Buddhism in daily life - Mindfulness in every day tasks

Freedom of decision At every crossroads we can decide, forward, backward, right or left; at the next crossroads again, then again, again and again. Decisions are often not easy to make. And a not insignificant part of the people does not manage to decide at all. Yes, we are free in our decisions, at least in theory. But in reality it is usually completely different, the daily showdown is subject t...

The cycle of life The birds eat the worms, after our death the worms eat us, life is a coming and going, it is a cycle. According to Buddha, the cycle of rebirths is not limited to eating and being eaten, but to the continuation of the ego in its germ cell, which is thrown into incarnations until the bearer has worked off his karma, no longer needs to be reborn. If one looks at the bustle on this...

The food in the temple part 2 During my stays at Shaolin Temple, I became more and more comfortable with the vegetarian way of life at the monastery, even though I enjoyed trying all kinds of food at the restaurants in Dengfeng and Zhengzhou during my excursions on my days off. My favorite dish became Peking duck, which I still enjoy eating to this day. Among Buddhists, there is the group of veget...

Willpower It is such a thing with the will, it sometimes develops unbelievable forces. Although according to the great teacher we should not want anything, in daily life we more often fall back into our learned behaviors. It makes an incredible difference whether we perform our daily tasks and accomplishments with friends or with reluctance. A circumstance that is important only to us, perhaps of...

The food in the temple The food in the Shaolin Temple is traditionally very modest, naturally vegetarian and very healthy. The main dish (filling side dish) is rice, topped off with tofu and vegetables, fruits and berries. Buddha and his followers were mendicant monks, the food came (mainly) from the alms walks he took with his followers mostly in the morning. Those on vacation in Southeast Asia c...

Ceremonies An integral part of my new life (as a budding monk) at the time was attending Buddhist ceremonies at Shaolin Temple. These ceremonies always took place either very early, long before the temple door was opened for the crowds of visitors, or after dinner, when peace had returned to the monastery. During the ceremonies, people prayed (and still do), chanted and meditate. Since I understoo...

Negative things part 2 Right, negative things we want to ignore from now on (as far as it is somehow possible). If something negative comes on TV again, then change the channel until something "positive" comes on. If something negative is being talked about again, then don't participate in that conversation, but try to steer the topic to something positive, simply because your mood is contagious,...

Negative things Very often I am asked how to deal with the many negative things around us. My answer is simple: ignore them. Firstly, the term "negative" already contains a valuation (according to the great teacher, we should not judge), secondly, according to Buddha, we should not let these experiences get to us, but simply let them be as they are, take care of ourselves and our environment, beca...

Healing "Yourself" Part 6 Good, you have come this far, karma seems to be sending you a message. So you are ready to take on the not-so-easy journey of at least attempting the painful healing process. What always helps are notes, for example in the form of a diary, or on a simple piece of paper. Here you can unload everything that is bothering you, give free rein to your feelings, this is where ho...

Healing "Yourself" Part 5 Well, you have come a long way with me, the subject of "self-healing" seems to be close to your heart. There is also a Buddhist component in the matter, in the philosophy of the great teacher it was (and is) about the "awakening process", about the goal of enlightenment, about liberation from suffering. You have already achieved a lot now, my topic "self-healing" has been...

Healing "Yourself" Part 4 So you want to heal yourself? After all, you're reading on a Buddhist blog, so it's not "hopeless" for you yet. When a survey asks people around the country what they think is the most important quality in other people, the answer "honesty" comes first. But all around us people lie until "the rind cracks", why should we then be "honest" with ourselves? I for my part also...

Healing "Yourself" Part 3 Are you ready to heal yourself? Do you want to face your fears, your addictions, the paranoia, the fear, all the insanity? Or continue to live as you have been, without giving realization any chance? It's up to you, you are the architect of your happiness, it's a simple decision, depending on whether you want to be happy or not. So, have you read up on the main methods of...

Healing "Yourself" Part 2 As I said, self-healing is a process that is naturally given to our body and mind, but must be actively guided (at least in the case of mental ailments). Which, by the way, coincides one hundred percent with Buddhist teachings, Buddha explained again and again that the diseases of the mind come from the ego, from overbred fears, worries and senseless self-torture, when ag...

Heal yourself We humans are becoming more and more whimsical, have more and more quirks, suffer from depression, delusions, fears. Mental ailments of all kinds fill the waiting rooms of specialized doctors, the god in white (demigod at least), he will fix it. We don't always act to our advantage, we approach things too rationally, think back and forth, then lose ourselves in thoughts that don't co...

Enlightenment and eclipse Enlightenment and eclipse are absolute opposites! The valley of tears, the swamp of darkness, hell vents of creative self-destruction, here we are, in the midst of our own walls that we build ourselves, waiting for the "enlightenment", dissatisfied in our lives eyeing everything suspiciously, doubting and hating, behaving quite differently than how Buddha exemplified life...

We build our own cages part 2 There are many different kinds of cages, but they all have in common that they are made by humans for humans, but mostly we put our own person into such kennels. I will give you some examples: The cage of greed for food, when we compensate our true personality with "eating". The prison of greed for alcohol, because we want to escape from the true here and now. The pri...

Make yourself free What we lack for "enlightenment" is a liberated thinking. The old patterns, which keep us from our perfection, fears, worries, hardships, even real fear pervades us again and again, the uncertainties of life are solidified in our thought palace, must first be smashed according to the teacher of all teachers. Whoever can banish these poisons from his thinking, unimagined joys awa...

We build our cages ourselves Man is a strange animal, he builds his own cages, because he does not want to look further than his "intellect" can overlook the affairs. What lies outside of his intellect, that is negated, "head in the sand", that will already help. But it doesn't, the transient catches up with us all, no matter how much we resist it. In order to have as little as possible to do with...

Trips My new life as a "Shaolin monk" began to please me very much, the doubts were gone, yes, I felt "comfortable" in the temple, people began to greet me, the temple guard let me pass without a flinch, through the gate of the monks. My master must have had a conversation with the man at the gate, instructed him to let me in, I was one of them. My Chinese improved, I could speak a few sentences,...

The salt of wisdom part 2 Arriving at the river, the young man took a deep breath, everything had happened so quickly, what was the monk trying to tell him, that salt tastes "salty", that was already clear to him before, had he fallen for a charlatan? Around him were many people, some lying stretched out in the grass next to the river, others meditating, still others were just silent, gazing at th...

The Salt of Wisdom Buddha once stated that his teaching would be like salt, since the "taste" of his words would be the same for everyone. There is a Buddhist story which (among other things) is also about salt. It is about a very sad young man who suffered a lot from his "fate". His family advised him to go to the Buddhist temple nearby, where there was a wise Chan (Zen) master who might be able...

Set positive anchors part 2 Positive anchors have an effect on our subconscious, similar to a sign on the refrigerator, such an anchor brings the situation to our attention (whenever the right moment comes). You can imagine this as if you stumble over the same carpet crease over and over again, being reminded to straighten the carpet. Always in the same place, where the crease is. We can also brin...

My lunch break in the temple After four hours of training in the morning, there was always a long lunch break, which I usually "longed for", because my muscles were constantly tired, the exercises were extremely strenuous, the master was relentless, up and down, the same movements over and over again, even in my sleep I went through the steps. That's when the lunch break was a wonderful stopover....

Set positive anchors Who does not know them, the weak moments, the temptations of life, the voice of nature, the attacks with anger, hunger or depression. It can help to set so-called "anchors" in order to hold on to them, similar to a ship that would also drift without a foothold. What have we not resolved to do, to be more mindful, to do more sports, to meditate daily, to lose weight, to be arou...

Sleep disorders part 2 Whoever suffers from sleep disorders has a hard time, unrested, grumpy and contrite, relief is sought, usually the problems are already solidified, good advice is expensive. According to the teacher of all teachers, all disturbances in behavior are due to an exaggerated ego, the thought palace rolls its senseless thoughts (would have, would have, if, if, if), the fears becom...