Daily Practice

          This should be a pretty usual Monday. I'd like to record my practice these days, so here goes.

          10:15 began the first meditation of the day. Sometimes I've wondered if this is even meditation, but this is what I do. I go through a list of gurus, some I have met and some I haven't. They are in this order, Lama Yeshe, Dr Akong, Ringo Tulku, Ani Llamo, Lama Rinchen Palmo, Kalu Rinpoche, Lama Thebten Yeshe, Tai Situ, Khenpo Karath, Dilgo Khyentse, Dalai Lama, 16th Karmapa, 17th Karmapa, and, last but not least, Jesus Christ who suffered and died for me.

          When I'm doing the gurus, I try to visualise them in front of me. Then have the different coloured lights coming from them into my head, throat and chest. Then imagine them over my head and pouring down into me.
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          Then I go through the list of dead folk I know or who are close relations. Since I'm still dedicating merit to my nephew Malk, he starts and finishes this list, but when the seven weeks are up, I'll slot him in beside his maw. The list then will be Rowena, maw, da, sister Jane, brother Makie, Ken Davis, Uncle Dan, John McKenzie (!), Teresa Lennon, Malk, Rose Anne McKenzie, Paul, Dr Bowman, Mrs Bowman, Gordon Watts, Carol Rich, Wilbur, Colin Quinn, Daso, John Doyle, Brian Lithgow, the Big Jambo, Colin Smith, Tony O'Boyle, Rachel A., Auntie Mary, Anastasia, Dave, Tin and Rowena.

           So if you are a good friend of mine or a close relative, you will cross my mind every day (as a fine example of impermanence!) until I snuff it.

            Time for a tai chi set and another hour on the cushion before lunch!

             Meditated from noon till quarter past one. The second meditation was mainly about deity yoga. Generating and dissolving. A wee bit of vase breathing there. The deity yoga stuff is really a cut down sadhana from Thrangu Tulku's book on Medicine Buddha meditations. These are not preliminary exercises, but maybe they are for me since I can't do them properly.

             The meditations later on will go into the channels and symbols. There was warmth in the first meditation today. Yesterday it didn't show up till I'd been meditating for three hours. The difference is down to going out with Brian Wilson on Saturday afternoon.