A
Complete and Detailed Exposition on the True Buddha Tantric Dharma
By Living Buddha
Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Janny Chow
Preliminaries
to Formal Practice
Each time before doing the practice, one must first "purify the
body." What does this mean? It is a kind of preliminary preparation
for the actual practice itself, and many people know that it refers to
"taking ablution and avoiding eating excessive and unnecessary
food." "Taking ablution" means washing the body, and
"avoiding eating excessive and unnecessary food" means eating
a pure and simple meal. One's stomach should not be too full or too
empty. If one does meditation right after a meal, the stomach will be so
distended that it can cause the same kind of distraction as does a
growling, empty stomach. So meditation should be done at a time when one
is neither too full nor too hungry.
One should at least rinse the mouth, brush the teeth, and wash the
hands. It is best, of course, to take a shower or bath. By cleansing the
body and consuming only a simple meal, one is preparing oneself
physically, emotionally, and mentally for the practice.
When one enters into the Tantric shrine, one's mind should be solemn,
respectful, and restful. In other words, both the mind and body should
be relatively relaxed. It is very important to be relaxed, but one
should not be so relaxed that one is ready to take a nap at the shrine!
On the other hand, if one comes directly from jogging or running and
one's heart is still racing, when one sits down at the Tantric shrine to
do meditation, it will be very hard for the mind to become quieted.
Furthermore, if one has just had a heated argument with a family member,
so that one's blood is still boiling and one's face is contorted in
anger, it will be very difficult, under such circumstances, to achieve a
quiet mind even if one goes to the Tantric shrine to attempt the
practice. There are also situations where, after hearing some bad news,
one's mind is full of anxieties and worries. If one chooses to do a
practice at such a time, it will be very difficult to achieve a
"spiritual response" or spiritual union with the Deity on
which one is meditating.
Therefore, when one enters into the Tantric shrine, one's body should be
clean and one's mind should be as calm as the mirror-like surface of a
lake without ripples. Such preliminary preparation predisposes one to
achieve spiritual response during the practice. If one's mind is
agitated, angry, or full of complicated thoughts, achieving a spiritual
response will be very difficult. When one is both physically and
mentally relaxed and not bothered by any business, one can then enter
the Tantric shrine to do the practice.
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