“We are what we think.  All that we are arises with our thoughts.  With our thoughts we make the world….”  The Buddha

Buddhism Today

With the fast pace and high stress of modern life many people are becoming interested in the peaceful philosophy of Buddhism. In particular there is a very deep interest in learning how to meditate, both to overcome stress and anxiety, and to deepen one’s spiritual experience. In response to this growing interest Kadampa Buddhism offers many different ways of learning about Buddhism and practicing meditation. Kadampa Buddhism was first introduced to the West in 1976 by the renowned Kadampa Buddhist Master, Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Since then he has worked tirelessly to provide all the conditions necessary to support contemporary practitioners. He has written twenty-one authentic books on Buddhism that are now being translated into many different languages.


A worldwide network


Geshe Kelsang has also established over 1100 Kadampa Buddhist centers and study groups in 40 countries around the world where people of all cultures can train in meditation and other Buddhist practices. These centers all have qualified local teachers and offer introductory classes, structured study programs, and meditation retreats. All Kadampa Buddhist Centers are open to the public. Every year Kadampa Buddhists from around the world gather for meditation festivals in the USA and Europe, including two in England, where they receive special teachings and empowerments and enjoy a spiritual holiday.


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Dayna Huor's winning extreme bo @ Quebec Open 2009

Dayna Huor - is 13 years old and a second degree blackbelt in taekwondo and a first degree in karate. Her father and brother (Brendon) first taught her martial arts when she was 3 years old and she started taking classes at the age of 4. She has been doing martial arts for over 10 years now. She is a 10-time youth black belt world champion from competing in national and world martial arts tournaments. She also does dance, gymnastics, tumbling and plays the violin.
Her family consists of mom and dad Maura and Kenneth Huor, her two older brothers Brendon and Jason Huor. Her hometown is Davenport, IA and she was born and raised in the Quad Cities. Her instructors are John Sharkey Jr., Jai Johnson, Brendon Huor, Kenneth Huor, and Grand-Master Chung Eun Kim. She currently trains at Sharkey's Karate Studio, and Jai Johnson's Karate Center, and teaches with her parents at DAYNA HUOR MARTIAL ARTS within Next Level Fitness in Moline, Illinois. She is a star athlete member on national/international competition Team AKA (which stands for American Karate Association). She does Shorei-Ryu Karate and Taekwondo, and earned her TaeKwonDo second degree blackbelt at Chung Kim's Blackbelt Academy. She also earned her first degree blackbelt in Karate at Jai Johnson's Karate Center. She trains 6 days a week for two hours per day and is a straight "A" student academically. She attends regular public schools, and currently I am a 8th grader at Wood Intermediate School in Davenport, Iowa.

Dayna recently accepted an offer to become a member of the elite world renown "Team Paul Mitchel" martial art demonstration team. This summer she will begin shooting scenes for the motion picture feature film "Calico".

http://www.thehuors.com/

om mani padme hum - great melody

Karma

Karma is a Sanskrit word from the root "Kri" to do or to make and simply means "action." It operates in the universe as the continuous chain reaction of cause and effect. It is not only confined to causation in the physical sense but also it has moral implications. "A good cause, a good effect; a bad cause a bad effect" is a common saying. In this sense karma is a moral law.

Now human beings are constantly giving off physical and spiritual forces in all directions. In physics we learn that no energy is ever lost; only that it changes form. This is the common law of conservation of energy. Similarly, spiritual and mental action is never lost. It is transformed. Thus Karma is the law of the conservation of moral energy.

By actions, thoughts, and words, man is releasing spiritual energy to the universe and he is in turn affected by influences coming in his direction. Man is therefore the sender and receiver of all these influences. The entire circumstances surrounding him is his karma.

With each action-influence he sends out and at the same time, receives, he is changing. This changing personality and the world he lives in, constitute the totality of his karma.

Karma should not be confused with fate. Fate is the notion that man's life is preplanned for him by some external power, and he has no control over his destiny. Karma on the other hand, can be changed. Because man is a conscious being he can be aware of his karma and thus strive to change the course of events. In the Dhammapada we find the following words, "All that we are is a result of what we have thought, it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts."

What we are, then, is entirely dependent on what we think. Therefore, the nobility of man's character is dependent on his"good" thoughts, actions, and words. At the same time, if he embraces degrading thoughts, those thoughts invariably influence him into negative words and actions.

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♫Meditation - Chinese Bamboo Flute♫

Meditation refers to any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit.

Meditation is generally an inwardly oriented, personal practice, which individuals can do by themselves. Prayer beads or other ritual objects may be used during meditation. Meditation may involve invoking or cultivating a feeling or internal state, such as compassion, or attending to a specific focal point. The term can refer to the state itself, as well as to practices or techniques employed to cultivate the state.

There are dozens of specific styles of meditation practice; the word meditation may carry different meanings in different contexts. Meditation has been practiced since antiquity as a component of numerous religious traditions.
Since the 1960s, meditation has been the focus of increasing scientific research of uneven rigor and quality. In over 1,000 published research studies, various methods of meditation have been linked to changes in metabolism, blood pressure, brain activation, and other bodily processes. Meditation has been used in clinical settings as a method of stress and pain reduction.

Attribution from Wikipedia

SHOSHIN

Shoshin : A concept in Zen Buddhism mostly translated as “beginner’s mind” denominating a state of unbiased consciousness.
Also translated as - correct, genuine, original truth.

Popularized in the Western culture by the book “Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind” by the Zen teacher Shunryu Suzuki, who says about this approach to Zen practice: “In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few.”
Mostly misunderstood and misinterpreted as “a child’s mind” - a mind without preconceptions and expectations, without judgements and prejudices a mind of pure and unbound curiosity.

A child’s state of consciousness is a “non dualistic state of consciousness” Arriving in the material world the child has no concept of danger, foul play or hurt. A new born doesn’t have any prejudices and preconceptions therefore he cannot judge one way or the other, he has no concept of right or wrong.

We like to believe of the children’s innocence as something wonderful without realizing that a child will harm himself or others left to his own means. (Imagine a bunch of toddlers left in a room with a box of knives, blades and axes.) We like to believe that a child’s curiosity is something wonderful but have you ever seen a child pulling off the wings of a butterfly? Would you drink out a bottle of detergent to see how it taste like? A child would.

Living in a material world the child has to develop a “dualistic state of consciousness.” In order to know what truth is he has to learn what lie is.
He has to learn the difference between love and hate and in order to know what good is he has to learn what is bad.
With just a mind of pure and unbound curiosity, without preconceptions and expectations, without judgements and prejudices a child is a helpless being heading for disaster. We have to lose our innocence in order to survive.

As we grow up we keep feeding into the “apple” of knowledge and in time we metamorphose into a dualistic state of consciousness.
As adults we live in a deeply divided state of mind, trying to navigate the hard and narrow path of righteousness in a constant battle between good and bad.

We fail more or less miserably at that and live a life of pain and frustration – (The first noble truth.)
As Buddha taught us the problem is “clinging” as I like to translate – (The second noble truth.)

In our dualistic state of consciousness we develop biases – we get “stuck” in attachments and detachments, we pick or reject one side over another – rich over being poor, famous over being humble, powerful over being meek etc. losing the truth that “duality” is just an illusion and starting to believe that our “side” is the right side and that the “other’s” side is the wrong side. We hence live in a constant battle within and without.

Shoshin is the practice of unbiased, unstuck, free mind akin more to the “middle way” of Buddhist teachings than to the unbound curiosity of a child’s mind.
It is the practice of no clinging – no attachments and no detachments.
To this practice we can reach a state of consciousness harmony.