Becoming Buddha: Meditations

By Vikram Kolmannskog

A book about looking, sitting, breathing, listening, sensing, thinking, smiling, chanting, loving, eating, shitting, walking, suffering, scrolling, fucking, fighting, playing, dying, and shining like Buddha.
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'Vikram, a wonderfully skilled storyteller, here tells the story of meditation. It offers people the skill and space to transform the mundane into the magical, making the everyday into the path of awakening. It takes people on a journey of realising the grandeur of the things that we take for granted! It is a very, very precious one!' (Venerable Tashi Choedup, Queer Buddhist monastic and human rights activist)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mohini Books
• Release date: Jun 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9788293637073

Book preview

Becoming Buddha: Meditations

Vikram Kolmannskog

Copyright

First published by Mohini Books in 2020

www.mohini.no

Copyright © Vikram Kolmannskog 2020

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in critical articles and reviews, no part of this publication may be used or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

ISBN 978-82-93637-07-3 (E-book version)

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Looking

Ba, my maternal grandma, had a Buddha. She must have noticed that I often looked at him. One day when we were visiting, she gathered all of us — me, my mom, and my dad. We sat in a circle on a carpet on the living room floor. In the middle was Buddha. Ba carefully picked Buddha up and washed him. She did it attentively and lovingly, as if he were a baby, baby Buddha. She said or sang something, maybe mantras. She dried him. And then she handed him to me. I carefully wrapped him in some of my clothes and put him in my suitcase. Back home in Norway, I unpacked and placed him in my bedroom. Now, thirty years later, he is here with me, in the bedroom of my apartment in Oslo. I lie in bed watching him as he sits on the windowsill. His golden body is slender and smooth, a simple robe covering his left shoulder and leaving the right shoulder and chest and arm bare. He sits in a lotus position, in contact with the ground, steady as a mountain. He sits with his back straight. He sits with dignity. His arms and hands are soft and relaxed, resting on his lap and legs. His eyes are half-open; he looks both inward and outward, attentively present here and now. His lips form a slight smile. He knows something. He seems friendly. The morning sun is shining through the window now, touching lips, cheek, nose, eyelids, and forehead. We are smiling. We are shining.

See for yourself

– Choose an idol, someone or something that represents qualities you value. It can be a deity, spiritual teacher, inspiring person, animal, plant, or something else.

– Find, or even create, a visual representation of your idol such as a picture or statue. You can also just imagine your idol with your eyes closed.

– Spend time looking at your idol. What do you notice? What do you discover?

– Notice how looking at your idol also affects you, your body and mind.

Sitting

I sit like Buddha sits. I just sit. It’s simple. Just sitting means not doing much, not chasing after anything. I can simply be, rather than constantly doing something. It's simple, but not easy. I need to practice. I need to practice just sitting. I sit with my back straight, alert and dignified. I exhale and relax. I close my eyes. What happens when I just sit? What do I notice? I get lost in thought. But then I notice this and am no longer