Hi Steve and Mike, My name popped up. I am not sure what's the
question. Let me just ramble a little about the journey of Chan
Meditation.
* Yes, it does require a tour guide, because it is completely
formless and a teacher can serve as a conduit of wisdom and
energy. It saves a lot of detour and the student usually
progresses faster next to a teacher. That's why Chan is also
called the "Secret Inner Witness", when it past to Tibet, I was
told by Anthony, that it turned into Tantric.
* Why cultivate chi? The purpose are two fold. One is to divert
the thinking to focus on the chakra and chi channels and the other
is to unify our physical body. Thus awareness rises from our
heart, that's the center of both physical and mental.
* Are these diagnostic marks? I would rather call the various
stages of practice sign posts. At the beginning, we sense some
heat or vibration of some of our chakras, toe, finger tips, etc.
(Bill, I can write up a self-chi experiment if you wish. it takes
only two minutes to try it.:-) ) Then we are able to sense/direct
the chi along certain paths. Then all chakras can be connected
via all the chi channels. Then our entire body feels like one
chakra or one channel. At this stage, it does take several years,
we have unified our body into one and we seldom get ill.
* Alone the journey, our awareness(sensory abilities) are enhanced,
our attitude and preferences diminishes. Recognize oneness in
many things. I mean recognize the cause and effect,
interdependence and relativity of everything. No longer need to
hold any concept, or words, as our base. Our base of practice
broadens. Because our hearts are open and we feel the sadness of
the delusional beings. Sometimes we don't know who they are. It
just comes to us to remind us.
* I often tell my students, no matter how foreign your feelings
are. Please do not be afraid. It is part of you. Anything
happens in this universe is normal. Nothing is dangerous or
supernatural, which are human terms.
Mike, on your way back to Australia, pass by Taiwan. I can make
arrangement with many English speaking teachers of ours and let you
quickly experience the chi power of many of our meditation centers.
Many of them are college professors.
Let me know if this answers any of your questions. Let me know if there
is anything else.
Thank you for the opportunity to share.
JM
Be Enlightened In This Life - We ALL Can
http://chanjmjm.blogspot.com
http://www.heartchan.org
On 4/12/2011 4:42 PM, mike brown wrote:
Steve,
Yes, I tend to think of this more as a diagnostic marker than anything
else. That's a good idea about Shingon, but the irony is that I'd
probably be better off in the UK or Australia to learn about it (due
to the language barrier). Ah well, 'move on Bikkhus', as the Buddha
would say.
Mike
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*From:* SteveW <[email protected]>
*To:* [email protected]
*Sent:* Wed, 13 April, 2011 8:23:40
*Subject:* [Zen] Re: Does Zen contain spirituality?
--- In [email protected] <mailto:Zen_Forum%40yahoogroups.com>,
mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
> Steve,
>
> Unfortunately, I'm in Japan and the teacher didn't speak English.
I'm just
> looking now at a few Vipassana sites that seem to be explaining the
process
> quite well. After 10 years of Zen, all this "energy centres" stuff
is quite an
> adventure! Kinda like being in a 'psychic fairground' as one person
put it.
>
> My intuition, as well as what I've been able to discern so far, is
that it's
> just a stage (albeit an important one) and not something to become
attached to.
> If JMJM has some advice it would be received warmly.
>
> Mike
>
> Hi Mike. I have Tantric fiends who are really into this stuff. As
you doubtless know, this is the focus of Tantra, both Buddhist and
Hindu. I am not surprised that there are physical correspondances to
mental states as everything is entangled. The question is whether
these phenomena are to be regarded as diagnostic markers, as
distractions, or as something that should be deliberately cultivated.
I have read that kundalini can be quite dangerous to one's mental,
emotional and physical health if the process is unsupervised by an
experienced guide. In Japan, as you know, Tantric Buddhism is called
Shingon. Maybe you can find some Shingon teacher who speaks enough
English to help.
Steve
>
>
>
>
>
