Thursday, September 10, 2009, 06:56 AM - All About Meditation
Traditionally this fasting is done on certain dates of the Lunar Calendar for Laypersons, however, due to work schedules, and the changing of dates in connection to our Circadian calendar, we decided to keep life simple and just adhere to these precepts every Thursday.The vows to be observed include refraining from:
-Killing
-Stealing
-Lying
-Sexual activities (celibate)
-Drinking alcohol, taking drugs, smoking cigarettes
-Using perfumes, wearing make-up or ornaments, singing, playing music, dancing and other forms of entertainment
-Eating in inappropriate times
-Sitting in high seats
So we eat our breakfast and lunch before noon, and then fast for the rest of the day. We are allowed clear liquids. This helps our meditation immensely - more concentrated, focused. We perform a food offering dedication to those who are less fortunate to have the amount of food we are lucky to have and take for granted, and offer to the hungry ghost.
It's just going on 6:30 am and just finished my daily 2-hour standing meditation practice. It was tougher this morning, as my mind was wandering more, so I had to really try to bring it back. I repeated the mantra more quickly which helped, but visualization of Shifu was fading in and out. Later on I will do my prayers and dedications and then 1-hour sitting meditation. Wen and I just started up reciting Earth Store Boddhisattva Sutra in the evening now, which I find always churns up some good stuff!
Om mani beimei hong
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