:

They said, WE ARE AFRAID.

COME TO THE CLIFF, she said.

They came.

She pushed them.

And they flew.

=================
Source: Unknown

We know in our hearts that we are not living the lives that we want.

We know in our hearts that we are not being our Authentic Self.

We do not know how to deal with our fabricated lives except suicide.

We think the only way is to end the life that we have actually, what we need to do is to
END THE KIND OF LIFE WE HAVE but not the PHYSICAL BODY.

It is our souls saying WE CANNOT GO ON BEING FALSE ANYMORE. WE NEED TO SPEAK OUR TRUTH AND LIVE OUR TRUTH.

See, if you are willing to give up the physical body, why not just give up the False Life?

And this is TRICKY. Our false ego will fight us the Mask Self will stop us.

This is what inner work is about, this is what healing work is about. The DEATH/REBIRTH THEME. This is such a classic theme in spiritual growth. I have died and died again in this lifetime.

But it was always shedding the skin of the old [name omitted].

That is the spiritual impulse behind thoughts of suicide.

.

Dhamma Practice

The words on the front of the T-shirt are paraphrased from a record of what the Buddha said, now found in the Anguttara Nikaya, Book of Ones.

What I find most significant about this profound statement is that it gives us hope. “Luminous is the mind. It is only defiled by visiting defilements.” This means that the defilements don’t belong to us. It is important to understand this intellectually and experientially. The Buddha declared that there is no development of the mind for the uninformed worldling who does not understand this as it really is, and vice versa for the informed disciple.

So the words on the T-shirt remind you that your mind is actually pure and therefore luminous, that mental defilements don’t belong to you, that you don’t have to be judgemental of yourself or of others. Understanding this intellectually helps you detach from or dis-identify with your thoughts and emotions, look at things more objectively and make wiser decisions in life.

Whenever you are able to detach yourself from defilements and observe them as impersonal phenomena you are getting closer to an experiential understanding of anatta or not-self.

You will also realise that the mind that is watching the defiled thoughts or emotions, such as those caused by anger or impatience, is not defiled, but calm and neutral. Its luminosity may not yet be apparent to you, especially when you are still busily engaged in worldly affairs. However, when you have some quiet time for yourself in seclusion and you are being present­, being aware of your mental response to whatever is apparent at your six sense doors, you may awaken to this Truth. That is what is printed on the back of the T-shirt: BE PRESENT and AWAKEN to this Truth ­that the mind is intrinsically luminous.

Our thoughts are mostly about the past or future and they are mostly accompanied by defilements. Thoughts are produced by the mind, which is an amazing phenomenon. Unlike our five sense faculties, which can only sense PRESENT objects, the mind can take objects of the past, future, present and beyond.

So, in order to know more about its nature in an experiential way, we have to look at it and observe how it works. And that is what this year’s theme for the Kathina T-shirt is all about: Discover the True Nature of Your Mind NOW. First we have to know what the mind is. Then only can we keep track of its movement to understand its true nature, right?

OK, so what is the mind? This is where Western scientists and Eastern contemplatives differ. Western scientists say that the mind is found in the brain, while Eastern yogis say that the heart is the seat of the mind. Now I’m going to play tai chi and avoid the controversy. Let’s not bother about where the mind is located. Let’s instead talk about its most basic quality, which is the ability to know, feel, think and imagine.

That’s why on the T-shirt, after the catch words Discover the True Nature of Your Mind NOW, three questions follow. The first one says: What are your thoughts and feelings now? This question gives a very practical hint. If you want to discover the true nature of your mind, you’ve got to start looking at your thoughts and feelings right NOW; not what you thought or felt last year or an hour ago. If you just think about what you thought or felt last year or an hour ago, you’re not actually experiencing or discovering the true nature of your mind; you’re just creating ideas and concepts about the mind based on reasoning.

But if you’re really attentive to the thoughts and feelings happening right now, you’ll notice how fleeting they are. This is especially obvious of thoughts, but perhaps not so for feelings. For example, you may notice that your angry thoughts have ceased, but you’re still feeling unpleasant sensations in the body. Why? Because our bodily functions are intricately linked to our mind. Any mental response to any stimulus at any of the six sense doors immediately triggers off the production of various hormones, such as neuropeptides. These bio-chemicals create pleasant or unpleasant bodily sensations that persist even after that particular mental response has ceased. If that particular mental response is not reactivated, then the associated bodily sensation will eventually abate and cease.

Of bodily sensations caused by the mind, pleasant sensations are produced by both wholesome and unwholesome mental states, but unpleasant sensations are produced only by unwholesome mental states. So, if you are aware of an emotion in you but are not sure if it’s due to a wholesome or unwholesome thought, check your bodily sensations­if they are unpleasant, you’ll know what sort of thought it was, right?

The next question is all about what is wholesome and what is unwholesome. It says: Are they wholesome or not? In a nutshell whatever thoughts and feelings motivated by lobha, dosa and moha are unwholesome and vice versa. Lobha covers a wide range of mental states associated with wanting, grasping, clinging, attachment. Dosa covers another spectrum of mental states associated with dislike, rejection, aversion. It’s very easy to spot dosa because it is characterised by displeasure. But it’s not so easy to identify lobha because it can be accompanied by pleasure or indifference. Moha is delusion, the not knowing of things as they really are, or perceiving them other than what they really are. And it always accompanies lobha and dosa.

Wholesome mental states, on the other hand, are motivated by alobha, adosa or amoha. Alobha covers all mental states associated with letting go, non-attachment, detachment, liberality and generosity. Adosa includes positive mental states like patience, composure, compassion, loving-kindness and benevolence. Amoha is experiential comprehension of things as they truly are.

If you are able to identify what is wholesome and what is not, then you can abandon the unwholesome and develop the wholesome. You will therefore be able to make truly wise and beneficial decisions.

When you probe deeper into the nature of the mind, you will further realise that all mental states­ whether wholesome or not­ share the same fate. They are all impermanent, for they arise and pass away. But do they happen just out of the blue, just by chance?

That brings us to the next question: How do they come and go? By investigating even closer you’ll begin to see, through present-moment awareness, that they are not just random thoughts and emotions. They come and go due to causes and conditions that you can identify immediately. As you experience this again and again, more and more often, your understanding of anatta or not-self deepens, leading to less occurrences of unwholesome thoughts and emotions and more frequent occurrences of wholesome thoughts and emotions. This will in turn result in a more contented life with less stress, less suffering and therefore more happiness.

However, we tend to get lost in thoughts about the past and future so very often that it’s more of a rule than an exception. So a very simple principle to break the habit is to come back to the 5 senses, which can only take present objects. Use the 5 senses, particularly sensing bodily sensations, seeing and hearing as an anchor so that you can keep track of the movements of the mind and understand its true nature. And this ultimate reminder is displayed at the back of the T-shirt: Lost in thought? Come back to your senses NOW!

Actually the principles of observing the mind in order to understand its true nature are very simple. It is far more difficult to remember to put them into practice. That’s why we produce T-shirts to remind us to do so.

Final Sadhu

In closing, all of us should dedicate the merits accrued here towards our ultimate liberation from the cycle of samsara. And remember: Discover the True Nature of Your Mind NOW, by watching how your thoughts and emotions arise and disappear. And if you are lost in thought, you can simply break the spell by coming back to your senses NOW, i.e. be aware of the 5 senses, particularly bodily sensations, seeing and hearing. Continual present-moment experience of the true nature of your mind can be very liberating. It brings about detachment, contentment and subsequently less suffering and more happiness. Maybe everyone should get a T-shirt each so that you can remind one another!

.

Read it here:

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/crowley/libro_thoth.htm#top

IF YOU ARE IN A RUSH,
This is a quick one-page summary about Tibetan singing bowls: click here

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Introduction

Singing bowls are widely popular for meditation, charka balancing, sound therapy, sound massage, healing, water therapy, space clearing and feng shui.

Singing Bowls when played by hitting , striking or slowly rubbing/stirring a wooden striker/mallet within or on the top outer surface of the metal bowls, produces a continuous harmonic rimming sound. The sound quality of singing bowls depends on mixture composition of metal used, the more the metal composition, the more purity in sound, also termed as chakra balancing aura sound.

[ source ]

Singing bowls are unique because they are multiphonic instruments, producing multiple harmonic overtones at the same time. The overtones are a result of using an alloy consisting of multiple metals, each producing its own overtone. New bowls can also produce multiple harmonic overtones if they are high quality bronze, but many are are made from a simpler alloy and produce only a principal tone and one harmonic overtone.

While it is generally believed that the traditional manufacturing techniques are lost, there are new hand-hammered bowls being produced in the centuries old tradition. The difference is the quality of the alloy and the aging process itself. The tone improves as they age, so new bowls cannot sound as warm and mellow as a real antique.

[ Wikipedia source/ read more ]

” Harmonic overtones are researched for their ability to activate alpha and theta brainwaves and produce profound positive effects.”

[ source ]

READ >> Singing bowls and altered brain waves

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The Making of Singing Bowls

There are a wide variety of shapes but generally singing bowls can be categorized as:
low sided (manipuri),
straight sided (thado bati) and
large rounded bowls (jambati).

Low sided bowls tend to sound more clear, steady and bell-like. Straight sided bowls have a larger resonating chamber, producing more echo and a fuller tone. Large bowls range from bright and bell-like to extremely deep sounding and grounding. The size and thickness determine the pitch. The larger a bowl, the deeper the principal tone. However, the thicker a bowl, the higher the principal tone.

Manufacturing process of handmade singing bowls can be categorised into two process -
1 . Hand Hammered (Beaten) Singing Bowls >> Read more
2 . Casting Singing Bowls. >> Read more

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“]

[machine made

Composition:

The 7 Sacred Metals Used in Ancient Metallurgy and Planet Relationship

Metal/Planet            Gold/Sun                Silver/Moon
Mercury/Mercury     Copper/Venus        Iron/Mars
Tin/Jupiter               Lead/Saturn
(Plus Zinc, Nickel/Meteorite and other trace elements).
And due to the health hazards found when using Mercury element and now a days used for sound therapy by the therapists, it is not recommended to use Mercury element in metal composition and now replaced by and found using Zinc metal instead of Mercury which even gives good singing sound and thus complete health safety.

Quality Control Recipes to this day are very closely guarded, and the formulas for the most sacred alloys were never shared. Finding a certain rare rock, known as Meteorite (Iron/Nickel today), was considered to be a gift sent down from the heavens. This mysterious metal lent a special resonance and was used in only the most sacred of the singing bowls, bells and gongs.

Metallurgy distinguishes between Bronze alloys, which contain mainly Copper and Tin, and Brass alloys which contain Copper and Zinc. A Bronze alloy gives out a lower, more resonant tone, the reason it is selected for creating Gongs and Bowls. A Brass alloy, which gives out sharp and bright tones, is more commonly used in fashioning small bells and cymbals.

[ source/ read more ]

A metallurgical analysis, done by the British Museum in London, reveals that the instruments are made of a 12-metal alloy consisting of silver, nickel, copper, zinc, antimony, tin, lead, cobalt, bismuth, arsenic, cadmium and iron. Now a lost art, it appears that this quality of bell bowl cannot be reproduced today.

[ source ]

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Assessing antique singing bowl

The unique beauty of antique singing bowls is due to
1. the quality of the metal,
2. the amazing craftsmanship and
3. the aging process itself.

Antique singing bowls were made from bronze, a mix of several metals including copper, tin, nickel, silver, gold, zinc and others. Each bowl produces several tones at once: a principal tone and several harmonic overtones. Listen carefully to pick out several audible tones. Additional tones fall outside our hearing range but can be measured with an audio device.

Antiques often contain precious metals – silver and gold.

The aging process greatly improves the tone. The older the bowl, the warmer and more mellow the tone becomes.

Bowl Shapes

Antique singing bowls were made in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some bowls are finely crafted with a perfect shape and beautiful details. Others are a bit rustic. The best sounding antiques are well finished and have a symmetrical shape. However, the shape does not always represent the sound.

Singing Bowl Engravings

Engravings are common on antique singing bowls. The designs are usually simple, most often lines engraved around the outside lip.
Engravings are often worn away with age.

Engravings on antique bowls are very well finished. (doesn’t look like it’s done in a hurry!)

Antiques never have complicated figurative designs like  Buddha, mantras or any pattern that covers the bowl.

Inscriptions

Singing bowls are sometimes inscribed with written characters. The inscription may be the owner’s name or initials, a place name, a mantra or prayer.

While some inscriptions are Tibetan, many singing bowl inscriptions are in some derivatives of Sanskrit alphabets, some too ancient to be recognisable.

Condition

Antique singing bowls were made of bronze, which is an alloy of copper, tin, nickel, silver, gold and other metals. Bronze shows predictable signs of age and bronze singing bowls can be approximately dated.

Nice antique singing bowls are generally very refined. Roughly shaped bowls are often new.

Antiques are never found larger than 12 inches in diameter. Most large bowls are 10 – 11 inches diameter. Very large and heavy bowls are always new.

Hammer marks are not the best sign of age. New bowls are often hand hammered. Antiques do have hammer marks, but the oldest bowls are smooth.

A dirty or rusty bowl may not be an old bowl. New bowls may be chemically treated, thrown into fires, buried in mud, etc. to give them an antique look.

Surface micro-fractures are a good sign of age, but they may be present in new bowls due to imperfections in the manufacturing process.

Look closely for small machine marks to see if a bowl is new.

Look for sandpaper marks on the bottom.

Content

It is possible to distinguish an antique by the look and feel of the metal.

In antique singing bowls the mixing of the alloy was sometimes imperfect, causing one metal to stand out as a spot or streak in the surface.

The exact composition varies from bowl to bowl, and there is no way to tell the number of metals without metallurgical testing.

Tone

The tone produced by a high quality antique singing bowl is truly marvelous. Just being old is no guarantee of sound quality.

Antique bowls, when high quality and in good condition, have a beautiful warmth and balance that no other instruments match.

[ source/read more ]

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Choosing your own singing bowl

… It is very special to me because of the way it resonates with me. The vibration of this bowl touches me in a way that helps me to hear my own inner song. At the same time, it quiets and calms me. This is the power of singing bowls: to help us get in touch with ourselves, our own vibration.

[ source ]

.. if after striking the bowl softly with a padded mallet, it doesn’t feel loving to you, try another bowl.

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Caring for your bowl

.. if the bowl you choose to care-take looks a little battle worn, don’t try to shine it up with a solvent; let it be and just wash it out with water and buff with a soft cloth. Its naturally aged patina is part of its sound mystique. After a time of meditation and practice you will find you may well have smoothed out the rough edges. When we repeatedly tap a bowl with a soft mallet, we immediately notice its aural bouquet, and tone clusters.

[ source ]

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Bronze -vs- crystal singing bowls

There is very little similarity between bronze singing bowls and crystal bowls. Crystal bowls are made from quartz or silica – minerals extracted from sand. They are manufactured by companies who make all sorts of containers, mainly for laboratory and industrial use. Since they are machine made using cutting edge technology, the pitch is very consistent and they are made to produce a single specific frequency: C, G, A, etc. …. Bronze singing bowls produce multiple tones, harmonizing into a beautiful and complex chord. Crystal and mineral bowls produce one tone and it’s second harmonic. They lack the complex chord of harmonic overtones that bronze singing bowls are famous for. [ source ]

>> A good article! - Crystal singing bowl as a healing tool

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Sound Healing & Singing Bowls

1. online book: How to use singing bowls – incl interesting ideas!

2. online book: Singing bowls: a guide to healing through sound

3. Articles by Frank Perry: click here

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Further reading:

1. Lovely article on resonance of vibrations in world, between people, with things: scroll down to sub-header “Resonance”     >> here

2. Metallurgical Analysis of Tibetan Singing Bowls   >> here

Recommended Websites:

1. http://www.himalayanbowls.com — informative for new buyers
2. http://www.tibetansoul.com/about-tibetan-singing-bowls/ — A good 1-page summary

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[ all images are linked to original sites as a form of acknowledgement. ] 

Take some time to reflect on the question, What is true? What does your experience tell you? What have you learned so far in this life? What have you noticed?

The answer you will receive is not always a straight answer, like X or Y. Rather the question leads to a deeper and more profound experience of the question. The answer you get is not just known intellectually, but known in your heart and body.

Keep asking the question, What do I know is true? and see where it takes you. Make a list of what you find.

EXCERPTED FROM the InnerSelf.com article:
Got Wisdom?
by Soren Gordhamer.