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Reverend R Clark

Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004 18:01:49 -0400
Sent To: GrassRootsReiki@yahoogroups.com

Drum Reiki By Reverend R Clark <clark@acceleration.net>

R Clark wrote:
> Kule. Reiki music... I approach this in much the same way as folks who
> channel Reiki to surrogate teddy bears and the like. I connect with source,
> intend the Reiki flow through my hands via the drum or other instrument to
> all who hear it.
At 01:33 PM 9/8/2004, Karen replied:
A drum also has a spirit within it, it is a living being (this is at least how I've been taught by Native American folks about the drum). So why not give your drum attunements? Then it, too, will be a channel for Reiki...the vibrations carrying it out as you activating it by playing.

  • Interesting... I am aware of the spirit of the tree and also the spirit of the animal whose skin was used each has a second life as "drum." These combined with the spirt of the player constitutes a holy trinity. I will try attuning my drums and see what effect this might have.
> Kule. Gotta love drum trivia, thank you! So in this story you relate, the
> lovely feminine Tara bows before the masculine "Drum Lord." Well that seems
> a bit on the sexist side.
Perhaps you need then a bit more of the story. ;)
  • Did I mention that I am a dilettante? I Am trying to overcome it in my inimitable superficial way, so I humbly give Many Thanks... (well as humble as I can muster cause I can't even be proud of my humility, so's I could then be humble about my exemplary humility, of course, and my humility, ...well frankly it's just not good enough to be humble about) ...for the happy opportunity to receive the Dharma you relate in the back story to the Tara energy I love. I did not know that.
At the time Tara was not yet Tara, but a princess named Yeshes Dawa ("Wisdom Moon"). She became very devout, offering many ways to the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha during the aeon of the Buddha "Drum Lord." At one point, a monk approached her and suggested that due to her vast accrued merit, she could chose to be reborn as a male and then attain Bodhisattva and ultimately Buddha. You see, there was a strong tradition within Buddhism that only men attained enlightenment...
  • Is it still?
Her reply, as best I remember, was that in reality there is no male nor female;
  • A continuum, yes.
however, as many have attained Buddhahood in male form, she vowed to instead always seek enlightenment and benefit of sentient beings in female form. (Its described in the "Tantra of Tara")

"Tara is the Buddha of Enlightened Activity. She is the Swift Protectress and has vowed to remain till the end of time until all beings are liberated from confusion and sorrow."



Hardly submissive, she rebelled and she has ever since then stood for the importance of the feminine divine. Similar to the incarnations of Avalokitshevara as the subsequent Dalai Lamas (for example), she incarnates as well... always as women. One of her better known incarnations was the Tibetan Yogini Machig Labdron, the founder of the Chod tradition in Tibetan Buddhism.

And she's hardly just what we might think of her as "the lovely feminine Tara"! Dispelling all fears experienced by sentient beings, she manifests 21 forms ranging from the most peaceful (such as White Tara) to the most wrathful (such as Red Tara)... One of her more wrathful forms is described as a "lady who strikes with the palm of the hand and pounds with her feet the surface of the earth, who frowning, shatters the seven underworlds with the syllable HUNG." (The latter from the traditional "Praises to the 21 Taras".) Hardly demure. ;) The feminine divine also represents *fierce* compassion!


Related:
Drumming 'n Drugs
Drumming As A Form of Prayer by Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
Drumming Peace One Oh One
Drum Reiki
Drums: How they beat stress by By Ann Trieger Kurland
Finding Healing Music in the Heart by Corey Kilgannon
Healing, Drumming & Praying by Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
Melodic Instruments at Drum Circles
Sound
Prayer
Shamanism: Drumming and/or Drugs
Voices at Drumcircles: Testimony and Theories


“There is no greater act of generosity
Than to grant to the extremely unfortunate Who are bereft of some aspect of the Dharma The happy opportunity to receive teachings on it.”
- Nagarjuna (Indian Buddhist scholar & yogi, 2nd century C.E)

“If you really want freedom, happiness will arise.
From happiness will come rapture.
When your mind is enraptured, your body is tranquil.
When your body is tranquil, you will know bliss.
Because you are blissful, your mind will concentrate easily.
Being concentrated, you will see things as they really are.
In so seeing, you will become aware that life is a miracle.
Being so aware, you will lose all your attachments.
As you cease grasping, so you will be freed.”
- Buddhist wisdom

“Man is often too proud to examine the self-evident things which are closest to him. Zen found the followers of the Mahayana looking for truth to scriptures, to holy men and Buddhas, believing that they would reveal it to them if they lived the good life. For man's apparent humility in thinking that wisdom is something too sublime to reveal itself in the ordinary affairs of his life is a subtle form of pride. Inwardly he feels that he must be so great as to be removed from the things of the world before he can receive truth, and such is his pride that he will only deign to receive it from the lips of sages and from the pages of sacred scriptures. He does not see it in human beings or in the incidents of everyday life; he does not see it in himself, for again he is too proud to see himself as he is. So far from seeking for truth he hides his imperfections under his 'meritorious deeds' and approaches the Buddhas from behind their mask.”
- Alan W. Watts, "The Spirit of Zen"

“The Lord Buddha was once asked by a disciple to sum up the whole of His teaching in one verse. He replied: - Cease to do evil; Learn to do well; Cleanse your own heart; This is the religion of the Buddha.”
- Arthur E. Powell, "The Mental Body"

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