Self Investigation, Self Realisation & Self Purification to be Walking the Noble Path

May you have the strength, courage, confidence and effort to lead an eventful wholesome life. May you be appropriate with your etiquette, adequate with your needs, sufficient with your wants, satisfied with your duties and content with your possessions.  May this nature bring much happiness, best of health and peace within you.

With much respect and humbleness

Bikku Dhammagawesi

"Vissuddhi" is the nature of selfpurification. Purification of your moral conduct, your thoughts and your views as to being on the Noble path. A person getting on the Noble "Dhamma" path is sighted, with the way, and the confusion is removed. It is here, that they have the visibility of the fork, as to the Noble path they have seen and the path they have been travelling. Here the self is able to select the right & new Noble path, with the new selec  ted moral conduct & disciplines. A person of such nature has the confidences to identify and agree, that they are now on the right path, with the right moral conduct, right wholesome thoughts and the right view of the adoption of the Nobleness  and eradicating with the suffering.

Ayya Khema was born in Berlin in 1923 of Jewish parents. In 1938 she escaped from Germany with a transport of two hundred other children and was taken to Scotland. Her parents went to China and, two years later, Ayya Khema joined them in Shanghai. In 1944, however, the family was put into a Japanese concentration camp and it was here that her father died.

Four years after the American liberation of the camp, Ayya Khema was able to emigrate to America, where she married and had a son and daughter. Between 1960 and 1964 she traveled with her husband and son throughout Asia, including the Himalayan countries, and it was at this time that she learned meditation. Ten years later she began to teach meditation herself throughout Europe, America, and Australia. Her experiences led her to become ordained as a Buddhist nun in Sri Lanka in 1979, when she was given the name of "Khema", meaning safety and security ("Ayya" means "Sister").

She established Wat Buddha Dhamma, a forest monastery in the Theravada tradition, near Sydney, Australia, in 1978. In Colombo she set up the International Buddhist Women"s Center as a training center for Sri Lankan nuns, and Parappuduwa Nuns" Island for women who want to practice intensively and/or ordain as nuns. She was the spiritual director of Buddha-Haus in Germany, established in 1989 under her auspices. (Photos) In 1997 she also founded Metta Vihara, a thriving monastery not far from Buddha Haus. (Photos)

In 1987 she co-ordinated the first international conference of Buddhist nuns in the history of Buddhism, which resulted in the creation of Sakyadhita, a world-wide Buddhist women"s organization. H.H. the Dalai Lama was the keynote speaker at the conference. In May 1987, as an invited lecturer, she was the first Buddhist ever to have addressed the United Nations in New York.

She wrote over two dozen books on meditation and the Buddha's teaching in English and German. In 1988, her book Being Nobody, Going Nowhere, received the Christmas Humphreys Memorial Award. Her other English language books include When the Iron Eagle Flies, Who is My-Self, Be an Island, Visible Here and Now and Come and See for Yourself: The Buddhist Path to Happiness. Some of her writings are available on-line at Access to Insight and her book All of Us, consisting of 12 dhamma talks, is available at Allspirit. Some of her writings are available as eBooks for the Kindle, Nook, etc: All of Us, Meditating on No-Self and To Be Seen Here and Now. Also available on-line is A Dhamma Talk on Metta by her. Over 400 High Quality English Language MP3s of Dhamma Talks by Ven. Ayya Khema are now on-line for free download, as is the streaming audio of a talk on the 1st and 2nd Jhanas. Her autobiography, I Give You My Life, is a wonderful adventure story sprinkled with nuggets of spiritual wisdom.

Ayya Khema passed away on 2 November, 1997, at home at Buddha-Haus, in Germany. Buddha-Haus continues to teach retreats in German in Ayya Khema's tradition. Please visit their website at https://www.buddha-haus.de/. You can e-mail Buddha Haus at info@buddha-haus.de.

Once a year, Cloud Mountain Retreat Center offers a month long meditation course with the instructions and dhamma talks from video tapes of Ven. Ayya Khema recorded during two of her last English language meditation courses.

Transcriptions of a number of her inspiring Loving-Kindness Meditations meditations are available on-line.

There are a few short videos of Ayya Khema on Google Vidoes:

• Joy in Meditation
• Opening the Heart
• Anxiety
• Committment

Ajahn Brahm

Spiritual Director of the Buddhist Society of Western Australia

Buddhism In A Nutshell (free ebook)

The Goal of Meditation
To know where your effort should be directed in meditation, you must
have a clear understanding of the goal. The goal of this meditation is
beautiful silence, stillness, and clarity of mind. If you can understand that
goal, then the place to apply your effort and the means to achieve the goal
become much clearer. The effort is directed to letting go, to developing
a mind that inclines to abandoning. One of the many simple but profound
statements of the Buddha is that “a meditator who makes letting
go the main object easily achieves sam›dhi,” that is, attentive stillness, the
goal of meditation (SN 48,9).1 Such a meditator gains these states of
inner bliss almost automatically.

Anapanasati – Mindfulness of Breathing

For the first time in the English here is a comprehensive manual of the Buddhist meditation known as ânàpànasati  – the development of mindfulness of breathing. Although this manual is primarily intended for the benefit of monks, it will greatly assist laymen, too, who wish to undertake a course of meditation but who do not have the guidance of a teacher. Originally published in Thai, this manual is one of the major works of the Ven. Buddhadàsa Bhikkhu and delivered in 1959 in the form of a series of lectures to monks of Suanmokkha Monastery, Chaiya, Thailand. Ven. Buddhadàsa Bhikkhu, a major voice in the Buddhist world, is an accepted master of Buddhist meditation. In constructive positive language, the manual guides the meditator through the 16 steps of ânàpànasati. Download the ebook here (550 pages PDF):

Introduction to Insight Meditation

Introduction to Insight Meditation is a basic and straightforward introduction to the practice of Insight Meditation as taught within the tradition of Theravada Buddhism. This book was written at and published by the Amaravati Monastary in England. The purpose of Insight Meditation is not to create a system of beliefs, but rather to give guidance on how to see clearly into the nature of the mind. In this way one gains firsthand understanding of the way things are, without reliance on opinions or theories, a direct experience. The term `Insight Meditation’ (samatha-vipassana)* refers to practices for the mind that develop calm (samatha) through sustained attention, and insight (vipassana) through reflection. A fundamental technique for sustaining attention is focusing awareness on the body. The guide begins with some advice on this. Download it here:

You are what your deep, driving desire is.
As your desire is, so is your will.
As your will is, so is your deed.
As your deed is, so is your destiny.

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

Here are the links to local, US and Indian BKWSU pages;

Om Shanti,

www.bkwsu.org/au/

(You can buy cds etc on this site)

https://brahmakumaris.com/

(This is the main Indian site, with classes and meditation commentaries and songs to download)

https://jewels.brahmakumaris.org/

(This is also from India; You can download Shivani's classes and the murli here)

www.releaseyourwings.org

(This is from the US. It has an especially good cooking section on videos)

Self Transformation (Change)

Here are some practical reminders and steps we can take to grow spiritually and bring out transformation (change) in ourselves:

Use 'traffic control'

To remember our original peaceful state during certain moments of the day creates a space for us to recharge and to be released from accumulated negativities, which have influenced our mind without our realizing it.

'Traffic control', is a method to check and control the flow and type of thoughts that we create. Are our thoughts wasteful or are they useful, necessary, positive, and peaceful? By stopping for a minute every hour, we can step inside, apply a brake to the flow of thoughts and instead focus on the experience .I am a peaceful being (soul).. This practice has an immediate cooling effect on the mind, and if done regularly, has a very positive impact on our daily lives.

Where there is faith there is victory

Expression: When someone has faith there are no doubts or questions about the self, others or situations. Faith also enables a person to see and understand simple things in life with a new understanding. It shows direction and courage to go on.

Experience: When I have faith, I experience myself to be lucky and thus receive cooperation from many others. I would also be able to experience success at every step. There is then no worry for me and am troubled less by aspects that keep changing around me. My thoughts then would always be positive and I experience victory.

Feeling Great- No Matter What

An Evening With 94 Year Old Dadi Janki At Hammersmith Apollo.London

Take yourself on a journey to the centre of your mind. Amazing animation with Tibetan Singing Bowls and Voice soundtrack

Source-Brahma Kumaris

Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University - Introduction - BKWSU

Meditation - Getting Started (7 steps)

• Make an appointment with yourself for 10 or 20 minutes each morning or evening
• Find a quiet place and relax. Soft music, though not a necessity, can create an appropriate atmosphere. Sit comfortably upright on the floor or in a chair
• Keep your eyes open and, without staring, gently rest them on a chosen point somewhere in front of your room
• Gently withdraw your attention from all sights and sounds. Become the observer of your own thoughts. Don't try to stop thinking, just be the observer, not judging or being carried away by your own thoughts, just watching. Gradually they will slow down and you will begin to feel more peaceful
• Create one thought for yourself, about yourself for example, "I am a peaceful soul." Hold that thought on the screen of your mind; visualize yourself being peaceful and still. Stay as long as you can in the awareness of that thought. Don't fight with other thoughts or memories that may come to distract you. Just watch them pass by and return to your created thought, "I am a peaceful soul"
• Now think of the Supreme Soul, who is the ocean of peace, bliss, love and so on. Soul receives all these virtues from Him, acknowledge and appreciate the positive feelings and other positive thoughts, which may spring directly from this thought. Be stable in these feelings for a few minutes. Be aware of unrelated thoughts
• Finish your meditation by closing your eyes for a few moments and creating complete silence in your mind

Meditation - Video Experience

This is a best place in the world to understand who you really are and to find natural and generous spiritual way to live comprehensively on this planet.

Raja Yoga meditation is very unique and simple to improve your life style and bring peace and non violence into world around you. The most amazing thing is you feel confident that you can do it yourself and that you are vital treasure. So it gives you enormous power and sustainable health

Admin

Brahma Kumari Videos and Audios

- by Gil Fronsdal, February 2006

While mindfulness can be practiced quite well without Buddhism, Buddhism cannot be practiced without mindfulness. In its Buddhist context, mindfulness meditation has three overarching purposes: knowing the mind; training the mind; and freeing the mind.

Knowing the Mind

It is easy to spend an hour, a day, or even a lifetime so caught up with thoughts, concerns, and activities as to preclude understanding deeply what makes us operate the way we do. People can easily be clueless as to what motivates them, the nature of their reactions and feelings, and even, at times, what they are thinking about. The first step in mindfulness practice is to notice and take stock of who we are. What is going on in the body, in the mind, in our emotional life? What underlying dispositions are operating?

This part of mindfulness practice is a simple process of discovery; it is not judging something as good or bad. Meditative discovery is supported by stillness. Whatever our degree of stillness, it acts as a backdrop to highlight what is going on. It doesn’t take much stillness to notice a racing, agitated mind. Discovery means becoming familiar with what a racing mind is like instead of being critical of it. What is the mind itself like, and what is its effect on the body? What emotions are present? What thoughts and beliefs?

The knowing aspect of mindfulness is deliberate and conscious. When you know something this way, not only do you know it, but also a presence of mind grows in which you clearly know that you know. It is like being one of two calm people in an unruly crowd. Neither of you gets caught up in the crowd’s agitation, and a spark of recognition, maybe even a smile, passes between you as you share knowing that both of you are not caught.

When the focus is on knowing, we make no attempt to try to change anything. For people who are always trying to make something happen, just observing the mind can be a radical change and a relief.

Training the Mind

The mind is not static. It is a process or, more accurately, a series of interacting processes. As such, the mind is malleable and pliable: it can be trained and shaped in new ways. An important part of Buddhist practice is taking responsibility for the dispositions and activities of our own mind so that it can operate in ways that are beneficial. When we don’t take responsibility for our own mind, external forces will do the shaping: media, advertisements, companions, and other parts of society.

A good starting point is to train the mind in kindness and compassion. Even a little mindfulness will sometimes prove the cliche, “Self-knowledge is seldom good news.” Mindfulness may reveal mental conflict with ourselves, others, or the inconstant nature of life. Such conflict can take the form of aversion, confusion, anger, despair, ambition, or discouragement. Meeting conflict with further conflict will only add to our suffering. Instead, we can begin exploring how to be kinder, more forgiving and spacious with ourselves.

 

 

"The Miracle of Mindfulness"

Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen monk, teacher, poet, peace activist, and the author of more than 100 books, including "Anger," "The Miracle of Mindfulness," and "Living Buddha, Living Christ." In his latest book, "No Death, No Fear," he invites both Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike to look deeply into the nature of life and death.

 

 

 

 

Brahmakumaris Om Shanti Channel

Welcome To An Exclusive Video Channel For Full Length Films & Videos By Brahmakumaris

Rajyoga Meditation:

The Supreme Soul God has said –

I am the supreme father of all of you; you are my long lost now found sweet children. Know me, remember me, I shall liberate you and take you to Paradise of everlasting peace and happiness.

Through accurate Remembrance of Supreme Soul God (Rajyoga Meditation) human souls achieve tremendous divine power directly from Him. With this divine power alone along with spiritual discipline the soul can easily control all senses, vices and evils and inculcate divine virtues and finally will start feeling contended, peaceful and happy

Overview of Meditation:

Don't forget to look for free meditation exercise downloads within the online course

Spiritual journey of mankind

Brahma Kumaris (BKs) ... Raja Yoga meditation gives you a clear spiritual understanding of yourself

Raja Yoga Meditation philosophy

The basis for attaining an experience in raja yoga meditation in to understand the self and the mind. The human mind is the most creative, powerful and wonderful "instrument" we possess. Using this energy called mind we have been able to search the deepest oceans, send humans to the moon and scan the molecular fabric of the building blocks of nature. But have we found our true self? We have become the most educated and civilized society in our history, but are we civil towards each other?

According to raja yoga Meditation The soul has three main faculties; the mind or consciousness, the intellect and the subconscious.

Thoughts flow from the sub conscious mind to the conscious mind. Feelings and emotions form in accordance with the montage of thoughts flowing in the mind. Therefore our state of mind at any given moment is determined by the thoughts in our consciousness, and also with the feelings that we associate with those thoughts. Since our sub consciousness contains all our previous thoughts and experiences, it is necessary to selectively control the flow of thoughts that emerges from the sub conscious mind.

The intellect is the controller which is used to discriminate so that only positive and benevolent thoughts flow into our mind. With meditation or deep contemplation, the individual is able to strengthen and sharpen the intellect. The end result is a constant state of well being. If we are able to understand the self as the source of energy that creates our feelings, then the following will become our aims.

Become aware of our state of mind and of the thoughts that flows into the mind from our subconscious.
Strengthen the intellect so that the individual can discriminate and thereby only allow positive and peaceful thoughts to flow into the mind.
Through this process of self development the individual develops more control over the mind.

These meditations have been taken from the knowledge as taught by the Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga meditation organization. Raja Yoga meditation

Source-www.freemeditations.com/raja_yoga.html