Religion on Audio

I fall asleep 10 minutes into meditating, no matter what time of day it is. This is even after I have pulled 10 hours of night slumber. I am beyond desperation, PLEASE help me to not fall asleep in Meditation!

A few possible suggestions…

First, check your posture.
Ninety percent of the times I start to nod off, I find that I’ve allowed my head/spine to slump slightly.
I remind myself to imagine trying to touch ceiling with top of my head, and find that I sit a bit more upright.

Second, check that your head is level.
Some say that tilting head downward encourages dozing, while any upward tilt encourages thoughts.
Do not confuse maintaining a level head with gazing slightly down with eyes (desirable for most).

Third, I don’t know what technique you use, but I practice maintaining focus/awareness of my breath.
I find every time I start to nod off, it happens to occur when I’ve lost focus/mindfulness on breath and has instead become seduced/entertained by a string of thoughts.

Finally, if you can, practice meditating with eyes half closed/lidded, as opposed to fully closed.
Although fully closing eyes can block out distracting movement, it also encourages sleep.
Plus, there are schools of thought that say closing eyes is a form of ignorance and/or aversion to whatever may arise.

Namaste’,
dwb

This is a simple dilemma that has bothered me for years, and I have yet to hear a solution:

In the bible, it effectively says that no life exists outside our planet. I cannot remember exactly where, but I know it’s in there.

If life was discovered outside our planet, how would Christianity respond to this discovery?

Extraterrestrial life has already been discovered, the Greys are one example, and there’s tons of evidence to prove there very existence. The only reason it’s not "pubic" is because the government refuses to allow the public to know; that still won’t stop others from finding out eventually though. But back to your question, I do not know the answer only time will tell. If you want to find out more about extraterrestrial life forms just search "the greys" or "reptilians" on google or youtube!

Are they the same thing? Is Zen a part of Buddhism? I am not clear on the distinction between these 2 practices. Thanks.

Zen is one approach to "enlightenment", which is the goal of Buddhism. Some Buddhists attempt to achieve the greater consciousness through ascetic prectices, others through devotional rituals. Zen Buddhists employ a style of Meditation and mental exercises that attempt to shock the mind out of conventional thinking.

I’m a buddhist currently living in Macedonia and i want to try and introduce the religion to the Macedonian people but the problem is people here are pretty narrow minded and arent really tolerant of new or different things.
Macedonians still havent accepted the fact that gays exist so how am i going to introduce Buddhism to them?

Many years ago I began practicing Buddhist Meditation every Monday night. I put out notices that invited people to join me.

No one came.

Nevertheless, I continued to practice meditation every Monday night - same time, same place.

After a couple of years, one or two people started to come regularly. After a few more years, the group had grown to about a dozen people. After 15 years, the group had grown to 60 people.

The point of this short story is: The best way to introduce people to Buddhism is to do your own practice with great sincerity and dedication.

If you practice in this way, you will transform your life.

If you transform your life, people will come to you. Then you can help them.

India is the Cradle of Buddhism but you wont find any indigenous indian Buddhists today

why is that?

Brahmins eradicated Buddhism as well as gave a tough fight to Jainism because they did not want to lose their monopoly simple. The fight lasted over centuries, Hindu gods and mythologies were rewritten to mix up with Buddhist doctrines Buddha was shown to be avatar of Vishnu etc and ultimately Buddhism lost to majority and took roots in other Asian countries. This had to be so the teaching of Buddha were directly opposite to the existing beliefs.
Believe nothing because it is written in books.
Believe nothing because wise men say it is so.
Believe nothing because it is religious doctrine.
Believe it only because you yourself know it to be true.
- Siddhartha Gautama Buddha (563-483 B.C.)
So we lost a realistic approach to religion.

I kind of am wondering this to understand different sides of Buddhism not just the one that is related to religion.

Please tell me the benefits of the Buddhism faith along with the philosophy then list the cons of Buddhism as a faith as well as a philosophy.

Then list you personal feelings on both negative and positive.

Please if you feel a link you have read for information would make your opinion more clear then list a few links you feel are worthy and understandable in explaining what you are trying to say.

Thank you, Mel.

Good morning, Mel.

As I see Buddhism and in my practice, when it is viewed as a religion it is primarily due to rituals that vary between traditions and schools.

When viewed as a philosophy as opposed to a religion there is not a major difference in Buddhism. It is a way of living in either regard; the teachings (suttas and sutras) remain the same so there is not a major difference from viewing it as a religion or philosophy. The Dharma remains the same regardless as to how one regards Buddhism. So, in this regard, I cannot as you ask "…list the cons of Buddhism as a faith as well as a philosophy" since I have taken refuge. If there were cons in either regard I wouldn’t have made the conversion and, yes, I did considerable research, contemplation, and reading before I made that decision.

Sites on the Internet are legion. I am hesitant to make recommendations in this regard since it depends upon the tradition to which one is drawn. Best to follow that path on your own.

May all be at peace.

John

How are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all connected through the original covenant that the Jewish patriarch Abraham made with God?

Comparison between islam and Christianity and Judaism
http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/comparison_charts/islam_judaism_Christianity.htm

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Understand ISlam

http://www.imanway.com/vb/showthread.php?p=1655

Islam, the Religion of Ease
http://www.freewebs.com/katab/4th.htm

Beliefs of Islam
http://www.islamreligion.com/category/48/

ISLAM and the AIM of LIFE
http://www.freewebs.com/katab/3rd.htm

Merits Of Islam

http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/219/muslim%20treatment%20towards%20non%20muslims

beauties of islam
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=E503C0955218CE78&search_query=beauties+of+islam

I’ve often wondered why the practice of following Jesus is called Christianity. Wouldn’t it make more sense to call it Jesusianity? Where does the term Christianity come from?

It was a greek concept that was basically related to the OCD illness that sees things as needing 100% perfection. The Greeks were waiting for the Christ or Logos who was sent from God to rectify the imperfect nature of his Creation. The Logos/Christ cult took over the Jesus cult from James the Just, Jesus brother, and through the pushing of St. Paul, claimed the risen Jesus was this Greek christ , who unlike Jesus, was a condemning and perfectionist fault finding God, not unlike their OCD selves. Add in self-harm (flagellation), voices in the head (Manic episodes/vocation), celibacy (closet homosexuality), child abuse( psychopathy), stealing from church collections (criminality) and, if you were Jesus, you’d be glad they never named the church after you!!!!!!!!

I once read that in the religion of Buddhism is a belief or a teaching that a person or being who exists in the imagination can be made to materialize and become real. Is this statement true? I do not recall the exact source of the information or whether it was online or in print.

This is most often done in Tibetan Buddhism ( see the writings of Alexandra David-Neel) as a demonstration of the provisional nature of our own existence, but it sometimes happens in other groups. At Gold Mountain Monastery in San Francisco, someone was doing the practice of visualizing Kwan Yin so well that other people saw her walking around the halls.

How long does it take to see the benefits of Meditation? I’ve been meditating for 20 minutes, twice a day, for about a month. I still can’t see any positive internal changes. Would living in a abusive/negative environment prevent these changes from occurring? When I meditate I’m usually calm and peaceful, but I don’t feel that way during the day. Please provide some insight. Thank you.

It is very good you have committed to a daily practice. Now, a little patience is needed. The river of your body-mind-Being is muddy, from years of neglect. It may take a little time for the mud to settle, so that the clear, fresh water is known and tasted.

If you are living in an abusive/negative environment now, this will add a bit of challenge to things. As you move through this environment, notice how you respond to each event. Over time, you may find more options available to you than you currently see.

If you are talking about a past environment, we all have our histories to deal with. Continue meditating, and all will be revealed and healed in due course.