thanks U Moe..I like it "simple", "plain" and "real"..!!

Yes, you are right Babypoohgirl..... if the members invite more of their
friends, there will be more!!!

how come few people in this club!!!!!!   u need invite ppl.

Sue, do not worry. I will explain to you in simple plain English. That is why I
started this club in the first place. OK. More articles will follow in plain
English with simple real life examples.

thanks U Moe..but I am afraid that I don't want
to get too technical with the terms..it looks too
difficult to read! I want something that I can comprehend
easily like listening to sayar U Zaw Ti Ka's tapes??
which are easy to follow and understand!<br><br>do you
have any suggestions for ppl who are "weak" in
burmese?? but are interested in burmese
meditation!!<br><br>thank you!! ;)

The Path of Purification" or Visuddhi Magga by
Bhikkhu Nanamoli. This book was published by the Buddhist
Publication Society of Sri Lanka.<br><br>You can read more
about Zan or Jhana in this book.<br><br>Enjoy.

Hello...All<br><br><br> I'm Here now...:) .. Talk to u all later.. take care...
<br><br>Rahula :)

You may find supernatural powers in yourself.
There is thamahta and vipassana. You can get
supernatural powers by doing thamahta meditation<br>like the
Kasinas (Kathein). Thamahta meditation is called
Concentration meditation. You can also practice Anapana and
attain Jhana. There are many people who have attained
Jhana by doing Anapana meditation. You have to do it
till you get Jhana. From the first Jhana to the fourth
Jhana. When you reach the fourth Jhana, you can attain
supernatural powers. All these are written in the book called
"Visuddhi Magga".

where can I find supernatural powers..I may ask??

What is Zan you may ask? Ever heard of the phrase
" Zan Avji nyan" that allows you to possess the
supernatural power that elusively hides within
you?<br>Actually, the zan is a state of mind, which has the
absolute calmnees or unrattled poise. This is similar to
the state when you are being asleep without
disturbance of dreams. If you were to measure your emotion
with some sort of device, the tick will display eactly
zero. You are feeling neither happy nor sad. now you
know what zan is, later we will discuss variety of
ways to obtain zan through many type of meditation.
<br><br><br>Anzali

Beads are in, thanks to the Dalai Lama, the
Tibetan Buddhist monks and Richard Gere. Now it is cool
to be wearing a power bead on the wrists. Actually
there are tons and tons of these beads in China town,
NY. But do they give you power, of course not. Will
it make you feel nice. A big YES.<br>The real power
comes when you meditate. The mind is like the computer
and if you try to load all the games that you find on
the Internet, your computer will soon become very
slow and soon crash. So also with the human mind. Like
Elvis Presely said "treat me nice". That is what the
mind says all the time to us. But are we treating it
nicely. You will have to ask yourself. The mind is like a
wild horse. It is very powerful but you gotta train it
well. Then it can have more horse power than you can
imagine. Why? The mind's potential is limitless. If there
is a will there is a way. That is the saying. First
you gotta focus. Focus, focus, focus. That is what
meditaion is all about. So next time you are on the bus or
the subway and you have your power bead on your
writs, use it. Count the beads and say "Arahan". The
meaning of the Pali word is that "Buddha knows everything
there is to know". He is the role model for all of us.
So if you say this over and over again soon you will
want to be intelligent like the Buddha, then you will
want to study hard and do well in your studies. Now
you have started yourself on the way to REAL POWER.
So why not unlock the power of your Power Beads.
Bigspider

On this very beautiful day, I wish to recommend
one very good reference book on meditation: "The Path
of Purification" or Visuddhi Magga by Bhikkhu
Nanamoli. This book was published by the Buddhist
Publication Society of Sri Lanka. In Pali, the word Visuddhi
means "to purify oneself" and Magga means path, hence
the translation - the path of purification. In this
modern world everything hits us with great force. Look
at the music, the TV, the movies, the talk in the
subway. There is so much violence, sex, hatred, jealousy,
lust etc. So what is the person who is intereseted in
meditation supposed to do. We do not do meditation for
meditation's sake. We do it for success in life, but in the
right way. This is what I call sustainable success -
the Buddha's way. He once said "Bhikkhu's, make
yourselves unto islands". What did he mean by that. He
definitely didn't want us to live on an island. What he
meant was "don't let the bad vibrations of the outside
world overcome you". So how do we do that. I go back to
the analogy of the computer. In the brain of the
computer called the central processing unit - CPU ,we have
the place where all the memory is stored. The memory
is stored in bits. The principle is that the same
unit of memory cannot store two bits at the same time.
So also with the mind. One thought can occur at only
one time. But you will say no, "many thoughts occur
at once". Actually that is not the case. The
thoughts come one after the other but since they happen so
fast we think that they happen at the same time.
Buddha said in the snap of a finger (10x 10 to the power
13) thoughts occur. In Burmese we say "seit tet khana
kuhta tathein". Seit tet khana is one fundamental unit
of thought occurence. So the meditator has to fix
his/her attention on a certain meditation object like
Arahan or in-breath and out-breath or sensation
(vedana). There are forty methods of concentration and the
details are on my web site at www.myaing.com/weizzar. But
I cannot recommend which one might be best for you.
This you have to find out yourself. Why don't you
start with in-breath and out-breath. It is also called
Anapana in Pali. This is the easiest way and one of my
favorites. Actually my favorite is Seitta nuthati =
concentration on thought occurences. If you have any questions
please email me, OK.(to be continued).

everybody have a good weekend.

i like to join in this club.

Hi all,<br><br> This is supposed to be a
discussion place. Not for a monologue. I would certainly
wish to hear about your meditation experiences and
what you wish to get out of meditation. I didn't know
much about computer programming till 1996 when I
started taking an interest in Internet/Intranet
technology. I became interested in C++ and Java. I also
attended an Abhidhamma class given by Saya Mehn Tin Mon in
New York. The interesting thing is that the way the
computer programs work and the way the human mind works is
basically the same. In the computer we have the monitor
which is the screen. Since the information is in
digital form, the human being cannot understand digital
codes so these digits have to be transformed into
letters. In this case English. So English is the interface
language. The keyboard is the place where we put in our
information. It is the input source. And the computer uses
electricity which we get from the Electricity Supply Company.
In the case of the human being, we get our supply of
electricity from two sources - from the food and from the air
that we breathe. Most people do not know that but it
is true. The Indian yogis call it "Prana" and the
Chinese Taoist mediation masters call it "Chi". It is
also called "Ki". The electical impulses that we get
from the air is much more subtle. Anyway, whenever the
human being gets a signal in the form of - sight,
sound, touch, smell, thought, taste - this signal is
transformed into an electrical signal for the human brain to
process. This is what the Abhidhamma teaches. It analyzes
the process from the moment the signal touches the
human sensory organs - in this case the eyes, ears,
nose, tongue, consciousness, skin - from the moment the
though pattern starts to the very end. It is called Upat
-bi - bin. It is Pali and it means beginning -
sustaining - ending. It is exactly what the modern
scientists see when they look at the brain waves on the
screen with special elctrical instruments. So what the
meditator does is - he/she tries to see all these thought
patterns form in his/her brain and meditate on them. Not
to make any judgement but to observe the thought
patterns. This falls under Seita Nupassana - or meditation
on thought processes. When you feel angry next time,
go away into your room where you will be alone,
close your eyes and concentrate on the thoughts - you
will soon find that your anger will die away little by
little. That is Upat - bi -bin. Beginning - sustaining -
ending. The thought pattern looks like an arc. It goes up
to its highest point and dies down. You will feel
much better afterwards. (to be continued)

How do we do meditation in this modern world. So
many deadlines, so many emails, so many junkmail, so
many worries. The truth is our time on this earth is
limited. We have to look at it realistically. We all have
24 hrs. Out of this deduct the time we need for
eating, sleeping, commuting, working etc. There is not
much free time left. "So how in the world will I have
time for meditation", you say to yourself. There are
40 methods of gaining concentration of the mind. It
is called Kamahtan Layzei - or the 40 methods of
Kamahtana. Kamahtan is just a Pali word for focusing your
mind on a meditation object. I have three methods.
These are my favorites. They are badee (counting
beads), awareness meditation and anapana. Why do I like
these. Badee is good because you can really have a good
record of your progress. Each badee is 108 and you can
make a small note book and note down the progress. The
more you are able to do it the more confidence you
get. Anapana I can do it when I am on the bus or when
I am at work and some one tries to make me mad.
Then I go into my anapana mode and do heavy breathing
and say to myself "this person is trying to make me
mad, but I am not going to respond with the same hate.
There is no self. I am just a being made up of mind and
matter". Doing this I will soon recover from my urge to
say something bad at this person. Then I try to
radiate metta thoughts to that person. The result is that
I do not lose a friend and at the same time I come
out the winner of this streeful situation. Try is
out. It's great to forgive. It doesn't make you a
whimp. In fact it shows that you have a wonderful
forgiving nature. Every time you forgive you become
spiritually stronger. They say that "to err is human, to
forgive divine." (to be continued).

Actually it is the reflection of a flash camera. I have seen the same sort of
light when I have tried to photograph pictures which are put in glass
frames.<br><br>Regards,<br><br>U Moe

U Moe<br><br>There is some sort of reflection or light on the picture of
Sayargyi U Ba Khin. Is that what I think it it ?<br><br>Min Tun

Hi all,<br><br> I am trying to organize a meditation group session in the New
York area. Those who are interested please email me. When we have more than five
persons we can start. OK.

The third stage is pyinnya or wisdom. This can be
gained through insight meditation. In Burmese, Insight
Meditation is called Vipassana. When your mind is thinking
of so many things you do not have time to listen to
your own mind. That is why when there are so many
things to think about and so many things to do (sound
familiar), we say "seit theik shoute nei dei" or "ohn hnuak
chauk nei dei". The way to get out of this situation is
to sit down ,relax, take deep breaths and close your
eyes. Then try to look at your thoughts with your
mind's eye as you would in a dream. Then little by
little your thoughts will slow down. That is the
beginning of Insight Meditation. In a computer ,we need a
programme to look at a programme, in the mind we need "one
mental process" to look at another "mental process" (to
be continued)

The second stage in the path is called Samadhi.
It is also called Thamahta Bavana. Bavana is a Pali
word which means to think of something again and
again. It also means to let the thoughts grow. Like
saying Arahan, Arahan. What happens when you do this.
The mind in the normal state is very flighty. It
means that thoughts are coming into your mind very
quickly. One minute you are thinking of the food you are
eating - the next minute you might be thinking of going
shopping. So how do we concentrate. The trick is to narrow
down your senses. Close your eyes, sit still. Then you
have to concentrate on your breathing. This is called
Ana-pana. It means concentrating on the in-breath and
out-breath. Try it out and tell me what happens and how you
feel. Before you do this donate your body and mind to
the Buddha, Dhamma and the Shanga. This is for your
protection. There may be evil spirits around you and I want
you to be fully protected. OK. Good luck. (to be
continued).

Hi Sue,<br><br> Thanks. Sure you can ask your
family. One good thing about our meditation and
discussion is that you can learn all the Buddhist terms in
English and it can be useful in your interactions with
other people who want to know more about meditation,
right?

count me in!!now..we just need 3 more ppl..maybe I can ask my family..right??

Sue's question gave me an idea. If we can form a
group of more than five interested people, I can
organize a group meditation session in Manhattan at the
Center of Life. The address is: -<br><br> Center of Life
Inc.<br> 208 West 30 th street<br> Suite 201,<br>
212-279-0038<br><br> I will lead the discussions and be your
meditation teacher. I want to focus on how meditation can
help you in your studies, lose weight, help you in
your relationships with friends and family and best of
all how to remain cool in times of stress. How about
that. Tell me how you guys feel about it, OK.<br><br>
The rent charges for one room is $ 12 for one hour.
They give a table, chairs and a white board.

thanks!!I think you already have my email addresses!<br><br>anyway..here they
are:<br>work: sue_win@... or sue_win@... will do!<br><br>see you
soon! sue ;)

In Burmese it is called the Theik-kha Thone Bar.
"Thone" means three and "theik-kha" means some form of
discipline that you promise to keep. This promise is made in
front of the monks, in front of the family altar or at
a pagoda.<br><br>What is the Three Stage Path. This
path leads to Nivarna. Sometimes it is also written as
Nibbana. It is the same. Ni means "absence of". Varna
means lust. Here lust means the continuous urge to live
on and on in this cycle of births and deaths. So the
goal is to attain liberation from this cycle of births
and deaths. This endless cycle is called
"Samsara".<br><br>The first stage is Sila or Conduct. In this stage you
have to purify your actions, words and thoughts. It is
not easy but we have to start somewhere. So we start
with the five precepts called "Nga bar thihla" in
Burmese. It simply means the Five Precepts. Here the
promise is made by yourself to yourself in front of the
Buddha. He is the witness. We also call upon the Nats and
holy weizzars to witness the promise. If you cannot
keep the five precepts start with what you can promise
- not to kill, not to steal, not to tell lies, not
to take intoxicating drinks and not to commit
adultery or sexual misconduct. If you break any of these
precepts you have to begin from square one. However, what
is the benefit of keeping these precepts. You will
sleep well, you will have better concentration, you
will not have enemies and you will not have a guilty
conscience. You will not have any accident because of drunken
driving. You will never get addicted to drugs. People will
trust you because you say the truth. Your name will be
praised by your friends, relatives and colleagues because
they will know by your actions and deeds that you are
a decent person. If you are a salesman, your
customers will trust you and in the long run you will be
successful because they will know that you can be trusted.
The news of a person with good conduct spreads far
and wide. It is said that the fragrance of flowers go
only in one direction - the way the wind blows;
however, the fame of a person with good conduct will
travel in all directions because the news will be
carried by everyone who knows this person. It is also
said that even Thagyar Min, King of the Devas of
Tavatimsa heaven will praise you and respect you if you can
keep your Five Precepts or "Nga bar Thihla". The
Burmese say that you have to keep the five precepts the
way you wear your longyi (sarong). This is another
way of saying that you should always keep it. Once
you pass this stage you are ready for the next stage
which is called "Samadhi" or concentration. Samadhi is
the sanskrit for concentration. Without successfully
passing the first stage you cannot move on to the second
stage. When you enter the second stage you are entering
into the domain of the mind and upgrading your mental
faculties and will power. (to be continued)

Hi Sue Win,<br><br> Welcome to the club. Sure we
will organize a group meditation session somewhere in
Manhattan and we will invite you.<br><br> Please send me
your email address.<br><br> My email is at
kyawmyaing@...<br><br> Bye,<br><br> KM

thanks for inviting me here..next time you guys do..group meditation..please
invite me! I will be there!!

Hi everbody, I started meditating when I was 15
years old. Now I am 54. What have I learnt all these
years. I have a confession to make; from the moment I
started reading about computers and the Internet, the
things that have been unclear to me have become clear.
Take for instance the computer. We all want the
computer with the biggest memory and the fastest chip, a
pentium III if possible. Think about it. Our mind is like
a computer. The only difference is that we can
carry it around (I mean the head), we do not need
batteries or electricty, we just need to eat (and we get
enjoyment when we eat) and the monitor that we have is much
better than the best computer. It is limitless. So why
don't we do something about increasing the speed of our
thought and memory. A fact of life is that because our
brain depends on brain cells, we need to eat food that
supports the formation of these brain cells. (there are so
many health magazines on this subject). We need to
think a lot and when we think we have to teach the
brain to do very structured thinking. That is
systematic thinking. When we do meditation we are teaching
our brain (which is like a computer) to focus on one
object .This is called the meditation object. When the
mind is not focused it wanders from one mental object
to the other. It becomes fuzzy. Try doing a maths
problem when you are watching TV or listening to music.
The brain does not get 100% focus. If there is no
distraction you can do the math problem in a shorter time and
with less errors. I do in-breath and out-breath
meditation. In Burma it is called ana-pana meditation. I do
it when I ride on the subway or when I commute from
New Jersey to New York. I do it when I feel that
someone is trying to make me angry. That is how I try to
control my temper. Now how does that help me. In the
office I am known as the coolest guy in the office
because although they try their best to make me angry,
they do not succeed. This is the power of meditation
and Insight Meditation. Insight Meditation goes
beyond focusing your mind on a meditation object. You
have to look at yourself and try to see the "real"
you. Not what you think. When you do that and you
succeed in trying to see through the coventional truth
you will get to the "ultimate truth". I am nothing
but a mass of matter and mind. That is the knowledge
of "nama and pupa". Nama = mind , rupa = matter.
That is what they call insight. You lose your ego and
you have peace because how can someone hurt your ego
when you don't have it in the first place. I know it
is not easy but it is worth it. Insight Meditation
is also very good for people who want to be in
leadership positions because by understanding your own mind
you can be more forgiving and more understanding
-qualities that supervisors and managers should cultivate.
Good luck in your meditation. May you have peace of
mind and good health.

Welcome, This is the Yahoo! Message Board for Burmese Insight Meditation
community.