[weeks 12 & 13] In week 11 we concentrated on mustering our very best effort and commitment to fulfil our improved objective (sixth step on the Noble Eightfold Path), and, to conclude this quarter’s 13-week Advayavada Study Plan, in week 12 we shall again make our best possible evaluation of our efforts to date and in week 13 we shall continue to develop and deepen our very best meditation towards samadhi*. These tasks are based on the seventh and eighth step on the Noble Eightfold Path: respectively samma-sati and samma-samadhi (in Pali) or samyak-smriti and samyak-samadhi (in Sanskrit); in Advayavada Buddhism’s personalized usage: our very best observation or reflection and self-correction, and our very best meditation or concentration towards samadhi; in Dutch: onze beste aandacht en onze beste bezinning (de zevende en achtste stap op het edele achtvoudige pad).
*Samadhi (Pali and Sanskrit): total or perfect concentration (of the mind, enstasy); total absorption in the object of meditation; the merging of subject and object; realization of the sameness of the part and the whole, of the identity of body and mind, of form and emptiness, of samsara and nirvana, of the immediate and the ultimate; perfect attunement with wondrous overall existence advancing in its manifest direction; oceanic feeling; wonder, awe, rapture; essential purity; deep love and compassion; awareness of our common ground and the innocence of sex. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Monthly Archives: March 2016
Advayavada Study Plan – week 11
[week 11] In week 10 we implemented our improved way of doing things (fifth step on the Noble Eightfold Path), and, to continue with this quarter’s 13-week Advayavada Study Plan, in week 11 we shall concentrate on mustering our very best effort and commitment to fulfil our improved objective. This task is based on the sixth step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-vayama (in Pali) or samyag-vyayama (in Sanskrit); in Advayavada Buddhism’s personalized usage: our very best effort and commitment; in Dutch: onze beste inspanning (de zesde stap op het edele achtvoudige pad). Importantly, as we advance properly along the Buddha’s Middle Way responding to his promise of Nirvana, we shall be ridding ourselves of the so-called ten fetters (dasa-samyojana) that restrict us to samsaric life: 1) belief in the self, 2) scepticism regarding the Path, 3) attachment to rituals, 4) partiality for certain things, 5) prejudice against certain things, 6) clinging to physical life, 7) hope of a hereafter, 8) conceit and pride, 9) intolerance and irritability, and 10) the last remnants of our ignorance. (from advayavada.org/#plan)
Social Influences on Neuroplasticity (Davidson and McEwen)
Experiential factors shape the neural circuits underlying social and emotional behavior from the prenatal period to the end of life. These factors include both incidental influences such as early adversity as well as intentional influences that can be produced in humans through specific interventions designed to promote prosocial behavior and well-being. Key extant evidence in animal models and humans is reviewed. While the precise mechanisms of plasticity are still not fully understood, moderate to severe stress appears to increase growth of several sectors of the amygdala while effects in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex tend to be opposite. Structural and functional changes in the brain have been observed with cognitive therapy and certain forms of meditation and lead to the suggestion that well-being and other prosocial characteristics might be enhanced through training. (Richard J. Davidson and Bruce S. McEwen, in Social influences on neuroplasticity: Stress and interventions to promote well-being, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491815/)
Advayavada Study Plan – week 10
[week 10] In week 6 we honestly reviewed and took stock of our personal situation (first step on the Noble Eightfold Path), in week 7 we took an appropriate and timely decision to adjust our course (second step), in week 8 we again put our decision and objective in writing (third step), in week 9 we further developed our very best attitude to carry out our improved objective (fourth step), and, to continue with this quarter’s 13-week Advayavada Study Plan, in week 10 we shall implement our improved way of doing things as best as possible. This task is based on the fifth step on the Noble Eightfold Path: samma-ajiva (in Pali) or samyag-ajiva (in Sanskrit); in Advayavada Buddhism’s personalized usage: our very best implementation, realization or putting into practice, bearing in mind that truly commendable deeds are only those which are in agreement with wondrous overall existence and take us forward at the fundamental level of our life; in Dutch: onze beste uitvoering (de vijfde stap op het edele achtvoudige pad). (from advayavada.org/#plan)