About Buddha & Buddhism- Chakras & Crystal Healing
The Wonders of Buddha and Buddhism
Author: Bojana Mitrovic
In what has become a frenzied world, our endeavors to reach a state of perfect peace and happiness may seem impossible. Most of us have heard about the wonders of Buddhism, the importance of meditation and mindfulness, but have we opened ourselves up to this potential path of reaching nirvana? Let us explore the great spiritual leader Buddha and understand why his teachings still persist today.
With over 360 million followers, Buddhism separates itself from modern religion as an internally diverse philosophy and moral discipline. Siddhartha Gautama, also known as The Buddha or Buddha, began his legacy of teaching others to break free from samsara: the cycle of death and rebirth to which life in the material world is bound as early as the 5th century BCE (before the common era). His legacy was a mere reflection of his realization that life was suffering, and in order to eliminate this hardship of life one must live in enlightenment of the Four Noble Truths:
- Life is suffering
- Suffering results from longing
- Suffering ends as a result of an end to longing
- There is a path, and therefore a way, to eliminate longing and suffering in one’s life
The path we want to obtain within the Four Noble Truths is that of The Eightfold Path, which guides one to live without attachment. The Eightfold Path embodies principles of wisdom, conduct and mental discipline: Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Buddha’s development of this self-revolutionary belief system occurred at a time when Hinduism struggled to meet the needs of the people. This caused Buddhism to become a small yet new school of thought to the people of India. Soon the study and belief of Buddhism would spike and spread all throughout Asia as a result of Ashoka the Great of the Mauryan Empire’s commitment to the wholesome practice in an effort to renounce violence after the Kalinga War.
In part of practicing Buddhism, believers will use the main energy centers, also known as chakras, to meditate. The word chakra means disk or wheel and refers to the spinning energy which corresponds to specific sets of nerves or major organs. When a chakra is low in energy, one will have difficulty expressing particular qualities associated with that chakra. Likewise, when a chakra is high in energy, the qualities play a dominant force in one’s life and can have both physical and emotional effects. Chakras are important in providing us with a foundation for life in which we are self-aware and practice inner self-healing. One of the most common ways to enhance meditation is with crystals. Crystals, which have been used in healing and meditation practices for thousands of years, add a deeper dimension of inner exploration, of reinforcing intentions and raising consciousness. While meditation does not require anything but your body and your desire to commit to inner-peace, you may find that the use of crystals is the right meditation practice for you!
Written by: Bojana Mitrovic
Published by: Tamara Hanania @ The Life of a Gemini