Burning Incense Review: Xian Kim

Obviously burning incense is not directly to do with meditation, but there’s an indirect connection. As part of our preparation for meditation it’s common to settle down by going through some form of ceremonial ritual.

Rituals can be very simple of very complex. One of the most common forms of ritual action is to light incense. It’s best if this is done mindfully. First one lights candles, and then the end of a stick of incense is lit in the candle flame. Usually we let the end of the incense burn with a flame for a few seconds, and then the incense is gently waved in the air. This has the effect both of extinguishing the flame so that the incense is now glowing as an ember rather than as a flame, and of sending a stream of smoke into the air. Some people will then bow before sitting for meditation.

I’ve always found that the choice of incense is important. Certain kinds of incense can produce a very calming effect, and we can very quickly build up positive associations with a particular scent, so that the mind becomes quiet and a retreat-like atmosphere settles around us.

The more refined the incense is, the more likely it is that it will have a positive emotional and mental effect. Japanese incense is generally more refined (and in fact the world of Japanese incense is like the world of wine, with a great variety of qualities ranging from merely good to connoisseur-level). Indian incense can be more rough and chemical-smelling. Tibetan incense is more natural, and although some is refined much of it is like a fire on a hillside. That’s my experience; your mileage may vary.

Xian Kim, NY

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Aromatherapy Incense Review: John Marshall

I love many incense from your site, and especially from Aromatic series. Here is my review on some of them.

Benzoin. I really liked this soothing scent. It’s sweet and floral, in just the right combination of light and rich. My partner (not always wild about incense) loves it and says it reminds him of honey or honeysuckle. It’s very relaxing - I use it when reading or unwinding - and it’s definitely in my top five.

Amber. Being an asmatic I just could not take smoky scent indoors. This incense opened up a whole new world for me. They are low smoke and have a delicate scent the permeates the room even with one stick lit! Amber is one of my favorite scents from way back. Being a child of the 70’s when incense was very much in I used to burn incense everyday. Now that I have found Morning Star incense I can again smell the delightful calming scent of Amber! A quality product and a very good price.

Jasmine. It’s so hard to find jasmine incense that isn’t charcoal blanks dipped in oil. Even when the oil is of the best quality, dipped incense can’t hold a candle to a good durbar or masala. This is a nearly perfect jasmine scent, delicate and potent at once. The pleasant wooded undertone contrasts nicely with the jasmine, keeping it from getting too heady while loaning it an irresistible, ambrosia-like quality.

Tuberose. This is one of my all-time favorite scents. I find this irresistable. I put the opened packs in my clothing drawers, so that my clothes will be scented with this fragrance. It is very powerful emotionally, although the frangrance is not all covering. It is its essence and not its strength that makes it so inviting.

And a couple of words about your great site.

Since I first found your website I simply fall in love, then (unfortunately :) or not) I get addicted to the website and your wonderful items! You are the first (and often the last) place I am looking for the incenses. In addition your customer care service is second to none! I just placed order yesterday and another one today - and I am pretty sure it wasn’t the last one! Many thanks for wonderful things, reasonable prices, great service and simply for being there for me! I already recommended you to my friends! Thanks again.

John Marshall
Cape Coral, Florida, US

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Dalai Lama May Appoint a Regent to Succeed Him

 Timesonline.co.uk

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, is considering appointing a regent to lead the Tibetan movement after his death until his reincarnation is old enough to take over.

The idea was discussed this week at an unprecedented meeting of 600 Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala, the northern Indian town where the Dalai Lama set up his government in exile after fleeing Tibet in 1959.

It is the latest proposal intended to ensure a smooth succession after the death of the Dalai Lama, who is 73 and has been suffering recently from ill health. The Tibetan exiles are keen to prevent China from hijacking his reincarnation, as it has tried to do with other of the most senior positions in Tibetan Buddhism.

The most likely candidate for the regency is the 23-year-old Karmapa Lama, the third highest in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, who was born and raised in Tibet but escaped to India in 2000 in a huge embarrassment for China’s government.

"It’s now being considered at the highest level," said Dr Lobsang Sangay, a Tibetan research fellow at Harvard Law School who put forward the idea at the meeting.

"A lot of people are talking about the Karmapa as regent," he told The Times.

Tenzin Takhla, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama, confirmed that a regency was an option and that the Karmapa could, in theory, take the position, although he said that nothing had been decided yet.

"If we want the traditional way, then usually there’s a regent appointed," he said. "He would be not so much a political leader, as a spiritual leader."

Delegates at last week’s meeting agreed to stick to the Dalai Lama’s policy of seeking autonomy, rather than independence, from China, but many called for a clearer succession plan.

Dalai Lamas are traditionally chosen by senior monks who interpret signals from the last incumbent after his death, search for promising young boys and then set them a number of tests.

The current Dalai Lama — the 14th — was born into a farming family in eastern Tibet and identified at the age of two after passing tests, including identifying his predecessor’s rosary.

However, exiled Tibetans fear that following this process would leave them leaderless while the next reincarnation grows up, and open the door for China to appoint its own rival Dalai Lama.

When the Dalai Lama recognized a young boy in Tibet as the new Panchen Lama, the second highest in Tibetan Buddhism, in 1995, China detained the child and appointed its own candidate.

Last year, China’s government claimed exclusive rights to approve all lamas’ reincarnations.

The Dalai Lama has proposed several alternatives, including holding a referendum among the world’s 13-14 million Tibetan Buddhists on whether he should be reincarnated at all.

"If the majority feels this institution has become irrelevant, then it will automatically cease," he told a news conference today.

If the majority wanted to continue the tradition, he said he would be re-incarnated as a young boy, or a girl. "Girls show more compassion," he said.

He also repeated that he could identify a reincarnation while he is still alive, even though no Dalai Lama has done so before.
Read more »

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Tibetan Incense Review: Viv Smith

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Yantra Yoga

Yantra Yoga, the Buddhist parallel to the Hathayoga of the Hindu tradition, is a system of practice entailing bodily movements, breathing exercises and visualizations. Originally transmitted by the mahasiddhas of India and Oddiyana, its practice is nowadays found in all schools of Tibetan Buddhism in relation to the Anuttaratantras, more generally known under the Tibetan term Trul Khor, whose Sanskrit equivalent is yantra.

The Union of the Sun and Moon Yantra Trul Khor (’Phrul ‘khor nyi zla kha sbyor), orally transmitted in Tibet in the 8th century by the great master Padmasambhava to the Tibetan translator and Dzogchen master Vairochana, can be considered the most ancient of all the systems of Yantra and its peculiarity is that it contains also numerous positions which are also found in the classic Yoga tradition.

Trul khor traditionally consists of 108 movements, including bodily movements (or dynamic asana), incantations (or mantra), breathwork, and visualizations, all timed to heart rhythms. The body postures (or asanas) of ancient Himalayan yogis are depicted on the walls of the Dalai Lama’s summer temple of Lukhang. Trul khor is the fruitful distillation of the confluence of centuries of ancient Bön movements, Indian yogic traditions, and Chinese movement forms (that developed into disciplines such as Tai Chi Chuan and Taoist disciplines).

Himalayan physical yogas vary between lineages and the complexity of the practices are not disclosed until a deep level of samaya is realised by the practitioner.

Read more about Yantra Yoga in this great book: 

YANTRA YOGA: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement
by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, trans. by Adriano Clemente

Chogyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the great living masters of Dzogchen and Tantra, started transmitting this profound Yoga in the seventies, and at that time wrote this commentary which is based on the oral explanations of some Tibetan yogins and siddhas of the twentieth century. All Western practitioners will benefit from the extraordinary instructions contained in this volume.

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