Tranquil Sitting

by Yin Shih Tzu

  There are several ways to cure the mind’s problems. I will illustrate two of these to choose from. The first method is to tie the mind to the tip of the nose—free of any random thoughts, focus the mind’s eye on the tip of the nose to watch the breath. When you watch the entry and exit of the breath, you see neither where the breath comes from nor where it returns. After extensive practice, your random thoughts will gradually subside.

  The second method is to tie the mind to the bottom of the abdomen: the center of gravity of our body is in the lower abdomen, so tying our minds to this place gives us perfect balance. When we do this, we should imagine a straight line from the nose and throat to the abdomen, entering and exiting through our nostrils. After prolonged practice, our mind’s random thinking may diminish. This practice can also help in adjusting the breath.

  When we have learned to rest by tying up the attractive, we can move on to Zhi Xin Zhi “achieving rest by controlling the mind.” What is Zhi Xin Zhi? Xi Yuan deals with the mind’s subjectivity. Now Zhi Xin Zhi can directly deal with the mind itself, allowing us to control and stop thought when we discern it in our mind, and prevent the possibilities of being hooked by the attractive. This training is far deeper and far more subtle than that about Xi Yuan Zhi.

  As the next step, we learn Ti Zhen Zhi (“resting by understanding the truth”). This practice is on a level even higher than Zhi Xin Zhi. The two methods just described are preparatory steps for learning to rest. When you practice this method you will acquire true rest.

  What is Ti Zhen Zhi? Ti means “understanding”; Zhen means “truth.” When you try to discern your thoughts they suddenly disperse, become empty and random, and lose all value. If we don’t try to perceive our thoughts, the mind remains in a state of void. If in addition all random thinking and conflict are not intentionally controlled, the mind may achieve a state of rest in a natural way. When you dispel empty, random thoughts the mind is close to truth. In this state the mind truly knows rest.

  When you practice Ti Zhen Zhi during meditation, close the eyes, and reflect on the memory of your physical growth. We grow from infancy to childhood, maturity, old age, and death. Our cells constantly regenerate, without a moment’s pause. There is no physical or mental state to which I can permanently hold and claim as my body. Again we reflect on the mind’s thoughts. Thought after thought passes through our minds. The most recent of these is just past, the present thought continues, and the future thought is imminent. Which of these thoughts may I consider to be my true thought? From this we can see that as random mind perishes it is reborn, and all is empty and random. After much practice, we can stop this process of random thought naturally so that the mind remains in a state of truth.

  As we learn meditation, our mind easily loses concentration in the beginning stages. This loss of concentration allows the mind to drift. The way to prevent the mind from losing concentration is to learn the technique of achieving rest. Repeated practice teaches our mind to remain in a state of rest. When rest is achieved, we easily become inattentive and drift into sleep. Curing this drowsiness requires visualization. Visualization doesn’t mean looking outward, but rather closing the eyes and looking inward, to the mind.

  There are three types of visualization. One is called visualizing the void. In this method, we try to visualize all things in the universe as constantly undergoing change, whether they be as large as mountains and rivers, or as small as our bodies and minds. Everything is impermanent. We must look into our minds and visualize this. This is called visualization of the void.

  After long years of this practice, you can look into your mind during meditation and find that every thought in the mind has a subject, either an idea or an event. All things in the world result from the interactions of original conditions and ensuing events. For example, the seeds of various grains can sprout. This is an original condition. Water and soil can nourish these seeds. These are the ensuing events, the catalysts. If we store these seeds in a barn, and do not sow them, they would never sprout. Thus there is original condition lacking a catalyst. All things in the world are produced by the meeting of original conditions with a catalyst, and perish by their separation.

  Our thoughts are chimerical. Do not try to hang on to them. If we visualize the attainment of goals, we are visualizing an illusion. Relatively speaking, visualization of the void belongs to the realm of non-being, and visualizing illusion belongs to the realm of being. Despite extensive study of visualization, we have not achieved perfection. We should therefore continue our study. When we visualize the void, we should be free from any prejudice that the vision must be void. If we visualize illusion, we create the illusory. Don’t become attached to the concepts of void and illusion. Let your mind rely on nothing. If we achieve this, our minds become like hollow caves from which we can witness the external light. This is called visualizing the middle.

  Superficially it appears that we are making distinctions in our discussion of this Zhi Kuan principle. In actual practice the practitioner can use his mind freely. Sometimes he may prefer to use resting, sometimes he may prefer to use visualization. Be determined in unifying your thoughts. This is called resting. Directing thoughts is called visualization. When we practice resting, we never abandon the use of visualization. When we practice visualization, we do not abandon the use of resting. Feel free to use both methods, and don’t let yourself get confused by their apparent contradictions.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The Six Mystical Steps

  In Chapter Three, we discussed adjustment. Though we tried to present the three adjustments of the breath, body, and mind equally, this introduction gave preferential treatment to the adjustment of the body. In Chapter Four, we discussed the principle of Zhi Kuan, which is primarily a discussion of the mind. In this chapter, The Six Mystical Steps, emphasis is on the breath.

  Breath is the origin of life. Anyone who cannot breathe will soon die. Without breath, the nervous system cannot sustain its reflexes and the mind dies. His life is finished. Breath alone makes it possible for us to connect the body and the mind, and maintain life. The entry and exit of air through our nostrils depends on this breath. Although it is usually invisible to our eyes, breath has both form and weight. Since it has both weight and form, during its passage it is also a material part of our body. We realize that entry and exit of the breath depend entirely on our mind, and that it is part of the spirit. Since breath can connect the body and the mind, we know breath itself is part of the body and the mind.

  The Six Mystical Steps will teach the practitioner to manage the technique of breathing. It is a method of continuous meditation. After learning the principles of Zhi Kuan, the practitioner can go further to study the Six Mystical Steps. Even without practicing the principles of Zhi Kuan, he may begin the study of the Six Mystical Steps.

  Step One: Counting Practice and Fulfillment

  The Six Mystical Steps are: Counting, Following, Resting, Visualization, Returning, and Clarifying. What is Counting? Counting is to count breaths. Counting breaths has two levels. The first of these is Counting Practice. After entering meditation, try to adjust the breath so it becomes perfectly smooth and peaceful, then count slowly from one to ten, placing the count on either the inhalation or the exhalation. When you focus on Counting, do not lose concentration. If you lose concentration before ten is reached, begin the process over, starting at one. This is called Counting Practice.

  The second level of counting breaths is called Counting Fulfillment. After much practice, you become gradually skillfull enough to count from one to ten without confusion. Your inhalations and exhalations become gentle and soft. When you reach this point, your breathing is so regular that you no longer need to count. This state is called Counting Fulfillment.

  Step Two: Relaxing-mind Practice and Fulfillment

  After this, we should give up the practice of Counting, and proceed to study the Relaxing and Following technique. This technique also has two levels, the first of which is
called the Relaxing and Following-mind Practice. We give up Counting and let our mind follow the entry and exit of the breath. The mind accompanies the breath and the breath accompanies the mind, closely linked to each other, the breath becoming gentle and soft. This is called Following Practice. The second level of this practice is called Following Fulfillment. Once you master the Relaxing and Following technique, the breath becomes very gentle, and it feels like you could breathe simply through your skin. The mind is placid and still. This state is called Following Fulfillment.

  If, after a long period of practice, you feel that the breath is not yet gentle enough, give up the practice of Relaxing and Following-mind and begin the practice of Resting.

  Step Three: Resting Practice and Fulfillment

  Resting also has two levels. The first one is called Resting Practice. The mind no longer follows the breath. Now gently focus your mind on the tip of the nose. This is called Resting Practice. After a long period of practice, you will no longer feel that you have a mind or a physical body, and will enter into a state of deep meditation. This is called Resting Fulfillment. Having reached this level of deep meditation, continue to visualize light in your mind until it becomes bright. Don’t rest on your laurels, but begin the study of Visualization.

  Step Four: Visualization Practice and Fulfillment

  Visualization also has two levels. The first of these to realize is the Visualization Practice. In meditation carefully visualize the breath entering and exiting the body, like a breeze in the air that lacks physical substance.

  This is called Visualization Practice. After a long period practicing Visualization, you can mentally watch the breath entering and exiting through every pore in your body. This is called the Embodiment of Visualization and its Fulfillment. In the previous chapter, we discussed resting and visualization. These terms have a different meaning in this chapter. In the previous chapter, we used resting and visualization to focus on training the mind. In this chapter the focus is on training the breath. After practicing Visualization for some time, devote the next period of study to visualize the Returning Practice.

  Step Five: Returning Practice and Fulfillment

  Returning, like the other techniques, has two levels. The first of these is to realize the Returning Practice. Once you have used your mind to visualize the breath, the mind acquires the skill of intelligent Visualization. This skill is distinct from intellectual activity, but this opposition is relative, not absolute. The practitioner lets his mind trace the origin of his thoughts. This is called the originality of Returning Practice.

  The second level is to verify the Returning Practice, which is called Returning and its Fulfillment. This intelligent Visualization arises from the mind. Since it has arisen within the mind, it should fall within the mind, too. One rising, one falling. These are elusive and unreal. The rising and falling of the mind is like ripples on water. Ripples are not the water itself. We have to wait until the surface of the water is smooth before we can see the water itself. The rising and falling of the mind is like a ripple, which is not truly mind.

  We should visualize our true mind, where nothing arises. If nothing arises, then it is non-being. Non-being then becomes the void. If it is the void, then there is no visualizing mind. If there is no visualizing mind, then there is no state for Visualization, and both state and intellectual activity disappear. This is called Returning Fulfillment. Once you have reached the level of Returning Fulfillment, your mind retains only the concept of returning. Go on to the practice of Clarification.

  Step Six: Clarification Practice and Fulfillment

  Clarification has two levels also, the first called the emptiness of the Clarification Practice. When the mind is clarified, there will be no thoughts to distinguish. The second level is Clarification Fulfillment, in which the mind stays as still as still water, all random thinking expelled. You can then perceive your true mind. This doesn’t mean there is both a true mind and a random-thinking mind. The mind returns from random thinking, and attains truth. This is like a ripple disappearing into the surface of water.

  In summing up the principles of the Six Mystical Steps, Counting and Following comprise the preparatory work to use for deep meditation. Resting and Visualization are for prolonged meditation. Returning and Clarification are the fruit of this meditation. In these Six Mystical Steps, Resting should be regarded as the main training, with Visualization simply an aid to enhance the Resting Practice. Then the mind can be clearly disciplined, and you can receive the fruits of meditation, which are the Returning and Clarification.

  PART II

  CHAPTER Six

  My Experience

  My childhood

  In my childhood I was a small, weak, and sickly boy. I felt dizzy, sweated at night, and had sores on my genitals. In my sleep I suffered from spermatorrhea. I saw spirits and ghosts, sound filled my ears. All these physical problems occurred. Occasionally, leaving my house I could walk only half a mile before my feet would soften and become so weak that I could go no further. When I was fourteen or fifteen years old, my health problems became more numerous and more severe. I felt like I was in a trance, I suffered from floating fears, and felt my body struck by waves of heat. I still remember the spring when I was sixteen; every afternoon my body overheated, then became cool again by the following morning. This condition continued until the summer.

  I became very sick with tuberculosis, and called on doctors to diagnose me. They prescribed different medicines, but these never improved my condition. In my home I had a Chinese medical book, I Fen Chi Kuei (General Answers to Medical Questions), which explained that tuberculosis could not be cured by relying on medicine alone. This book recommends that patients be nursed in quiet surroundings, so that they may recover gradually. The book also introduces the art of Taoist meditation, Xiao Zho Tian (small heaven circulation), and describes in detail how to develop this practice. I followed the instructions and practiced Taoist meditation. What eventually happened to me convinced me of its effectiveness.

  I practiced meditation very diligently when I was ill, but when the symptoms disappeared, I stopped practicing. I lacked devotion. Though occasionally I was still ill, my general health was much better than it had been before I began the meditation practice. When I was twenty-one years old, I got married. Thinking my health was quite good, I gave up the practice of meditation. During this time, however, I had sex too frequently, so my old sickness struck me again. I also ate too much, which resulted in severe stomach aches. My esophagus was feverish, and my stomach made noise constantly. Even when I longed for food, if it was presented to me I could not swallow it.

  In the spring when I was twenty-six, my elder brother died of tuberculosis, and I was also infected. At twenty-seven years old, my coughing became relentless, and later I spat blood. This condition lasted three months. My health was becoming worse each day. Finally, I decided to throw away all my medicines, give up sex, live alone in a separate room, leave all worldly worries behind, and practice meditation. I forced myself to meditate four times a day, at midnight, six in the morning, noon, and at six in the evening. Each time I meditated for one or two hours. I continued this practice for three months. Eventually I felt my abdomen gradually become warm. This feeling of heat became stronger and stronger, until it circulated and trembled in my abdomen like boiling water. On the evening of May twenty-ninth, I felt a jerky quiver in my abdomen, then a flood of hot air flushed against the base of my spine, and, following the Jia Ji[1] sympathetic nerve, surged up to the base of my brain. The meridian along this line is called the Tu or Governor meridian, in the traditional Chinese medical dictionary. I felt this sensation six times, before it gradually stopped.

  I realized then that only eighty-five days had passed since the first day, March fifth, when I had resumed practicing meditation. After this experience, every time I entered into meditation, the heat would follow the same path, reaching the summit, but the quivering never recurred. It seemed that after the quiveri
ng experience, I had been switched into another body. Not only were all my old diseases cured, but I could easily walk for more than ten miles without feeling tired.

  Since that time I have never discontinued meditation practice. When I was twenty-eight years old, I was hired as a tutor. I simply rearranged my meditation schedule, changing it to twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. On the morning of March twenty-eighth of the same year, I felt the heat quivering in my abdomen again. From there it came up my Jia Ji sympathetic nerve, and flushed against the base of my brain. For three days the heat continued. I felt like the bone at the back of my brain had opened, as a tide of heat flowed into the crown of my head. After this experience, this sensation recurred every time I entered into meditation; the heat flowed along the same path, but without quivering.

  At midnight on October fifth of that year, I felt the quivering in my abdomen again, and the heat circulating at the crown of my head changed direction, rushing down my face, separating into two parts around my nose and mouth, then reuniting at my throat. This flush of heat continued down along the vagus nerve, through my chest, then flowed into my lower abdomen. In traditional Chinese medical terms, this path is called the Jen or Conceptional meridian.

  After this experience, every time I entered into meditation, the heat flowed from the spot of my Wei Lu (at the base of the spine), up along my Jia Ji sympathetic nerve, and ascended to the crown of my head. Then it went back down over my face and chest to my abdomen. The heat repeated the established circuit through the Governor and Conceptional meridians. I did not feel the quivering. Since this time, except for a few instances when I took medicine, I have never been ill again. Therefore I believe that my experience has proven that the Taoist art of meditation has a preventive effect against disease.