Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

November 18, 2019 By Admin

The Lotus Sutra and Meditation Practice

The Lotus Sutra and Meditatin Practice

The Lotus Sutra is one of the most important and sacred of Buddhist sutras. It is often considered a summary of The Buddha’s teaching, presented many years after he began to teach and share his experiences. The version considered here is the Kumarajiva translation,  as translated by B. Watson; it may also be known as The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. I will not present the many core teaching noted in this sutra; instead I will focus on the end, about How to Practice Meditation. Since this is such an important sutra, you are strongly encouraged to look into the vast content in it on your own. One important thing I will note is that in this sutra The Buddha notes a unified, single path to enlightenment.  In the past he noted that monastic practices, forest practices, and bodhisattva practices all held potential for all people to achieve enlightenment or awakening. Experts suspect that The Buddha taught this sutra in the 6th to 5th century BCE. Here, however, he emphasizes the bodhisattva path as the most important single path. Let us move now into the meditation instructions.

  1. Stand in prayer pose and circle the teacher three times. Another option would be to circle each person in your group; this fits well within the Buddha’s view that we all are buddhas.
  2. Bow, and kneel on one knee to signify readiness to pursue instructions on meditation practice.
  3. Close your eyes and sit (cross-legged) quietly.
  4. Remain in a dignified posture.
  5. Re-commit to your vow to reduce the suffering of others.
  6. Practice this meditation deeply. “Practice with…[your] entire mind…”(p. 370).
  7. As you sit contemplate how meditation is helpful in reducing earthly desires, especially six-senses contact conditioning.
  8. Imagine that your body holds 50 shades of white light.
  9. Make a profound assumption that this white light has healing properties.
  10. Now notice that the white healing light has taken on a golden-white shade.
  11. Feel this healing light in your body and on your skin. Notice how it sparkles.
  12. Imagine the golden white healing light coming to you from The Ten Directions (N, S, E, W, NE, SE, NW, SW, and UP and DOWN).
  13. Allow! Allow! Allow! Stay out of simple thinking. Just be!
  14. Feel inner joy, compassion for others/yourself, and tranquility.
  15. Simply allow yourself to be bathed in the healing golden white light.
  16. Now a big step: practice emitting the healing golden light from your inner body and into the room. This itself is a bodhisattva act.
  17. Add your own loving kindness.
  18. Do your best to detach from attachment, even attachment to this wonderful experience.
  19. Give repentance for any wrongs you are connecting with at this time.
  20. Improve your Karma by doing this as strongly as you can.
  21. Take refuge in The Buddha, in The Dharma, and In The Sangha.
  22. Now sit in utter silence for a longer period of time – just notice without any evaluation. Just be!
  23. When you hear the sound of the singing bowl, gently and slowly open your eyes, orient yourself, and prepare to enter a full conscious state
  24. The Buddha. (B. Watson, Trans.). (1993/1994). The Lotus Sutra of the Wonderful Law. New York: Columbia University Press,  pp. 369-396. Nichiren Buddhist Library.

Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC  

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont and the Home of The Monkton SanghaChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

Filed Under: Buddhism, Featured, Meditation, Practices, The Lotus Sutra Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MEDITATION, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, MINDFULNESS, THE LOTUS SUTRA

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Human Beings Have Trouble BEING Human – Some Sound Advice from Dr Anthony Quintiliani The world today appears to be even more destructive than ever before in human history.  However, historians and violence researchers inform us that we as average persons are safer today than we were in the past.  Finger-tip access to world-wide media […]

The Meaning of the Present Moment in Mindfulness & Meditation Many mindfulness and meditation experts have commented on the meaning of the present moment.  Below I have noted some of the ideas presented by Eckhart Tolle.  In some cases I have added my own interpretations. What is the Present Moment?  What is the experience about? […]

The Heart Sutra – Thich Nhat Hanh “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.” This ultimate mantra is one of the most important in Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh’s new translation of The Heart Sutra offers a great deal of enlightened, sometimes more advanced, information and process. Avalokitesvara and other great Bodhisattvas present important views of this […]

Participate in Groups for Meditation, Problem-Solving, and Task Completion Meditation With The Sangha Among regularly practicing meditators and various meditation traditions, the sangha is the social, emotional and spiritual collective that continues to support ongoing serious practice and progress along the Path.  Given that so much has been written about the many benefits of practicing […]

A Dark Night with Saint John of the Cross The writings of Saint John of the Cross offer a special viewpoint about the suffering of souls, suffering souls on their way to unity with the divine.  What follows stands in contrast to the Buddha’s views in The Dhammapada about ultimate happiness without any form of union […]

Practice Approaches to for Mindful and  Enhanced Emotion Regulation Brought to us by way of  The Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont Mindful Approaches for Enhanced Emotion Regulation; here are some approaches to practice. 1)In some ways you could understand the progression from auto-pilot mind to greater stability and equanimity of […]

Core Elements in Clinical Supervision In addition to what supervisors bring into group supervision and clinical training, the list below will be used for discussion about YOUR supervisory role. The order of content below is generally random. The content noted applies to clinical supervision; it could also apply to doing effective therapy. The skills and […]

Chronic Pain and Doing Body Scanning Although doing body scans cannot fully relieve your pain, it may help you manage it better. If your pain is serious and chronic you need to work with a qualified pain management professional, who will use both psychological and medical interventions. Note that a recent issue of Consumer Reports reviewed […]

Mindfulness Practices for Expanding Acceptance Mindfulness and contemplation can be great allies in our struggle to better understand each other.  This is especially true when it comes to matters of interpersonal relationships and highly significant relationships.  It is also important in diversity, or as some now refer to it – variation in human beings.   Variation may […]

Contemplative Practices – Affirmative Self-Inquiry Contemplation and affirmative self-inquiry may be helpful in improving your awareness of your better parts of self – your positive strengths and traits.  Our self-critical mind often causes us to spend far too much time on critical, negative thinking about ourselves and about others.  The practice below may be helpful […]

Quintiliani’s Brief Life Experience Screening Years ago, when I received a rather large number of managed care referrals for  adolescent “treatment failures” and their families, I soon realized that typical screening, assessment and therapy was NOT working well. I tried so, so hard to reach these young people – all experiencing extreme psychological suffering with […]

Supervision and Self-Care in Trauma Therapy Today there  is an ever-increasing demand for effective trauma therapy.  Our American clinical history on this matter leaves much to be desired. John N. Briere and Cheryl B. Lanktree offer important suggestions on how to use clinical supervision and self-care in your clinical work with clients suffering from serious […]

A Tribute to Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) Recently Ram Dass died at his home in Maui. He was 88 years old.  He was born into a well-off Boston family, and enjoyed materialism in his early professional years.  When completing a Ph.D. in Psychology at Stanford University he was still into material things. His spiritual awakening […]

Stress In America – How to Deal with it Effectively The American Psychological Association just released the results of its annual stress survey for 2014.  This comprehensive study of stress in America has some serious implications for our health and happiness.  Although self-reported stress levels in many categories are lower than in 2013, the overall […]

Practice:  Mindful Actions to Improve YOUR Self-Esteem Improving Your Awareness with Practice Remain mindfully aware of the content and meta-cognition regarding the “speaking” of your inner, self-conscious critic.  Note what trends appear in the conversation. Remain mindfully aware of the reactions your mind and body experience regarding the activity of your inner self-critic in dealing […]

Using Lectio Divina to Improve Your Self-Esteem LectioDivina is an ancient form of Christian (Benedictine) meditation. This meditative prayer is sometimes called “Sacred Seeing.” Lectio Divina follows specific steps as a process: lectio or reading a passage; Meditatio  or meditating on the passage or image; Oratio or praying (I add – in your own way); […]

Psychological Research on the Dangers of Smartphone Abuse There is no doubt that smartphone technology bring us a great deal of advanced technological access to a world of information and communication. There is a downside. Recent research published by The American Psychological Association in March, 2017, and opinions in The Atlantic warn of potential and actual biopsychosocial […]

Many Benefits of Mindfulness and Vipassana Meditation The Dalai Lama (Gyatso, Tenzin), the world leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and Paul Ekman, the world famous Psychologist of human emotions, have teamed up to discuss how to use mindful emotional awareness skills to become more emotionally balanced and compassionate. These two highly skilled practitioners have listed 21 […]

The Reality of Experience What is deep mindfulness?  Deep mindfulness is the concentrated awareness of all experiences, preferably without evaluating as pleasant or unpleasant. Deep mindfulness is pure awareness as it becomes part of personal consciousness. We humans, however, are always evaluating our experiences and phenomena as pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant – often getting hooked […]

 Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy “gems” In my opinion there are about eleven such “gems” in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.  Use of these interventions in various types of psychotherapy may improve clinical outcomes beyond insight. Although these curative interventions have often been associated with treatment of psychological trauma, object loss, and inner conflict, they may also be useful in the […]

Mindful Happiness Tags

ACTIVITIES EXERCISES MINDFULNESS SUFFERING ELEANOR R LIEBMAN CENTER MEDITATION ACTIVITY BUDDHISM THERAPY. SELF MEDICATION COMPASSION MBSR MINDFUL MEDITATION BREATHING PRACTICES SELF WALKING MEDITATION SELF ESTEEM CLINICAL SUPERVISION BRAIN SELF COMPASSION MINDFUL PRACTICE VIPASSANA MEDITATION MINDFUL HAPPINESS ANTHONY QUINTILIANI MINDFUL TRAINING HAPPINESS MEDITATION PRACTICE EMPTINESS TRAINING MINDFULNESS TRAINING VIPASSANA CONSCIOUSNESS JOURNALING PSYCHOTHERAPY SELF CARE COVID-19 TRAUMA VERMONT THICH NHAT HANH ADDICTION ENLIGHTENMENT DR ANTHONY QUINTILIANI WISE MIND

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness