Meditation 冥想

Meditation is concentration of the mind – either through pondering on some deep aspect of outer life, through introspection of the inner workings of oneself within the 3 levels of the Deep Mind Sphere, or through a directed aspiration beyond the Deep Mind towards the True Self. Meditation may be practiced while fully involved in outer life, while lightly involved in outer life or while momentarily withdrawn from outer life. It begins when a proportion of the mind is turned back towards its source. Though meditation will later encompass the 3 aspects of the mind – consciousness, intention and intelligence – initially a division is created within consciousness so that while one part of the mind continues to act (producing thoughts, feelings or movements) an independent part of the mind is free to watch these manifestations.

It is crucial at this initial stage not to simply horizontally split off a part of the quietly watching superficial conscious, but to create a vertical split between the superficial-mind and something a little deeper. The truly natural way deeper is exactly the process of going to sleep – the superficial-mind reduces its activity, then an internal sense of the body grows, followed by immersion in the dream state culminating in disappearance into deep sleep. All true, balanced teachings, understanding this, initially concentrate the separated watching part of the mind back towards the deep body sensations which draws this part deeper – rather than the common mistake of allowing it to look back out through the external senses creating the quiet watchful horizontal split which in itself cannot lead to anything deeper and if strengthened will lock a person in their head and block all further progress (being really, if practiced to an extreme, the first step towards psychological imbalance).

Ramanamaharshi: “Intellect (superficial mind) is of no use at all for seeing within, for turning towards the Self. For that it has to be killed or extinguished, or in other words it has to merge in the source from which it sprang.”

Close Down to Wake Up – To begin the process take 3 full deep breaths. Each out breath let the mind close down as if going to sleep. The tensions of the body melt away. Then the superficial-mind closes down further. The troubles of outer life are forgotten. The mind passes through the quiet watchful state and continues deeper (Don’t be tempted to rest in that quiet state). While the mind continues deeper, outer awareness fades away.

As the dreamy state first begins to appear, concentrate in the hands and feet looking for sensations of tingling, fullness and warmth. Continue breathing deeply. Each out breath go deeper and intensify the fullness and warmth allowing it to grow into the arms and legs, then into the chest, then down through the trunk to rest in and around the base of the trunk, the perineum (Base Centre).

Next allow a cloud of light to form in and around the perineum. Intensify the light as the mind gently sinks deeper. At this stage the superficial-mind has been closed down and the Deep Mind has begun to awaken. The tingling, fullness and warmth appear due to the energetic stimulation of the pain, pressure and heat sensors. In this deep condition visualising light will help to connect into the reality of the body’s energy field, (whereas in a superficially quiet state visualisation may only lead to an imaginary disconnection from reality).

Universal Mistake – Today and throughout history, the universal, even natural mistake, is to take the quiet mind as the basis of meditation. It arises when people, who have not gone through decades of training with a good teacher (who has themself previously passed through decades of true training), take it on themselves to teach what they ‘believe they know’ is meditation. Though this was warned against by the Buddha and every genuine teacher since, still whole systems are devised, teachings promoted and books published, which are based on the brain state of no-thinking. As the old Yogi Mounimaharaj of Rajasthan said: “All realised beings say the same thing – but who listens to them?” No-thinking is not No-mind (Empty-mind, Buddha mind, Deep Mind). When the Deep Mind appears, it is independent of whether the thinking mind is quiet or remains fully active. It is also independent of outer emotional arousal or physical movement. The true test of the development of the Deep Mind is its ability to remain fully functioning as the outer activity of thoughts, feelings and movements within yourself and those around you, press in upon you. Only long training under a true teacher will lead to this.

Artikel by Patrick Kelly.
More on: www.patrickkellytaiji.com