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Buddhist 'cure' for depression
shanyin
Novice YoginSault Ontario Veteran
Hello!
I think about a year or so on this forum someone said looking at the stars is an 'old buddhist cure for depression'.
Has anyone ever heard this too?
I think about a year or so on this forum someone said looking at the stars is an 'old buddhist cure for depression'.
Has anyone ever heard this too?
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I can see all the craters, and the "seas".... it's just so beautiful....:)
one of the luxuries my partner and I want to give ourselves when eventually we make a bit of money - is to buy a star-gazing telescope......
Haha if you lived closer to me, I'd get my dad to send you one. He has maybe 5 of various ages and strengths, but only really uses one.
See if you can meet up with a local astronomer's group, perhaps you can ask if anyone would be okay sharing their telescope with some new stargazers? From attending a couple of meets w/ my dad, the scene seems pretty jovial (at least around here).
My honest take on that: If you can sit and look at the stars and *not* realize how utterly small and insignificant you and your personal problems are when compared to the size of the *visible* universe (much less the part you can't see), then there's no hope for you
Is he making rice cakes in Oz like he is in Japan?
Palzang
But I can rarely see a decent amount of stars where I live. Also looking forward to going to the Adirondacks in a couple weeks!
And to think when you have all your cares and worries that those clouds are still up there sailing by.
Anyhow I like to remember those times that have a glimmer of good feeling in them when I am depressed. To remember that there is time. And there is space. For clouds and for feelings!
What makes gazing at the stars supremely special and romantic, is when you share it with someone else, because at that point you (and whoever else with you) are having a uniquely shared experience that bonds you forever in those moments.
This one time, I saw a piece of debris going through the stratosphere, with a bright flare, sparkling blue ozone and a long trail of smoke that swept across the sky. Perhaps I was the only person in the universe to have witnesses that particular event. ~When I told a friend about this they refused to believe me, and that made me sad.
It gives me a feeling of peace and openness. It makes me feel like I'm free and there's more to life and the world, than just the four walls that I live within and the problems I have inside me.
It makes me realize that the world is STILL beautiful after all we've put this Earth through and that I'm a part of that world, no matter how far removed from it I feel most of the time.
If you didn't know, there's a Tibetan Buddhist temple in Chino Valley.
Just type in where you live and look for the closest "dark" portion of the sky.
FYI: Whites and Dark reds = tons of light pollution, the scale goes down in color terminating as blue. Grey areas are either areas not surveyed or ones that have no light pollution.
Yes, I've been there, the Garchin Buddhist Institute. Very nice place, very nice people. It's particularly interesting because it seems like everywhere my temple goes there they are too! We have a temple in Poolesville, MD, they have theirs just up the road in Frederick. We set one up in Sedona in '97, they have their place in Chino Valley, which isn't far from Sedona. Coincidence? I don't think so! Palyul Monastery, the home seat in Tibet of our lineage, was formerly a Drikung Kagyu monastery. The terton (treasure revealer) who revealed the termas (hidden treasures) that are the basis of our lineage, Migyur Dorje, his teacher was Karma Chagmed Rinpoche, a famous Kagyu lama. So there's definitely a connection.
Palzang
And I definitely believe looking at the stars can help. It's one of the biggest reasons I choose to live an hour and fifteen minutes from my job.
However, the buddha did say to not find pleasure in any visual stimuli, and also to not find any disgust within visual stimuli. I think one reason it 'could' be a buddhist cure is that it's such a vast open space, it allows your mind to slow and down have some room if that makes any sense.. Vast open spaces are always calming and peaceful
Very fortunate to have deep, dark skies where I live and love to watch the celestial parade above me with my scope, binoculars or simply general issue optics (eyes)
Agree with 1000socks in that it is better when shared.
John Dobson, a former Vedanta monk, builder and designer of cheap large aperture scopes, and founder of the Sidewalk Astronomers Association believed strongly that people who owned a telescope had a duty to share it with those who didn't. To this end, he would set his scope up on a street corner or local park and simply invite passers-by to "Come and look at Saturn."
I've had friends and workmates look through my scope but on the couple of occasions when I've set up in town with the local Astro Society, the response from the public has been both gratifying and moving. People actually line up to have a look and some will come back several times. Even the local hoodlums were happy to line up and were just as chuffed as everyone else.
Lovely!
There's some interesting stuff on the net about John Dobson and his Sidewalk Astronomers if you care to Google it.
Also, a very user-friendly piece of software for identifying stars and planets above your location is Stellarium. Just Google for a free download. (You'll need to know your latitude and longitude.)
Heavens Above.com is a useful site that gives dates and times of passage of the Hubble scope, the International Space Station, Irridium flares and much else above your location. (Again, you'll need to enter your latitude and longitude.) Many people don't realise that Hubble, the ISS and Irridium flares are easily seen with the naked eye.
Please enjoy!
The following passage is an extract from 'The diary of Anne Frank', dated Wednesday 23rd February 1944. It reads:
'As long as this exists,' I thought, 'this sunshine and this cloudless sky, and as long as I can enjoy it, how can I be sad?'
The best remedy for those who are frightened, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere they can be alone, alone with the sky, nature and God. For then, and only then, can you feel that everything is as it should be and that God wants people to be happy amid nature's beauty and simplicity.
Thanks Dog Star, that is very inspiring -nice clear night here and you have motivated me to ask my hubby to get his telescope out... not as good here as it would be in the outback, still lots to be blown away by ... and he has a big grin on his face at being asked, thanks again
How beautiful is that?
Do I detect a Carl Sagan fan?
It is a fact though that on an atomic level we are in fact the product of "star dust"
I find that fact both humbling and inspiring.
"Hydrogen: a colorless odorless gas which given a few billion years turns into people."
Sadly I don't know who said it.
Also a long time star watcher here, though I am lazy these days, and only dig out my telescope very rarely.
However looking at the night sky definitely humbles one, and puts life's problems into perspective. It also makes it impossible for me to be any sort of religious fundamentalist.
That's not just bloody funny
I'd like to know who said it. Sounds a bit Douglas Adams to me.?
Agree most strongly.
The night skies have deeply influenced mystics, poets, philosophers and scientists and your honest and personal appreciation of the night sky (along with mine) is evidence of that enduring legacy.
We need more people looking through telescopes and less people looking through rifle or bomb sights! :sadc:
While I don't share this with many people, I once had some kind of intense 'religious' experience that 'kicked in' uninvited while laying down on the hard earth in the Rocky Mountains and gazing up through the pines at the brilliant stars. And another time, far less intense, laying in some Hot Springs out in the mountains, looking at the sea of stars. Pretty humbling, those stars!
Prezactly!!!:):):buck: