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Thousand-Arm Chenrezig and Mantra Recitation
Visualization:
At my heart is a white moon and the concentration being HRIH [self-respect or conscientiousness]. Surrounding this, standing clockwise on the moon, are the syllables of the long mantra, white in color. Inside this stand the syllables of the six-syllable mantra. Light radiates from these and completely fills my body. All obscurations, diseases, and hindrances are purified. The light radiates outside, carrying a countless number of Great Compassionate Ones. They purify all sentient beings' negative karma, disturbing attitudes, negative emotions, and obscurations.
The light gives sentient beings all the temporal happiness they want. It also ripens their minds so that they receive the realization of the gradual path to enlightenment and attain the ultimate happiness of Buddhahood. All sentient beings become Chenrezig.
Again, light rays radiate from my heart. They carry offerings to all the Buddhas and to all the sentient beings who have become Chenrezig. All these Chenrezigs are extremely pleased and experience bliss. Then all the qualities of Chenrezig's holy body, speech, and mind in the form of white light come from all the Chenrezigs and absorb into my heart, blessing my mind. All the Buddhas and all the sentient beings who have become Chenrezigs fall like snowflakes into me. I feel very blissful and my body, speech, and mind become inseparable from Guru Chenrezig's holy body, speech, and mind.
While doing the above visualizations, recite the long mantra and the six-syllable mantra.
Long mantra in Sanskrit:
NAMO RATNA TRAYAYA / NAMAH ARYA JNANA SAGARA / VAIROCHANA VYUHA RAJAYA / TATHAGATAYA / ARHATE / SAMYAK SAMBUDDHAYA / NAMAH SARVA TATHAGATEBHYAH / ARHATEBHYAH / SAMYAK SAMBUDDHEBHYAH / NAMAH ARYA AVALOKITESHVARAYA / BODHISATTVAYA / MAHASATTVAYA / MAHA KARUNIKAYA / TADYATHA / OM DHARA DHARA / DHIRI DHIRI / DHURU DHURU / ITTE VATTE / CHALE CHALE / PRACHALE PRACHALE / KUSUME KUSUME VARE / ILI MILI / CHITI JVALAM / APANAYE SVAHA
Long mantra as pronounced by Tibetans:
namo ratna trayaya/ nama arya gyana sagara/ berotsana buha radzaya/ tatagataya/ arhate/ samyaksam buddhaya/ namo sarwa tatagatebhye/ arhatebhye/ samyaksam buddhebhye/ namo arya awalokite/ shoraya/ bodhi satoya/ maha satoya/ maha karunikaya/ tayata/ om/ dara dara/ diri diri/ duru duru/ itte wate/ tsale tsale/ partsale partsale/ kusume kusume ware/ ihli mili/ tsiti dzola/ ahpanaye soha
Six-syllable mantra in Sanskrit: OM MANI PADME HUM
Six-syllable mantra as pronounced by Tibetans: om mani pay may hung
Visualize Vajrasattva on your crown. Nectar flows from his heart into you, purifying any incorrect mantra recitations. Recite the following one-hundred-syllable Vajrasattva mantra 3X.
OM PADMASATTVA SAMAYA MANUPALAYA / PADMASATTVA TVENOPATHISHTHA / DRIDHO ME BHAVA / SUTOSHYO MAY BHAVA / SUPOSHYO ME BHAVA / ANURAKTO ME BHAVA / SARVA SIDDHIM ME PRAYACCHA / SARVA KARMA SUCHAME / CHITTAM SHRIYAM KURU HUM / HA HA HA HA HOH / BHAGAVAN /SARVA TATHAGATA / PADMA MAME MUNCHA / PADMA BHAVA MAHA SAMAYA SATTVA AH HUM PHAT
A visualization and recitation for cultivating a compassionate heart.
A Place for Us
According to Benjamin R. Barber, director of Rutgers University's Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy, civil society (sometimes called the "third sector"), which has been dormant for a long time, is due for a revival of interest and energy. While governments and corporations have taken over as the movers and shakers in the modern world, those who are great believers in democratic struggle and social justice can join together in associated action in families, clans, churches, and communities.
On a philosophical level, Barber sees civil society as "the free space in which democratic attitudes are cultivated" — the domain where you and I can gather together as "we." This model will give citizens a chance to explore common ground, protect the labor market, support the arts and humanities, and develop national service programs.
In conclusion, the author makes it clear that two issues must be dealt with immediately: the continuing incivility of our political discourse and "the end of work" as evidenced by unemployment, under-employment, and disemployment.
Advocacy for a revitalization of America's civil society.
When God Gave Us Words
Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, the first woman ordained a rabbi in Reconstructionist Judaism, is the imaginative and soulful author of more than a dozen books for children, including favorites like God's Paintbrush, God in Between, A Prayer for the Earth, and Creation's First Light. Her ability to tap into the connections between heaven and earth make her stories wondrous and memorable.
Sasso's latest creation, When God Gave Us Words, takes us behind the scenes to God's conversations with angels about the possibility of giving humans the gift of words. The angels, represented as colorful, radiant spirals of light, doubt the sagacity of this plan. "People will just mess them up," they point out.
But God remains intent on hearing what people will do with this gift, and proceeds to hand down words. They arrive in sacks, one of this story's delicious and fanciful twists. On our favorite page spread, God stuffs a sack full of long, difficult words like "omniscient" and "antidisestablishmentarianism," because of which dictionaries have to be created. Children take pride in being able to say exactly these kinds of complicated words, something Sasso clearly understands.
When all the sacks are ready, the angels spread the words and sit down with God to listen. You can imagine the range of things people do with the words! Let's just say that some of them, like mixing the words with sharp thorns and thus giving birth to gossip, do not speak for the best in human nature. Even God is about to give up on this experiment when a new sound comes through: "People stirred music into words and sang lullabies." From poetry to prayers this welcome lyricism continues, until even the angels start to see the point in the venture.
The illustrations by Darcy Day Zoells are set in mythical forests, pastures, and by the seaside and do much to enhance the story. When the people, of many colors, are walking, talking, arguing, or telling stories, you can see the angels between tree trunks or on hillsides listening in. The pictures, like Sasso's words, leave an impression of realms inexplicably mingled in which humans play a particularly complex and fascinating part.
An imaginative tale about God's desire to give people language even when angels objected.
Writing a Love Letter
If you have difficulties with someone in your life, you might spend some time alone and write that person a real letter. You can write the letter to someone you see every day or, just as effectively, to someone you haven't seen for years, or even to someone who is no longer living. It is never too late to bring peace and healing into a relationship. Even if we no longer see that person, we can reconcile inside ourselves, and the relationship can heal.
Give yourself a couple of hours to write a letter using loving speech. While you write the letter, practice looking deeply into the nature of your relationship. Why has communication been difficult? Why has happiness not been possible? Here is an example:
My dear,
I know you have suffered a lot over the past many years. I have not been able to help you — in fact, I have made the situation worse. It is not my intention to make you suffer. Maybe I'm not skillful enough. Maybe I tried to impose my ideas on you. In the past I thought you made me suffer. Now I realize that I have been responsible for my own suffering.
I promise to do my best to refrain from saying things or doing things that make you suffer. Please tell me what is in your heart. You need to help me; otherwise it is not possible for me to do it. I can't do it alone.
You have nothing to risk by writing this letter. You can even decide later whether to send it. But whether you send it or not, you will find that the person who finishes writing the letter is not the same person who began it — peace, understanding, and compassion have transformed you.
Guidance for internal and external reconciliation.
The Tactic of Delay
The Rabbi of Gastinin, of blessed memory, made it a practice never to express anger on the same day when he was upset or annoyed with someone. Only on the following day would he tell him, "Yesterday I was annoyed at you." (Siah Sarfei Kodesh, III, p. 29, #37)
There are many variations on this tactic of delay, so that an unjust anger dissipates completely, or so that a just anger can be purified of alien fire (such as pride).
A method that helps dissipate anger.
Dialogue as Music
Imagine yourself and your most intimate friend in a deep conversation, feeling one another's feelings while talking soul talk. Effortlessly your speech turns into music: two braided instruments, a clarinet and a cello, or a French horn and trombone, or two alto flutes, or a soprano saxophone and an electric bass. What would that sound be?
Imagining your conversation as a musical exchange.
Never Say a Mean Word Again
This edifying children's picture book is based on a story from the life of the Jewish poet Samuel Ha-Nagid (993-1056) who was the vizier (a royal advisor) in Muslim Spain. Writer Jacqueline Jules has taken this multicultural tale and made it into a touching parable about turning an enemy into a friend. The glorious illustrations of Durga Yael Bernhard give us a sense of medieval Spain.
In the opening scene, Samuel, a Jewish boy and son of the grand vizier, bumps into Hamza, a Muslim whose father is a tax collector. At the castle banquet, the two boys are seated next to each other. Again Samuel's clumsiness causes trouble; this time he spills food on the Muslim boy's white tunic. Hamza calls him a stupid donkey brain.
After talking to his father about the incident, Samuel realizes that he must do something to make sure Hamza never says a mean thing to him again. He imagines several possible scenarios including ones in which he restrains or humiliates his enemy. Instead, the two boys find out they have some things in common and start seeing each other regularly.
Never Say a Mean Word Again celebrates the art of making an enemy into a friend which in today's world of ethnic violence and hatred is a spiritual way to be encouraged. It is designed for children from ages 4 through 8. This book in the Wisdom Tales series includes an author's note about the legend behind the story and the cultural and religious richness of Samuel Ha-Nagid's time.
A wonderful cross-cultural tale about the spiritual art of turning an enemy into a friend.
Small Change is Powerful
The power of small change lies in how much easier small changes are to initiate and maintain, and how meaningful are the patterns they create.
Replace a soft drink with water at just one meal — say, lunch. With this small change, you will drink approximately forty more gallons of water per year, while not drinking forty gallons of carbonated sugar. You will also save up to fifty thousand calories and as much as five hundred dollars.
Walk to the next bus stop instead of the closest one. In one year, you will walk more than 150 miles more than if you had not changed your routine. This is the equivalent of walking from New York to Philadelphia and back each year. In ten years, you will have walked more than 1,500 miles.
Consciously say, "I love you," at the end of every phone conversation with a life partner, and it will reinforce the message for both of you, adding tens of thousands of endearments over the course of a relationship. Small change adds up!
Initiating and maintaining meaningful patterns.
Jewish Wisdom
This impressive compendium of Jewish wisdom from biblical, Talmudic, and modern-day teachers contains 90 chapters on nearly every topic you could imagine. The eight thematic sections will give you sense of the sweep of Rabbi Joseph Telushkin's mind and interests. He is a spiritual leader and scholar who lectures throughout the United States.
• Between People: How to Be a Good Person in a Complicated World
• Personal Issues: Judaism and the Quest for Meaning
• Between People and God: What God Wants from Us
• Between People and the World: Jewish Values Confront Modern Values
• Modern Jewish Experience: Major Themes
• The Holocaust
• Zionism and Israel
• On Being a Jew: Modern Reflections
A lively chapter titled "Mensch — Nine Challenges a Good Person Must Meet" gives us a keen sense of the importance of pursuing justice, pleasing God, pursuing peace, and loving our neighbors. The wise counsel of rabbis, seers, and writers comes across in commentary on stealing, lying, cheating, raising kids, poverty, prayer, the death penalty, anti-Semitism, Jewish rage, and much more. The book contains a mix of material from ancient and modern times. Here is a very brief sampler of some of the shorter passages from the book:
• "The stranger was to be protected, although he was not a member of one's family, clan, religion, community, or people; simply because he was a human being. In the stranger, therefore, man discovered the idea of humanity."
— Hermann Cohen
• "The world endures because of three activities: Torah study, worship of God, and deeds of loving-kindness."
— Ethics of the Fathers
• "Whoever saves one life, it is as if he saved the entire world."
— Mishna Sanhedrin
• "Keep doing good deeds long enough and you'll probably turn out a good man. In spite of yourself."
— Louis Auchincloss in The Rector of Justin
An impressive compendium of Jewish wisdom from ancient and modern sources.
Catfish
In a recent survey, it was discovered that the average American has just four close social contacts, with most having between two and six. Sadly, 12 percent of Americans surveyed had no one with whom they could discuss important matters or spend free time. This social isolation is part and parcel of our contemporary culture. On the other hand, every day we interact with people who are not included in our inner circle: Facebook friends, a waitress, a message therapist, or a coworker. Melinda Blau and Karen Fingerman have characterized these contacts as "Consequential Strangers" in their book of the same title. Consequential strangers may play a minor, limited, or temporary role, but they still make a contribution to the quality of our lives. In addition, the expansion of online communities and social networking sites reveals the yearning we all have to connect to wide variety of people beyond our loved ones. As a result, it seems, we're "in touch" 24/7.
In the documentary feature Catfish, Nev is a 24-year-old photographer in New York City; Nev's brother Ariel Schulman and his friend Henry Joost are filmmakers. The filmmakers are intrigued when Nev is contacted on Facebook by Abby, an eight-year old artist who has sent him a painting she has done of one of his ballet photographs. He is quite impressed with it and curious to find out more about her. So they begin an online correspondence. Abby's mother is very appreciative of what is happening between them. All of this contact with this gifted family in Michigan is surprising to Nev and the filmmakers, who have decided to make a documentary about it.
The real fireworks start when Nev begins to communicate online with Megan, Abby's older sister who takes a romantic interest in him. He is intrigued by a beautiful picture of her and their sexy interchanges via email and telephone. However, when Nev learns some shocking things about Megan, he and the filmmakers decide to pay a visit to her family and find out the truth.
There have been plenty of movies over the years about the foibles, flaws, and fantasies of computer dating services but never a drama as bold as this one which probes the strange things that can take place in our online communications.
In Consequential Strangers, Blau and Fingerman point out that technology has transformed the ways in which we "do" relationships; similar to the telephone, the Internet has greatly amplified our connections. In addition, we often have our private conversations in public. This unusual documentary challenges us to look hard at ourselves and the expectations we have about online relationships. Although we have been raised to treasure the familiar and the comfortable, there is a part of us that craves new and ever more exotic relationships. That's exactly what Nev feels as his romantic connection with Megan comes to dominate his life.
The surprising finale of Catfish is immensely rewarding with its unique blend of zealotry, loneliness, creativity, and genuine emotional catharsis. It proves once again that no matter how sophisticated and complicated our technology becomes, the mystery of the human personality always shines through when we least expect it to.
A special feature on the DVD is "Secrets Revealed": an exclusive interview with the filmmakers.
A smart and savvy documentary about online relationships and the loneliness and yearning that draws people together in cyberspace.