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antistatic

Sat, 12 Jun 2010 12:04:39 +0400

antistatic is all about living.

We want people to live our works, not just interact with them.

We’re dedicated to bring a captivating and immersive projects, backed by our huge experience of rich media development and intensive studies of cognitive and behavioral sciences.

Being free from commerce and restrictive deadlines, our development process is more like crafting, advancing forward gently and thoroughly, polishing our experiments until they’re believable and vivid enough to live them.

We’re working on something beautiful to happen.
Stay tuned.

Like an elephant

Tue, 18 May 2010 12:45:00 +0400

К этому посту Ярослава.

Сначала я хотел написать о том, что “призвание” - понятие весьма субьективное и эфемерное. Человек - это скорее процесс, чем сущность, и четкое осознание и понимание “призвания” - это все-таки большая редкость. Еще я хотел написать о том, что “уникальность” собственного мира - тоже крайне субьективна, и паттерн “Шерлок Холмс” имплицитно предполагает сохранение уникальности, как образующего признака, иначе граница между “Мастером” и “Шерлоком Холмсом” начинает стираться. Еще хотелось написать о том, что признак “Форреста Гампа” - отсутствие долгосрочных планов и стратегий вполне может быть присущ и “Мастеру”, и “Шерлоку Холмсу”, и уж тем более “Кочевнику”.

Но это все не отвечало бы на собственно вопрос Ярослава. А то, что на него отвечает, уже давно написали до меня:

“Let one walk alone, committing no sin, with few wishes, like an elephant in the forest.”

- The Dhammapada

Non-attachment

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:39:19 +0300

Kitano Gempo, abbot of Eihei temple, was ninety-two years old when he passed away in the year 1933. He endeavored his whole life not to be attached to anything. As a wandering mendicant when he was twenty he happened to meet a traveler who smoked tobacco. As they walked together down a mountain road, they stopped under a tree to rest. The traveler offered Kitano a smoke, which he accepted, as he was very hungry at the time.

“How pleasant this smoking is,” he commented. The other gave him an extra pipe and tobacco and they parted.

Kitano felt: “Such pleasant things may disturb meditation. Before this goes too far, I will stop now.” So he threw the smoking outfit away.

When he was twenty-three years old he studied I-King, the profoundest doctrine of the universe. It was winter at the time and he needed some heavy clothes. He wrote his teacher, who lived a hundred miles away, telling him of his need, and gave the letter to a traveler to deliver. Almost the whole winter passed and neither answer nor clothes arrived. So Kitano resorted to the prescience of I-King, which also teaches the art of divination, to determine whether or not his letter had miscarried. He found that this had been the case. A letter afterwards from his teacher made no mention of clothes.

“If I perform such accurate determinative work with I-King, I may neglect my meditation,” felt Kitano. So he gave up this marvelous teaching and never resorted to its powers again.

When he was twenty-eight he studied Chinese calligraphy and poetry. He grew so skillful in these arts that his teacher praised him. Kitano mused: “If I don’t stop now, I’ll be a poet, not a Zen teacher.” So he never wrote another poem.

"Leave the body at rest, like an unmovable mountain. Leave the speech at rest, like an unstrung..."

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:30:00 +0300

“

Leave the body at rest, like an unmovable mountain.

Leave the speech at rest, like an unstrung guitar.

Live the mind at rest like a shepherd after dusk who has brought his flock home and sits content by the warm fire.

”

On monasteries

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:36:00 +0300

Another complication brought by modern way of life is monasteries. Still being a very respective institute, the differences between monastery life and worldly life are way bigger now than, let’s say, 1000 years ago. For that time, going to the monastery was not uncommon, good and respectable move. For our time, going to the monastery is something in between crazy and heroic.

Ages ago, monasteries has played a big role in the life of the society. Nowadays, they’re existing very much on their own, decreasing influence of Buddhism on the society greatly.

"Wait, wait,” a follower once cried after the Buddha as he disappeared into the forest. “I stopped a..."

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:10:00 +0300

““Wait, wait,” a follower once cried after the Buddha as he disappeared into the forest. “I stopped a long time ago,” Buddha replied. “When will you stop?””

- Buddhist tale

"Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, practicing deep prajna paramita Clearly saw that all five skandhas are..."

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 23:05:00 +0300

“

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, practicing deep prajna paramita

Clearly saw that all five skandhas are empty, transforming all suffering and distress.

Form is no other than emptiness, emptiness no other than form;

Form is exactly emptiness, emptiness exactly form; sensation, thought, impulse, consciousness are also like this.

All things are marked by emptiness — not born, not destroyed;

not stained, not pure; without gain, without loss.

Therefore, in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, thought, impulse, consciousness;

no eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind;

no color, sound, smell, taste, touch, object of thought;

no realm of sight to no realm of thought;

no ignorance and also no ending of ignorance

to no old age and death and also no ending of old age and death;

no suffering, also no source of suffering, no annihilation, no path;

no wisdom, also no attainment. Having nothing to attain, Bodhisattvas live prajna paramita with no hindrance in the mind. No hindrance, thus no fear. Far beyond delusive thinking, they attain complete Nirvana.

All Buddhas past, present, and future live prajna paramita and thus attain perfect awakened enlightenment.

Therefore, know that prajna paramita is the great mantra, the wisdom mantra, the unsurpassed mantra, the supreme mantra, which completely removes all suffering.

This is truth, not deception. Therefore, set forth the prajna paramita mantra, set forth this mantra and say:

Gaté, gaté, paragaté, parasamgaté, Bodhi Svaha.

”

- The Heart Sutra

Om Mani Pedmé Hung

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:59:00 +0300

“Om” is sound of the universe. “Mani” means jewel, “Pedmé” means lotus, so together its jewel in the lotus.

And the funny part - “Hung” has no specific meaning here, its not for its meaning, but for the completeness of the vibrational tone. “Hung” is the consort of “Om.”

On honesty

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:50:30 +0300

Its very important to be honest to yourself. Being honest means paying attention to your own thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Awareness of self and honesty to self are interlinked, there’s no one thing without another. Being honest to self, you’re moving closer to the enlightenment.

On concentration

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:20:00 +0300

Concentration (attention, focus, whatever) is tricky. Its hard to practice properly.

When meditation, I’m often falling into “possessing” kind of concentration. You can compare it with watching movie, when your mind moves with object of concentration.

Proper way to concentrate is “observing”. Let everything go. No regrets, no worries. Do not care of anything at all. After then, start noticing object of concentration. Do not allow it to move your mind, just observe. If you feel it starts to enter into your mind, let everything go again, and start over.

upd: Its called nyon-yid (deluded awareness) in Dzogchen. Gotta dig Nyingma stuff a lil bit deeper.

On cold showers

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:13:17 +0300

My studies on Buddhism are like small pictures, clicking in their places. Its not like discovering something new, or proving theorems. Its more like gathering small pieces, making the whole picture.

In Nov 09 I’ve stumbled upon cold showers. I’m practicing contrast shower in the morning (waking up at 0500) for, and despite being very helpful to wake up, for some reason it’s also helpful for meditation.

Cold showers were applied in the psychotherapy since its very beginning. There’s also Shinto “water Misogi” practice of lustration, when practitioner was standing under the cold waterfall. With my own positive experience, this combination has attracted my attention.

The answer to “what is cold shower and what is it doing” turned out to be simple and obvious. Misogi is considered to be a kind of meditation, and it is exactly so.

In the morning, after the sleep, our mind is clouded even more than during the day. It lacks awareness badly. Cold shower brings that “here and now” feeling to us, awakening and momentarily concentrating on our skin sensations. Brings us to very current moment.

To use cold shower more effectively, when turning it on, release everything. Let everything go. Just feel it. For a moment, just be there.

Eventually, you’ll find this moment amazing.

On contexts

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:40:00 +0300

Attending at Vipassana retreat (in S.N.Goenka tradition), I saw a lot of ironic smiles when translator was speaking about “non-sectarian” nature of S.N. Goenka teachings. In Western monotheistic cultures, “sect” usually have a negative meaning - small group of people with their own religion, brainwashed and dangerous. At the East, though, “sect” means just a branch of some religion. Like, Soto, Rinzai and Obaku are considered sects of Zen Buddhism. (Just to note: Goenka’s school is cultist one itself.)

When Goenka was speaking of elements everything consist of - air, water, etc, most people were also amazed and after meditation retreat has started to ask, how it come. According to their knowledge everything consists of atoms, subatom particles, etc. Answer was “those elements are given by S.N.Goenka in metaphorical sense”, leaving people wondering what metaphor is. Concept of 4 elements, which are describing not materials, but more “behavioral nature” (like frozen water is more like “earth” than “water”) has remained unknown for many.

Another less obvious but way more dangerous misunderstanding is about the statement “its the hard work”. Being sure that “work” means “doing something”, many has started to work with “posessing attention” rather than with “observing attention”. Despite constant calls by S.N.Goenka for doing things mindfully, with “equanimity”, many has became captured in playing with their minds, opening chakras, seeing dead relatives, etc.

Cultural differences may cause more serious impact, probably. I’m sure proper practicing of visualization techniques is tricky in our overvisualized and overvirtualized world.

So, practice mindfully. Mind the context. Always be critical to yourself and to. Try to see the influence your mind and your context is making to your practice. It’s important for clear understanding.

Some bookmarks for myself

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:33:00 +0300

Anapanasati Sutta (MN 118), Mindfulness of the breath
Kayagata-sati Sutta (MN 119), Mindfulness of the Body
Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10), the Four Paths of Mindfulness
Maha-satipatthana Sutta (DN 22), the Larger Discourse on the Four Paths of Mindfulness

"‘Discipline’ is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody..."

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 13:39:52 +0300

“

‘Discipline’ is a difficult word for most of us. It conjures up images of somebody standing over you with a stick, telling you that you’re wrong. But self-discipline is different. It’s the skill of seeing through the hollow shouting of your own impulses and piercing their secret. They have no power over you. It’s all a show, a deception.

Your urges scream and bluster at you; they cajole; they coax; they threaten; but they really carry no stick at all. You give in out of habit. You give in because you never really bother to look beyond the threat. It is all empty back there. There is only one way to learn this lesson, though. The words on this page won’t do it.

But look within and watch the stuff coming up – restlessness, anxiety, impatience, pain – just watch it come up and don’t get involved. Much to your surprise, it will simply go away. It rises, it passes away. As simple as that.

There is another word for ‘self-discipline’. It is ‘Patience’.

”

- Ven. Henepola Gunaratana

"Activities are endless, like ripples on a stream. They end only when you drop them. Human moods are..."

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 10:50:08 +0300

“

Activities are endless, like ripples on a stream.
They end only when you drop them.
Human moods are like the changing highlights and shadows on a sunlit mountain range.

All activities are like the games children play,
like castles being made of sand.
View them with delight and equanimity,
like grandparents overseeing their grandchildren
or a shepherd resting on a grassy knoll watching over his grazing flock.

”

- Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche

"To tell others that It is a rumor Will not do. When your own heart asks, How will you respond?"

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:58:00 +0300

“To tell others that
It is a rumor
Will not do.
When your own heart asks,
How will you respond?”

- Hagakure, Yamamoto Tsunetomo

"Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the..."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:40:00 +0300

“

Learn the art of patience. Apply discipline to your thoughts when they become anxious over the outcome of a goal.

Impatience breeds anxiety, fear, discouragement and failure.

Patience creates confidence, decisiveness, and a rational outlook, which eventually leads to success.

”

- This quote is on my homepage for almost 3 years by now. There’s a lot of wisdom here. Patience and discipline. There’s no patience without discipline - its laziness. Be disciplined. Be patient.

I’ve made two wrong turns last time. First - reinventing the wheel. Clumsy “avoiding...

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 22:33:30 +0300

I’ve made two wrong turns last time. First - reinventing the wheel. Clumsy “avoiding awareness” is simply “ignorance” - root of all evil, as specified in Buddhism. There’s some language barrier and my understanding of “ignorance” was a little bit different before, but still. And the second wrong turn is overlooking practical while searching for spiritual. (So I’m sorry, Toshi, my experiment will be extended for another week)

I lack discipline of thought and patience badly. So much to work on.

Despite initial relieving and positive GTD effect, people seems to avoid it, unless its a habit or...

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 20:28:53 +0300

Despite initial relieving and positive GTD effect, people seems to avoid it, unless its a habit or forcing/motivating themselves somehow. Why is that? In 9 of 10 cases I’ve heard the answer “I’m scared”. People are writing down things not to deal with them, but actually to write and forget them.

Turning point here is being aware, being consciousness about one’s actions. People tends to push unpleasant things (or things they consider unpleasant) to push to the back of the stage. GTD here is little help - it will be abandoned sooner or later. Extermination of habit of “avoiding awareness” needs much deeper work. Less techy, more psychological, even spiritual.

Despite the fact there’s no Universal Truth cant be spoken with words, there is enlightening...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:35:00 +0300

Despite the fact there’s no Universal Truth cant be spoken with words, there is enlightening words for everyone. They’re not like a whole picture, but more like lacking piece of the puzzle. Clicking into missing slot of our mind, they’re making our life shine with sudden understanding and luminous clarity. Selfishly speaking of me, the most enlightening words, a great source of ease and joy are: “Think That All Phenomena are Like Dreams”.