Contents
1 Think about your life
2 Rainbow
3 What is your goal?
4 The Chinese lucky cat
5 Develop your inner happiness.
6 The Way of Love
7 Inner Peace
8 Forgiveness
9 Gratitude
10 Nirvana
11 Spiritual exercises
12 Self-reflection
13 Ego-resolution
14 The daily spiritual ritual
15 Happiness
16 Healing
17 Power
18 The spiritual role model
19 Relax
20 Be yourself
21 Yoga for Beginners
22 Overcome your fear
23 Difficulties
24 Little bird
25 Compassion
26 Celebration
27 Emotions
28 Single-mindedness
29 Contemplate your situation
30 Transformation
31 Good karma
32 Shan-tao
33 Honen Shonin
34 Shinran Shonin
35 The Dalai Lama
36 The future Buddha
37 Sathya Sai Baba
38 Mother Meera
39 Anandamayi Ma
40 Amritanandamayi
41 Go your own way
42 Contentment
43 Lifetime
44 Perseverance
45 The chaos of life
46 New beginning
47 Goddess Yoga
48 A wise life
49 The Master
50 The paradise apple
51 Suffering
52 Thankfulness
53 Concentrate on the essentials
54 Master your thoughts
55 Dancer with life
56 Yoga on a Chair
57 The middle road
58 Love
59 Strength
60 Winner
61 Rightness
62 Enjoy your life
63 Empathy
64 The poor
65 Happy world
66 Think positive
67 Joy
68 Take yourself as you are
69 Simple needs
70 Good future
71 Mourning
72 Equanimity
73 Little steps
74 Buddha of light
75 The relaxed Goddess
76 Calm down
77 Self-realization
78 Spiritual friends
79 Blessing
80 Paradise
Think about your life
1. Find your way. “My way of wisdom is… Unwisdom is.. Forward. Success."
We can visualize Buddha Amitabha as an enlightened master and ask him for help along our way in life. It’s good to use the mantras “Namu Amida Butsu”(Japanese), “Namo Amitabha Buddha” (Sanskrit), “nammo asida fat” (Vietnamese) or simply “Om Buddha Amitabha” when doing so. We can also visualize ourselves as Buddha Amitabha and think “I am a Buddha of light. I send all beings light. May all beings be happy. May the world be happy.”
The mantra (his name) of Buddha Amitabha can be spoken and used creatively by each person in his or her own inventive way. Which words help you? What takes you into the light and into love? Think today: “ I am a master of life. I master my own life. Om Buddha Amitabha. I ask for guidance along my way.” Amitabha speaks to you through your own voice of wisdom. What is right for you at this time?
Buddha Amitabha is the basis of the Amitabha Buddhism. He is a Buddha of light and all-encompassing love. As Buddha of light he lives in a state of enlightenment. Enlightenment is inner peace, happiness and all-encompassing love. Enlightenment is the highest happiness. Enlightenment is the deeper meaning of life. Many people in the west lack inner peace, happiness and love. The Buddha Amitabha shows a way through which people can find all of these values in their life, to realize and develop them.
Wikipedia: Pure Land Buddhism, also referred to as Amidism, is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism and one of the most widely practiced traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a tradition of Buddhist teachings that are focused on Amitabha Buddha. Pure Land oriented practices and concepts are found within basic Mahayana Buddhist cosmology, and form an important component of the Mahayana Buddhist traditions of China, Japan, Korea,Vietnam, and Tibet. In Japanese Buddhism, Pure Land teachings developed into independent institutional sects, as can be seen in the Jodo-shu and Jodo Shinshu schools. The invoking of Amitabha has its roots in the great pure land sutra in which Amitabha waits to go to nirvana until all beings have been saved.
2. Great happiness is coming to you. Forward! Optimism!
The core value of Buddhism is: ”Life is suffering. There is a way to overcome the suffering. That is the eightfold path of recognition, choice, a wise life, wise words, wise actions, consistent striving, consistent awareness of thoughts and regular meditation. The way to overcome suffering is to become a Buddha. The way to overcome suffering is to live in an enlightened existence."
Some joy in life can be helpful, but focus should be on living spiritually, in unity, in all-encompassing love and meditating often. One should work on inner happiness and be positive to all people. Attachment to outer enjoyment leads to suffering. Refusing to accept unpleasant situations leads to suffering. The wise are happy from within. They live apart from the world and so hold onto their spiritual energy and inner happiness.
Buddhism can be seen as a type of mental training to achieve inner peace, strength and happiness. The two central techniques are thought training and meditation. Negative thoughts lead to negative feelings. A person can make him or herself very unhappy with his or her thoughts. A person who thinks positive is sick 90% less often than a person who thinks negatively. A person who thinks positively is happier and more successful and has better relationships and a better life. Those who teach themselves to think positively benefit greatly.
Positive thinking has to be supplemented through the way of meditation. Meditation consists of sitting and resting as well as walking or doing other physical exercise. This way the mind becomes calm and the body healthy. Those who practice positive thinking and meditation can reach enlightenment. Then we reach a higher level of consciousness which enables us to recognize the positive in the world, to recognize our world as a paradise, to get a paradise feeling of life. This is the center of Amitabha Buddhism.Laughing Buddha
3. Plan your life like a winner. Live as a winner. What is your goal? What is your way to reach the goal? Move forward. Success.
There are many different spiritual paths. The Amitabha Buddhism is a way of Mahayana. We strive toward enlightenment. We take the path of all-encompassing love. We practice techniques that do us good personally. We let Buddha Amitabha (our inner voice of wisdom) lead us and help us. Everyone can be saved. Everyone can reach enlightenment. But techniques and methods vary. Basically the best way is to pray daily to an enlightened Master (Buddha Amitabha), to do a spiritual practice (yoga, meditation, reading), and to live in all-encompassing love (to do god deeds). Through this method, optimal spiritual growth can take place.
Western Amitabha Buddhism
How do we practice western Amitabha Buddhism? Non-dogmatically. You sense what does you good and what brings you forward spiritually. At best you live according to a daily plan with spiritual exercises. The intervals of the exercises should be such that you spend the day in peace, happiness and love. One starts with a call to Buddha Amitabha in the morning and all of the enlightened masters (Buddhas and Bodhisattvas). One asks for guidance and help. Then you orient yourself based on the voice of inner wisdom and go with feeling for what is right at the right moment. You pay attention to feelings and thoughts. You think positive, act positive, and have a positive feeling as a result. In the evening you pray to Buddha Amitabha before falling asleep so that one day you wake up in paradise.
We don’t know if the Buddha Amitabha existed historically. There are three possibilities. We can believe in his existence, or we can see ourselves as Buddhas of light, or we can rely on enlightened masters who have been proven to exist. We can go by the line of Amitabha masters. (Buddha, Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, T'an-luan, Tao-ch'o, Shan-tao, Genshin, Honen, Shinran). For me, all of the enlightened masters of love are Buddha Amitabha altogether. They all comprise him.
I pray to the enlightened masters who I think have the highest spiritual abilities (omni-presence, all-knowningness, all-powerfulness). That is for example Jesus Christ, Buddha, Nagarjuna, Shan-tao, Honen, the Dalai Lama, Sathya Sai Baba, Anandamayi Ma, Amritanandamayi and Mother Meera. I have experienced a lot of miracles and energy transfers from my masters. In this way, I practice the unity of all religions.
4. The Chinese lucky cat blesses you. Proceed with optimism.
Genza (1842-1930) is a well-known saint of Shin Buddhism. He lived as a simple farmer, was married and had several children. Despite some difficult turns of fate, he remained happy and positive. He was thankful for everything that came his way. He saw it as help along his spiritual way. He loved to help others and do nice things for them. Because he overcame his ego, he couldn’t tell the difference between what was his and what belonged to others. Once he wanted to put fertilizer on his field, then he noticed his neighbor’s field needed it more, so he fertilized his neighbor’s field.
Enlightenment means healing. Genza was almost never sick. But one day, he slid by the river as he was carrying a load of hay and broke his arm. He praised Buddha Amitabha. Other people wondered at this. Genza explained: “just one arm is broken. I can’t change that. But I still have a second arm. This means I can continue to work. Isn’t that wonderful?”
Through his inner happiness he found himself in another dimension where he could barely feel his suffering. Even when his son and wife died, he remained in a permanent state of happiness. People visited Genza a lot. When they were close by him, they could feel his positive energy. Those who even slightly touched Genza felt the blessing of Buddha Amitabha. One day, Genza was invited to visit by a distant village. As he arrived, people asked him to talk about his enlightenment. Genza explained that there wasn’t anything special to it. “Things are the way they are. That is all.”
He lived in existence, unity and love. He was often asked if he didn’t get frustrated. He told them he didn’t really possess the ability to get aggravated. The aggravation was completely gone, and there was only peace and joy left. His favorite activity was to massage people and tell them about Buddha Amitabha and his paradise. One day he was invited to a temple. He massaged the priests’ feet and transferred enlightenment energy to them. He said “now you can perceive your mission well.” Then he left.
His advice to other people was: “If you are having difficulties, take counsel from Nembutsu.” We should pray to Buddha Amitabha and follow the voice of inner wisdom. Genza reached enlightenment as he loaded his oxen. Then he realized that Buddha Amitabha carries us through life and all we have to do is to trust our lives to Amitabha. We are then always protected and lead. Genza was modest and humble. He never forgot that he was a simple person, a poor person, a nobody. He saw himself in a state of inaction and let the light of Amitabha work through him. He didn’t live through his own power, but through the universe’s power and for this reason always had enough energy.
5. Consider which spiritual exercises you need to succeed today. Practice the Amitabha-Meditation.
Amitabha-Meditation
We sit cross-legged with the back straight and the stomach relaxed. We awaken strength, peace and happiness within through visualization, mantra and meditation.
1. Image = We concentrate on a picture or a statue and mentally repeat the mantra ”Amitabha”. We look at the head, the upper body, the arms, the hands, the lower body, the legs and the lotus of Amitabha. We use the mantra to connect with the respective body parts, identify with our role model and become a Buddha of light. We mentally repeat the mantra until we can visualize each respective body part and can sense Amitabha within us.
2. Light = We make big circles with the arms and visualize the whole cosmos around us full of light. We mentally repeat: ”I live in the light.” We feel the light within us and around us. We massage our bodies. We repeat the mantra ”Light” until we are in the light.
3. Sending light = We move a hand and send light to all beings. Mentally we state: “I send light to.... May all people be happy. May the world be happy.”
4. Balance = We move the feet and the toes. We think: ”I take things as they are in my life.”
5. Positivity = We circle with the shoulders and turn with the spine from right to left. “My positive thought is today... (I am a winner. My winner way is....)”
6. Prayer hands (palms of the hands together in front of the chest) = ”Om Buddha Amitabha. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way.”
7. Mantra = We place our hands on our laps like Buddha Amitabha and mentally repeat the mantra ”Om” and bring the mind to rest. We can connect the mantra with the inhalation and exhalation.
8. Meditation = We stay for a while in a state of meditation. We relax. We go optimistic our way.
6. Doing good deeds brings you into the light. What is your good deed of the day?
“Give the heart the higher priority, the practice the lower one.” (Saying of the Hijiri, the Buddhist Saint , from a book by Gerhard Marcel Martin, page 171)
Comment = Love is more important than the speaking of the mantra of Buddha Amitabha. The Indian Yogi Sathya Sai Baba explained: “Helping hands are more holy than praying lips.” In Mahayana Buddhism we put other people before ourselves. We concentrate on helping other beings along the spiritual path. We wish for all beings to be happy. We wish for all beings to be saved (to reach enlightenment). We do what is possible. We live as Bodhisattvas along the path of all-encompassing love. We don’t neglect our spiritual practice that should bring us to enlightenment. We live in balance with love and meditation. But love always comes first.
“Those who take the way of Shan-tao should practice the Amitabha mantra. They should also take every opportunity to do something good for others, whenever the chance appears.”(quoted from Buddhism Krass, page 197)
Comment = Shan-tao is one of the Chinese patriarches from the pure land Buddhism. He taught followers to concentrate on the practice of Nembutsu. He also represented the way of unconditional love. Amitabha is a Buddha of love. If we want to land in his energy, we should practice unconditional love as well. The big question is how to combine the path of love with the path of the name mantra.
When we call on the Buddha Amitabha, then we connect with his energy. His energy flows into us with the repeating of the mantra and enlightens us. The Amitabha mantra is one way to fill ourselves with light every day. It can be helpful to do additional exercises like meditating while sitting or walking. It can be helpful to spread exercises throughout the day so that we are constantly in a inner cleansing and growth process.
The great breakthrough into unity consciousness and enlightenment takes place along the way of love. Along the Amitabha way we live concentrated to be a Bodhisattva. We can find our own personal mission of love. If we look close enough, every life has enough opportunity to do good. We can give someone a positive word. We can help someone who to find his path of inner happiness. We can send all beings light every day and so evolve ourselves into a Buddha of light.
7. Even in a restless world one can maintain inner peace. What is your way of calm? Succeed.
"Balance when experiencing difficulty." (freely quoted from Buddhism Krass, page 33).
Comment: one can see Buddhism as a mental training to reach inner peace, strength and happiness. The two central techniques are thought work and meditation. Negative thoughts lead to negative feelings. A person who thinks positive is happier.
Accept things as they are. A person can only try to flow positively with things. Become nothing, become subordinate to the will of life, let go of false wishes. The wise are happy within themselves. They live apart from the outer world. A wise person is happy with the little things. This way, he or she can always be in peace and happiness.
Positive in Five Minutes
1. The problem: describe your situation and your problem. What is your situation? What is the problem? What is the basis for the problem?
2. What feelings are in you at the moment? Rage, fear, addiction, longing, sadness? Which feelings are the strongest? Where are the feelings located in your body, where do you perceive them?
3. The thoughts: which thoughts are connected with your feelings? Why are you sad, afraid, enraged or in a state of longing? Consider all of your burdening thoughts. (My thoughts are…)
4. Contemplation: what solves your problem? Think about your problem until you have found a solution. That could be an outer or an inner solution. Consider various solutions. Gather all of the information you need. Consider and make a clear decision.
5.. Put it into practice: put your decision into full force. Follow your positive plan for life. Avoid pointless grumbling. Don’t doubt, simply realize. Go your way, succeed and be satisfied with yourself. Begin each day with a positive resolution or prayer.
8. Who would you like to forgive today? (Your partner, your parents, your child, your life, yourself?) “I forgive…”
Woman: Forgiveness is for saints. It should be enough that I forgive myself. What others have done, let them deal with.
Nils: It’s not enough. In this way, you remain hardened, you block the happiness energy. You burden all of your future relationships. It is important to fully forgive, even if it is sometimes difficult. Forgiveness is for saints and non-saints alike so that they can be whole and healthy. Those who would like to find peace, should learn to forgive.
Woman: To forgive another person means to make myself bigger than I really am.
Nils: Those who forgive don’t make themselves bigger, rather they let go of a piece of their ego. They go beyond the eternal ego conflicts between people and rise above to a level of love, peace and light.
9. What are your thankful for? “I am thankful for…”
The Amitabha Buddhism is a spiritual teaching which arose in the first and second century. Basically, the image of the Buddha Amitabha is a myth. According to what has been written about Amitabha, he was a king who vowed to help all people find the way to enlightenment, once he himself had reach enlightenment. Through meditation, he realized his promise and lead those who had trust in him after death to find a realm free of suffering. According to fiction, Buddha Shakyamuni confirmed the Amitabha way. With confidence, the great Indian philosopher Nagarjuna tought the Amitabha way. Nagarjuna is the first enlightened master we can put our trust in. Further enlightened masters who tought the Amitabha way were Vasubandhu, Tan-luan, Shan-tao, Honen and Shinran Shonin, and particularly the Tibetan masters Padmasambhava, Longchenpa and Patrul Rinpoche. In Shin-Buddhism are the seven patriarchs: Nagarjuna, Indien, (150–250); Vasubandhu, Indien, (ca. 4th century); Tan-luan, China, (476–542); Tao-cho, China, (562–645); Shan-tao, China, (613–681); Genshin, Japan, (942–1017); Honen, Japan, (1133–1212).
For me, the Buddha Amitabha is a symbol for a fully enlightened master, who helps all beings along the way to enlightenment. He developed a simple way to enlightenment so that many people can succeed to this end. This method consists of connecting daily with an enlightened master (Buddha Amitabha) by speaking his name. We can also use an oracle or read a text to connect with our enlightened master (Buddha Amitabha). We should make an effort to be good people. Then the enlightened masters will lead us in our lives and bring us to paradise after death.
When we call on Buddha Amitabha, we get help from the spiritual world with certainty. According to Amritanandamayi, there are great enlightened beings in the cosmos (completely enlightened souls). These beings have a cosmic consciousness. They feel one with the cosmos and the light, and as one among each other. According to Amma, during prayer, one of these higher beings always feels spoken to and reacts. It doesn’t matter which name a person uses. It doesn’t matter if a person calls to Allah, God, Jesus, Krishna or Buddha Amitabha. It only matters that one wants help from the cosmos.
Prayer to Amitabha
”Om Buddha Amitabha. Om all enlightened masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way. I see the suffering in the world. I see the hunger, war, egoism, the lack of love. I am the Buddha of light. I live in the light. I walk the path of light. I send light to all beings. May all people be happy. May the world be happy .”
10. Come to rest. Let go of all goals. Awaken your inner happiness. Live in attachment-free existence.
What helps you to let go of your ego today?
Impressum
Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG
Bildmaterialien: Image source Wikipedia, WikiHow and own pictures
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.12.2014
ISBN: 978-3-7368-6257-9
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May all people be happy. May the world be happy.