Four Mindfulness Foundations Observational Practice Experience
Chapter 5: Q&A on Contemplative Practice (2)
21. Question: This afternoon when I sat down to meditate, the qi energy quickly activated. I felt my body become light and buoyant, as if merging with empty space, with no inside or outside. My body, eyes, chest, and other places seemed to breathe on their own—an open, expansive kind of breathing, with me floating in the air. With a single thought in my mind, I returned to my hometown. There was a force pushing me, and I flew backward in retreat. Then a thought arose in my mind that I felt I had died. But I paid it no heed—dead or not, I ignored it (in my mind I intended to hand it over to the manas to handle). Later, the backward retreat stopped, and I saw moonlight shining brightly, illuminating the whole earth. Still I paid it no heed. Finally I came down from the seat, and my body remained light and floating throughout.
Answer: All these bodily sensations and states are realms of meditative concentration (dhyāna). Once the mind becomes still, the four great elements of the body naturally undergo changes, and the body will feel at ease and light, as if floating in the air. The changes in the physical body in turn prompt changes in the mind. When the mind revolves within such a realm, that is a state of meditative concentration—a condition that appears only after the mind has emptied. Ignoring it is the right approach. Do not stay in the meditative state for too long; take contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) within concentration as the main focus, with contemplative practice as the main thread.
22. Question: In my contemplative practice, I contemplated until most of the sensations of my body no longer existed, and my breathing became very faint. Continuing the contemplation, I could no longer feel either the body or the breath, and I entered a state of complete darkness. How should I continue the contemplative practice at this point?
Answer: You have entered a state of meditative concentration; the mind consciousness has become faint and can no longer observe the breath. If you still wish to continue contemplative practice, you must pull the mind out of the meditative state and bring it back to the breath. The mind should still attend to the breath, observing the condition of the breathing. No matter how weak the breath is, persist in observing it, moving from observing the coarse breath to observing fetal breathing. Do not sink into the meditative state. Only with the equal cultivation of Samādhi and Prajñā can one eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa) and realize the fruits. Leaning toward concentration alone benefits only the cultivation of the body, but it is not the goal of learning Buddhism and practicing the path.
23. Question: When observing the breath, my mind consciousness observes while also monitoring other wandering thoughts. Is this the correct way to practice?
Answer: This is the mind consciousness chasing after thoughts and being carried away by them. Thoughts are inherently false and illusory; they cannot be retained even if you try. Monitoring wandering thoughts is useless effort. There is no need to pay attention to wandering thoughts—let them arise and cease on their own. Apply the mind where it counts, doing useful work. If the mind consciousness does not monitor other wandering thoughts but focuses solely on the breath, try it and see whether your meditative concentration progresses faster?
24. Question: Yesterday while observing the breath, during exhalation I felt the breath was very long, as if it had reached the area of the root chakra at the base of the spine. Is this normal?
Answer: This is a normal phenomenon—the breath has passed through the dantian and reached the root chakra. The qi channels are running quite well, which shows the mind is tranquil (praśama) and the body has no obstructions. The breath will radiate out to all parts of the body and will also permeate in from all parts of the body; even the pores on the body's surface can let breath pass in and out. Not only the breath—the substances in the body and the substances in the surrounding environment, the four great elements, all mutually exchange, mutually influence, and mutually permeate one another. This is what is called the magnetic field—a bidirectional magnetic field. Therefore everyone must take responsibility for their surrounding environment, radiating positive energy, wholesome energy. At the same time, one should avoid negative energy and bad magnetic fields in order to be full of righteous energy.
25. Question: During meditation there is a feeling of gas bloating in my belly that can neither be expelled nor dissolved. What should I do?
Answer: Meditation can regulate the body; the garbage, waste, and toxins in the body will be expelled through waste gas. If you feel the need to pass gas but cannot, it is because there are still blockages in the body, possibly some dampness obstructing it. Eat foods with high heat energy or drink hot water or ginger water to warm the body and dispel the cold, and the waste gas and bloating will be expelled.
26. Question: During meditation, I merely observe the breath, trying not to participate in or guide the breathing. Suddenly I had a slight realization that this respiratory system is like an automated machine, and I slightly felt it to be like a piece of dead flesh. What phenomenon is this?
Answer: This is progress in cultivating the Path, the initial effect of practice. This is precisely the effect sought in contemplative practice within concentration. There will be more new discoveries in the future. When such quantitative accumulation reaches a certain degree, it will arrive at qualitative change. Qualitative change means the arising of wisdom's contemplative illumination, and you will gradually discover that the body of the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) is all as false and illusory as an automated machine, not under one's own control, all impermanent and without self. In the end you will be able to eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa). Therefore contemplative practice is simply pure observation, direct perception—do not add in the mind consciousness's assertions and ideas. Gradually you will discover facts and truths never discovered throughout beginningless kalpas. To discover truth, you need only observe attentively, focusing only on the dharma being observed. With time and deep practice, success will come naturally, and the facts contained within the dharma will reveal themselves.
27. Question: In the latter half of my breath observation, I feel my spine being pulled tight, and sometimes there is a flow of qi at the Baihui acupoint at the crown of the head. What is going on?
Answer: This is because after the mind has settled down, there is no longer any obstruction to the movement of the breath. The breath flows smoothly; the qi channels run from the dantian to the Weilü acupoint, then surge upward from the Weilü acupoint along the Du meridian on the back, straightening the back. The qi channels may even surge up to the head, striking the Baihui acupoint, and finally exit the body from the Baihui acupoint. This shows that the Ren and Du meridians of the body are unobstructed, the body is fairly healthy, and the mind can also settle down—the meditative concentration is quite good. This is conducive to the four foundations of mindfulness contemplative practice.
28. Question: Attending to the breath while maintaining a state beyond words; or visualizing the breath entering the nose, the five viscera and six bowels, the dantian, and other places—what are the respective advantages and disadvantages of these two methods of contemplative practice?
Answer: The first method conforms to the rules of the four foundations of mindfulness practice and easily gives rise to meditative concentration. In the second method, mental activity moves quite a lot and easily leads to mental agitation. For beginners with shallow concentration and weak power of wisdom, it is ineffective—visualization will not work well, the mind easily scatters, and meditative concentration does not easily grow. For those with deep concentration and strong contemplative wisdom, the deeper they cultivate concentration, the deeper it becomes and the stronger wisdom grows. Although the second method can guide the qi to move, if the guidance is not done well, problems can easily arise in the body. The safest method is to follow the breath's natural movement without managing how the qi runs; those with experience may do so. When starting contemplative practice, try not to use the mind consciousness to guide the breath—just observe. Observe the process of the breath's movement and change; the more subtle the observation of the whole process, the better. It easily gives rise to meditative concentration and wisdom.
29. Why can contemplative practice within meditative concentration give rise to wisdom and attain liberation?
Question: How can observation give rise to wisdom? For example, observing the breath—at the initial stage one can only observe the dynamic traces of the breath, which can only strengthen the power of attention and cannot produce wisdom. Only after extremely deep meditative concentration, when the coarse breathing stops, does one realize the breath is an impermanent dharma. But everyone knows that human breathing will eventually stop—it is an impermanent dharma. Take another example, the white bone contemplation: we need not sit in meditation to observe it, yet everyone understands that one day a person's skeletal remains will turn to dust and return to empty space. What I do not understand is: why observe a truth that everyone already understands? And what wisdom is gained from it?
Answer: The mind consciousness "understands" everything—but what use is such understanding? The mind consciousness understands that there should be no afflictions of greed, hatred, and delusion, and that creating afflicted karmic actions brings evil retribution—but what use is such understanding by the consciousness? The consciousness also understands how to become a Buddha—what use is such understanding? What problem has ultimately been solved by all the mind consciousness's understanding of every person? Everyone knows that sentient beings die and are born, are born and die, that the physical body cannot be grasped and is unreliable—yet do they not still greedily cling to the physical body without letting go? Therefore, all the mind consciousness's various kinds of "understanding" are false understanding and true confusion, resolving not the slightest substantive problem.
If the manas, which presides over bodily, verbal, and mental actions, does not understand, how can it cease to preside over creating pure karmic actions free of greed, hatred, and delusion afflictions? How can it preside over choosing the correct, reasonable direction and goal for studying the Buddha-dharma? If the manas does not understand that the activities of the five aggregates, such as breathing, are arising-and-ceasing and impermanent, how can it realize that the five aggregates are without self? If the manas does not realize the five aggregates are without self, how can it preside over creating pure karmic actions without self? Without pure karmic actions, how can one become a Buddha? Although the mind consciousness understands that a person ultimately becomes a pile of white bones, the manas does not understand, so it will cling to the body, taking the body as self, letting birth and death flow on without cease.
Therefore, without diligent cultivation of meditative concentration, without diligent observation of the breath, without diligent practice of the white bone contemplation, no matter how much the mind consciousness understands, one can ultimately not be without self, cannot preside and attain liberation. All the cultivation of meditative concentration and the skill of contemplative practice serve to permeate and influence the manas, prompting the manas to understand. Once the manas understands, the wisdom realm of meditative absorption (samādhi) appears; with such wisdom, there will be liberation of the mind, liberation by wisdom, and becoming a Buddha through wisdom. If the manas does not understand, there is no wisdom realm of samādhi, and liberation cannot be attained. If one does not want to cultivate concentration, does not want to diligently practice contemplation, and is content with the mind consciousness's intellectual understanding, this is no different from an ordinary being bound by the karma of birth and death. The karmic seeds do not change, and at death one must still follow the karmic seeds to suffer retribution in the cycle of birth and death, fulfilling the law of cause and effect.
30. Question: When I have meditated for about forty minutes, both eyes shed tears, flowing all the way to the corners of my mouth. Previously only one eye would tear. What should I do about this?
Answer: The eyes are closely connected to the liver. Eyes tearing is, first, a phenomenon of expelling liver disease, and second, the qi channels passing through the supreme faculty (indriya) at the back of the head, expelling diseases of the eye area. If there is eye discharge, it means liver fire is being expelled. You may treat it according to the specific situation, or you may ignore it—strengthen sitting in stillness, let the qi channels run naturally, and expel all disease obstructions.
31. Question: During sitting, the joints where bones connect feel like melting ice, or I feel the melted ice water slowly flowing from one place—hard to say whether it is a cool sensation or something else, but it is quite comfortable. What is this situation?
Answer: This is the natural response of qi and blood regulating the body as they pass through the joints. Originally the joints may have had cold-dampness stagnation or waste blockages. When qi and blood move to those places, they carry away some cold-damp energy and waste, and the joints become unblocked, so you feel more comfortable, mixed with some discomfort brought by the diseased energy. Your body is fairly healthy and the disease obstructions are not severe; if severe, you would feel pain and might even be unable to sit cross-legged.
32. Question: During my breath observation, my entire physical body feels very thick and sturdy, yet I can no longer observe the condition of the breathing, but a Buddha image will pop out, and I can recite the Buddha's name. In the past few days this condition has appeared twice during breath observation. After coming down from the seat I feel very relaxed, but I have become much more afraid of the cold than before. What is going on?
Answer: Feeling the body thick and tall means you have entered the dhyāna of the desire realm. With desire-realm meditative concentration, a desire-realm deva body will appear; a deva body is tall, sturdy, light, comfortable, and floating. Upon entering the meditative state, realm-images will appear—for example, a Buddha image appearing, the mind's purity resonating with the Buddha. After entering the meditative state, because attention was given to the realms appearing within concentration, the breath could no longer be observed. All realms are false and illusory and must not be greedily clung to; otherwise one easily goes astray, being led by the realms and not knowing the way back. Even if a Buddha appears in concentration, it is likewise illusory and must not be attached to.
In ancient times, when Chan master Wenxi was cooking rice, he saw Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva appear above the rice pot. He grabbed the rice paddle and swung it, wanting to drive Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva away. Mañjuśrī Bodhisattva then said: "After cultivating for three great asaṃkhyeya kalpas, I am still disliked by this old monk." This praises Chan master Wenxi for his mind being empty and not attaching to marks. But those whose minds are not empty and who have not awakened to the Path must never do this. When the mind is not empty, there is still the mark of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and being disrespectful to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas incurs transgression. For one who has awakened to the Path, there are no marks in the mind—what he drives away is a false mark, with no offense of disrespect.
When a person is in meditative concentration, the manas does not cling to the body; the whole body is unobstructed, the pores slightly open, and cold air will enter the body, so one feels cold. The fear of cold is because in meditative concentration the qi and blood have opened through, flushing open the pores, making contact with the air in empty space more intimate, and thus one feels cold. At this time, wear more clothing, and when meditating, cover the waist and legs well. Once the qi channels are completely opened, there will be no more fear of cold.
33. Question: Why do I feel my breathing become shorter and slower as soon as I settle down? At the beginning, when my mind was not yet calm, the breathing felt relatively long. After settling down, letting the body breathe on its own, I observe that the breath cannot reach the dantian. But if I control the breathing, deliberately making the inhalation longer, then I cannot settle down.
Answer: When the mind settles down, it focuses on the breath, and at this time there may be some involuntary control of the breathing, or one pays considerable attention to the breath, so it feels shorter and slower. Only after freely entering concentration and the mind becoming still will the breath become long. When the breath is short during natural breathing, it shows that the body's qi channels are not yet running smoothly and the skill of sitting meditation and cultivating concentration is insufficient—sitting meditation and concentration cultivation need to be strengthened.
When there is no power of concentration or the power is very weak, controlling the breathing may cause the mind to become scattered and unable to be still. Controlled breathing is not natural breathing, not the normal state of breathing; only uncontrolled breathing is the normal state. However, for the purpose of adjusting the body and letting the qi channels run smoothly, one may voluntarily and rather attentively practice deep breathing training, letting the breath open through the five viscera and six bowels, which incidentally can also deepen meditative concentration.
34. Question: During sitting meditation and contemplative practice, when the airflow passes the junction of the nasal cavity and throat there is a friction sound, and then my throat becomes inflamed and never heals. What should I do?
Answer: That place is blocked, with qi and blood not flowing, so inflammation appears. Use the method of deep breathing combined with recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) to treat it; it can open the passage between the nasal cavity and throat. You may also pat and scrape (gua sha) the throat area. Sometimes when the mind is overly concentrated, fire gathers there and does not disperse, causing heat and inflammation. You may switch to another place for contemplative practice, or let the observation move back and forth slightly, without concentrating force in one spot.
35. Question: Recently when I take my seat, I quickly enter the state, and my body seems completely merged with empty space. I deliberately tried to feel it: my back, shoulders, head, and other parts seem imperceptible; my legs and lower dantian, when I deliberately try to feel them, are as if present and as if absent. I contemplate the breathing, and the breath is also transparent, merged with empty space. Is this understanding correct?
Answer: This is a rather good state of meditative concentration—you have entered desire-realm concentration, and the physical body is like the body of a desire-realm deva. The breath is running well, your physical constitution is fairly good, and the whole body is unobstructed, so the heavy sensation of the body is gone. Not feeling the body within concentration is correct—the body is inherently empty. Only when the body's material form is coarse and heavy is there a sensation of the body; the coarser and heavier, the more obvious the sensation; the subtler the body's material form, the less the sensation. This shows that material form is an obstruction of the mind. Therefore in meditative concentration there is no need to pay attention to the physical body, no need to overly labor over sensations, or to be distracted by the bodily and mental feelings that appear in concentration—just turn the light around and shine it back, focusing on contemplative practice. Whether or not the breath merges with empty space, that is not the direction and goal of contemplative practice. The final result of observing the breath is realizing the physical body is without self and the five aggregates are without self—it is the eradication of the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa).
36. Question: I cannot get past the barrier of my legs. Each time I sit in half-lotus for about fifty minutes to an hour, I feel my mind entering the state, but then my ankle, knee, and hip joints hurt unbearably. I cannot hold on much longer and have to release, which affects my contemplative practice. Is there any way to get past this barrier?
Answer: This is because the qi in your body is blocked at the triangular area of your rear hips—that is, at the Baliao acupoints—and there are stagnations near the hip bones, so qi and blood cannot pass. Generally it is cold-damp energy and waste causing the blockage. You may try the following remedial methods:
1. Ocean swaying: when sitting in full lotus, do the ocean-swaying movement—first sway forward, then backward, doing both clockwise and counterclockwise directions, pressing and releasing, which can open the channels of qi and blood and expel the stagnation. 2. Use acupuncture needles on the blocked acupoints to open the blocked places, combined with ocean swaying, standing post (zhan zhuang), and other methods. Relatively speaking, acupuncture is faster. 3. Massage. At the triangular area of the lower back and the Baliao acupoints, repeatedly massage with mugwort essential oil or medicinal ointment.
4. At the Weizhong acupoints behind both knees, use a small, not-too-hard stick to press and massage, promoting smooth circulation of qi and blood. The waist and legs, hip bones, and these places all have stagnations and all need massage. You may also tap the legs with an empty fist; both the gallbladder meridian and liver meridian on the inner and outer thighs should be tapped and massaged, making it easier for qi and blood to pass.
5. Appropriately apply moxibustion to key acupoints to dispel cold-damp energy, and the meridians will become unobstructed.
6. Another method is fasting (bigu), letting the body regulate itself. Cold-damp stagnations will all be eliminated, the waist and legs will become supple, and sitting cross-legged will no longer be strenuous. It is suggested that after a period of time, when the temperature is not too hot, you may fast again to regulate the body. Fasting two or three times a year will bring the body to very good condition.
37. Question: Can meditation make life more splendid?
Answer: If there is a thought of making life more splendid, is this not a very heavy view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi)? Is not the thought of self the suffering of birth and death? Taking the life of the five aggregates as self, delighting in the body of the five aggregates, craving and clinging to the body of the five aggregates, wanting to perpetuate the body of the five aggregates, and giving rise to grasping (upādāna)—then one cannot cease accumulation and end suffering, and the suffering of birth and death will become heavier, running counter to cultivation. The Four Noble Truths of suffering, accumulation, cessation, and the path should be studied well; begin by learning to contemplate suffering. Only by knowing suffering can one give rise to the mind to cultivate the path and enter the Way. In fact, once observing the breath gets on track, one can draw the conclusion of the suffering of the five aggregates blazing—whatever is created is suffering. Nearly every thought of an ordinary being contains a self and manifests a self, not knowing that having a self is suffering.
38. Question: Which consciousness controls the breathing when observing the breath? How many consciousnesses observe the breath? Why does the body heat up and sweat when observing the breath? Which consciousness controls the heating and sweating?
Answer: In autonomous breathing, the mind consciousness and the manas regulate the breathing simultaneously; under ordinary circumstances the mind consciousness does not need to regulate the breathing. In the fourth dhyāna, the phenomenon of breathing ceases, showing that because the meditative concentration is extremely deep, the manas no longer regulates the breathing, and the breathing stops. If breathing did not involve the manas, then the state of breathing should forever remain the same and never change.
When observing the breath, it is the mind consciousness that observes, with the awareness of the body consciousness, so there is the awareness of consciousness accompanied by the five senses (pañca-sahagata-mano-vijñāna). If attention is focused, the manas observes together with the mind consciousness simultaneously; when attention is not focused, the manas only lightly attends, and because it is not focused, there will be no particular feelings or thoughts. When observing the breath, if the attention follows the breath to the dantian, the dantian will warm up, heat radiates, and perhaps sweating occurs automatically. Being able to move the qi to the dantian and having the phenomenon of sweating shows that the manas's attention has already reached the dantian, and only then does the qi follow to the dantian—the mind consciousness alone does not have this power. These dharmas are manifested by the tathāgatagarbha according to conditions, arising from causes and conditions; there is not necessarily any particular consciousness controlling them. If there were a controlling mind, the mental attention would scatter and the meditative concentration would become shallower.
Some dharmas are extremely profound and difficult to observe, and are of no use to our current stage of practice, so there is no need to insist on probing them. Concentrate your energy on doing well what you are presently capable of doing. One bird in the hand is worth two in the forest—being able to eradicate the view of self is the real skill.
39. Question: After practicing diligently, a phenomenon of inner reversal appeared—what is going on?
Answer: When practice becomes very diligent, karmic obstructions will manifest. The mind is entirely on practice rather than on worldly dharmas, running counter to one's former habits. The manas is greatly suppressed and cannot keep up with the pace of practice, feeling distressed and not wanting to practice—thus the phenomenon of reversal appears. This is the manas rebelling; He does not want to be too diligent, does not want to differ too much from former habits, too contrary to His own wishes. The mind consciousness cannot suppress the manas, so behaviorally there will appear slackness and laziness, or restlessness and irritation. When this happens, pay attention to observing your own psychology, find the real underlying cause, and remedy it accordingly. You may again reason with yourself in the mind, contemplating the suffering of the world and the importance of practice; or temporarily accommodate the manas, relax a bit, and do not keep your nerves too taut.
Practice is like playing the qin (zither): the strings must not always be taut—too tight and they will snap. If body and mind cannot keep up with the pace of practice, relax a little. Rather than letting the strings snap and taking a long time to recover, it is better to relax temporarily. Playing the qin requires just the right degree of tension and relaxation for the music to be beautiful. The Buddha spoke of this issue in the sūtras. Therefore we must constantly monitor the condition of our body and mind, see whether we can bear it, and when we cannot bear it, slow down. Diligence is a good phenomenon, but one must grasp the proper measure.
40. Question: In recent days, in the later part of my meditation, my Dazhui acupoint and neck feel swollen and stiff. Do I need to tap them with a small hammer?
Answer: You may tap with a soft stick, or massage and pat the acupoints with your hands, including the back of the head and the crown—all need to be unblocked. Once the meridian channels are unblocked, the neck will no longer feel swollen and stiff. The back of the neck is an important area, connecting the body and the brain; it is the only channel supplying qi and blood to the brain. Only when that place is opened can the head function normally. The head and the Baihui acupoint can be patted with the hand, or with an empty fist, or with a soft stick or silicone pat board. In this way the qi and blood are invigorated, nutrients are sufficient, the head is clear and fresh, and thinking is agile.
