Meditation beads and meditation…
I made another set of meditation beads the other night out of some neat bamboo beads I found and some hemp cording and I really like how they turned out. I have a full 108 bead set of meditation beads I had made when I first started attempting to meditate, but I find that as I’m trying to actually meditate instead of just read/think/talk about doing it that the full set is a bit long for me for now. With this new set I tied knots between each of the beads like I did for the Rosary I made for my grandmother and I like the way that sets each bead apart a bit–some day I’ll go back and restring my larger set and knot them as well.
I don’t really think of meditation as prayer, but rather as a way of being quiet and “meditating” on being in the moment, and on feeling compassion for myself and the people around me. Thich Nhat Hanh writes of the fact that when we can have compassion for our ownselves and our weaknesses and sorrows, then we will have more compassion for others.
I made this smaller set (I call them my Smiling beads) up in sets of the number 4 to go along with two specific meditations I use with it–what I call the Smiling Meditation and the Loving-Kindness (Metta) Meditation. I sit on the floor and put two 3×5 cards in front of me with the meditations written on them as I don’t know them by heart yet. The Smiling Meditation focuses on the idea that each moment is an eternity and that no matter what that moment is like—it is a wonderful moment to be alive. This comes from the book Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hanh who is one of two Buddhists that I hold the most respect for and have gained the most knowledge from (the other is Pema Chodron). He writes:
“Breathing in, I calm my body.” Reciting this line is like drinking a glass of ice water—you feel the cold, the freshness, permeate your body. When I breathe in and recite this line, I actually feel the breathing calming my body, calming my mind.
“Breathing out, I smile.” You know the effect of a smile. A smile can relax hundreds of muscles in your face, and relax your nervous system. A smile makes you master of yourself. That is why the Buddhas and bodhisattvas [people who reach enlightenment but stay on earth to help other people] are always smiling. When you smile, you realize the wonder of the smile.
“Dwelling in the present moment.” While I sit here, I don’t think of somewhere else, of the future or the past. I sit here, and I know where I am. This is very important. We tend to be alive in the future, not now. We say, “Wait until I finish school and get my PH.D. degree and then I will be really alive.” When we have it, and it wasn’t easy to get, we say to ourselves, “I have to wait until I have a job in order to be really alive.” And then after the job, a car. After the car, a house. We are not capable of being alive in the present moment. We tend to postpone being alive to the future, the distant future, we don’t know when. Now is not the moment to be alive. We may never be alive at all in our entire life. Therefore, the technique, if we have to speak of a technique, is to be in the present moment, to be aware that we are here and now, and the only moment to be alive is the present moment.
“I know this is a wonderful moment.” This is the only moment that is real. To be here and now, and enjoy the present moment is our most important task. “Calming, Smiling, Present moment, Wonderful moment.”
The second meditation I use (for the larger beads) is the Metta (Loving-Kindness) which is taken from something that Buddha spoke of. This is designed to show loving kindness first to ourselves, then to family and friends, then to someone difficult to like or someone you are angry with, and then to the world—the purpose is to teach us to give loving kindness and compassion in an ever widening circle.
I Start with the extra large focal bead: Loving-Kindness (Metta) for myself:
May I be well.
May I feel safe and protected.
May I feel pleased and content.
May my physical body support me.
May my life unfold smoothly with ease.
For the sets of eight smaller beads I do two sets of smiling meditation:
Bead 1: Breathing in, I calm my body
Bead 2: Breathing out, I smile.
Bead 3: (breathing in) Dwelling in the present moment,
Bead 4: (breathing out) I know this is a wonderful moment.
Bead 5: Breathing in, I calm my body
Bead 6: Breathing out, I smile.
Bead 7: (breathing in) Dwelling in the present moment,
Bead 8: (breathing out) I know this is a wonderful moment.
1st Large Bead: Loving-Kindness (metta) Sutra for family and friends:
May my friends and family be well.
May they feel safe and protected.
May they feel pleased and content.
May their physical bodies support them.
May their lives unfold smoothly with ease.
Repeat 8 smiling meditation beads
2nd Large Bead: Loving-Kindness Sutra for someone I dislike or am angry with:
May ______ be well.
May they feel safe and protected.
May they feel pleased and content.
May their physical body support them.
May their life unfold smoothly with ease.
Repeat 8 smiling meditation beads
3rd Large Bead: Loving-Kindness Sutra for the world at large.
May everyone be well.
May they feel safe and protected.
May they feel pleased and content.
May their physical bodies support them.
May their lives unfold smoothly with ease.
Finish with 8 smiling meditation beads which comes back to the focal bead.
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