Omaha Yoga Path Post
The Heart Sutra
The Heart Sutra ~ as recited at Plum Village
The Bodhisattva Avolokita,
While moving in the deep course of perfect understanding,
Shed light on the five skandas
And found them equally empty.
After this penetration he overcame ill-being.
(Bell)
Listen, Shariputra,
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
Form is not other than emptiness;
Emptiness is not other than form.
The same is true with feelings, perceptions, mental formations and consciousness.
(Bell)
Here, Shariputra,
All dharmas are marked with emptiness.
They are neither produced nor destroyed.
Neither defiled nor immaculate.
Neither increasing nor decreasing.
Therefore, in emptiness there is neither form, nor feeling, nor perceptions.
No mental formations, no consciousness.
No eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind.
No form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch, no objects of mind.
No realms of elements from eyes to mind consciousness.
No interdependent origins and no extinction of them.
(From ignorance to death and decay)
No ill-being, no cause of ill-being, no end of ill-being, and no path.
No understanding, no attainment.
(Bell)
Because there is no attainment,
The Bodhisattvas, grounded in perfect understanding,
Find no obstacles for their minds.
Having no obstacles, they overcome fear,
Liberating themselves forever from illusion and realizing perfect nirvana.
All Buddhas in the past, present, and future, thanks to this perfect understanding,
Arrive at full, right, and universal enlightenment.
(Bell)
Therefore one should know that perfect understanding
Is the highest mantra,
The unequalled mantra,
The destroyer of ill-being
The incorruptible truth.
A mantra of prajnaparamita should therefore be proclaimed.
This is the mantra:
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi svaha.
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha.
Gate, gate, paragate, parasamgate, bodhi, svaha.
(Three Bells)
In this Body, in this town of Spirit
In this body, in this town of spirit,
there is a little house shaped like a lotus,
and in that little house there is a space:
one should know what is there.
what is there? and why is it so important?
there is as much within that little space within the heart
as in the whole world.
heaven, earth,
winds, fire,
sun, moon,
lightning, stars…
whatever is, and whatever is not, everything is here.
~ Chandogya Upanishad Ch. I
Inviting Your Demons to Tea
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning is a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
Some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond
——Rumi
Study of “Suchness”
At the Yoga Path this Winter session, we have been studying and practicing the concept of “Suchness.” There is no easy explanation as to the definition of this concept, other then saying that it is touching reality in the present moment without any judgements or preconceived notions about what you are perceiving. We look at something we have seen before, like a flower or a sunrise or a child, as though we were seeing these things again for the first time. So our experience of all things in the world around us, is fresh and new, not dictated by habitual minds and responses. We see each moment as new and unique.
But recently a student has shared with me an article that makes me see this idea of suchness in a different light. I needed to share it with you to get your insights.
There going to be a Winter Health worksh
There going to be a Winter Health workshop at the Yoga Path on Saturday, Feb.9 from 1 – 3 p.m. If the flu bug is stalking you or has already laid you low. you might want to attend this interactive workshop on Chinese Medicine. Being hosted by Sandra Kreber (Acupuncturist) and Betty Smith (Massage Therapist) http://ow.ly/gHG7B
Discipline of Rewiring the Brain
In June of this year, a 21 day Mindfulness retreat was hosted at Plum Village in France for scientists throughout the world, taught by the Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. At this retreat Thay explained the connection between the five mental formations and the neural pathways in the brain. He describes how, with the practice of mindfulness, we can erase the neural pathways that lead to suffering and open new paths that lead understanding and happiness.
From this came an article by Paul Tingen call Using Mindfulness to Rewire the Brain.We’re reading this article at the end of classes at the Yoga Path to foster a practice of tapa/discipline (the third niyama),. We are striving to do things in our lives that strengthen well-being and thus allowing us to be strong enough to mindfully embrace and transform the suffering in our life. The link to this article is below.
Missing Happiness
Often in our lives we tend to miss the more splendid moments of life. Often because we feel so good, be don’t know we feel good, that we are happy. In our bodies as well, we miss the many thousands of seconds when we feel, only noticing when we are pain or discomfort that there were so many moments when we didn’t feel like this. I’ve always wondered about this phenomenon. So again it turn to my favorite poet to help articulate this:
So Much Happiness
by Naomi Shihab Nye, from Words under the Words
It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness.
With sadness there is something to rub against,
a wound to tend with lotion and cloth.
When the world falls in around you, you have pieces to pick up,
something to hold in your hands, like ticket stubs or change.
But happiness floats.
It doesn’t need you to hold it down.
It doesn’t need anything.
Happiness lands on the roof of the next house, singing,
and disappears when it wants to.
You are happy either way.
Even the fact that you once lived in a peaceful tree house
and now live over a quarry of noise and dust
cannot make you unhappy.
Everything has a life of its own,
it too could wake up filled with possibilities
of coffee cake and ripe peaches
,
and love even the floor which needs to be swept,
the soiled linens and scratched records…..
Since there is no place large enough
to contain so much happiness,
you shrug, you raise your hands, and it flows out of you
into everything you touch. You are not responsible.
You take no credit, as the night sky takes no credit
for the moon, but continues to hold it, and share it,
and in that way, be known.
The Yoga Path is now hosting the weekly
The Yoga Path is now hosting the weekly Monday evening sits of the Honey Locust sangha. This community pursues the practice and study of mindfulness meditation in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. The group sits starts at 7 pm and lasts to 8:30 or 9:00. All are welcome to attend. Free will donation. http://ow.ly/ey45A
Yoga Rope Wall
A new yoga rope wall has been added to the new Yoga Path location. This is a wall created by B.K.S. Iyengar to aid students into getting into the poses more deeply. It’s always been a dream of mine to share this method of practice with my students. Enclosed is short video showing some of the things you can do with this wall and photos of wall recently built a the studio.
So with this change comes regrets about moving, but new horizons opening as well.
“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”
― Thich Nhat Hanh, Being Peace
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4YTor1_n5c]
Ujjayi breathing
Enclosed is a excellent demonstration of ujjayi breath done by B.K.S Iyengar at the 1984 yoga convention in San Francisco. He talks about the beautiful sound of the breath.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcPjvp4La8A&feature=related]