Chan mystics are the ultimate thrill-seekers. We're willing to risk everything to open doors to the unknown, to lift our heads out of the sand to glimpse the worlds beyond.  And it all begins with learning to meditate.

Poetry by Empty Cloud [Chan Master Hsu (Xu) Yun (1839-1959)]

Arthur Young, that oft quoted philosopher, spiritualist, and inventor of the modern helicopter, expressed, in The Reflexive Universe, what many feel to be an improvable truth: "Man . . . is more than the beast . . . but . . . he is still not very far along. He is, in fact, at a stage corresponding to that of a clam in the animal kingdom. Like the clam, he is buried in the sand with only a dim consciousness of the worlds beyond. Yet potentially he can evolve far beyond his present state; his destiny is unlimited."

Chan mystics are the ultimate thrill-seekers. We're willing to risk everything to open doors to the unknown, to lift our heads out of the sand to glimpse worlds beyond.  Our journey begins with learning to meditate.

Beginning Chan Practice: Meditation

No Chan practice is complete without a mediation regimen. In fact, some Zen schools emphasize meditation above all else. Mindful awareness in our daily activities, in the context of the Eightfold Path, is also extremely important. While Chan practitioners don't consider meditation as an end unto itself, it's indispensable in helping us expand our relationship with ourselves and with the world around us. Without the ability to focus our attention in concentration, a prerequisite for meditation, we can be slaves to our conditioned ways of experiencing and reacting to the world we live in. 

Experience Chan! It can't be described. When you describe it you miss the point. When you discover that your proofs are without substance you'll realize that words are nothing but dust.
-- Empty Cloud It's easy to put the cart before the horse when we start out on Chan's journey; to elevate the methods of Chan training above the purpose they serve. Meditation is nourishment for the soul. Without a strong meditation practice, we lose touch with our Selves; we lose the ability to discern the real from the imaginary. We may also lose our sense of humor, our sense of interconnectedness with others, and most importantly, our connection with ourselves. Meditation is an elixir for healing and helping us to live contented lives. Yet meditation is not something we jump into for the first time and expect to succeed at. The journey to meditation is a tough one for most of us.

As we begin that journey, we initiate a face-to-face encounter with ourselves, and for most of us, there are a lot of unpleasant things we'd rather not look at. Buried childhood traumas, repressed feelings of hate or despair, jealousy, rage, insecurity, fear--they all come lurching out at us as we progress on the first stages of the path. Our dream life may become extraordinarily vivid; our emotional life may become fragile as our psyche struggles to grapple with the onslaught of newly released unconscious content becoming conscious for the first time. It takes great courage to undertake Chan. The side of ourselves we don't want to see -- that side we have repressed -- will come out and we must want to see it, to integrate it into our conscious minds. But it's equally essential that we don't inadvertently identify ourselves with these repressed emotional shards, for they are only fabricated, imagined, chimera that, despite their great power and seeming reality, are lifeless the moment we render them so.

What is Meditation?

Meditation is a specific state of mental awareness induced through the willful effort of attention and can be characterized by its specific neurophysiologic, cognitive, emotional, and physical effects.

Over the last several decades, studies of the brains of meditators using fMRIs, EEGs, PET and SPECT scans, have revealed significant changes that occur in the brain during meditation.  These studies show that people who meditate regularly have enhanced brain function compared to non-meditating control groups [c.f., Long term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice, Antoine Lutz, et.al., Princeton, NJ, 2004]. This is interesting in that it confirms a physical change in the brain that correlates with cognitive shifts in awareness: one we can measure with instruments, the other with direct experience.  An article in Scientific American [Nov. 2014], Mind of the Meditator, summarized recent research into various neurological changes that happen in the brain of a meditator, including physical changes. Of note were the findings that 1) frequent meditation decreases the size of the amygdala, that part of the brain responsible for our sense of fear; 2) meditators have an increased number of axons, the fibers that connect different parts of the brain; and 3) meditation can reduce the activity of inflammation related genes and can influence genes to turn off or on.  In addition, there is evidence that meditation increases telomerase activity, the "caps" at the end of DNA segments responsible cell reproduction.  When the caps get too short cells stop dividing and this is thought to be the essential cause for death in all living things.  If meditation causes these caps to grow, it could suggest that mediation could provide a natural way to extend life.  

The effects of meditation are all-encompassing: we are less susceptible to stress and anxiety and their deleterious effects on our body and mood; our thinking becomes clear and powerful; we become free of addictions we may have previously claimed; we develop compassion for others, among many others.  The effects of meditation are so profound that some health-care professionals have successfully isolated meditation from its spiritual origins to create therapeutic regimens for people to help them with a myriad of disorders, from obesity to OCD, anxiety to depression, high blood pressure to post traumatic stress disorder. While these are wonderful applications of meditation for therapists and their patients, having helped millions of people, they tend to be self-limiting in their goal-oriented approach and fail to account for the deeper spiritual significance meditation can bring.

Entering a meditative state happens naturally and automatically when the mind and psyche are prepared for it. Interestingly, the transition from a normal resting state to a meditating state has been caught on fMRI and EEG analysis and shows a sudden switch in the way the brain functions. A transition taking anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds, depending on the experience of the meditator, results in a sudden burst of high amplitude gamma wave activity as well as cross-hemisphere synchronicity. The implication is that the brain becomes coordinated, or "in phase," across the hemispheres during meditation [PNAS, November 16, 2004, vol 101, no. 46.].

Upon coming out of our first meditation experience we may notice hyper-acute senses of sight, hearing, and smelling, an unusual feeling of calm-energy flowing within us, and an absence of mental-chatter. Regardless of our own individual response, our first meditation experience is always a radically transforming one.

The Methods

There are literally thousands of methods for beginners. In a traditional Chinese Chan monastery, the method is, ideally at least, tailored for the student's specific psychological constitution, mental disposition, and level of preparedness. But all beginning methods have some things in common: posture, breathing, diet, mental attitude, and focused concentration. If these five elements are brought together and addressed correctly, success is guaranteed.

One: Posture

Posture is important for several reasons: right posture strengthens the muscles around the spine allowing us to sit and walk without stooping, and it aids in proper circulation, keeping us alert and awake. Proper posture also helps minimize or eliminate pain when sitting for long periods, helps prevent us from falling asleep, and assists in balancing the body so we can sit with great stability.

There are many ways to sit for meditation, but it's always important to keep the spine straight and upright, the body relaxed. We don't want to slump forward or lean to one side or the other. 

An easy way to correct posture is to imagine a thin fishing line running up the spine, coming out the top of the head, being pulling taut and bringing the whole body into alignment. Imagine the spine straightening the torso, the neck, and the head. We use our muscles to make it happen and concentrate to hold the posture. At first it may be difficult if we're using muscles we haven't used for a long time, but with practice the muscles strengthen and the effort needed to hold the posture decreases. Some sitting postures are illustrated above by Fa Lian. Maintaining an erect posture is more important than whether we sit in full- or half-lotus, on a meditation bench, or on a chair. If we use a chair, we sit on the front third of the seat and avoid leaning against the backrest.  If we have long legs, we may need to cross them a bit to prevent them from pushing your body backwards. If new to this type of sitting, progress slowly: for example, sit for two 10-minute intervals per day for the first week, then on the second week extend it to two 15-minute intervals twice a day. Adjust the time to fit your schedule. Keep goals attainable.

Two: Breathing

There has been so much written about the importance of proper breathing that I prefer not to belabor this topic, yet as an essential component of practice, it deserves some amount of discussion. Becoming conscious of the breath is one of the fastest ways to progress. We begin by developing awareness of every nuance of the breathing cycle. Try this: follow the instructions above for obtaining the correct posture, then begin breathing from the bottom up, inhaling slowly with the diaphragm, feeling the stomach expand outward as air rushes in through the nostrils and down the trachea. Pay attention to every nuance of the breath - the feeling of muscles contracting, the feeling of air as it flows in through the nose, sinuses and the back of the throat. Once you've reached maximum air capacity from the bottom, your abdomen fully expanded, begin filling the rest of your lungs by expanding the chest, making sure your shoulders stay relaxed. Feel the stretch, the pressure. Once the lungs are fully expanded, take one last inhale using your diaphragm muscles to grasp a last few bits of air. Now, hold the breath for a few moments, then very slowly release the air, controlling it so that the outward flow is smooth and even. Repeat. Once you can count your breaths from one to ten and repeat for ten to twenty minutes without losing track of the counting, you're ready to move on to other training methods.

Three: Diet

It's helpful to eat foods that are easily digested and nourishing and avoid gorging ourselves before sitting for meditation. Vegetables, noodles, rice, bread, fruit and small amounts of nuts are easily digested by most people and provide all the nutrients needed. If you have specific dietary restrictions, follow them, and if you have food-related health concerns a visit to a dietician/nutritionist may be helpful. 

Four: Mental Attitude

The right mental attitude is important for success with Chan practice; if it's off, we'll give up before we've begun. It's especially important to avoid being self-critical. We don't want to develop a sense of futility and start questioning ourselves with thoughts like "Why am I doing this? This isn't going anywhere! Is this really a legitimate practice?" Our ego wants nothing more than to see us give up and we must not let it win. If we think of ourselves as an arrow traveling through the sky, piercing every obstacle it comes to, we'll be able to focus our undivided attention on practice and make progress.

Five: Concentration

One way we can think of mystical-Chan is as a framework from which we can look out through a window from our confining human form to a reality beyond. Directing and maintaining our gaze through that window, however, takes a good deal of concentration: the wiley ego will throw up distractions whenever it can.
Experience Chan! It's experiencing your own nature!  Going with the flow everywhere and always.   When you don't fake it and waste time trying to rub and polish it,
Your Original Self will always shine through brighter than bright.
-- Empty Cloud
How do we not succumb to those distractions?  We learn to concentrate. Usually we start with the breath because once our breathing becomes conscious, relaxed, and regular we can focus on nearly anything.  With continued practice, we may find ourselves slipping into meditation.

Once breathing is mastered, many people find sound to be the most direct means to enter meditation. Whether we listen to music or the sounds that arise naturally in our environment, we simply let the sound enter and consume us - keeping our attention focused always on whatever sound arises without reacting to it. If we listen to music, it's helpful to avoid music that we've memorized to any degree or that has easily remembered melodies. Indian sitar music, Mahler, Shostakovich, Wagner, Coltrane, and some new age music (such as Philip Glass) work well for meditation because the mind can't condition to a repeated pattern.

The Significance of Willful Action

Experience Chan! It's like harvesting treasures.  But donate them to others. You won't need them.  Suddenly everything will appear before you,  Altogether complete and altogether done.

Experience Chan! It's not a field of learning.   Learning adds things that can be researched and discussed.  The feel of impressions can't be communicated.  Enlightenment is the only medium of transmission.

Experience Chan! It's not mysterious.  As I see it, it boils down to cause and effect. Outside the mind there is no Dharma  So how can anybody speak of a heaven beyond?

Chan is not a passive activity but requires great effort of will. Without the will to affect change, change doesn't happen. Directed attention, moderated by willpower, breaks down the mental and emotional patterns that become established during life. Without willful effort to change these patterns, we continue to be slaves to them. Jeffrey Schwartz MD, research professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine (and fellow Zen Buddhist!), suggests in The Mind and the Brain, Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force, that it's our ability to throw on the brakes--to arrest our pre-conditioned mental responses--that fosters mindfulness, and that by arresting those conditioned responses, consciousness itself grows.  It's not easy to do, though.  It requires significant effort and concentration to say "no!" to all the distracting thoughts, feelings and sensations that manifest when we work to focus the mind.  But the process of halting our conditioned thoughts and behaviors helps us detach from worldly desires which is a prerequisite for Chan training.

Enlightenment

In Chan, enlightenment is the event of our recognizing our intrinsic Self. Enlightenment is an experience that cannot be explained, interpreted, or analyzed, yet it comes straight out of Chan practice. In Chan, we say that everyone is already enlightened because it's our fundamental nature--it's always there. It's just that most of us don't recognize it.  We live with a form of agnosia, blind to it. If we haven't had the experience of becoming aware of Self, there is no way to know if it's a real thing or not, and if we have had the experience, there's no convincing way to describe it to one who hasn't.

But once we experience spiritual awakening, we "get it". Enlightenment experience never needs validating by anyone. It comes upon us so radically and unexpectedly that we can be left dazzled for hours, if not days, afterward. Some people describe a "turning-over" of their minds, others may describe themselves as disappearing, of losing connection with time and space. Whatever the description of the experience, it's always a profound one, unarguable in its reality and conscious dimensions.

Enlightenment does not depend on meditation, but meditation can help prepare us for enlightenment. Enlightenment cannot be forced to happen by our will, nor is there any method or formula we can apply to achieve it. In the historical annals of Chan, stories of enlightenment involve the moment of hearing a bell ring, a voice yell, a stick snap, or the Diamond Sutra read . . . seemingly ordinary events. Meditation helps put the mind in the right place to experience enlightenment, but it doesn't lead, in and of itself, to enlightenment. Enlightenment can't happen until our entire lives are turned inside-out and our mind is ripe for it.

Experience Chan! It will require great skepticism;  Great skepticism blocks those detours on the road. Jump off the lofty peaks of mystery. Turn your heaven and earth inside out.

Experience Chan! Ignore that superstitious nonsense that makes some claim that they've attained Chan. Foolish beliefs are those of the not-yet-awakened.  And  they're the ones who most need the experience of Chan!

Experience Chan! Become a follower who, when accepted, learns how to give up his life and his death.  Grasping this carefully, you will be able to see clearly. You will laugh until you topple the Cold Mountain ascetics!
--Empty Cloud.

On a side note, Chan Buddhism is clearly my favorite spiritual path, but Chan doesn't hold a monopoly on disciplines that lead toward the same spiritual summit. Other religions also provide access to similar mystical teachings. Sometimes, however, mystical practices may be hidden or even buried within the depths of the institution. Regardless of our involvement with a religious body, mysticism requires autonomy and we must be careful not to elevate our interests in the institution over our spiritual pursuits.

Prerequisites for Chan Training

Everyone seems to have their own list of prerequisites for Chan practice - the Buddha's was perhaps the simplest and most profound: we must know suffering, and we must desire a solution to that suffering. That's it. In fact, nothing else provides adequate motivation. Chan is a difficult path to follow, requiring fierce determination and unrelenting perseverance and courage. We can't go through the motions and expect to get anywhere - it requires our heart and soul and a fierce resolve to transform our lives.

For a more in-depth examination of Chan's mystical training, see Toward the Heart of Chan by this author.

Responses From Readers

Dear Rev. Chaun Zhi Shakya:

In your essay "Experience Chan" you talk about how chan meditation causes the brain to change and that that change can be shown by various brain scanning technologies.

What do you think about binaural beat technologies espoused by the Monroe Institute in its product "Hemisync" and Centerpointe's product "Holosync"?. Both companies claim that listening to their CDs causes exactily the same changes to the brain that meditation or zazen facilitate.

Could they have found a way to make meditation easier?

Centerpointe claims that using their product "Holosync" will enable the user to "Meditate deeper than a Zen monk."

I know there are no shortcuts, but if they create the same brainwave patterns, are they creating the same results? Or perhaps brainwave patterns and imagery have nothing to do the Zen experience.

-- K

Reply to K:

You ask a great question. There are synchronistic effects that happen between the brain and exterior sources of sound, but it requires the listener to listen -- to immerse himself in the sound. I'm not familiar with the Monroe Institute's products, or Centerpointe's products, however I'm of the mind to say that if there's a product out there that helps people, then great! Whether their claims are founded with scientific scrutiny or not I think is important. Double blind studies on a large enough population is needed for a careful and accurate assessment. An analogy you may want to keep in mind is of two piano players. Consider two people starting out learning to play the piano, student one practices for 5 hours a day, while student two sits in front of a machine and puts her hands/fingers in that machine. The machine then moves her fingers and hands over the keyboard to produce beautiful music. By the end of the first day of practice, student one still struggles to play a simple scale, while student two has enjoyed listening to her own hands play Chopin's piano concerto No. 1. After a few years of daily practice by each student in each of the two different ways, can we say there is a difference in the way the brain has changed between the two of them? Research has been done to find out (different methods though) - much of it is summarized in Jeffrey M. Schwartz's "The Mind and the Brain". It's willful effort that makes the changes in the brain happen. This research has led to new approaches to helping stroke patients recover the use of previously paralyzed limbs - something that had been previously nearly impossible.

The research I'm familiar with demonstrates that the brain wires itself differently depending on whether it's from volitional "action" or will, or action imposed from outside of the volitional circuits. Probably because of my background in science, I tend to be rather skeptical of claims made that are not well substantiated. People who run a business see dollars as the primary goal (otherwise they'll go out of business) and so marketing tends to be aimed at getting people to buy a product rather than aimed at purely helping people. If they claim you can "Meditate deeper than a Zen monk" I would ask, how deep can a Zen monk meditate? One, Ten, 100? What does this statement mean? (I also know Zen monks who have never learned to meditate)

But then this begs another question - why do people want short cuts? It's the same motivation that has driven people to use various mind-altering drugs. It gives them a short burst of excitement, ecstasy, whatever ... and then it's over and they are back to square one again. We Zen people tend to have a "no shortcuts" attitude. We won't want to inadvertently miss anything. Once we get into meditation, there's nothing easier. Meditation consumes us in rapture ... the hard part is getting ourselves in the right frame of mind/body/spirit -- to be able to let go of everything. The biggest obstacle for people seems to be fear: fear of the unknown, fear of losing their sense of personal identity.

A long winded answer for a simple question. But with all that said, if you gain any experience with these audio products I would be most interested in your observations.

All the best,