REDUCING THE MIND TO ONE OR EXPANDING THE MIND TO ZERO
Standing meditation during an intensive course
Question 14
Besides counting breaths and concentrating or relaxing and focusing on the breath, trying not to worry, how do you actually focus, tame the "monkey mind" and will we learn this in the Zen course?
This sounds dumb right, but I'm an RN. I went to school, I'm persistent in my pursuit of martial arts, I have many skills that require concentration for long periods or hours. How come I can't keep a single focus for more than a breath during meditation and chi gung?
I've read books for techniques without much more success. Will this be taught in the course?
Lee
Answer
There are many other ways besides the ones you have mentioned to focus or tame your monkey mind.
There are countless methods in meditation, or training of the mind, but all these countless methods may be summed up into two principles, namely to reduce the mind to one, or to expand the mind to zero.
Your problem concerns reducing the mind to one. This principle, as well as the other principle to expand the mind to zero, together with appropriate techniques will be taught at the Intensive Zen Course in Hawaii.
Reducing the mind to one is reducing myriad thoughts to one thought. When you are proficient in this skill, you attain a one-pointed mind.
This one thought can be an object outside your body, an object inside your body, or a thought. To make it easier for you to focus on this one object or thought, it should be as simple as possible. If it is elaborated, it may distract you.
Some examples of an object outside your body are a stone, a flower, a spot on a tree, a dot on a piece of paper or some simple movements of a chi kung or kungfu exercise. Some examples of objects inside your body can be your dan tian, your breathing, and your energy flow along your arms. Some examples of a thought can be reciting a simple mantra, saying a non-sensible verse, counting from one to ten, repeating that you are healthy and well.
You may be standing upright, standing at a stance, sitting on a seat, sitting cross-legged, sitting in a lotus position, lying down or moving in some chi kung or kungfu patterns. You must be relaxed and your mind on the one thought.
I do not know what you mean by RN. Are you in the Royal Navy, or a rotten nut?
If you are interested in martial arts, a good opportunity is to join a regular Shaolin or Taijiquan class conducted by any of our certified instructors. You can be sure that you will develop internal force and be able to apply what you have learnt to defend yourself or your loved ones, two basic benefits that practicing a good martial art will give. You will also enrich your daily life.
What you mean is that you have many techniques that require concentration for long periods or hours, but not a single skill to perform them correctly. It is better for you to develop your skill to focus on something for a short time, like a minute, than attempting to focus on anything for a long time without success.
You can’t keep a single focus for more than a breath during meditation and chi kung because of one, two or all the three factors below:
- Your method is wrong.
- Your teacher is incompetent.
- You are a bad student.
The three factors below are known as the Three Essentials of Successful Training. If you have these three essentials, you will be successful in any training – from cooking a meal to sending a rocket to space:
- The method is correct.
- The teacher is competent.
- You are a good student.
The better the factors are, the better will be the result.
Although you have read techniques from books, you are still unsuccessful because you lack the relevant skills. This is a secret not many people know. They do not differentiate between skills and techniques. They think, wrongly, that if they have the techniques they will have the desired results. This is not so.
For example, you may learn excellent swimming techniques from a book, but you still cannot swim. Or you may learn excellent driving techniques from a video, but you still cannot drive. In both cases you lack the relevant skills.
The chi kung techniques practiced by many people are genuine, but they still remain sickly and weak. It is because they do not have the skills to perform the techniques as chi kung; they perform them as gentle exercise. The kungfu techniques practiced by many people are genuine, but they still cannot apply their kungfu techniques for combat. It is because they do not have the skills to apply the techniques for combat; they only have the skills to apply the techniques for demonstration.
Yes, the skills to focus in meditation and chi kung will be taught in the courses in Hawaii. If you are a good student, i.e. if you are willing and able to follow simple instructions, you will be able to focus long enough to attain a one-pointed mind in meditation, and to generate an energy flow in chi kung.
A sitting meditation lesson conducted by Sifu Kai Uwe
The above is reproduced from the thread Zen Intensive in Hawaii Q&A in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum
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