Embracing the One,
Taoist Meditation,
Part One.
I begin with a quote from the Tao Te Ching,
Who can remain still and quiet while the mud settles?
Who can remain calm and still until it is time to move?
And one other quote from my teacher,
Hua Ching Ni,
Let meditation assist your life.
Do not use it to spin a cocoon around your life.
When people hear the term meditation,
They often think of an austere practice of sitting in an uncomfortable position for an interminable amount of time,
Trying very hard not to think of anything,
As their mind races madly and their legs and back cramp up.
Or they may think of sitting high in the mountains and leaving their earthly forms behind and soaring into the realm of infinity.
Others may come up with pictures of rows and rows of silent bodies sitting along into the night,
Trying mightily to transcend,
Quote,
Normal consciousness and attain some sort of enlightened state,
Which will immediately solve all their earthly problems.
The difficulty with these pictures is that meditation can contain aspects of all of this,
Yet it is,
At its core,
Much more simple,
More direct,
And easier to learn and to make a part of one's everyday life.
That having been said,
Let me also say that for many people,
Meditation can be the most difficult,
Painful,
And challenging practice of their lives.
It can raise issues that have been buried so deep they've been successfully ignored for a lifetime.
It can bring one to the very brink of one's sanity,
Or it can bore one to tears.
On the other hand,
Meditation practiced correctly and regularly in the way that is most appropriate for each individual can open doorways into worlds that we can only imagine.
It can open lines of communication to the world of helping and healing spirits,
And it can bring one closer to whatever one's idea of God or Tao or the great mystery is.
It can allow one greater awareness of one's bodily condition or energetic state,
As well as allow greater insights into one's emotional terrain.
Taoist meditation is often called embracing the one,
Or returning to the source.
There is much about it that is mystical and may at first seem hard to understand for the beginner.
Many people in the West have a very difficult time sitting still.
They fidget,
Stretch,
Make noises,
Sway back and forth,
And change posture over and over.
Unfortunately,
It is impossible to attain inner stillness without first attaining outer stillness.
One of the ancient Taoist books says,
Only the person whose mind is still can still the minds of others.
The very first prerequisite for attaining the deep levels of inner stillness and quietude needed for doing deep meditation work is that one is able to sit still with spine erect for at least 20 minutes at a time.
Because this is so difficult for many beginners,
The best thing to do is start with a smaller amount of time,
Say five minutes.
After a while,
You can extend that period until you can sit for 20 to 30 minutes at a stretch without having to change posture or move around.
20 to 30 minutes is sufficient for most people.
If your goal is to heal a serious health problem or to become an immortal or enlightened being,
Then much longer periods of sitting will be necessary,
But for most people,
A shorter time will do just fine.
It is very important to keep the spine erect and straight,
Not at a tension,
But as if there were a string pulling you up from the top of your head from the bai hui point at the center of the crown and pulling your chin in slightly to align it with your spine.
As to the actual sitting practice,
It is important that one does not slump or fidget,
But it is equally important one does not hold one's body too stiffly.
One way to avoid this is to always have a small smile on your face.
Have you ever seen a statue or picture of the Buddha who is not smiling?
This will help your meditation from becoming too solemn a practice.
A quote from my teacher Hua Ching Ni,
If your attitude towards meditation is too tight and you sit solemnly and stiffly,
You will nourish and increase this overly serious and unpleasant aspect of your practice,
And this will become the sour fruit you will bear.
If,
On the other hand,
You sit with genuine joy,
The world sings to you,
The pores and cells of the breeze dance for you.
Indeed,
Just the art of aligning one's body and sitting quietly for any amount of time will have positive benefits.
Whether one is able to still the monkey mind or not,
You will still get great benefit from simply sitting in meditation in an aware,
Relaxed,
And joyful manner.
Taoist meditation is a little different than many other types of Easter meditation.
For one,
It does not work solely with the mind,
Although that is a component of Taoist meditation.
It is not just a relaxation practice,
Though it also does have that function.
It is not simply a quest for a higher state of consciousness,
But seeks to balance mind,
Body,
And spirit into one unified field.
It unites all three of these,
Mind,
Body,
Spirit,
As well as the life force energy that animates all living things,
Which the Chinese call Qi.
In Taoist energy meditation practices,
We direct Qi to various organs and through various channels or meridians in order to facilitate healing,
Greater vitality,
And a long and healthy life.
We are also dissolving areas of stuck Qi,
From pain to tumors.
The meditator learns to breathe deeply from the belly,
Thereby exercising the diaphragm muscle,
Which in turn massages the digestive organs.
They also learn to breathe into their lower and upper back,
Massaging the kidneys and the heart.
To someone on the outside,
It looks as though the meditator is just sitting quietly and breathing deeply.
They may be sending moving energy,
Or Qi,
Up the back channel,
The Du Mai,
And down the front channel,
The Ren Mai,
In what is called the small heavenly orbit,
Or they may be sending Qi into various organ systems.
They may be breathing not just from the front,
But with the back as well,
Feeling their whole body expanding and contracting.
The effects of a regular meditation practice are not only physical,
But are external as well.
As the practitioner begins to relax into their practice,
They will not only feel different,
But they will also look different as well.
Worry lines and wrinkles begin to relax and disappear.
Their body,
Especially the spine,
Begins to realign itself and their posture changes.
The ability to deal with life's challenges and pressures improves dramatically as one's entire disposition changes.
Also,
A greater sense of clarity,
Both emotional and psychological,
Begins to suffuse one's being.
Taoist meditation can also quiet the,
Quote,
Monkey mind,
That part of the brain that never shuts off,
But runs and jumps from one thought to another like an excited monkey.
Another term for this practice is static-ridden radio.
Our minds are often so full of outside noise that we rarely get to hear that still,
Small voice within that can give us so much information and guidance from our higher selves or Tao nature.
Just taking a few moments a day to tone down the static and neutralize its effects can not only bring us serenity of spirit,
But open pathways of communication with the spirit world.
Meditation is sometimes referred to as insight practice.
By turning our gaze inward,
We can illuminate those dark areas of sickness,
Pain,
And emotional turmoil that often run and ruin our lives.
By gently circulating the golden light within us,
We can reach that enlightenment state in which our problems do not have as much weight as they did,
And we can make decisions from a calm,
Clear,
And balanced state.
Zhuangzi,
One of the ancient Taoist masters,
Describes this state like this.
The mind of a sage is like a mirror,
Trying to achieve nothing,
Welcoming all,
Responding,
Yet not grasping.
Thus,
She is able to attain the way of her life without injury or effort.
Another major difference in Taoist style meditation practices is that we utilize sitting,
Lying down,
Standing,
And even moving meditation techniques.
To be able to maintain the meditative state while moving is a very valuable and powerful experience,
And one from which will help bring the meditative state into one's daily life.
Many people are familiar with the slow-moving,
Ballet-like movements of Tai Chi,
Or what some people call Tai Chi,
Or Qigong.
This is called stillness in movement,
And is an important part of Taoist practice.
If we can find that point of stillness within our movement,
It will be easier for us to bring the meditative state and all the benefits that come from it The foremost concern of the Taoist is to go with the flow of nature,
Not expending too much energy and ending up depleted,
And not doing anything that is unnatural for the individual.
In Chinese,
This is called wu wei,
Sometimes translated as not doing.
What it really means is being so sensitive to the moment that one is able to do which may include doing nothing.
The important thing is to not overdo anything,
Including meditation.
One of my teachers once told me that too much meditation will make your teeth fall out.
What I understood him to mean is that not moving for too long a time will make our energy,
Or chi,
Stagnate in our lower body,
We are already seeing this happen in the modern world.
People sit in front of computers all day,
Only to go home and sit in front of the television,
Which is causing higher rates of diabetes and heart disease.
Of course,
The fact that they are stuffing themselves with high-carbohydrate,
Low-nutrition foods at the same time only makes things worse.
Another aspect of Taoist meditation is internal alchemy,
Or nei dan.
Briefly,
Internal alchemy is concerned with the mixing and refining of internal energies in order to allow deeper states of health and spiritual cultivation.
These are referred to in ancient Taoist texts as immortality practices.
So please join me in the next tract,
Part 2 of Embracing the One.
