Plant the seeds of expectation in your mind; cultivate thoughts that anticipate achievement. Believe in yourself as being capable of overcoming all obstacles and weaknesses…

Another interesting factor is walking meditation. I was contemplating that walking meditation should be practised with eyes open! Unless perhaps you have a big empty field

Thanks for leaving a comment.

TDM

I tend to use my eyelids as a set of tools. When I start my session my eyes are half closed / open (half mast)and my head just slighty bowed downwards, but with a good straight neck and back just stacked up rightly on its vertebrae and supporting itself (my old teacher always said you can always tell a good monk by his head and shoulders -

Now….if I get an attack of the drowsies and start feeling sleepy I open the eyelids slightly more and let in a little more light which in turn helps me wake up and contrasts the pull to sleep.

I so agree and about natural light and quiet! Music flowers and incense are balms for the sole, but I would not use this is in the way I have learnt as I don’t focus on anything externally..but for those that do I would like to learn more.

What a great comment! I’ll answer it as best as I can.

Yes, there are a number of buddhas. There are, in fact, an infinite number of them. The Buddha we refer to here is the historical Buddha Shakyamuni who lived in India 2500 years ago. Shakyamuni is considered special because he was the first Buddha to teach the Dharma in this eon. Prior to Shakyamuni there were infinite buddhas and since Shakyamuni many people have attained buddhahood - especially in India and Tibet.

Yes, this was before Bodhidharma taught the Shaolin monks. Bodhidharma was an Indian who traveled to China long after Buddhism was established in India.

Guatama (who you mentioned) was the Buddha Shakyamuni. He was a price and lived a life of luxury but upon seeing the sufferings of old age, sickness and death he left his palace to meditate alone. However, Guatama tried living a life of hardships and found it did not work. He later discovered that meditation required a balance of hardship and comfort until one reaches a high degree of meditative stabilization. We can see this in his life stories. For example he had no progress while he was fasting and made excellent progress once he made a comfortable seat of kushu grass.

These days we are in what Buddhism calls “the degenerate age”. Buddha Shakyamuni said that it would be difficult for people to meditate because their emotions are so strong. This is why we need to start at the beginning and make a nice space for meditation. Then, once we have calmed the mind and gained some insight we can go off in to the world and meditate on whatever happens.

I hope this has helped a little bit and not confused you! Great comment I really enjoyed it!

TDM

Let’s not forget Guatama: When he was 29 years old, he became dissatisfied with his comfortable and sheltered life and left his country. He went out into the world among the common people to experience the pain and suffering in their lives.

In that sense, the creator of Buddhism was far more in touch with reality back then than the people who practice “Buddhism” today - wasn’t he?