How to Be Free from the Mortal Body during Meditation

Xuefeng

Find a secluded place with singing birds and fragrant flowers, unobstructed space, and cleanliness. Invite a close friend to guard you, so that insects, snakes and scorpions cannot come close, miscellaneous people will not come around, and no one will be shouting and the sounds of horses and cars will not disturb you.

Sit (cross-legged) quietly, not limited to full lotus or half lotus, just sit casually. Straighten the body, relax, make the joints respond accordingly, neither leaning nor bending, loosen your clothes and belt, if there is a little uneasiness, move slightly to adjust yourself so as to be more comfortable.

Keep quiet for a while, when the body and mind are stable, and the breath is peaceful, then put your tongue against the roof of your mouth where the lips and teeth meet, then gradually look at eye level, and slowly close your eyes. Then start to adjust your breath, not breathing deeply or heavily, but let your breath be thin and long, with no thinking, no notions. Just sit quietly.

In the first few days, the trees may prefer to be calm but the wind will not subside. The kindness and enmity in the world, the merits and demerits, will be reflected in your mind one by one. You cannot drive them away, and you cannot dispel them because when you drive one away, another emerges. In the middle few days, self-desires will prevail, ideals, fantasies, and delusional scenes begin to appear in your mind, which you will not be able to make clear or to make them be in order. In the last few days, all views and peculiarities will gradually disappear, and your heart will gradually calm down, no longer being mindful of fame, fortune, karmic relatives and other things.

At this time, like a basin of dirty water, the scum floating on the surface of the water will have been skimmed off, the water quality will begin to show, the surface of the water will show a little light from the sun and the moon, the shadows of clouds, trees and birds. With your mind holding up, your body practicing automatically, and your body and mind being straightened naturally, sitting without getting tired, your mind will be naturally clear and quiet, corresponding to your calmness, which holds the body and mind and makes them completely immoveable. And the mind, from shallow to deep, becomes more and more stable without distractions. This is the first level of meditation.

At the first level of meditation, there will be tactile sensations such as jumping, itching, coolness, warmth, lightness, heaviness, astringency, smoothness, falling, coldness, heat, floating, sinking, firmness, and softness etc., and you will not see your body and any surrounding objects while sitting, as if you are in a void. When one enters deep into meditation gradually, the body and mind will become empty and quiet, one does not see inside or outside. At the same time when the sense of touch arises, ten merits and virtues appear along with it from the outside: 1). Concentration, 2). Emptiness, 3). Brightness and clearness, 4). Happiness, 5). Joy, 6). Kindness, 7). The Understanding of perception, 8). Liberation, 9). Divine connecting presents, 10). Softness of the heart and body. In this state, the whole body becomes limp, the body and mind are carefree, and it is an extremely wonderful feeling, a hundred times more pleasurable than the feeling of your wedding night, like waking up after a deep sleep, and finding a treasure when you are in poverty. You have been awakened to the truth of life.

But be sober, you have just skimmed off the scum floating on the surface of your basin of dirty water, and you have tasted a little bit of the mysteries of the great world. If you have a heart full of joy and celebration, and have become infatuated with this aesthetic feeling and are reluctant to leave, you must forget to return and you will no longer be able to make progress, and you will even fall into the realm of desire again.

If you want to enter the second level of meditation, you must abandon the previous realm, just like a strong man who is burning with desire resolutely leaves a nude young girl who is full of affection, and a poor man who is hungry and cold rejects a table full of delicacies. By 1). not accepting, 2). berating, and 3). observing and analyzing, so you can get away from the error of the first level awakening. The awakening is extinguished, the previous divine connection disappears, and you have left the first level of meditation.

After leaving the first level of meditation, if you continue to sit in meditation, you must not have any regrets, otherwise, as the story in the "Bible" said, Lot's wife became a pillar of salt just because she "looked back" (Genesis 19:17, 26). On the way forward, don't look back, don't linger on the past, and don't be greedy for what you obtain. The lack of one basketful of earth spoils the entire effort to build a high mountain. You should abandon everything and move forward with your whole mind. Over time, before you know it, you will suddenly see a hungry tiger pounce on you, or a poisonous snake hissing and attacking you with its head up, or a monster with a green face and fangs opening its bloody mouth to bite you, or a headless ghost with its five pointed fingertips trying to grab you, or you may see a gentle and graceful fairy with ribbons fluttering on her body, floating towards you on auspicious clouds in melodic fairy music, or see the beautiful scenery, which is attractive, with many pavilions and towers among the green mountains and green waters covered by clouds and mist. Among the towers and pavilions, there are girls smiling and chasing each other. Several sensual beauties even make eyes with you and wave to you, and so on. These are the impurities in your spirituality, which are demonic. The scenes you see are illusory and unreal. They do not come from the outside world, but from within yourself. When these scenes appear one by one, as long as you are not afraid, let them try to invade you, but don't take the bait, allow them to seduce you and keep still, and all kinds of illusions will gradually disappear. At this time, the impurities in your dirty water have been filtered out, and your water gradually becomes clear, and the true nature of the water will begin to appear. At this time, all phenomena in the vast world will be clearly reflected in this basin of water, and your heart will suddenly be clear and will shine, concentration and happiness will emerge, just like a person coming out of the darkness, suddenly seeing outside that the spring is bright, the wind is gentle, the blue waves in the lake are rippling, the mountains are covered with green and various shades, the valley is full of fragrant flowers and birds are singing, white clouds are floating in the blue sky, what a peaceful scene. This is the second level of meditation.

At the second level of meditation, not only are there ten kinds of merits and virtues that are generated from within, but also you will reach four realms: 1). Inner purification, 2). Pleasure, 3). Joy, and 4). Peace of mind. Inner purification refers to the realization that your mind corresponds with your consciousness from the body which corresponds with your consciousness in the first level of meditation, reaching of the manifestation of the direct Buddha nature from the awakening of your mentality; pleasure refers to the self-pleasure of the body and mind, knowing that one has attained ten kinds of merit and virtue, one’s inner pleasure is immeasurable; joy refers to tranquility, delight and cheerfulness, continuous beauty and joy; peace of mind refers to escaping a catastrophe, the denial of suffering and joy, that the way ahead is clear, the fairyland is near, the mind is unmoved, and this state of mind is not easy to alter.

It must be understood that the joy produced in the second level of meditation is low-level joy, which is impure, and there is no such joy in real spirituality (Buddha-nature). This joy comes from your body, so you should observe your mind and examine this joy. Not only should you refuse it, but you should also berate and reject it. If you do not accept it, it will silently fade away. Only this joy comes from the core of the cells and the depths of the soul. To abandon it, it can be said that "The road to Shu is harder than scaling the sky afar!" If the joy only comes from the heart, it is easy to do. The key is that it does not all come from the heart. Just like an animal, even if its heart is cut out, the cells in other parts of its body are still moving. This joy is full of capillaries and nerve endings of the whole body. If it is not restrained, it will disturb the heart and make the heart intoxicated.

The elimination of joy mainly depends on wisdom and mind power. In the process of meditation, as long as good things happen, don’t be greedy and nostalgic. You must berate and not accept it, and joy will disappear by itself. Just like the Tang Monk went to the Western Heaven to acquire scriptures, if he is greedy for wealth and honor, for the back garden of the king of the Kingdom of Women, for the thousand kinds of conjugal love and ten thousand kinds of amorous feelings the Jade Hare from the moon will bring to him, he will never reach the western heaven, and will never get the real scriptures.

After subduing the obstacle of the second level of meditation, your mind will become calm again. Continue to sit quietly and adjust your breath and gradually, you will feel refreshed, and your whole body will be filled with contentment and simplicity. You will remain in this state for several hours, or several days, or several months. Then many mirages appear (like dreams), such as seeing yourself as a king, accepting the worship of all the officials, being surrounded by beauties in the harem, being filled with indescribable joy, endless pleasure; or seeing yourself walk on air, and flying to the Penglai Fairy Pavilion, all the gods come to greet you, enquire about your wellbeing with concern, and give you a warm reception. Some invite you to eat peaches on a certain fairy mountain, some invite you to go to a certain cave to appreciate its treasures, and some invite you to go to a certain tower to enjoy the scenery of the mountains, etc.; or you see yourself being invited by the Jade Emperor and you sit next to the emperor, in front of you are countless delicacies from the mountains and seas, and much delicious fine dining. The Jade Emperor affably persuades you to drink, with countless gods standing on both sides, you feel that you are extremely majestic, great, and glorious, etc. The reason why you can see these kinds of scenes is because you have "self" in your heart, and "self" is still an impurity. You then remember that during the second level of meditation, your basin of dirty water has filtered out the impurities and has become a basin of clean water. But this clear water is by no means pure water (H2O), and there are compounds and plankton in it that cannot be seen with the naked eye. If these impurities are not removed, your pure spirituality (Buddha-nature) will still not appear.

The purpose of the first level of meditation is to transcend the realm of desire, the purpose of the second level of meditation is to transcend the realm of form, and the purpose of the third level of meditation is to transcend the realm of formlessness. When you have a “self” in your mind, you are still in the five elements, still in the cycle of life and death. So, when you see yourself becoming a king, praised by the immortals, and invited by the Jade Emperor, don't accept it, but run away quickly, don't look back and don't be reluctant to leave. Run away! Escape! escape! Flee until everything is gone, nothing is left and even you have disappeared, everything is empty, and you have reached the third level of meditation.

At the third level of meditation, you have become an immortal. The biggest feature of this level is a much-reduced diet. If you sit in meditation, you won’t think about food for ten or eight days. Because of the low energy consumption, you don't even need to eat and drink, forming your own small universe system. Even if you live in the height-stop area of Mount Everest in the Himalayas, the so-called death altitude area, it won’t pose a threat to your LIFE for two or three months. The highest realm of Indian yoga is the third level of meditation.

When you are in the third-level state of meditation, whether you are walking, sitting or lying down, you are in the process of cultivation. You don’t need to practice in a quiet place, and you don’t need your friends to protect and support you. It’s okay even when you wander around downtown. Your body (internal organs, bones, tendons and marrow qi, blood, nerves, facial features, hair, etc.) are undergoing chemical changes. In less serious cases, some parts of your body will become sarira, and in severe cases, your whole body will become adamantine and indestructible.

Going one step further, you will reach the fourth level of meditation. At this time, you will have the supernatural power to transform, and you can ascend to the Thousand-year World or the Ten-thousand-year World. After reaching the fifth level of meditation, you have become a Buddha and can ascend to the Elysium World.

Since the fourth and fifth levels of meditation are beyond the scope of intermediate self-cultivation and intermediate healthcare, they will not be explained here.