Are there things in the physical world?

A thing is a noun. A noun isn't a part of nature it's a part of speech. There are no nouns in the physical world, but are there things in the physical world?

Let's just say that from the smallest thing like an atom or the biggest thing like a star and everything in between, living or not living, everything is made up of matter. We can see matter that takes forms. Matter can be transformed into energy because E=MC square. Like electricity.

Human beings and animals have three bodies, a gross body made up of matter, a subtle body and a causal body. The gross body by definition is gross. It is made up of the food the being eats and it is subject to aging, disease and death. The subtle and the causal bodies move on to take up new form after death and the soul is reborn. This is Samsara. Ghosts don't have gross bodies and they sometimes possess people to achieve certain good or bad
aims.

A spiritual person knows how to make good use of her gross body and use it as the instrument for spiritual practice and therefore eventually leads to liberation from Samsara. The dogs around you have chosen to stay with you because they have a strong affinity with you. In Buddhist and Hindu beliefs we say that you and they knew one another in former life times and there were unfinished business. Therefore in this life, you and they come together again. And so is your marriage and so are your children and so are your parents whom you chose to take up your form in this life.

Non-living things get trashed when their useful lives expire. The earth on which we live has an expiration date and therefore we need to love it. It doesn't have unlimited regenerative power. And so are our natural resources. And so I call for global reduction in demands starting with me. Do not buy a new X when you can still use your old X. Don't listen to ads of any sorts and be your own Lord when it comes to needs and wants and buying things. And this is how we should relate to things. For development of natural resources is limited whereas development of spiritual and humanity resources is unlimited. Transform all economies based on consumerism and therefore physical resource exploitation into  economies based on development of spiritual and humanity resources. No more statistics on GNPs, GDPs, profit margins but instead statistics on how much spiritual progress the human race as a whole has made.

YOGA, ZEN AND THE MIND

Book 1 Sutra 2 of Patanjali's Yoga Sutra reads योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः yogashchittavṛittinirodhaH, which means Yoga is to block the functions of the mind.

In Mandarin Chinese it is rendered zhixin yichu (置心一處), literally 'to put the mind at rest.' This is the Huayen Zen Buddhist philosophy and practice of the Da Huayen Monastery.

From these two references you can clearly see the parallel between Huayen Zen that Ven. Haiyun Jimeng teaches and Yoga that Patanjali taught.

When we forget our own true identity and get involved with the changing patterns or modifications of our minds, we experience all the emotions and feel their good or bad effects. If we realise that we are the mere spectator of a play, we can remain detached from the emotions and their effects. This is very difficult to do but we can do this by blocking the functioning of the mind and developing an impartial attitude of true self towards these activities of mind.

Created on 2 April 2010

Samadhi Paada समधि पाद Part on Enlightenment

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali contain four chapters, a total of 196 sutras.
Chapter 1: Samadhi Paada The Part on Enlightenment, 51 sutras
Chapter 2: Sadhana Paada The Part on Practices, 55 sutras
Chapter 3: Vibhuti Paada The Part on Progress, 56 sutras
Chapter 4: Kaivalya Paada The Part on Liberation, 34 sutras

Chapter 1 Sutra 1 Text with Sandhi [1] : 1.1 अथ योगानुशासनम् atha yogaanushaasanam
1.1 Now, the instruction in Yoga follows.
Text without Sandhi: अथ योग अनुशासनम् atha yoga anushaasanam
अथ atha indeclinable
योग yoga [2] noun masculine derived from the root 'yuj' to join
अनुशासनम् = अनु anu [3] + शासनम् shaasanam [4]

1.2. योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः yogashchittavrittinirodhaH [5]
1.2 Yoga is the restraint (cessation) of fluctuation (modification) of the mind.
योगः चित्त [6] yogash chitta वृत्ति निरोधः vritti nirodhaH
योगः yogaH (masculine) derived from the root ‘yuj’ to join
चित्त - chitta [7] (neuter) mind, reason वृत्ति – (Feminine) modification / fluctuation
निरोधः- (stop) नि ni [8] (prefix) + रोधः ( restraint / control)

1.3. तदा द्रष्टुः स्वरूपे अवस्थानम् tadaa draShTuH svaruupe avasthaanam
1.3 Then there is abiding in the seer’s own form.[9]
तदा tadaa (ind. अथ indeclinable) then
द्रष्टुः drashTuH (masculine genitive, singular) of the seer, the one with insight inner insight, perceive, understand स्व sva own रूपे ruupe (neuter, locative singular) form, shape, figure (cf. वस्तु vastu substance)
अवस्थानम् avasthaanam (neuter, nominative, singular) standing, dwelling, abiding (living and residing in)
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1. the grammatical relation between two syllables in the internal process of the Sanskrit sentence structure, which has its origin in chanting the Vedas with proper accent and rhythm
2. Yoga or yog: It is the natural habit of certain dialects such as Hindi and Gujarati to drop the last letter of a word, but Sanskrit, which is an absolutely scientific language, requires all sounds to be pronounced as written. Hence one who says Yoga is closer to heaven because one has more merits in pronouncing the word correctly. One may choose to say yog casually in one's own dialect, but that is not speaking Sanskrit.
3. the prefix denoting what follows (one of the 22 prefixes in Sanskrit)
4. in standalone usage, shaasanam means rule or teach, as in Buddha shaasanam; when used with the prefix anu it means instruction.
5. in the vowels ri rI, there is a dot under the r as the correct dialectic mark
6. (त्त double tt त्त, त single t and त्त tt)
7. cf. chit universe consciousness as in sat (true nature), cit (universal consciousness), ananda (supreme bliss)
8. prefix ni: as in gacchati go and ni + gacchati to come out.
9. then be in your own form, to visualize your own form, your inner true nature, to be in Samadhi, where there is no movement because all modification of the mind has ceased and be in your own internal form.