Category: Buddhism

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 8 of 10 – Vow

Gan
Pranidhana Paramita
Vow

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of focusing unstoppable intent. I direct my aim!

The world, full of distractions, conspires to take you off course, as mentioned in the powers of effort and meditation. Most of the time, those efforts are mass communications tactics such as ads. Sometimes, however, we face more than generic, broad distraction – we face legitimate opposition. Maybe a supervillain manifests themselves in our life, actively working against us. Maybe circumstances give us a concrete opponent to fight as opposed to a diffuse enemy.

The superhero power of vow is a companion to effort – not only do you get things done, but you defuse, disarm, or destroy all obstacles in your path, defeating the efforts of anyone or anything to derail you. Your commitment to upholding the things you believe in – your discipline (power #2) cannot be shaken, no matter how hard enemies try.

Commit today and every day to working for what you believe in the face of adversity with your thoughts, words, and actions.

Thought: Take a moment today to examine your internal enemies, familiar villains like guilt, doubt, and procrastination. How can you knock them out of the fight?

Word: Take a moment today to clean up communications. Delete Internet bookmarks of web sites that are persistent negative influences, and un-friend those online contacts whose diaries are never-ending rivers of pessimism and woe.

Action: Set up your life to make invasion by enemies difficult. A to-do list punishes procrastination. Affirming art, photos, and posters can debilitate doubt. Positive, inspiring music can flood guilt away. Close virtual and real office doors when you need to reaffirm your mission without interference.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 7 of 10 – Skillful Means

Hoben
Upaya Paramita
Skillful Means

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of finding the best way for success. I effectively encourage results!

“Just do it” is great – momentum more often than not will generate results over inaction, but if effort is the engine, skill is the steering wheel. With your superhero new media powers, you have the ability, the power to make great changes and accomplish great things, but being able to use those powers to accomplish the most with the least effort is the mark of a veteran hero.

How can you accomplish things most efficiently and effectively? We talked earlier about obtaining win-win situations, but how? A superhero power in its own right is knowing humanity. Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes quotes an old expression, “I know what is going to happen because I know humanity, and I know humanity because I have studied myself.” Learn how you react in situations so that you can anticipate and defuse problems before they even begin.

Commit today and every day to using your thoughts, words, and actions to make your life and the lives around you run smoothly with careful planning and skillful understanding of yours and others’ only too human habits.

Thought: Take a moment today to examine a habit of yours that you know holds you back. Instead of feeling badly about it, what one thing can you do today to change course towards productive ends?

Word: Take a moment today to rewrite something you’ve written in the past and consider what changes and edits you’re making to improve the piece. Make note of them so that you write with them in mind on future first drafts.

Action: Take a moment today to optimize your workplace. Remove old trash, refile things, and clean up so that your ability to accomplish is unhindered by incidental distraction.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 6 of 10 – Transcendent Wisdom

Hannya
Prajna Paramita
Transcendent Wisdom

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of knowing highest truth. I keep sight of the big picture!

Have you ever gotten so caught up in the details of an argument that you forgot completely what you were arguing about in the first place? Have you ever had the experience of looking back at an argument days or weeks later and even laughing about it with the person you were arguing with?

The superhero power of “transcendent wisdom” sounds kind of funny, but it’s very authentic. Have you ever sat through a traffic jam and just as you got through the bottleneck, looked backwards to see the huge line of cars and thought, “Wow, I sat through all of that?” Transcendent wisdom is the power of being able to “look back” right now – to know that whatever situation you’re facing, not only will it pass, but it will probably be funny or at least a great story to tell in the times to come.

Commit today and every day to take a step back from the entanglements of details to gain a greater appreciation for just how far you’ve come, and inspire your thoughts, words, and actions to power through whatever temporary frustrations and setbacks you might face, knowing you’ll be able to look back with appreciation later.

Thought: Take a moment today to imagine how this day will look in the future, and what you want to be able to remember about how special it was.

Word: In a conversation or blog post, consider how your words will read or be remembered in the future, and communicate skillfully to create great memories for the future.

Action: Examine your to-do list today and accomplish one thing on the list that you will be able to point to in the future as a significant deed.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 5 of 10 – Meditation

Zenjo
Dhyana Paramita
Meditation

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of concentrated awareness. I am in the moment here and now!

Our society conspires against you every moment of every day to take you off course, away from your goals and dreams. Marketers flood you with advertisements, politicians mouth empty promises, and cutting through the fog of noise requires heroic effort unto itself. Every superhero has their retreat, their hidden sanctuary or fortress of solitude where they can go to reflect, recharge, and refocus. The real secret is that your personal fortress of solitude can go wherever you go, because it’s always inside you.

Meditation means more than just sitting down and breathing, although that’s as good a place to start as any. Find what works for you, whether it’s Zen-style seated meditation, playing the piano for an hour, going for a long walk, or whatever it is you need to do to clear your head of distraction.

Commit today and every day to finding something to tune into that is positive, inspiring, and uplifting, then tie that to a special word, gesture, or mental keyword that you can recall at a moment’s notice every time you engage in your meditation-style activity.

Thought: find a memory, dream, or time in your life when you felt as close to perfectly calm and content as you can remember during every meditation-style activity.

Word: with the memory in mind, assign a special word to it that you don’t use conversationally, perhaps in another language. Say it out loud during your meditation-style activity.

Deed: create and assign a special gesture to your memory of contented calmness that you don’t use in daily life, such as dusting off imaginary dirt from your shirt, and make that gesture during your meditation-style activity. When life gets hectic, take a moment to say your special words and perform your special gesture to refocus your mind.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 4 of 10 – Effort

Shojin
Virya Paramita
Effort

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of courageous, diligent effort. I work to make things happen!

The ability to make things happen, to get motivated to jump in and get the job done, the reputation of the person who always generates the results – these are superhero powers in their own right. Having someone who can create results is good – being the person who can create results is great.

Positive momentum starts with the famous sneaker slogan – just do it. There’s an expression attributed to Voltaire – best is often the enemy of good (enough). Once you get rolling, it’s much easier to build momentum, so the very best time to do something is right now. Be the superhero who leaps into action (thoughtfully, of course) and leads from the front.

Responsibility as a word has been tarnished by people unwilling or unable to act – it’s not an obligation, but the ability to respond, to act, to move forward when no one else is willing to step up.

Commit today and every day to taking responsibility for your life and deciding where you will take your life, rather than where life will take you, in your thoughts, words, and actions.

Thought: Take a moment today to create a to do list, but rather than prioritize solely in terms of importance, focus on what you can get done today.

Word: Is there someone you’ve been meaning to call or write? Stop reading this blog post and go do it NOW.

Action: What have you been putting off that you know you must accomplish? Do it now, do it today, and get it done.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 3 of 10 – Patience

Ninniku
Kshanti Paramita
Patience

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of tolerant patience. I do not take opposition personally!

The musician Munk has a striking lyric in one of his songs – for every light that shines, a shadow falls. The world is full of people who aren’t ready to be heroes yet, and may actually resent the idea that others are trying to go past our human frailties towards a life of meaning.

As you awaken your superhero powers, there will be people who will think differently, speak harshly, and perhaps even act contrary to your and their own best interests. What may appear at first to be an enemy may simply be a call for help twisted beyond recognition. Rather than engage them in battle, just remember that every storm must pass. True, there are times when you will need to take a stand against legitimate supervillains, but those are few and far between.

Commit today and every day to being mentally bulletproof by enduring and patiently waiting out battles that you don’t have to fight with focused thoughts, words, and actions.

Thought: Take a moment today and every day when you feel an instinct to lash back at someone to ask yourself: is this a battle I need to fight, or can I just wait this out?

Word: In a conversation today and every day, when you feel the need to react to someone else’s words, ask yourself how you can ignore, redirect, or even create confusion in the conversation rather than deliver a heated reply.

Action: As you move through your daily life today and every day, practice taking a deep, satisfying, long breath with your eyes closed or partially shaded when you feel the physical effects of stress beginning to take hold of you.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Power 1 of 10 – Generosity

Fu Sei
Dana Paramita
Generosity

As part of my every thought, word, and action, I am inspired by the heroic ideal of generously caring for others. I want to make the world a better place!

The foundation of your superhero powers rests on your desire to make the world around you, from distant cities to your neighborhood, a better place. Even something as simple as picking up a piece of litter makes a change for the better.

Even more powerfully, you can turn what are normally human weaknesses into strengths. Selfishness can be twisted into enlightened self interest, where you work for solutions that benefit you AND benefit the people you work with. Find ways to help everyone win, and in doing so you’ll gain the benefits for yourself as well. The more you can give, the more you can share, the more you’ll earn and grow. Some people call this the Golden Rule, others call it Giver’s Game, but at each opportunity to score a win for both the home team and the visiting team, do so.

Commit today and every day to make the world a better place with a focused thought, word, and action.

Thought: In a situation today and every day when you’re inclined to view a situation as win/lose, find a way to twist the situation to everyone’s advantage.

Word: In a conversation you have today and every day, find a moment to turn harsh words into constructive ones, free of venom but helpful.

Action: In a place today and every day, find a moment to clean up a piece of litter, turn off a leaky faucet, or another small but meaningful gesture that helps make the world a better place immediately.

Endnote: The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo.

Awaken YOUR Superhero Powers : Introduction

We live in an age starved for heroes. The resurgence of hero movies, hero TV shows, hero stories, and the willingness by the media to label anyone with an ounce of initiative a hero shows how badly we need to find heroes in our society.

But… what if you could have more? What if, instead of fictional characters in tights and capes on a screen, you could find a hero inside yourself? What if you could LIVE the powers of a superhero, brought to life inside your own heart and mind? Would you?

I’m going to publish a series of 10 blog posts on the topic – the 10 qualities of a superhero. The powers themselves are translated by Senior Master Instructor Stephen K. Hayes from the Enlightened Warrior Gyoja Practitioner Recitation Handbook, published by the Kinryuzan Golden Dragon Mountain Kasumi-An Dojo. These have very, very old roots, and the commentary on them is mine alone.

The ten qualities of a superhero aren’t a means to obtain superpowers, because you already have those. Today, from a device the size of a candy bar, you have access to the bulk of humanity’s knowledge. Today, from a telephone in a pocket, you can instantly communicate with the other side of the planet. Today, from any broadband computer with a Web browser, you can see and affect events in far away lands. The abilities technology gives us would have been labeled magical a hundred years ago, and sorcery three hundred years ago. You already have the powers; the qualities of a superhero are to help guide you and put them to use.

Shikin haramitsu daikomyo. Every day could be the day when it all comes together, when everything WORKS, and we begin to bring our potential to life. Get ready to awaken your superhero.