Meditation

Meditation

Introduction :

Meditation is a method of relaxation and conditioning of our mind. People do meditation for various reasons (i.e. religious such as in Buddhism, Sufism and etc.; meta physics and psychic advances; relaxation and free from stress; martial arts advances, longevity, health and etc.. There are various methods of meditation. Some do it in a standing position, sitting in a chair, sitting on the floor, in sleeping position and etc. As long as you are able to relax and achieve what you want, it does not really matter which position you choose. Different master teach with their own emphasis and views of what is best for the students under them. Some masters do not reveal much to their students and insist the students follow them blindly resulting in most of the students not achieving much progress. While there are other masters who might not have much ability but are still willing to share whatever they know which at least allows the students to progress faster (at least at the beginning). Therefore do not look for a famous master and end up learning nothing. What is most important is the ability and willingness of the master to impart his knowledge to the student. Of course if you are learning from someone (or even the books) who has neither the knowledge nor the right aptitude required to teach, some misleading matters would be inadvertently or innocently passed to the students. Furthermore, you might not be in a position to know if you are doing it correctly since you do not have a master to guide and correct you when you are doing something wrongly. In Tao Te Ching (a Taoist book) it mentioned about how dangerous it is to assume we know something when in fact we are in no position to presume so. It is akin to taking drug and assuming it to be safe. Our knowledge of things might not provide us with the ability to decipher what is right or wrong. Out of compassion we might decide to help someone involved in an accident. If our knowledge of first aid is limited, we might be doing more harm than good. The poor fellow might be doom for life (paralysed) due to our inadequate knowledge. Therefore leave those things to the expert (i.e the guru / sifu / master).
















TYPES OF MEDITATION

Basically, meditation can be group into three distinct types. The first type involve soothing music and is mainly used in modern mind control meditations. The second type involve the master doing initiation on the students and send forth his chi / bio-magnetism to help the students. This second type belong to Indian yoga and Taoist Yoga. The third type involve the chanting of mantras only. This third type normally belong to some Buddhist groups chanting "Namo Amitabha Buddha" and "Om Mani Padme Hum'; Muslim groups chanting La ila ha ila wa (there is no other god other than Allah) and other chanting meditation. Of course there are many meditation groups using a combination of the above types of meditation. For instance some Taoist practitioners have to undergo training rituals by eating charmed water and paper, chanting secret verses and do meditation for 49 days (7 weeks without a break) to learn "Maosan" (a Taoist method of divination). There is of course the spiritual Kung Fu where the student learn to summoned god and deities to perform healings and spiritual kung fu. If a master were to pass some of his chi or bio-magnetism to his students, the students will be able to attain a higher level at a shorter time. Do not assume all chi are the same. The master (or those who is good at manipulating chi) will always have superior chi at his/ her disposal. If a real master strike you with his chi, it can cause some damage to you. On the other hand if an ordinary person will to do the same thing, it would not amount to anything.


In Tantric Buddhism (Tibetan), the need to obey the master whole heartedly cannot be over emphasized here as they reasoned that if a ship is in the storm, the words of the captain should not be disputed as by the time you try to reason out things, the ship might have been sunk. The captain should know his works of steering the ship out of danger. Similarly, the master should be able to chart the spiritual path taken by his students. The master might test your patience, ego and etc to ensure he is passing the knowledge to someone worthy. They might be slightly more lenient to a westerner who is not accustomed to eastern culture where the master is held in high esteem. In Yoga, the Indian students frequently kiss the feet of their master. To the older Chinese (most modern Chinese might treat the master differently), the master for one day is a father for life (yat yat wai si chung san wai fu). That was also why in Chinese Kung Fu, a disciple had only one master /one type of Kung Fu for life. If the student had advanced beyond the ability of his master, the master could recommend a friend or colleague to be another master of the disciple. If the disciple acted on his own accord, he would be disowned and disabled (in martial arts). This is to ensure he will not be able to use the martial art again. There is no way a Shao Lin disciple could be allowed to learn Wu Tang's martial art and vice versa. That was before Huo Yuan Jia (Fok Yeen Kap in Cantonese) started Chin Woo Athletic Association to allow all Chinese youth to learn the essence of Chinese martial arts (Wushu). Please refer to my article Huo Yuan Jia, father of Wushu.


Many people do not realize that chanting is the first step into meditation. Normally when we do chanting, we must be relaxed and free of thoughts. Chanting must be done in a respectful manner as normally it invokes the names of Buddha, God and etc. Under such circumstances, we are actually moving into conditioning the mind (i.e. the subconscious mind). Of course there is no condition requiring everyone learning meditation to start with chanting but it does help to ease you into meditation.

Therefore before taking up meditation we must be clear on what our real objective is. Without having a clear idea of what we aim to achieve, it is pointless to begin. Once our objective is set, we can then work step by step toward our ultimate goal. For instance, if we are interested in health and longevity, then we can start with learning Chi Kung and Yoga meditation. The more effort you put in the quicker the result will come. Of course you should always learn it from a master or you will have much to regret later on. You are not in a position to know what is best for yourself due to you inadequate knowledge and understanding of the processes. This is probably the real reason why people can learn 30 years of Chi Kung, Tai Chi and etc. yet have less progress than some who only took it up for a year or two. Many are amaze why I can have so much progress after several months of learning Chi Kung when no one bother to check that I have over 23 years of Yoga meditation and martial arts training as my foundations. This is an entire different scenario as there is a limit to how fast one can progress. There is no possibility that an entirely newcomer can surpass the master or his assistant in a couple of months or years. There are many people who yearn for progress but due to their pig headedness and stubbornness they managed to accomplish little progress. They work very hard learning from all kind of books and attend all kind of courses/seminars hoping to make advances. The problem with most books are that the authors might not be really good and what is revealed might not be an improvement to what we have learned from another book or master. We could end up like a dog chasing after its own tail. As mentioned earlier, you might not be in the capacity to know whether you are learning something useful or just learning a similar skill over and over again which might be a waste of time. This is the same as when an accounting student took his 1st job as an accounts assistant. If 20 years later he is still an accounts assistant, we can safely say he gain little experiences as all that he is capable of doing is the accounts assistant job. On the other hand if he has progress to become an accountant, he has made steady progress from accounts assistant to accounts supervisor, accounts executive, assistant accountant and finally being an accountant. He would have to upgrade his knowledge by attending professional accountancy courses. You cannot be an accountant without being an associate member of a recognised professional accountancy body such as the Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, Malaysian Institute of Accountants and etc. There is no way an accounts assistant can be a financial controller but the accountant might be able to in due time. The accounts assistant knowledge and experiences are repeated over and over again resulting in him remaining stagnant. Similarly if a Chi Kung or Yoga student were to learn the same type of moves over and over again, there will be not much progress for him or her unless and until he/she learn to improvise on the moves by way of breath control and etc. If the student were to learn from a good master, he/she will progress faster.

All form of meditation involves conditioning of the mind. Meditation is the process of self discovery and self interaction with our inner self. This process can enhance us mentally and physically. Basically to meditate, we only need to find a quiet place. Relax and let go of all thoughts. Close your eyes and be really relaxed. You can sit on the floor with your legs crossed in a lotus or half lotus style. You can even sit in a chair. The point is to be relaxed. You can start by concentrating on your breath. You inhale slowly and fill your lung with air. Let your thought and consciousness follow the breath. Then you exhale slowly still following your breathing. Do this for about 15 minutes every day and you will find how refreshing it is. In Buddhism there is also the concentration on the candle light. At this point it is advisable for you to seek a master to guide you. There are many Buddhist temples, Yoga centers, Taoist centers, Martial Art centers and etc conducting meditation courses for beginners. I have gone through the master program more than 20 years ago but even I went back to redo the master program from scratch. If you think too highly of yourself and refuse to learn the basic, you will not be able to learn anything with a poor foundation.

In more advance Buddhist esoteric, Taoist and Indian Yoga meditation, we focus our energy at the seven energy centers (chakra) in our body. The seven chakras are located at 1) the base of the spine -mooladhara (beside the anus), 2) three inches above the sex organ (tan tien), 3) naval, 4) heart (middle of the chest or middle tan tien), 5) throat, 6) third eye -agna (the area between the eye brows and the middle of the fore head) and 7) the top portion of the head -thuriyam (the crown / Baihui). Their eight chakra is an imaginary chakra located about 1 foot above the crown chakra. There are other books that does not have the Tan Tien which is replace by the solar plexus. From my personal experience, I can feel the back of the spine, tan tien, naval, spleen, heart, throat, beginning of eye brows and crown very powerfully. It is not a speculation as I have them working perfectly. When activated the energy at the nerve centre (chakras) will move in a whirl fan like movement. According to yoga, each centre serves a certain function. If meditation is not taught by a qualified master/guru we might encounter lots of potentially damaging effects such as going crazy and hallucination. Therefore I will not go into details as there are lots of things to learn. If wrongly activated you might regret ever delving in meditation as it can give you nose bleeding, migraine and fever. Some people have actually gone crazy. Beginner should never try to do meditation on your own as it can be hazardous to your mental and physical health. You must have a good master to train you. If you persisted on training on your own, you might regret ever delving in meditation. About 20 years ago, I enrolled for some mind control program. After that I continued to train on my own. Later I took up Yoga lessons from a visiting Swami. When the Swami left and I continued to train alone, I begin to have had nose bleeding and migraine almost every day. I took herbal medicine and young coconut water almost every day but could not control the burning sensation especially in my head and the nose bleeding. Nothing seems to work. I even try to seek advice from another Yoga Center and ask my seniors for help but all was in vain. Later I became a disciple of a Buddhist master who managed to help me control the energy. Since then I do not have nose bleeding unless I am involved in very strenuous sports. Please refer to my article "Practical Problems Arising from Meditation". You can watch my video on YouTube Aura Expansion (Close Up Version) and Aura Expansion to see how chakras energies and qi look like.


Beside the chakras or energy centers, there are also some chi routes that require to be opened especially if you are doing Taoist meditation and aim for longevity. You will need to open the Ren Mai and the Tu Mai and the 8 extra meridians around them. This will either increase your appetite due to better flow of chi or because your diaphragm is filled with chi, you do not feel hungry at all even if you do not eat. In esoteric Buddhism, there are also another three energy route beside the seven chakras before you can obtain Samadhi (the blissful state). They are the left and right channels and the centre channel. Before you reach that state, you must have noticed a change around the neck like a collar bone (with a rounded neck). When your chi is full you have less need for food, when your sperm (ching) is full you have less urge for sex and finally if your life force (shen) is full, there is less need to sleep.

The next step is visualization involving imagination. Visualization should not be undertaken without the help of a trained master who have undertook the same path before and understand the dangers involved. It can caused a person to be mentally unstable. When a person really believe he is a god, he is a god at that very moment and can do many seemingly impossible acts. It is what happened when a person is in a trance. The person in the trance is being control by another entity or at least that is what it seemed. If we really believe we are communicating with another entity, it will be impossible for others to convince otherwise. I have actually witnessed many masters/students of paranormal sciences showing off their abilities. Some master can even passed on some specific abilities like chanting or speaking in an "alien" language only understood by the master alone by just doing some simple rites such as asking the adept to drink charmed water and eating blessed beetle leave. Even the person speaking the language does not know what he/she is mumbling about. I am confident that it is something from their heart. It should be something about what the other disciples have done or said from that particular disciple's perspective/heart. It is probably sort of a CIA/FBI report. Many time the master would be able to ask you about things which you thought was not known to him. In advance yoga meditation, we learn about aura expansion (watch my video Aura Expansion in Youtube) introspection, thoughts expansion, astral travel, nine planets meditation and etc. This is just an indication for those interested on what is available. Each system has their own emphasis and methods which are not exactly the same. I would like to think them as complementary systems instead. You can visit the SKY (Simplified Kundalini Yoga) sites in India or Singapore for more details.

In ancient civilizations, the epitome of most skills end with meditations. In martial arts for instance, you have physical training to equip you with physical skill such as Karate, Kung Fu , Tae Kwon Do and etc (as in Bruce Lee / Jacky Chan/ Jet Li). The cultivation of internal energy (Nei Kung) as in Tai Chi Kung Fu style and Chi Kung (Tai Chi 18 style Chi Kung, Ta Mo Chi Kung, Wo Toh Shaolin Chi Kung, Wu Mei Iron Shirt, Goldern Bell and several types of Chi Kung) where there is a mixture of physical and breathing exercises to cultivate internal energy. Masters of Tai Chi and Chi Kung are known to be able to absorb normally fatal blows without any injury to themselves and at times they can deflect the blow back to the attacker causing fatal injuries to the attacker. The next logical step is to learn to control the mind through meditations. Master James Chee of Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan Australia, demonstrate to his students how he can stop them in their track (temporary disabling them with his chi) by using his wu xing rou yi kung.


In Yoga there are exercises and meditation techniques for the students. The Guru /Master/ Sifu will initiate or activate the area between the eyebrows (activation of the third eye) of the disciples. He will also explained to the students and try to clear any doubt that arise either in group or individually. The initiation is the first of many processes to open the "third eye" (the area between your eye brows and the center of your forehead). Only when it is fully open/ activated can you have accurate 6th sense and see things differently. Of course some people would like to point out that intuitions and extra sensory perception depend on each individual. Some people are born with some special abilities. They will take to paranormal sciences like a duckling starting to learn how to swim. While others might have to go through strenuous mental training to be able to go far in paranormal sciences. Just as our fingers can never be of the same length as each finger serve a different purpose to provide us with a good grip and holding abilities. Each of us are different in some way to make us unique to enable us to serve different purposes and destinies. Confucius said "Out of a group of three person walking there must be a master for me". What Confucius meant was that there must be something we can learn from each others. One person might be good in martial art, another might be good in his studies while another might be good at computers. Therefore if we remain humble and egoless, no matter how smart we already are, there must still be something we can learn from others. Some people might not be bright and below average in most things but certainly there is something he will be better at. Just as the blind cannot see and therefore have to rely on his sense of hearing making it more sensitive than normal people. Ultimately, it is always the "smart and intelligent" people who get into all sort of trouble because they think they are smarter than others and fall easily into traps laid by the street smart con people.

Even if your third eye has been activated, it does not necessary mean you can actually see anything more than the ordinary people. Most people cannot even see energy. For the benefit of those not into advance level meditation, the third eye is the area between the beginning of the eye brows and the middle of the forehead. In many people we might be able to see some markings as proof of having learn meditation or that their chakras have been activated (sometimes inadvertently). Even with the activation of the third eye through initiation by the master, the adept cannot see anything more than the ordinary. Various techniques have been deviced to enhance the abilities of the adept. The first sign of the adept can see things is normally through seeing energies coming from our hands and body. It is believe that in order for us to see through the third eye, we will need a len. The len need to be build by various yogic and tantric methods such as eyes exercises, breathing exercises and meditations. There are many books on the opening of the third eye. Some books mentioned about being able to see the purple colour. Of course there are many other colours such as blue , red, green, gold and black. There is also mention of throat frictions such as that in certain Chi Kung exercises. Ultimately, those who really want to go far in religion and meta physics should learn to curb their ego, pride and has lesser things to say as they are mindful of all their actions and karma. They will have to do introspection to be one with the inner self. This will make them more "god like" (Brahmin) or a perfect vehicle for achieving Buddha-hood. Here the adept will learn to expand his aura and mind to the universe.

In Taoist Yoga , the adept will also take charmed water and paper regularly to enhanced their abilities. These charmed water and papers have been charmed by the master and can help the student get the desired result faster. It really all depend upon the master. The student can do automatic writing, healings and wizardry once they have mastered the process. Some can even go into a trance invoking some "gods" or spirits. These people can communicate with spirits and deities.

In Yoga , there are some people who can do astral travel or out of body experience, There are people known to be buried alive for weeks in India and were still alive when they were dug out. Some Yoga master can use their hair or teeth to pull heavy objects like the Mighty Subramaniam who managed to pulled a Boeing 747. Chi Kung Masters are known to be able to withstand heavy weights being stacked on them or being run over by a double deckers bus. Grand Master Anthony Wee of Chi Dynamics was able to let a 9 ton double deckers bus move over him. Martial art exponents are known to be injured or even killed by a 3 ton vehicle. Then there is Master James Chee who is a son of Chee Kim Thong founder of Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan Malaysia, who is able to use chi to stop a person in his track, injures a person with his chi and etc. It looks like magic but it is all about the manipulation of chi /bio magnetism. Meditation is a method of gathering chi /bio magnetism and manipulate it with our mind. Those with lots of chi or bio-magnetism within them or around them can do healing. The extend of their ability lies on how much knowledge they have of various healing methods such as acupressure, acupuncture, traditional Chinese Medicine System, Ayuthveda and etc. For those interested to learn more on healings do click on the relevant topics below.

In most eastern philosophies such as Yoga and Taoism, there are methods of longevity such as the transmutation of sexual energy to spiritual energy. Many western books on meditation and positive thinkings such as "Think and Grow Rich" and "Centering" have also mention this subject. Yogist and Taoist Yoga also have their method of transmuting sexual energy (life force (prana / ching)) into spiritual (shen) energy. One should have sex in a control manner befitting someone intending to be a master. In Taoism, there is the transmutation of Ching (sperm) into Chi (Bio-magnetism); Chi into Shen (spirit) and Shen into life force (prana). Under the Simplified Kundalini Yoga system, there is Kaya Kalpa Yoga to help you stay younger and etc. If you are interested in Simplified Kundalini Yoga (SKY) do click on the link to SKY Malaysia on the right hand side to have some ideas of what SKY is about. Of course you can visit the World Community Service Centre (www.vethathiri.org)from the link provided.


CONCLUSION

In life, sooner or later we will find things are never so clear cut as one plus one equals two. All of us are born with different abilities and inborn talents. We grow up under different conditions, circumstances and choose different path in life. The only things that are certain are growing older, sickness and death. Maybe death is only a prelude to another journey such as the caterpillar morphed into a butterfly. Many will weep unwittingly at the passing of the caterpillar. If they are able to realized that the caterpillar has become a butterfly, they will instead rejoice on the demise of the caterpillar. Similarly we are not sure what exactly happens upon death. We would definitely rejoiced if our loved ones has evolved into something better like an angel. All sentient beings have their own destinies and serve different purposes in life. Some are meant to be stepping stones for others, some have to step on others, some decide not to and some sacrifice themselves for others. On the surface it would seems that the one who use others as stepping stone will be successful but life is full of surprises and sometimes the one being step on becomes the winner when somehow the person on top drop down unexpectedly.


If you have encountered some difficulties in meditation, perhaps I might be able to help. If you want to know more on any of the above topics covered, do feel free to contact me.