mudra

[form]

Can mudra be an aid in meditation? What r your experience?

This morning i reuse a yogic mudra and it seems very powerful in creating concentration.

[pilgrim]

There's no basis for the efficacy of mudras in Theravada. It is used more for artistic representation in statues.

[chownah]

Can mudra be an aid in meditation? What r your experience?

This morning i reuse a yogic mudra and it seems very powerful in creating concentration.

I have no opinion to express as to whether mudra can be an aid in meditation.
There are different kinds of concentration. When concidering a new kind of concentration for ones practice it is probably a good idea for buddhists to do some thinking as to whether it is Right Concentration or not.
chownah

[Volo]

There are mudras as hand gestures used during the pujas. As mentioned above, they are useless for concentration. There are also yogic exercises, like kechari mudra, vajroli mudra, mahamudra, bandhas, etc, often combined with pranayama. I personally don't use any of them. I do believe they might create calmness, happiness or concentration, but imo it is artificial. It is like imitating the result hoping to get its cause. Not even talking about how dangerous they might be for the health if practiced without experienced teacher.

I will quote Osho here, because I totally agree with him on this point:

Don't try to destroy it [i.e. mind]. Many have tried to destroy it through Yoga. That is a misuse of Yoga. Many have tried to destroy it through body posture, breathing - that too brings subtle chemical changes inside. For example: if you stand on your head in shirshasana in the headstand - you can destroy the mind very easily, because when the blood rushes too much, like a flood, into the head. When you stand on your head that's what you are trying to do - the mind mechanism is very delicate; you are flooding it with blood. The delicate tissues die. That's why you never come across a very intelligent yogi no. Yogis are, more or less, stupid. Their bodies are healthy that's true - strong, but their minds are just dead. You will not see the glimmer of intelligence. You will see a very robust body, animal-like, but somehow the human has disappeared.

Standing on your head, you are forcing your blood into the head through gravitation. The head needs blood, but in a very, very small quantity; and very slowly, not flood like. Against gravitation, very little blood reaches the head. And that, too, in a very silent way. If too much blood reaches into the head it is destructive.

Yoga has been used to kill the mind; breathing can be used to kill the mind. There are rhythms of breath, subtle vibrations of breath, which can be very, very drastic to the delicate mind. The mind can be destroyed through them. These are old tricks. Now the latest tricks are supplied by science: LSD, marijuana and others. More and more sophisticated drugs will be available sooner or later.

I am not in favor of stopping the mind; I am in favor of watching it. It stops of its own accord, and then it is beautiful. When something happens without any violence it has a beauty of its own, it has a natural growth. You can force a flower and open it by force, you can pull the petals of a bud and open it by force - but you have destroyed the beauty of the flower. Now it is almost dead. It cannot stand your violence. The petals will be hanging loose, limp, dying. When the bud opens by its own energy, when it opens of its own accord, then those petals are alive.

The mind is your flowering don't force it in any way. I am against all force and against all violence, and particularly violence that is directed towards yourself.

Just watch, in deep prayerfulness, love, reverence, and see what happens, miracles happen of their own accord. There is no need to pull and push.

You ask how to stop thinking? I say: Just watch, be alert. And drop this idea of stopping, otherwise it will stop the natural transformation of the mind. Drop this idea of stopping. Who are you to stop? At the most, enjoy.

[salayatananirodha]

I find myself doing them without trying to do them
It's not different from body language

[form]

There are mudras as hand gestures used during the pujas. As mentioned above, they are useless for concentration. There are also yogic exercises, like kechari mudra, vajroli mudra, mahamudra, bandhas, etc, often combined with pranayama. I personally don't use any of them. I do believe they might create calmness, happiness or concentration, but imo it is artificial. It is like imitating the result hoping to get its cause. Not even talking about how dangerous they might be for the health if practiced without experienced teacher.

I will quote Osho here, because I totally agree with him on this point:

Don't try to destroy it [i.e. mind]. Many have tried to destroy it through Yoga. That is a misuse of Yoga. Many have tried to destroy it through body posture, breathing - that too brings subtle chemical changes inside. For example: if you stand on your head in shirshasana in the headstand - you can destroy the mind very easily, because when the blood rushes too much, like a flood, into the head. When you stand on your head that's what you are trying to do - the mind mechanism is very delicate; you are flooding it with blood. The delicate tissues die. That's why you never come across a very intelligent yogi no. Yogis are, more or less, stupid. Their bodies are healthy that's true - strong, but their minds are just dead. You will not see the glimmer of intelligence. You will see a very robust body, animal-like, but somehow the human has disappeared.

Standing on your head, you are forcing your blood into the head through gravitation. The head needs blood, but in a very, very small quantity; and very slowly, not flood like. Against gravitation, very little blood reaches the head. And that, too, in a very silent way. If too much blood reaches into the head it is destructive.

Yoga has been used to kill the mind; breathing can be used to kill the mind. There are rhythms of breath, subtle vibrations of breath, which can be very, very drastic to the delicate mind. The mind can be destroyed through them. These are old tricks. Now the latest tricks are supplied by science: LSD, marijuana and others. More and more sophisticated drugs will be available sooner or later.

I am not in favor of stopping the mind; I am in favor of watching it. It stops of its own accord, and then it is beautiful. When something happens without any violence it has a beauty of its own, it has a natural growth. You can force a flower and open it by force, you can pull the petals of a bud and open it by force - but you have destroyed the beauty of the flower. Now it is almost dead. It cannot stand your violence. The petals will be hanging loose, limp, dying. When the bud opens by its own energy, when it opens of its own accord, then those petals are alive.

The mind is your flowering don't force it in any way. I am against all force and against all violence, and particularly violence that is directed towards yourself.

Just watch, in deep prayerfulness, love, reverence, and see what happens, miracles happen of their own accord. There is no need to pull and push.

You ask how to stop thinking? I say: Just watch, be alert. And drop this idea of stopping, otherwise it will stop the natural transformation of the mind. Drop this idea of stopping. Who are you to stop? At the most, enjoy.

Wow. the quote on yoga damage the mind seems very extreme yet illogical. A healthy body should be able to support the brain and hence the mind properly. This is why yogi are healthy yet stupid do not make sense. Some of them could even have quite high level insight.

[Volo]

If yoga (meaning physical postures and special breath techniques) would be useful, Buddha would teach it. But although he did practice some kind of pranayama during his acetic years (in particular holding the breath), and even confirmed that he could attain strong mindfulness by that, he eventually dropped it, and hasn't taught his disciples these methods after the enlightenment. We don't know much about postural yogic exercises he might have done, but he tried quite a lot with the body, like continuous standing, etc. So, he probably was also quite familiar with the impact different postures have on the mind, but again he hadn't introduced this in his teachings.

Wow. the quote on yoga damage the mind seems very extreme yet illogical. A healthy body should be able to support the brain and hence the mind properly. This is why yogi are healthy yet stupid do not make sense.

Healthy body doesn't at all mean healthy mind. There are a lot of stupid people, who have very healthy bodies. Gymnasts can sit in any yoga asana, but I doubt their ability to attain concentration is any different from other people.

Some of them could even have quite high level insight.

This I don't argue.

[form]

What about chants?

[Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta]

As of now, kindle edition for "Mudras for Beginners" is free, 100 % discount from $9.99. May be the same price reduction for every one. (Moderators: Please kindly edit or delete this post as necessary, when it is no longer free, if deemed inappropriate as per TOS 3.b.)

• Mudras for Beginners: Your Ultimate Beginners Guide to using Simple Hand Gestures for achieving Everlasting Health, Rapid Weight Loss and Easy Self Healing

https://www.amazon.com/Mudras-Beginners ... B00XWCR26I

[SarathW]

Sitting cross leg and keep hands in a particular way is is a form of Mudra. I wonder Mudra is a form of natural body language as well. At the same time some people exaggerate and fake it.

[SteRo]

Can mudra be an aid in meditation? What r your experience?

If done selflessly without intention you're already in meditation when naturally performing mudra. If done intentionally it's distraction. Not to speak about the foolishness of learning to perform a mudra.

What about chants?

If it's chanting a mantra or a dharani received from the Teacher then that's great.

[SteRo]

What about chants?

If it's chanting a mantra or a dharani received from the Teacher then that's great.

However ... never let it become a ritual. Never ever. Ritual destroys connection with the flow. Regardless of what you perform as "practice" as soon as it becomes 'your practice' you're doomed.

[Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta]

• It is found that this mudra concept based upon the following finger-element relationship theory is not for me. And, the same applies to the accompanying rationales and the practices, stemming from that theory.

  The Mudra healing method that I am going to teach you depends on our fingers. To understand this, we should first know the finger-element relationship:

  • Thumb – Fire element.
  • Index finger – Air element.
  • Middle finger – Space/Vacuum element.
  • Third finger – Earth element.
  • Small finger – Water element.

  from: Mudras for Beginners/ by Advait

[Sabbe_Dhamma_Anatta]

• This hand position is preferred for beginners in some retreats.
  
  
  
  
  Rationale:
  • just rest and relax the hands on the thighs
  • palms-up: to avoid the quite-touch-sensitive palmer surface from the contact with thighs or knees.

• 

[Aloka]

Can mudra be an aid in meditation? What r your experience?

This morning i reuse a yogic mudra and it seems very powerful in creating concentration.

Mudras are used in some Tibetan Buddhist practices and ceremonies and they also feature in Tibetan Buddhist art.

There's some information about them here:

https://tricycle.org/magazine/mudra/

I've never had any interest in using them myself.