Hello, senior brother
Preparation before meditating:
A) The light in the meditation room should not be too bright, otherwise the light will irritate the eyes and make it impossible to enter tranquility. If you meditate during the day, close the curtains and dim the light. If you meditate in the dark when it gets dark, you will easily become drowsy and drowsy. This problem will not be obvious in the morning before dawn. If you meditate before going to bed at night, you will easily become drowsy. The way to deal with drowsiness and drowsiness is to spend 20-30 minutes to eliminate bad things from the body before formal meditation. For information and methods, see "(4) Body reaction" and "6) Retraction" below.
B) It is best to meditate in the morning and evening. Meditation on an empty stomach has the best effect (but it is best not to feel hungry). If you can only meditate during the day, try to do it two hours after a meal, because If there is food in the stomach, it is easy to feel sleepy while meditating. More importantly, the food in the stomach hinders the movement of energy in the body. You will have a feeling that the airflow is blocked in the intestines and stomach, and the Qi pulse is blocked. In this case, after meditating, there will be no Refreshing effect.
C) In addition, you should go to the toilet before meditating so that your stomach and bladder are in a very clean and comfortable state. Your clothes, seat cushions and surrounding environment should be comfortable. You can put a glass of water next to your seat for ready use. Drink, put your watch or alarm clock to check the time, and put a towel or blanket on your knees, because your knees will feel cold when you meditate. If you don’t keep warm, you will easily have distracting thoughts, which will affect your tranquility.
D) Turn off mobile phones and landlines. If possible, lock the room from the inside. You can also put a note on the door saying "Do Not Disturb" to prevent family members from knocking on the door loudly. , your name is shouted loudly, or children or other family members suddenly come in and frighten you. It is easy to be frightened when you are in deep silence. If you are frightened, you should immediately restrain your anger and stop the exercise immediately (see the method of withdrawing the exercise for details) below).
Why do we need to make the above preparations? Because you feel a little uncomfortable during meditation (uncomfortable room temperature, uncomfortable clothes, thirst, need to go to the toilet, environmental interference, etc.), you will not be able to calm down, and you will have worries and even distracting thoughts. Making these preparations is to reduce worries and distracting thoughts to a minimum. In this preparation stage, it is best to turn on the chanting machine and prepare in an orderly manner amidst the sound of the Buddha's name. This will help your mind enter the state of chanting and meditating as soon as possible. If you can induce as many yawns as possible at this time, the best effect will be. Because breathing can help you get rid of the bad emotions accumulated in the body during the day or night, and it is very helpful for achieving tranquility during meditation.
(2) Recite the Buddha’s name orally: it can be done loudly, quietly, or silently. If there are many distracting thoughts, chant loudly with the Buddha chanting machine or CD, and recite faster. Use the Buddha's name to subdue the distracting thoughts and not give yourself the opportunity to have distracting thoughts. When there are few or no distracting thoughts, you can recite the Buddha's name slowly or silently. If you are breathing hard, recite it silently; when you are not breathing, recite it aloud. If chanting the Buddha's name loudly and quickly cannot suppress the distracting thoughts, you can visualize the golden photos of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, and imagine that your whole body is integrated into the golden light of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. However, please note that after the distracting thoughts have subsided, you still need to recite the Buddha's name, in addition to the name of Amitabha. Only by thinking about nothing can you truly enter the samadhi (quiet state) of reciting the Buddha's name. According to the teachings of Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva, Master Yin Guang and other Pure Land Patriarchs, when reciting the Buddha's name, all six sense organs should be absorbed. That is to say, the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and mind should be focused on a Buddha's name. In particular, one's own ears should be able to hear one's recitation of the Buddha's name. The sound of the chanting machine can be turned off after it has introduced itself into the chanting state, so that it is easier to hear the sound of one's chanting. Hearing your own voice is very helpful in clearing away distracting thoughts. In addition, counting can also help to eliminate distracting thoughts. Generally, counting from one to ten at most is required. For specific counting methods, you can refer to Master Yin Guang’s Yin Guang Master: Ten Thought Counting and other mind-centering chanting methods and practice gist (highly recommended). ), or you can create your own unique method.
(3) Meditation time: It depends on your specific situation. You can meditate for 30-60 minutes before going to bed and after (when you first wake up). After meditating, your body's energy will increase and you won't need as much sleep as before. For example, you used to need 8 hours of sleep. Now if you meditate for one hour before going to bed and one hour after going to bed, you only need 6 hours of sleep. Therefore, you don't need to meditate this way. Taking up time alone, as part of sleep, it has a better fitness effect than sleep. You can meditate anytime, anywhere, whenever you feel tired or sleepy, for as little as 5-10 minutes, or as much as an hour or more. The longer the time, the more energy and sensations you will get.
(4) The realms and physical reactions that appear during meditation:
A) The various realms that appear during meditation:
If you meditate with fewer distracting thoughts and enter silence In relatively deep cases, various colors of light, lotus flowers, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, pavilions, street scenes, people, deceased relatives, animals, mountains, rivers and earth, and other spiritual aspects of the Wiz space will appear on the forehead, back of the head, eyes, lower abdomen and other parts of the body. Various images and lights such as life, you may also hear various sounds, smell smells, communicate with living entities in the realm, and other realms. These realms may be good realms, they may be reflections of inner demons, or they may be Caused by spellcasting, illusion, and interference from external demons or other external spirits. Therefore, the best way to deal with it is not to pursue, not to be attached, or to ignore it. Since ancient times, there has been a famous saying in Buddhist meditation: "When the Buddha comes, the Buddha will behead, and when the devil comes, the devil will be beheaded." That is to say, when you meditate, don't be excited and pursue even when you see Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. , because demons (a type of interference from external spirits) sometimes transform into images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas to tempt us. If we see demons, we should ignore them as if we haven’t seen them. In short, as long as we don’t care about any inner scene and don’t pursue it. , if we are not attached, the inner demons will disappear automatically, and the external demons will have no choice but to leave in anger, and they will not be able to interfere with us.
B) Physical reactions during meditation:
After meditation, the vitality in the body increases greatly, and the body is automatically regulated. Traditional Chinese medicine says that "pain means there is no pain, and generality means there is no pain." Our body Many places in the body's meridians are blocked or narrowed. After meditation, the vitality increases, and the blocked areas will be automatically cleared. During this process, the body will have some reactions. Generally speaking, the more serious the blockage of the body's meridians, the more likely the disease or underlying disease will be. The more or more serious diseases a person has, the greater the body's reaction when meditating. Sometimes the person meditating does not have any disease, but some of the genes in the body are bad (for example, the biological parents have some major diseases), and the genes are not good when meditating. Good parts will also react (fix bad genes). In addition, when a large amount of true energy enters the body and circulates, or the original true energy in the body circulates faster, it will also cause various reactions. These reactions (including those caused by dredging meridians, regulating lesions, and strengthening the circulation of Qi in the body) include cold, cool breeze, heat, acidity, numbness, electric anesthesia, electric shock sensation, stiffness, swelling, pain, throbbing pain, and throbbing pain , itching, dizziness, crying, laughing, sleepiness, tears, breathlessness, bowel sounds, burping, flatulence, coughing, nausea, vomiting, palpitations, sweating, body getting bigger, smaller, lighter, heavier, slippery, Become astringent, have a floating feeling, be sucked into the ground, shake, crawl, jump (movement), regret, restlessness, happiness, hear sounds, see light, images, words, touch objects in the air etc. In short, there are many reactions to meditating, and they vary from person to person. It is impossible to list them all here. No matter what feelings or phenomena you have while meditating, as long as the symptoms disappear after you finish meditating and stop practicing repeatedly, you are meditating. reaction. Please note: When meditating, we should not pursue or dislike these reactions. We should treat them with an indifferent and indifferent attitude. It is like a gust of wind blowing and our body suddenly feels cold. After that, we should not think about the gust of wind and the cold again. Feeling, because the more you think about it, the colder it becomes (it has nothing to do with the wind), and all reactions are processed in the same way.
Among the many reactions mentioned above, the most common reactions are yawning, runny nose, tears, etc. This is the body's natural way to eliminate negative emotions and illnesses in the body, such as tension, stress, Anxiety, sadness, resentment, jealousy, inequality, etc. Yawning is a natural adjustment function of the body (for example, the body will automatically adjust by yawning when tired and tired, and will shed tears to detoxify when sad). Meditation can strengthen this function, allowing the body to naturally eliminate negative emotions, illness, and other bad information, and strengthen Kidney qi (kidney qi is the foundation of the body. When kidney qi is strengthened, the essence, energy and spirit will be strong). Shedding tears during meditation can not only eliminate all kinds of negative emotions, but also protect and improve vision and treat various eye diseases.
All states and physical and mental reactions in meditation cannot be pursued, with the exception of breathing (tears and runny nose are incidental to breathing), because breathing is the human body's inherent ability to eliminate bad information. And energy function, our human body will automatically breathe out when we are sleepy or overworked. Breathing out, like other excretory functions of our body, needs to be smooth, so that the body's body and mind can be healthy. Therefore, it is necessary to induce as much breath as possible before and after meditation, so as to ensure that you are not sleepy or tired while meditating and chanting the Buddha's name, and that you feel refreshed after completing the meditation.
If you can’t breathe out, firstly, your body may not be truly relaxed yet and you may have too many distracting thoughts. At this time, use your mind to make adjustments and imagine that you are relaxing each part from head to toe one by one. At the same time, use your mind to adjust. After inducing it, you can gradually breathe out. Tears and runny nose often appear while breathing out, which help to eliminate toxins (bad information and energy) from the body. Second, due to factors such as eating the meat of living beings, the karma is relatively heavy, and the toxins are temporarily stuck in the body and cannot be discharged. However, they will be discharged naturally after meditating for a long time. Meditation has a greater effect on detoxification. Fellow practitioners who eat meat may experience reactions such as excessive phlegm, or they may no longer be able to eat meat soon (they feel nauseated after eating it).
If there is an increase in saliva during meditation, it means that the essence in the body has increased. Swallow it and do not waste this extremely precious essence. If the body becomes hot, it means that the connection with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas is better, and more energy will enter the body.
Yawning, tears, nose blowing and other physical reactions during meditation are called by Buddhists "the appearance of karmic obstacles" and by Taoist practitioners as bad information or sick energy, but they are actually the same thing. . Our daily experiences (the people and things we come into contact with) vary, and the amount of bad information our bodies receive varies. Generally, bad information can be eliminated in 20-30 minutes. If you no longer breathe and shed tears during meditation, it means that the disease energy has been almost eliminated, and you can concentrate on meditating and chanting Buddha's name in the remaining time. The body is in an open state when sleeping at night, and a lot of bad information enters the body while resting. If you can meditate to eliminate bad qi in the morning, even if you only do it for 10 minutes, you will be energetic and energetic throughout the day.
Please note: The time to eliminate bad information (including disease qi) varies from person to person. If you can persist in eliminating bad qi every day, 20-30 minutes is usually enough. If you are exposed to a lot of people that day, Bad information, such as watching film and television works, novels, advertisements, news and online media content that are full of negative content such as killing, stealing, lust, greed, anger, ignorance, etc., or eating the flesh and eggs of living beings. Sometimes it takes 1-2 hours or even more. It takes a long time to basically eliminate the bad information from the body. Therefore, snoring, tears, and nose blowing may occur at any time during meditation. Since we are exposed to bad information in society every day, the situation of eliminating bad air during meditation is also different every day, so there is no reaction. There is no need to worry, be curious, pursue, research, etc., just let nature take its course.
(5) When the bad information is eliminated, the mind will become purer, and wisdom will emerge from concentration. At this time, although most people cannot reach concentration, they can also enter a little tranquility (the primary preparation stage for entering concentration) , therefore, some small wisdom will arise, such as suddenly having solutions to technical problems and interpersonal problems in work and life, and suddenly having ideas on how to improve what you are doing. This is a small piece of wisdom in the primary stage. Although it is also a distracting thought, it is a good thought and is very useful. Most meditators will use these answers in their work and life afterwards (wisdom comes from concentration), and the effect is very good.
(6) To withdraw the gong: First, you must tell yourself repeatedly with your mind that you are going to close the gong, then rub your hands and face (dry facial cleansing), rub your navel and Yongquan (soles of the feet) and that's it. You can also do some eye exercises or Baduanjin as part of the exercise (mainly massaging some acupuncture points, which can be found everywhere on the Internet). The most important thing is to induce breathing while withdrawing the exercise. Breathe as much as possible until there is no breathing anymore. You must learn to breathe. It is induced at the beginning, and then the body will become automatic. I lead a meditation group, and I require the members to take at least 50 breaths each time they meditate and collect the energy. If you don’t have time to meditate, just collecting the energy and breathing will help you get rid of illness to a certain extent. Thinking clearly and feeling refreshed (it depends on how long you have been queuing bad information).
(7) The standard for measuring the results of meditation and practice is to see whether the mind is clear, whether the mood is peaceful, refreshing and joyful, whether the energy is strong, and whether the body is clean and comfortable. If you don’t have the above feeling, there are several possibilities:
1. The practice is not enough. Repeat the practice until you have the above feeling.
2. There is too much general bad information in the body, and the time of meditation and meditation is too short to clear all or most of these bad information. In this case, just increase the time of meditating and collecting the exercises.
3. Meditators have been greatly disturbed recently due to heavy pressure or emergencies in work and life (such as conflicts with leaders, facing dismissal, death of relatives, divorce of spouse, etc.) and need to use Buddhist methods. Meditation will have good results only after a lot of self-alignment.
4. Things that should be done are delayed or not completed due to laziness, causing interference in the mind. Once you finish these things that have not been done, you will feel relaxed and refreshed after meditating. .
5. Due to heavy karma, the mind always feels like a "mush" (unrefreshed and unhappy), or the mood is depressed. In this case, while meditating, it is necessary to reduce karma through a large number of reciting Buddha's names and mantras, repentance, salvation, release and other methods. With less karma, it is easier to fall into tranquility when meditating, and it is easier to feel refreshed and happy after meditating. After reciting the Buddha's name with a pure mind, we can further eliminate karmic obstacles to a large extent, because the Buddha told us that reciting Amitabha from the pure heart (pure mind) can eliminate the serious sins of life and death for 8 billion kalpas. The key words here are pure, pure, and purified! And meditating and chanting Buddha’s name is the best shortcut to enter the state of pure mind and chanting Buddha’s name!
The above-mentioned meditation method is as simple and safe as the method of chanting the Buddha's name. Because you are always chanting the Buddha's name, you are always blessed by the Buddha's name, and there will be no image problems that are prone to occur during deep meditation, so there is no risk. At the same time, it can also help us enter the samadhi state of pure mind and chanting Buddha.