Chapter 14 - What Is Meant by Wild Fox Zhan?

Practitioners in meditation often believe that they are training their breathing or air-stream, thinking that they will have realized when their own air-stream merges with that on Earth and in Heaven to start Universal circulation. This is what we call "wild fox Zhan" (not: specious meditation, based on a story about a Tang Dynasty priest teaching Zhan to a fox) in the phenomenal world. Some people who do air-breathing exercises and inhaling and exhaling exercises are still juggling with breathing, whose final achievement never goes beyond that.

Mister Li Bing-nan, a lay-Buddhist in the middle of Taiwan who had been lecturing on various sutras for years, was originally a practitioner of "wild fox zhan," but later gave up the evil practice and started learning the Pure Land.

Is "universal circulation" also "breathing?" In fact, no; it is a "rational." Meditation for luminosity takes "rationale" as its fundamental and "breathing" supplementary. In the final analysis, it is the mind that counts. In other words, only when there is not thought arising can there by tranquillity; only when there is no intention can there be eternity. The mind in meditation is the center of the Universe and the residence of all secrets of Nature. We know that the Earth and Heaven and stars are changing every minute; the 360 degrees of revolution of the Universe goes with the elapse of time. Only those who have realized remain in a state of "eternity with no intention."

I want to tell meditators how to avoid falling into collateral branches or "Wild Fox Zhan." "Wild Fox" meditation is phenomenal and has its form; correct meditation is formless. Man is in fact related with heaven and Earth. The meditator should not exert himself in seeking; unhealthy ideas must be expelled. If the man is as still as a tree, the spiritual air-stream will return, and the light of the true Nature will appear. This light of the True Nature is what Taoists call "the innate breath or "innate energy."

From the initial meditation to the profound concentrated meditation, all the states are experiences that are formless. The Taoist practice, called Water and Fire, is actually also "Wild Fox" in nature. The True Nature, on the other hand, is luminous all over the heart chakra, automatically free from all worries, and automatically high above the worldly affairs. The Taoists speak the importance of "internal cultivation," "breathing cultivation," "gathering Chinese herbs" and "Holy foetus." All these practices belong to "Wild Fox Zhan."

By now some readers would think that Sheng-Yen Lu is arrogant and presumptuous. The Taoist practices such as "gathering Chinese herbs" and "generating Holy goetus" are the essentials for centuries and Taoist masters have always followed those doctrines. How could you obliterate them at one stroke? No, I am not writing them off. I am only saying that they are supplementary and that the phenomenal "Holy foetus" is not as good as a nominal "Holy foetus." The so-called "innate breath" does not really exist as some air-stream, but a name for the nominal True Nature.

We should know that "Wild Fox Zhan" also talks about revolution of the Universe. One revolution is completed in one day. There are two hours in one day when Heaven and Earth meet. These two hours are the best time for meditation. This is when the kan (water) and Li (fire) points meet in the Chinese Eight Diagrams for divination. They are exactly from 11 to 1 o'clock at mid-night. The difference between other hours and the midnight hours is that during the mid-night hours the Positive and Negative meet and merge, but not in other hours. So, if this is the case, and if the cultivator observes this teaching, it would mean that there are times you can go into Samadhi and there are times you can not. That means further that you sometimes change into a celestial being and sometimes a ghost. It is true that Taoist books on Chinese pellets all record the two periods for meditation, yet "Samadhi at fixed moments" would mean that the cultivator is at the mercy of the revolution of the Universe and that he can never attain self-mastery. Though the teachings in those Taoist books can produce some effect, they nevertheless don't go beyond "Wild Fox" type.

I feel that among the many methods of meditation, the most natural is the best. For example, you can sit in meditation any time of the day, regardless of those moments when Heaven and Earth meet. The Universe does revolve, but as long as the mind remains peaceful and undistracted, you can certainly see that the positive harmonious air-stream is generated and then you are in control of all things, instead of being controlled by them. You can sit in meditation any time of the day, thus changing the other hours into "elastic mid-might" hours.

True meditation must be very natural and unconstrained. If you rigidly adhere to classic teachings, you degenerate into "Wild Fox" branch and indulge in meaningless arguments. If you feel constrained in your meditation, the Universe remains the Universe and you remain yourself; the Universe controls you, but not the other way around. Once you enjoy freedom and self-mastery, Heaven and Earth and in complete harmony and lasting peace, with everything going well, like rivers flowing continuously or green grass being gently swept by a little breeze.

Here lies the difference between the correct meditation and heretic meditation. I want to tell my readers sincerely that in the eyes of a Buddha who is enlightened, what many monks practice is no better than "Wild Fox Zhan." Some people who have been doing good will go to Heaven after death only to become gods; the high-ranking are gods with conceit, the middle-ranking are gods in angry state of mind, and the low-ranking are gods with greed. These gods have become gods because they have been doing good, yet in the eyes of the Buddha, they have not realized. The God in Christianity Jehovah is a god with great conceit. I came to see this point long ago when I was reading the Bible.

From the first meditation Heaven to the forth meditation Heaven, and further to concentrated meditation, the cultivator is still practicing with attachment. He is already a Holy man above the mundane world, but he is still the Lower Heaven, belonging to the Realm of Desire. So in the eyes of Buddhas, when the cultivator is attached to anything, he is not enlightened, but is within the boundary of "Wild Fox."

Many celestial beings have cultivated to go to the "Non-Thought Heaven;" when they reach the "Abode of Limitless Consciousness," the mind no longer exists, and they reach the "Abode of Limitless Space," where time and space no longer exist. That will the Heaven of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception, which is the highest of the Three Realms. However, if one falls into the one-sided Emptiness (characteristic of Hinayana), there is still the attachment of one-sided emptiness, and because of that, it is not perfect enlightenment.

So in meditation for luminosity, there is no room for attachment. Put it in simple terms, the cultivator must be completely natural and unconstrained, progressing from motion to stillness, from cold to warm, from scattered to focused, from distractions to single mindedness; the breathing is clear and fresh; the original spirit goes to the brow-point. He does not rigidly follow formal procedures, nor the classic teachings, but he gets responses without seeking them, gets things verified without testing them, gathers without collecting, and does everything methodologically without deliberate use of methods. He has correct vision, correct insight, but no unhealthy thoughts-- he lets everything happen naturally.

After I have realized, all I want to do is to tell the whole world these great teachings. I have the enthusiasm to salvage this suffering world. To do so, I have had to begin from the very beginning. I started from writing books on invoking spirits or some spiritual powers and gradually came to discuss Buddhism and Tantric teachings proper. These expedient ways are paved with good intentions to deliver sentient beings. I was also conscious of the fact that ordinary people could not understand what I was trying to achieve. However, patience is needed on the journey of seeking the Truth. To succor all sentient beings from the samsaric cycle and to save this mundane world, we have to have perseverance, teaching minor things first to slowly prepare the way for the Buddha's Dharma. I am not afraid that certain people will misunderstand me, either Buddhist Masters, or Taoist Priests, Catholic priests or pastors; if they can understand me, so much the better; if they don't, it's their business.

This Art of Meditation is a great doctrine concerning directly life and death. Its birth is a great event in the whole world. In practicing meditation, adjust your breathing in the initial tranquillity. In regulating your breathing, the lights turn back to the brow-point which emit golden lights. At this point, your own true nature appears. When your own mind is associated with the mind of the Universe, you let all connections go, withdraw the god of consciousness and see clearly the right path you should take. By then your worries are all gone, and you become a sage of fearlessness.

At the initial stage of meditation, the most important is to "concentrate your spirit."

At the middle stage, the most important is to "keep your mind empty."

At the last stage, the most important is to remain in "eternal tranquillity."

The most natural way is to eradicate all hindrances and press ahead step by step. Spiritual changes at the brow-point will occur naturally. All spiritual changes and supernatural powers are the operations of the brow-point. "The foundation lies in the tranquillity of Mind and regulation of breathing while responses come from the Nothingness of Mind and condensation of breathing." This sums up al secrets in concentrated meditation.

It is not too difficult to "awaken to the One Mind and see one's Original Nature." Difficulty lies in the fact that you don't practice, or you don't practice with perseverance. I have the feeling that the worst weakness in human beings is their lack of perseverance; that those who do cultivate follow all kinds of wrong teachings; and that there are people who want to ascend to heaven in one day's practice. On top of this, there are also people who practice Buddhism in appearance, but their heart is dirty and despicable. These contemptible people make me sick, but there is nothing we can do. Human beings are human beings; you may feel sick about them, but you still have to liberate those who have the affinity from previous lives.

To attain Buddhahood, one has to awaken to the One Mind and see one's Original Nature. The "meditation for luminosity" is a great doctrine both in Heaven and on Earth, which contains countless, priceless "pearls and jade pieces," waiting to be dug out by those who have the wisdom.

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