The Buddhist Universe consists of thirty-one levels, six realms, three spheres, and 8 levels of meditation.
Six realms: Lower Gods, Humans, Titans/Atulas, Ghosts, Animals, Hell
Three Spheres: Sphere of Sense-Desires (kamavacara), Sphere of Pure Form (rupavacara), Sphere of Formlessness (arupavacara)
Thirty-One Levels:
Sphere of Formlessness (arupavacara): an almost indescribably supreme state beyond all shape and form in which beings exist as pure mental energy.
31. Neither Perception nor Non-Perception (Meditation level 8)
30. Nothingness (Meditation level 7)
29. Infinite Consciousness (Meditation level 6)
28. Infinite Space (Meditation level 5)
Sphere of Pure Form (rupavacara): a rarefied spiritual state in which gods perceive and communicate by telepathy.
27-12. Higher Gods (Meditation levels 4,3,2,1): remote and sublime beings who have little involvement with human affairs. They are subject to karma, and are eventually reborn like anyone else. The top heaven levels (levels 23-27) are "Pure Abodes," also known as Non-Returners.
Sphere of Sense-desires (kamavacara)
11-6. Lower Gods: beings, due to their performance of good deeds/karma, enjoy harmonious and blissful states of existence. They frequently appear on earth, and pay their respects to the Buddha and His teachings. Among them are also future Buddhas awaiting their last rebirths on earth.
5. Humans have reason and free will, seen as the middle-way- an appropriate balance between pleasure and suffering.
4. Titans demonic warlike beings, motivated by a lust for power, constantly seeking conquests.
3. Ghosts are unhappy spirits hovering around the fringes of the human worlds and can be glimpsed as shadowy forms; formerly human beings bound to the earth by their strong attachments.
2. Animals beings governed by brute instinct, lacking intellectual capacity.
1. Hell: in Buddhism, hell is not a place of final damnation, but a temporary state (either extremely hot or extremely cold) from which a being can be released when the evil karma that sent one to hell has run its course.
The universe is divided into two categories: the physical universe (bhajana) and the beings (sattva) which inhabit it. The physical universe is formed by the interaction of the five elements (earth, water, air, fire and space). Through this interaction there evolve "world systems" which are found in six directions of the universe (north, south, west, east, above and below). The world systems undergo four-stage cycles of evolution and decline lasting billions of years: coming into being/formation, endurance/existence, slowly disintegrating, and destruction in a great cataclysm. In due course the world systems evolve again to complete a vast cycle known as a "great eon." The beings who inhabit the physical universes are not just caretakers of their environment. They also help create their worlds, and their moral status may determine the fate of their world system (Buddhist thinking on ecology).
Time is conceived as cyclic, rather than linear. The Judaeo-Christian tradition attributes the Fall of Man to pride and disobedience; Buddhism locates the origin of human suffering in desire. Time is relative, and is perceived differently by different beings. A human lifetime seems like a day to gods of the lower levels.
Source:
Damien Keown, Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013),
pp. 33-39.
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Friday, March 20, 2015
Tips for Intellectual, Emotional and Mental Health
1. Simplicity
Declutter your home and office.
Declutter your brain.
2. Avoid information overload
Let the Information Age work for you rather than allowing it to control your time and energy.
3. Unleash your creative thinking
Get out of your comfort zone.
4. Keep visualizing your goals. This should be done at least once a day. Stay committed to your aspirations and dreams. Use visualization to focus on your success.
5. Use affirmations
Use repeated statements of positive enforcement to support your goals:
"I am at peace."
"My mind is calm and relaxed."
"I will win."
Even if your are not sure whether these statements are true, ...let them do their work.
6. It's ok to fail
Persist, don't desist.
7. Forgiveness
Holding on to negative emotions does no one any good.
8. Don't underestimate yourself.
You won't know your talents and capacities without trying.
9. Laugh
Laughter has an amazing ability to improve overall wellness.
Source:
Sanjay Jain, Optimal Living 360: Smart Decision Making for a Balanced Life. (Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2014), pp. 133-136
Declutter your home and office.
Declutter your brain.
2. Avoid information overload
Let the Information Age work for you rather than allowing it to control your time and energy.
3. Unleash your creative thinking
Get out of your comfort zone.
4. Keep visualizing your goals. This should be done at least once a day. Stay committed to your aspirations and dreams. Use visualization to focus on your success.
5. Use affirmations
Use repeated statements of positive enforcement to support your goals:
"I am at peace."
"My mind is calm and relaxed."
"I will win."
Even if your are not sure whether these statements are true, ...let them do their work.
6. It's ok to fail
Persist, don't desist.
7. Forgiveness
Holding on to negative emotions does no one any good.
8. Don't underestimate yourself.
You won't know your talents and capacities without trying.
9. Laugh
Laughter has an amazing ability to improve overall wellness.
Source:
Sanjay Jain, Optimal Living 360: Smart Decision Making for a Balanced Life. (Austin, TX: Greenleaf Book Group Press, 2014), pp. 133-136
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Quotations
Life is like a stone mill. It will grind you down, or it will polish you up.
Anonymous
No matter what you do, some people will criticize you, and if you are entirely sure that you would not be ashamed to explain your action to someone whom you loved and who loved you, and you are satisfied in your own mind that you are doing right, then you need not worry about criticism nor need you ever explain what you do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
About the only value the story of my life may have is to show that one can, even without any particular gifts, overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable if one is willing to face the fact that they must be overcome; that, in spite of timidity and fear, in spite of a lack of special talents, one can find a way to live widely and fully.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The lessons [I] learned were those of adaptability and adjustment and finally of self-reliance and developing into an individual as every human being must.
Eleanor Roosevelt
I know that in my own case my friends are responsible for much that I have become and without them there are many things which would have remained closed books to me.
Eleanor Roosevelt
If you prepare yourself at every point as well as you can, with whatever means you may have, however meager they may seem, you will be able to grasp opportunity for broader experience when it appears. Without preparation you cannot do it. The fatal thing is rejection. Life was meant to be lived, curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The only way to be sure of being loved is to be worthy of love.
Anonymous
If we choose to see obstacles in our path as barriers, we stop trying. However, if we choose to see the obstacles as hurdles, we can leap over them. Successful people don't have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward. Whatever direction we choose, if we realize that every hurdle we jump strengthens and prepares us for the next one, we are already on the way to success.
Eleanor Roosevelt (?)
Anonymous
No matter what you do, some people will criticize you, and if you are entirely sure that you would not be ashamed to explain your action to someone whom you loved and who loved you, and you are satisfied in your own mind that you are doing right, then you need not worry about criticism nor need you ever explain what you do.
Eleanor Roosevelt
About the only value the story of my life may have is to show that one can, even without any particular gifts, overcome obstacles that seem insurmountable if one is willing to face the fact that they must be overcome; that, in spite of timidity and fear, in spite of a lack of special talents, one can find a way to live widely and fully.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The lessons [I] learned were those of adaptability and adjustment and finally of self-reliance and developing into an individual as every human being must.
Eleanor Roosevelt
I know that in my own case my friends are responsible for much that I have become and without them there are many things which would have remained closed books to me.
Eleanor Roosevelt
If you prepare yourself at every point as well as you can, with whatever means you may have, however meager they may seem, you will be able to grasp opportunity for broader experience when it appears. Without preparation you cannot do it. The fatal thing is rejection. Life was meant to be lived, curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
Eleanor Roosevelt
The only way to be sure of being loved is to be worthy of love.
Anonymous
If we choose to see obstacles in our path as barriers, we stop trying. However, if we choose to see the obstacles as hurdles, we can leap over them. Successful people don't have fewer problems. They have determined that nothing will stop them from going forward. Whatever direction we choose, if we realize that every hurdle we jump strengthens and prepares us for the next one, we are already on the way to success.
Eleanor Roosevelt (?)
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Notes on Net Neutrality
On Thursday February 26, 2015 a landmark decision was made for the future of the Internet. The Federal Communications Commission approved tough net neutrality regulations to oversee online traffic. The new rules prohibit Internet service providers (ISPs) for discriminating against legal content flowing through their wired or wireless networks, such as by charging websites for faster delivery of video and other data to customers. Thus, all legal content must be treated equally online by ISPs.
"The Internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet. It's simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field."
Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman
The Internet is simply too important to allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules. Wheeler's plan puts broadband providers in the same legal category as more highly regulated conventional telephone companies.
Net Neutrality has raised more profound issues of free speech, privacy, innovation, capitalism, and the role of government in the 21st century.
Sources:
Chicago Tribune (February 27, 2015)
MKE Journal Sentinel (February 27, 2015)
"The Internet is the most powerful and pervasive platform on the planet. It's simply too important to be left without rules and without a referee on the field."
Tom Wheeler, FCC Chairman
The Internet is simply too important to allow broadband providers to be the ones making the rules. Wheeler's plan puts broadband providers in the same legal category as more highly regulated conventional telephone companies.
Net Neutrality has raised more profound issues of free speech, privacy, innovation, capitalism, and the role of government in the 21st century.
Sources:
Chicago Tribune (February 27, 2015)
MKE Journal Sentinel (February 27, 2015)
How to Kondo
Five tips to Kondo:
- Tidy by category: clothes first, then books, papers, miscellany, and sentimental items.
- Don't foil your unwanted stuff on family members who might take it out of guilt. Give it to charity.
- There is nothing more annoying than papers. Throw them all away unless they are absolutely necessary.
- Forget fancy storage containers. Drawers and shoe boxes often suffice.
- Avoid piles. Tip items upon their sides and store them next to each other, rather than stacking them.
The Life-Changing
Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of
Decluttering and Organizing
by Marie Kondo
ISBN: 978-1-60774-730-7
Monday, March 2, 2015
Key Words about Diet
There is too much information about the American diet, and most of the guidelines are contradictory and misleading. We often find them confusing and difficult to apply in our daily life, because budget, convenience, and the pressure of our hectic lifestyle make it almost impossible to follow the ideal healthy plate designed by health researchers and dieticians.
The best diet is perhaps the one that works best for the individual person who knows his/her body and life constraints so well. As long as the person follows these key words, his/her diet should be ok:
Variety, Balance, and Moderation
Any other ideas are always welcome.
The best diet is perhaps the one that works best for the individual person who knows his/her body and life constraints so well. As long as the person follows these key words, his/her diet should be ok:
Variety, Balance, and Moderation
Any other ideas are always welcome.
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