Meditation

[pacificnw]

Sifu Gary

I was currious about any further breathing techniques you can pass along , no pun intended . I have a few that I do on my back but none other then sitting up straight in the lotus possition and expanding my lungs and my brain .

Robert

[Gary Steuer]

Try to control your breathing when you meditate. When you've reached the level when you can see the ball of light you try to suck the light into your right nostril and then you move it around inside your body. I sat in the lotus position the other day for over 4 hours and they had to shake me to bring me around... I didn't want that feeling to stop. It gets to the point where it is also a release of all physical pain.

[jingwah]

I am a little unsure about the breathing. I have heard you can focus on your breath and do a complete breath - fill the lower ab first, the middle then then the top of the lungs and then reverse it - out from the top contracting the abs and squeezing out breath. Or you can focus on the mantra. It seems you can do both, which do you like?

[mic]

Gary,
Has any monk explained to you why we say what we say while meditating?

[Gary Steuer]

" Samma Arahan ." Is a focus point that is repeated to bring us back to a center place for our focus, and is literally, the way to happiness & understanding. " Pom me jai dee. " is a reasssurance to ourselves that we are good.

The chanting that the Buddhas ( Monks.) do is in the language Bali. Not to be confused with the holiday spot , Balli . Very few people understand the language since it is an ancient tongue. I have met foreign monks who can speak Bali, but cannot speak Thai.

when a person has been to a temple and or has given alms to a monk walking , etc, or done a good deed, we pass that on to our friends, and that is called the passing of " Merit , or Boon. " The person passing their merit or boon places their hands together and says " I have boon for you ." The receiver places their hands together and says " Sa tood . " This means I am sharing my good deed with you , and it is accepted.. Accumulated boon outways karma, and brings you higher and closer to inner peace.

[jingwah]

Thanks for that Gary...it is so easy it is almost impossible!

[Gary Steuer]

This leads you back to living from your heart, or actually your inner soul . It's a shame that many other martial arts don't know or follow any of this , yet they could tell you that their art is pure and came from a temple.................. Like my Buddha tells me " What temple, and what did the monks do there ? " Yet these people don't practice any sort of meditation, or show any compassion , or give freely of their possesions. You can't get, unless you give !
Doesn't have to be worldy goods, can be of yourself and your belief........

Shaolin developed warrior monks, who had superior fighting knowledge. This doesn't mean that they went into bars looking for fights. Think of the time period in which they lived and you'll see what they used was strictly for protection against bad people. Most of the Thai monks I've met have been trained as Muay Thai boxers , and they help to train the children, so the children can learn to build charactor and strength . Indian forms of Buddhism have taken a turn from what they originally were , and they tend to lean toward the Ascetic beliefs now , and that is'nt for the good of the country or the world.. Which is why they are so divided and have so much inner conflict. The written scriptures which date back thousands of years and are protected , and studied by novices tell of the Buddha and how he developed from all his different lives and the way that he had conflicts with the Indian Ascetics who considered themselves Braghmen , or spiritual people... Most people who write books on this are mostly in it for the money and just want or need to be published and their stories seem to be fragmented... I think I am very lucky to be where I am at this time and the learning that I am going through now.. They want to make me a spokesman for the International section of the Wat Phraya Dammakaya temple in Bangkok........... I don't know... Too much travel for my health at the moment...

[D]

From my sense of it, meditation is at the core of everything we do; and there are many different vehicles that can accelerate what we are already doing; what our mind/body is already doing. Kung Fu is a profound vehicle that, not unlike other vehicles, is often misunderstood.

Seems clear that traditional science is only beginning to touch the surface of the potential of the mind-body connection. We often take for granted a healing, but something hidden and wonderful is happening. Food as medicine is another area (ellagic
acid for example). The principle of proper timing of use or placement is all important and that requires insight.

I remember a profound lesson that consciously began in a new way some twenty or thirty years ago. I was doing a form and the teacher was taking me through it over and over and over again. I suppose I had lost a liter of water and I was shaking. The teacher somehow caught my mind at the proper moment; with a look and his voice and he calmly said, "why are you making it
difficult"? At that moment I 'instantly' realized that my mind was making it much, much, more difficult and I settled; the horse deepened and settled, the breath settled, I became calm and centered and stronger.

The lesson, the realization, from that moment has been etched into my mind - and the lesson is connected to "other areas", for example, like "looking at" or feeling an internal organ and seeing
that the borderline between where 'mind' affects the organ and where the state of the organ is autonomus from the conscious mind can change.

[Gary Steuer]

You are so right. I've been going through this now because of my physical condition. I've learned to go inside myself and feel my physical ailments and bring the rest of my body to these areas to help in the fight. I feel so much better after my meditation. Controlling the senses of the brain is easier than most would think. we spend so much time learning forms, techniques, etc, and most of us neglect the training of our brains , and our senses , which control our being.

Just to pass on something interesting that was told to me by a momk , and then again from a M.D. was to not drink cold water. Ark Wong told this to me also around 40 years ago. the cold water will startle your insides and make them cease to function properly.. The monks start their day with 2 glasses of warm water. They say it helps with body functions and also clears the skin..