Appendix A.4. How To Achieve A Quiet Mind

People of this world, without exception, are always engaging their minds in some kind of distracting thought.

It is even more so for cultivators, because people who can contemplate quietly will naturally discover that their thoughts are actually always racing restlessly, endlessly, like wild horses.

These distracting thoughts do not occur only in times of worry, they also occur at ordinary times, whether one is awake or asleep, meditating or not, and whether or not one is trying to control them.

Many students have asked me how they can eliminate these restless and distracting thoughts to achieve a quiet mind.

My reply is that, distracting thoughts, like worries, are not easy to stop. To achieve a quiet mind, one has to use the technique of visualization, substituting the distracting thoughts with visualizations. When one is able to concentrate the mind on a visualized image, distracting thoughts will automatically subside.

I advocate that cultivators first take a bath before sitting down to meditate in front of their Tantric shrines. When in place before the shrine, the Full-Lotus Posture (same as Vairocana Posture) should be assumed. (Cross the legs by first placing the left foot on the right thigh, then the right foot on the left thigh. Use the Half-Lotus or the Easy Posture if the Full-Lotus is too difficult to attempt.) The body should be erect, while the hands are held in the Dharma Realm Dhyana Mudra¹. The most important point is to keep the spine straight, shoulders level, chin lowered (like a soldier), with the tongue touching the upper palate and the eyes focused ahead. Such a Full-Lotus Posture creates stability and balance. Since the body is erect, the subtle energy channels will automatically be straight and the Qi (subtle or vital energy) running inside the channels will also be smooth. When the Qi is smooth, distracting thoughts will subside. Generally, people who know how to meditate may appear very forceful on the outside, but are actually very relaxed and calm in their inner beings. Avoid exertion, as force will cause the Qi to become turbulent. The key is an erect body with a harmonious and smooth Qi.

I, the Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master, teach my students the following visualization to stop their distracting thoughts:

First of all, visualize a lake. (The Master uses Lake Sammamish for visualization.) On the emerald surface of the lake are gentle ripples. In the middle of the lake is a pointed mountain with a silvery white full moon (the Moon Disc) at its pinnacle. This round Moon Disc radiates to all directions a beautiful, brilliant, silvery white light. Next visualize an eight-petalled lotus appear inside the Moon Disc. Resting on the lotus is the Sanskrit seed syllable "Ah" . I have mentioned before that the seed syllable "Ah" is the common seed syllable shared by all Buddhas and Bodhisattvas.

Visualize in careful detail the lake, the mountain, the full moon, the lotus in the Moon Disc, and the syllable "Ah" on the lotus. Next, visualize this syllable "Ah" transforming into one's Personal Deity who is full of perfect luminosity and radiates a pure, bright light on the practitioner. This way, "Ah" becomes what the practitioner inhales and exhales; "Ah" is also what the practitioner recites as a mantra. The practitioner should practice this way persistently over a long time.

Through the process of visualization, by totally immersing one's whole being in a single, simple thought, one can sever all other distracting thoughts. It is a technique that one must use in order to eliminate distracting thoughts. One is actually substituting the visualization for the distracting thoughts. Without this technique, it is very difficult to achieve a quiet mind.

If one becomes adept in this visualization of the syllable "Ah," whenever one sits down to meditate and closes one's eyes, the Lotus in the Moon Disc and the luminosity of the syllable "Ah" will appear immediately before oneself, washing away all distracting thoughts. In such moments, the luminosity of the syllable "Ah" is brought into one's being with each breath. Inside one's heart is the syllable "Ah" and outside oneself is also the syllable "Ah." Within is the luminosity of the moon, and without also is the luminosity of the moon. In this flash of a moment when the within and the without merge together, all worries, the distinction between life and death, distorted view points, and all karmic hindrances are destroyed. One immediately realizes the Original Purity of one's Self and instantaneously achieves Buddhahood.

We know that all sentient beings in samsara are still entrapped by greed, anger, ignorance and worries which cause distracting thoughts. The mind of an unenlightened being, before attaining Buddhahood, is engaged in distracting thoughts which race restlessly and endlessly.

Here lies the secret of the Tantric Yoga: with the aid of the visualized syllable "Ah" in the Moon Disc, one sees the luminosity of the Moon Disc in one's own heart. Because one has achieved the state of Quietness, there is no difference between the inner and the outer world, and the Realm of Pure Dharma (which is the Realm of the Ultimate), is attained. This is the Ultimate Truth and the Ultimate Secret.

Another visualization technique to quiet the mind is the Nine Round Breath Method:

Visualize one's Personal Deity appearing in the space above, radiating white light. Then, visualize white light entering the right nostril and turning into red light. Visualize the red light descending to the dan-tien² along the right channel, then ascending along the left channel and exiting the left nostril as black smoke. This is the first round.

Next visualize white light entering the left nostril and descending down the left channel as red light, then ascending the right channel and exiting the right nostril as black smoke. This is the second round.

Next visualize white light entering both right and left nostrils and descending as red light to the dan-tien. The red light then ascends the middle channel to the crown where it is reflected to descend back down the middle channel. Then, at the dan-tien, it enters both right and left channels and exits both nostrils as black smoke. This is the third round.

The fourth round is the same as the second round, with light entering the left nostril and exiting the right nostril.

The fifth round is the same as the first round, with light entering the right nostril and exiting the left nostril.

The sixth round is the same as the third round, with light entering and exiting both nostrils.

The seventh round is also the same as the third round, with light entering and exiting both nostrils.

The eighth round is the same as the first round, with light entering the right nostril and exiting the left nostril.

The ninth round is the same as the second round, with light entering the left nostril and exiting at the right nostril.

Though a simple technique, the Nine Round Breath Method is extremely significant because long term practice of it can also lead to Instantaneous Enlightenment. I would like to emphasize the following points once more:

1) The practice can lead to a quiet mind. When one is performing the Nine Round Breath Method, one has to visualize white and red light, black smoke, left and right, both nostrils, the middle channel, as well as the dan-tien. All these repetitive exercises help to train the power of concentration. Idle thoughts subside imperceptibly as one follows the different rounds of visualization. This is the best method to stop the distracting thoughts and achieve a quiet mind.

2) This practice can lead to regulated breathing. One goal of Tantric practitioners is the control of breathing. The aim is to cultivate a diaphragmatic breathing that is deep, even, and steady, as opposed to a chest breathing that is shallow, unsteady, and jerky. While visualizing the circulation of light, one is actually cultivating one's breathing, making it deep, even, and steady.

3) The practice can lead to the merging of one's inner light with the Cosmic light. One has to realize that the white light that enters the body is a purifying light, the circulation of the red light inside the body is a dislodging of the karmic hindrances, and the expulsion of black smoke is the flushing out and eliminating of karmic hindrances. With the inhalations of white light and the exhalations of black smoke, one's karmic hindrances are gradually diminished. If one persistently practices this visualization to the stage when the luminosity of one's Personal Deity is appearing both outside and inside oneself, in one, single flash, the boundary between outside and inside is smashed. This results in the merging of the inner and outer light and one enters into Samadhi, the Ocean of Vairocana, and achieves Buddhahood.

I, the Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master, also like to teach my students the following: at the end of the Nine Round Breath Method, one may just sit quietly, without any thought or mental activity. This is the state of Tathagata Stillness. In such a state of Tathagata Stillness when everything is turned into Emptiness, luminosity will automatically seep out of oneself, while luminosity will also enter from the outside into oneself. When the two merge into one and there is no distinction between inside and outside, this is when "One's heart turns into the Lotus and the Buddha Dharma is like the luminosity of the full moon."

Entering such a meditation state is extremely lofty!

It is the inconceivable Realm of the Ultimate.

I, the Holy-Red-Crown-Vajra-Master, have often wondered why there is so much antagonism among different schools of religions. This antagonism exists between the Sutrayana and Vajrayana of Buddhism, between Christianity and other religions, between Islam and other religions, between Buddhism and Taoism, between the True Buddha School and other schools, within the True Buddha School itself, and among and between monks and practitioners .

What is going on?

These are battles for fame and profit from unenlightened men!

After attaining Enlightenment, such matters often cause me to burst into laughter. It is laughable that one does not seek the inconceivable Realm of the Ultimate, but would rather engage in constant battles.

Those attacks, slanders, and ideological differences are all idle thoughts! They exist exactly because one still has greed, anger, ignorance, and worry!

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