If you are just beginning to practice sitting meditation, then do so according to the Sutra of the Contemplation of Amitabha (Wu- liang-shou kuan ching): Sit properly with the body erect, closing the eyes and mouth. Look straight ahead with the mind, visualizing a sun at an appropriate distance away. Maintain this image continuously without stopping. Regulate your breath so that it does not sound alternately coarse and fine, as this can make one sick.
If you sit [in meditation] at night, you may experience all kinds of good and bad psychological states; enter into any of the blue, yellow, red, and white samadhis; witness your own body producing light; observe the physical characteristics of the Tathagata; or experience various [other] transformations. When you perceive [such things], concentrate the mind and do not become attached to them. They are all nonsubstantial manifestations of false thinking. The sutra says: “All the countries of the ten directions are [nonsubstantial,] like space.” Also, “The triple realm is an empty apparition that is solely the creation of the individual mind.” Do not worry if you cannot achieve concentration and do not experience the various psychological states. Just constantly maintain clear awareness of the True Mind in all your actions.
If you can stop generating false thoughts and the illusion of personal possession, [then you will realize that] all the myriad dharmas are nothing other than [manifestations of your] own mind. The Buddhas only preach extensively using numerous verbal teachings and metaphors because the mental tendencies of sentient beings differ, necessitating a variety of teachings. In actuality, the mind is the basic [subject] of the eighty-four thousand doctrines, the ranking of the three vehicles, and the definitions of the seventy-two [stages of] sages and wise men.
To be able to discern one’s own inherent mind and improve [the ability to maintain awareness of it] with every moment of thought is equivalent to constantly making pious offerings to the entire Buddhist canon and to all the Buddhas in the ten directions of space, who are as numerous as the sands of the River Ganges. It is equivalent to constantly turning the wheel of the Dharma with every moment of thought.
essentialsaltsbook notechandex - The East Mountain School often used the metaphor of the sun behind the clouds, or a bright lamp hidden in a jar. But, they always insisted that their students should fix their attention on the sun, the light, the originally pure Buddhanature, as everywhere present and nowhere diminished - and not on the clouds, delusions, or dust, because the delusions aren't real. If they talked about practice, it wasn't to "get enlightenment". Your first practice? Visualize the sun, bringing to your awareness the fact that it is always immanent.
Submitted January 29, 2018 at 12:08AM by essentialsalts http://ift.tt/2DIudAm
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