There is a lot already said about Awakening, Enlightenment and Non-attachment by many ancient masters and teachers. This blog/website began about 8 years ago following a sort of sudden awakening while trance dancing in the jungles of Goa. My humble expressions of truth which I have gathered from various sources are all put together here on Psychedelic Adventure. That one experience propelled my life in an unknown direction, with some unseen intelligence guiding me along each step ... while telling me to trust my intuition and surrender to what comes forth while following your passion in life ... which for me is the quest for truth so i can bring more meaning to this earthly sojourn, my life.

After this awakening followed a series of realizations and magical discoveries about this exciting universe we are an integral part of. Magic is all around us, all we need is the eyes to see it. After I lost a dear friend quite suddenly, my life changed in a big way as it made me question everything. This was the first time I experienced the death of someone close to me, until then it was all theoretical. Now I begun asking questions pertaining to my own existence and what happens to us when we leave the physical body. On this quest to find meaning I came across many interesting things on the Internet. Some of these subjects I resonate with deeply and have blogged about quite extensively are Crop Circles, Shamanism, Orbs, Healing, Psychedelics and Altered States of Consciousness just to name a few.

The difficult part about waking up is that not everyone around you may be experiencing a similar shift in consciousness as you are. This can be a bit troublesome as the friends who once hung out with you suddenly stop coming over and you too feel like you have gone beyond the need for people being around you all the time and you truly value and appreciate those moments spent in complete silence. :) You would rather be by yourself pursuing certain new found interests which bring more joy and happiness in your life than anything else you have previously known. If you have felt any of this, trust me you are not alone. There are so many of us feeling a storm stirring deep within our soul pushing us towards our imminent evolution, which is showing us a new way of living, in harmony with all beings we share this space with. A new vision of a new sense of self is emerging within each one of us tuned into our heart space ... operating from a place of much peace and divine guidance.

Living consciously, while being sensitive to energies around us can be a gift and a curse at the same time as most empaths would agree. Like most labels, the label of an Empath may seem like a special title to inflate one's ego but it really is an innate capacity within each one of us and there are ways to listen to that inner voice that guides us, which begins with silencing our noisy mind and clearing up the excessive mental clutter. To be in this world, yet detached from the illusions of the ego mind, is the path to true freedom which allows one to live more fully and in alignment with natural laws. Once we live our lives from a place of awareness, brand new realizations pour into our nascent consciousness from time to time ... allowing us to free ourselves from the shackles of the egoic mind while tuning into higher realms of divine consciousness, the true essence of who we are.

One of the eternal teachings of Buddha is that of non-attachment ... I came across this beautiful article by Matt Valentine on Buddhaimonia !





Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering.

– The Dalai Lama

You’ve probably seen or read something like it before on the Internet.

A beautiful image with a short quote that says something to the significance of “let it go” (if you don’t believe me, type “let go” into Google and look under the images tab).

And I’m not talking about the Frozen theme song, I’m talking about the idea of letting go of things in your life, whatever that may be.

But rarely is it actually explained how to actually “let it go”. More often than not it’s become no more than a slogan for happy living, with vague guidance at best.

What I do find interesting though is that most of us seem to realize intuitively how important it is to live without clinging to things, even if we’re not exactly sure how that’s supposed to happen.

But there’s a vast amount of wisdom in Eastern thought that can help us learn how to let go of the many things which bind us and keep us from finding peace as well as keep us from experiencing the limitless freedom that exists in our everyday lives. That’s where the teaching on non-attachment comes in.

The teaching on non-attachment, as described in Buddhist and Hindu thought, is often misunderstood- especially in the West.

It’s usually misunderstood as the detaching from all worldly things in a physical sense. Which most of us aren’t all that interested in doing (and, also intuitively, we feel is unnecessary). The common image of a monk or yogi living and meditating away from civilization doesn’t help that misconception either.

In fact, when Buddhism first came to China somewhere around 2,000 years ago by way of these reclusive and hermit-like practicing Buddhists, the Chinese apparently didn’t dig it all that much either. They didn’t see the point of removing yourself entirely from worldly activities and becoming these sort of recluses from society.

But they were very much interested in Buddhism in general, and would go on to spur one of the most significant reforms in Buddhist history- the birth of what’s called “Mahayana” (or “the great vehicle”) Buddhism.

The reason I mention this story is to illustrate why it can be so dang confusing to understand what’s meant by non-attachment in ancient Eastern thought. This is because technically there is a side of Buddhism that’s about becoming that mountain recluse or hermit and living by yourself for the rest of your life.

Fortunately, the Chinese realized the truth early on that such a way of living only aided in the path to realizing peace and was in no way a requirement.

The truth is peace and the ultimate freedom can be obtained right here within everyday life. So then if stripping yourself of all possessions and worldly responsibility isn’t the point of non-attachment, what is?


What is Non-Attachment?

The Buddhist teaching on non-attachment is ultimately about realizing the truth of yourself. That is, realizing that you’re an expression of the entire cosmos. That you’re in the cosmos, that the entire cosmos is in you in a very real and observable way, and that there is no separating the two (and everything that comes with the realization).

And the teaching on non-attachment is about living in such a way that you live without such obstructions that keep you from realizing this.

So, for instance, it’s not about not being able to get married, something which Chinese Buddhists began allowing which Indian Buddhists didn’t, it’s about not attaching yourself to your spouse or the concept of marriage.

This means living in a way that instead of keeping this image of your spouse in your mind and falling in love with that image, consequently running into problems when that image changes, you let them free and accept them fully for who they are in each moment no matter what changes.

In Zen Buddhism, when students complete their study they’re allowed to enter back into a “normal” life and do things such as marry and take jobs. This is because it’s understood in Zen that non-attachment isn’t about physical items, locations, and such, it’s about the ideas we occupy our minds with.

It’s about what we believe about ourselves and the world around us.

This means that you could lead a perfectly normal life on the surface, but from within live in a way that you don’t attach yourself to any of the things that are a part of your life.

This doesn’t mean you stop caring about them, on the contrary you appreciate them so much more because you’re ever-aware of that they won’t last forever.

So just as you can hold a picked flower in your hand, being well aware that the flower will wilt and die in a matter of days, taking in the smell and beauty of the flower, you can live your entire life savoring every moment knowing that in each moment everything can (and often does) change.

How We Attach in Our Everyday Life

Any belief that you’re this separate entity which exists detached from the rest of existence, and your attempts to cling to these ideas as well as your attempts to cling to expectations about the way the world is supposed to work, cause friction between yourself and the rest of the interconnected world and result in pain and the inability for you to find peace. Ultimately, in a nutshell, that’s what it all comes down to.

But what does this look like in your everyday life? Putting aside all the cosmos this and interconnected that talk, how can we begin to notice this in our daily lives?

When it comes down to it, all attachment originates with the ego. The ego, a construct which was built through years of conditioning and is in no way a “real” part of you at all, is what convinces you that you’re this separate entity disconnected from all other living and non-living things.

So how does this look in our everyday lives? Your ego is an image, it’s who you believe yourself to be. And when reality doesn’t match up to the image, friction happens and pain occurs. Pain caused by your attachment to the ego could come from:

• Not hitting your personal performance goals at work, leading you to question if your abilities are declining.
• Not performing as well during a basketball game with some old friends as you used to when you were younger, realizing you’re not as fit as you used to be and maybe no longer the athlete you thought yourself as.
• Finding out your spouse cheated on you and your dream of having a family and living the rest of your life with this great person consequently shattering.

Also, when life doesn’t = your expectations, the same happens:

• Losing a loved one and having to come to grips with the fact that this person who meant so much to you and who you’re used to having in your life is gone forever.
• Being fired from the job you’ve had for the past 10 years and thought you’d spend the rest of your life at.
• A co-worker whom you trusted stabbing you in the back to win a promotion over you.
• To see this more clearly, think about something that doesn’t surprise you. Think about a sandwich. Let’s say you really like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and you’re used to having one every afternoon for lunch.

Provided everything goes as normal, you enjoy your sandwich and have a pleasant lunch. But if it turns out your husband or wife pranked you and threw some soy sauce in there when they made your sandwich (no wonder they offered to make it today…), you wouldn’t have a very pleasant lunch.

The surprise of the PB&J not adding up to your expectation is what caused you the pain, not that soy sauce was in it.

If you were to have eaten that sandwich like you had never had a peanut butter sandwich before in your life, without expectations, not only would the real thing have tasted better, experiencing every bite like the first time, but you wouldn’t have been disappointed when you were pranked with the PB&JS (peanut butter and jelly-soy) your spouse made for you because you would have had no expectation of how it should taste.


How to Let Go

The same basic ingredients apply in all methods of letting go, but there’s multiple ways to go about doing it. One very important point I want to mention with regards to the entire subject though is to not attach yourself to any one method of letting go.

It sounds odd that you can find a new attachment through trying to let go of all attachments, but it’s a very real thing to look out for. Don’t get mixed up thinking the finger pointing the way to the moon is the moon itself.

What this means is, first and foremost non-attachment is a state of mind. New attachments will always threaten you, so to live with the state of mind of non-attachment, to realize the importance of living in a way that you go with the natural flow of things and respect the impermanence of all life, is the basis of realizing non-attachment.

Again, there’s many ways to go about it all, but the first step is generally to begin working to identify the ego.

This is generally done through some form of meditation, particularly mindfulness as it allows you to observe yourself “silently” in a way and watch what unfolds and arises from within you. This can take time, and can be challenging, but the process itself is very rewarding.

To strive to live with mindfulness in each moment, whether you’re sitting on the meditation cushion, walking from one place to the next, or are at work, is to shine a light on your entire life and uncover the presence of the ego in each area of your life, even the furthest reaches that lay hidden deep in your subconscious.

To live with mindfulness is also to live fully engaged and yet unattached in that very moment. To be mindful is to be open and accepting of whatever may come in any moment, so mindfulness is a multipurpose tool in letting go of the many attachments we often hold.

But there’s another way to help us let go in our everyday life. To look deeply at those things in our everyday life, especially ourselves, is to realize not only the interconnected nature of all things but also the impermanence (that is, the fact that nothing lasts forever).

This is a technique I go into detail about in Zen for Everyday Life, but because there’s so many ways to use it I’d like to go over another way you can use contemplative meditation to begin helping you let go of the many things you cling to.

Meditating on the End of Your Life

Meditating on death sounded like a bit of a harsh title, but that’s essentially what this meditation is about. Keep in mind, you don’t have to go too deep here. If you do choose to do so though, be careful, you might not like everything you find (which is the same in all forms of meditation, but especially so for this). But I can promise you it will be healing.

This is just another way of taking contemplation, the act of looking deeply at a thing as far back as it will go, and using it on yourself to help you let go of the various attachments that inhibit you from finding peace.

To meditate on death, simply imagine it’s your time and everything that will come with it. You could be on a hospital bed, your personal bed, or somewhere else.

For best effect, imagine the process is pretty far along, and you’ve been looking back on your life. You’ll likely have to sit with this exercise for some time before things begin coming to the surface, but they will come.

Maybe you begin seeing flashes of your daughter, who you’ve fought with for years, come into your mind. You won’t always know why, but by focusing your mind on this near-death event certain things will arise naturally.

Part of this process can be active with contemplation, trying to actively imagine what kinds of things you might regret, want to have done differently, or feel relieved you can finally let go of, and another part of it could be more passive by simply thinking about the situation to yourself for a moment and then proceeding to sit and follow your breath with mindfulness and then acknowledging whatever thoughts arise as a part of that.

However you decide to do it, meditating on the end of your life, the entire experience in as much detail as you can possibly imagine, can be a powerful and highly beneficial exercise.


The Power of Letting Go

What is it like to let go completely? You’ll have to find out for yourself, but there’s a few major changes that will occur as a result of you learning how to overcome all attachments and live freely:

1. You’ll see the beauty in all of life and experience it in its fullness without any “distortion”.

2. You’ll be completely free in each moment and in the truest sense, no longer chained down to attachments.

3. You’ll find peace through having learned how to let go, stop causing friction to your being, and ultimately expressing your true nature.

4. You’ll gain the ability to adapt to any and all changes and keep your peace of mind.

5. You’ll find a great sense of joy in every moment and realize life as one great big adventure because you’re no longer held down by anything.

If you want to learn how to let go and live truly free in each moment, Zen for Everyday Life is a great resource that can begin you on the path and equip you with the tools you’ll need. You can get Zen for Everyday Life and learn more about the book by clicking here:

Get Zen for Everyday Life: How to Find Peace and Happiness in the Chaos of Everyday Life

The topic of letting go and non-attachment is surely a big one, far larger than any single post could cover, but I hope this has helped move you forward in some way towards greater freedom in your everyday life.

Reference : Let Go & Find Peace


Related Posts :

• Zen Meditation and Mindfulness Can Heal Us
• Animal Cruelty and Karma : The Story of Nepal Earthquakes
• Challenges Indigos Face on Earth School
• Inner Worlds, Outer Worlds : Documentary Film
• Where Science and Buddhism Meet : Emptiness, Oneness and the Nature of Reality
• Thich Nhat Hanh : Peace is Every Step !

A study published in the July Journal of Psychiatric Practice reveals that Zen meditation and its secular sister, mindfulness meditation, effectively reduce depression, anxiety, and pain—and are “beneficial for general psychological health and stress management in those with medical and psychiatric illness,” its authors write.

It’s the latest of many studies suggesting that a practice honed by Japanese monks in remote temples 1,400 years ago can combat such maladies as breast cancer, asthma, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, HIV, PMS, and irritable bowel syndrome.



Mindfulness meditation trains the brain to release fear, anxiety, and other negative emotions. This lessens stress and boosts the immune function, as thoughts and emotions actively shape our brains, for better or worse.

“Mental activity requires neural activity; neural activity sculpts neural structure,” says neuropsychologist Rick Hanson, founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom and author of Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom . As new neurons form constantly, he says, “changes in the mind associated with changes in the neural system leave lasting traces in the structure of the brain.

“Neurons that fire together wire together. Mental states become neural traits.”


Like a wet washcloth, “the mind takes the shape of whatever it rests upon. If you routinely rest your mind on self-criticism, anger, or anxious rumination, your mind will take a negative shape.”

MRIs reveal that even eight weeks of mindfulness meditation create a “positive shape”—structural changes in the hippocampus “that calm down the brain’s alarm system,” Hanson notes.

That’s surely why, in 2007 alone, health care providers advised more than 6 million Americans to use meditation and related mind–body therapies, according to a Harvard Medical School–affiliated study released last year.



Could an ancient spiritual practice put antidepressants, painkillers, and other pharmaceuticals to the test?

“Mindfulness-based approaches may effectively replace medications for some patients,” asserts University of New Mexico associate professor of psychology Bruce Smith, who led a 2008 study examining meditation’s powers against depression, stress, binge eating, and pain.

“Of course, medications are readily available, well marketed, and fit with the value our society places on quick fixes,” Smith adds. “The challenge regarding mindfulness is to motivate people to practice enough to where they begin to really see the benefits.”

Hanson instructs those under his care to start by meditating just one minute per day.

“One,” he says, “is infinitely more than zero.”

Reference : Zen Medication : Can Meditation Heal Us


Other Resources :

• How to Do Mindfulness Meditation
• How Mindful Are You - Quiz

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Trust all has been well on your journey so far, in spite of the occasional topsy turvy rides life has to offer, bringing forth some new lessons for us to glean from. We might have been born and brought up in an environment where we were kept aloof and isolated from the pain and suffering of other animals who are killed to become food on our plates. We might find many reasons to justify why its ok for us humans to kill animals or take part in the consumption of their meat, fooling ourselves to believe that is the way mankind has lived for a long time.

By being part of the problem we are unconsciously intertwining our lives karmically with those of the animals, which are equally as important to the ecosystem as we are. Our continual onslaught on animals and its causative effect is a sign, a wake up call for humanity to change its ways before Earth decides to take out the trash. If we continue this destructive way of being, the spirit of Gaia will have no option left but to cleanse the negativity. Human pain is no different and no special as compared to Animals or other conscious beings who also feel emotions.

The recent Earthquakes in Nepal are a sign of Mother Nature responding to the pain of thousands of animals slaughtered mercilessly to please a Goddess. What we did was displease the Earth Goddess, Gaia, Spirit of Earth.

Here is an article which you might resonate with about why we should avoid killing animals ...

Animal Activist Board

A student asked whether to be on the board of an activist group that saves animals, but sometimes employs violent tactics as a form of protest. Rinpoche gave the following advice.

If you become part of an organization where humans can be killed, then that is more extreme than killing the animals, which is already so bad. Maybe it’s better not to be on the board.


Animal Sacrifice in Nepal [posted July 2011]

Rinpoche gave the following advice to center directors and students regarding animal sacrifice for a Hindu festival in Nepal.

Dear center directors, students and friends,

You might have heard the news about the 500,000 animals that are going to be sacrificed over two days on 24 November (the Gadhimai animal sacrifice festival, which happens every five years in Nepal.)

The Buddha boy wrote to the organizers asking them not to do it, but his request was rejected. It is a big Hindu festival, and now the Buddha boy is thinking to go there and try to stop it. I think unless you have special powers to display, people will not listen. It is a big religion, with not one hundred or one thousand followers, but millions. Now it seems to have become a problem in Nepal, like the problem with shoes and Hindus in Pashupati. Now, probably no matter what the reality is, they will think it is the Buddhists who are making problems.

My observation shows that the Buddha boy won't be able to stop it. Possibly some animal rights organizations might be able to help, but it's not certain. If Western organizations and people like Nobel Peace laureates ask, maybe it could help, but it would need many people.

It came out good to read the Golden Light Sutra one hundred times, so I have asked Kopan gompa to send some monks to read it at the stupa and make strong prayers for the sacrifice not to happen, to dedicate like that, and of course dedicate for world peace.

I would like to request the centers and students to read the Golden Light Sutra and recite the Padmasambhava prayer for removing obstacles and for quick success, for the sacrifice not to happen. This needs to be done quickly as the sacrifice is happening on 24 November.

Please recite any number of the Golden Light Sutra and the Padmasambhava prayer for removing obstacles and for quick success.

With much love and prayers...


The Karma of Killing Animals
[Posted: Jan 2006]
Rinpoche gave the following advice about killing animals.
Animals have feelings. They have the same mind as we have, and also want happiness, like we do. For example, if you suddenly touch them, they are immediately frightened. They get frightened if somebody beats or hits them with a stick. We also get frightened. If somebody throws cold water on our body, suddenly we feel a shock. It is the same for animals. They have the same mind, and it is very important what happens to them.

Even if they can’t speak, can’t express themselves, animals can show their fear through their body. For example, they try to run away. Human beings can talk and complain, and they can bring court cases. Human beings can report things to the police. Human beings can do so much, but animals can’—they can do nothing. They can’t express their suffering. Human beings can talk about their fears. Whether other people accept your suffering or not, at least you can explain it and the other person can hear. Animals can’t, but you can see how they feel from their movements. If someone tries to attack them, they run away. They are afraid, which means they want happiness and not suffering. This is a very important point, that they have the same mind as us. If you kill them, you create the negative karma to be like them. For one hundred thousand lifetimes, you will have the karma to be born as an animal. For many thousands of lifetimes, you will suffer the consequences.

It is said in the teachings that if you kill one animal, because of that karma, you will be killed five hundred times by others. You will suffer in very hot hell realm for one thousand eons. It is also good to ask yourself how it would be if somebody killed you with a knife. How would you feel in that situation? For example, if you put your finger in hot water, can you bear that? You can’t bear it. It’s the same when you kill animals. There is no good result from it. There is no question about that.



Karma of Killing

Rinpoche gave the following advice to a student who had a pet snake, to whom he fed live mice.

My very dear Martin,

I have something to talk to you about, heart to heart, dealing with the suffering of animals. I heard that you have a pet snake, and that you have to feed the snake with mice. As you love the snake, of course you also have to love the mouse. The mouse is also looking for happiness and doesn't want to suffer. The mouse needs love from you, and wants help from you.

Also, it is mentioned in the teachings of the Buddha about the karma of killing. If you kill one sentient being, then for 500 lifetimes you will be killed by others. This is the result of one negative karma of killing. This is also explained by the fact that karma is expandable. If you plant one Bodhi tree seed the size of the tip of your finger, then from that comes many thousands of branches. All of that comes from one seed. Huge trees all grow from small seeds. So, you can get extremely large results from one small cause. In terms of our inner evolution, the effect is much greater. Not only does one suffer for many lifetimes, but the negative karma of killing obscures the mind. It becomes an obstacle to developing loving kindness and compassion for living beings, to developing the altruistic mind to attain enlightenment in order to liberate sentient beings, and to achieving liberation by removing the gross and subtle obscurations and therefore to achieving enlightenment. Therefore, we can’t do perfect work for sentient beings by freeing them from suffering and bringing them to enlightenment.

All of this comes from negativity such as killing. Because the motivation is non-virtuous, then the action becomes non-virtuous, negative karma. This obscures the mind, and then it is difficult to see the reality, the ultimate nature of the “I,” and the nature of one’s own mind. One is unable to realize this. Without the wisdom realizing that nature, there is no other realization that can illuminate the root of the sufferings of samsara, and the root of delusion and karma, that ignorance of not knowing the nature of the self and mind. Without that wisdom, you can’t cut the root of samsaric suffering, the cause and there is no way to liberate yourself from delusion and karma—no end to samsara. You have to suffer endlessly. Then, you can’t liberate others from samsaric suffering and its cause.

So, if you have to take care of the snake, and the snake doesn’t eat vegetarian food, you have to engage in killing. That is discriminating. You give love to the snake but not to the mouse. They all want happiness and do not want to suffer, and they all want you to give them love. If you let the snake go, it will kill other animals. The solution, either way, is problematic.

The solution is to develop your mind on the path as quickly as possible, to liberate yourself from karma and delusion, enter the Mahayana path, and eliminate the subtle defilements so you have omniscient mind and are able to read all sentient beings’ minds. You are able to see their karma, wishes, characteristics, level of intelligence, and are able to see directly all the methods to help them. You have perfect power, and compassion for all living beings without discrimination. You can do perfect work for all sentient beings. You can liberate them by having all the means, especially bringing them from happiness to happiness, up to full enlightenment. You don’t have to reincarnate again and again in samsara and experience so much suffering of hunger, thirst, hot, and cold. Meditate on the fact that all happiness depends on so many sentient beings. For example, when a house is built, many worms and ants have to be killed. Many hardships are experienced by those beings. Again, for food and clothing, many beings have to be killed. For one plate of rice, so many beings have to be killed. It is the same with our clothes made of silk or animal skins. Many beings have to suffer for our comfort and survival. If you liberate yourself and don’t have to reincarnate, then there is so much relief for sentient beings, so many sentient beings don’t have to suffer. You are liberated from samsara, and you are freeing other beings from having to suffer. By revealing methods, especially by revealing Dharma, you can liberate many beings and bring them to enlightenment.

The conclusion is that we can do practices now to liberate these animals from the realms of suffering. It is the same for hell beings and hungry ghosts. This is the solution, so that they don’t have to suffer for a long time through killing each other. We should focus on this method to liberate these beings as much as possible, so they don’t have to suffer. This is only through practicing Dharma. This is my advice to you.

Probably the best thing is to let the animals go and pray for their higher rebirth. You can do meditation practice to purify negative karma and pray for higher rebirths. You can chant the five powerful mantras and dedicate them to their higher rebirth and to meeting the Dharma. This is one small example of how you can benefit them.

Practice not harming others, and benefiting them as much as one can. You can reveal the wisdom of Dharma and educate other people in this way. This brings peace and happiness to oneself and others. You and others don’t have to be born in the lower realms. Even if they aren’t liberated from suffering and its causes and don’t get enlightened in this lifetime, they can still achieve all the causes enlightenment in the future.

So, please practice compassion for others. From that comes not harming others, and the thought to benefit others. Since you are a good-hearted, good-natured person, this is my humble advice to you.

It is good to know more how to benefit others, how to fully liberate them, how to achieve a good rebirth in your next life, liberation from samsara, and also full enlightenment. You can recite prayers and mantras so that animals can hear them. It would be good, according to my observations, to recite the mantra of Maitreya Buddha. The benefits of reciting this mantra are:

1. You are never born in the lower realms.

2. You will have continuous material and mental prosperity.

3. You will be born as a wheel turning king in future lives for thousands of eons (according to the life of a deva, which is much longer than a human life). A wheel turning king has the most power and wealth in one universe. He is unique in that universe, the only one.

4. You will abide in the 10 virtuous actions.

5. Even if you are not enlightened during Buddha Shakyamuni’s time, you will be born as one of the first disciples at the time of Maitreya Buddha. You will receive a prediction of your enlightenment from Maitreya Buddha. Sooner or later you will achieve enlightenment.

Reciting this mantra would be most beneficial for all beings, not just your snake.

Another mantra to recite is the Stainless Pinnacle mantra. It is extremely powerful and also a great healing mantra. If a fully ordained monk broke his root vows and was destined to go to the lower realms, this mantra would release him from the lower realms.

Buddha Shakymuni told Ananda that anyone who hears the Medicine Buddha mantra would not be born in the lower realms. Reciting it every day frees you from all suffering and brings every benefit, including success in this life, up to enlightenment.

The essence of the Buddha’s 84,000 teachings are the teachings of the Prajñaparamita—this is the heart of the Buddha’s teachings. There are many volumes in the Prajñaparamita, the elaborate version which has 12 volumes, the middle version which has 3 volumes, and the short version which has 80,000 stanzas. The very heart of it is called the Heart of the Wisdom. This is the teaching that Buddha cherishes the most because it is the method to release sentient beings from the suffering of samsara, and its root: ignorance. When you have time it is good to recite the whole prayer. If not, then just recite the mantra.

Also, to help guide you on the foundation of the path to liberation and enlightenment, it is good to read any of the short lam-rim prayers, to plant the seed of the whole path.

Another way to benefit animals is to take them around holy objects, such as statues, stupas, and scriptures, especially those containing relics and mantras. Take your snake around these holy objects as much as you can. Make prayers to achieve bodhicitta for the snake and all sentient beings. Make a prayer to realize emptiness.

“In all my lives, may I never be separated from the victorious one, Lama Tsongkhapa, acting in person as the Mahayana guru,
May I, my family, friends, and all other sentient beings never turn aside, even for an instant,
From the excellent path praised by the victorious ones.”

Pray that the snakes and all beings, when they die, are immediately born in a Pure Land or obtain a precious human rebirth, meet a perfectly qualified Mahayana guru, practice the path, and obtain all realizations. It is good to do this for anyone for whom you want to pray. Then it is excellent to dedicate in the following way:

“Due to the merits of the three times created by me, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and all other sentient beings, wherever I am—whatever universe, world, country, area, or place, just by my being there in that universe, world, country, area, or place, may those beings purify their negative karma and never be born in the evil realms. May this cause them to have faith in refuge and karma, and to generate loving kindness, compassion, and bodhicitta immediately in their hearts, and immediately heal all their sickness and free them from spirit harm. May it cause great bliss in the hearts of those affected by depression, and people suffering from relationship problems. May it fill up their hearts with incredible joy, and all peace and happiness. And may it cause them to have a most meaningful life by actualizing the path. May suffering be pacified, and those needing money find wealth. May they realize that the purpose of their lives is to actualize the path to enlightenment. May those looking for a guru find a most qualified guru and those wanting teachings receive perfect teachings and achieve realizations. May those wishing to do retreat find a place to meditate and achieve all realizations. May they never experience war, disease, torture, poverty, the dangers of fire, water, earthquakes, and all natural disasters. May I become wish-fulfilling for all sentient beings.

May nothing become negative karma, and everything become Dharma. May all beings achieve enlightenment quickly, by actualizing the path.

Due to the merits of the three times created by me, buddhas, bodhisattvas, and all other sentient beings, which exist, but do not exist from their own side, may I, who exists, but does not exist from my own side, achieve Guru Shakymuni Buddha’s enlightenment, which exists, but does not exist from its own side, and lead all sentient beings, who exist, but do not exist from their own side, to enlightenment by myself alone.

Just as the brave Manjushri and Samantabhadra too,
Realized things as they are,
I, too, dedicate all these merits in the best way,
That I may follow their perfect example.

May the teachings spread in all directions and flourish in this world, in my mind and in the minds of all sentient beings.”

By circumambulating animals around holy objects and reciting mantras to them, we help them achieve good rebirths, meet the teachings, achieve liberation and then enlightenment. They can purify every trace of negativity, the seeds and their imprints. They are able to complete all the realizations of love, wisdom, and power, and so do perfect work for others.

You should recite prayers and mantras verbally, aloud, so that they leave positive imprints on their minds, to help them achieve enlightenment—that which is the cessation of all stains of the mind, gross and subtle, and completes all the realizations—the fully perfected state of mind, peerless happiness.

It would be much better to buy meat from a shop for your snake. You could try to disguise it is a mouse, and although the snake still has some karma of killing, it would not be complete. Also, if you give a toy mouse to your snake, he might learn that mice are no longer edible, and maybe he will not want to eat them any more.

I hope you don’t collapse or faint, overwhelmed with all this advice.

With much love and prayer...


Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche


Source : http://www.lamayeshe.com/


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Before Leonardo da Vinci painted "The Last Supper," Tibetan craftsmen were creating stunning artistry of their deities in the remote Himalayan kingdom of Mustang.

In "Lost Treasures of Tibet," NOVA goes behind the scenes with the first conservation team from the West, as it undertakes the painstaking restoration of these ancient masterpieces and the beautiful monasteries that house them. The documentary has 4 parts to it ...

Before and After
Watch centuries of grime vanish from nine stunning paintings.

Creating a Wall Painting
Conservationists and locals revive Mustang's artistic traditions.

Tour Mustang
Journey through this hidden Tibetan kingdom in northwest Nepal.

Deciphering Buddha Imagery
What you need to know to recognize an image of Buddha.

Located in present-day Nepal, Mustang contains some of the last remaining relics of an almost vanished world of ancient Buddhist culture. Across the border in Tibet, Chinese occupiers have destroyed thousands of monasteries since taking control of the country in 1950. Therefore, the survival of Mustang's monasteries or gompas is more important than ever. But preservation is extremely difficult because of the centuries of neglect, weather, and earthquakes that have brought many buildings to the brink of collapse. Inside, their exquisite murals are in a near-ruined state.


In the course of their restoration work, conservators from the West come face-to-face with a thorny problem of culture clash: local people want missing sections of the murals completed. Westerners are aghast at the idea, but their hosts are equally shocked at the thought of worshiping unfinished deities.

The program follows the struggle of an international team headed by British conservationist John Sanday to restore the greatest gompa of all—Thubchen, the royal monastery in Mustang's capital of Lo Monthang. The first order of business is fixing Thubchen's roof—no small feat since 200 tons of dirt have been piled on its flat surface over the centuries to seal out leaks. To bear that much weight, the hidden ceiling beams must be more than two feet thick, an apparent impossibility considering that Mustang is virtually treeless. Sanday solves this riddle when his team excavates down to the beams and discovers an elaborate jigsaw puzzle of construction that uses interlocking small timbers to create a lightweight, load-bearing structure.

Mustang is a land untouched and ageless, the highest kingdom in the world. Life is as it was 500 years ago. Here, the sacred blends with the landscape.

Long rock walls with the prayers of Buddha carved in each stone leave their impression on the passing minds of travelers. Religious structures are a form of art, a means to teach the world about Buddhist ideals. Pigments used on monuments mimic the vibrant hues of nearby mountains. Each stripe represents an individual deity.


Fortress-like homes protect against the hostile forces of nature. Over time, the oldest structures, the monasteries and ancient palaces, have dissolved and crumbled, threatening the art, and cultural survival of all of Mustang.

Ancient Tibetan craftsmen were equally inventive in engineering an ideal wall surface for their murals. Six layers of plaster were applied to the walls, starting with a coarse grain and becoming progressively finer. The same method was used for secco (dry plaster) murals in Europe during the Renaissance, although there is no evidence that Tibetans and Europeans exchanged information on the technique.

As for Thubchen's paintings, they are badly obscured by eons of butterlamp soot, animal glues, and abrasions from yak tail dusters. To deal with the disfigurement, Sanday calls in Rodolfo Lujan from Italy, one of Europe's premier experts in art restoration.

After painstaking treatment to stabilize the plaster, which is badly flaking, Lujan and his assistants start removing the grime. What emerges is startling to behold: brilliantly colored scenes depicting the life of the Buddha. The artists have left no signatures, but Lujan places them in a class with the Italian Renaissance masters. "Maybe the quality is even better than ... a Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael," he marvels. Which makes it all the more difficult when he is asked to take his own brush in hand to complete the missing sections of these priceless masterpieces.




Reference : PBS Nova


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"The Buddha" is a documentary film for PBS made by filmmaker David Grubin and narrated by Richard Gere. It tells the story of the Buddha's life, a journey especially relevant to our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion.

It features the work of some of the world's greatest artists and sculptors, who across two millennia, have depicted the Buddha's life in art rich in beauty and complexity.

Hear insights into the ancient narrative by contemporary Buddhists, including Pulitzer Prize winning poet W.S. Merwin and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.


Join the conversation and learn more about meditation, the history of Buddhism, and how to incorporate the Buddha’s teachings on compassion and mindfulness into daily life.



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