Umdze Public Beta files Select the file best suited to your operating system. After downloading the file, decompress it with the utility you usually use, name and place the uncompressed folder as you see fit and double-click the "Umdze" program icon to get started.
Do not separate the program icon from its "main" document.
Macintosh Classic (6.9 MB)
Macintosh OSX (7 MB)
Windows (6.7 MB) Getting started with Umdze By default Umdze is set to time a 15-minute meditation session. You can change the session timings by clicking the ellipsis that appears in the upper-left corner of the program's frame. You can change other settings there as well, such as the thankga images you want displayed in the shrine and the tone and resonance of the meditation bell.
At either the main screen or the options screen, clicking the picture will begin your sitting session.
Clicking the X in the upper right frame will exit the program.
Umdze expects your display to be set to a minimum of 800 by 600 pixels and prefers millions of colors.
Make sure your screensaver timing is set so it won't come up during your sitting session... Meditation modes supported by Umdze Standard shamatha/vipashyana meditation is, of course, supported by Umdze; in addition there are options to include walking and tonglen practice in sitting sessions.
Sessions can be as brief as fifteen minutes; the longest is over two and a half hours.
By the way, "umdze" means "chant master" in case you were wondering about the strange name. The person who leads a meditation session is often referred to as an umdze.
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Buddhism Basics
A Quick History
Buddhism was more or less founded about 2500 years ago when an Asian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, realized that all people are subject to old age, sickness and death; in addition he had been taught that after death one is reborn to suffer the same cycle, over and over again, possibly forever.
Seeking a way out of this trap he went on rather a long journey and tried many different teachings and philosophies, eventually deciding that none of them suited his particular concerns.
According to Buddhist lore he then settled under a tree and vowed to meditate on the problem until he realized the answers he sought. It is said he reached enlightenment (bodhi in sanskrit) and was then known as the Awakened One, or Buddha.
Eventually he developed something that is now known as the Four Noble Truths. These teachings are at the core of every type of Buddhism practiced today, and are (essentially):
1. Suffering exists.
2. Attachment is the cause of suffering.
3. Suffering can be brought to a halt.
4. Practicing nonattachment is the means to end suffering.
For a somewhat different version of the foregoing, check out this site; for a set of in-depth discussions on the Four Noble Truths, look here.
What Buddhism Is
Buddhism is a blanket term that actually includes many practices, ranging from the arcane to the very practical, and including Tantra, Zen and others.
Thich Nhat Hanh practices a type of Vietnamese Buddhism; the Dalai Lama practices a form of Tibetan Buddhism.
While there are differences in particulars and meditation forms, Buddhist philosophies are fundamentally alike.
It's an effective way of living in (and living with) the world that can fit into almost anyone's religious -- or irreligious -- life.
What Buddhism Isn't
Buddhism is not a religion in a Western sense; it tends to lack dogma and doesn't have a concept of original or individual sin. (In fact a key Buddhist teaching is that all people are fundamentally good, not basically evil.)
It does not have any comment to make on the existence (or lack) of deities and does not teach a doctrine of a soul. As such it's a set of teachings that can be approachable to both atheists and those who believe in divinity (as well as agnostics).
Buddhism does not require its practitioners to worship any image or any thing at all; the historical Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) is not a god. He was a human like everyone else but represents a state of awareness that anyone can aspire to reach.
Thus Buddhist meditation is not a worshipping of false or strange gods. (Certain followers of Western religions will be relieved to know that.)
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Umdze