Posts tagged Meditation
What is Karma?

The word karma, in its Sanskrit translation, simply means "action". In the Western context, it is often used to refer to fate or fortune. However, the Buddha explicitly mentioned that this was not its real meaning.

Karma refers to the natural law that describes the workings of cause and effect. Each action is defined by a series of previous actions that are interdependent – each action triggers a multitude of subsequent actions. It is the impersonal play of cause and effect that is continuous, inexorable and completely dispassionate.

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Vipassana meditation: what is behind this popular meditation method?

Vipassana meditation was already known in India about 2,500 years ago. The syllable „vi“ in Pali means clear or manifold, „passana“ means to see. Vipassana is therefore often translated as insight. Vipassana meditation is therefore about spiritual development, about gaining clear insight into the true nature of things.

In order to understand and deepen the practice method, it is necessary to realise that body and mind are impermanent, that suffering is all pervading and that there is not such a thing as the autonomous, independent self.

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CONTEMPLATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY: THREE WAVES OF DEVELOPMENT

Within the evolution of the mindfulness-based or contemplative healing, mindfulness is only the first of three great waves as we call them.
We are starting to understand the power of embodied approaches, such as imagery, narrative, transforming narrative, and self-expression, breath work, movement and body posture.
The Buddhist tradition spent 4,000 years exploring how to use these techniques in powerful concerted ways that allow the deepest possible transformation of the nervous system.

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WHAT CAN CONTEMPLATIVE PRACTICES BRING INTO THE WORLD OF PSYCHOTHERAPY?

Mindfulness developed very early in the Buddhist tradition. Buddha was trying to take the meditation practices of his day and make them accessible to anyone, and essentially turn them into a science.
Rather than mixing mindfulness with Western cognitive therapy, the Nalanda Institute takes a close look at the foundational elements of early Buddhist science and psychology that promote self-healing.

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