To meditate you need a meditation method and a spiritualguidancer or a spiritual master
The Quan YinMethod is a complete one. It gives you everything that you need. It guidesyou in every direction that you want to go, and gives you all kinds ofinstructions that you need for your growth, inside and outside.
Spiritual guidance is via a true LivingMaster. A Living Master will guide you the way to the Truth, help to resolvethe problems in the spiritual path and practice, as well as to overcome theobstacles you meet in the daily mundane life.
Questions ansered by Master Ching Hairegarding meditation exercises:
Q: I heard on some of Your tapes that You recommend not mixing practices.Perhaps You can clarify for us what You intended by that.
M: Only when it has anything to do with breath control; that is all.Otherwise, there is not much there. For example, there are many kinds ofso-called meditation. People say anything is meditation, so we are confused. Butactually there are different types. There is a kind of mantra practice; theyrecite something. People also call that meditation, so that's confusing. Peopletell you to pay attention to your breathing- you breathe in and breathe out, andthat they also call meditation. Some people say you have to pay attention to thesolar plexus, the abdomen, all the time; that they also call meditation. Fine,there is nothing wrong with that.
But we abuse the word "meditation" too much and confuse people;because otherwise, I would say that everyone meditates anyhow. This morning whensome of the television interviewers said, "We are not used to meditation;we don't know what is meditation, and you tell us to meditate," I said"Yes, you meditate all the time; some people meditate on money, some peoplemeditate on girls, some people meditate on drugs when they don't have enough ofthem." That's their meditation. When you pay attention to something to avery extravagant degree that is when you meditate.
Therefore, I say to you, "Be concentrated, be one-pointed with myteachings". That's why you get the best results. If you meditate on myteachings and meditate on money at the same time or meditate on a mantra at thesame time, of course, you are divided and that's very logical. I am not adictator. I just tell you what is good for you. Whatever you want to do, youhave to pay all your attention to that point. Whether you meditate, you fix thecar, or you drive a taxi, if you don't pay attention, you will get into trouble.
That's very simple, but people think I am forbidding you this and that. No,everything I tell you is just good advice as a duty of a teacher. Whatever youknow, you have to tell them. Of course, you make the choice. If you don't followmy advice, it's okay. You are responsible for your actions, the success of yourmeditational practice. But I am responsible to tell you what is good for you, sodon't misunderstand that it's a kind of prohibiting or dictating. Everything Itell you is the age-old essence of a practitioner who wants to get away from allthe traps of this materialism and rise above this mind-matter controlling powerso that he can realize there is something greater than his own body and his ownmachine brain, the computer.
That's it. All of these are kind of secret codes, secret methods, to speedyourself on the highway of spirituality. There is nothing dictating about thatbecause if you don't do it, I will never say anything to you. I will never scoldyou. I will never ring you and say, "Hey, you didn't do it." Or I willnever check up on it. It's all your choice. The path of freedom is a path ofresponsibility, self-responsibility, so I never impose anything. Just tosuggest, just to tell you, "This is a good way. If you do it, you surelywill get that. If you don't, okay, you'll get half or maybe threequarters."
Q: Master, just now when I was meditating on theSound, my whole bodyvibrated vigorously. I was sitting on this rock; I toppled and fell down, andthen woke up. (M: Do you feel comfortable?) I'm feeling very comfortable. I hada headache yesterday, but now it has gone.
M: Sometimes, the vibration is stronger than we are, so we cannot get used toit. The moment we get used to it, we become stronger than it. Then we will feelvery natural. It is as though a person has been starving for a long time, nothaving enough to eat and suffering from malnutrition. If he is suddenly given alot of food, he may swallow too fast, resulting in indigestion. That is why wehave to meditate seriously and regularly. When we have gotten used to meditatingfor a longer time, it will become a very ordinary practice, and we won't even beaware that we are meditating.
Why does a baby cry when he is born? In the mother's womb, he was immersed inwater like a fish. When he suddenly emerges into our world, his skin gets intouch with the air for the first time and he has to begin breathing with hislungs. Therefore, it hurts and is very uncomfortable all over; that's why hecries. As he cries, he has to use his lungs, and then he will get used to ourworld. He now understands that there is no more water, that it has been replacedby air. He will get used to it slowly.
Our spiritual practice is similar to the situation of the baby. As wepractice more diligently, we will get used to the highervibrations. Thesevibrations are much higher than ours and that is why we are unaccustomed tothem. A newborn baby also cannot get used to our comfortable and free-livingenvironment; instead, he is accustomed to the dark and confined environment inhis mother's womb. Therefore, when he is just born, he feels scared and unsafe,as if he has lost everything.
Similarly, it is not difficult for us to be liberated; the only problem isthat we have to get used to the free and liberated state. When we eventually getaccustomed to it, we will not want to come back to this bodily prison again.Sometimes in meditation, we enter deep samadhi and go to very high dimensions;we feel absolutely free and unrestricted. However, because of our unpaid karmaand unfulfilled obligations, and the fact that we still have lessons to learn inthis world, we have to come back to this physical body. The moment we are drawnback, we feel extremely frustrated and agonized; the feeling is so bad that wemay cry.
There are difficult moments on our spiritualpath. When karmic hindrancescome, we really have to exert our greatest effort to overcome them. Suppose ababy refuses to go out because he has lingering feelings for the safety of hismother's womb. Would it be good for him? Though the environment is morefamiliar, safe, comfortable and warm, he cannot grow in there! He will only maketrouble for himself and his mother. Therefore, he had better go out when it istime to be born.
During the process of delivery, the baby has to squeeze through the narrowand bony places in his mother's body, which can be quite painful. It is asthough his head has to squeeze through two stone gates and is going to splitopen; it is really difficult. So you see, even such a tiny baby must make thebreakthrough when the time comes. Originally, he lives like a fish in hismother's womb where there is no air, no sunshine and no material contact. Afterhe is born, he has to live in a totally different world where everything is justthe opposite! Anyway, it is good for him to force the exit; it may beuncomfortable outside, but it is still better than hiding inside indefinitely,because it is not his permanent abode in there.
In spiritualpractice, we may sometimes encounter obstacles; we may feel veryexhausted and want to quit. There are also times when we are battered hard byour karmic hindrances. However, we ought to stand up again, because we are humanbeings! We ought to be brave, and act like a hero! We just cannot lower ourheads and surrender to the situation every time or give in to our insignificantobstacles.
Yesterday I read you the story "The Journey to the West". The firstpart of the book describes a group of monkeys, some old and some young, somevery clever and so on. However, none of them dared to go beyond the waterfalljust because they dreaded getting wet. What they didn't know was that there wasa paradise behind the waterfall - a very beautiful cave. Whoever went in couldlive in that brilliant and comfortable cave. Being adults, if we fail toconstantly think about making breakthroughs, then we are weaker than babies!Where can we put our pride then? Therefore, remember that we must not lose tothe babies, as they are also very brave!
