Frequently Asked Questions from alt.zen – ibiblio
Posted: October 27, 2014 at 11:55 pm
What's in this FAQ? Zen is short for Zen Buddhism. It is sometimes called a religion and sometimes called a philosophy. Choose whichever term you prefer; it simply doesn't matter.
Historically, Zen Buddhism originates in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. Around 500 B.C. he was a prince in what is now India. At the age of 29, deeply troubled by the suffering he saw around him, he renounced his privileged life to seek understanding. After 6 years of struggling as an ascetic he finally achieved Enlightenment at age 35. After this he was known as the Buddha (meaning roughly "one who is awake"). In a nutshell, he realized that everything is subject to change and that suffering and discontentment are the result of attachment to circumstances and things which, by their nature, are impermanent. By ridding oneself of these attachments, including attachment to the false notion of self or "I", one can be free of suffering.
The teachings of the Buddha have, to this day, been passed down from teacher to student. Around 475 A.D. one of these teachers, Bodhidharma, traveled from India to China and introduced the teachings of the Buddha there. In China Buddhism mingled with Taoism. The result of this mingling was the Ch'an School of Buddhism. Around 1200 A.D. Ch'an Buddhism spread from China to Japan where it is called (at least in translation) Zen Buddhism.
Shashu is performed by placing the thumbtip of the left hand as close to the left palm as comfortable and making a fist around it. Place the fist in the center of the chest and cover it with the right hand. Keep the elbows away from the body with the forearms parallel to the floor.
Isshu is the same as shashu but with the left fist turned thumb side toward the chest. Left fist and thumb are parallel to the floor and not vertical as in shashu.
Hokkaijoin (Cosmic Mudra) is performed in the following manner. Place your right hand palm upward in your lap against the lower abdomen. Place the left hand palm upward on top of the right. The second joints of the middle fingers should be touching, and your fingers parallel. Raise the thumbs up opposite the fingers and touch the thumb tips lightly together; forming an oval between the thumbs and fingers. The thumb tips should join at the approximate level of the navel. In some Tibetan teaching lines the right hand is placed on top of the left.
Place a thick mat (zaniku or zabuton) in front of the wall and place a small round cushion (zafu) on it. Sit on it facing the wall. There are several positions for the legs. If not too cold sit with bare feet. Leave your wristwatch off.
The cross legged positions provide greatest stability. To sit in full lotus, place the right foot on the left thigh and then the left foot on the right thigh. To sit in half lotus place your left foot on your right thigh. Try to cross the legs firmly so that a stable tripod of support is provided by the knees and the base of the spine. The order of the crossing of the legs may be reversed. It is also possible to simply sit on the floor with one foreleg in front of the other or kneeling using a bench or a cushion. To sit in a chair, place the feet flat on the floor and use a cushion to elevate the seat so that the upper thighs fall away from the body and follow the rest of the applicable instructions.
Rest the knees firmly on the zaniku, straighten the lower back, push the buttocks outward and the hips forward, and straighten your spine. Pull in your chin and extend the neck as though to support the ceiling. The ears and shoulders should be in the same plane with the nose directly above the navel. Straighten the back and relax shoulders, back, and abdomen without changing posture.
Keep the mouth closed placing the tongue with the tip just behind the front teeth and the rest of the tongue as close to the roof of the mouth as comfortable. Keep the eyes at least slightly open cast downward at a 45 degree angle without focusing on anything. If closed you may slip into drowsiness or daydreaming.
Handpan Recording Bundles Zen – Video
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Handpan Recording Bundles Zen
Handpan Recording Bundles sono dei pacchetti low cost tutto incluso per la realizzazione del tuo album di Handpan e non solo. Per maggiori info: http://www.hardcasetechnologies.com/har...
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Zen Room 25 October Late Nite Kiwi – Video
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Zen Room 25 October Late Nite Kiwi
open mic.
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Zen Room 25 October Late Nite Kiwi - Video
Zen Room 26 October – Video
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Zen wants a cuddle – Video
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Zen wants a cuddle
tramite YouTube Capture.
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Zen wants a cuddle - Video
Cleo and Sophie Doggie Zen Walk – Video
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Cleo and Sophie Doggie Zen Walk
Went on a walk to today with my lil loves! These dogs love the park! They are excited as soon as they figure out where we #39;re going and seeing them warms my heart!
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Cleo and Sophie Doggie Zen Walk - Video
Zen Room 27 October 2014 – Video
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Zen Room 27 October 2014
i will be here for a couple of hours, all welcome.
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Zen Room 27 October 2014 - Video
Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple Malaysia – Prayer Shrine (Wooden Buddha, Brass Wall Paintings) – Video
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Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple Malaysia - Prayer Shrine (Wooden Buddha, Brass Wall Paintings)
The main prayer shrine in Fo Guang Shan (FGS) Dong Zen is breathtakingly beautiful! You can feel the eternal peace and calmness here. Once inside here you feel that all your worries, anxieties...
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Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Temple Malaysia - Prayer Shrine (Wooden Buddha, Brass Wall Paintings) - Video
Late Nite Kiwi – Zen Room 27 October 2014 – Video
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Late Nite Kiwi - Zen Room 27 October 2014
A small collection of clips, John Key The Smiling Assassin etc, happy to chat all welcome.
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Late Nite Kiwi - Zen Room 27 October 2014 - Video
CSS Zen Garden: The Beauty of CSS Design
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The Road to Enlightenment
Littering a dark and dreary road lay the past relics of browser-specific tags, incompatible DOMs, broken CSS support, and abandoned browsers.
We must clear the mind of the past. Web enlightenment has been achieved thanks to the tireless efforts of folk like the W3C, WaSP, and the major browser creators.
The CSS Zen Garden invites you to relax and meditate on the important lessons of the masters. Begin to see with clarity. Learn to use the time-honored techniques in new and invigorating fashion. Become one with the web.
There is a continuing need to show the power of CSS. The Zen Garden aims to excite, inspire, and encourage participation. To begin, view some of the existing designs in the list. Clicking on any one will load the style sheet into this very page. The HTML remains the same, the only thing that has changed is the external CSS file. Yes, really.
CSS allows complete and total control over the style of a hypertext document. The only way this can be illustrated in a way that gets people excited is by demonstrating what it can truly be, once the reins are placed in the hands of those able to create beauty from structure. Designers and coders alike have contributed to the beauty of the web; we can always push it further.
Strong visual design has always been our focus. You are modifying this page, so strong CSS skills are necessary too, but the example files are commented well enough that even CSS novices can use them as starting points. Please see the CSS Resource Guide for advanced tutorials and tips on working with CSS.
You may modify the style sheet in any way you wish, but not the HTML. This may seem daunting at first if youve never worked this way before, but follow the listed links to learn more, and use the sample files as a guide.
Download the sample HTML and CSS to work on a copy locally. Once you have completed your masterpiece (and please, dont submit half-finished work) upload your CSS file to a web server under your control. Send us a link to an archive of that file and all associated assets, and if we choose to use it we will download it and place it on our server.
Why participate? For recognition, inspiration, and a resource we can all refer to showing people how amazing CSS really can be. This site serves as equal parts inspiration for those working on the web today, learning tool for those who will be tomorrow, and gallery of future techniques we can all look forward to.
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CSS Zen Garden: The Beauty of CSS Design