Questions and Answers about Meditation
Questions and Answers about Meditation
---- Between Jiwen and Master Haikong
Q: Sometimes during my meditation, my body shakes or sways back and forth, how should I deal with it?
A: Vibrations from the meridians and the 'Mildest Wind' cause our body to shake or move around, and vice versa. Do not chase after this sensation and for sure do not move your body intentionally. Just focus on reciting the Mantra, holding the Mudra and contemplating on the Master's image.
Q: During meditation, sometimes I feel hot, numb or swollen, is this considered good or bad?
A: Those sensations are just signs coming from our body and are not what we look for in our meditation practice. Therefore, they are neither good nor bad. The most important thing is not to follow your sensations.
Q: I heard that the best posture for meditation is to sit in full lotus. I tried very hard to put my legs into this position but failed to do so. What should I do?
A: We meditate using the 'seven branch' sitting method. Practitioners can choose to sit in full lotus posture, half lotus posture or simply cross their legs - it completely depends upon their body condition and ability. If we only focus on restricting our legs, we may neglect the true meaning of meditation - as we are no longer training our mind, but our legs. (laugh)
Q. When meditating deep into the night, I often feel indescribable dread to the point that I can no longer continue to meditate. What is the matter and how should I deal with it?
A: The indescribable dread comes from negative karma of endless life-times, this condition can be avoided by praying for the Master's blessing and reciting the 'Hundred Syllable Mantra' to clean up the karmic obstacles and develop awakening nature.
Q: I've been accustomed to meditating before sleeping, but sometimes I fall asleep during my meditation. I think I'm too lazy, how should I overcome this difficulty?
A: Meditating before sleeping is a good habit, but it is easy to fall asleep if you are too tired. Next time rather than blaming yourself, please examine whether you are too tired, and if so, you could go to sleep, and that is not being lazy. Otherwise, you should try to adopt the following methods: 1) don't meditate in bed; 2) turn on the lights; 3) contemplate bright light and dissolve yourself in this bright awakening nature.
Q: Why do I feel stuffy in the chest or dizzy in the head during meditation?
A: That is caused by what we call meditation illness, which consists of two types, i.e., 'laxity' and 'passion'. The symptoms of 'laxity' include salivation, confusion, and lethargy, because your mind is too relaxed. And the symptoms of 'passion' include chest stuffiness and head dizziness, because your mind is too ambitious. So meditating is like playing a string instrument, and the strings should not be too tense or too loose, therefore wonderful music can be played.
Q: Is meditation better when reciting the mantra faster?
A: Reciting the mantra shall not only be fast, but also clear and accurate. If the recitation is too fast, it becomes practicing the lips, and will not leave any marks on our deeper level of conscious. Therefore, when reciting Buddha's name or mantras, we need to pay attention to training our eighth conscious; and this will get us twice the result with half the effort.
Q: In the three-mystic yoga, reciting the Mantra and holding the Mudra are relatively easy to do, but visualization is quite difficult, is there something more I can do?
A: Yes, for beginners, visualization is actually quite difficult. It requires the practitioners to have rich imagination and strong willpower of which if they are lack, they should primarily practice Guru Yoga, and visualize the Master's image -- this will be more direct. If one's willpower is not strong enough, then he or she should instantly make a resolution and add reciting the 'One Hundred Syllable Mantra' to their practice to eliminate inbound pollutions in the mind. When evil Karma is eradicated, the visualization/contemplation will surely become more clear and stable.
Q: During meditation, some obstinate thoughts cannot be removed by all means, or should we say 'it stuck in my mind', how can I overcome this difficulty?
A: In this condition, you should practice 'Insight Meditation' (Vipashyana) instead of 'Calm Abiding Meditation' (Shamatha). Take the 'insight' as remedy and use wisdom (the Buddha's correct views of the truth) to view and evaluate these thoughts. Once the true nature is revealed, these thoughts will withdraw completely.
Q: What is the best way to deal with illusion?
A: Be determined, and cut it off completely disregard whether it is an illusion of the Buddha or the Devils.
Q: During meditation, sometimes I would experience the sensation of 'can't locate anything', and it usually comes with a sudden arising of a sense of fear, could you please tell me what's the matter?
A: 'Can't locate anything' is a common sensation during meditation practice, however, if your strength of Samatha (Calm Abiding) is not strong enough, you may experience the arising of fear. With the deepening of the meditation and the strengthening of the Samatha , this type of fear will vanish; and you can gradually transform the sensation of 'can't locate anything' to a wonderful mind state.
Q: In meditation, how do we distinguish positive blessings from negative blessings?
A: Positive blessings improve the practitioner's ability to have compassion and empathy, while negative blessings just increase desires, anger and ignorance. A practitioner should not attach to seeking for blessings, for this will cause the mind to be deceived by greedy desires, and brings obstacles into his or her practice.
Q: What are Vipashyana and Shamatha, and when to practice them respectively?
A: We can explain this by an analogy: let's say we cannot clearly see an inverted image of the moon in choppy water, for this reason, we must smooth out the water surface with a certain method, which we would call 'Vipashyana'. Then with smooth water, we can now clearly see the inverted image, and this is 'Shamatha'. Practices of Vipashyana and Shamatha are supplemental to each other and inseparable. Practitioners shall learn to master both the methods, like freely operating the throttle and clutch when driving a car.
Q: I have fewer thoughts when practicing Vipashyana but am feeling very tense. On the other hand, I'm much relaxed when practicing Shamatha, yet the thread of thoughts in my mind increases. What should I do?
A: You should practice the two methods coordinately. Feeling tense is because you are still dwelling on the existence of reality and threads of thoughts. At this time, Shamatha shall be coordinately practiced in order to contemplate and evaluate the reality and the thoughts, knowing that they are just illusive things produced by our mind. When you see their untrue nature, and are no longer attached to them, your mind will become more tranquil and move into a much broader state.
Q: What is the difference between the state of 'absence of thoughts' – single-mindedness during insight meditation and that of 'dwelling of the mind' during calm abiding meditation?
A: The key distinction lies with 'self-ego'. In the state of 'absence of thoughts', the practitioner still has a sense of 'ego', while in the state of 'dwelling of the mind', he or she sees the root nature of 'selflessness'.
Q: Meditation needs quietness, but it seems to conflict with our busy, chaotic life, how should we deal with this challenge?
A: First of all, the purpose of meditation must be correct. With respect to going beyond the worldly reality, the purpose of meditation is to exceed samsara and attain nirvana; with respect to going into the worldly reality, the purpose is to realize a peaceable psychology and nurture wisdom so that we can work and study better and live an overall happier life. Therefore, meditation does not conflict with every day life at all, and if one practices meditation well, his or her day-to-day life will be very happy and satisfactory. In the case where his meditation does not bring any benefit, or even conflicts with his life, he should check whether the method is applied incorrectly. It is impossible to separate day-to-day life and meditation from each other, which just liking a sharp knife is ground with great efforts, but it has no place to display its prowess, so life is the touchstone of meditation. Of course, if one is permanently witnessing and permanently in peace, he or she will always in the state of meditation, and there is no difference between life and meditation.
