Misc. Thoughts, Notes, Observations (begin.)

I've noticed that when I engage even a little of the Kuji-In practice right before bedtime, I awake the following morning with much greater mental clarity and focus immediately upon awakening, even if I subsequently hit the "snooze" button on my alarm. And that clarity and focus remain with me even if I repeatedly hit the "snooze" button for the next 20 minutes until I get up.

I find this a fascinating little development and wonder if other practitioners experience the same thing.

I don't engage the Kuji-In explicitly every night before I retire for the night (or at least have yet to do it consistently every night over an extended period of time), but when I do, here's what my practice consists of:

• I approach my Buddha altar and place my hands in gassho.
• I kneel, Japanese dojo style (dropping to my left knee first), before my Buddha altar, then assume the seiza kneeling posture with my feet flat out behind me, toes flat and pointing away; I place my hands in gassho and chant "Om mane padme hum" once to cultivate compassion for others as a way of reminding myself that others come before me, and that in true Bodhisattva fashion, alleviating the suffering of others is to come before my own efforts for complete enlightenment.
• I take in three deep breaths and feel the energy that flows throughout my being, and letting that awareness deepen a little bit more with each breath.
• I then take my hands and place them in the first mudra to support the "rin" aspect, then slowly chant the Japanese mantra, "On bai shi ra man ta ya sowaka," once. I like to draw this out -- in this instance, over the course of four exhalations -- and feel how the mantra makes my entire being vibrate, or at least see if I can extend the vibration throughout my entire being. I have found that if I let my rear upper teeth remain in contact with my rear lower teeth, the mantra can easily vibrate right up the back of my neck and into my lower rear skull area. I try to extend this vibration this way as much as I can -- especially if I work each of the nine aspects three times, thereby chanting each mantra three times in succession. My hope is that this will work the spirit of the mantra most literally into my brain. I expect that once I switch to the original Sanskrit, that this effect will be significantly more pronounced.
• I repeat this process through the remaining aspects of the Kuji-In, at least as far as I have gone through them to date. I'm currently working with the sixth, or "jin," aspect.
• I finish my mini evening Kuji-In practice by putting my hands back into gassho and chanting "Om mane padme hum" once -- again to remind myself that eliminating the suffering of others takes priority; that my practice is to begin and end with the elimination of the suffering of others; that my practice is to be devoted towards the elimination of the suffering of others.
• Then I stand up in strict Japanese dojo style (with my right knee rising first), place my hands in gassho again, and "bow out" before before my altar.

I would be interested in hearing the perspective of others on this, so I invite readers to opine by submitting a comment.