"Quiet" and "meditation" are the methods of all schools and religions in the world. The realm of peace from meditation does not belong to any one, so it is the * * * method. In addition, the real Buddhism mentioned by Sakyamuni Buddha is the * * * method, which is different from other sects. It is a university with great wisdom and great achievements.
However, meditation does not necessarily mean learning Buddhism and practicing, nor does it necessarily mean believing in any religion. The purpose of meditation is to achieve absolute peace of mind and body.
Why is silence important? Laozi, a Taoist, once said, "Everything belongs to its origin. In the final analysis, it is stillness, and stillness is life." This is a difficult problem between heaven and earth. Everything in the universe, no matter what biological form, its birth, development, prosperity and prosperity must return to its fundamental existence, just like vegetation, which must have roots.
"In the final analysis, it is called stillness, and stillness is called resurrection", which means to restore one's original still life. Is this universe "in constant motion" or "at rest"? This is the deepest philosophical problem, which will not be discussed here for the time being.
Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism in China all want to achieve "concentration" in practice, and "concentration" is a proper term to enter some kind of tranquility. Neo-Confucianism advocates that clues should be cultivated in silence, and only in silence can real abilities be cultivated.
Western religions need to worship, pray, pay attention to wisdom, and also need silence to produce superb wisdom, which is enough to show the importance of silence.
Types of meditation
What you are seeing now is the one-legged stand in Indian yoga demonstrated by Mr. Nan Huai Jin. This posture is like Sakyamuni's lying posture when he was in nirvana. Many kinds of sitting postures are sitting postures. According to statistics, there are about 96 kinds.
Among so many postures, sitting posture is the easiest way to let the body and mind enter a quiet state. Now we are going to introduce seven sitting methods of Pilu Channa Buddha.
The Buddha of Pilu Channa is the body Buddha of Dharma, also known as the "central Buddha". Buddhists believe that everything in the universe always belongs to one Buddha, and all buddhas are the embodiment of Piluchana Buddha. The seven-sitting method refers to this kind of meditation, which contains seven main points.
This kind of meditation takes the posture of sitting upright with two legs, just like the tall and solemn statue of Bodhisattva you saw in China Temple. This sitting posture can make our body and mind achieve the highest static effect, even beyond material and spiritual, physical and psychological, and get the greatest quiet enjoyment.
Precautions before sitting
Before introducing this sitting method, let's explain a few points that must be paid attention to before sitting quietly.
First, how to choose a place to sit still? Many sects say that they should face the east when sitting quietly, because according to the five elements, the east belongs to wood and is the angry side, from which all qi originates; The west belongs to gold, the sun goes down, and the dead side; The north is completely frozen and the south is too hot, so some people think that meditation must face the east.
In addition, some religious people advocate facing the west in order to live in a paradise in the west. There are also some Taoist practitioners who want to sit in the south facing south, as if they were emperors. The south is bright and prosperous.
There are also some people who practice divinity. They think they need to face the north. The north is an achievement Buddha, and it will be effective to practice dharma in the face of the north. There are some persistent ideas about each other in the world. Some countries have learned the last stream of Zen Buddhism in China, and think that meditation must turn your back on the outside. These are misunderstandings and persistent ideas. Although they all have their own reasons, they are incomplete and incomplete.
To really learn to sit still is to learn to be "quiet" instead of "sitting", so that you can sit still anywhere, anywhere, anywhere. If limited by space and orientation, it is useless to sit still, because the purpose of sitting is "quiet" and will eventually "settle down". As for what will happen after you settle down, that's another matter.
Therefore, when we learn to sit still, we must make our own decisions and find the most suitable place, whether it is at home, in the room or even in bed. It is best to prepare a big cushion and a small cushion. Cushions should be soft and smooth, not necessarily cotton, but also grass, such as tatami or several layers of carpets, but not as soft and elastic as sofas.
Meditation on the sofa, when sitting up, the trunk is inclined, which will hinder the physiological blood circulation. You should also cover your legs, knees and the back of your neck with a towel or blanket. These three points are especially important for meditation. You must get ready to wear clothes. When the climate or personal feeling changes, you should cover your knees and your neck, shoulders and back.
The first thing to pay attention to when sitting is the air. If you open doors and windows, you can't face the front of your body, let alone the back of your body. Air needs convection, but you must make air convection in front of your seat, and you must never make air convection in front of or behind your body. This is not right.
Because your body temperature tends to drop when you sit quietly, don't blow directly, you will get sick. You must also prepare something to wear, just as people have to cover themselves with quilts when they sleep. When kung fu reaches a certain stage, even if you take off your clothes and sit still in the snow, the snow will melt. That's what's coming, and it can't be confused.
Second, practice meditation and keep bright, and so on. Beginners can't sit in places where the light is too strong, and it is easy to get separated, because the light will stimulate the nerves of the eyes, and they can't be quiet, and the cranial nerves can't be quiet.
You can't sit in a dark place, it's easy to fall asleep, and some timid people can also cause fear, so the light should be just right. What do you mean, just right? Because of gender, physique and age, it is necessary to wake up and pay attention to understanding. As you can see in this picture, light is very suitable for beginners to practice meditation.
Key points of seven-brace sitting method
Now let's look at the standard posture of seven-legged sitting. In order to let everyone see clearly, Huai Jin, a teacher from South Normal University, did not cover her clothes and towels when demonstrating the movements. When you learn to sit still, it is easy to catch cold, so please pay special attention.
1 the first point of the seven-brace sitting method is the board foot.
Translated from Sanskrit, it is called "Tiao". Stripes are instep and heel. Fold up your heel. It's called jumping. It's called "vegetable foot" in Chinese.
There are three postures of vegetable feet. Double disc is sitting. Some people may ask, is the right foot outside or the left foot outside? You have to measure your legs first. The average person's legs are not the same length, or one point, or half an inch, one inch. When you stumble, the best way is to be comfortable outside with long feet.
Some people don't understand the length of this leg, but it is wrong to move the other leg desperately. In addition, people with soft kungfu can turn their feet up, just like painting Buddha statues. Westerners can easily learn to double trip, because their legs are long, even if the soles of their feet are not turned over, it is easy to double trip.
In addition, you must add a pad to learn squat, and the double squat should be higher, especially for those who are not familiar with leg exercises.
(Cushion designed by Teacher nan huaijin)
Why do you need a cushion? The coccyx, below the last ischium, is hollow on both sides. If you sit flat without a cushion, all the strength of your body will be supported to your back, otherwise you will lean forward and backward, or lean left and right.
This posture is unbalanced. In order to balance the body, the tail is upright and the governor is smooth. No matter how skilled the double dish is, it's best to add a little cushion and stick to the body formally, which will subconsciously support the body and make the posture more natural.
In addition, one foot is down and the left foot is up, which is called "wishful sitting"; The left foot is at the bottom and the right foot is at the top. It's called "king kong sit". Why are the names so different? As soon as these two legs are exchanged, the qi pulse changes, the left side belongs to yang, the right side belongs to yin, the right side is below, the left side is above, and the negative yin holds the yang; The left side is on the lower right side, and the negative yang holds the yin. The function is naturally different, which is based on the interpretation of the Book of Changes.
In fact, the nerves on the left and right sides cross. King kong sit and Ruyi will have different functions when sitting in the body. The best standard of veneer is that the sole of the foot reaches the knee flexion. You can't do that. Don't stand on tiptoe with the heel cover of your lower foot.
If you sit at will, put your right knee here, and your left knee just stands on your heel, so your body is not straight, and your heel just presses the leg bend, that is, the next leg bend, and the last one is just in the leg bend, so your body is straighter.
In case beginners can't sit still, you might as well pull your legs apart and relax the left and right range, and your legs will roll up. If you can't do it again, sit with the horse between your legs, but don't stick your heel on your thigh, or your body posture will be incorrect and your heel will touch the inner edge of your thigh to make you even.
People who can't sit up on a single plate or cross-legged and want to sit still can also take other postures, such as lion sitting, six-stove sitting, immortal sitting, bodhisattva sitting, and sitting across the crane. Sitting across the crane can be divided into two postures: kneeling and cross-legged, depending on your own needs and comfort.
What is so important about sitting with your legs crossed? Very, very important! People and animals are different, and people's indomitable spirit depends on these two legs, so these two legs are the place where qi, blood and nerves always meet, especially the buttocks, which have a great relationship. As far as blood is concerned, they are the pillars of the blood bank.
"Essence is born on the soles of the feet", and people's vitality can be seen from two legs. The fetus is in the mother's body, legs crossed. Fetuses can only grow fast if their legs are bent. So when it was born, it was still playing with its legs and kicking on the bed. The longer it grew, the less it moved.
When we look after the children, we don't carry things with our hands, but run all the time. When we were teenagers, we played and exercised everywhere, and young people liked to run around. Middle-aged people have no choice. When sitting, they have to tilt their legs to keep comfortable.
Being older is not enough. Be comfortable. At this time, both legs are dying. We can see the importance of two legs in a person's life, so we can also see the importance of cross-legged leg protection for descending nerves.
The second point of the seven-legged sitting is in the back.
People carry it when they are old. The average person's shoulders are uneven and his back bones are easy to bend. The back bones must be tightened one by one, but they don't need to be upright. And our back bone has an arc line, which is not straight. The waist is bent inward, the hips are upturned, and the back is a little curved. Therefore, it is really as straight as the ancients said, "the back stands like copper coins."
Especially now, there are a group of tantric students or Japanese Zen students who want to sit up, stand up and stand up straight, which makes the biggest mistake, not only bad for health, but also very troublesome. Let nature take its course, and it will naturally be straightened out and standardized.
In addition, some people have been accustomed to the habit of bending their backs and bodies from an early age, and barely sit completely. Not only is it bad for your health, but it will also cause problems. It's best to let nature take its course, pay a little attention and be correct.
If you learn to correct yourself slowly and sit still for a long time, your body shape will be corrected slowly. Everyone should pay attention to that if a person has no feeling about whether his body is upright or not, his attention is half dead.
In short, beginners should remember a principle: the spine should be kept in a physiological and natural posture, not necessarily as straight as chopsticks and pens. Chopsticks and penholders are not behind, so people with poor body shape should learn to sit up naturally when they first get started, and don't be stiff and straight, which is quite bad.
Then in the future, if the posture is right and the qi machine is started, it will naturally stand up suddenly, more tall and straight than the molded bodhisattva. This is natural, not intentional.
The posture of the spine is closely related to the posture of the cushion, so we must straighten the spine, but don't force it to be straight, and conform to the laws of nature, especially the waist drum. The skeleton of our body, from the ribs in the back chest to the pelvis, has only one spine, and this column is empty.
If you deliberately hold out your chest, this pillar has no strength, and the internal organs on both sides, including intestines and kidneys, are deliberately straight and hurt your waist. When your waist is full of gas, your back will naturally stand well, so you are required to sit up straight. As long as you come to the middle of the coccyx, that is, the muscles are sandwiched here, these joints are all right. Even if it is straight, don't stand up straight.
Some people imitate Buddhism to meditate, opening their chests, pulling their shoulders apart, and straightening their backs and waists. This is a kind of qigong exercise, which has nothing to do with meditation. The back bones are often injured, especially the lumbar vertebrae.
So to sit up straight, the skeleton should be seated first, which is equivalent to practicing boxing and piling. The part mentioned is up to the cervical vertebra, that is, up to the back neck, which is a relatively bulging bone and related to the concept of du meridian.
In Taoist terminology, the meridians on the back are called Du Meridian, which runs along the inside of the back bone. Meridian and joint are two different things. In Buddhism, bones belong to a big place, the meridians are not big, and they are not as big as fire, water and wind. Epistemologically, it is called pure color root, which is the function of meridians.
The third point is the shoulder.
When people meditate, their shoulders are often wrong, and some pictures of Buddha statues are also wrong. In particular, orientals like to bend their shoulders forward, so that the ribs on both sides of the lungs are closed, which is a very serious mistake.
Some Chinese paintings like to draw like this, as if to call the old monk into meditation. In fact, it is unnatural in physiology, because in this way, the internal organs along the spine are oppressed, which is wrong.
So the shoulders must be stretched flat, and the shoulders on both sides should be as flat as a cross. Just like this, when you gently spread your hands flat, you can put them together to form a circle. In other words, you can't push your shoulders forward or pull them back. Smooth them out and loosen them. These should be adjusted by yourself.
The fourth point is to tie the knot by hand.
The seals of the seven sitting methods are left hand at the bottom, right hand at the top and under the navel. Here in the abdomen, that is, here in the pubic bone, some tantric students are particularly tall, which is a martial arts posture and hinders meditation.
Take your hand away, right in the middle of your hip, even a little below your abdomen. Just point your thumb at each other and touch it gently. If your fingers lean hard, it will become qigong practice, which violates the principle of sitting still.
Some people have their right hand below and their left hand above. This is a different name. Like the bipedal principle, left yang and right yin belong to the problem of qi pulse. There are many handprints, not just these two handprints. We won't discuss them for the time being.
But the achievement of Dharma Buddha, the handprint of Piluzenafo is this great samadhi seal. It should be noted that some people have short upper body and long hands, so it is very difficult to pick up this handprint, and they don't know where to put their hands.
Some people have different lengths of their left and right hands, so their handprints are biased. In this case, we should pay attention. You can find something or a towel to put under your hand. As for the long hand, you should put a diamond fist seal on your knee, or use the so-called Taoist way of putting your hands, ankles and head up, but the effect is not as good as samadhi seal.
However, each has its own function. For example, when the weather is hot in summer, you might as well let go of your fist. This kind of seal is called "storytelling seal". You can stop in winter and return to the yuan easily. Sometimes when you sit still, you will encounter some realms. If you are afraid, you can make a diamond seal.
There are many kinds of handprints. For example, in Taoism, there is a kind of handprint called pinching meridians, with five fingers interlaced, which is also used in one go. At the same time, it is also the handprint of Buddhism, another handprint that is not empty in the north, because of the harmony of Yin and Yang.
At this point, some people may ask, why do you have to put your feet between your legs and make sure your hands are sealed? Because the human body is centered on the back bone, it has the whole body's central nervous system, du meridian system and vascular nerves, which cross left and right, and our life energy radiates outward every day.
Now scientific instruments can reflect the light of human body, and this light energy is also radiated from the left and right forks, so the meditation posture is that the two sides are closed together, like a flower.
Their own electric energy and light energy circulate, so the light of sitting and standing is absolutely different. As soon as the posture of the seven-sitting method is put, all the electric energy and light energy are recovered by ourselves, and they are left and right, and yin and yang are copulating, so we must learn the posture of the seven-sitting method well.
Fifth, keep a clear head.
If your head is too low, it is wrong, and if your head is too crooked, it is wrong, so you must put your head straight.
Now I'm going to teach you a way to adjust your posture, that is, sit down on your stomach and lie flat completely, so that your back bone will be leveled, and then get up slowly with your back bone as the center, so that your back bone will be straightened.
Sit down and let go, then hook your head down, aim at your jaw, hook it tightly, and then stand at attention along your neck bone so that your head is straight.
Although it has been adjusted, when it is uncomfortable to sit, it will slowly lean over. I don't know it myself, because most of the human body is not completely positive, so it depends on the body sitting on a standard.
The head is facing the neck, especially the two venous tubes in the neck. The heart sends blood to the brain through these two arterial tubes. When your blood pressure is high or you think too much, these two arterial tubes will burst out when you are angry. Therefore, you must put your neck in meditation and gently press two arterial tubes. How can you call it urgent?
Put your head straight in the way I just introduced, and it will naturally be inhibited, so that the power of blood transmission to the brain will slow down and the burden on the heart will be reduced. If you meditate correctly and relax, you will naturally be compassionate and happy, and you will be beaming. That's natural, not fake.
The sixth point is that the tongue touches the palate.
Modern medicine advocates that people with stomach problems should swallow more saliva, while Taoists eat their own saliva, which is called "Jade liquid returning to Dan". What's more, after meditation, my head will feel cool, sweet saliva will flow out of my throat, nectar will flow out, and I will swallow it carefully, from my throat to my stomach and to my abdomen. This is called "body fluid returning to Dan", which can not only cure stomach diseases, but also mediate hormones.
According to the classification of ancient Chinese medicine, there are Adu meridians on the back of the human body, which run from the tongue to the maxilla, that is, the mouth is open, and there is an acupoint on the maxilla, which leads from here to the forebrain and is called the maxilla acupoint.
(Tongue against the palate)
If you sit still and stop breathing, your tongue will stand up and grab the upper throat in your two nostrils. At this time, you will breathe in and out slowly without relying on your nose, so that your body is a complete life, more complete than a baby.
When people get old, their tongues will stick out, and so will idiots. This is autonomic nervous disorder. Monks suck water inward, because saliva is a good liquid and a hormone. If you meditate well, you will smell that all the liquids in your body are fragrant. This is a good effort. After all, your whole body has changed.
So let's give it a try. When the tongue retracts hard, the body will feel particularly full. In the future, if you sit quietly and push your tongue up, the pulse here will be complete. This is dzogchen, who is sitting in meditation.
Therefore, we can see that the jaw of a person with qi and pulse must be perfect, and the upper jaw of the tongue has this function, which decreases with the hormones in the lower half of the brain and then connects with the hormones in the thyroid gland.
Seventh, your eyes are half open and half closed.
According to ancient regulations, the eyes should be like those of a newborn baby, with only one slit, which Taoism calls "light-containing vortex desert". The light-containing vortex desert includes external light and internal light, and even includes its own divine light. Meditation to a certain level will naturally enrich you. If you can't close your eyes, it will contain a swirling desert with light, but it won't open.
Look at the Bodhisattva statue in the painting, it is a swirling desert with light, and you can see a little eyeball, just like it. However, modern people use more eyes. Beginners had better close their eyes and sit still, but their eyes should be straight and not fall off. Just try it. When you close your eyes and hang them down, you will become sleepy.
When your eyes are open, it's easy to become a messy state, so it's best to close your eyes and stay quietly. There are many reasons about eyeballs. Don't separate left and right, don't look at each other, don't stare, be quiet.
The above are the main points of seven sitting postures, the most important ones are feet, back, shoulders, hands, head, tongue and eyes.
The posture of these key parts is sitting posture, and the muscles on the face are relaxed. How to relax? Smile, but don't smile, but relax the muscles on your face from the corners of your mouth. Especially in China, the muscles on the face are not always relaxed, and it is easy to tighten the face. This kind of nerve and cell are very nervous. When the facial nerve is relaxed, the anterior and posterior cranial nerves are also relaxed, so you can calm down. I hope everyone can get into the habit and let everyone who learns to sit still have a compassionate and happy face.
After the meditation, let's face each other in a palm-to-palm way, rub the palms together, warm the palms, massage the face from bottom to top, bypass the ears from the temple, and do it repeatedly. At the same time, massage along the eye socket with your middle finger, then rub your nose and massage until you feel comfortable.
Then relax your legs, massage and pat your thighs and calves properly, then straighten your feet, bend your toes inward, turn your feet around and hit your heels. After relaxing your joints, the person leans out slightly, bends your feet with the other support of your elbow, straightens your heels in turn and pushes them out. These actions can help blood circulation and prevent us from getting cold after meditation.