28.04.2015 Views

Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

contain the ten Dharmadhatus, the great universe;<br />

inwardly, all the gods, angels, <strong>and</strong> asuras of the heavens;<br />

secretly, all the protectors, dakinis, <strong>and</strong> bodhisattvas;<br />

most secretly, all the herukas <strong>and</strong> Buddhas. All reside in<br />

the channels, within their own m<strong>and</strong>alas. The three<br />

conditions given above—clarity, firmness, <strong>and</strong><br />

Buddha-Pride—should be practiced with all these<br />

channels.<br />

Most modern authors, both Eastern <strong>and</strong> Western,<br />

mistake the human body for the Buddha-body. They<br />

assert that the median channel is the spinal column, that<br />

the left <strong>and</strong> right major channels are the sympathetic<br />

nervous system (or the arteries <strong>and</strong> veins), that the five<br />

main great wheels are five organs, <strong>and</strong> that the wisdom<br />

drops within the five wheels are hormones. These ideas<br />

are quite wrong. The human body is meditated away<br />

when one practices. At the beginning, the Hinayana<br />

impermanence meditation <strong>and</strong> the nine meditations on a<br />

dead body concern the human body, but after one has<br />

gone through the eight voidness meditations of non-ego<br />

in the Mahayana, the body of flesh <strong>and</strong> blood has been<br />

cast aside, <strong>and</strong> a body of meditation developed. When<br />

one performs practices of the Buddha-body, which is<br />

made only of wisdom, compassion, meditation, <strong>and</strong><br />

light, nothing made of flesh should be thought of, much<br />

less the spinal column <strong>and</strong> the other human parts. There<br />

may be some correspondence, but not identity. However,<br />

before one has really transformed one's body into the<br />

Buddha-body, these correspondences are important, <strong>and</strong><br />

822

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!