Q: I have been attending a weekly group chanting regularly. On two mornings of these days, I heard the chanting just before I awoke. These were the days I decided to skip the chanting – as I found it hard to follow the chanting, which is different in tune to what I’m familiar with, and because I’m asked to stand in front. What do you think hearing the chanting means?
A: Interesting! Perhaps you became so used to hearing the chanting on that day that you heard it automatically or habitually in your mind? Or it could be a holy reminder to urge you to join the chanting? Whatever chanting groups we go to, the chanting tunes tend to differ. It naturally takes some getting used to. Maybe you can enter the hall later, to avoid standing in front?
Hi Shian,i remembered that a few years ago after the Mani retreat is over, my mind was still chanting Om Mani Padme Hung..just like a recorder playing suddenly!
After a few days this ‘symptom’ disappears & I have not chant Om Mani Padme Hung for a long while.
Whether its holy reminder or the mind was automatically ‘set’ to chant , isnt this wonderful?
We are constantly be reminded of Buddhas & Buddhisattavs & the Dharma! :biggrin:
Mind.
If we try to find out more about how our conscious and subconscious work, it will explain a lot and even help us to progress on the spiritual path and be more understanding in lots of other things …
ALL things that happened AND together it locked with the EMOTIONS that were felt at the time of experience will be stored in the subconscious.
It learns how to automatically respond in given “learned” situations e.g like catching a ball, based upon those filed experiences and emotions.
That’s to say, our subconscious goes thru its databank, finds similar experiences to the one we’re going through, “clicks” on our automatic learned behavioral responses and responds accordingly.
Going on this line, we start storing lots (reasonable or unreasonable reactions etc) since our childhood!
The “scary” part is that, we may think as adult, the conscious part of us is in charge, BUT it is being fed data from the subconscious to help make decisions.
And the subconscious has no time reference, it doesn’t understand we are now a adult, and not a 3yr old child, the responses will be primitive and based upon things that happened long long ago.
In our life, there are many programming (good and bad) that gone into us.
If we quiet down and observe, we can see such “unrelated” thoughts pop out during meditation or chanting, when we are mindful.
If we able to have time to look inside, we can even trace back certain similar incidents that happened in the past, keep repeating in our life (history repeat).
I started to read up all these, after attending a One Day Mindful Workshop conducted by a Monk which touched on ACT – Acceptance and Commitment Therapy.
We get to examine and have a personal feel and that change my thinking.
Whether it’s holy reminder or the mind automatically ‘set’ to chant or both, it’s wonderful!
😉
Amituofo