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22SepSeptember 22, 2020

Yoga Lessons for Developing Spiritual Consciousness

Yoga Lessons for Developing Spiritual Consciousness CHAPTER XVII. MEDITATION EXERCISE. I will be what I will to be. I "can" and I "will" be Free. Locked up in my soul is All-Power,—All-Wisdom,—All-Love. My first, last and only mission in life is to give Explicit Expression to the Soul-Force—the All-Go(o)d—implicit in my being. I live for Self-Perfection. I yield to no external agencies . . . be they human or non-human. He that fights for me is Within me and he is...

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11SepSeptember 11, 2020

HONOUR

CHAPTER VIII HONOUR THE sense of honour, implying a vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth, could not fail to characterise the samurai, born and bred to value the duties and privileges of their profession. Though the word ordinarily given nowadays as the translation of honour was not used freely, yet the idea was conveyed by such terms as na (name) men-moku (countenance), guai-bun (outside hearing), reminding us respectively of the biblical use of "name," of the evolution of the term...

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16AprApril 16, 2020

The Bushido Code

BUSHIDO AS AN ETHICAL SYSTEM. Chivalry is a flower no less indigenous to the soil of Japan than its emblem, the cherry blossom; nor is it a dried-up specimen of an antique virtue preserved in the herbarium of our history. It is still a living object of power and beauty among us; and if it assumes no tangible shape or form, it not the less scents the moral atmosphere, and makes us aware that we are still under its potent...

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16MarMarch 16, 2020

HISTORY OF ZEN IN JAPAN

HISTORY OF ZEN IN JAPAN 1. The Establishment of the Rin Zai School of Zen in Japan.--The introduction of Zen into the island empire is dated as early as the seventh century; but it was in 1191 that it was first established by Ei-sai, a man of bold, energetic nature. He crossed the sea for China at the age of twenty-eight in 1168, after his profound study of the whole Tripitaka for eight years in the Hi-yei Monastery the then centre...

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16MarMarch 16, 2020

THE TRAINING OF THE MIND AND THE PRACTICE OF MEDITATION

1. The Method of Instruction Adopted by Zen Masters.--Thus far we have described the doctrine of Zen inculcated by both Chinese and Japanese masters, and in this chapter we propose to sketch the practice of mental training and the method of practising Dhyana or Meditation. Zen teachers never instruct their pupils by means of explanation or argument, but urge them to solve by themselves through the practice of Meditation such problems as--'What is Buddha?' What is self?' 'What is the...

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16MarMarch 16, 2020

ESSENTIAL ADVICE ON MEDITATION

ESSENTIAL ADVICE ON MEDITATION excerpts from Teachings by Sogyal Rinpoche When you read books about meditation, or often when meditation is is presented by different groups, much of the emphasis falls on the techniques. In the West, people tend to be very interested in the "technology" of meditation. However, by far the most important feature of meditation is not technique, but the way of being, the spirit, which is callled the "posture", a posture which is not so much physical,...

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