Daoism Series 12
打坐的环境
Environments for Meditation
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Transcribed from teachings by Li Shi Fu (fiveimmortals.com)
The following is a basic instruction manual for choosing a location for meditation and stillness cultivation. Despite its simplicity it offers greater insights into some of the requirements from a Daoist perspective. This article will be part of a larger work about meditation and Abstention from Grains.
Who could do sitting meditate and stillness cultivate in the toilet, the slaughterhouse, the graveyard or in the hospital, in cars or trains, in noisy factories or in airports. All of these environments influence one’s sitting meditation and stillness cultivation . People are disorderly in society and the in the influence of sound ,for instance being every day around machinery in factories, hospital, markets and graveyards, have an impact. These are considered external energetic fields, including high voltage lines and electric transformers, they all have an effect on one. If the air is humid, cold or hot, excess lighting or not even the slightest light all has implications. What one needs is actually very little light. And one should not completely shut one’s eyes, but leave a slit of an opening, thereby on can perceive the light outside, a spark of Yang, averting the immersion into full Yin. If you are able to stop your thoughts by closing your eyes, then do it, however, not for a long time. If you run even further away, you would lose this body. [1] It is paramount to find a peaceful place with a special energetic field, graceful and exquisite environments, such as of this temple, which is very strong. It is not like the field of a school or hospital or martial art academy. In the past people would go to temples to work and do ascetic practices and their disease would be healed through being within that energetic field. It may look good on pictures and photographs but next to a cliff or in dangerous places are not fitting locations for meditation. One must find a quiet and peaceful place without distractions and not next to the road, ideally sheltered from the rain and winds.
In drastic external environments such as cloudy days, rain, thunder and great weather changes, do not embark on sitting meditation. They exert too dramatic of an influence on the body. People with internal joint injuries, they all feel the change of weather three days before. Since Heaven and Earth are unified, even though the weather change has not occurred yet, people with old injuries can already sense and know it because they are uncomfortable and painful, as the energetic field has already arrived. They are more accurate than any weather forecast could possibly be
Therefore, you know the influence it can have on the body. Humans do not independently exist from their environments, as they are integrated and unified.
[1] Li Shi Fu alludes to the Yin-Body.
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