【Description】
The first step in self-cultivation is to purify the body and mind and open the path to wisdom. When both body and mind are unobstructed, your body will be healthy and your stress will be gone.
Let’s listen to Grandmaster JinBodhi guide us in understanding the power of meditation. Together, we will embark on the path of health and wisdom.
【You will learn】
- The relationship between the brain, emotions and wisdom
- Understand why meditation can develop wisdom and purify the body and mind
【Content】
The pathways of human wisdom, for example, our wisdom-related body parts, such as the brain’s circuits and nerves, those cranial nerves, they are like the circuits of a computer. If they get too narrow, they get blocked when signals are transmitted. A few more signals, and a blockage occurs.
The simplest example is a water hose. Take a look at a fire hose. It is so thick, with a diameter of almost 10 cm. Once the valve has been turned on, there, the water gushes out. Some families install small faucets that are slender like a little finger. Due to a lack of water pressure, the water drips slowly, not much flows even if it runs the whole day.
In our brain, the nerves genetically carry our crimes, karma and negative genes. Our brain pathways are slender after all, so they get blocked. In fact, blockages occur more easily when people process things slower; this contributes to more afflictions. The smart ones think it over and let it go, and so they don’t get blocked. Bad moods occur when things are not figured out. The more negative emotions you feel, the easier your pathways get blocked.
Imagine the roads are jammed, and car accidents make things worse; you are stuck there. That is why our brain gets dull. We become angry at the wrong time. We say unnecessary things at the wrong time, and do unnecessary things at the wrong time. All these are due to our blocked brain. When we practice meditation, we shed tears, right? Nobody knows why tears are shed when there is nothing sad to cry about. Why do we cry?
It is the flushing out of negative elements. That is why we are refreshed after meditation. At this stage, when things happen, it is very easy to find a solution. You can settle matters easily. This is the result of getting wiser. It is not even putting intelligence to use. It is only a cleaning of pathways. So, with more meditation practice, our pathways will be expanded. Our capacity will slowly enlarge. This is what we call “transformation.” In the earlier stages of meditation, it is just pathway and waste clearing, cleansing ourselves inside and outside. It is a cleansing process.
Has anybody during these 2 days, albeit just a short period, experienced sweetness in their mouth? Was your sleep different during this period? I mean the quality of sleep. Poor sleep quality is slowly improving. Long hours of sleep are getting shorter. Right ? (Right.)
Those who used to sleep 15 hours a night have cut their sleep time by half. Those who slept 8 hours a night need only 5 hours now. Right? They look beautiful too. Their faces are pretty, and they have become charged, energetic. Their bodies are at ease after sleep. Right?
You used to have back pain after sleep. Their bodies are at ease after sleep. You were exhausted from working all day long. You even dreamed about doing physically tiring chores and felt totally drained when you woke up. You were busy the day before and had tiring dreams. It is even more tiring doing physical work in your dreams. Through meditation practice, physical work disappears from your dreams and you feel relaxed.
That is why sometimes I dreamed that I was floating. I just floated, sitting in the sky. What’s so good about sitting in the sky? You just feel at ease and relaxed. When I walked it felt like I was stepping on clouds. I felt totally relaxed. This kind of ease is what we call “unobstructed.” The “trash” that is stuck and the burdens, debts and pressures are all taken away from us. As soon as the internal troubles are gone, the specific troubles that pressure us will be gone too.
Unobstructed body, mind and soul are achieved through persistent meditation practice