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Namun akan lebih baik apabila navbar yang akan selalu muncul di bagian atas blog kita, bisa dihilangkan, namun sekali lagi apabila navbar tersebut sudah tentu melanggar TOS dari blogger. Maukah blog anda yang sudah anda

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Tugging on Nature is Tugging on all Things.

When one tugs at a single thing in nature, one finds it attached to the rest of the world.

-John Muir

James: I propose that while all environments are helpful, nature is one of the best places to understand interconnection and interdependence. It is sometimes difficult to see the importance of interconnection in the concrete mazes of our cities where we have sacrificed a sense of community on the altar of individuality. It's still possible to witness the interconnection in city life but difficult with all the shiny, bright distractions. Yet walking mindfully through nature's wonders (forests, mountains, jungles and beaches, etc) it is immediately clear that there is a rhythm. There is a well balanced community that exists in a constant state of co-operation. Glaciers feed streams, streams become rivers, which water trees and other plant life.

The green foliage grows high and deep providing ample food for the deer, which in turn shit out seeds for future grass plants elsewhere in the forest providing for a constant migration and survival of that vital plant. It is hard not to feel small in such a intricate yet vast natural system of interdependence. Yet it's not feeling small in a depressing way but rather feeling apart of something. In the city it's as if we are in a sanitized, isolating bubble bouncing erratically without much control but bouncing into one another from time to time. Yet not long enough to form much of a bond.

Often in nature, if one plant goes extinct then it can throw the whole system of interdependence off, which can eventually bring down the entire eco-sytem. We humans are no different but we think we are. We think that we can worship individuality and not face the consequences of living in this illusion. Yet the consequences of basing our culture around individuality couldn't be clearer. We think that man has become so smart that we have mastered nature and don't need her but obviously this is a delusion based on our greed to consume endlessly. Our greed is so ravenous that we are killing our own host--Mother Earth. We are shitting where we eat, sleep and live. Yet like a drug addict destroying the lives of everyone around them, we push on thinking we can out smart nature. Oh foolish man.

~Peace to all beings~

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Walking Meditation Through the Woods.

Feet touch the damp Earth as green, wet leaves stick to well worn heels as they reach a small clearing on the edge of a forest. The smell of Earthy life fills lungs and relaxes muscles. A reverent hush rolls through the emerald forest and the silent figure stops to gaze up into the rain soaked branches just as a cool drop falls upon the fore head--the third eye. The person smiles, breathes deeply and methodically and slowly continues down the meandering path until they disappear into another dense stand of forest as quickly as they appeared. Somewhere a crow announces its arrival.

-By James R. Ure

~Peace to all beings~

PHOTO CREDIT: A misty morning on a section of the Appalachian Trail outside Blairsville on Blood Mountain, the trail’s highest point in Georgia. By Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times.

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The Zen of Pain.

I have from time to time heard of monks who can meditate in the freezing cold and maintain a warm body temperature, and those who have a high threshold for pain. Well, it seems that science has proven that meditation helps reduce pain.

AFP, March 3, 2010

Montreal, Canada -- ZEN meditation helps lower sensitivity to pain by thickening a part of the brain that regulates emotion and painful sensations, according to a study published recently. University of Montreal researchers compared the grey matter thickness of 17 Zen meditators and 18 non-meditators and found evidence that practising the centuries-old discipline can reinforce a central part of the brain called the anterior cingulate. "Through training, Zen meditators appear to thicken certain areas of their cortex and this appears to underlie their lower sensitivity to pain," lead author Joshua Grant said in a statement.

Building on an earlier study, the researchers measured thermal pain sensitivity by applying a heated plate to the calf of participants. This was followed by scanning the brains of subjects with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The MRI results showed central brain regions that regulate emotion and pain were significantly thicker in meditators compared to non-meditators.

James: This isn't news to Buddhism because reports of over-coming pain have been known in Buddhist history for centuries. It is interesting though to see science proving it. It makes sense though that meditation, which regulates the mind would help reduce pain. There is clearly a connection between the mind and body, so it isn't any wonder that Buddhists teach that oneness of body and mind through meditation and mindfulness opens the way for a calmer state of being. This is proving that through meditation one can literally rewire the brain, which surely has something to do with realizing long-term enlightenment.

I have noticed actually a higher pain threshold since beginning my Buddhist practice. I blew it off at first as being pseudo-science experiences but this makes me rethink that position. When I get tattoos I can sit through the pain to where at times it actually feels good!! I think that's in part because I meditate while getting the tattoo. The first few tattoos that I got where quite painful and ironically enough that was a time before I was practicing Buddhist meditation.

This also makes me think of the pain experienced from doing sitting meditation when first starting out or when returning to a dormant practice. Because the more you practice, the less painful it seems to get:

"The often painful posture associated with Zen meditation may lead to thicker cortex and lower pain sensitivity," Grant opined. Several of the meditators tolerated a maximum 53°C produced by a heating plate. They appeared to further reduce their pain partly through slower breathing: 12 breaths per minute versus an average of 15 breaths for non-meditators. "Slower breathing certainly coincided with reduced pain and may influence pain by keeping the body in a relaxed state," Grant said in the earlier study. Ultimately, Zen meditators experience an 18% reduction in pain sensitivity, according to the original study.

James: If everything is interdependent and interconnected then clearly it makes sense that the body can be tempered by the mind when its steered in the right direction. The mind in my opinion isn't entirely useless or bad as some Buddhists might believe. I see it as a wild horse that if tamed, it can accomplish some amazing things. After all, if we shut off the mind completely then we'd be piles of mush unable to be moved to practice compassion, loving-kindness and good will.

ADDENDUM: The blog just surpassed the 400,000 mark of visits--Thanks to everyone for all your visits, comments and conservations. Let's keep it going!! Bowing...

~Peace to all beings~

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Bukti Penghasilan Dari Internet

Teknologi Internet sangat bermanfaat memberikan segala informasi dan dari mana saja informasi, semuanya dapat diperoleh melalui internet. Internet selalu memberikan jawaban atas pertanyaan yang diajukan oleh pengguna internet itu sendiri.



Tidak semua yang ada di internet itu memberikan pengaruh yang baik terhadap pengguna internet, tergantung orang yang memanfaatkan informasi yang ada di

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