/Protector/Spirit you called on approves of the action and give it their blessing. It also symbolizes good luck and favourable circumstances. The Raven means they don’t approve, will not help, and there will be obstructions. Raven can also be a sign of sickness and weakness. The Snowlion means you have some support, but it is more passive/neutral, results will be slower coming. To oversimplify Falcon is Yes, Raven is No, and Snowlion is Maybe…but.

You can adapt this with other number systems. For instance I use this for elemental divination. I use the same process, but instead I count by fours, leaving me with a result 1-4 and each number relates to element and that gives me the theme of my answer. This can be made more complex by combining multiple elemental readings or mixing elements and qualities, or elements and planets.

So as mentioned it’s a simple system, but it’s handy because if you wear or keep a mala with you, you can get an answer anywhere on the go. Though as mentioned it’s also something you can customize with other number/symbol systems if you want to use the idea but the Falcon/Raven/Snowlion symbolism doesn’t appeal to you.

Review: Tantra Yoga Secrets – Mukunda Stiles

Tantra Yoga Secrets: Eighteen Transformational Lessons to Serenity, Radiance, and Bliss. – Mukunda Stiles
Weiser, 2011, 361pp., 9781578635030

“Tantra has been greatly misunderstood, particularly in the West, where it is perceived primarily as sacred sexuality. This view is what I seek to transform with this book, so that the reader will not only understand but experience the wholeness of this path to communion” (4).

This opening line had me greatly reassured about this book. Tantra is horribly misrepresented, so honestly I was a bit apprehensive to read this book, but I quickly realized that Mukunda Stiles understood the nature of tantra and was not writing another crappy book on sex pretending to be ancient spirituality.

Now, too be clear, there can be sex involved in tantra, and this book has sexual exercises in it, but sex is just a small part of the system. “Tantra is not better sex. Tantra is sadhana to be free of karma” (271). Stiles also touches on how the system’s sexual aspects can be used if one is celibate/asexual, or if one is in a same-sex relationship, which might seem like a minor point, but is wonderful to see included.

So if tantra is more than just sex, what is this book about? “Sharing and being with Chinnamasta is to me the living experience of the mysterious delight of Tantra, that is continuously arising and expanding as the sacred tremor of the tantric spanda” (xi). Tantra is a religious path, considered a rapid path to enlightenment. The focus of tantra is about overcoming your restrictions, and self-transformation, through prana (energy) work, meditation, and mental development.

“These eighteen lessons are specifically designed to reveal your limitations” (xiv) and cover everything from sensing the flow of prana in your body, to healing with prana, learning how to use mantras, physical conditioning, and prayer. The book moves along at a quick pace, recommend no more than two weeks per lesson. If you’re looking for a system to work with and develop through that has clear exercises and timelines this is a great book to start with. Each chapter ends with a Question and Answer section with questions that Stiles has collected from internet correspondences and personal communication and classes, more than once a question that hit me throughout the chapter was clarified in this section.

What impressed me most was the seriousness and understanding of Stiles in regards to tantra and the limitations of the medium of text. “These Tantrik teachings rest on a cornerstone of experiential knowledge gained over the ages by the men and women of this lineage. That knowledge can only be summarized and pointed to in book form” (xiv). Also that “Chaitanya mantras are the most popular mantras given and yet, without empowerment from the teacher, they don’t produce the desired result. It is like having a lamp, but not plugging it into a circuit” (107). It is a pleasant surprise to see a book that explains it is not, and cannot be, the substitute for a properly qualified teacher, that some techniques are offered hypothetically and will only become alive with person-to-person transmissions.

While this book has a few problems, including referencing important exercises that are included in other books, but not explained here, for the most part it is quite excellent. It may not cover the academic scope, or the theoretical cosmology that some people look for in tantra, when it comes to experiential work and self-development this book is amazing. To anyone with interest in a tantric path, or beginning self-work to overcome limitations, this is most definitely the book I would recommend for that.

Welcome to Your Mind (Part III)

(This is part three of three based upon a workshop I did. The first entry was on anapana. The second entry was on maitri meditation.)

So this meditation, Jung wa thim rim, has less of a clear background compared to the other ones discussed. It’s a Vajrayana technique though it may possibly be Bön in origin. The basis of this meditation is found in the terma text of Lama Karma Lingpa, the Bardo Thödol or commonly called ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead.’ According to the myths this text was left behind by Guru Padmasambhava, called by some the Second Buddha, a famous Tantric Buddhist master in the Tibetan tradition.

Now this is a bit more of a complex meditation, and many would argue you need to have a developed level of focus to be able to do this properly. I agree to an extent, I also know that some of us have better abilities in some areas over others, and to some who can’t hold the focus of anapana initially the complexity of this meditation may keep their mind engaged. It’s also a great meditation because it can be done very simply, and then you can “scale up” the complexity as you get better at it.

Jungwa thim rim is the Dissolution of the Elements. Our bodies; physical, mental, spiritual, whatever are made up of the five elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Space. These elements permeate the entire body, but they are also localized in structures and functions. Earth is Bone, Water is Blood and Bile, Air is Breath, Fire is the Nervous system and digestion. The elements are also located in the five lower chakras. Now the Tibetan chakra system is slightly different from the Hindu tantric system that people are familiar with (at least a bastardized version of…), there is one less centre. So they are the Root, Navel, Heart, Throat, Third Eye, Crown. The Naval and Solar Plexus are considered one centre, though if it is above or below the navel is an argument. Really you can use whatever system you’re used to though.

The lowest centre is Earth, above that Water, above that Fire, above that Air, above that Space. This is the order of their density or solidity. These elements make us up, and they sustain us, but if they get out of balance, corrupted, or stagnant they can mess us up, energetically, physically, mentally, and emotionally. When we die these elements break down in three sets, dying, death, and decomposition, but they also dissolve to a lesser degree when we go to sleep, or astral project. By deconstructing the elements we break down these imbalances and corruptions, and can let a proper balance and flow re-establish itself.

Each element has a shape and colour associated with it. It also have physical sensations and mental images connected to it. To start with you only need to be clear on the shape and colour, use the 2D shape if you need to, but try to work up to the 3D shape.

Earth is a yellow square/cube. Water is a white circle/sphere. Fire is a red triangle/tetrahedron. Air is a green half-circle/half-sphere. Space is a blue dot. These are stacked up in the five lower centres. They will dissolve upwards into the element/centre above them. The more understanding and meaning you can invest in the process of dissolution the better. So if you start off with just thinking Earth/Yellow/Cube that’s fine, but if you can really understand everything that is Earth about you dissolving, that’s better. So here is the basic meditation.

The Earth Cube dissolves, like crumbling brick and blowing sand it moves up into the Water Sphere, and with it goes all the associations of Earth in the Self. The Water Sphere dissolves, it dries up and evaporates and moves up into the Fire Tetrahedron, and with it goes all the associations of Water in the Self. The Fire Tetrahedron dissolves, it burns itself up and the smoke rises up into the Air Half-sphere, and with it goes all the associations of Fire in the Self. The Air Half-sphere dissolves, it simply dissolves spreading out into infinite space until there is nothing, and with it goes all the associations of Air in the Self. Now rest in Space, relax in meditation and avoid mental chatter as long as possible.

Now, from here you can let the elements reform on their own, they’ll naturally re-establish themselves after a while, though you may feel a bit out of it for a while as they do. If you want more control, or need to do something afterwards without the woogity feeling, you just reverse the process to construct the elements. Air condenses, Fire springs up, Water condenses, Earth forms.

If you want to complicate it a bit when you’re better at it as I mentioned the elements are associated with physical sensations and inner sights, which you can include in your meditation in order to make the process more intense.

When Earth dissolves it is accompanied by a lack of strength and a sinking sensation. The inner vision is that of a heat mirage, vision becomes wavy like over hot cement in the summer. As Water dissolves it becomes harder to hear, the mouth goes dry, and your emotions become still. The inner vision becomes cloudy like it is filled with smoke. When Fire dissolves your breathing becomes slow, and a bit difficult, smells fade, and thoughts become harder to focus on. With it comes the inner vision of sparks, like looking over the top of a bonfire as sparks of light just from the fire. Lastly as Air dissolves breathing becomes slow and still, and your body is unable to move. The inner vision is like light from a candle, gentle, warm, and wavering. When you reach the point of resting in Space it is accompanied by a physical and mental stillness, but also a vastness that your mind and body aren’t limited in themselves, but are far larger spreading out into infinite space. The inner vision here is clear brilliant light dawning on and through all things.

So you can see how this meditation can be done on a more basic level, but with work and focus it can become a more intense and complete experience. It’s great for a lot of general maintenance and wellness, but for occultists who do practices requiring inner clarity, such as Traditional Japanese Reiki, channelling/mediumship, skrying, and the like, it’s a great way to clear things out so that you’re not interfering.

Hoping this works on WordPress, but my final cliffnotes.

Element	Colour	Shape	Sign	Vision
Space	Blue	Point/Flame	Mental and physical stillness and vastness	Clear dawning
Air	Green	Half-circle/sphere	Slow/still breath, unable to move	Candle light
.Fire	Red	Triangle/Tetrahedron	Slow/difficult breathing, lack of mental clarity, smells fade	Sparks
Water	White	Circle/Sphere	Emotional stillness, hard to hear, dry mouth	Smoke
Earth	Yellow	Square/Cube	Lack of strength, sinking sensation	Heat mirage

More on the Magick of Malas

I’ve been getting more and more questions about malas. It started with my original post on malas but it has been increasing since I opened up my little shop on etsy (currently on sale until noon tomorrow, check out my previous post) and people have been asking more. Last time I spoke more on malas traditionally, now I’d like to talk a bit more about my personal adaptations with malas.

As mentioned before malas are like batteries, they store the energy of the work you do inside of them, and if they are consecrated and attuned with an energy they retain that. This is a technique I use primarily with my planetary, elemental, and chthonic malas, as they all connect and relate to a specific type of energy. But something similar could be worked out with any mala.

Yes, kinda like this. I’m aware I’m a nerd.

Holding the mala stretched out between my hands forming a long oval, I reach into the forces residing into the mala (and sometimes refreshing it adding in some new energy) and I cycle that energy along the string, then I focus on having it jump the gap. Much like an electric shock, just a little zap jumping from a bead on the top to the bottom, or vice verse, and I do this spreading it out until between the beads of the mala, in the opening, is a screen or veil of the energy type of the mala, the sparking unites into a single harmonious flow. For lack of a better or cool name I call this the mala-field. (To me this looks like a cross between the Guardian of Forever Gateway, and the Stargate, a cloudy rippling veil-like surface)

Now if I’m doing something simple, I just need a short answer, or just want to do a quick prayer, I pull the mala down over my head, so my head passes through that veil. I then find communicating and seeing spirits of that sort (so fire elementals if I’m using my fire mala, or shades of the dead if I’m using my chthonic mala) is a lot easier, it is as though I’ve encased my head in a bubble of their reality.

If I’m doing something a bit more lengthy and complex, like petitioning, or summoning it is a bit different. Once I have the mala charged in the same way I place it on the ground (or table, or tombstone, whatever) sometimes in the shape of a circle, sometimes the shape of a triangle. Instead of encasing myself in a bubble of their reality, I’ve created a limited space that joins our realities, a place where the elemental/planetary/spirit realm intersects our realm a little easier, or perhaps I’ve just created an area of specialized energy to their type that makes them manifesting here easier (similar to some theories about the use of appropriate incense in evocation).

My Cosmic mala over my triangular skrying mirror

Then I call them into the mala-field and communicate with them that way. Without some extra work, this does not function like a Solomonic triangle, it won’t keep anything in that doesn’t want to stay in that space, though they’re weaker outside of it, so unless you have some form of backup, or don’t mind the fun/challenge I’d avoid summoning unfriendly spirits this way. This method can also be used to drape a mala around a skrying mirror to “tune” it into a specific place/energy/spirit. You can either put it directly on the mirror like in the picture, or put it in a circle around the mirror. I find results are largely the same.

I’ve been taught that the left hand is receptive and the right hand is projective (though I suspect that is more about dominant hands), and I find wearing a mala with that in mind takes on another facet. Granted a good 90% of the time I just put the mala on, and that’s it, but sometimes I want to do more. In that case I’ll animate the mala like I mentioned above, activating it, drawing out the forces placed inside of it. Then depending on what I want to do, I’ll put it on. If it is something I want to bring into my life or retain internally I wrap it around my left wrist (being receptive). I see that veil covering my hand and the energy washing up my arm into me. This can also be used to start the motion of an energy transfer, so if you want to draw from the Moon, either to use or to recharge a Lunar mala (as an example) when wearing it on the left, if you’ve started to draw it in from the mala it’s easy to switch to an external source of fire and the draw continues, like priming a siphon pump.

If it is something I want to project into the world, then I wrap it around my right wrist, gathering the energy around my hand. From there I can use this to passively embody traits that I pass into the world, or can use it to actively influence things. By connecting to the energy in my Venusian mala, I can project that into people I touch, or in close proximity to help influence them in my favour. Connecting to my Martial or Saturnian mala, depending on the situation, I can use that to create forms to help keep people I don’t want around from engaging me.

That’s only three of the different ways I use malas, but I thought I’d start with them as they’re simple and versatile. I’ll probably be writing more on malas later since there is more interest in them than initially expected, so if you have any questions or topics you want discussed toss them in the comments and I’ll try to include them next time.

Welcome to Your Mind (Part II)

(This is part two of a series based upon a workshop I recently presented with a friend of mine. The first entry which is an introduction to meditation and how to perform anapana)

Now we’ll be focusing on a form of meditation called Maitri. Maitri is Sanskrit, though the Pali form of the name, Metta, is also very common, the name roughly means loving-kindness, which isn’t quite right, but it is in the ballpark. Not surprisingly it exists with many subtle variations between schools, sects, and vehicles, but the basic concept is the same. Maitri first appears on the scene in some texts that are dated to around the BCE/CE crossover, and that text claims to the meditation is older, but as a historian I can’t trust that without anything to support that claim.

Taken from Sinfest with loving-kindness http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3409

Maitri is basically the meditation of sending out loving-kindness to various people, and the world. There are two schools of thought regarding this; there is the mystical school, and the psychological school. The mystical school believes that this meditation is actually helping people, there is some benefit through the actions of sending out loving-kindness, you are actually doing something external. The psychological school believes it’s all a mental/emotional exercise, but that it trains you to be a better person. I can’t find the quotation, but the Dalai Lama once said something to the effect of “I perform maitri every morning. I don’t know if it helps others, but it helps me become a better person.”

By offering without attachment you loosen your attachments, establish mental stability, and develop compassion. With anapana we mentioned that learning to observe and be non-attached allows you to act on situations, rather than react. By overcoming habitual patterns (such as who we do and more importantly don’t offer good will to) we free ourselves to be able to choose how we respond in a situation, rather than acting the way we’ve been programmed by society, our upbringing, family, and experiences.

This meditation can be performed as a seated meditation or a walking meditation, but it can also be easily stream-lined to perform in public. So when someone shoves against you on the bus, rather than react in annoyance, anger, and shanking, you can take a moment to offer this person maitri, loving-kindness. As you offer more and more maitri you become more compassionate, but also more emotionally and mentally stable, even empathic. It surprises a lot of people who know me that I do maitri as part of my daily practice, considering I hate pretty much everyone, but trust me things are a lot better now that I do (my shanking is at an all time low).

Traditionally in maitri you start by offering loving-kindness to yourself. Unfortunately if you have low self-esteem or self-worth this can make the first offering feel hollow, and really you have to start off this meditation as sincere as possible, the effectiveness and sincere generosity of the beginning of the meditation is crucial for the later stages. So if you don’t think you’re worth this meditation and what it offers, just put your name lower on the list.

The meditation itself is simple, essentially you “summon” various people to you and offer them what are called “the four immeasurables” and you repeat this several times with different people. The four immeasurable are loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity. There are four common phrases associated with this meditation, one for each immeasurable.

May _____ find happiness, and the source of happiness. (Loving-kindness)
May _____ find release from suffering, and release from the source of suffering. (Compassion)
May _____ never be separate from happiness free of suffering. (Joy)
May _____ abide in equanimity free from attachment, passion, and aggression. (Equanimity)

Now when you offer this to people you can offer it as something concrete. If you know what would make them happy you can visualize them receiving that, if you know what would release their suffering you can visualize them receiving that. If you don’t know you can offer them something like the Wish Fulfilling Jewel, a magick object that will become whatever they need. Or maybe you give them a box, knowing that whatever is inside will be what it needs to be.

My personal visualizations when I don’t have something concrete to offer is for loving-kindness I give them a wish fulfilling jewel. For compassion I see cords of slow-draining-stagnant junk being cut from their bodies leaving them free. For joy I see them holding the wish fulfilling jewel and its light is keeping those stagnant cords of suffering at bay. Lastly for equanimity I see them standing waist deep in a pool of water that has no waves.

So the last piece of the puzzle is who’re you gonna call? (Sorry, had to)

To start off with maitri you call upon yourself. See yourself, and offer the four immeasurables as mentioned above, using those phrases.

After you’ve offered to yourself (or skipped yourself because you don’t feel worth it) call upon someone you truly love. Usually the texts say your mother, or your children, but family, lovers, and the best of friends work here. Offer this person the four immeasurables.

Now offer it to someone you like, friends, family you’re not as close to, co-workers, or good neighbours. Give them the four immeasurable.

Next you offer it to someone neutral. That cashier that helped you this morning, the bus driver, that jogger you passed on the way to work. Someone that has no emotional impact to you. Offer them, as sincerely as you can the blessing of the four immeasurables.

This is perhaps the hardest part. Pick someone you dislike, the more you hate them the better. If you think of someone and suddenly think “Oh no, not them!” Yes! Offer it to them, get over your aversion and give them the gifts of this meditation. Getting over the habit of aversion is part of the goal of this meditation. If you honestly can’t think of someone in your life, pick a “bigger” person, a politician or criminal that you know of that’s doing things you really can’t agree with. Offer them, again, as sincerely as you can, the blessing of the four immeasurables.

The final step of maitri is to offer it to everyone you can. Some people visualize the world here, some the galaxy, or a super-cluster, whatever the biggest image of reality you can conjure in your mind is fine, if you can only manage your country, or continent, that’s fine, if you’re hitting solar systems and galaxies and other realms of the Cosmos, all the better. Now offer everyone, everything, everywhere the four immeasurables.

When you’re done take a moment to just rest in that feeling of generousity and kindness. And you’re done.

Cliffnotes:
May _____ find happiness, and the source of happiness. (Loving-kindness)
May _____ find release from suffering, and release from the source of suffering. (Compassion)
May _____ never be separate from happiness free of suffering. (Joy)
May _____ abide in equanimity free from attachment, passion, and aggression. (Equanimity)

Yourself
Someone you truly love
Someone you like
A neutral person
Someone you dislike
Everyone

Taken from Sinfest with loving-kindness http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3409

Stay tuned, next time we’re jumping forward a thousand years and seeing what Padmasambhava can teach us about meditation.

Wednesday Webshare: Zombies, Tombs, and Temples

Need help predicting how to survive the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse? Try the Zombie Apocalypse Tarot for advice.

As someone who performs a fair amount of magick in cemeteries, and often leaves offerings I enjoyed reading What’s Buried in that Graveyard another great post from the Cemetery Traveler

For the more artistic I want to share this beautiful painting The Conjurer of a magickian conjuring demons according to the Solomonic tradition, the attention to detail is delightful, I’m ordering a print soon.

Hrafn over at Weaving Wyrd wrote a good article about The Okay Plateau and the Occult and it’s worth considering what to do when we get to that plateau and can’t seem to get past it.

Sometimes you need a smack to get your head back in the game, sometimes you need drivel. Taking buzzwords from the drivel advice master and automating them gives up The Wisdom of Chopra, the random quote generator of Chopra-esque wisdom. And remember “Nature is the continuity of humble self-knowledge.”

In a Buddhist Temple in Malaysia the traditional ancestor tablets are being replaced with digital ones. Considering some of the views of technology, information, and cyber space held by some forms and practitioners of Buddhism, this makes sense, and is a neat step.

I’ve loved the idea of the John Dee opera since I first heard of it. While Gordon went to it, and gives us an awesome play by play, so jealous he could see it.

Welcome to Your Mind (Part I)

(This entry is based on a recent workshop I presented with a friend of mine. It is partially written from my notes, and partially transcribed. While my friend’s section of the workshop on Zen was fascinating I’ve left out his section as it is his intellectual property and I am not a Zen Buddhist so would feel ill-equipped to discuss it)

It seems no matter where you are in the spiritual/occult community one piece of advice always comes up: meditate. “I don’t know what to do about this.” Meditate. “I can’t see or hear the angels clearly.” Meditate. “My energy is unfocused.” Meditate. “Who is my spirit guide?” Meditate. “I keep getting distracted from my practice.” Meditate. Meditate, meditate, meditate. This is the piece of advice I see over and over and over and over again. Pretty much whatever the problem is, someone will suggest meditation. Don’t know how to meditate and you ask them? Their response? Meditate!

What is meditation? People toss around that word, and they don’t explain what this is, how to meditate, and it gets really frustrating to watch as it’s repeated like a mindless mantra. It’s counterproductive to toss out this advice repeatedly. So while there are many reasons to meditate, one of the reasons I wanted to teach this workshop was to actually share how to meditate in some different forms. Not all meditations do the same thing, or appeal in the same way, that’s why I’m presenting a variety of forms.

To start off with I’ll be discussing anapana meditation, which is the earliest documented form of meditation within Buddhism. Mythically according to Theravadan sects it is considered the form of meditation that Siddhartha Gautama used to achieve enlightenment and become the Buddha. The name just means breathing, as that is the focus of the meditation, and it is sometimes called anapanasati meaning awareness of breathing.

The basic theory behind anapana meditation is that we’re a bundle of corrupted karma and sankara, in modern terms you could roughly say neurosis and conditioning, which isn’t to remove the spiritual aspect of karma/sankara but more explain how they affect our life. They interfere with our emotional and mental well being, and when we let them interfere we actually reinforce them and increase them. By becoming aware of them we can let them occur without feeding them. It is as if they are fuel to a fire, every time we act on this karma/sankara we toss more fuel into the fire, but if we just observe them at let it occur then the fire consumes the fuel rather than being fed more. Anapana is a very grounded meditation, it works off the idea that we can’t meditate on abstract ideas, so we meditate on the body and sensations because those are relatively concrete. Instead of meditating on our emotions, we focus on where and how the emotions interface with our body. Karma/sankara act as conditioned responses, and the majority of our actions are based in them, but by releasing them we develop a greater ability to choose how to act, rather than reacting.

To perform anapana sit comfortably. Any seated posture will do as long as it can be maintained and is comfortable. Picture a triangle starting at the top of your nose between your brows, going down to the corners of your mouth, this is the arena that we use for anapana. Breathe normally, don’t try to breathe deeply, or slowly, let breath happen. Now observe physical sensations within that triangle, what do you feel? The subtle shift in temperature as you breathe in and out? The soft rush against your nostrils? An itch on the top of your nose? At first you may not feel anything, that isn’t because there is no sensation there, only that your mind is too unfocused to feel something so subtle. Don’t count the breaths, or think “In-Out,” just let them happen. This entire meditation is about observing and letting happen. If your nose itches don’t scratch it, don’t get annoyed, just “watch” the itch with your awareness. Any sensation you have, don’t reject it, don’t accept it, don’t react, only observe it until it fades away. As you gain greater focus change the arena, only do from the nostrils down, or eventual just observing the nostrils.

Now rather quickly you’ll realize you stopped paying attention to your breath and that’s okay, simply note that you are distracted and resume the focus on your breathing. To keep the mind focused on the breath for a while is a challenge, you may not even make it ten seconds, and that’s fine, as long as you realize you got distracted and bring your attention back. Like physical sensations don’t judge these distracting thoughts, or the act of distraction, don’t get upset you’re failing, because you’re not, simply bring your focus back to the breath. A teacher once told me “true meditation isn’t the ability to control focus, but the moment you realize you’ve lost focus and regain it.” You will get distracted, a lot, but when it happens bring your focus back to your breath, and you’ll find after a while you’ll get distracted less, and catch your wandering mind sooner, it just takes practice.

There is an advanced “sibling” of anapana called vipassana, but you can’t perform vipassana without having a really good handle on anapana. Vipassana means clear-seeing, and if you’re proficient at anapana, you can move onto it. Much like you focused on just your nostrils in anapana, in vipassana you pick a general area of the body (scalp, face, neck) and observe the bodily sensations there. Then as you become more proficient you shrink the area of focus until you’re watching your body in segments as small as a finger nail, and seeing what sensations arise there. To give a sense of how proficient one should be to begin vipassana, if you attend a retreat at a Vipassana Centre run by S.N. Goenka, for three days straight, over twelve hours a day, you practice anapana, only after that intensive (and it is intense) can you even struggle to begin vipassana. So don’t think you can jump into vipassana right away, and if you think you can and have, you’re deceiving yourself about the level of focus and awareness you have developed.

Next entry we jump ahead a few centuries and start spreading the love.

Review: Vajrayogini – Elizabeth English

Vajrayogini: Her Visualizations, Rituals, and Forms – Elizabeth English
Wisdom Publications. 2002. 563pp. 086171329X.

Vajrayogini is one of the primary female figures of Vajrayana Buddhism. Her practice stems from the earliest reaches of Tantric Buddhism and continues to be popular to this day. Beautiful and fierce, loving and powerful. This massive tome is all about her. Let me make this clear though, this text is academic, it’s adapted from a thesis, nearly 600 pages. If you’re curious about Vajrayogini, this isn’t the book for you, if you’re a practitioner of her sadhanas, this still might not be the book for you, but if you’re very serious about understanding her, this is the book for you. (Or if you have a lama like mine who insisted I read this as part of my preparation for her empowerment.)

This book isn’t about Vajrayogini in general, but specifically focusing on her appearance in a twelfth or thirteenth century manuscript that collected sadhanas devoted to her. English states that “I hope the book will serve a double purpose: examining, from out textual evidence, the cult of Vajrayogini in India prior to 1200 C.E., and shedding light on tantric sadhana meditation” (xx). She accomplishes both goals quite well, it’s dense and academic, but thorough and well laid out.

The text follows the origins of the wrathful and erotic in Tantric Buddhism to Saiva praxis. Saiva mythology being adapted into a Buddhist cosmology is explained in a way that really clarifies a lot of the history and connection between the traditions. For those of us who practice Vajrayogini sadhanas and/or rituals of emanations of her (like Machik in some conceptions) there is an explanation of 17 different forms and emanations of Vajrayogini and what they mean and represent and where they came from. For the symbolism of figures like Vajrayogini this is the most detailed and complete writing on the topic I’ve ever come across.

Moving from the figure of Vajrayogini herself English explores the sadhana, breaking it down into smaller parts, while offering remarkably in-depth analysis of these sections. From benedictions, to creating the Circle of Protection, to Generating Vajrayogini to the mandala, and into specific practices. This is 110 pages of how to do the basic rituals, while that might sound like it will teach you, it requires a lot of prior knowledge to understand how to assemble and use all this information.

As someone who has been practicing chöd for coming up on two years, this book was very insightful due to the connection of Machik (founder of chöd) being an emanation of Vajrayogini. This is a book that takes a lot to read, it is long, complicated, and dense, but for those serious in their practice it is a great text to read, though one that will constantly have to be referred to in order to make use of the massive amount of information there in. If you’re interested in the tradition and history of Tantric Buddhism this text also has a lot to offer.

Wednesday Webshare: Sigils, Synesthesia, and Psychic Murders

Robert made a good post on the Do’s and Don’ts for Teachers in pagan/magickal groups, also followed by one for students. Regardless of where you think you’re situated, they’re both worth reading.

Wildmind has a list of 10 Things Science and Buddhism say will make you happy. Really only the Buddhist side is sourced, but a list of ten things to consider.

Phil Hine tackles the Energy Model. Now I like the model, but he makes great points on the hypocrisy and poorly thought out way many people use it I think I should go cleanse my shoes, since they were made (unbeknownst to me) by a homophobic company, and I don’t want my feet becoming homophobes.

Before I linked the Buddhist bar. One step better is the Buddhist Strip Bar. Even the pimps are Buddhist there, you can hear them saying Om Mani Peme Hum…or maybe there were saying “Owe money, pay me ho.” (Bad joke, I know)

A Witchcraft-inspired murder in the UK has come to trial. A very disturbing case. The police believe this is an underreported crime, but give no reason for why they believe that.

Shivian Balaris wrote a good post on making a functional grimoire or Book of Shadows. I disagree with using it as a journal, cause I do a lot and have a complicated daily practice, so I go through journals far quicker than I’d want to with a grimoire or Book of Shadows. I have a few books that I’m trying to put into one, right now it seems like a three hole punched binder is my best choice. If you use a book like this it’s worth a read

Coming soon to a book store near you, a pre-teen/teen novel about a boy who discovers he’s quarter Angel. Nephilim tween fantasy is the new thing.

No, seriously, there is another.

This is really a case of an unbalanced individual taking advice the wrong way. Man murders family for his inheritance after a psychic told him riches were coming his way.

If you’re under a rock Gordon put up the Ultimate Sigil Magic Guide and it is seriously worth a read.

Synesthesia may explain how people see auras!

Or not…

An excellent look into elemental work and initiation into them. Really worth the read.

Lastly on a light note, this will be the problem I have with my children