A Student's Experience of Meditative Concentration Cultivation in a Group

Over these past few days of doing morning and evening recitation practice, I have tried various meditation methods—the Six Wonderful Gateways, focusing on a single object, observing the breath, and so on. I have found that the methods taught by Master—sitting meditation and prostrating to the Buddha, meditating while reciting the Buddha's name, and deep breathing—are the easiest to operate and the quickest to get started with, and they work quite well. Sitting meditation combined with prostration in particular not only gets the blood circulation flowing through the lower limbs, but also stretches the Du Meridian along the back, which is very helpful for opening up the Ren and Du Meridians. Moreover, it leads quickly to meditative concentration (samādhi)—just abide in that state of concentration, or turn toward contemplating the meaning of the Dharma, and both are wonderful.

Among other sitting meditation methods, the more suitable one is to fix the mind on the tip of the nose and observe the in-and-out breath, like a gatekeeper; in this way one is less easily affected by the breath and can attain concentration more readily. Also, there is the Yinshizi Static Sitting Method, successfully developed by Jiang Qiaowei during the Republican era, which fixes the mind on the dantian (the qihai point) with no thought and no worry; it also makes it easy to enter concentration. Of these two methods, one guards the xuanni point and the other guards the qihai point—both grasp the key link in cultivating meditative concentration.

Master once taught that the method that suits oneself is the best method. In cultivating meditative concentration, one must, through one's own exploration, work out a set of methods that accord with oneself and are effective, in order to succeed quickly. Then, hang the meaning of the Dharma in the manas, letting the manas, like a cow chewing its cud, slowly digest and assimilate the meaning of the Dharma, converging it back into self-nature.

In cultivation, the key lies in one's way of thinking (view). The way of thinking determines the way out: the clearer the thinking, the more powerful the action, and the better the results.