Summarized Transcript
Meditate With A Monk - July 15
Buddhism is for everyone in this world.
Anyone can practice the teachings of the Buddha, regardless of their religion, culture, gender, or anything else.
⭐Can you answer the three Questions of Enlightened Mahinda Thero? ⭐
- Do you have any relatives?
- Are there Non-relatives?
- Is there anyone other than relatives and non-relatives?
What is your answer to the last question?
(Compare your answer with the correct one at the bottom)
Our focus is Scattered. Buddhism helps us focus on ourselves and find happiness & peace within us.
Relaxation of Mind & Body
- Bring your focus to your Body. Be aware of your Body posture.
- Relax your body.
- Slowly close your eyes. Be mindful of the feelings of your body.
- Be mindful of your thoughts. Don’t try to stop your thoughts. Let thoughts come and go.
- The past is over. The future hasn’t come yet. The present moment, too, shall pass.
- Bring your focus to the feelings in your body.
- Be mindful of your natural breath.
Some qualities we should cultivate to improve our meditation practice.
- Patience
- Consistency.
- We should not compare our meditation practice with others.
- Not being worried and frustrated about the distracted thoughts during the meditation practice.
If mind wandering happens during meditation,
- Don’t get disappointed.
- Be mindful of your thoughts.
- Bring your focus again to meditation gently.
- Follow the above steps if it happens again.
- If the mind wandering is too strong, pause the meditation & think the Mind is impermanent, the Mind is not me, not mine, not myself.
A Quick Tip.
Don’t force your mind to focus.
Key points of Bhante Revatha’s talk.
- One of the things that trigger depression is remorse or regret.
- Some people have some remorseful thoughts regarding wrongdoings they have done in the past.
- We must understand that remorseful thoughts or regrets are wrong and unhealthy.
- If remorseful thoughts escalate into depression, it’s not help for us and our beloved ones.
- We must understand we can’t undo our bad deeds by doing another bad thing.
- They try to have some. relief by having those remorseful thoughts or they try to punish themselves with regretful thoughts.
- It doesn’t do any good for anyone. It just makes the situation worse.
- Remorseful thoughts are totally mind-made. It’s all about our ignorance. It’s all about the delusion in our minds. It’s not a real thing.
- If we compare ourselves to some other people, we haven’t even done any bad things in our lives.
- In Buddha’s time, there was a serial killer who killed more than 1000 people. (Aṅgulimālasutta – Story of the Angulimala)
- Out of compassion, Buddha helped him to abandon his wrongdoings and become a Monk. The serial killer became a monk.
- He practiced the teachings of the Buddha and attained enlightenment.
- He got over his evil deeds and remorseful thoughts
- Today Buddhists all over the world venerate that enlightened monk.
- Whenever we have some regrets about our past bad deeds, we can think about this story and move forward with a positive mind.
Verses of Enlightened Angulimala Thero
The one who is negligent in practicing Dhamma (Mindfulness, Meditation & good deeds) before but afterward practices it diligently illuminates this world like the moon freed from the clouds.
If someone closes off their evil actions with the power of wholesome deeds, they illuminate this world like the moon freed from the clouds.
When we have remorseful thoughts about our bad deeds, We can think,
- I have done Bad deeds.
- That’s not right. It’s not good. It’s bad
- I feel remorseful because of it.
- But I can’t undo what I have done.
- Previously, my mind was limited and undeveloped.
- But now I’m developing my mind with the power of meditation &
mindfulness. I spread love & compassion to all beings in this world. - I will never commit those evil deeds again.
- I can do good deeds to make this world a better place.
Please Click here to Download an audio clip of loving-kindness meditation.
Sadu! Sadu! Sadu!
Correct Answer to the 3rd Question of the Enlightened Monk!
Yes, There is one. It’s me.
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