The content in the book is very simple. There are only a few diagrams of breath control and a few pages of notes on mental methods. It briefly introduces how to adjust the breath, stop the breath, enter concentration, how to put aside distracting thoughts, and enter a meditative state in which the two things are forgotten.
After Mo Hua looked at the booklet with a few pictures and a few lines of words, he hesitated to speak.
“Do you think it’s easy?”
Mo Hua nodded and then asked: “Sir, is this just a basic meditation method?”
“No,” Mr. Zhuang denied, “all the insights and practice methods of meditation are in this booklet.”
Seeing the ink painting puzzled, Mr. Zhuang explained: “The meditation method is naturally very simple if it is said to be simple, and it is very difficult to say it is difficult. The simplicity is that all the key points of this method are in this picture and these pages of experience , it is clear at a glance. The difficulty lies in the emptiness of people’s minds. You cannot enter concentration just by thinking about it. You can forget both things and me just by thinking about them.
While the ink painting was thoughtful, Mr. Zhuang continued to explain:
“For example, there are all kinds of desires in the world. They say they can see through them, but how many people can really see through them in their hearts? Some truths seem simple, and those who understand can understand them at a glance. Those who don’t understand will never understand them in their lifetime, but they can’t understand them. People often think they understand.”
“The same goes for this meditation method. If you can really get into concentration and get rid of distracting thoughts, you will naturally learn it quickly. But if your mind is heavy and entangled with distracting thoughts, you will not be able to learn it no matter how you learn it.”
Mo Hua suddenly realized, then frowned and said, “Then if I can’t get rid of distracting thoughts, I won’t be able to learn.”
Mr. Zhuang smiled and said, “It’s not as difficult as I thought. I have been using this meditation method for many years, and I have summarized the simplest way to enter samadhi in just one sentence…”
“Be natural and don’t deceive yourself.”
“Be natural and don’t deceive yourself…” Mo Hua muttered silently.
“Everything in the world is what it should be, and so is your own mind, whether it is irritable, quiet, violent, decadent, upright, or despicable, no matter how miserable it is, it must be Accept it calmly and don’t lie to yourself.”
“If you can do these two things, your mind will be as still as water and as clear as a mirror, and you will be able to more or less enter samadhi.”
If Mo Hua realized something, he started to read “Meditating Method”. After reading for a while, he suddenly asked out of curiosity:
“Sir, if you can meditate deeply, will there be any special use?”
“No, the meditation method can only allow you to enter samadhi and restore your spiritual consciousness from beginning to end. If you learn advanced and profound things, it will only make you enter samadhi and restore your spiritual consciousness faster. And the longer you study, the better you will not necessarily learn.”
Mo Hua was stunned, “Will this get worse as time goes by?”
Mr. Zhuang looked at the ink painting meaningfully, “You are still a child now. What you see, hear, and think is relatively simple. You don’t have many distracting thoughts, and you may enter meditation quickly. When you grow up, you will see more of all kinds of things in this world. Well, if there are too many distracting thoughts, there will be too many worldly desires. If you want to enter samadhi, it may not be that simple.”
Mo Hua suddenly realized.
Then I thought about how I had seen and heard a lot, after all, I had memories from another life.
But if you think about it carefully, in another life he was in his twenties and had little experience. In this life, he only had ten years. The combined age of the two generations is much younger than Mr. Zhuang, and the experience and knowledge are incomparable. It’s not wrong to say he is a “child”.
Mo Hua asked curiously: “Sir, how is your current meditation method compared to before?”
Mr. Zhuang pondered for a moment and said: “I started to memorize all kinds of formation theories when I was about ten years old. I also learned almost all the formations within the first rank, so I started to learn the meditation method. I learned it very quickly at first, and then until When I was young, the more I learned this method, the better I got. Often, after drawing a formation and meditating on a cup of tea, my spiritual consciousness would be full.”
“When I was young and frivolous, my mind was restless, so I lost my vigor in meditation. Later, vicissitudes of life changed, my mood was rough, and I never calmed down, so my meditation method stopped progressing and retreated.”
“Nowadays, many things have been taken lightly, but this meditation method is no longer useful…”
Mr. Zhuang was a little emotional, and when he came back to his senses, he realized that he had talked too much unknowingly. Looking at Mo Hua, he still looked like he was listening to the story with gusto, so he tapped Mo Hua on the forehead and said, “Study hard.”
The main point of meditation is to put aside distracting thoughts, clear your mind, and enter a state where you forget both things and yourself.
Mo Hua followed the method in “Meditating Method” and meditated quietly, without thinking about anything, and slowly entered a state of concentration.
After entering the state of trance, you can indeed feel your whole body relaxed, as if you have been freed from the shackles of the physical body, and your mind is suddenly open. The spiritual consciousness consumed by the previous formations is slowly returning, and the recovery speed is much faster than before.
It’s just that the state of meditation in ink painting is very shallow. After meditating for less than a cup of tea, my mind wandered slightly and I exited the state of meditation.
Mr. Zhuang, who had been closing his eyes to meditate, opened his eyes when he saw this, and said: “It’s not bad to be able to reach this level of concentration for the first time. Once you master it in the future, you only need to meditate and enter concentration after drawing the formation, and you will get twice the result with half the effort.”
“Thank you, sir!”
Mo Hua was very happy. Before, he could only practice the formations on the monument in the Consciousness Sea. During the day, the progress of practicing the formations was very slow. Now that he has learned to meditate, his consciousness can be restored as soon as possible. Even if his background is not as good as those of disciples from aristocratic families, diligence can make up for his shortcomings, and he will be able to do better in the future. Not necessarily any worse than others.
Mo Hua changed his mind and asked again: “Sir, I know the meditation method, but what is the visualization method that the teacher mentioned before?”
Mr. Zhuang lay leisurely on the bamboo chair and said, “Guess what the meditation method is used for?”
Mo Hua thought for a while and said: “The meditation method is used to restore spiritual consciousness, so is the visualization method used to enhance spiritual consciousness?”
“That’s right,” Mr. Zhuang nodded. “There is no method for cultivating spiritual consciousness in the world of cultivation. The powerful monks in ancient times created the method of contemplation to enhance spiritual consciousness.”
“Is the visualization method different from the exercise method?”
“Visualization is a simplified, unstable method that can increase spiritual consciousness, but it is not a method of cultivating spiritual consciousness.” Mr. Zhuang said.
“Spiritual power can be measured and known. It can activate spiritual weapons, carry out Taoism, and has veins to follow. However, spiritual consciousness is different. There are no meridians in the human sea of consciousness, and the trajectory of the movement of spiritual consciousness can be glimpsed. So there is no stable, A way to cultivate your spiritual consciousness.”
“The only thing that can quickly improve your spiritual consciousness is contemplation. By observing patterns, words or ancient objects that contain the rules of heaven or powerful spiritual consciousness, you can assimilate them to a certain extent and gradually enhance your spiritual consciousness.”
“But this kind of visualization method varies from person to person, and different people’s cultivation effects are different. The visualization diagrams that can be used to practice the visualization method are extremely scarce even in those wealthy families, so they are not widely spread in the monastic world and cannot be compared to the exercises. The same, by extension, as a stable way of practice.”
“Is there any idea…” Mo Hua murmured.
Mr. Zhuang hesitated for a moment, then said with a slightly serious look: “Although the visualization method can enhance your spiritual consciousness, you’d better not use it. Even if you use it, you should be careful and don’t rely entirely on it.”
Mo Hua asked doubtfully: “Is it because my talent is not enough that I will suffer backlash?”
Mr. Zhuang shook his head, “This has nothing to do with talent. The visualization map reflects other people’s spiritual consciousness and other people’s understanding of the way of heaven. In other words, what comes out of the visualization is other people’s “Tao”, or it is someone else’s “Tao”. Once the spiritual consciousness is indulged in these inhuman “Tao”, it will often have extremely terrible consequences. “
Mo Hua felt awe-inspiring.
Mr. Zhuang waved his hand, “It’s too early to tell you this. You just need to concentrate on learning the formations. You may not be able to encounter things like visualization diagrams in the future.”
After finishing speaking, Mr. Zhuang asked Mo Hua to practice the meditation method a few more times, and when it was getting late, he asked Mo Hua to go back.
Thank you Ou Bihai Zi Jue Zhi for the reward~ Thank you all for your collection, recommendation and follow-up reading~ (=^_^=) (End of this chapter)