 During the time of Lord Buddha Sakyamuni the Brahmins where ruling over the diverse casts. One day a Brahman asked Lord Buddha: What can I do to be sure I will be with Lord Brahma when I die? Note that in Hinduism we have Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Siva the destructor. It is said that Lord Buddha is the emanation of Lord Vishnu. The Buddha replied: As Brahma is the source of Love, then you should dwell in Brahma so in the source of Love. For that you should practice the Brahmaviharas: Love, Compassion, Joy, Equanimity. Those are the four main qualities of true Love that manifest themselves when we are in our Buddha nature. A vihara is an abode or a dwelling place. Love in Sanskrit is maitri; in Pali it is metta. Compassion is karuna in both languages. Joy is mudita. Equanimity is upeksha in Sanskrit and upekkha in Pali. The Brahmaviharas are the four elements of true love. They are called “immeasurable,” because if you practice them, they will grow in you every day until they embrace the whole world. For love to be true love, it must have compassion, joy, and equanimity. For compassion to be really true compassion, it has to have love, joy, and equanimity in it. True joy has to have love, compassion, and equanimity. True equanimity has to have love, compassion, and joy. If all four of them are to be true, you must be in your Buddha nature. The practice of the four immeasurable minds is very popular in Buddhism. However, in my opinion, sometimes these qualities exaggerated in their expression, because they are not expressed naturally, but rather as a concept or idea that needs to be practiced. Before you try to express these principles outwardly you must practice them towards yourself. People are doing such practice often for others but not towards themselves! One thing is certain: if you are not able to manifest or do something for yourself, how can you do it in a proper way for others? In my explanation, I will bring more attention to develop the understanding and come to the knowledge of the four immeasurable qualities by practicing them yourself. Once this is done you will express them towards others in a natural, true and honest way.  The first immeasurable mind is Love
Some call it loving kindness, the word Love must be understood like the love of a mother to her newborn child. This love goes beyond any concept, idea or a predetermined experience. It is there either you want it or not. It comes directly from your essence in a natural way. Having Love for yourself is like expressing the same Love that a mother has for her newly born child, it is nurturing, caring, protective. The love of a mother has so many qualities in it; it is truly boundless. Some will say that to have such Love for yourself is selfish, but this is not correct. True Love is Brahma, and you are Brahma, so how can Brahma be selfish if he is true Love? He is Love, so he loves himself first. Each one of his cells contains true Love, is it not so? This makes it important for you to start by loving and caring about yourself and then let this Love expand to others and all the multi-universes. The second immeasurable mind is compassion Compassion is not the same thing as Love but it comes from the same source inside you. We could say that compassion is more like the Masculine aspect and Love is the Feminine aspect. See how a father cares for his child. Sometimes his caring might sound a little strict but he expresses compassion by knowing what is right for his child. To be able to express true compassion you need to be able to understand and to feel how the other is feeling inside themselves. What are their needs? By doing so in a natural way, you will know which action to take and how to help. This is not a concept but something that comes with maturity, the maturity you have gained within yourself. When you really see yourself as you are and are facing the truth about you, then you can have understanding about your needs. By taking specific actions you are showing compassion towards yourself. This is how maturity comes, starting with yourself, and then it manifests itself outside. In Buddhism there are many teachings about compassion and the expression of a relative compassion that is self-generated. It is like an artificial compassion coming from a concept. It is not the Compassion. From what I have seen and experimented, I believe that there is no need for such practices if you have the capacity to understand the real teachings. Better to spend the time to discover your Buddha nature, then true compassion will come by itself, starting by expressing compassion for yourself. The third immeasurable mind is Joy The true joy is an energy that emanates from your root and sexual chakras, it is the manifestation of the Shakti or the kundalini energy. It is connected to sensation. Sensations are occurring in the physical body not the mind. There are diverse types of joy. The Joy that emanates from the simple things we do in life. The Joy that we have when we connect with the Masters, Guru, Bodhisatvas and all enlightened Beings, Ringzins, Dakinis, and Dragons. The Purest of all Joys is the one that comes from the manifestation of your Buddha nature and the infinite space of dharmadatu. In the immeasurable mind we talk more about the last one. But if a person does not experiment the other first levels, how can it be possible to live the most advanced one? To start this training one must have to learn to find joy in all actions of life. This Joy as it manifests naturally is like a reference of where you stand in your practice. Knowing that the enlightened state is composed with joy. If you think that you have achieved some kind of level, or are in your Buddha nature, but you are not happy, have no joy and satisfaction in life then you could say, you are not in your Buddha nature. Once you have joy in your material life, then in order to be able to experiment the joy of connecting with the Masters and Bodhisatvas you will be detached from the joy that comes in material life. Then in order to move to the next level, you must also be detached from the joy that comes from connecting with the Dakinis, Dragons, Guru, etc. Then and only then, you can rest in total equanimity from the Joy that emanates from being in your Buddha nature, or natural state. The fourth immeasurable mind is equanimity Everything has the same flavour. This does not mean that you cannot smell, taste and feel diverse things. True equanimity comes only when you have realized your natural state, when there is no more identification with the I. When you have experimented by training through your practice that everything is empty, then you can relax and let your real nature show itself. I recommend making your life as simple as possible. Try to be satisfied with what you have, live each moment fully, do not bring any judgements on others, do not gossip about others - this will help you to have more equanimity into your life. When I look at the four immeasurable minds I understand that they are the manifestation of our essence and that they are interconnected. They are the essence of our Buddha nature, and even though we can think that we have trained in one, then the other, this is not the same as these qualities manifesting spontaneously by being in your natural state. Extract from my book Dragon Buddha Hermit Yoga
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“Our ancestors believed that music had the power to harmonize one’s soul in ways that (traditional) medicine could not. In ancient China, one of the earliest uses of music was healing. The Chinese character for medicine actually comes from the character for music.” Gao Yuan, Shen Yun composer  Today many researches have been made about the effect of music, sound frequency on health and their efficiency have been proven scientifically. Playing sacred music has always been on my list but i started to learn how to play music only few years ago, There is a say, better late than never. For me good music is so nurturing for the soul and all the diverse aspect of my being.  The instrument that came into my life is the guqin, an ancient seven string instrument from China. His history goes back to more than 3000 years ago. It was played by Taoist for communicating with nature while being in the state of the Tao.
No matter your age condition I recommend every one to have some education in music, the benefits are infinite. When I was in my early age I was not even able to chant, sing properly. It is only when I meet with my root Tibetan Master that my voice develop with the diverse practices that use sound, mantras, invocations. Their vibration, energy have open me. After all, every thing in this universe is created by sound, light and rays. Today music have so many different variations with the use of electronic, computer music. As music can be very healing and rejuvenating it can be also destructive. All is the universe as its opposite, this is a law. As every thing in life one must learn how to feel listen recognize the numerous affects of sounds frequencies in their physical body and beyond. Today so much is available it is very easy to get lost and confuse. In a time of self empowerment, self mastery creating a good foundation in our path is a must. For this having a qualified teacher is a must. If we talk about sound, music and frequency it is not about i like this sound, music or i do not like it when i ear it. it. It is about developing the skills to feel what is the effect of this sound , music on your entire multi dimensional being. Learning to recognize if this frequency is evolutive, rejuvenating, healing for you. Learning to recognize, be aware of which energy, dimension the sound, music, frequency is connecting you. For example some music, sound have a very degenerating affect on my brain cells, or connecting me to dimensions that are not evolutive. I m inviting you to become more aware of the effect of sound, music, frequencies you listen to. Then, you can make your choice to listen to it or not, to use it for healing, relaxing...or not. One must learn to not act blindly and trust his inner guidance. Wu Wei comes from Chinese philosophy it means without action, control, without effort. It is the water way taught by Lao Tzu.  “The Sage is occupied with the unspoken and acts without effort. Teaching without verbosity, producing without possessing, creating without regard to result, claiming nothing, the Sage has nothing to lose.” – Lao Tzu, Tao Tê Ching I would like to introduce you to my understanding and experience of Wu Wei.
The first thing that comes to me if you ask me about wu wei is the science of non action, doing without doing, letting the true action emerge from emptiness. How can you be in the state of Wu Wei where all unfold effortlessly in a natural way. I classify different steps before one can be in a positive aspect of Wu wei. Yes you ear me a positive aspect of wu wei, if wu wei is misunderstood instead of taking you to its positive manifestation where the true action arise naturally it will put you to sleep in a self destructive state. Only when one is at peace in his/her mind and has the inner elements balance one can experiment the true sense of wu wei. Why is that? When the mind is so busy wondering grasping on all emotions, all types of experiences, it becomes very difficult to stay without doing any thing. At this point the non action will make it worst, the mind will kick in even more the energy will be disturb and the non doing can bring depression or torpor. First one need to learn how to relax the body, the energy and the mind. For this: Buddha teaching takes us to become master of our mind, first by bringing peace and relaxation with proper effort , mindfulness and concentration. For more details see my book Dragon Buddha Hermit Yoga. With the Tao practice one will balance the inner elements, energy, with tai ji , qi gong, meditation … bringing good health, peace and the feeling of total relaxation. In both school one will grow into the practice up to a point where he/ she remain in the Buddha nature, the Natural state of the Grace of Being or Tao. At the beginner stage vigilance , alertness is more required. This is a form of effort so we can t really said it is wu wei but if one is properly guided it is possible to let the principle of wu wei grow in you to prepare the ground for the real wu wei to be. In both Tao or Buddha ways one need to come to a point where he/ she recognize that all is empty of origin, there is nothing to grasp on, all is fine as it is. Some people can experience this right away but others need to re-educate and decondition their being. To be in wu wei means that you need to die in all moment, to be beyond fear and attachment. When you die there is no effort you are just dying, it is a moment of total surrender, acceptance where there is no space for any type of resistance. There is no space for mind projections, desire. In Buddha teaching we could say it is emptiness, total presence and total surrender blend together. Only from this state the true action will arise and expressed itself without effort, judgement, interpretations. I been guided by this process for so many years. Lets go to my present life when two month ago i was invited to travel to Bali. After my arrival i felt that this is not a place for me, to hot and much pollution on the roads. But i say to myself just relax about it let if unfold, remain open and see what happen. The month went very fast i was invited to stay in beautiful places, meet with great people. And was guided to visit the Wu Wei tea house. Interesting i lead my life by wu wei and now i m in Bali visiting and meeting the people of wu wei wisdom sanctuary, It did not took long for being invited to teach. The place is located on a beautiful property near Ubud, it has a 300 years old Indo Chinese temple with a beautiful Sarnath Buddha that is the Buddha that is always on my altar. Well wu wei manifest itself in the mater here in Bali. My visa is expiring in a couple days need to go. Direction Bangkok then Kuala Lampur where i spent a week and meet great Guqin school and teachers. Now i m back in Bali giving private teaching, guidance and will give The Grace of Being 8 days retreat at the end of the month or other if this retreat is not welcome in here, one need to adapt. For now the demand is more about teaching tai ji, qi gong,personal guidance... Life has found a way to take me back into teaching practices that are more suitable , beneficial for me in this point and time. Wonderful, E ma ho. If you are interested to meet me, have a private guidance or satsang siting around a cup of tea or studying with me while i m in Bali you are welcome to contact me and visit me. |