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Is Meditation
important?
by Student X (August 2006)
Common in martial arts history, stories, legends, movies,
books and drawings, are portrayals of sages, masters
or monks in sitting meditation, usually after a hard
kungfu practice. This seems a sort of "slow winding
down" of the body after a hard exercise. To be
recurrently portrayed as such, meditation must be of
some significant importance.
Taiji, as with other martial arts, is
renowned for its health and martial arts benefits. Taijijuan,
however, is a little more, being a "meditation
in motion" as well. But why meditation?
Advanced students are aware that when
one performs the Taiji form, one must do it mindfully
and slowly. Every movement without and within one's
body must be mindfully monitored.. The mind (yi) must
remain serene and calm, intently focused on the tantien
whilst driving the qi around the body (yes, Taijijuan
is a qigong too). Thus, with both body and mind
exercised ( "Meditation is to the mind what
exercise is to the body"), the mind is
the more dominant aspect emphasized, particularly obvious
to the advanced Taiji proponents. The ultimate warrior
is one in full control of his mind (thus, body), steadily
calm even in the most stressful or combative situations.
A calm mind affects song
and the body. Thus, any method to calmly control and
develop the mind inadvertently helps in the overall
development of one's Taijijuan. Being emphasized as
a 'meditation in motion' implies that both Taijijuan
and its mind-training coexist. The latter being true
only if one is disciplined and dedicated in the practice.
Meditation is not everyone's cup of
tea, especially with the traditional sedentary form
of meditation where the physical pain and its seemingly
monotonous 'just sitting there' boringly unbearable.
In the East today, Taiji (shunned by
the ignorant young) is viewed primarily, first, as a
health exercise for the elderly; much later, as a martial
art (by the well-informed), but hardly ever, finally,
as a meditation (by the inspired or advanced
qigong proponents).
The violent martial art is of
little interest to a Taiji (Tao) being
who shows more, a propensity for mindfulness training
(meditation). Success puts him beyond a mere mortal;
a mindful superior being with most impurities of the
body and mind erased.
Various sedentary meditation methods
exist, some employing objects of focus, to calm the
mind to one-pointedness. An untrained
mind is always in agitation, never at rest, with stray
thoughts arising and disappearing, uncontrollably like
a swinging pendulum. When the mind has been tamed to
rest at one-point (with no stray thoughts), it is then
that a whole new mystical realm, unimaginably fascinating
and beyond this mundane, may be revealed.
A popular Buddhist method of one-pointedness
(vipassana) meditation is to focus the
mind onto the 7th base of the body. It's actually a
virtual point (chakra) just above the tan-tien, the
6th base. This is almost similar to the martial arts
training where the tan-tien is guarded with the mind.
Indirectly and unknowingly to such practitioners, the
mind has been focusing quite on the 7th base, not too
far off and above the 6th (tan-tien).
Another popular Buddhist meditation
employs the "buddho" method
where the mind focuses on the rise and fall of the abdomen
during breathing. Again, the mind is fixed on the abdomen
area which is near the 7th base and the tantien.
Meditation is a lifelong practice. Its
mythical and mystical powers should not be lusted after
but to just let whatever comes, be. Such powers are
not for the asking; they are part and parcel of the
package, whether welcome or not. To be mindfully in
control of one's feelings and behaviour is already a
big rewarding improvement to becoming a better person.
A less obvious by-product of meditation
is the qigong development where qi
can definitely be felt and accumulated. Taoist priests
are renowned for their qi powress in meditation,
A world renowned meditation master and
Enlightened Being is the Buddha. He teaches "Avoid
evil, Do good, Purify One's Mind". The implication
is that no matter how charitable one is, how much good
one does, there exist an invisible ceiling or barrier
to the ascent of one's physical mundane body to the
Godliness. To penetrate this barrier and ascend beyond
into the mystical or spiritual realms, only the purified
mind is capable so. Note the emphasis on purification
of the mind, a meditation process. It's the only way.
It's getting virtually impossible to
find enlightened beings today (exceptions - Gandhi,
Mother Teresa), as exemplified by the story of Bodhidharma
who, when handing down his robe and bowl to the then
1st Patriach of the Shao Lin sangkha, foretold
the decay of mankind and the end of their lineage with
the 5th Patriach, after which no man worthy of their
lineage, will be found. (Bodhidharma has the powers
from enlightenment). Modern man is neither pure nor
peaceful. Moral decays, materialism and an ever stressful
living, corrupts his mind already tainted with anger,
hatred, greed, lust, ignorance and delusion.
Like Taiji with its yin-yang, the spiritual
realm too, has this opposites duality, namely, the
bright or good side and the dark or evil side.
Fortunately, entry into the spiritual realm and the
possible misuse of all its secrets and powers, is impossible
for the dark minded mundane man. Only the pure and wise
succeed.
With such stringent entry requirements,
few Taiji practitioners ever took up meditation. Many
ignorant and fearful of mystical unknown, have this
misconceived notion of "cao for yep mor"
("escape fire, enter evil")
for failures while trying. So remains the stagnation
of the mindfulness training in Taijijuan albeit an increasing
passion for its more mundane aspects of health and martial
arts skills.
{The author has 23 years of meditation practice with
significant bad karma. Undiminished in his efforts,
knowing that all efforts {to purify and lessen bad karmas}
are accumulative beyond current and future lives.}
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