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The Aura of Wisdom
- Book 154: The Aura of Wisdom
- Chapter 55: The Importance of Cultivating Chi
- Written by Sheng-yen Lu
- Translated and edited by True Buddha Foundation
- Translation Team (Cheng Yew Chung, Victor Hazen, Dance Smith)
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A Chinese physician told me that he had treated a senior monk for his illness. When he checked the monk`s pulse, he was shocked to discover that the monk`s body of meridians and channels showed signs of blockage. In fact all of his channels had been damaged, forming strains of Yin or dysfunctional channels.
The Chinese physician also mentioned a senior nun who had been ill since childhood. Her circulation of chi and blood was gravely disrupted. She was constantly suffering from the torment of her illness, and appeared pitiful. If she could not save herself, how could she deliver sentient beings?
The physician asked the senior monk, \`With your health, how can you cultivate?\`
The monk replied, \`We cultivate the mind, not the body.\`
\`But isn`t it equally important to strengthen our health and cultivate chi?\` The physician remarked.
\`That`s heresy!\` The senior monk refuted.
I personally disagree with the views of the senior monk. Think about the Zen patriarch Bodhidharma, who sailed north from India and became the first Chinese Zen patriarch. His teaching of Dharma is by way of mind transmission, and the essence of mind was secretly being transmitted between patriarchs. However, when Bodhidharma observed that the health of the Shaolin monks, who sat in meditation, had deteriorated from prolonged sitting, he feared that they might go astray in their meditation. Hence, he decided to teach them the martial arts and also the Muscle/Tendon Transformation Exercises (Yi Jin Jing).
Bodhidharma commented: \`When the circulation of chi and blood is smooth, the body functions with great ease. With a wooden rod, I strike, and shout I must, one`s illness is given the right antidote.\` Patriarch Bodhidharma actually said that a practitioner who only cultivated the mind and not the body was likely to go astray. Thus, we have the heritage of Shaolin Kungfu handed down since that time.
Tantric Buddhism places equal emphasis on the parallel cultivation of mind and body. Our health forms the very basis of our cultivation.
Tantric Buddhism also clearly states: \`To cultivate chi is tantamount to harmonizing the mind. When the mind is harmonized, our chi is calm and smooth.\`
When a person is troubled, his mind is disrupted, and therefore his chi is unbalanced. A person who cultivates chi experiences a smooth circulation of his chi and blood, and finds comfort in his body. His mind shall naturally be at ease and, eventually, his defilement is uprooted.
The Tantric teachings include the Vajra Fist Exercises to help regulate the chi. I advocate that it is vital to cultivate chi if one wishes to blend the mind with chi.
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