Contemplating
This week is spring break! Ive had a lot of time to think and you all know what that means!
I came across this, and thought I'd share.
Visualization/Meditation: The Armor of Heavy Jewels
The purpose of this meditation is to help those whose minds are troubled by past actions and events. Sit in a comfortable position. When you are ready to begin, think of a past event that weighs heavily on your mind. Visualize it as a precious gem. Associate the color, cut and size of the gem with whatever memory is causing you trouble. The setting of the gem should be gaudy and made of precious metals. Once you have a clear visualization, imagine it on your body. Feel any weight it creates and if it restricts your movement. Continue to do this until all of your past memories are jewels covering your body and weighing you down. It is not important if you can accurately visualize every gem, or that you remember every memory that is causing you harm, what is important is to feel whatever weight that the memories create on your mind. Once you have contemplated for some time the weight and restriction of the jewels, remove them one at a time and lay them before you. If you have trouble letting go of the precious gems, remember the feeling of weight. However, don’t trouble yourself if you cannot bear to let a specific one go. Let go of what you can and walk away from them. End your meditation in a way that is beneficial to your mental state and causes you to relax.
Visualizing our problems as treasures helps us to understand that from suffering comes the raw material of enlightenment. Our troubles are treasures, as they are opportunities to exercise our perfect inner nature. However, too often we become attached to these gems, and they weigh down our minds, making it much more difficult to move freely and experience the world around us.
The Armor of Jewels defends us from the outside world. We use our past painful experiences to give us reason to push others away and take pride in our past sufferings to show that we are not weak. We grow attached to the look of gems adorning us, and display them for others in order to give meaning to past suffering. However, this armor weighs us down and prevents us from freeing our inner nature. Until we are free to move within our minds and give up the barriers between us as the world as it is, we cannot reach enlightenment.
I came across this, and thought I'd share.
Visualization/Meditation: The Armor of Heavy Jewels
The purpose of this meditation is to help those whose minds are troubled by past actions and events. Sit in a comfortable position. When you are ready to begin, think of a past event that weighs heavily on your mind. Visualize it as a precious gem. Associate the color, cut and size of the gem with whatever memory is causing you trouble. The setting of the gem should be gaudy and made of precious metals. Once you have a clear visualization, imagine it on your body. Feel any weight it creates and if it restricts your movement. Continue to do this until all of your past memories are jewels covering your body and weighing you down. It is not important if you can accurately visualize every gem, or that you remember every memory that is causing you harm, what is important is to feel whatever weight that the memories create on your mind. Once you have contemplated for some time the weight and restriction of the jewels, remove them one at a time and lay them before you. If you have trouble letting go of the precious gems, remember the feeling of weight. However, don’t trouble yourself if you cannot bear to let a specific one go. Let go of what you can and walk away from them. End your meditation in a way that is beneficial to your mental state and causes you to relax.
Visualizing our problems as treasures helps us to understand that from suffering comes the raw material of enlightenment. Our troubles are treasures, as they are opportunities to exercise our perfect inner nature. However, too often we become attached to these gems, and they weigh down our minds, making it much more difficult to move freely and experience the world around us.
The Armor of Jewels defends us from the outside world. We use our past painful experiences to give us reason to push others away and take pride in our past sufferings to show that we are not weak. We grow attached to the look of gems adorning us, and display them for others in order to give meaning to past suffering. However, this armor weighs us down and prevents us from freeing our inner nature. Until we are free to move within our minds and give up the barriers between us as the world as it is, we cannot reach enlightenment.