Energy in Buddhism

[sky]

Originally Posted by Phaelyn

Seems like it would be impossible to prove chakras exist. They're invisible and subjective "feelings." The esoteric traditions in Buddhism generally teach four chakras. One could just choose to believe in them though.

Hears a interesting article regarding Chakras in Buddhism. It seems that different Schools are disagreeing on the numbers.


https://buddhists.org/buddhist-symbo...ras-explained/

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

I suspect you were taught a 7 Chakra system.

Do you feel the Chakra or the Aura?

You might be interested to know that a dynasty existed based/named after the Chakras.

[jonesboy]

Originally Posted by sky123

Hears a interesting article regarding Chakras in Buddhism. It seems that different Schools are disagreeing on the numbers.


https://buddhists.org/buddhist-symbo...ras-explained/

It's by someone named Shiva.. so I wouldn't think it is someone of Buddhist lineage talking.

Seems to have some unique views like How to Clear the Crown chakra.

https://buddhists.org/featured/clear...-the-universe/

[Unseeking Seeker]

***

In my view tradition, belief or non-belief has nothing to do with chakras or energy. It just is, as is.

A few days back, I met with a friend ... a pure soul, an artist. She knows nothing about chakras or kundalini etc. Yet she chose to voluntarily share that she feels a blissful energy rising from her spine into her head region via the medulla. What’s there to say about this?

I’ll not divert the Buddhist stream of discussion here but do leave a thought behind that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Once we feel the energy, be it potential and humming with potent power or kinetic with enabling & scintillating movement, we simply know, having so experienced. And many here have felt the deep vibrations.

***

[Phaelyn]

Originally Posted by sky123

Hears a interesting article regarding Chakras in Buddhism. It seems that different Schools are disagreeing on the numbers.


https://buddhists.org/buddhist-symbo...ras-explained/

Wiki said the theory grew into extensive elaboration, with some suggesting 88,000 chakras throughout the subtle body. I was reading up on where the belief or theory came from and it was from ancient Hinduism. The basic belief was we have a physical body and an energy body and the chakras were like where the two bodies interacted or communicated or connected. From various books on rebirth or reincarnation, the merging of the energy body (soul - conscious awareness) with the physical body and brain is very complex. The two body (chakra) idea from Hinduism makes sense in Hinduism because Hinduism teaches we have a soul or energy body. But I have no idea how the chakra idea would work with Buddhism that teaches there is no soul. Kinda odd for Buddhism to state there is no soul or energy body, then accepts Hinduism's theory of two bodies, one physical one energy.

But then Buddha did not mention chakras at all, his various mindfulness practices did however involve paying constant attention to feelings around throat, chest, solar plexus, lower abdomen, and feet. Similarly, anapana-sati (mindfulness of breathing) involves paying attention to the diaphragm, esp. the sensations experienced around the moment when the breath reverses its direction. So Buddha was referring to areas of the body where we could put our attention. I wonder if Buddha was rejecting the Chakra idea by never talking about it. He had to be aware of the beliefs.

Buddha and the Pali Canon never speak about chakras, these and other practices (yoga, tantra) were incorporated later, as people realized their (Hinduism's teachings) affinity with Buddhism's goal and methods.

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Phaelyn

Wiki said the theory grew into extensive elaboration, with some suggesting 88,000 chakras throughout the subtle body. I was reading up on where the belief or theory came from and it was from ancient Hinduism. The basic belief was we have a physical body and an energy body and the chakras were like where the two bodies interacted or communicated or connected. From various books on rebirth or reincarnation, the merging of the energy body (soul - conscious awareness) with the physical body and brain is very complex. The two body (chakra) idea from Hinduism makes sense in Hinduism because Hinduism teaches we have a soul or energy body. But I have no idea how the chakra idea would work with Buddhism that teaches there is no soul. Kinda odd for Buddhism to state there is no soul or energy body, then accepts Hinduism's theory of two bodies, one physical one energy.

But then Buddha did not mention chakras at all, his various mindfulness practices did however involve paying constant attention to feelings around throat, chest, solar plexus, lower abdomen, and feet. Similarly, anapana-sati (mindfulness of breathing) involves paying attention to the diaphragm, esp. the sensations experienced around the moment when the breath reverses its direction. So Buddha was referring to areas of the body where we could put our attention. I wonder if Buddha was rejecting the Chakra idea by never talking about it. He had to be aware of the beliefs.

Buddha and the Pali Canon never speak about chakras, these and other practices (yoga, tantra) were incorporated later, as people realized their (Hinduism's teachings) affinity with Buddhism's goal and methods.

Older Hindu teachings on Chakras seem to be dramatically different then what some teach today.

As for Buddhism, it appears the Theosophical Society introduced Chakras to the West. That version of Chakras is different then what is taught today. It should be noted that the Theosophical Society's first President was Colonel Olcott who reintroduced Buddhist to Sri Lanka. He also wrote a Buddhist catechism.

In one predominate Buddhist nation, a dynasty existed based upon the Chakra.

[sky]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Older Hindu teachings on Chakras seem to be dramatically different then what some teach today.

As for Buddhism, it appears the Theosophical Society introduced Chakras to the West. That version of Chakras is different then what is taught today. It should be noted that the Theosophical Society's first President was Colonel Olcott who reintroduced Buddhist to Sri Lanka. He also wrote a Buddhist catechism.

In one predominate Buddhist nation, a dynasty existed based upon the Chakra.

' As for Buddhism, it appears the Theosophical Society introduced Chakras to the West '


Definitely not, fake news

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

Older Hindu teachings on Chakras seem to be dramatically different then what some teach today.

As for Buddhism, it appears the Theosophical Society introduced Chakras to the West. That version of Chakras is different then what is taught today. It should be noted that the Theosophical Society's first President was Colonel Olcott who reintroduced Buddhist to Sri Lanka. He also wrote a Buddhist catechism.

In one predominate Buddhist nation, a dynasty existed based upon the Chakra.

Colonel Olcott was your typical polymath. In the West he is generally known as the person who saw the first death in the American Civil War and as the person who 'saw' the last death of the American Civil War which in of itself was a major feat.

He also wrote a book which stimulated interest in Spiritualism.


In The East, He is known for providing the pocketbook for the Theosophical Society which became the gateway to the West for Eastern beliefs. One such belief was that of Chakras and Auras. Another was Buddhism in of itself.

[Gem]

Really not a Buddhist thing since Gotama didn't mention it, and hence, not included in the Pali Canon, but various groups added it in from their own esoteric traditions so it was included in a few Buddhist sects I suppose.


There are reasons for not making a fuss over chakras and so forth. Mainly because the mindfulness of body regards all feeling equally and gives no body part or type of feeling any particular importance.


You should start with making strong moral commitments so that you have a compass for good-will against which to recognise your own animosity, antipathy, malice, greed and so forth.


You'll need that to be truthful in your self-awareness and if you can live with the truth and in accordance with the truth, rather than be compelled by your delusions, at least to some significant degree, then your meditation will be more productive. By this time, you won't care about energy any more than you care about how your fingers feel as that touch the keypad. This absence of preferences toward feelings will subdue your aversions and cravings, thereby reducing the agitations of the mind and fortifying your ability for the equanimity which enables the purification to proceed.

[Tuesday]

Originally Posted by BigJohn

I suspect you were taught a 7 Chakra system.

Do you feel the Chakra or the Aura?

What do you mean by "the Chakra"?