Buddha oracle

A Buddha. Inner silence in the flowing time. Living without an ego is a peaceful and happy life.

--->Topic:Theology and philosophy and Topic:Buddhist studies‏‎

In a playful way, we learn the main principles of Buddhism. Basically, the Buddha oracle is a game which helps us toward positive principles of life and strategies of wisdom.

The Buddha oracle consists of 64 single oracle statements. They can be found via a random generator. Simply enter numbers 1 through 64 and click on generate. You can also write the oracle numbers on several small pieces of paper or create your own oracle cards, mix the cards, and then select a paper from the stack. You can print and play it with friends (left). Interpret the oracle as makes sense for you. Download PDF

Buddha

1. Search your spiritual role model (Buddha, Guanyin, Socrates, Jesus). It does not matter which model you have. The most important thing is that it symbolizes for you the enlightenment energy (healing, happiness). Connect yourself regularly with your spiritual role model through a meditation, a text or a mantra (prayer). Imagine now over your crown chakra in the sky a big sun. In the sun sits a golden Buddha (or a Goddess as Guanyin). The Buddha (the Goddess) are you ! The Buddha (the Goddess) sees the suffering on earth, and sends all beings light. Move a hand and think: "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy." What is your deed of love today? Success on the spiritual path. Forward.

Gautama Buddha

A Buddha (literally, "Awakened One") is a man who got Bodhi ("awakening", enlightenment). The Tantric Buddhism (Tibet) knows a wealth of transcendent Buddhas (living in a higher dimension), with which you can connect spiritually. Moreover, the term is used for the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, who was the founder of a world religion.

Gautama Buddha was prince from Nepal who lived 560-480 BC. He came from the family of the Shakya and is therefore called Shakyamuni Buddha in Tibetan Buddhism. Gautama Buddha was married. At age 29 he left his wife and son and became a yogi. He saw the worldly life as meaningless and superficial. He meditated for six years in the solitude and then got enlightenment. After his enlightenment, he felt compassion for the suffering people in the world. The remaining 45 years of his life, he lived as a spiritual teacher in India and gave people the wisdom of inner happiness.

The teachings of Buddha are called Dharma. Basis of the Dharma are the Four Noble Truths: 1. Living in the cycle of existence involves suffering. 2nd The cause of suffering is attachment to worldly pleasures, denial of unpleasant situations and ignorance of the deeper meaning of life (inner happiness). 3rd If the causes are dissolved, the suffering disappears. 4th The way to overcome suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path to enlightenment consists of the right wisdom (living in inner happiness), the right decision (for spiritual practice), the right speech (do not lie), the right action (do not steal, not kill), the right livelihood (do good), the right struts (after enlightenment), the right mindfulness (mental work) and the right concentration (meditation).

Buddhism

2. There are three ways to develop enlightenment. There is the path of spiritual practice (yoga, meditation, reading, walking). There is the way of all-embracing love (do good, the bodhisattva path). And there is the path of rest (inner peace). The main path to inner happiness is to live in the rest. The essence of a Buddha is the inner seclusion from the world. A Buddha enshrined his soul in the transcendence (in a higher dimension of consciousness, in the Nirvana, in pure being, in the void / unit, in inner peace and happiness).

Who lives secluded and constantly does his spiritual practice is growing five times as fast as other people to enlightenment. Most people in today's time flee the silence. They are fleeing the inner happiness. Take every opportunity to get rest. Do your spiritual exercises. Go through the uncomfortable feelings of boredom and get an enlightened state of consciousness (unity consciousness, inner harmony, inner positivity).

Buddhism

The Buddhism is a philosophy that has its origins in India. We can summarize the essence of Buddhism in mental work (inner peace, wisdom and love) and meditation. The meditation consists of lying, sitting, standing and walking. The main meditation Buddhas are the four stages of contemplation: thinking about life, inner peace, happiness, dissolving the ego / enlightenment. The fourth stage of meditation is difficult to achieve for an untrained person. It comes by grace (by itself). The more a man is walking the spiritual path, the sooner he can reach a life in the light (Nirvana, God).

There are three main directions of Buddhism (Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana) and many sub-forms (for example the Amitabha Buddhism and Zen Buddhism). The Theravada Buddhism focuses on the original teachings of Buddha. It is all about one's own enlightenment. The main goal is to be a saint (arhat) and to live in Nirvana (God).

The Mahayana Buddhism is the way of all-embracing love. The main goal is not one's own enlightenment, but the happiness of all beings. A Mahayana Buddhist does not see himself separated from his fellow beings, but sees himself as part of the world. He wants to bring all beings to enlightenment. He wants a happy world and a happy cosmos. The ideal of the Mahayana is to be a Bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva is working simultaneously for his own enlightenment and for the enlightenment of all beings. Usually he incarnates on earth some more times.

The Vajrayana ("Diamond Vehicle") is known in the West as the Tibetan Buddhism. It is based on the philosophical foundations of Mahayana, but supplemented by a variety of spiritual techniques. These include yoga, visualization, mantra and initiations (energy transfers from enlightened masters). In Vajrayana we find a mixture of Buddhism and Hinduism. Many spiritual techniques of Vajrayana came from Hinduism and were changed more or less into Buddhism. This refers in particular to the model-yoga (visualization of the deities), the yoga techniques (Hatha Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Karma Yoga, Tantra Yoga) and the veneration of the enlightened master (Guru Yoga, Lamaism).

The difference between Buddhism and Hinduism with respect to the ultimate goal is that the term Nirvana emphasizes on the emptiness (the ego-dissolution) and the term Brahman on the unit (unit consciousness, abundance, light). In the state of enlightenment both perceptions exist simultaneously. They are two sides of same coin. Some people need to focus on the one side and some on the other side of the coin, to arrive in the state of enlightenment.

Happiness

3. Go your way with joy. What do you need to feel comfortable today? A little pleasure (eating, drinking), some social contacts (internet forums), some slowness, some beauty (music, flowers) and some fun? If you live the joy on the spiritual path in the right amount (not too much and not too little), it helps you to get spiritual victory. "My way of pleasure is ..." Forwards. Success.

The flower of joy

Saint Anthony the Great is the founder of Christian Yoga. He lived in the third century in Egypt. As a young man he had a vision in a church. Out of the empty space a voice spoke to him: "Do you want inner happiness, go into the desert and live as a hermit." Anthony had to go through many spiritual crises and cleaning processes, but after a few years he reached enlightenment.

Exciting at St. Anthony is the fact that he got on his spiritual path in contact with his former lifes. In Christianity, the doctrine of the rebirth was later rejected largely. But only if St. Anthony had resolved all tension from his previous lifes, he was able to attain enlightenment. In the texts it is said that in his mind appeared wild animals, which torn him with their teeth. Even with his sexual wishes he had to fight. With his will power and his spiritual exercises (prayers), he overcame his worldly attachments and reached a life in the light.

The main principle of St. Anthony was, "Sit down in your hut, and your hut will teach you everything." Feel inside the right way of your daily spiritual practice. What triggers on your inner tensions? How can you overcome your fears and desires? What exercises brings you best into the light? His second principle was, "Some yogis need a flower in their hut, and some do not need a flower." Who needs a little pleasure on his way, should give it himself every day.

Small Steps

4. Little people win with small steps, cleverness and endurance. Forward with small steps. Success.

The sick farmer

There once was a farmer in India who had a large goiter on his neck. The goiter looked very ugly and was very painful. The farmer was desperate. He asked many doctors. But no one could help him. In his distress he went on pilgrimage to a holy place where an enlightened master lived. The farmer was called Kukcipa. The name of the enlightened master was Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna is one of the founders of Mahayana Buddhism, the connection of the path of enlightenment with the way of all-embracing love (karma yoga).

Nagarjuna instructed the farmer to meditate every day on his crop. He should dissolve the tensions in his throat chacra with yoga exercises. He should envelop it with light and send healing energy to all people over the world. He should think the mantra "light" until his mind is completely at rest. Then he should spend some time in the rest. Kucipa practiced for many years as a yogi. First, the pain in his throat grew bigger and bigger. Prior to healing often comes a phase of energization. Then the pain became less, the goiter disappeared and Kucipa was healed. He was outwardly and inwardly healed. Outwardly he got a healthy body and inwardly peace and happiness.

Self-realization

5. Realise yourself! What do you want to achieve in your life? What are your goals? Feel exactly into you. What do your inner truth and wisdom say? You can find the way of your truth through the combination of clear thinking with good inner feeling. Go the way of your inner wisdom. Your inner wisdom will guide you to your true self, to self-realization and inner happiness. Who's going the way of his inner wisdom in the depths of his soul is in accordance with himself. He has the feeling to be on the right track. He feels good with himself and his life. Are you on the right way of life?

The path of inner happiness

What hinders a person to be happy at a deep level, primarily are his inner tensions. They rob him his power, they destroy his well-being, they damage his inner peace and they reduce his mental positivity. A person with many inner conflicts tends to have negative thoughts. The love to himself and to his fellow man is blocked. The internal stresses are often created already in the childhood. In a tensed society, which is based on work pressure and rivalry, tension is passed down from parents in the upbringing of their children. The parents live out their fears, aggression and addictions and thus influence the psychological development of their children. Many children's tensions are also came from the capitalistic TV. It focuses on fears, aggressions and addictions to get many viewers, and therefore destroys the happiness in the children. Tenseness in a person can also be caused by big stress events or by a permanent stress at school, at work or in partnership.

If internal stresses can be built up, they also in principle can be broken down again. That's the good news for all tensed people. The not so good news is that this may take quite a long time. The structure of the tension is built up over many years. We need, therefore, usually many years to reduce the tension again. But the effort is always worthwhile. We thus avoid many diseases in old age. And we get a happy life filled with peace, power and positivity. The amount of inner happiness of a man is defined by the number of tensions in the body and in his spirit. The less we are tensed, the more inner energy (life force, well-being) we have. Every person has an intrinsic happiness potential. Every human being can attain enlightenment. What blocks our enlightenment, are only our inner tensions.

A wise life is to make every day so many spiritual exercises, that the internal tensions become always less. We have to live in a way that we grow into the light and not into the darkness. Most people in today's time march in the wrong direction. They live selfishly and stressed. They build up in the course of life more and more tensions. They end up in the burn-out, in sickness, negativity and depression. Tensions can sit in the body and in the spirit. Basically the two are linked. Thus we free ourselves from our internal tensions, if we do spiritual exercises for both areas. Inner happiness comes at a deep level only when the body and the mind are purified from the tension. People are different from their personalities and have different tensions. Everyone should therefore find the exercises that are suited best for him. He should develop the practice of happiness that leads him at the best to his goal.

Difficulties

6. Difficulties. There is some pain in your life. Flow flexible through the situation. Consistently follow your inner wisdom (the sense of correctness). Stabilize your mind through yoga, meditation and positive thinking. Stop your negative thoughts. Think the mantra: "Om all enlightened Masters. Please guide and help me on my way." Use the mantra with the name of your personal role model (Buddha, Jesus, Shiva, Tara, Guanyin). Feel yourself really connected with your role model. Visualize it in the heaven or in front of you. Then his spiritual energy flows into you and strengthen you on your way. All ends well. Optimism. Success!

The enlightened master

A great treasure in life is it to have an enlightened master. Who do you trust? Whose spiritual teachings do you like? Anyone who goes her or his way every day with an enlightened master (prayer, meditation, reading), grows into the light.

According to Amritanandamayi (Amma) there are fully enlightened souls in the afterworld. They posses a cosmic consciousness which is at one with the cosmos (with he light) and through this they are also one with one another. One could view this as a mass of souls who see themselves as one (God, Buddha, Amitabha), or a mass of souls who view one another as friends. We can therefore pray to Buddha (Amitabha, Jesus), to a Bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara, Tara, Guanyin) or to all enlightened souls in the afterlife. It is also possible that an enlightened master is simultaneously present on the earth in a body and as a soul in the afterlife. As a soul he or she can always see us and help us.

According to Amma, a prayer is always heard and reacted to or upon by one of these higher beings. It doesn’t matter what name humans use in the process, whether it be God, Jesus, Krishna, Shiva or Buddha, it is all the same. The only point of importance is that the person praying would like help from a higher force in the cosmos. God is often described as a cloud in Christianity. This image goes well with the idea of the aforementioned great enlightened force of souls. We could consider these souls as an energy cloud of highly developed consciousness. They are capable of affecting every dimension of the cosmos with beams of light. This often transpires via symbols such as books, images, and statues which appear in certain locations. More spiritually developed humans are able to sense these beams of energy which emanate symbolically through the statues and images. People can focus and turn this energy into inner power, peace, or positive thoughts.

The Way of Victory

7. Your way is difficult, but you will win. You have a good feel for the right way. Go your way forward in a constant contact with your inner wisdom (correctness). What are your goals? What are your internal or external obstacles? On which way can you achieve your goals? The cosmos offers you today the gift of success. Think the mantra: "Om all enlightened Masters. Please guide and help me on my way." Use the mantra with the name of your personal role model (Buddha, Jesus, Shiva, Tara, Guanyin). Feel yourself really connected with your role model. Visualize it in the heaven or in front of you. Then his spiritual energy flows into you and strengthen you on your way. You will have enough power to succeed. At the right moment the right thought will come to you. You will win. Forward with optimism. Success.

The soul (atman and anatta)

Atman is a term used in Indian philosophy. It refers to the individual self and is often translated as soul. According to Hindu philosophy man is in his innermost being an immortal soul (atman), who reincarnates after the death of the body. The Buddhist doctrine of anatman (Anatta) explains the absence of a permanent and unchanging self, a solid core or essence of an unchanging soul. What is usually regarded as the "self" is then just a collection of constantly changing, physical and psychological components.

The doctrine of rebirth (reincarnation), exists in Hinduism and Buddhism. If there is no fixed self, no permanent essence of a person according to Buddhism, what is reborn? It is the karmic impulse (the thought patterns), which establishes the link between the individual lifes. The self is like a burning candle. At the moment of extinction, a new candle is lit from the flame. The flame (the character) is preserved, but the candle (the man) is a new one. Hinduism emphasizes the continuity of the soul, and Buddhism the autonomy of the individual incarnations. Both is true simultaneously. There is continuity associated with independence. A man's character is preserved, but each incarnation feels as its own self.

A soul can continue to develop. You can practice meditation and train positive values, and thus change your nature to enlightenment. Then the soul finds out that it is a non-self (anatman, anatta). It dissolves its ego and then recognizes it as part of the cosmos (unity awareness). The enlightened soul is a relatively independent consciousness (energy cloud), and has simultaneously no feeling of a self (no ego, unity consciousness). The enlightened soul rests in pure existence (Nirvana), and can act in the outside world if it want. There may are so many dimensions in the afterlife, that an enlightened soul can evolve forever and ever rising higher and higher. It increasingly becomes more and more one with the highest dimension of consciousness in the cosmos and gains greater and greater abilities (omnipresence, knowledge, power, love, serenity).

A big question is what happens to a Buddha (fully enlightened beings) after his death. Buddha has considered this question as speculative and not answered. If all the vibrations of consciousness (thoughts pulses) come to rest, the soul dissolves into the great sea of consciousness (the highest cosmic dimension). Only the teachings of a Buddha, his symbolic role model and his followers (Sangha) remain on the earth. An enlightened one can make the decision not to dissolve completly into the highest happiness (Nirvana), but to continue to exist as a soul out of love to his fellow beings.

---> For advanced: the great discussion about Wikipedia: Ātman (Buddhism)

---> See also: Wikipedia: Buddhism and Hinduism

Good Relationship

8. A good relationship. Which relationship to other people means this card today? Live positive relationships with your fellow man. Success! Send a friend light. Send him a positive sentence. "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy."

The Secret of Tantra

On the way of Tantric Yoga we live in the conflict of outer pleasure and inner happiness. Both paths are exactly opposite. The path of the outer pleasure leads to the growth of attachment to the world and reinforces inner tensions. The more we live in the outer pleasures, the more our attachment grows. The internal tensions become more and more and shrink the inner happiness. We are losing our inner peace, our strength and our inner harmony. On the way of inner happiness we solve systematically all inner tensions. We free us from all attachments to external things. Enlightenment ist the ultimately freedom from the outer world. And thus we can keep our inner happiness in all outer circumstances. The less inner tensions we have, the greater is the inner happiness. Until we live permanently in the light, in the enlightenment and in the unity (God, Nirvana).

One can say that there is ego-realization and self-realization. The long-term the ego-realization basically leads to inner unhappiness and the self-realization to inner happiness. The ego-realization is easy at the beginning and suffering at the end. The self-realization is difficult at the beginning and an incredible grace at the end. The ego-realization consists of good food, lots of sex, nice travel, extreme consumption, and external praise. It follows the sloth (tamas), or the exaggerated activity (rajas). The self-realization consists of daily work on yourself and constant mental effort. We don´t set the ego (our external desires), but the self (the freed psyche) in the center of our life.

In Tantric Yoga, we solve the conflict between the outer and the inner path by flowing with wisdom with the things of life. We live the outer pleasures so that they bring us forward into the light. We live them sensitively, in due measure and with the right mental attitude. We put the spiritual goal in the focus of our lives. We use the positive potential of the external pleasures, without getting lost in them. We solve all attachments again and again with our spiritual technics (meditation and mind work) and always get back into the light (to inner harmony). We live primarily in rest, in our spiritual practice and in the all-embracing love.

If we do not see the problem of attachment, we go into the big trap of Tantra. We are strengthening our attachment and block our enlightenment. We come into the dynamics of self-indulgence. Our needs are constantly increasing, we see more and more the negative sites of our partner, and the satisfaction with our relationship is decreasing more and more. We want love from others and not to give love. We do not live primarily out of the spirituality. Then the development of attachment and negativity can not be controlled. A happy relationship arises when we live our relationship with wisdom and love. We should practise our relationship so that both partners grow in their inner happiness. We should put the happiness of all beings in the center of our lives. Then we will succeed in our relationships and our lifes.

The Master

9. You are good. Recognize yourself as strong, wise and successful. Save spiritually the people who confide you. Give them the path of wisdom and universal love. Bring them into the light. Live as a spiritual Master (Teacher of wisdom, Mother and Father of all beings). Give your children (students, supporters, friends, relatives) the spiritual knowledge so that they can accept it. Be a skillful spiritual mother (father) of your people. Success!

Mahakaccana in Avanti

Mahakaccana was a disciple of Buddha. He lived as a spiritual master in the country Avanti. The climate in Avanti was rough. People were more secular and less spiritual minded. Mahakaccana had to modify the teachings of the Buddha so that the people in his country could successfully practice. A total of his teaching was half as severe as those of Buddha. As a main road, he taught the spiritual life in a relationship (partner, family). He advised only individuals to a life as a yogi.

Mahakaccana himself was an undogmatic Yogi. Although he lived alone he took his seclusion but less seriously than other disciples of Buddha. He taught the unity of all religions, because the truth is finally over all spiritual systems. He advocated harmony between the religions. Buddha praised Mahakaccana for his excellence in explaining sophisticated dharma (dhamma) in an easily and correctly understandable manner. Particularly noteworthy was his honey-ball speech, "Nirvana is like a honey ball. Who lives in nirvana, whose life is steeped in the sweetness of inner happiness."

The Cosmos

10. Live in harmony with the laws of the cosmos. Use your lifetime. The cosmos is a system to develop inner happiness. From life to life we can grow in enlightenment. Often leads the way to enlightenment through outward suffering. Who sacrifices his ego directly into the pain and meditates on the suffering, transforms himself to inner happiness. Avoid the disaster as far as possible. Develop your happiness through your spiritual exercises. Live according to a wise plan of your life. Walk step by step towards enlightenment. "My wise life plan is ..." Success.

Tibetan Buddhism

The Tibetan Buddhism is also called Vajrayana (Diamond Vehicle). It is a complex spiritual system. It is based on the teachings of Buddha, but were extended by the mahayana path of love and by a lot of techniques from Indian yoga. Monks developed in the Middle Ages a comprehensive system of teaching that is imparted in a long-term training and tailored to the needs of people in Tibet. Advanced monks and nuns is recommended a three-year meditation as a yogi in seclusion.

A major problem is the adaptation of Tibetan Buddhism in the modern world and in particular to the needs and possibilities of people in the west. The Dalai Lama tries to create a modern Buddhism based on the equalty of men and women, democracy and less strict sexual rules. He permits masturbation for monks and accepts homosexuality (Luise Rinser, Compassion as a way to peace, 1995, page 80).

In principle the Tibetan Buddhism is very simple. It consists of the Kundalini Yoga, the meditation in silence and the path of all-embracing love. With Kundalini Yoga the kundalini energy (enlightenment energy, happiness energy) is awakened through yoga postures, breathing exercises, mantras and visualizations. The center of tibetian meditation is the deity yoga. Through the visualization of various deities the energy channels are cleaned, the chakras are activated and the enlightenment consciousness is created. By special methods the ego will be dissolved and the Yogi enters into the bliss of nirvana.

A key element of Tibetan Buddhism is the work with an enlightened Master. The enlightened Master transmits enlightenment energy to his students after an initiation. The great advantage of Tibetan Buddhism is that there are many enlightened Masters who regularly travel to their western groups. Also possesses the Tibetan Buddhism with the Dalai Lama an inspiring leader who is often seen by Western television. The Dalai Lama represents the cooperation of all religions and initiates also people who do not belong to the Tibetan Buddhism.

In Tibetan Buddhism there are five major lineages: the Gelugpa (emphasis on compassion and spiritual training), the Kagyupa (emphasis on meditation), the Sakya (emphasis on the wisdom), the Bonpo (traditional shamanism) and the Nyingma (the non-dogmatic way). The Nyingma emphasize the spiritual development from the inside. They teach the individual path. Nyingma yogis may also live in a relationship.

The founder of Tibetan Buddhism is Padmasambhava. He lived some 1200 years ago as a yogi in India and was invited by the Tibetian King Trisong Detsen. He knew a lot of spiritual methods and taught a diverse mix of yoga techniques (Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Tantra Yoga and Guru Yoga). He said, "Practise so that you feel comfortable. Whenever there is a doubt on your way, then pray to the enlightened Masters, think for yourself and follow the voice of your inner wisdom. This is the voice of the enlightened Masters. If you do this, you will win on your spiritual path."

---> For advanced see also: Wikipedia Tantra techniques (Vajrayana) (Deity Yoga, Guru Yoga, Clear Light Yoga, Death Yoga, Tantric Sādhana)

Unobtrusiveness

11. The unobtrusive Master. You can keep your energy best when you act from rest. Practice mouna (silence). Speech only when it is necessary and helpful. In the midst of a group of people stay more in the background. Position yourself small, unobtrusive and modest. See you as insignificant, less than your people. Look at yourself primarily as a servant of your people. Put not yourself, but the great treasure (the doctrine of enlightenment) at the center. Live like a secret Yogi (small, inconspicuous, modest) and as a worshiper of the wisdom of inner happiness and all-embracing love. Then you will be victorious.

The unassuming monk

Ananda was one of Buddha's chief disciples. 25 years he lived as Buddha's personal servant, and accompanied his master on all trips. He knew all the speeches and all the teachings of Buddha. After the death of Buddha, he shared his vast knowledge with the Buddhist community. He received the Buddha's wisdom for the posterity.

Ananda was a gentle monk with a lot of love for his fellow man. His greatest deed was the opening of the Buddhist order for the women. Buddha did not want any women in his community. He probably was still suffering from the separation from his family and therefore had a tendency to displace the existence of women. Ananda had compassion for the women. He argued so long for the women, untill Buddha permitted women in his community.

After the founding of the Order of nuns, Ananda was the spiritual teacher of the women. He cared for them like a mother. For this he was very loved by the women. Sometimes even a few women fell in love with Ananda. He had to be very careful that he not strayed from the path of wisdom. He succeeded after some emotional entanglements.

The name "Ananda" indicates that Ananda was a man with inner happiness. If you stay a lot with other people, you can easily lose your spiritual energy. Living in a group robs you easily your energie. Ananda maintained his energy by keeping himself in the background. He cultivated his servant consciousness and lived as a worshiper of the wisdom of enlightenment. He was always discreet, modest and a friend of all people. At the same time he was also a master of inspiring speech. He was able to motivate his fellow man well and strengthened them on their spiritual path.

After the Crisis

12. After the crisis. A difficult phase is completed. Recover yourself. Build up your positive energy again. You have won a great victory. Go positively into your future. Forward with optimism.

Buddha Meditation

The fastest way into light is to visualize oneself as an enlightened being (Buddha, Yogi, Goddess) (deity yoga).

Buddha = We visualize in the sky above our crown chakra our happiness model (Buddha, a Goddess, ourselves enlightened). We rub our palms over our head and think, "Om Buddha. Om all enlightened Masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way." We think the mantra until our crown chakra opens and the energy from the sky flows down to us and fills our body with happiness.

Light = We move a hand in blessing before the heart chakra and think: "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy." We feel really connected with all beings in the world.

Cosmos = We visualize the cosmos with all stars around us. We put our hands in the lap, circle with the thumbs, move the toes and think: "I live in a cosmic consiousness. I take all things the way they are. I flow positive with my life."

Mantra = All movements come to rest. The back is straight and the belly is relaxed. We think and visualize the numbers from 1 to 20 in our head, thorax, abdomen, legs, feet and in the earth. We think and visualize the numbers in the entire universe around us.

Stop = We stop a minute all thoughts completely. When thoughts arise, we push them away.

Relax = We relax. The thoughts and feelings may come and go as they want. Our body and our mind clean themselves by their own. We just watch our internal affairs and remain in the meditation. At this stage of meditation, there are two big mistakes. The first mistake is that we meditate too strong. Then no thoughts appear and no inner tensions resolves. The second error is to force thinking. We solve our problems or fall into daydreams. The proper way is just to be a passive observer of our own emotions and thoughts. We do not control things. We only watch everything that emerges from our inner self. We stay in a state of inner silence, everything dissolve by itself and suddenly we're happy.

Keep = Keep your inner happiness. Make the right spiritual exercises at the right moment. Bring the light of peace, love and happiness in the world. Forward with wisdom, love and inner peace.

Transformation

13. Something is changing. Bring yourself with your spiritual practices from the darkness into the light. Awaken your happiness energy (kundalini energy). What exercises do you need? Yoga, meditation, reading, walking, doing good, having pleasure? Forward with wisdom, creativity and power! Success!

Kankaripa

There once was a man who had a beautiful woman. The two loved each other dearly. They thought positively and therefore could lead a happy relationship for many years. The man was Kankaripa. Kankaripa had a successful career in his job and a happy relationship. He was very happy with his life.

But nothing lasts forever in the outer life. One day his woman died. Kankaripa was inconsolable. He depended entirely on his deceased wife. He could not rid himself of the attachment. So he went to a spiritual Master and asked him for advice. The Master said, that at a great love the emotional connection is very strong. It can be resolved only through spiritual exercises over a long period of time. The Master recommended Kankaripa to make three hours every day spiritual exercises. He should take a walk, do yoga, mental work, meditation and read in a spiritual book. He should practice his profession in focus as a Karma Yogi for the goal of a happy world. He should concentrate more on the happiness of his fellow man than his own happiness.

In addition, he should practice every day mentally Tantra Yoga. He should visualize himself in a sexual union with his wife, enjoy the happiness, think the mantra "light", envelop both in light and then resolve both persons in the unity of the cosmos. He should visualize the universe full of stars around him, thinking the mantra "stars". Then he should stop three minutes his thoughts and after that he should linger in a relaxed meditation and let his thoughts and feelings flow.

This Kankaripa did a few years and then he was cured of his relationship addiction. He could now live a new relationship and also good to be alone, just like life it brought with it. His firm roots in spirituality allowed him to flow positive with all the changes in his life and always to preserve his inner happiness.

Pleasure Principle

14. Bring joy into your life today. What do you need to go your spiritual way positively? Go with the pleasure principle through the day. Follow your spontaneous needs. What do you need now? What do you want now? "My way of happiness is today ...(living in accordance with the pleasure principle)."

The God of Happiness Ganesha

Ganesha is a thick Yogi (Buddha) with an elephant head (wisdom and power). He has a big belly. He concentrates his energy in his belly. This happens because he is living at rest (doing nothing, pure existence in nirvana), in the all-embracing love and with the pleasure principle. He works for the happiness of all beings, but he does it out of the pleasure principle. He feels every day exactly what is good for him and for his fellow people. He does not work too much und not too less. He gives himself every day the outer pleasure that he needs for his inner balance.

Ganesha wears on his head the crown of wisdom. In his hands he holds the axe of spiritual self-discipline, a rope to be always connected with his spiritual goal, and a bowl of sweets. With his right hand he blesses us with inner happiness. Ganesha sits on a lotus flower. He is well grounded. He lives in a cosmic consciousness. He remains, even in difficult situations, in inner peace, because he flows intelligent with the life. With the five qualities of wisdom, peace, love, strength and joy he is a Master of the connection of life with spirituality.

Some years ago the little Yogi Nils felt bad. In order to gain his balance again, he ate lots of sweets. His spirit brightened more and more. Unfortunately, after some time his abdomen was completely full. And yet his mind was not totally happy. Our little Yogi visualized the sweets in his belly and through this his kundalini energy awakened. Within him arose a strong happiness energy, which quickly brought him into the light. Our Yogi learned from it, to connect external pleasure and spiritual exercises. Then you don´t need to eat so many sweets. Some external pleasure is enough for the path of inner happiness.

Vow

15. It is good to remember regularly his positive goals and to affirm them by an vow. So we get willpower. We acquire endurance on the spiritual path. Step by step we become a Buddha. We realize a life in the light. We always stay on our path of wisdom, health and self-realization. What do you want to promise yourself today? Formulate your personal vow, "My vow is ... (I go the way of wisdom, love and happiness. I achieve my goals. I have endurance. I live as a winner.)"

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma is the founder of Zen Buddhism. In the sixth century he brought the Buddhism from India to China. There were already some Buddhists in China. But they dealt mainly with the theory. They regularly read their holy books, and then predominantly lived a secular life. Bodhidharma explained to them that it is not enough to talk about Buddhism, but only the consistent practice leads to enlightenment. Zen means to meditate consistently. It means rigorous spiritual practice. Then you get to spiritual progress. Bodhidharmas clarity convinced the people. Zen Buddhism spread first in China, then Japan, Korea and today in the West.

All Zen Buddhists vow every day, morning and evening: "There are masses of creatures, I vow to save them all. Anxiety and hate, delusive-desires inexhaustible, I vow to break them all. Dharma gates beyond measure, I vow to learn them all. Buddha Way, nothing higher, I vow to accomplish it."

Succeed by Self-discipline

Buddha of healing with the gesture of centering in his own happiness (Kundalini energy) and the gesture of giving health (opening the right hand to all sick people on earth)

16. Think about your problem. What solves your problem. Meet a clear decision. Go ahead with power, wisdom and endurance. "My goal is ... My path of victory is ..." Forward with self-discipline. Success!

Healing Meditation

Sun = We visualize a beautiful sun about us, raise both hands to the side at head level and think several times the mantra "sun". We let the sunlight flowing down on us and massage it into our body. We continue to think the mantra "sun".

Earth = We visualize the earth beneath us, rub our feet at the earth and think, "I send light to the whole earth. May all people of the world be happy."

Sick neighbor = We focus on a person who is physically or the mentally ill. We feel real connected with him. We move one hand in blessing and think: "I send light to (name)." We wrap him with light and let light flow into him. We think several times the mantra "light".

Therapeutic Massage = We consider, which part of our body needs healing in the moment. We massage him circeling, let light flow into him and think some times the word "light" as a mantra. We can also rub sequentially light in several parts of the body.

Cosmos = We visualize the universe around us full of stars. We make big circles with our arms and think: "Om cosmos. I take things as they are. I flow positiv with my life. I go consistent my way of healing and health."

Buddha of Healing = We visualize the Buddha of Healing above or in front of us. We rub our palms and say, "Om Buddha of Healing. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way."

Healing Question = We focus on our personal problem or on the body area which needs healing. We think about our problem. What solves our problem? What is the way of our healing? What does our inner wisdom say? We think for a so long time until we are satisfied with the result. When we hear no reply, we are either blocked (we do not want to see the true causes of the problem) or we have no good contact to ourselves. The best way then is it to come slowly into thinking about our problem.

Sick people = We move a hand, bless all people with light and think, "My problem is ... The way of healing is ... May all the people who have the same problem as I be healed."

Meditation = We breathe deeply several times in our belly and think the mantra "Om". We stop one minute every thought. Then we linger in a slight meditation. All thoughts and feelings may come and go as they please. We relax. We go forward with optimismus. We can trust our inner wisdom.

Day of Grace

17. What are your goals in your life? "My life goals are ... Om all enlightened Masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way." Consistently go the way of your inner wisdom. You'll achieve your goals. Great success. The light is with you. Forwards. Today is a day of grace. It happens something good. Recognize the grace in your life and be thankful for it.

Sun Meditation

We sit or lay down comfortably. We can turn on a beautiful meditation music (for example Enya with a right click on new tab).

1. Relaxation = We tense the muscles of the legs and feet. We keep the tension, stop all thoughts and breathe three times into the legs. Then we relax briefly. We tighten the muscles of the arms and hands. We breathe three times into the arms and hands. We relax. We tighten the muscles of the head and face. We breathe three times into the face. We relax. We tighten the muscles of the whole body. We breathe three times into the whole body. We relax.

2. Numbers = We count the numbers from 1 to 10 several times in the head, concentrate on the head and breathe into the head. Our mind becomes quiet. We focus on your chest, breathe into the chest and count the numbers 1 to 10 in the chest. We breathe in the stomach and there we count the numbers 1 to 10. We concentrate on the legs and feet, and count the numbers 1 to 10. We visualize a large ball under our feet and count the numbers from 1 to 10 in the ball.

3. Sun = We visualize a beautiful sun in the sky above us. The sun sends its rays down on us. We feel the light and warmth on our skin. It is as if we lie on holiday in the sun. We enjoy the sunlight. We think several times the mantra "light".

4. Envelop with light = We wrap our whole body with the light. We take a golden ray of sun and let the sunlight circle around us. We think the mantra of "light". We let the sunlight flow into us and fill us with light. We think the mantra "light".

5. Send light = We send light to another person. We wrap him with light and let the light flow into him. Whom you will now send light? Think some times his name as a mantra. Then we send the light all over the world. We envelop the whole world with light and fill it with light. We want all beings to be happy and think several times the mantra "world".

6. Om Shanti = We breathe in and think "Om". We exhale and think "Shanti" (peace). We do this some times. We stop all other thoughts. Slowly serenity, peace and silence are emerging in us.

7. Stop = We stop a minute every thought. When thoughts arise, we always push them away. We move gently the feet and toes. We focus on our feet and move on, until our mind comes to rest completely.

8. Relax = Then we relax for a few minutes. Thoughts and feelings may come and go as they please. We come back slowly. We move our feet and hands. We stretch and loll us. We are there again. Life may come. We are ready to victory.

Chaos

18. The Master of dancing with the life. Difficult situations come and go. Dance with the chaos. Look exact at each situation and then find the right spiritual technic to keep your inner balance. Do Yoga, meditation, reading, walking or mental work (positive thinking). What is your positive sentence now? "My positiv thought is ... (I am a Master of Life. I flow positiv with each difficcult situation.)" Flexible forward. Success.

Tenzin Palmo

Tenzin Palmo is a Western woman who has decided to become a female Buddha. She was born in 1943 in London as Diane Perry. After graduation, she worked in a library. She liked to read. One day she discovered a Buddhist book and was impressed by the teachings contained therein. She traveled to northern India and met her Master, the 8th Khamtrul Rinpoche. She became a Buddhist nun in the tradition of Kagyupa (Kundalini Yoga and Meditation).

She noticed that there are very few female Tibetan Buddhist Masters. She therefore put off the vow to attain Buddhahood as a woman - no matter how many lifetimes it would take. She saw this as her contribution to the emancipation of women. The 16th Karmapa blessed her and said. "You are the first Western woman I ordain. You have to be strong and vigilant. It is very important that the beginning of a new movement is purely. In the coming years there will be many western women who go the Buddha-way.

On the night she had a vision of the Goddess Tara, who smiled happily and gave her a flower. That was a good ohmen. Buddha gave his successor also a flower. Tenzin Palmo spent several years in a monastery. She learned that there is in Tibetan Buddhism a nearly extinct line of female yogis, the Togdenmas. Tenzin Palmo wanted to restore the tradition of the Togdenmas. She moved into a cave in the Himalayas and meditated there for twelve years intensively.

At the age of about fifty years she came back to the West. She radiated happiness, peace and light. She founded a convent and traveled throughout the West, to raise money for her monastery. Wherever she went, people were enthusiastic. Her teaching was authentic, non-dogmatic and suitable to the needs of western women.

---> Video: Tenzin Palmo

Renunciation

19. Who wants to develop inner happiness, therefor needs much time and energy. He must remember every day his spiritual goals and practice consistent. The more time and energy he invested in the spiritual path, the faster he is moving forward. On what do you want to renounce so you can reach your spiritual goals? What worldly things you can let go, and how much? What positive thought helps you to provide the necessary waiver? "Today, I waive ...." Start with little things. Forward. Success.

Khema and Uppalavanna

Khema and Uppalavanna were two girlfriends. They were the two female chief disciples of Buddha. Khema had a lot of wisdom. Uppalavanna had a lot of inner strength. Khema was good at motivating their people spiritually. Uppalavanna could exert persistent and well go through difficult times. Khema had been an indian queen. She clung to their worldly pleasures. But she was also very clever. She knew that inner happiness is more important than outer pleasure. Khema knew that a life in the light (in enlightenment) is a thousand times happier than the best secular life. The best way of happiness is the spiritual self-realization. One day Buddha met the Queen Khema and showed her the way of spiritual practice. She renounced all her worldly wealth and became a nun. This was a great sacrifice, which led to a big win. May we all have the power to waive in the right moment the right thing and win the great happiness.

Sacrifice

20. Inner happiness is created by the resolution of the tensions in the body and in the spirit. The greatest tension is the ego (I-attachment). Anyone who takes himself and his personal desires too important gets much inner tension, as a result. The I-attachment may be dissolved by the spiritual technique of sacrifice. Today is a day of sacrifice. You have to accept or let go of something. "My sacrifice is today ..."

To sacrifice effectively is a great art. The sacrifice must be dosed just right so that it optimally solves the inner tensions. Too small a sacrifice does not work (it has to feel as a sacrifice), and a too great sacrifice creates tensions by itself. The best way of sacrifice is the way of all-embracing love. Sacrifice your ego for the goal of a happy world. Live in the center of your life as a Karma Yogi (Bodhisattva) and not for your own enjoyment. But care also good for yourself. A Karma Yogi is only successful in the long term, if he is well anchored in himself (in rest, in his own happiness).

The king and the five sacrifices

There was once a king who wanted to realize his inner happiness. A priest told him that a five-fold renunciation is necessary. The king had a lot of wisdom and a strong will. He was willing to perform a sacrifice, if it was necessary to achieve his goal. First, the king renounced his kingdom. He moved to a secluded forest and lived as a yogi. Second, the king renounced on sexuality. He lived without a relationship to better focus his energy on his spiritual exercises. That was for him the greatest sacrifice.

Third, the king renounced on his thoughts. He meditated a lot and lived in great peace. Fourth, he renounced his ego. He let go of his ego, went through the vast emptiness (becomming internal nothing, no feeling of an independend self) and came into the light. It feels uncomfortable when the ego dissolves. But behind this is waiting the inner happiness. Who knows this, can easily sacrifice his ego. The king enjoyed some time in the happiness of enlightenment. Then he thought of the suffering of his people. They needed an enlightened Master who guided them along their way. The king renounced so fifthly on the happiness of seclusion and went back to his kingdom. He lived as a Hatha Yogi (physical exercises, meditation), as a Karma Yogi (love to all) and as a Bhogi Yogi (much external pleasure) permanently in the light (in unity consciousness, Nirvana). The five sacrifice were found to be the greatest grace in his life.

Fortune

21. You can look optimistically into the future. You will win. You'll be happy. Who works for the happiness of the world and of his fellow man, one day gets a good harvest. This is the law of karma. Celebrate your happy life. Optimism. Good karma. Fortune awaits you. Forward !!

Mother Meera

Mother Meera is an enlightened master who lives in Germany. She was born on 26/12/1960 in India. 1982 she married a German. She now lives in Thalheim near Frankfurt. On weekends, she gives satsang (meeting) in the castle Balduinstein. Everyone can visit her and receive her free blessings (darshan). She gives darshan also in the USA and Canada. A darshan is an important purification step on the spiritual path. Often enlightenment energy is transfered, which one day develops in a great grace.

Mother Meera receives thousands of visitors for darshan which she conducts in total silence. Her darshan consists of a ritual, where she will touch a person's head, and then look into his eyes. During this process, she reportedly 'unties knots' in the person's subtle system and permeates them with light. She teaches the unity of all religions. Everyone can go his own way. It is only important to be connected with the light (the personal spiritual role model) by praying, reading or meditating.

Mother Meera has lived some time in the ashram of Sri Aurobindo. Sri Aurobindo was one of the great Indian saint of modern times. He taught the Integral Yoga, the combination of meditation and Karma Yoga (doing good). Mother Meera has said that she works together on a spiritual level with the Dalai Lama for the good of the world.

Statements of Mother Meera: "Each religion has its basic books. It is helpful to read these major works of religions." "Everything comes out of silence. In silence more work can be done." "You may enjoy material life, but centering yourself in spirituality." (Live the joy as part of the spiritual path.) (...) "Whoever comes to me for darshan, receives always what he needs." "I look at everything within you to see where I can help, heal and give strength." "I take anyone who comes sincere to me." "The grace works automatically when the quest is sincere." "Prayer always helps." "Many souls go after death directly into the highest nirvana (God), some advanced souls keep their subtle bodies, to help others."

Negative Qualities

22. Inner happiness is created by the development of positive qualities (love, peace, self-discipline, wisdom) and by reducing the negative characteristics. All the negative characteristics are ultimately based on attachment (to external pleasures, other people, to his ego) or rejection (of suffering situations, pain). If we accept the suffering in our lifes and let go of our worldly desires and longings, the tensions in our minds resolve. Our inner happiness creates a positiv feeling of life. We get into a life in the light (in a paradise view of life).

The most serious negative property of a man in spirituality is pride. Even enlightened yogis can fall deeply. Pride is a tension, which hinders one from realizing the unity (oneness) of all beings. Pride can be overcome through Karma Yoga (to wish all people happy), through the practice of humility (modesty) and by the suffering. Who lives in suffering, is humble. Be constantly aware of the suffering in your life, accept it, kill your pride and awake your inner happiness by positiv thinking. The main way to overcome the negative qualities is to focus on the positive qualities of wisdom, self-discipline, peace, love and happiness. It is also helpful to work directly on the negative qualities. "My negative quality is ... (pride, anger, fear, sadness, envy, addiction, desire or unwisdom). My way to overcome it is..."

Ambapali

Ambapali was a prostitute. All the men were lying to her feet. She was beautiful, rich and intelligent. Ambapali was very proud of herself and her body. When she heard a sermon of Buddha one day, she realized that all outer wealth and also her beautiful body were transient. Only her soul would always exist. To have a happy soul, one has to cultivate his inner happiness. Ambapali changed her life radically. She became a yogini. She practiced intensively. She resolved systematic the proud of her beautiful body. She meditated constantly on the transience of all things on earth. She visualized herself as an old woman, a suffering woman, the death of her body and her transformation into a buddha and a life in nirvana. After a few years she realized enlightenment. All of her negative qualities disappeared. A prostitute became a saint. In spiriuality it is not important what job a person has, but what inner spirit he or she has.

Great Victory

23. A great success. A great victory. You have fought a lot. And you have won. The Buddha's cheer. What is your victory today? Celebrate the day. Rejoice over your victory. Enjoy your success.

The five principles of health

The main principles of health are healthy diet, no drugs (alcohol, smoking, drugs, eating too much), regular exercise, adequate rest and positive thinking. These five principles of health give us a long, healthy and happy life. We can integrate them into our everyday lifes if we want it. If we live by these principles, we can avoid most diseases. If we are sick, we become significantly faster healthy.

1. Eat healthy. A healthy diet consists of fruits, vegetables, etc. It is advised to eat little or no meat and much raw food (raw fruits and vegetables). Raw food gives the body lots of vitamins and minerals that protect him from disease.

2. Avoid drugs, smoking and alcohol. That causes many diseases and usually shorten your life significantly. Too many sweets (sugar), fat, lots of salt and lots of meat are also unfavorable. Don´t eat too much calories. You live longer, if you eat less (but not too less). Hear to your body. He knows what is good for you. Live wisely and stay healthy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caloric_restriction

3. Do sports. Go walking, jogging, cycling, swimming once or twice a day (one half to one hour), to keep the body strong and healthy. It is also sufficient to train on an exercise bike (bicycle, treadmill) or to do dynamic yoga for half an hour a day. Or to go for a walk on the weekend for an hour. It is important, that the body is well warmed through (practice until a slight sweating). It kills disease germs.

4. Relax sufficiently. Stress should always be put away by adequate recovery periods, yoga or meditation. For the inner happiness, it is important to live in the right proportion of personal activity (work) and rest (relaxation).

5. Think positive. Avoid negative thoughts. Keep your mind through conscious control predominantly positive. Positive thoughts lead to positive feelings and positive emotions have a positive effect on your body. Motivate yourself with positive phrases and ideas. Read positive books and have a positive task (hobby).

"Who eats properly, may live up to 20 years longer," says the Jena nutritionist Michael Ristow. Ristow warns to take vitamin tablets. No matter how high-dose vitamin capsule you take, it cannot replace an apple with its hundreds of individual substances. (Quote Welt online, Germany 2011)

Four simple rules of conduct extend life by an average of 14 years: Do not smoke, do some sports, drink no (or little) alcohol, eat fruit and (raw) vegetables daily. British researchers studied since 1993 the fate of more than 20 000 subjects aged over 45 years. The EPIC study extends over a total of ten European countries. (Quote Online Focus, 2008)

---> Interview about Correct Nutrition

Self-reflection

24. A day of introspection. Reflect on yourself, to what you really want. Think about yourself, your life and your way of life. What are your goals? What do you want to achieve in your life? What is your way of a happy life? How do you get a fulfilling life? "My goals are ... Unwisdom is ... My way of wisdom is ..." Forwards. Success.

The Four Stages of Life

Jada Bharata was the first great king in India. He united the whole country under his rule and gave him a common religion. Jada Bharata called his religion the Sanatana Dharma (eternal truth). Sanatana Dharma can be called the science of happiness. In the west the Sanatana Dharma is called Hinduism. Neo-Hinduism is the predominant form of Hinduism of today. Neo-Hinduism emphasizes the all-embracing love, the unity of all religions and the spiritual practice. Important representatives of Neo-Hinduism are Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, Anandamayi Ma, Mahatma Gandhi, Yogananda, Swami Sivananda, Sai Baba, Mata Amritanandamayi and Mother Meera.

Jada Bharata taught the way of the four stages of life. In youth, one acquires spiritual and professional knowledge. Then do you set up a family. If the kids are grown up, you concentrate on the spiritual practice. The age is then spent in inner happiness and after death you move up into the world of light. Simplified one can say that a wise man should devide his life into two parts. The first half of life on earth we explore the world outside and enjoy it´s pleasures. In the second half we realize our inner happiness. One lives first mainly as Bhogi (hedonist) and then as a Yogi (happy man). This is from the perspective of yoga a fullfilled life. Buddha also followed this dichotomy. Until about the age of 30 years he lived with his wife and son. And then he transformed from a secular to a spiritual person and lived the second part of his life as a Buddha (enlightened).

Jada Bharata himself became a yogi and realized the inner happiness. Shortly before his death, he thought about if he now should stay permanently in the world of light, or return to earth again. Each enlightened yogi has in the moment of his death the choice. With his last thought (mantra), he decides his fate. Jada Bharata saw the many suffering in the world and opted for a rebirth as a spiritual Master. In his next life as a human he became a yogi, and quickly reached the enlightenment. He lived as Jivanmukta (liberated soul, Buddha) in the big nothing (nirvana, happiness). One day, "by chance" the new Indian king visited him. Jade Bharata initiated him into the path of universal love. The Indian religion was temporarily paralyzed in a formal way of practicing and preserving the power of the ruling class. The king gave the Sanatana Dharma the real spirituality back and transformed India into a happy country.

Go Ahead with Wisdom

25. Your situation is difficult. Live wisely. Make a good plan of the day. Strengthen yourself by your spiritual practices (yoga, walking, reading, meditation, love to all, enough pleasure). Manage clever all difficulties. Go in good contact to your inner wisdom (feeling of rightness) through the day. Go ahead in your working speed. Make enough breaks. Get help by a prayer; "Om all enlightened Masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way." You will win. The Buddhas are with you. Success.

The Buddha of Wisdom

Sariputta was a principal disciple of Buddha. His special feature was wisdom. He could grasp difficult situations accurately, make good plans and win in almost hopeless situations. Sariputtas greatest feat was the mastery of his death. He mastered his death with the five points prayer (mantra), a good deed, Kundalini Yoga, Meditation and Paradise Yoga. This is an example how to go with inner happiness through difficult outer situations and live spiritually as a winner.

When he realized that he would die soon, he prayed to Buddha for guidance and help (For those who don´t like to pray: He visualized himself as a Buddha). By an act of love he strengthened his heart chakra. He visited his mother and transfered her the enlightenment energy, so that she could suceed on her spiritual path. He saved his mother spiritually. Then he lay down to die on the side (lion posture, one hand under the head and the other on the hip), activated thus his kundalini energy, brought with a meditation his thoughts to rest, reached a high level of happiness and transferred his consciousness in the moment of death with his willpower (a thought) into nirvana (in the dimension of light, paradise, big happiness area in the afterworld).

The Individual Path of Spirituality

26. Find the right spiritual path for you. Follow him consistently until you live in the light (in permanent peace, love and happiness on a high level). There is the slow, the fast and the middle path of spirituality. On the slow path, we can achieve our goal after some lifes. We have to practice every day just a little (5 to 15 minutes). The fast spiritual path consists of intense exercise every day (4-24 hours). The middle path is a way between the slow and the fast spiritual path. We can also practice in our life sometimes intense (vacation, retreat, spiritual training), sometimes a little and sometimes the middle way. What is your way? What goes well with your situation and your abilities? "My situation is ... My spiritual goal is ... My way of victory is ..." Succeed with endurance and a good inner feeling for yourself and your personal way of spirituality.

Bhadda and Kassapa

Bhadda and Kassapa were two disciples of Buddha. They were married. They had a very harmonious and happy marriage. As they grew older in both developed the desire for spiritual self-realization. They gave up their worldly lifes and became pilgrims. Together they visited many holy places and gained a great spiritual knowledge. One day they realized that each of them needs his own path to enlightenment. Bhadda became a nun in a convent. For her the right spiritual path was a life in a community together with other women. In this way she reached her spiritual goal in a few years. After that she worked as an enlightened Master for her fellow sisters. She thought of her husband always full of love and of gratitude for the good years together.

Kassapa had chosen for himself the path of a secluded and hard practicing yogi. In the solitude of the mountains he built a small hut. Every day he followed strictly his spiritual program. He had no desire for human contact. He wanted nothing more from his fellow man. And perhaps for this reasons he was chosen after Buddha's death to his successor. Kassapa is regarded as the first Zen Master. He practiced the way of mindfulness. He constantly watched his mind and hold his body calm. His path is similar to today's Zen Buddhism. Zen is a Japanese form of Buddhism which has its focus in the strict meditation (sitting and going) and in a meditative life.

---> Video: A Day in the Life of a Zen Monk (extrem asketic practising)

Self Confidence

27. Diving doubts on your way, think carefully, look for information, read in spiritual books, weigh up all the arguments and then make a decision. Waiting so long, until a clear decision is matured in you. After your decision stay consistently on your way. Don´t think no longer. Stop all your thoughts of doubt. Achieve the goals you've set out to do. So live winner. There are always phases of doubt on the spiritual path. We have to go through. Doubts emerge in particular if tensions in our head resolve. If we suppress the doubts, we block the inner cleansing process. It is better to flow clever with our doubts. We take doubts as an opportunity to think thoroughly. Usually doubts resolve after some time. Suddenly we see things clearly again. It is important that we always remain on our way. We must maintain our spiritual goals with perseverance, so that we can achieve them one day. At the beginning of the spiritual path, there is often doubt, in the middle of the path is inertia, and shortly before reaching enlightenment we feel great displeasure. If we expect this and manage it with wisdom, we get the victory. Believe in yourself, your goals and your path. Forward with confidence. Success!

Citta, the doubter

Citta was a disciple of Buddha, who doubted a lot. He often wavered between his worldly desires and his spiritual goals back and forth. First he was a very worldly-oriented person. Then he met the Buddha and was thrilled by the idea of inner happiness. Citta became a monk and practiced his spiritual exercises intensively for several years. Then he got a great displeasure. He left the monastic community, learned a profession and married a beautiful woman. But the woman was not always pretty, his profession became boring and doubts about the worldly life appeared.

Citta gave up his job, separated from his wife and became a monk again. This time he stayed many years with Buddha. One day he broke through to enlightenment. But the enlightenment disappeared, his doubts came back and Citta returned to his secular life. His wife took him back. He worked in his old job and enjoyed a time the worldly pleasures. Then his wife irritated him again, the stress on the job was too much and he longed for the quiet life in the monastery. After initial resistance from the monks Citta was still taken a second time and then he reached permanent enlightenment.

A Successful Life

28. What is the meaning of life? The meaning of life is to be happy. The most important thing in life is inner happiness. Without inner happiness all outward pleasure is ultimately worthless. If a person has inner happiness, he does not need much external pleasure. He really needs nothing more. Teresa of Avila says: "God alone suffices." A successful life begins with a clear view of reality. Recognize the essentials in life. Make a reasonable plan of your life. Think long term. What is today your deed of wise life? "My goals are ... Unwisdom is ... My way of wisdom is ..." Forwards. Success.

Yoga helps against stress

A woman wrote to Nils, she was very happy that she had learned yoga. In recent years there had been professionally and personally a lot of stress in her life. She had therefore largely lost her positivity and her life satisfaction. Through yoga she had managed to reduce her internal stress. She was now happy again in her life. She felt not stressed anymore. For this she was very grateful. Yoga has given her the ability to clearly differentiate between important and unimportant things. Thus she could focus more on the essentials in life. She did not stress herself so much with unnecessary things, and therefore save much energy. She would practice every day the positive thinking and living permanently in a state of happiness. But a few days, if she does not practice yoga and positive thinking, then her good energy quickly disappears. So she had decided to go her path of yoga every day more and more consistently.

Over time, her positive feelings had become more intense. But she was also more sensitive to negative energy. But she could handle it. She had found a way to cope with difficulties of every kind. She simply asks herself, "How would the Dalai Lama act now?" And then she would quickly come up with the proper handling of each of those things. The woman described in her letters a typical problem on the spiritual path. The positive energy is increasing. But a person is also more sensitive to negative energies.

Negative energies can be handeled in several ways. One can try to avoid negative situations as much as possible. You can give up contact to negative people or severely reduce it. You can hold your internal balance during the contact by positive thinking and mantras. And you can after the contact rebuild your positiv energy through spiritual exercises (yoga, reading, meditation). Very good is it to go with a clever strategy through the day and often make short breaks. At work, it is important to avoid stress and work in his personal speed. Who works relaxed, saves a lot of energy and can easier be positiv. Sometimes it will also be necessary to reduce the working hours. The woman did this after a few years and felt very well with it. Who lives wisely, can avoid a lot of suffering. Anyone who lives consistently healthy prevents 3 / 4 of diseases. Who eats little (few calories and lots of vitamins) and makes exercises regularly, lives on average 14 to 20 years longer than his fellow men. Who puts the spirituality to the center of his life, gets a happy life.

Living Essentially

29. Live essentially. Live your contacts to other people out of the light (truth, peace, love). Find your point of enough in external things and concentrate on the road to inner happiness. Keep your worldly desires rather small than large. 90 % of the happiness of a person comes out of the psyche, from inside and not from outside. Get a happy psyche. Develope your inner happiness. Seek your main happiness in yourself and not in other person (men, women). Success!

The relationship addict

Ischi Dasi was a follower of Buddha. Her name means relationship addiction. Ischi Dasi was a beautiful young woman. First she married a rich, intelligent and handsome young man, but they quarreled a lot and separated after some time. Next, she found a man who possessed more intrinsic values. But after a while she got bored. Third Ischi Dasi moved together with a poor but very spiritual man. However, also this relationship was not successful. Everyone wanted to be the master and none to be the student. Everbody wanted to have and no one wanted to give. The path to happiness goes the other way around.

Who has not the happiness in his own, never finds it at the long term in other people and in relationships. One day Ischi Dasi met a Buddhist nun who was very happy with her single life. Ischi Dasi decided to become a nun. She practiced single-minded and after a few years she got into the light. Then she realized that enlightenment is the best way of happiness.

Refuge

30. Some people take refuge in food, in work or in a relationship. All external things can give a person only a limited hold in his life. Everything can always change. Nothing lasts for ever. The main hold you have to take within yourself. One should have his center in oneself, so that the storms of life cannot overturn him. Every Buddhist remembers every day on the essentials. He seeks refuge in the Buddha (spiritual role model), the Dharma (the teachings, the spiritual wisdom) and the Sangha (community of spiritual practitioners). Formulate your sentence of refuge: "I take refuge by ... (myself, my inner wisdom, all enlightened, God, Nirvana)." And if you are seeking refuge, what is your daily act of remembrance and stabilization? Forward. Succeed.

Chang Khong saves herself by her spirituality

Thich Nhat Hanh and Chan Khong are two well-known Zen masters. Thich Nhat Hanh came from Vietnam and had been engaged there very much for peace. In 1982 he founded together with the nun Chan Khong in southern France the spiritual center "Plum Village". There, people from all over the world can learn the Buddhist mindfulness meditation.

Chan Khong was born in 1938 in Vietnam. She met Thich Nhat Hanh at the age of 21 years and became his close companion. She studied biology and was also involved in political action, becoming the student leader at the University, spending much of her time helping the poor and sick in the slums of the city. She directed a nursery school for orphans. 1968 during the American Vietnam war a bombing killed almost all her children. Chan Khong was desperate. She could eat a long time nothing but a little rice. How could she win back her inner peace?

She sought refuge in spirituality. By meditation and positiv thinking she got back her happiness. She realized enlightenment. Today she shines a lot of power and love. She manages the ashram of Thich Nhat Hanh and organizes his many travels. With her inner strength she helps many Western women to get inner peace and happiness.

---> Video: Awakening the heart with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh (2011)

Humor :-)) :-)) :-)) :-)) :-))

31. Rejoice in life. Enjoy the fullness of life. Think positive. Who lives in the light, can laugh at everything. Who is rooted in the spirituality needs to worry about anything. Everything is correct as it is. The enlightened masters take care of everything. You are always protected. So be positive, optimistic and cheerful. Do not take anything too seriously. Live the good mood. Celebrate the day. Eat sweets until you are happy. Or do something else what makes you happy. Bring so many beautiful things in your day, untill the laughter is with you. Today you may be a little crazy.

Laughter yoga

Laughing in the body = We lay one hand on our head, feel into our head and laugh: "Hi Hi Hi Hi ..." Thus, we solve all the tensions in the head. The hand on the chest: "Ha Ha Ha Ha ..." So we open our heart chakra. The hand on the belly: "Ho Ho Ho Ho ..." We stomp our feet on the ground: "HU HU HU HU HU ..." Stomping on the ground is very important for our relaxation. But don´t stomp to much when people living below you. :-))

Laughing in the sky = We stretch our hands to heaven and laugh, "HA HA HA HA HA ..." By this we clean the aura around our head and activate the crown chakra. At the same time we move our legs, feet and fingers. So we fill our entire body with energy. We can also rub the laughter in our body. This is also a good technique of energy charge.

Laughter in all directions = We turn to ourselves (on a swivel chair) and laugh in all directions. We visualize the entire cosmos (the world) around us full of happy people and thus reach a happy cosmic consciousness.

Laughing about life = We think about ourselves and our lives. About what can you laugh today? Something is funny in your life today. There must be a joke in your life today! God always puts jokes in the life. So laugh about the crazy things who happen on the world. If necessary, read jokes on the Internet. Or look in the mirror.

Laughing without a reason = We laugh without a reason, until we are full of laughter. "HA HA HA HA HI HI HI HI HI Ha ha aha HU HU HU HU Ho Ho Ha Ha." So we quickly get a good mood. If necessary, watch Laughter Yoga Videos on the Internet.

Om chanting = Finally, we come slowly to rest and sing several times the mantra "Om". We're making big circles with our arms in the air. We get to inner peace. "Om Shanti. Om Peace. Om Shanti. Om Peace."

Positive thinking = We reflecte on the positive. What is positiv in your life? About what you are glad today? Think a positive sentece, "My positive sentence today is... (I go ahead with optimism. All will be well.)"

Light to all = We move a hand in blessing and send light to all people, " I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy."

---> Video: laughing yoga with a crazy yogi

Follow Your Way of Truth

32. What is the way of your truth? Walk the Way of your personal correctness. Follow your wisdom. Find your individual spiritual path. "My way of truth and wisdom is ..." Forward. Success.

Shantideva

Shantideva was a Buddhist yogi who lived about 800 AD in India. At first he lived as a monk in a monastery. Here he practiced mainly the big doing of nothing. He cleansed himself from his inner tensions through the path of much rest. He spent his time mainly with eating, reading (in modern: TV watching, surfing on the internet), sleeping and walking. Of his fellow monks, he got the nickname "Bhusuku" (lazybones). After some years he decided to train his self-discipline. Therefore, he became a soldier in the royal palace guard. After some years he had gained so much self-discipline, that he believed he could successfully live as a yogi. He moved to a lonely cave in the mountains and practiced for many years consistent yoga, meditation and positiv thinking. One day he got his breakthrough into the light. Now he was called Shantideva (God of peace).

From now on, he practiced the soft (middle) spiritual way with some pleasure. He did his spiritual exercise and enjoyed his life also. His way of pleasure was it to eat occasionally some meat. Yogis are usually vegetarian. A visitor chided him because his eating of meat. Shantideva answered that even Buddha ate meat when he was invited by other people. He would need some meat consumption for his inner balance. Meat for him was a symbol of enjoyment. Some yogis drink a little wine every day. Some women need a little chocolate. Yogi Nils likes to meditate lying in his bed, saving the world on the internet, chat with his friends and walke twice a day one hour through his forrest. His spiritual exercises he combines with a quiet way of life and some daily pleasure. He pays always close attention to his feeling of rightness. He goes forward with his inner voice of wisdom and thus has the feeling of a constant spiritual growth.

Plan of the Day

33. Help yourself by a spiritual plan of the day. Do spiritual practices from morning to evening and build up good energy. Thus you get the power to win the day. An optimal daily schedule consists of spiritual exercises in the morning, noon and evening. Start the day with a reflection on the tasks lying ahead of you. Connect with the enlightened masters, and ask them for guidance and help. Pick an oracle card, practice some yoga exercises or read a spiritual text. Then start into the day.

Work for the happiness of all beings and make adequate rest periods in between. Do some exercise every day (walking, yoga), meditate a bit (in lying or sitting), eat healthy (lots of fruit, raw vegetables, low fat) and practice positive thinking. In the evening remember at the day, think about improvements and read a page in a spiritual book. Meditate before sleeping. If you live like this, you will keep your physical health, your inner energy and your positive mind. Develope your own spiritual daily schedule. Allow yourself to change your plan, but never lose your daily way of health and happiness. Forwards. Success.

Swami Sivananda

Swami Sivananda (1887 to 1963) was one of the greatest Indian saints of modern times. He taught to combine Jnana Yoga (reading, mental work), Bhakti Yoga (visualization of spiritual role models, praying, mantras), Raya Yoga (yoga and meditation) and Karma Yoga (love to all, doing good). He called his yoga the Yoga of Synthesis. He was a supporter of the spiritual technique of the daily plan, "All spiritual seekers must have a spiritual day program depending on their time, their temperament and their inclinations. Idleness makes the mind dull and rust like iron. The daily self-discipline is an essential condition for spiritual advancement. Sow daily practice, harvest grace."

---> Yogi Nils received his teacher training 1992 in Canada through the Sivananda Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda.

Positive Thinking

34. Positive thinking. Succeed. The problem: Describe briefly your situation and your problem. How exactly is your situation? What is the problem? Where is the center of the problem?

The Emotions: What are the feelings in you? Fear, anger, addiction / desire, grief. What feeling is strongest? Where is the feeling sitting in your body?

The thoughts: What thoughts are connected with your feelings? Why are you sad, anxious, angry or longing? Count all your stressful thoughts down. (My thoughts are ...)

Thinking: What triggers your problem? What is the way out of your problem? What brings you to love, fulfillment, satisfaction? Think about your problem for so long, until you find a solution. Think about different solutions. Collect all the information you need.

Implementation: Follow your positive thoughts. Fulfil your positive life plan. Avoid meaningless brooding. Now is the time to realize powerful. Go your way to victory. "My positive sentence is ...."

Love of enemies

Samavati was as a child of poor parents. Because she was very beautiful, the king of Kosambi fall in love with her and married her. One day Buddha came with his monks in her country. She heard his teachings and was thrilled. Every day from now on she practiced meditation and universal love. She practiced the four brahmaviharas: 1) loving-kindness, 2) compassion, 3) empathetic joy, and 4) equanimity. She sent all beings each day light and lived for the goal of a happy world. Thus after some time she was enlightened.

Although she did nothing but good things to all people, there was a woman in the palace who was jealous of her. She wanted to become the queen instead of Samavati. One night, this woman set fire to the palace of Samavati. Samavati put herself into a deep meditation, forgave her enemy, and blessed all beings with light. She went through death with equanimity. Due to her meditation of all-embracing love her soul rose on to paradise after death (in a dimension of light in the afterworld).

The big test on the way of universal love is the love of enemies. We can only be permanent enlightened if we can integrate all of our problems into our enlightened psyche. Ultimately, all difficulties and all people with opposed interests are emotionally our enemies. We can integrate them into our psyche, if we found a positive word. What thought can help us, if a person harms us? We just think that our inner happiness and the paradise after death are more important as our current problem. We see all the external problems as ultimately meaningless, and only our happiness as really important. A second technique is to see us as a mother of all beings and all beings as our children. As a mother (or father), we wish a happy family and help even our evil children to go the path of wisdom and love.

For Nils the loneliness is his emotional enemy. He does not like it. His positive thought is, that it as an opportunity to practise intensiv spiritually and to get enlightenment. For Samavati the situation was even more difficult. She was killed by her enemy. If she had hated the woman, internal tensions were created. These tensions would have blocked her rise into the paradise (preserve an enlightenment consiousness). In such a case, you can also try to clean your mind after your death. Anyone who goes through life constantly with spiritual exercises, will be able to do them even after his death. If we get touched by difficult situations, we always can build up our happiness again (in life and in the afterlife). Constant spiritual practise is a great grace for everyone.

Effectiveness

35. Most people in the West have no stamina on the spiritual path. They lose the great treasure of spirituality someday and end in the inner and outer suffering. Many people exercise wrong. They practice yoga only formally (as an outer form) without inner feeling. They do not solve tensions and do not realize happiness (enlightenment). It is important that we practice goal-oriented, effective and regularly. What today is your way of practicing effective? Clearly define your spiritual goals: "My goals are ... My way of victory is ..." Forward with perseverance and effectiveness. Success.

Anuruddha

Anuruddha was the disciple of the Buddha with the ability to single-minded practice. Anuruddha means translated to practice to (anu) a point (the target, Ruddha/Rudra = Shiva as role model, the enlightened Master of Yoga). Anuruddha grew up as a prince in external wealth. When he heard about the goal of spiritual self-realization, in him arose the desire to achieve it. But he was small, weak and loved the pleasures of the world. How should a small man like him can go the long and hard path to enlightenment? He remembered his cleverness. He thought that enlightenment is the greatest pleasure in the world. He practised with regard to his goal. He focused on his goal every day, visualized himself as a Buddha (Ruddha). He did every day the step forward who was possible for him. With special exercises (Deity Yoga) he acivated every day his Kundalini energy (the energy of Shiva, the Kundalini snake). And he gave himself enough outer pleasure on his way. Thus he got the power to succeed.

Laziness

36. Today you are allowed to be lazy. Make your life beautiful. Do what you like. Enjoy the day. Bring so much joy into your day, that you can go your way positively. "My deed of joy is ..."

The Happy Buddha

Budai was a very lazy Zen Master. He lived during the Tang Dynasty in China. He is also called the Laughing Buddha, or the Happy Chinese. Budai lived consistently in rest (doing nothing). He just enjoyed the happiness of his enlightenment. He lived in existence-unity consciousness-happiness (Sat-Chid-Ananda). He liked to laugh, to eat sweet things and to play with the children. Budai had a big bag, in which many beautiful things were hidden. He gave away it to the children. He was a bit like a Chinese Santa Claus. He was very popular by all children. And the adults loved to linger in his good energy and to relax in his presence a bit from the stress of life.

Chinese are usually very busy. They have a collective neurosis of much working. They think that working and not enlightenment is the purpose of life. Sometimes they are then very exhausted. They need a counter-example to get mental balanced. Budai is a counterpart role-model for them and their secretly dream of life. Budai once was asked, what enlightenment means. He stretched his arms in the air, smiled happily and then immediately disappeared into the crowd. He lived in inner happiness and in outer nothingness. He refused even to be a Zen Master and to teach the people. He was just a happy Buddha. It is enough to be happy, but it is also good to work for a better world and to make all people happy. Budai´s way was it to live enlightened, to see life as a game and to give away enlightened energy (symbolically sweets).

A happy world

37. Help to build up a world of peace, love and happiness. What can you do? Walk the path of all-embracingl love and grow into the light. "My deed of love today is ..." Success!

Poignant words of Jean Ziegler

The famous Swiss-globalization critic Jean Ziegler fights against capitalist globalization. Until his retirement in May 2002 he was professor of sociology at the University of Geneva. From 2000 to 2008 he worked as a UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.

Quotes TAZ 2010: "I'll give you an example from Guatemala, where the rich landowners and the Western Fruit corporations have the land in the fertile plains. The descendants of the exiled Maya - 80 percent of the population - have only barren corn fields in 2,500 meters. The pawns are starving. The women view with 30 as 80. The equitable distribution of the country, education for all children, all this will not come because the multinational companies block it. They dominate the most important UN member states. They dominate also the government of Guatemala. A land reform will not come. The white colonialists who exploited Latin America 500 years, not simply renounce on their monopoly of power.

One billion people still live in absolute poverty. The 500 largest transnational private companies control over 52 percent of global GDP. The companies operate on the principle of pure profit maximization. For the victims of the world dictatorship of finance capital, the globalization is daily terror. Every five seconds starves a child under ten years. The number of hungry and poor is rising again. I call it the destruction of people through starvation. For this globalization, there is no excuse. Every child that dies of hunger could be my child or your child. Thereby all these horrible sacrifices are unnecessary. That's what shocked and angered me immensely. Humanity today has the opportunity to secure a happy life for all people. The great wealth that was generated under capitalism, gives us the possibility to feed all the people. The productive forces are increased dramatically. Therefore, there is no excuse for all this, no moral justification for suffering. The neoliberal delusion must vanish. The financial dictatorship must be replaced by a normative world social order.

There's always hope. In our times we are experiencing, as a new planetary civil society rebels against the injustice. At the World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil, in 2009 more than 8,000 social groups and movements were present. Today there is an increasing awareness that we can break the suppression mechanisms through democratic means."

Staying Power

38. Stay with perseverance on your way. Live as a winner. Achieve your goals. See yourself as a winner and you will conquer. "My goal is ... My way of victory is ..." Success.

The great Yogi

Mahamoggallana (Moggallana the Great) was a chief disciple of Buddha. As a youth he was strong and wild. He made many bad jokes and annoyed his fellow man. One day he heard of the spiritual self-realization. This goal was far greater than all his youthful pranks. That attracted him very much. Moggallana left his hometown and went in search of self-realization. Twenty years, he moved back and forth across India. He studied with many spiritual masters. He practiced many spiritual techniques. But the way of his personal effective practicing, he did not find. Despite all the search and try he did not get enlightenment.

Disappointed, he returned. Near his home town he met Buddha. Buddha gave him the knowledge of his effective spiritual practice. Then Moggallana became a yogi and moved to a secluded hut. He practiced extensively the alternating sitting and walking meditation. Shortly before his spiritual breakthrough him captured a large inertia and apathy. Buddha gave him seven tips: 1st Always consistently follow your daily schedule, even if you're tired. After some time the fatigue goes away. 2nd If the tiredness does not go away, think about your goals and your spiritual path. What is your way to win today? 3rd Rub your face and body with cold water. That activates you. 4th Read a page in a spiritual book. 5th Do some exercise (yoga, walking, breathing, Kundalini awakening). 6th Maybe you're really tired. Then take a break. Give you enough rest. 7th Connect yourself with your spiritual master and ask him for guidance and help. Hear the voice of your inner wisdom. Find your way of rightness.

With these seven techniques Moggallana got his breakthrough into the light. He had won thanks to his wisdom and perseverance. Yogi Nils completed the seven tips with three more tips: 8th Live for the goal of a happy world. Send every day all beings light and think, "I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy." In this way you get the energy of universal love and awaken your unity consciousness. 9th Hear beautiful or powerful music. 10th Bring as many elements of joy in your life so that you can walk your spiritual path positive. "My deed of joy today is ..." So you can go eternally your spiritual path until you reach your goal.

Master of Life

39. Be a Master of Life. Bethink yourself on your goals in life, do your spiritual exercises every day, and flow with your life positively. "My goals are ... My way of wisdom is ... My way to peace, love, power and happiness is ..." Forwards. Success.

The 24 places of power

A young man in India was keen to achieve the goal of enlightenment. He longed to develop his inner happiness and lasting inner peace and to live in the all-encompassing love. Unfortunately, he had a lot of tension in his body and his mind. He was inwardly very nervous. He constantly changed his residence, his relationships and his jobs. He could not meditate long time in sitting. His master so gave him the exercise to make a pilgrimage to the 24 places of power.

For twelve years the young man wandered from one place to another. He always felt his right line between too much rest and too much action. While walking, he said a mantra or thought about the meaning of life. While sitting he meditated in silence. He honored all the holy statues of all religions along his way. He visualized himself as Shiva, Buddha, Jesus and father of all beings (bodhisattva). Thus he activated his Kundalini energy. Shiva filled him with power, Buddha gave him inner peace, Jesus helped him so sacifice his ego, and the bodhisattva way made him living in the energy of love. The many suffering people in the world touched him. He did not look away, but helped them, as far as he could. He shared his money with them and his wisdom. He strengthened them materially and spiritually. He became one with the joy and the pain of others. So he grew more and more into a cosmic consciousness. He practiced constantly positive thinking and reflecting the life. After twelve years of persevering pilgrimin awoke in him the light. The pilgrimage to the 24 holy places opened his 24 inner gates of energy (chakras).

Pilgrimage for many people is a useful exercise. In India there are 24 official places of power. Many are located on the holy river Ganges, such as Benares, Allahabad and Rishikesh. There is the holy Mount Kailash and the birthplace of Buddha. Also inside a man there are after the teaching of yoga 24 places of power. The further one is spiritually evolved, the better you can feel it. Trying to find them in your body, concentrate on the point and feel how the energy flows out of it. If you regularly visit them, they supply you every day with energy and happiness. The most famous places of power are the seven chakras (vertex, forehead, throat, heart, solar plexus / navel, lower abdomen, pelvis ground). But there are chakras at the back, along the spine, in the mid-channel, in the hands and the soles of the feet. There are even outside the body chakras above the head in the sky, below the feet, two feet under the seat and deep in the earth. The greatest chakra is God. Whoever meditates on the cosmos, all living things, and the enlightened, awakens his inner power the fastest. Find your way of daily inner or outer pilgrimage and grow by this into the light.

The Middle Way

40. The spiritual way of a Bodhisattva (Karma Yogi) is a light path. Although he knows dark phases, mostly he will lead more and more into the light. Create your life as a light path. Orient yourself at positive role models, live by positive principles and realize a happy life. Go ahead on a middle path. Stride forward in your speed. Live the right balance of peace, power, love, wisdom and joy. Make your spiritual path beautiful. Practice so that you feel good on your way. Success.

Tenzin Gyatso

The 14. Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso) has promised to save all beings. But he does it in his own way. He goes strolling through life. He practices a littel, saves the world a little, teaches wisdom a little and laughs a lot, especially. He convinces the people in the West because he is a Buddha of Joy. His biggest joke is the claim that he is not enlightened. The Dalai Lama likes to appear modest. Thus he is loved by the most people. His teaching is simple, "Be a good person. If all people are good, there is a good world. It does not matter whether you're Christian, Buddhist or Atheist. It is only important that we all strive to be good people."

The Dalai Lama was born on July 6, 1935 in Tibet. After the Chinese invasion, he moved to Dharamsala in northern India. From there he travels widely in the world giving many lectures. In 1989 he received the Nobel Peace Prize. The Dalai Lama is the head of all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Buddhism is a rational system. The Dalai Lama said, "When science discovers something else, we will change the Buddhism."

In 1991, the Dalai Lama inaugurated Yogi Nils into the Tibetan Deity Yoga (meditation on a role model) and 1998 in the way of all-embracing love (bodhisattva way of love, Avalokiteshva-Initiation ). Nils felt how the energy of the Dalai Lama flowed through the crown chakra into him. Later the Dalai Lama often appeared in his dreams and gave him helpful teachings. The main lesson of the Dalai Lama to all western people is, "Humanity is a great family. We all must take responsibility for our planet in order to create a world of peace and love. May the world be happy. May every creature experience happiness, love and inner peace."

Globe Meditation

1. Globe = We visualize the earth beneath us, rub the earth with our feet and think, "May all beings be happy. May the world be happy."

2. Television = What man on television today touches you negative or positive? Clean the energetic connection, visualize him as a Buddha. Give him a positive sentence. Think the sentence as a mantra until you have overcome all attachment or rejection. Everything you see outside makes a knot in your soul. Create harmony in your mind. The first step to happiness is to create a positive world in your mind. We move a hand and send all the people in the television light: "I send light to .. I wish him / her wisdom, love and happiness. May all people on TV Buddhas or Goddesses of love."

3. Goddess = We rub our hands before the heart chakra. We visualize ourselves as a Buddha or a Goddess: "I am a Goddess (Buddha). I go the way of the positive. I live in peace, love and happiness."

4. Enlightened Masters = We rub the hands over our head and ask the enlightened masters for guidance and help. We connect us spiritually with their energy, "Om all enlightened masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help on my way."

5. Mantra = We put our hands together in the lap, move our feet and think many times the mantra "Om Shanti" in our body, in our legs and in the whole world. We stop a minute every thought. We relax.

---> Video: Dalai Lama Finding Purpose in Life (3 min.)

Hope

41. Live as bringer of hope. Bring the people in your world the way of wisdom, happiness and universal love. Everybody can grow into happiness. Each country can be turned into a happy country. We can build up a world of love, peace and happiness. Yes We Can!! We must try it!! Succeed on the path of all-embracing love. Do your part for a happy world, "My way of helping is ..." Forward with power. Success.

The World is a Village

If the world were a village of 100 inhabitants, then one man is super rich. He owns a third of the country and 30% of the village's assets. 20 people have 80% of the total wealth of the village. They have much more than they need. 40 people have enough money. They live as small farmers, workers, employees and small self-employed. 40 people (40%) are the poor. Half of them are malnourished or starving directly. In their environment, there is no adequate disease prevention, severe addiction problems (drugs, alcohol) and an escalating crime.

The external wealth has doubled in the West in the last fifty years. At the same time the number of depression has increased tenfold. The unregulated capitalism leads to large external wealth for a few people and hunger and unhappiness for ever more people. Capitalist globalization will bring a few super-rich, a little wealth for a small middle class and a massive impoverishment of a large underclass. It creates huge slums, crime and a lot of substance abuse problems.

We need a globalization of love, wisdom and peace. 1. Help that all people in the world have something to eat. According to the Human Rights Charter of the United Nations food is a sufficient human right. The rich are therefore obliged to leave the hungry people of their money so much that everyone can buy enough to eat. 2. Help that all people in the world have suitable work. According to the Human Rights Charter of the United Nations work is a sufficient human right. The rich are furthermore obliged to give the unemployed work, enough land, or money for job creation programs. Jobs may occur in the future much in the social field, if the overall economic wealth is distributed responsibly. Instead of the superfluous luxury of a few we should primarily develop the common happiness of all.

3. See the world. What is to do? There is the possibility of adequate taxation, protection laws for the poor and an agrarian reform. There is the possibility of a Global Marshall Plan and a global eco-social market economy. And there is the possibility that the poor organize themselves and jointly enforce their rights. 4. Consider your options. What can you do? Recognize the many opportunities that the internet offers. We can buy fair trade products. We can look for environmentally farming methods and do not buy products from child labor. Even as buyers, we have a certain power, who we should use. Help charity organisations. Help them with donations. There are many organizations in the world who work for a better future. 5. Become a world savior. A world savior works within its means for a happy world.

The Gandhi of Cambodia

Maha Ghosananda was the head of Buddhism in Cambodia. He gave his life to save his country and his fellowmen. His country had been plagued for decades by a brutal civil war. The once-rich country impoverished completely. Maha Ghosananda initiated non-violent peace marches. He visited many refugee camps and gave people spiritual encouragement. He reinforced the positive values and spirituality in his country. He tried to make his country happy again.

Equanimity

42. Many small problems. Keep your inner peace. Flowing cleverly with things. Search your main happiness inside, and not outside. Live in rest (in unattached being). Walk slowly through the day. Take things as they are. Let your false wishes go. Be a Buddha of peace and equanimity. Equanimity means to have a steady mind. We go in a state of inner peace through difficult life situations. We keep consistent with mental work our emotions small (anger, sadness, fear, self-indulgence) and therefore preserve our inner balance. Forwards. Success.

The Buddha of Serenity

Ayya Khema was born in 1923 in Germany. She married, had two children and traveled around the world. One day she met the Theravada Buddhism (Buddha's original way). She was thrilled, attended many meditation courses, read many spiritual books, and became at the age of 56 years a Buddhist nun. She practiced intensivly and achieved in seven years enlightenment. Her main practise was the visualization of the unity of the cosmos. She practiced to accept joy and pain with equanimity and to view life from a higher perspective. An important technique for her was the loving kindness meditation, consisting of compassion, sympathetic joy, love, and equanimity. She emphasized different from many of other Theravada buddhists the way of all-embracing love. She took her fellow beings more important than herself and thus could overcome her personal suffering.

After her enlightenment, she founded a nunnery in Sri Lanka, which is open to western women. In 1989 she moved to Germany, appeared on television and founded a spiritual organization. She taught to live as an observer of all things: "The observer has much compassion and love for the people around him, but he is not entangled in their feelings and destinies." The spiritual observer lives constantly in peace (unattached), love (compassion) and happiness. Ayya Khema suffered from cancer for 14 years. In 1993 she went through a serious operation with equanimity. She sacrificed completely her own will. She was totally unattached. The doctors admired her very much, but for her it was only the fruit of her spiritual practice. She died in 1997. Her urn was buried in a stupa (Buddhist chapel) in her monastery in Austria. All things in this world are impermanent and afflicted with suffering. But in nirvana there is only happiness.

Breathing-meditation

Through the breathing-meditation, we can absorb spiritual energy and fill our bodies with light. Our mind becomes peaceful and positive.

Breathing out = We concentrate on exhalation. We breathe out deeply. We breathe out all of our worries. We give all our worries to the earth (universe, life). Rename all your worries, "My grief, my worries, my problems are ...." Enumerate all of your worries. Breathe out all your worries. Give them to the earth, "I let go of my worries. I take all things the way they are."

Inhalation = We focus on inhalation. We visualize a sun in the sky and breathe in the light. We fill our body with light. We connect us with the positive, "Positive in my life is ..."

Reflection = We reflect on the deeper meaning of life? What is important in your life? What is your way of wisdom? Think the mantra: "My way of wisdom is ..."

Mantra = We think "So" by inhalation and "Ham" during exhalation. So is the sun (light) and Ham is the body. SO HAM can be translated as, "I'm correct as I am." We focus on the breath and the mantra. Thus we fill us by breathing with energy. Our mind becomes calm and positive. Breath two minutes with "So - Ham."

Observing = We observe two minutes just our breath. We breathe in and out normally. We can observe the breath in the abdomen, chest or in the nose. We focus on our breath and stop all thinking. We relax for a few minutes.

View of life = The deeper meaning of life is to be happy. We become happy through our daily practice of the properties of inner peace, universal love, wisdom, self-discipline and joy. What is today your way to become joyful? "My deed of joy is ..." Forward with optimism.

---> Video: Ayya Khema - Opening the Heart

Praying

43. Go in close contact with your inner wisdom (your sense of rightness) through the day. The enlightened masters exist! They have the ability of ubiquity. They can see you. They can guide you, if you connect yourself every day with them (meditation, prayer, reading, oracle). You succeed with daily praying. In Buddhism (and in Yoga) there are two opinions. Some pray and some do not pray. Find your personal way. If you connect yourself regularly with the enlightened masters, it is possible that you succeed easier. And that you get better through all crisis of life. Visualize your spiritual role model above or befor you. Think his name as a mantra. "Om all enlightened masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way." Forwards. Success.

The way of a healing relationship

Tantra Yoga is the path of a healing relationship. Two people can heal each other through tantra yoga. The way of a healing relationship for the people in the West is very important, because they strongly tensed and often sick. Healing occurs when the sexual energy is preserved for a longer period through the combination of meditation and sex. Then the energy turns inwardly, resolves all tensions, makes both partners happy and heals their bodies.

Through meditative concentration, the energy can be directed to the diseased areas and cure them specifically. Normally the energy is looking for itself for the optimum path of healing. Both partners need to do nothing else than to have in the right way sex with each other. Two Tantric yogis sleep together so that the ejaculation of the man occurs only at the end of the love game (after an hour or longer). How this is possible, both may find themselves. It is helpful to control sexual thoughts. If a couple has often sex with eachother it might be good to have an ejaculation only once or twice a week. A man loses his energy and his thoughts become negative, if he has an ejaculation too often. People are very different, so that you have to find your personal way.

Tantra yoga has only then a healing property, when he is lived as part of a positive relationship. Important is the connection of tantra yoga, spirituality, truthfulness and love. Both partners must deal with their sexuality wise and sensitive, so it leads to healing and enlightenment. The main power of healing comes from enough rest, the daily spiritual exercises and the embracing love. These three things to preserve in the busy western world is a difficult task. Tantra yoga should be practiced only under the guidance of an enlightened master. Otherwise you can loose your spiritual path very easily. The daily invocation of an enlightened master (praying) is the most important protection in Tantric yoga. Anyone living as a yogi in a relationship should connect himself every day with an enlightened master. If a problem appears, he should immediately call for help and then act out of his inner voice of wisdom (the sense of rightness).

All the great enlightened masters have the ability of ubiquity. Through their spiritual presence, they can see each person in the world, who is connected with them mentally. They can send him or her good ideas or helpful energy. They can also act externally. What they do but only in exceptional cases. At a certain level of spiritual development, you can feel the energy of the enlightened masters. You can feel it when they send you peace, power, happiness or helpful thoughts. A man knows no further. He asks the enlightened masters for help. And suddenly he has a good idea. Suddenly he has power again and masters successfully a difficult situation. The enlightened masters radiate their energy mostly by a symbol (cross, Buddha statue, holy picture) and through her books. As a yogi you can feel if a beam of energy comes from the books or pictures of the enlightened masters. You see it sometimes even directly. And you experience at once the useful effect.

Gratefulness

44. Be aware of the great treasure of spirituality. You live in grace. You know the deeper meaning of life. You got the spiritual knowledge to live a happy life. You have enlightened masters who help you along your way. Celebrate the great gift that you got. What are you grateful for today? "I'm grateful for ..."

The Goddess of Happiness

Ananda means happiness. Anandamayi Ma was the mother of happiness. She lived from 1896 to 1982 as a yogini in India. By her nature, she was friendly, calm and serene. She was a beautiful woman. She could tell wonderful stories. She sang like a goddess. She loved to dance. She taught it to laugh, "Whenever you have the opportunity to laugh, laugh as much as you can." Anandamayi Ma was a great teacher of Hatha Yoga. She gave us the way of the comprehensive Hatha Yoga. The comprehensive Hatha Yoga consists of physical exercises, mental exercises, meditation and universal love (Karma Yoga).

As a young woman Anandamayi Ma practiced six years the physical exercises of yoga (Hatha Yoga) and visualized various deities (Deity Yoga). After that she lived three years in great rest (meditation, Raja Yoga). Then woke up the great happiness. The people felt the light and wanted her blessing. Therefore, from now Anandamayi Ma lived as a Bodhisattva (Karma Yogi) and traveled through India. She gave her darshan to all people and inspired them to lead a happy life through spiritually practicing every day. This was the fourth stage of the comprehensive Hatha Yoga.

She practiced the way of intuitive Hatha Yoga. She did her spiritual exercises creative and intuitive. Her body postures (asanas) Anandamayi Ma practiced out by feeling. She exercised the positive qualities and the role models (Deities, Buddhas), she needed just in the moment. She visualized their forms, identifying herself with them, thought their names as a mantra and thus activated the Kundalini energy in herself. After Ma Anandamayi had charged her body and her mind with spiritual energy, she lived in the great silence. She hardly spoke, and acted little and sat mostly just there. She needed no more exercises. The awakened Kundalini energy cleansed her body, mind and soul by its own. She needed only just a lot of rest. She had to prevent that she looses her Kundalini energy too much in outward activities. She had to live so calm, that her energy turned inwardly and resolves all her tensions. This phase of the great calm is very difficult for a yogi. The energy pushes outwardly. He has to block his activity wishes radically. First there appears a sense of great boredom, and then the energy starts working intensively in his body. The most important point in yoga is to find out exactly how much one could act and how much one should live in calm. Then you grow quickly into the light (peace, love and happiness) and preserve optimally your energy of happiness (enlightenment).

---> Video: Ma Anandamayi Darshan (10 min., french commentaries.)

Highly Satisfied

45. Everything is good. Everything runs optimally. You're on the right track. The Buddhas are very pleased with you. Be you also satisfied. Do not demand more than you have. Define your point of enough. Who sets no limits to his wishes, gets never enough. What are your goals in your life? Secular people are happy when their worldly life is pleasant. Spiritual people are happy when they grow spiritual optimally and are able to do good and to live in all-embracing love. They do not need much outer pleasure because they live in inner happiness and contentment. What is your reason of contentment today? Think the mantra: "I am highly satisfied because ..." Celebrate the day and your successful life.

Longchenpa

Longchenpa (1308-1363) was a Nyingma Master and the founder of the tradition of non-dogmatic Tibetan Buddhism. He wrote many books. He summarized the many techniques of Padmasambhava into one teaching. He connected physical exercises (Hatha Yoga), meditation (living in rest), Deity Yoga (visualize oneself as Buddha or Goddess), doing good (living as a Bodhisattva), and Master Yoga (living under the guidance of the enlightened Masters). Longchenpa transferred his teachings in a series of visions to the yogi Jigme Lingpa, who gave ist further to the yogi and enlightened Master Patrul Rinpoche. The latter wrote a book (Patrul Rinpoche, Words of My Perfect Teacher) and so we got the comprehensive teaching.

Longchenpa first lived as a free yogi, until he realized the enlightenment. He then worked as a spiritual master and developed the doctrine of the three satisfactions, "It is good to live as a yogi and so quickly reach enlightenment. It's good to be an enlightened master, because you can help many people. And it is good to die enlightened, because then you ascend to the nirvana in the afterworld (peace, happiness, love). Om Ah Hum."

In February 2009, Longchenpa and Patrul Rinpoche appeared in a dream of Yogi Nils. Patrul Rinpoche was a small, black-haired man who lived in a tent. He mediated only the contact to Longchenpa, who was a completed Buddha with great spiritual abilities. Longchenpa read in the life book of Yogi Nils. Then he pressed his head against the head of Nils and transfered him spiritual energy. He blessed Nils with the three abilities of all-embracing love, Kundalini power and to be satisfied at the end of his life.

Compassion

46. Walk the way of compassion. Live in your focus as a helper of all beings (Karma-Yogi, Bodhisattva). Concentrate more on the suffering of your fellow man than on your own problems. So you conquer your problems and are developing best your inner happiness. Move a blessing hand and send light to all beings, "I see the suffering in the world. I send light to (name). May all people be happy. May the world be happy." What is your deed for the happiness of your fellow man today? Succeed on the path of compassion.

The Master of Compassion

Atisha was a Tibetan Master of Love. He was born in 980 in India. He worked as a professor at a cloister university. Atisha wanted to find the fastest way to self-realization. He pilgrimed from Master to Master, and tried out their techniques. The Master Rahula brought him to the big break, "Any form of self-relatedness prevents you from being fully enlightened. Even if you meditate for decades in a secluded cave, you might win great spiritual powers, but probably pride will arise in you ... and this pride blocks your enlightenment. Pride blocks your complete oneness with the cosmos. You have to recognize your ego-self as a mental mistake. You need to overcome your ego, your self-relatedness. Then you will freed. Then you live in the light. Then you come into a unity consciousness. And thereby you receive peace, happiness, love, power and enlightenment."

This convinced Atisha. But how could he do this? He lacked an effective technique to overcome his ego. This technique he learned from the Master Serlingpa. It is called Tonglen in Tibetan Buddhism. Tonglen means replacement. You practice it, to identify with your fellow man. You connect youself with their suffering and wish all beings happiness. Atisha practiced this consistent for twelve years and then got enlightenment. After that he went to Tibet and showed the people there the way of all-embracing love.

Tonglen can be practiced in various ways. The Tibetan way is very radical. You assume mentally all suffering of your fellow men and send them all your happiness. And you practice it so seriously, that you expect that a transfer of real suffering energy (bad karma) takes place. Nils has mitigated Tonglen for himself. After his experience, it is sufficient to concentrate on the suffering in the world, and to live as a helper. The fastest way to enlightenment is to live in enough rest, to make enough spiritual exercises (yoga, reading, going, meditating) and to focus in working for the happiness of all beings. How are you able to identify with your fellow beings: 1st Humanity is one family. All men are brothers and sisters. In a family, all help each other. 2nd If I feel bad, I also want me to be helped. Whom it goes well, should help those who it goes bad. 3rd I am a mother / father of all beings. I see all beings as my children. I want everybody to be happy.

Good Karma

47. Forwards with power. A great harvest awaits you. Rejoice and cheer. The blessing of the Buddhas is with you. Great harvest. Forward. Success.

The Master of the Karma

The Karmapa is next to the Dalai Lama, the second highest Master in Tibetan Buddhism. The first Karmapa was born in 1110 in Tibet. As a child he had a vision of the black Kali, the indian Goddess of the overcoming of suffering. Via Gampopa the first Karmapa got the knowledge of Kundalini Yoga from Naropa and the knowledge of Mahamudra Meditation from Tilopa (tibetian Zen Meditation). The center of the Karmapa path is the connection of Kundalini Yoga (enlightenment energy) and Mahamudra Meditation (unity consciousness).

The 1st Karmapa practiced many years as a solitary yogi. He attained enlightenment through the Dream Yoga. The Dream Yoga uses the sleep for spiritual development. Who visualizes himself as Buddha before falling asleep, may wake up enlightened in the morning through the power of the subconscious mind. This happend the 1st Karmapa. When he awoke, he saw the black crown of the indian Goddess Kali above his head (victory over suffering). The 1st Karmapa then vowed to incarnate himself on earth as a Karma Yogi to help the suffering (Karma Pa, father of good karma).

Overcoming Suffering

48. In every life there is pain, loss, illness, loneliness and death. We have no claim to a long life and also not be spared of blows of fate. What is your suffering today? What is your positive thought? "My positive sentence is ...(I will get through. I will survive it.)"

Patacara

Patacara was the daughter of a wealthy Indian businessman. She was very beautiful and married a nice young man. They lived in a distant village from her parents. Patacara got two children. She led a very happy life. But one day her husband was bitten by a snake and died. Patacara was very sad. Her whole pretty life was destroyed by the sudden death of her husband. Patacara walked with her two children the long way through a jungle to her parents. One child was eaten by a tiger. The other child drowned by crossing a river. Patacara was almost mad with grief and despair.

When she came to her parents' house, it was destroyed by a storm. Both of her parents had been killed. Now Patacara broke finally down. She could not let go of her thoughts of suffering. She went to Buddha and asked him for help. Buddha referred her to the spiritual path. Anyone who is enlightened is freed from suffering. The inner happiness dries every tears. The egolessness leads to inner peace. And the encompassing love opens all closed heart.

Patacara became a nun. She made consistently each day her spiritual exercises, and after several years she reached enlightenment. All her suffering passed. She realized that life consits of a mixture of joy and sorrow. Only he who realizes enlightenment, can permanently live above the suffering of the world. Enlightenment is the great place of refuge for all suffering people.

The Master-Buddha

49. Difficulties are challenges for a Yogi. He grows out of it to enlightenment. Live as a Master- Buddha. Master your life. Success.

The Buddha Socrates

Socrates lived from 469 till 399 before Christ in Athena. He was married and had 3 children. He was one of the greatest enlightened Masters of the occident. Socrates had all abilities of a great enlightened yogi. He could predict the future. He was cold-resistant und walked in wintertime bare-footed over the ice. He mastered the transformation of energy on an atomic level. For instance, he could neutralize alcohol in his body just through his imagination. So, he could drink as much as he wanted, but never got drunk. It is also reported, that he once got stiff while standing during a meditation session, and kept in that position till the next morning. It is also known, that Socrates was guided by his inner voice from childhood onwards.

Socrates’ main-rule was: one has to live consistently in truth. One shall consistently follow ones own truth and develop positive attributes (wisdom, courage, temperance, justice). “What is truth” was Socrates’ fundamental question, but he never gave a final answer on that. He put his concentration just on the question about truth, not on the answer. He managed peoples to reflect on themselves. Today, after 2000 years we can basically answer Socrates’ question. The question after truth is the question how human beings should live; what is right and what is wrong? Wrong is the way of too much outer luxury of some people and worldwide poverty of many people. Right is the way of inner happiness and all-embracing love. Externally, Socrates practiced simple living, "Those, who need little, are the ones who are closer to the Gods (Buddhas).” When Socrates died, he ended his life with a prayer. He asked that his journey into the afterlife might be happy.

The Winner

50. You are good! You are a winner! You master your thoughts and feelings with power and skill. You defeat your anger and your fears. You overcome your false desires. You resolve your wrong thought patterns. Forward with power. Success.

The Zen Master Hakuin

Hakuin is one of the most famous Japanese Zen Masters. Zen Buddhism is a line of Mahayana Buddhism, which developed in China and there was called Chan. Chan is the Chinese name from the Sanskrit word dhyana, which means meditation. Chan ist much influenced by Taoism, the chinese philosophical way of naturalness and spontaneity. Zen is the Japanese form of Chan. One can describe Zen as the path of strict form and hard practicing.

Hakuin lived from 1685 to 1768 in Japan. His father was a samurai (a Japanese knight) and his mother was a follower of the Buddhist doctrine of Paradise (Amitabha). At the age of 15 he entered a Buddhist monastery. Hakuin remained four years in the monastery. He was disappointed because he made no progress. Therefore, he went on a spiritual tour. He visited various spiritual teachers. An enlightened Master advised him to think about the word "nothing". This led Hakuin to release all attachments to external things. Hakuin broke through to enlightenment. He lived in inner happiness. Now, however, pride appeared in him. Pride is a neurotic state of mind, an inner tension. It blocks the progression to greater enlightenment. Hakuin met an old hermit, who called him "poor devil in a dark cave." This convinced Hakuin and he stayed with the hermit. The old hermit trained Hakuin with great severity, and destroyed completely his ego-mania. Hakuin realized enlightenment on a high level. But he recognized, that there was still much to do. Over the years he became a kindly and modest spiritual master.

Contentment

51. Everything runs after plan. Everything's fine how it is. The Buddhas are content. Be also content. What is your contentment today? Be happy. Celebrate the day. You are great!!

The founder of Yoga

Patanjali is the father of Indian Yoga. He lived in the second century before Christ. He wrote the Yoga Sutra. In the Yoga Sutra, he grasped the essence of the entire former Yoga knowledge together in a few words. The two major sentences of Patanjali are, "Yoga is the calming of the mind. Then the Yogi lives in the light." The way of calming down the mind is according to Patanjali, to do Yoga and Meditation for a long time. The more one lives in silence, the greater becomes the inner happiness.

Patanjali suggests that lasting inner happiness can generally be achieved only by a constant spiritual practice. To soothe the thoughts Patanjali recommends a two-step way. The first step is to develop positive qualities. Negative qualities often lead to inner turmoil. Positive qualities bring inner peace. The development of positive qualities is a prerequisite for a long-term successful meditation. Without positive qualities the in meditation developed inner peace will break through the chaos of the outside world again and again. Without positive qualities, the inner peace cannot be preserved permanently. The second step of the yogic path is to practice Meditation regularly. In Meditation our minds quiets completely. In simple words Patanjali's path of practice can be called as the way of positive thinking and meditation. Likewise also describes the Tibetan Master Tsongkapa the essence of the way to enlightenment.

The main characteristics according to Patanjali: non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), not stealing (Asteya), in wisdom living (Brahmacharia, often it is interpreted as no sex or no unwise sexuality), simplicity (Aparigraha), devotion to the spiritual goal (Isvara-Pranidhana), ego sacrifice (saucha) , selfdiscipline (tapas), reading (Svadhyaya), and contentment (Santosha). Get the great contentment with yourself and your life. Train every day the positive qualities. Live every day so that you are content at the end of the day.

Spiritual Exercises

Budai in a happy meditation. Succeed on your way with joy and perseverance.

52. With spiritual exercises you can activate your Kundalini energy (the energy of enlightenment). You can put yourself into a state of peace, power, positivity and happiness. You can bring yourself into the light (in a life in serenity and happiness) and so flow inwardly happy through all outward problems. You can give yourself so much power by your spiritual exercises that you can manage good all your life tasks.

The most important spiritual exercises are reading, walking, yoga, meditation, good deeds (Karma Yoga) and the daily connection with the enlightened Masters (Buddhas). The highest form of yoga is the wise combination of exercises and life. What exercises do you need to get successful through the day? You can live as a winner when you do the right exercises at the right moment. Save yourself by your spiritual exercises. Success!

Sitting, walking and mental work

Inner happiness appears if the tensions in the body and in the mind are resolved. Buddha developed a very simple yet genius practice. This consisted of “sitting, going, and mental work.” When one varies one’s activities between body work, mental work and meditation, the inner conflict and tension can be done away. When a person only meditates, the spirit becomes dull and listless. Routine movement makes the spirit clear, keeps the body healthy and gives the person inner energy. If you only go or do Yoga asanas, the mind is restless. Inner happiness comes from inner peace. If the body is kept very quiet, you can get into deeper dimensions of meditation. In addition to periods of sitting in combination with movement, working with the thoughts is important in getting rid of inner conflict. A spiritual person should develop his or her thoughts with love, wisdom, and self-discipline.

Yogi Nils has extended this basic model of stress resolution to the way of the five activities: reading, walking (or doing Yoga asanas), meditating (lying or sitting), doing good for others (Karma Yoga), and to enjoy life. These five activities in constantly changing and always in the right time are an effective way of stress resolution. As meditation Nils practices the two-step Kundalini meditation. In the first stage, he cleanses his energy channels through visualizations, mantras and breathing exercises and activates his kundalini energy. Then he stops for a few minutes all thinking until his mind is completely at rest. Then he just stays at rest and let the thoughts and feelings come and go as they please. This is the stage of lingering in meditation (Vipassana, Zen, Mahamudra). All negative thoughts and feelings appear by itself. If one would suppress his thoughts, there would be no deep-solving process. This many yogis do wrong and thus block their enlightenment.

At a certain point, physical rest can cause the energy of a person to go inward. The person no longer has to direct oneself towards outer activities, and puts more worth on the inner spiritual cleansing, the dissolving of inner conflict, and the development of inner happiness. This turning point must be discovered by each Yogi for him or herself. It is difficult to find and difficult to hold onto. Life energy tends towards an excess of activity or towards dullness. Both need to be avoided with daily exercised self-discipline. Yogis know when they need which technique. When the body is dull and lacking energy, the Yogi goes for a walk. When he or she feels restless, he or she practices Yoga or meditates. When the spirit seems to rebel against the spiritual way, a book on spiritual topics helps to bring back the conviction towards enlightenment. A Yogi senses the inner conflict and uses the proper techniques to dissolve the tension. That is usually what the body and soul wants the least at that moment. Wherever the neurotic tendency to feel repelled towards something is usually the way to the light. On the other hand, we need sometimes to give the body and soul what they would like, otherwise tension is built. The way to happiness requires a lot of wisdom and inner sensitivity.

Forgiveness

53. Forgive your enemy. Who is your enemy today? Against whom you feel dislike, anger, hatred, aggression? The biggest enemy is sometimes the person who is the next one. He injured your interests often at the most. In this sense, your momentary enemy may be your partner, your parents, your children, your boss or even God (the life, your fate). Whom you want to forgive today? "I forgive (my partner, parent, child, friend, enemy, myself, my life) that ..." What idea will help you to come to forgiveness? (I forgive God / the Buddhas, that my life is so difficult.)

The great forgiveness

Rita of Cascia lived from 1380 to 1457 in the town of Cascia, Italy. She had to endure much in her life. She had to forgive others, God and her life a lot. She mastered all the difficult situations with equanimity, perseverance and optimism. Rita was married at a young age by her parents with a violent man. She endured her marriage eighteen years. Then her husband became a victim of the Italian vendetta. Rita had to forgive her husband his brutality, and also his killers, that she from now on had to live alone. Rita had two children. Shortly after the death of her husband, her children died of the plague. That was a hard fate, in which a mother can break easily. Rita was 33 years old. What should she do now? Should she get married once again? Or should she stay alone?

Rita chose the spiritual path and became a nun. She did every day full of self-discipline her exercises. At the age of sixty years she got enlightenment (holiness). Her rigorous spiritual practice had brought her a great win. Now she was freed from all the suffering of life. An important element for her breakthrough to enlightenment was to forgive. Her forgiveness led her to the complete acceptance of life. Saint Rita was able to accept everything the way it was. Even the suffering in her life and in the world. May we all have an enlightened life. May we all be able to forgive, to heal and to become a happy holy in the difficult western life.

The Thin Red Line

54. Forward on the narrow ridge of correctness. Go with a lot of inner feeling through the day. Live on the fine line between doing too much and doing too little. Avoid the excessive activity and avoid the inertia. Not use up your energy. Go slow. Do a lot of breaks. Walk like a relaxed Buddha through the day. Stop to act immediately if you notice that you loose your energy. Stop acting if restlessness arises, if you are no longer in peace, if you feel that you have worked enough. Then take a break. Meditate, practice yoga, go for a walk or just relax in lying down or sitting. Feel exactly how long the break should be. When are you fully recovered again? When in you arises the desire for activity? Then become activ again. Feel exactly the whole day when it's time for a break and when it's time for an activity. Feel how intense your outer actions have to be. Success.

The way of action without action

Laozi lived in the sixth century BC in China. His biggest fear was to act too much. Who is doing too much, loses his inner happiness. He loses his inner energy in outward actions. Over the years, he shrinks into his life energy. This is the path from the inner happiness to the inner unhappiness. Almost all people in the western world live like this. They work too much, think too much and talk too much. They live too little in rest. In ancient China, people were just as unwise. Also Laozi. He was the head of the imperial library. He lived only for his career. He got exhausted in doing senseless external things. Unlike most other people he realized what was happening. As head of the imperial library, he had read the writings of the old Chinese sage. All sages advise to live a life of peace and happiness. They warn of a life of over-activity.

Laozi realized that he was doing exactly what he should not do as a person of wisdom. He was so shocked by his own unwisdom, that he radically changed his life. He got the motto: "The wise man lives in inner fulness and not in outward illusion." He gave up his career and became a hermit. He wrote a book called "Tao Te Ching" in which he taught the great philosphy of wu wei. What does "wu wei" mean? Simply put, it's the principle of the relaxed way of life. Man lives in the balance of activity and relaxation. He lives in his internal equilibrium. On a deeper level, wu wei is the most important way to enlightenment. One acts outwardly so little that the energy turns inwardly and dissolves the tensions. By a lot of rest people heal by themselves. Rest is the main road of healing for inner tensions.

Too much rest leads to inertia. Then the internal energy dries up and healing does not occur. The big mystery is the exactly right amount of rest and activity. The exact boundary between too much doing and doing too little is a fine line you can only find individually with a lot of wisdom and intuition. To live on this thin line is the optimal path of spiritual growth. Then you do only a few hours your spiritual exercises and most of the time your body resolves his tensions by his own. Enlightenment happens mainly by itself. This path is difficult to walk. People want to follow their favorite neurotic tendencies. Most people tend to be either too slow or too active. They are either lazybones or workaholics. The wise man must fight against both tendencies. The optimal way of spiritual growth is a constant hard work against ones own neurotic tendencies. To resolve tensions often means to resolve internal resistant. The best way to enlightenment is a personal daily schedule with an optimal balance of rest and activity. And one has to keep closely to it. And sometimes a little pleasure principle is allowed.

Unity of All Religions

55. What is your contribution for the tolerant coexistence of all religions? If we want a world of peace, we have to stop religious fightings. Without peace between the religions there will no worldwide peace on earth. Religious peace is a difficult thing. Every religion thinks that only its way is the right one. But this is not correct. There are many paths to the mountain top. There are many ways to happiness. Find your way and tolerate the others. May all people work together for a world of love, peace and happiness. What can you do for the harmonie in your group, in your family and in yourself? You need one of the five qualities: love, tolerance, aceptance of the things how they are, ego destroying, and concentration on the essentials. What ist your way to harmony today? "My way is ..." Day of harmony. Forward. Success.

The five spiritual seekers

There were five people who sought God. One was an atheist, an other a Christian, the third a yogi, the fourth a Muslim, and the fifth a Buddhist. One day the five seekers came to a large mountain. Up on the mountain shone a bright light. The atheist said: "This is the sun." The Christian said: "This is God." The Muslims gave it the name of Allah. The Buddhist thought it was the Nirvana (emptiness / unity / bliss). The Yogi called it Brahman (the higher reality).

The five-seekers debated long about the light, the happiness and God. The atheist insisted that there is no God. The Buddhists did not believe in a personal God. Which the Muslim and the Christian contradicted violently. The Yogi surprised his friends by stating: "This question cannot be clarified by an unenlightened man. We all must get enlightenment, then we will understand what God is." The five seekers had a long talk about God. They learned about their respective viewpoints. The talk was a great enrichment for all. But they could not come to a final result. They therefore decided to climb the mountain and to investigate the light exactly. There were many paths leading up the mountain. Everyone rose up on his own path.

When everyone had arrived at the summit, they decided to enter into the great mystery. They took each other by the hand and went into the great light. They passed through a great darkness (the ego resolution) and found themselves in God (transcendence). They stayed some time in God and then went back into the world of matter (the duality of things) . In God all had been speechless. But now her mind began to work. Excited, they told each other about their experiences. The Yogi felt God as happiness (peace-unity consciousness-bliss), the Christian as universal love, the Buddhist as inner peace, the Muslim as a great power and the atheist experienced God as a higher truth. The Muslims got the word "Allah", the Christian the word "God", the Buddhist the word "Enlightenment", the Yogi "Sat-Chit-Ananda" and the atheist "Unity". If they thought their particular word, they could immediately go back into the light. The word was their personal key to entry into the great mystery. Anyone who has met God, can come with the power of the memory and his personal mantra again into the state of enlightenment.

They decided to end their conflicts and to concentrate on the spiritual practice. They lived many years together on the mountaintop. They read in their scriptures, meditated a lot, pilgrimaged every day to the mountain summit and met once a week to a joint celebration. Some day all arrived the permanent light. And the great light transformed them. They saw the light in all beings and all things of the world. They realized that they are all brothers and sisters. They realized that only love, peace and happiness are important. They left their mountain, came back into the world of men and built up together a happy world. May we stop all religious wars in the world. May we be build a golden age of love, peace and happiness on earth. May the light, the love and the truth always be with us.

The Clever Helper

Blessing. Success. Many happy Buddhas. With little effort you win a lot.

56. After the success. You have worked enough. Take a break. Come to rest. Get rid of all great goals. Relax. Enjoy your victory.

Pure Land Buddhism

At the end of 8th century lived in China the old mendicant monk Kang. Kang owned the great knowledge of the Pure Land Buddhism. He knew the easy way to paradise, which every human being can go. One has to visualize every day a golden Buddha in a meditation posture in the sky above the crown chakra (where one feels personally his paradise). It is helpful to speak or think the mantra: "Om golden Buddha in the Paradise. Om all the enlightened Masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way. I send light to .... May all beings be happy. May the world be happy."

One day a bright beam of energy came from an inscription in a temple. A short time later the old monk Kang had a vision of Shan-tao, an enlightened Master of the Amitabha Buddhism, who spoke out of the empty space to him: "Kang, go to Yanzhou. The people there need your wisdom." Shan Tao lived about 200 years before the old Kang in China. Shan Tao got the complete enlightenment, and then came into the Paradise of Amitabha. He now possessed great spiritual power and could see the world under him. He could send light, energy and positive words to all the people who were connected with Amitābha Buddha. He could send in particular helpful thoughts and energy through his books and the pictures of Amitabha. He could therefore connect himself in reality with the old Kang. This is probably a true historical fact. Nils has experienced a similar incident in 2005 with the Tibetan Master Patrul Rinpoche.

The old Kang went to the city Yanzhou. The people there were not interested in spirituality. They sought only external wealth and sexual relationships. What they did not truly make happy in the long run. Kang thought about how to teach best the Paradise Yoga. He begged for some money and gave it to children under the condition, that they spoke the mantra "Amitābha Buddha". The kids had much fun. Soon all the children always called "Amitābha Buddha" when they saw the old Kang. Some time later, the adults began also to speak the mantra. Kang built an Amitabha temple on a mountain. As he grew older, Kang himself shone more and more in light. Many people came to see him. At his death he went into the great light. He called, "Everyone who can visualize me enlightened, will come into the paradise after his death, too!"

Sadness

57. It is important that we live enough our sadness. Sadness relieves tensions in the body and in the mind. These tensions are often not reachable through other exercises. The path of sadness is not easy to understand. In today's society we tend to repress the sadness and the sorrows in our lifes. Or we go too much into the mourning and lose ourselves in our grief. Both is wrong. The right way is to live adequate our sadness. And at the same time or afterwards to accept the suffering and reflect on the positive. Live today your sadness. Do not block your suffering on the life. In every life is suffering. Suffering belongs to our life on earth. Today there is an important reason for your sadness. Give yourself a lot of rest. Be soft with you. Think about life and do helpful spiritual practices (yoga, walking, reading, meditation).

Gotami

Gotami was a disciple of Buddha. She had a child that she loved very much. One day her child died. Gotami was running and crying with her dead child in her arms through her village. She could not find inner peace. She wanted to have her child back and could not let it go. She turned to Buddha to free her from her emotional pain. Buddha instructed her to bring him a little mustard seed. But it had to come from a family of the village in which never has died a man. Gotami went in search. She found no family without a case of death. Gotami understood by this fact that suffering is part of every life. We only can succeed about the sorrows of life, if we are anchored in spirituality. Ultimately, the only liberation from suffering is enlightenment. In yoga this is called Moksha (freed).

Nils: "Classmates of mine organized a few years ago a class reunion, they called me and asked if I can come. In this phone conversation I heard that our classmate Birgit had a heart attack at the age of 47. She was lying some years in a nursing home and then died. Birgit had worked for an insurance company and had had in her career too much stress. The bad fate of Birgit made me very sad. The goal of yoga is to live happy and healthy. This is not easy to get in today's stressful society. There are many circumstances that hinders us to be happy and healthy. On the other hand, we can also do much by ourselves to achieve a happy life."

Wise living means to live healthy, first and foremost. We should constantly take good care of our bodies and our souls. We should practice positive thinking, eat healthy, exercise regularly and sufficiently relax. We should remove all the stress of everyday life again and again through appropriate exercises. The best way to live is to go positive and peaceful as a Buddha through life. All this Birgit had surely not done. From the perspective of Yoga she had lived wrong. A Yogi can become ill too. Then Yoga helps him through this time. A Yogi concentrates on his spiritual goal and is therefore emotionally not so dependent on external circumstances. He is rescued through his goal and his exercises. Even a Yogi has to die one day. Yoga helps him to come through. A Yogi goes meditating through death. This enables him to avoid much pain and to come into the light after his death. Birgit had never heard of the spiritual path. But we all are blessed in our lifes and in death. May all our tears are dried, and may we all wake up in the light one day.

Nothingness

Buddha awakes his Kundalini-energy (hands on head and hip), brings himself in a state of bliss and goes meditating through the death.

58. Let your selfwill go. Take things as they are. Life is bigger than man. A man has a claim on nothing. He ultimately is subordinated to the will of the cosmos. He can only try to flow positively with the given things. Become mentally a nothingness. Let your false desires go: "I take ... I let go ..." Flow positively with the situation. Success.

The right dying

Sogyal Rinpoche is a cheerful little Buddha. He was born in Tibet, studied at Cambridge and teaches in the West since 1974. His specialty is the death research. In 1991 he wrote "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying." In the West there is a big uncertainty about the right dying. Who dies properly, suffers less than people who do not know how to die.

Sogyal Rinpoche was confronted with the death at the age of seven years. This experience motivated him to think about the death and to practice spiritual intensely. In a pilgrimage first died the monk Samten and then the Lama Tseten. Samten was a simple monk. He died a painful death, but had a great confidence in his faith. Lama Tseten was enlightened. He went meditating and with no pain through the death. After his death he reached the nirvana (light in the afterworld).

In his Book of Dying Sogyal Rinpoche suggests three techniques: meditation, mantra (Yes, Om, a holy word) and the connection with an enlightened master (visualizing, prayer). Basically one should practice the exercise that works best. The main instruction for death is, "Be free of all attachments and aversions. Keep your mind pure (calm, positive). Connect your spirit with the light (the energy of enlightenment, Nirvana, Paradise)."

Poem about death

Who thinks about death, has depth.

Who thinks about life, has joy.

Who thinks on his fellow beings, has love.

Who focuses on the essentials,

realizes the light.

(Yogi Nils)

Fear

59. Overcome your fear. Go the way of wisdom. Consider your situation carefully. Take things as they are. Find flexible your way through the chaos of life, "Unwisdom is ... Wisdom is ... My way of wisdom is ..." Forward. Success.

Overcoming the Fear

There once was a man who was very anxious. He wanted to overcome his fear. So he went to an enlightened Master and asked him for advice. The Master advised the man to live as a Yogi and dissolve his neurotic anxiety with his spiritual exercises. The man went to a lonely hut in a great forest. In the forest there were tigers, snakes and jackals. The Yogi was very afraid. So he read in his books, what a Yogi has to do in such a case.

First council: If you are afraid, look closely at the situation. Who exactly looks closely to his anxiety can recognize the causal negative thoughts and resolve them with appropriate positive thoughts. Second council: Sacrifice your ego. Take things as they are. Let go of your false desires. Flow positive through all suffering. Who sacrifices himself into the center of his fear, triggers his fear by that. All fears are only mental constructs that are based on an exaggerated attitude of rejection. Who resolves his ego can live happy and positive. Third council: Ask the enlightened Masters for help, think thoroughly by yourself and go consistently your personal path of wisdom.

The Yogi looked closely. Jackals just howl and don´t bite. Snakes only bite when they feel attacked. When a yogi moves slowly and carefully the snakes do not kill him. Tigers eat people, but it is rather rare. It is best you go out of the way of such a tiger. And if that is not possible you have to let go of life, when the tiger catches you. Then you go further your spiritual way in your next life. The Yogi was fighting every day consistently against his fear thoughts. He went his way with courage and perseverance. One day he was enlightened, and all fear was gone. The Yogi was very happy about this.

Healing

60. Heal yourself from the stress of life. Practice the Five Principles of Health (healthy diet, regular exercise, positive thinking, enough relaxation and avoid pollutants such as smoking, drugs and alcohol), (alcohol and marijuana in right doses is good for health). Think the mantra, "Om all enlightened Masters. Om inner wisdom. Please guide and help me on my way." Inform yourself comprehensive if you have health problems. Consistently go the way of wisdom, health and embracing love. Healing. Success.

Healing through the path of enlightenment

Nils: "After five years of continuous stress in my job associated with a difficult relationship 30 years ago I got a burnout. I wanted to heal me. I've tried everything that the current medicine has to offer. But nothing has helped. My theory is that the strong stress has caused many internal tensions. Healing would occur if these tensions are disassembled. I tried to get rid of the tensions through systematic spiritual exercises. Some times I broke through to enlightenment. Then the burnout was gone and I was cured for a short time. Unfortunately, new tensions emerged. Then the enlightenment disappeared. But I can say that enlightenment is ultimately a way of healing. In this respect there is hope for you.

The main path of healing is, in my experience, to live in rest, make sufficiently spiritual exercises and help other people (to live in the love). Also you have to practise the five principles of health (healthy diet, avoid harmful substances such as smoking and alcohol, regular exercise, positive thinking, and enough sleep). Basically one should spend no more energy in his life in outward things, as one has. If you live quietly enough, the life energy turns inward and heals a person. For me a variety of diseases disappeared over the years as a hermit. Thus it is described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the holy book of Yoga. And here it seems to me to be your first problem. You have organized your life now so that you will grow in sickness and unhappiness. You are surrounded by things that rob you your energy. This system must be changed. How, you may try out creatively for yourself. You should bring as much rest in your life that you are even get a little boring. It is precisely at this point, that your vital energy begins to turn inward and heals you. This is the great secret of rapid spiritual growth and inner healing.

Specifically, I recommend to you, because you have a job and a family, three hours each day of spiritual exercises. Feel what is right for you and what brings you to healing. Helpful are walking (running), yoga, to read in a spiritual book and to meditate. Meditation is basically quite simple. Watch a video with spiritual exercises on the Internet, do the exercises, thus solve your energy blockages and activate your healing energy. Then sit relaxed or lie down and hear beautiful meditation music (for example, New Age music from the Internet). You lie or sit until you are completely relaxed and became positive inside. The combination of a short activation of the Kundalini energy (healing energy) through yoga exercises (breathing, mantras, visualizations), followed by a long resting phase quickly take you into a good energy. You do that every day and so get over the years more and more healthy and happy."

---> Basic Relaxation Techniques (Shake Meditation, Yoga Walking, Computer Yoga)

Undemandingness

Yogi Nils in his hermitage. 25 years living as a hermit.

61. Be content with what you have. Be thankful. Find your point of enough. Stop the growth of your desires. Live centered in your spirituality, and only slightly in outer enjoyment. Live internally rich and externally modestly. What today is your idea of undemandingness? "My way of undemandingness is ..."

The philosophy of happiness

The philosophy of happiness is the direction of philosophy that deals with the nature of happiness and the ways to achieve the happiness. The most famous philosopher of happiness was Epicurus. Epicurus (341 BC to 270 BC) taught to be frugal in external things and to focus on the inner happiness. His goal was to overcome all fears and to live as a God (Buddha) among men. He recommended the path of small pleasure. He was famous for the phrase, "Send me a small piece of cheese, then I can really enjoy."

Nils was from the beginning of his life in search of the great good fortune. He was looking for happiness in relationships, career and beautiful journeys. When he was thirty years old, there was a good opportunity to deepen his knowledge. He stood at the end of his legal studies. The written work of the exam had been completed. Now he had to wait three months until the inspectors had evaluated the work. These three months he was free. He wondered what he should do with this many leisure. Nils remembered his previously unsuccessful search for lasting happiness. He came up with the idea to read all books about happiness systematically. Maybe the happiness books could help him in his personal search?

He scoured in the libraries for scientific happiness literature. He looked through the whole literature on the word "happiness". He bought all the books that seemed to be helpful in this quest. Overall, he bought some twenty books. Then he retired to his study and read them all consecutively. At first he was confused by the diversity of views about happiness. But after about two months ago, he saw things more clearly. He recognized that some authors were on the wrong track. Most authors were groping in the dark in their search for happiness. They had actually understood anything. Nils recognized this by comparing their results with his own experiences of happiness. Some authors, however, had an eye for the true way. They watched the people who are happy in their lifes. And found that these people are essentially characterized by two special qualities: their positivity and their modesty. The most happiest men first thought positive and secondly, had a modest nature.

That positive thinking contributes to inner happiness is understandable. If you think positive, positive feelings are generated in your psyche. This is also confirmed by the happiness research. But what is going on with the property "modesty"? This property is at the present time very forgotten. We live in a first-person company. Modesty is considered to be unwise. Immodesty is the great idea of life. The more you want, the more you're gonna get. The problem of today's doctrine of immodesty is that the goal of life is located on the wrong place. The goal of life is seen outside. Today's consumer prophets suggest that maximum external pleasure automatically leads to maximum inner happiness. This is a false doctrine that is clearly contradicted by reality.

In particular, this approach does not work long term. May the outward pleasure be as great as it wants. After some time the mind becomes accustomed and will hardly notice it as something special. Even large external wealth does not make you happy on a deep level in the long run. You even get used to an attractive partner and good regular sex. You seek for decades after Prince Charming or work for material wealth. And then all additional happiness disappears a short time after you have reached your goals. Today's happiness research has found out that a sufficient material basis of life is important for the inner happiness. But then inner happiness is not growing more by external goods, but by psychological factors.

The pursuit of external wealth, professional success and the perfect soul mate turns out to be always after a while as a mistake. Some time after happy external events every man turns back to his normal mental happiness level. Who in his life wants to be happy at a deep level must focus on his inner happiness. He must reduce his inner tensions and maintain qualities such as inner peace, love and positivity. The real goal of life is the greatest possible inner happiness. We have to be immodest at inner happiness. We must strive for enlightenment. But we must be modest in outer pleasure. Most people confuse these two things. In Yoga we consider the more inner peace as the basis of happiness as positiv thinking. Who is relaxed internally automatically thinks positive. This is the main direction of Yoga. Who wants to force his inner happiness by positive thinking easily gets inner tensions. He is only superficially positive. Anyone who is enlightened, is positive deeply in his soul.

Paradise Yoga

62. Recognize your world as a paradise. What thought will help you to get into a paradise of view? Anchor your mind in the essentials. The essence of life is the way of inner happiness. Come to rest. Think about life. What is the deeper meaning of life? What are your main goals in life? What is your way to get contentment, inner peace, happiness and all-embracing love? How do you have to live to feel that your life is blessed? Create the happiness in yourself and then give it to all people around you. This is the holy secret of a happy life. Live healthy, happy and in love to all beings. Plan your life well, get your task in your life and live out of the principles of happiness and love "I recognize my world as a paradise because ... (I live in the essentials. It is all there what I need. My world is wonderful.)"

The old weaver

In India, there lived an old man, whose name was Tantipa. By profession he was a weaver. He made many beautiful woven rugs and blankets in his life. But now in the age his hands were stiff. He could no longer practice his profession. Now he was missing a task. Tantipa sat alone in his hut. His wife had died several years ago. His profession and his wife had been his purpose in life. He had children, but the children went their own ways, and wanted to have nothing to do with him. The only thing they did for their old father, was to give him something to eat every day. Externally Tantipa had enough to live on, but inside he was bored. Tantipa lived many years sadly to himself. Loudly he complained his cruel fate.

Then one day a yogi came and heard Tantipa lament. He said to him, "You're a fool. You don´t see the great treasure in your life. You could live as a yogi and develop your inner happiness. Through your daily yoga practice you could get a meaningful age. Instead of using the big opportunity, you spend your days complaining about your fate and increase your pain." Tantipa knew that the way of inner happiness exists. The ideal of life of Hinduism is to learn in the youth, to work as an adult, to have a family, and to attain enlightenment at the end of the life. Tantipa realized that the yogi was right. He asked the yogi for the right exercises for him, and immediately began an intense spiritual practice.

In his career as a weaver Tantipa had been very busy. He had worked hard and with endurance. These qualities brought him fast forward on his path of yoga. Tantipa practiced diligently every day reading, going, yoga, meditation and positiv thinking. After twelve years he reached enlightenment. All internal tensions broke up, and his Kundalini energy began to flow. His body was full of energy and his mind full of happiness. He radiated love and light. All people came to see him, to hear his wisdom and to get some of his good energy. Tantipa became never bored again. He was very happy about his well-used life on earth.

Recreation

63. Come to rest. Recover from the stress of life. Meditate, relax, and enjoy your life. "My way of recreation is ..."

A yogi learns to do nothing

A yogi practiced twenty years intensely spiritual. He lived twenty years secluded in his lonely hut in the mountains. He went for a walk every day, did yoga, read, meditated and practiced karma-yoga for the happiness of all beings. He had a rigorous daily schedule. He resolved systematically the tensions in his body and in his mind by physical and mental exercises. He passed through many crises and had a lot of Kundalini experiences. Now he came to a point where he did not know how to go further. His spiritual process stopped. He walked to his Master, to ask him for advice. His master listened to the report and said only, "Oh, how exhausting. Let go of all your practice. Learn to do nothing."

The yogi walked back to his solitude and practiced doing nothing. It was not easy. His spiritual practices had given him a sense in his life. Now he had to concentrate on himself and feel exactly what he himself wanted to do. He had to learn to live from the inside out. He had to learn to let go all his major goals and to act spontaneously out of his pure being. Over time, he relaxed more and more internally. He recovered from his strenuous exercise. His internal tensions resolved now mainly through his life in rest. And slowly grew within him the inner happiness and permanent enlightenment appeared.

Love and Peace

64. Connect yourself every day with the enlightened Masters (prayer, mantra, oracle, reading). Pick a suitable spiritual role model (Buddha, Jesus, Shiva, Tara, Guanyin). Be a Buddha of Love (Guanyin). Think the mantra, "I send light to (name). May all beings be happy. May the world be happy." Do every day a little good deed and the happiness is with you. Find your way of spiritual living. Success.

The Öko woman

The Öko woman was a typical New Age woman who likes trying out a lot. She sought the appropriate therapy method, the suitable spiritual path and the right man. She was dressed organic and ate vegetarian. The Öko woman had studied economics and then made a training in psycho therapy. As a therapist, she was very good. She was highly intelligent and able to empathize well with others. In fall 1989, Nils was already living as a yogi in his little house in the wood. He made a therapy training, worked as a lawyer and gave in the evening after work in his law firm meditation and positive thinking courses. The Öko woman was interested to learn something new in positive thinking and came to the group. After the group they talked together a little bit. They noted that they had the same way home.

Spiritually the Öko woman was a follower of Thich Nhat Hanh. Thich Nhat Hanh is next to the Dalai Lama the most famous Buddhist Master in the West. He is from Vietnam, lives today in southern France, and leads with the nun Chan Khong the spiritual center "Plum Village". Thich Nhat Hanh teaches the Buddhist mindfulness meditation. With him, everything is extremely peaceful. Going slowly. Eating slowly. Pay attention to your breath. Consider your thoughts and your feelings. Think positive. Live in peace and in existence. At his events can take part people of all spiritual religions. He explaines that the truth lies ultimately over all spiritual systems. If you want to come to enlightenment, you must rise above all conceptual systems. Thich Nhat Hanh often occurs at Christian events. In Hamburg he was invited by an evangelical church. Nils took the opportunity and went to the weekend seminar. The extrem slowliness was difficult to endure for him. He preferred a mix of dynamic exercises and meditation. Nils had learned to take good care of himself and to feel his spiritual needs. During the lunch break, he made a dynamic walk and was therefore in his personal balance between rest and activity. Many other participants experienced the extremely calmness as very stressful. For them the weekend seminar was hard inner work. The Öko woman loved the peace and calmness at Thich Nhat Hanh. It gave her a hold in her restless life. It helped her to find peace within herself. The Öko woman took part in a retreat at his center in southern France. For three months she practiced it not to think, to observe her breath and to move slowly. Then she came back rested and in a good mood.

Nils and the Öko woman had for a time a good relationship. They had the same interests and the same basic spiritual views. They were interested in yoga, psychology and positive thinking. Both were a great addition for each other. The Öko woman visited Nils over the weekend in his hut and once a week Nils went to her appartement. Then she cooked a wunderful vegetarian meal. She wanted to live together with him. But Nils had become cautious because of his many difficult relationships. He wanted a harmonious partnership. If he would live together with a woman, then only in a harmonious relationship. And, unfortunately, the Öko woman loved to dispute. She had learned in her therapy training that arguing belongs to a good relationship. Every weekend they were arguing about two hours. Then she was satisfied. Then they loved themselves again. Nils gave the Öko woman Buddhas sentence, "Be harmonious, monks!" The Öko woman was not particularly impressed. She was a liberated woman, who went her own way. And she found a nice a man, married and got a nice child. And Nils became a nice hermit.

Videos

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of God and Religious Toleration.

Basics of Buddhism
BBC Buddhism
An Introduction to Buddhism
[http://buddhism.about.com/od/buddhistmeditation/a/bhavana.htm An Introduction to Buddhist Meditation]
How to Practice Buddhist Meditation

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