Asking About Longevity Chapter 46

Chapter 46 Meditation

The content in this volume is very simple. There are only a few breath-taking diagrams and a few pages of notes on mental methods. It briefly introduces how to regulate the breath, stop breathing, and enter concentration, how to put aside distracting thoughts, and enter a meditative state in which things and myself are forgotten.

Mo Hua looked at the booklet with a few pictures and a few lines of words, but stopped talking.

“Do you think it's very simple?”

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 and puzzled, Mr. Zhuang explained:

"The meditation method is naturally very simple to say it is simple, but it is very difficult to say it is difficult. The simplicity lies in the fact that all the key points of this method can be seen clearly in this picture and these pages. The difficulty lies in the ethereal nature of people's minds. "It's not like you can enter concentration just by thinking about it, or you can forget both things and me just by thinking about things."

Ink painting thoughtfully, 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 who 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 was suddenly stunned, and frowned again: "Then if I can't put aside distracting thoughts, I won't be able to learn."

Mr. Zhuang smiled and said, "It's not that difficult as I thought. I have been using this meditation method for many years, and I have summed up the simplest way to enter concentration. It only has one sentence..."

“Be at ease with nature 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 enter samadhi to a greater or lesser extent.”

When Mo Hua realized something, he started to read "Meditation 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 more and more 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 concentration again, I'm afraid it won't be that simple.”

The ink painting suddenly dawned.

Then I thought about it and thought that I had actually seen quite a lot. After all, I had memories from another life.

But if you think about it carefully, he was in his twenties in another life and actually 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 his 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 thought for a while and said: "I started to memorize various 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 ignored, but this meditation method is no longer useful...”

Mr. Zhuang was a little emotional. When he came to his senses, he realized that he had talked too much without realizing it. He looked at Mo Hua as if he was still listening to the story with gusto, so he tapped Mo Hua on the forehead and said, "Study hard." "Oh, "Mo Hua then calmed down, calmed down, and slowly studied the meditation method.

The main point of meditation is to get rid of distracting thoughts, clear your mind, and enter a state where you forget both things and yourself.

Ink Hua followed the method in "Meditating Method", meditating quietly without thinking about anything, and slowly entered a state of concentration.

　　After entering the state of tranquility, one can indeed feel relaxed all over the body, as if one has been freed from the shackles of the physical body, and the state of mind is suddenly opened up. The spiritual consciousness consumed by the previous drawing formations is also slowly going back, and the recovery speed is much faster than before.

It's just that the state of concentration in ink painting is very shallow. It takes less than a cup of tea to meditate, and my mind wanders a little, and I exit the state of concentration.

Mr. Zhuang, who had been keeping his eyes closed for a long time, saw this, opened his eyes 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 visualization methods 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. Therefore, 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 and said with a slightly serious expression:

“Although visualization can enhance your spiritual awareness, you'd better not use it. Even if you use it, you should be careful and don't rely entirely on it.”

Mo Hua wondered: "Am I not talented enough, so will I 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". These inhuman "Taos", once the spiritual consciousness is indulged in them, will often have extremely terrible consequences."

Mo Hua feels awe-inspiring in his heart.

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 meditation a few more times, and when it was getting late, he asked Mo Hua to go back.