Tuesday, January 19, 2010

FLASHBACK






Yesterday there was very little heat in the new apartment. In fact it was off all day.

And all day long the neighbors clomped around and played the stereo.

Annamaya Kosha (the physical body) was cold.

Pranamaya Kosha (The energy body) was tired.

Manamaya Kosha (the lower mind) thought, "Why did I bother moving?"

Vijnanamaya Kosha (the higher mind) said, "Because it had to be done."

Anandamaya Kosha (the bliss body) made a brief appearance during practice and then disappeared.

And the Atman stood by as usual, watching.






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Click here to learn more about the Koshas.

9 comments:

  1. How did I not know you were even planning a move? I hope you get the heat situation fixed!!

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  2. I moved twice in the past ten months (after 15 yrs in the same place) and hope to stay put for awhile.....

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  3. I'm closing in on two decades in the hovel. If I moved ANYwhere in Manhattan I'd be rent broke.

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  4. There's heat today (phew!). It was hard leaving the old-old place - which was quiet and had excellent heat. But a 40 percent increase in rent in just nine months meant it was time to leave.

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  5. Anonymous3:57 PM

    Anicca(anitya in Sanskrit) ... Anicca ... Anicca ... !!!

    There is nothing permanent in this world, so no reason to be attached to anything.

    If you do not "react", it will disapear alone.


    May all beings be happy.

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  6. "The three kinds of feelings, O monks, are impermanent, compounded, dependently arisen, liable to destruction, to evanescence, to fading away, to cessation — namely, pleasant feeling, painful feeling, and neutral feeling." (Anicca Sutta - Translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera)

    Early Buddhism dealt with the problem of impermanence in a very rationale manner. This concept is known in Buddhism as anicca, which is the corrupt form of the Sanskrit word anitya, meaning impermanence. According to this concept, anicca or impermanence is an undeniable and inescapable fact of human existence from which nothing that belongs to this earth is ever free.

    Buddhism declares that there are five processes on which no human being has control and which none can ever change. These five processes are namely, the process of growing old, of not falling sick, of dying, of decay of things that are perishable and of the passing away of that which is liable to pass. Buddhism however suggests that escape from these evils is possible and its through Nirvana.

    Hinduism also believes in the impermanent nature of life . According to Hinduism, impermanence can be overcome by locating and uniting with the center of permanence that exists within oneself. This center is the Soul or the self that is immortal, permanent and ever stable.

    According to Hinduism, Atman is the fundamental truth that exists in every being, while at the microcosmic level it is Brahman who is the fundamental and supreme truth of all existence. He who realizes Atman verily becomes Brahman and attains immortality.

    The Buddha differed radically with this most fundamental concept of Hinduism and in line with his preaching the early Buddhists did not believe in the existence of a permanent and fixed reality which could be referred as either God or soul. According to them what was apparent and verifiable about our existence was the continuous change it undergoes.

    Thus early Buddhism declares that in this world there is nothing that is fixed and permanent. Every thing is subject to change and alteration. "Decay is inherent in all component things," declared the Buddha and his followers accepted that existence was a flux, and a continuous becoming.

    According to the teachings of the Buddha, life is comparable to a river. It is a progressive moment, a successive series of different moments, joining together to give the impression of one continuous flow. It moves from cause to cause, effect to effect, one point to another, one state of existence to another, giving an outward impression that it is one continuous and unified movement, where as in reality it is not. The river of yesterday is not the same as the river of today. The river of this moment is not going to be the same as the river of the next moment. So does life. It changes continuously, becomes something or the other from moment to moment.

    Take for example the life of an individual. It is a fallacy to believe that a person would remain the same person during his entire life time. He changes every moment. He actually lives and dies but for a moment, or lives and dies moment by moment, as each moment leads to the next. A person is what he is in the context of the time in which he exists. It is an illusion to believe that the person you have seen just now is the same as the person you are just now seeing or the person whom you are seeing now will be the same as the person you will see after a few moments.....

    The concept of impermanence and continuous becoming is central to early Buddhist teachings. It is by becoming aware of it, by observing it and by understanding it, one can find suitable remedy for the sorrow of human life and achieve liberation from the process of anicca or impermanence.


    More here.

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  7. Love this way of experiencing experience, and writing about it.

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  8. sunny in Haiti3:29 PM

    You could ride the landlord, and if he was unwilling to turn up the heat,have him kneecapped on the street.

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