Having trouble practicing? Try the 5 T's of concentration:
1)Taming- Think of your mind as a beautiful wild mustang- just as it must be trained to enter the corral, your mind must be willing to enter the arena of meditation. 2) Training- Just as the mustang must lose its fear of the unfamiliar, so must your mind. In meditation we train the restless mind to slow down and relax. 3) Testing-Once we remove the mustang from its safe environment, it's ablilities are tested. Likewise, can we maintain our mindfulness and concentration when we move away from the meditation room? This is developing our awareness practice. 4)Transforming- Now the mustang has been transformed, and we are no longer controlled by our thoughts. As we tap into the inexhaustable power of our mind we can use its power for our own higher purposes. 5)Transcendence- Finally, the rider and horse become one- there is no longer a separate "you", and the realization of oneness, completeness, and harmony with the universe allows us to go with the flow of things, just as they are. For more details about Lama Surya Das visit here - http://www.surya.org |
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