Jinapanjara Gatha

Jinapanjara Gatha

Wat Rakhang and Somdej Toh.http://www.mybuddha108.com/

The Jinapanjara Gatha is one of the most popular chants in Thailand. Its origins are obscure. Some said it was discovered in a ruined stupa in Sri Lanka while others say it originates in Thailand. Nevertheless it is recited at many temples and forest monasteries in both countries for its mystical and powerful protective powers.

Jinapañjara Gāthā The Victor's Cage

15 Practical Ways To Find Your Zen At Work

Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh on the power of mindfulness.

 01/08/2016 Jo Confino Executive Editor, Impact & Innovation, The Huffington Post

Given how much time we spend at work, it is a crying shame if we don’t get the most out of it. But how can we feel joyful and generous if we feel stressed out by the constant nagging sense that we have too little time and too much to do?

The practice of mindfulness offers one answer.

The Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, who is credited with being the father of mindfulness in the West, has developed a checklist of actions we can take to ensure not only that we stay in balance but also are able to see our work in the context of creating a better world.
COMPASSIONATE EYE FOUNDATION/HIEP VU VIA GETTY IMAGES

Long-lasting Effects of Meditation

By Jennifer Gibson, PharmD

Meditation has longed been used to calm the mind and the body, but the long-term effects of such practices are difficult to evaluate. Recently, a team of investigators studied the effects of mindful meditation on emotional processing and reported that meditation may induce lasting effects in the emotional processes in the brain.

For the study, 51 heathy adults aged 25 to 55 years, with no prior meditation experience, underwent mindful attention training (MAT), cognitively-based compassion training (CBCT), or participated in a health discussion group. MAT teaches meditative techniques for enhancing awareness of a person’s internal and external environments; CBCT is a program based on Buddhist practices of compassion meditation. The health discussion group served as the control group. Each group participated in its respective intervention for 2 hours per week for 8 weeks. The MAT and CBCT groups were also asked to meditate daily for 20 minutes at home.  Before and after the study, the participants completed inventories of self-reported depression and anxiety. They also underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans while in a non-meditative state during which they were shown pictures of people and asked to identify the people as positive, negative, or neutral.

Head of Jogye Order Buddhism Joins the North America Buddhist Conference

The Buddhist Channel, Jan 6, 2016

Haein Sunim is the leader of 2.5 million strong congregation and 1,200 temples of Jogye Order Buddhism in Korea

Pebble Beach, Calif. Jogye Order Buddhism announced today Haein Sunim will lead a delegation of leading sunim of Jogye Order Buddhism of Korea *.

The delegation joins the 2016 Jogye Order Buddhism North America Conference scheduled for January 6 through 9. In the conference, the delegation will propose harmony and global peace building in discussion with influential citizens and communities in the U.S. The delegation calls for the "Open Door Programs" (ODP).

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh returns to Plum Village for treatment

VietNamNet Bridge, Jan 11, 2016 Paris, France -- After a period of treatment in the US, on January 8 Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh returned to the Plum Village (France) to seek appropriate treatment methods. According to updated information, on the first days of 2016, the Zen Master clearly expressed his desire to return to the Plum Village. The Zen Master was relatively satisfied with the progress of treatment in the US, thanks to the care and treatment of the doctors caring at UCSF as well as physical therapists for the past six months. The Zen Master wanted to return to the Plum Village to spend time under the spiritual roof of the Village and to enjoy the powerful collective energy of Buddhist monks in the village.

Why we will come to see mindfulness as mandatory

This increasingly popular tool for calming the mind, once seen as a New  Age fad, could play a role in hospitals and schools Madeleine Bunting The Guardian 6 May 2014 Mindfulness is selling millions of books and apps, it appears on the front  cover of Time magazine, pops up in the Financial Times and is used by all  kinds of people from corporate executives and nurses to sportsmen and  primary school children. Once a poorly understood New Age fad, it has  moved from the margins to the mainstream. Nothing demonstrates that  better than the launch of an all-party parliamentary group on mindfulness  on Wednesday. At this point I will come clean. I am one of a group of people working with  three universities (Oxford, Exeter and Bangor) to support the all-party  group. What interests us – academics, journalists, mindfulness teachers –  is the potential for public policy. What role could mindfulness play in  schools, in the NHS or in the criminal justice system?

Awaken in the Dhamma

Dzogchen master Chatral Rinpoche passes on, aged 102

The Buddhist Channel, Jan 6, 2016

Kathmandu, Nepal -- Dzogchen master Chatral Rinpoche died in Nepal on January 5, at the age of 102. He was one of the last living disciples of Khenpo Ngawang Palzang.

He was a Dzogchen master and a reclusive yogi known for his great realization and strict discipline.  He was widely regarded as one of the most highly realized Dzogchen yogis

In addition to his relationship with Khenpo Ngagchung, Chatral Rinpoche also studied with some of the last century's most renowned masters, including Dudjom Rinpoche, Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, and the famed dakini Sera Khandro.

Rinpoche was one of the primary lineage holders of the Longchen Nyingthig, and in particular the lineage that descends through Jigme Lingpa's heart son Jigme Gyalwe Nyugu and then on to Patrul Rinpoche.

He advocated vegetarianism and had a yearly practice of ransoming the lives of thousands of animals in India.

In addition to his emphasis on the union of view and conduct, Rinpoche also stressed the practice of retreat.

In his lifetime, he established numerous retreat centers throughout the Himalayas, including in Pharping, Yolmo, and Darjeeling.