Tantric Yoga Techniques

by Samantha DiAlfredi

Tibetan Buddhist art started in the subcontinent of India with the intent of using art to document the life of Gautama Buddha in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE. As the Buddhist religion spread throughout the Asia and the rest of the world, the prominence of Tibetan Buddhist art spread along with it. The earliest Buddhist art generally followed the practice of aniconic Indian traditions. This is the use of Buddhist symbols and iconography without any actual representation of the human figure involved. However, it was about the first century CE when an iconic art period came about and represented the Buddha in human appearance; a practice that continues to this day. As Buddhism spread and evolved in each new country or region, Buddhist art followed those adherents to the faith and developed throughout Asia if different ways.

The art of Tibet has always been thought of as religious in nature, particularly that of Buddhist art in Tibet and all over the rest of Asia and the ancient Himalayan kingdoms like Bhutan, Nepal and Ladakh.

The Tibetan Buddhist art that was created before the mid twentieth century were dedicated to the depiction of sacred subjects and permeated with traditional technique. These works of Tibetan art not only detail the key concepts of philosophy and spirituality but also the energy of Tibetan art aesthetics in terms of the development of various schools of the Tibetan religion in different regions and countries. The Buddhist symbols used in the development of Buddhist art can be studied as variations of the influences that have contributed to Tibetan art over the past centuries.

In the fourth century saw the emergence of the Mahayana Buddhist influence. This particular influence emphasized those who wished to forgo achieving Nirvana in order to help those others in need. The deity Chenrezig is commonly depicted as a thousand armed deity with a single eye in each hand in the Tibetan art of this Buddhist influence.

Another great influence in Tibetan Buddhist art is the Tantric influence, its main symbol being the diamond thunderbolt. Tantric influence art is most often depicted as having many gods with angry faces that actually represent guardians of those who are dedicated to the practice and teaching of Tantric Buddhism and the purging of negative thoughts.

In the Himalayas, a shamanistic tradition known as Bon is considered another great influence of Buddhism and Buddhist art. In this shamanistic practice, many local deities are depicted in Buddhist temples as being with the Buddha as their conqueror and are considered to serve him by keeping mischief and evil away from the people.

Concentration and meditation have been the hallmarks of Buddhist meditation techniques for centuries. Ancient practitioners of the art of Tibetan Buddhism have kept the central techniques preserved for centuries in ancient texts that teachers have passed down to students.

Tibetan Buddhist art also greatly influenced Hindu art, but in the tenth century, Buddhism was all but gone from the Indian subcontinent by the rise of popularity in Islam along with Hinduism.

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by Matthew Firestone

Zen is about as intricate, layered and complex as a lotus flower in full bloom, though the mysteries of this ancient Eastern philosophy are not as incomprehensible as you might imagine. On the contrary, the ability to calm the body and mind, and experience insight into the nature of your existence, is entirely within your grasp.

For starters, it helps to know that the fundamentals of Zen Buddhism lie in a practice known as zazen or literally ’seated meditation.’ Since practitioners of Zen believe that new perspectives and insights on existence will lead you down the road to enlightenment, meditation truly holds the key for unlocking your inner self.

On that note, today’s post is all about the 4 easy steps to blissful meditation.

Looking to discover the Buddha-nature within through meditation and mindfulness of daily experiences? Here are some quick and easy steps for reaching nirvana:

1) Assume the position. In Japanese seated meditation or zazen, there are three different types of leg positions: full-lotus, half-lotus and seiza (kneeling posture). All three have their varying degrees of pain and discomfort, though no one ever said that the road to enlightenment was easy!

2) Mind your posture. Your mother was right - a straight back and a strong spine really will serve you well in life. If your body is threatening to turn into a jellyfish, you can reinforce your posture by sitting on a small pillow or cushion. You can also fold your hands together over your belly, which is the body’s natural center of gravity.

3) There is no spoon. Start breathing deep from the belly, lower the eyelids halfway, and then find that sweet spot between conscious distraction and unconscious sleep. In the early stages of learning zazen, you need to develop your concentration skills by focusing on the natural rhythms of your breathing.

4) Reach nirvana. The fourth and final step in blissful meditation isn’t something you can expect to achieve in the first session, but it’s a respectable goal nevertheless. The key in zazen is to develop what is known as ‘one-pointedness of the mind,’ which allows you to focus all of your attention on a kōan or singular object of meditation.

Here is the cool part:

Kōan generally contain aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, such as the famous question, “Two hands clap and there is a sound, but what is the sound of one hand clapping?”

So, if you want to answer questions that are not answerable by mere intellectual reasoning, then practice these four easy steps to blissful meditation, and start uncovering the secrets of the universe.

Source: www.gadling.com