Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

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

January 14, 2021 By Admin

The Heart Sutra – Thich Nhat Hanh

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 pivotal Buddhist sutra. The words used to describe it – great, highest, illuminating, and the end of suffering – offer great hope to Buddhist practitioners. Gate, itself, implies ending suffering, liberation, mindfulness, ending duality, reaching the other shore (enlightenment, nirvana, etc.).  Paragate implies going all the way to the other shore – becoming enlightened.  Parasamgate sum implies the the world-wide sangha or the entire human community. Bodhi is the light inside, and Svaha means joy. Keep in mind there may be slightly different translations of these words in Buddhist texts.

Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svah

In this paragraph, we go over chanting. Chant this: “Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha.” Or if you like in English: “Gone gone, all the way over, gone to the other shore of enlightenment.” This sutra is chanted deep from within the heart, your heart. It reflects the teachings of the Prajnaparamita. Ultimately it teaches the real truth of emptiness. Some say this mantra is even more important than The Diamond Sutra. The important teaching dealing with ultimate emptiness include sinlessness, aimlessness, ending conventional designation, The Middle Way, interbeing, and the ultimate interbeing of all that arises and falls – everything that exists. The Buddha’s words to Sariputra are relevant: “This body itself is emptiness. And emptiness itself is this body. This body is not other than emptiness. And emptiness is not other than this body.”  Associated mudras with The Heart Sutra are placing the tips of mid-fingers to the tops of thumbs, and next tips of ring fingers touching tops of thumbs.

To learn more about The Heart Sutra see the book, Fragrant Palm Leaves. In the end, The Heart Sutra notes there is no self-narrative, so strive to go beyond craving, fear and suffering. To many chanting, meditating and practicing with The Heart Sutra are the highest forms of spiritual practice. Be courageous; practice! See what the outcomes are for you. Has practice impacted your thoughts, emotions, behaviors?

For more information refer to Thich Nhat Hanh (2017). The Other Shore: A New Translation of The Heart Sutra…Berkely, CA: Palm Leaves Press, pp. 115-120, etc.m

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

Filed Under: Buddhism, Featured, Meditation, MIndfulness, Self Care, Suffering, The Heart Sutra, The Middle Way, Thich Nhat Hanh Tagged With: BUDDHA, BUDDHISM, ENLIGHTENMENT, HAPPINESS, MANTRA, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, MINDFULNESS, PRACTICE, THE HEART SUTRA, THE MIDDLE WAY, THICH NHAT HANH

December 31, 2020 By Admin

Tips on Practice During These Troubling Times

Tips on Practice During These Troubling Times

Some people are religious, and I am sure turn to those sources for support and hope. Others are spiritual, and I hope also pursue those sources for emotional stability and closeness to the “their” divine. Other people may  be Agnostic or Atheist; I am certain such people also find ways to cope and move on during these very bad times. Let’s take a moment to examine some aspects of using religious belief to deal with “the terrible.”  We will end with brief sage advice from Pema Chodron on how to turn your world around.

Religion – Buddhism and Others

Much of this post is based on the work of Jack Miles. Miles is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a religious scholar. Personal understanding of what religion means is at the core of differential practices. We recognize that religion is separate from the typical activities and beliefs of secular experience. In the ancient past, however, such separation between religion and secular life was far less clear; in fact in those times religion entered many aspects of secularism as a norm. In the end, of course, what matters is what is helpful to the individual person. The reinforcement of feeling better is a powerful motivator. So, religious or not it may be important for you to at least visit your spiritual or religious self to find “the way.” Remain there a while until you obtain some of what you need. I am sure your deep and personal beliefs about the Divine will help you in one way of another. Or, perhaps, you simply need more support for the Self and its many adventures.

Now let us consider a few thoughts from Pema Chodron, one of the most popular world leaders in contemporary Buddhism.  In this post I will refer to specific steps she recommends (without much detail). If you want to learn more read one of her many books or refer to Prajna/Shambhala publications on this topic. First, for positive emotional transformation to occur we need to know and understand to some degree what our emotions and related experiences are. Furthermore, we need to learn through regular practice how to remain there and not  escape from the suffering and pain. Humans desire happiness and dread suffering; however, we will experience both in our lives. There is no escape from suffering, and sometimes happiness may require some mindful effort and skillful means. Second, we must discover, learn about, and use various tools and processes to engage our emotional lives successfully without increasing fearfulness. This is where daily meditation practice may come in. It is when we have the courage to engage in meditation dealing with our pain an suffering that new, important insights may occur.  It also may make us more brave. Third, since bravery and courage are required to do deep work on your emotional realities, we need to remain motivated for the path and our struggles on it. This is very important when we engage in meditation about our most serious personal suffering. If we are serious about our practice, and we continue to do it regardless of the many challenges that exist, then we may experience emotional transformation and positive changes in our mind, body, life. Here is where our spiritual practices may blossom.

For more information refer to Jack Miles book, Religion as We Know It: An Origin Story. See also Pema Chodron’s online teachings, Turn Your World Around. This is a Prajna/Shambhala Publication.

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

Filed Under: Buddhism, Featured, Jack MIles, Pema Chodron, Practices Tagged With: JACK MILES, MINDFULNESS PRACTICE, PEMA CHODRON

November 26, 2020 By Admin

Personal Happiness in the Age of COVID-19

Personal Happiness in the Age of COVID-19

We are all in this together!  However, wealth and employment status do play important roles. RTI International and the Consortium for Implementation Science have serious concerns about the links between racial equity, social justice, and personal responses to COVID-19. Neuroscience notes that personal happiness in a brain-mind-body thing. Its formula is hard-wired in our brain. In difficult times, it is even more important to figure out your personal formula (without self-medication) to satisfactory levels of joy and happiness. Because happiness is physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual (in ways) we need to focus more now on experiencing it. We cannot be happy if we focus more on fear, anxiety, and depression; we need to make happiness a personal priority. According to a poll by the American Psychiatric Association, over one-third of Americans noted that the pandemic has impacted their mental health in negative ways. According to the American Psychological Association, two-thirds of adults experience better well-being in post-traumatic growth. Here are some things you can do to improve/expand your personal happiness in these times.

  1. Do your best to find positive and helpful interpretations of your experience.
  2. Maintaining a hopeful attitude is important.
  3. Hold on to empathy for yourself and for others.
  4. Spend some time relaxing with your favorite music.
  5. Watch lots of comedy.
  6. Happiness is an inside job, so end the blame game. This is not to say unfairness does not exist.
  7. Do your best to eat well, sleep well, exercise and use proven stress coping skills daily.
  8. Connect with other you care about – and who care about you.
  9. Move your body!
  10. Practice proven breathing techniques that calm us – and or excite us.
  11. Follow Thich Nhat Hanh’s advice and savor anything you can – do not rush it.
  12. Keep in mind that Buddhism implies impermanence is primary – nothing stays the same over time.
  13. Get qualified/licensed professional help when you need it – do not delay.

Since the list of courses for this information is plentiful, I will not list them.  Google the topic if you wish.

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

Filed Under: Activities, Buddhism, Covid-19, Featured, Happiness, MIndfulness, Self Care, Spiritual Energy, Thich Nhat Hanh Tagged With: COVID-19, MINDFULHAPPINESS, PERSONAL HAPPINESS

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

October 23, 2019 By Admin

Amitabha Buddha – Pure Land Meditation

Amitabha Buddha – Pure Land Meditation

The following meditation had been modified by me to make it a more specific self-healing meditation and to better fit the time we now live in.

  1. Sit quietly and complete 3-4 deep, calming breaths.
  2. Pay attention to the quality and density of the light you see outside of your body.
  3. Do your best to “feel” the presence of this light.
  4. Become familiar with using the light of the earth, sun, moon, and stars to heal.
  5. Notice closely the absolute boundlessness and emptiness of the healing light.
  6. Imagine taking in the full colored light of a rainbow as your breathe in and out.
  7. Do your best not to worry; be as content as possible with this experience.
  8. Go into your memory or do this on a clear day/night – see and internalize the healing light in the rising and setting sun, in the full moon, and in all the stars above you.
  9. Do whatever you must to transform this light energy into pure healing light. Let go of doubt, defensiveness, and resentment. Be one with the healing light.
  10. Use your imagination to see/feel the light entering all of your sense one by one. Notice! Take it in!
  11. See, hear, feel, smell and taste the beauty of this ever-healing light. Let it all in!
  12. Allow in the healing light and sense its unconditional love for you.
  13. Let it enter your mind, body, soul, heart – your whole and beautiful self.
  14. Work hard to radically accept the healing light’s gifts to you. Accept it!
  15. Be with and be the healing light without clinging to it, attaching to it, or seeking it.
  16. Now breathe fully and smile fully, allowing yourself to be lit-up by the healing light.
  17. Be one with it in your inner body and mind. Be open!
  18. Experiment: Let inner darkness represent your deep, personal suffering – then allow tears and feeling of the healing light to “bless you.”  Allow, allow, allow!
  19. Feel the healing light calming and soothing your afflictive emotional states.
  20. Relax into the light as it penetrates into you and your suffering mind and body.
  21. With each breath go deeper into your relaxation and appreciation.
  22. Feel and be the deep tranquility you are experiencing. Thank the healing light!
  23. Chant: “Om Mani Tabba Be.” Repeat the chant if you wish to do so.
  24. Now rest in complete healing light and inner contentment. Just be!
  25. For more information refer to DEMI (2010). Amitabha: The Buddha of Light and Life. See also Atone, J. (2011). The Promise of Amitabha Buddha…

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: Amitabha Buddha, Buddhism, Featured, Meditation, MIndfulness Tagged With: AMITABHA BUDDHA, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, MINDFULNESS, PURE LAND MEDITATION

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 5
  • Next Page »
Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Expanded Lectio Divina for Self-Development In this post I will provide an expanded version of this process by combining information from Origen,  the Carthusian  Monk  Guigo II,   and  Augustine of Hippo.   The presented process of 12 steps may be used  to enhance internalization of sacred writing and/or to support internal healing of the participants. […]

Concentration Vs Mindfulness? Many people new to meditation often confuse the differences between mindfulness or accepted bare attention to whatever arises in the moment and concentration or strong penetrating awareness on one thing without distraction.  Concentration is a more intensely focused and engaged form of mindful attention.  Concentration is sustained, powerfully focused, one-pointed attentional awareness. […]

Crisis Resilience Skills  – Mindful Happiness Below I will list various interventions that have proven effective in reducing the level of personal crisis. The sources for many of these skills came from Burns (1980), Ellis (1995), Seligman (1988), Linehan (1993, 2015)), Hayes (2018), and Thich Nhat Hanh (various publications). The skills noted are for immediate […]

Tantric Meditation on Emptiness of Self Mind training on emptiness of self requires single-pointed attention and concentration on space, empty space. Emptiness awareness in equipoise of meditation appears as the empty of space. When we practice this repeatedly with calm abiding we can attain direct experience of non-conceptual realization – true emptiness. Awareness of emptiness […]

Polyvagal Interventions for Anxiety S. Porges and his Polyvagal Theory may provide innovative interventions for both anxiety and depression. Many people become trapped in ruminating about the past or worrying about the future; they cannot seem to keep their mind and body in the present moment.  Some strong, fear-based, bodily defenses may not respond well to […]

How We Make Habits – An Understanding Twenty-five hundred years ago the Buddha reportedly taught how humans make habits.  The insights of this earliest Buddhist Psychology sheds shame on the West, with its almost-the-same version of this view in the 20th century. One must wonder if B. F. Skinner or N. Chomsky knew about Buddhist […]

Deepak Chopra Ideas on “The Future of God” – Part 1 Deepak Chopra’s new book, The Future of God… (2014) presents some very challenging perspective on spirituality, atheism, and formal religion.  Here I will simply present some paraphrased details and my own ideas on these topics. Basic Foundations Human beings have special talents for searching […]

Zen Buddhist Practices – Egolessness In our practice we often inquire, and sometimes experience, the no-self and/or egolessness. What is egolessness? Who and what do we think we are? Some say that when we die the essence but not the ego lives on into new experiences. Karma and re-birth are givens in this spiritual view. […]

Meditation on Ecodharma and Buddhist Ecology   Sit calmly and begin to breathe in and out deeply and slowly. Open your eyes to see and appreciate the natural environment you are in. Close your eyes now if you wish to do so. Know that this nature – the sky, clouds, stars, father sun, mother moon, […]

Risks and Solutions for Compassion Fatigue Perhaps nothing more than compassion fatigue causes more helpers to prematurely exit their fields.  First responders are generally seen as the most at risk for compassion fatigue (and possibly PTSD), followed by emergency room medical staff. A third group, medical and clinical staff working with high risk terminally-prone patients is […]

Liberation of the True Self Socrates is reported to have noted that “the secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old but on building the new.” In Buddhism there are clear relationships between “no-self” and the force of impermanence, that reality that ensures constant change and thus personal […]

Honoring First Nation – Native American Spirited-Wisdom American First Nation or Native American People (according to how they wish to be named) have  a strong spiritual traditions honoring life, the earth and the heavens.  Naming these wise peoples is a problem; out of respect one would call them First Nations, Native American, or a specific […]

Interpersonal Mindfulness Various forms of mindfulness-based compassion training help us to care more about the needs, happiness, and health of other people. However, direct applications of interpersonal mindfulness activates these influences into direct action on behalf of others.  Thus, if lucky, we learn to care more about others and less about ourselves.  The self-centered ego […]

  Mindfulness – Self-Kindness Practice Befriending the self is one of the most difficult things for Americans to do.  It is probably true that self-kindness is difficult for most people; however, the current rampant criticism (I am right! You are wrong!) and extreme greed manifesting in the United States tends to produce two opposite extremes: […]

Buddhist Thought on Joy and Suffering 1) You actually DO have some control over your emotional destiny. 2) The core “conceptual” view of reality is that your inner emotional experience – especially negative afflictive emotional states related to people, places and things you REACT to – are perceived as totally true. 3) In a non-conceptual […]

Gurdjieff’s The Fourth Way to Consciousness: Background A core teachings is that there are three ways of being: the fakir (master of the physical body); the monk (master of faith and feeling); and, the yogi (master of mind development).  A key goal is to KNOW yourself at the deepest levels.  To KNOW is to be, […]

Pathways for Coping with Loss and Grief Jeanne Cacciatore, a Zen priest and bereavement specialist, offer sound advice on the process of loss and grieving.  In her book, Bearing the Unbearable: Love and the Heart Breaking Path of Grief (2016), she presents the process as a series of contractions and expansions; contractions are the inward path of […]

Improving Your Self-Esteem – An Action Contemplation The UCLA Higher Education Research Institute’s surveys and V. Mamgain’s ideas about neoclassical economics of happiness help provide a means to deconstruct improved learning in higher education and also personal happiness in the process. According to the UCLA research surveys, higher education students want more spirituality and personal […]

Meditation for Managers and Helpers  Let’s Talk – Contact Me – Click Here I am a Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor with 35 years of clinical experience in community clinics, schools, professional organizations, and universities (OSU, UVM, etc.). I have been the past Clinical Director of Howard Center, and Past President […]

More Characteristics of Happiness – Happiness #4 Here I will continue my posts about the common characteristics of happiness.  Here is the list. Keep an Open Mind – Maintaining an open mind opens up doorways to interesting things in the world, some of which may help you to become happier. Also, open-mindedness reduces inner tension […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

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

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness