Zen Buddhism and Martial Arts
ASSAULT ON THE SUMMIT: THE MERIDIAN PATHWAYS AND TECHNIQUES FOR FOLLOWING THEM
by Fa Jun Shakya
Diagrams
There are many different versions of the meridian pathway and the microcosmic orbit meditations. They work well or poorly, depending on the person who is using them. The differences between the versions are not important. Applying ourselves to learning one version is important.
There are 12 meridian pathways on each side of the body. They are duplicated on the other side making a total of 24 separate but connected pathways that complete the circuit. There are two meridians, the Conception meridian which traverses the body's front mid-line, and the Governor which runs along the spine and over the top of the head; but these two meridians have a different function and do not need to be learned at the start of the program.
A little mnemonic to remember the order is:
- 1. Lu Li (Lung, Large Intestine)
- 2. Sto Spee (Stomach, Spleen)
- 3. Heh Si (Heart, Small Intestine)
- 4. Blak (Bladder, Kidney)
- 5. Per Tri (Pericardium, Triple Burner)
- 6. Gall Bliv (Gall Bladder, Liver)
- 7. up the back. (just a rhyme at this point).
Although you need to learn all 12 meridian pathways, you do not have to familiarize yourself with the details of the various points. The detailed version should be consulted if you have a physical problem with an area of your body through which the meridian passes; but for routine meditation purposes, you should use the simplified outlines given below.
Be patient and gentle with yourself. Regard yourself as your own student who begins with first grade confusion and gradually moves up through all the grades with increasing confidence.
The technique to follow is to begin by visualizing a faintly glowing little ball down in your right or left lung (whichever is the side of the hand you write with).
Inhale and imagine that your breath is imparting energy to the glowing ball, making it glow a little more brightly.
Hold your breath and, as you retain it, imagine that you are pushing the ball along the Lung meridian’s channel to the terminal point in your thumb.
Make a concerted effort to hold onto the image of the ball at that point, then exhale.
As you inhale again, you impart more energy to the ball as you make the mental jump to the initial point of the Large Intestine meridian.
Hold your breath and continue to push the ball to the terminal point. If you cannot traverse the entire meridian in one breath, simply pause, and while mentally holding the ball in place, exhale and then inhale again before continuing to push the ball along the meridian to the terminal point. You make take as many breaths as you require to complete a meridian pathway.
Use this technique for all the meridians as if they were long, connected tubes inside your body. If a meridian splits into two pathways, just let the ball duplicate itself and each will traverse a split until the two channels are united again.
If you continuously supply energy to the glowing ball it will grow brighter.
In the beginning of the work, you may have to consult the diagrams, and in doing so you may lose that mental image of the ball’s location. Just pick it up where you left off. As you learn the technique and no longer require the diagrams, you’ll have no interruptions.
After you complete the 12 x 2 = 24 meridians, the ball will be dazzlingly bright. You can then let the ball drop down through the Conception channel - seen in our path as beginning at the Ajna chakra - until it reaches the Muladhara chakra in the perineum. If you don't do the chakra meditations, you can mentally let the ball rise from the perineum to the Lower Dantien deep in the abdomen.
Concentrate on the connection your body makes with the ground or floor you are sitting on. Feel your pulse beating in your perineum and the base of your spine.
Imagine also that you are drawing moisture from the earth, a kind of “water” energy, up into your spinal meridian. Once you raise a quantity of water you don’t want it to fall or drip back. It helps, then, to use the Root Lock - a constriction of the rectal muscles to hold the water energy in place.
There are several “states” that you may experience.
The first is a strange tightness in the chest. This is the body’s need to establish an equilibrium between the amount of oxygen you need and the amount you already have in your system. If you began to run, for example, you would breathe faster and your chest would heave as your lungs expanded to take in more oxygen. But for sitting in peaceful meditation, you require much less oxygen; and so your lungs constrict to reduce the amount of air that can flow into your body. Tightness in the chest is a good sign - it shows that you are getting in the proper state.
You may fall asleep. You were probably very tired and needed the rest. Don't worry about falling asleep during your meditation session. When you become more experienced with your routine, you'll develop a better sleep schedule and will find it easier to stay awake as you practice.
Don’t be reluctant to spend weeks on one lesson. Since you should never discuss your program with anyone except your teacher, you will not have a sense of competition. There are distinct advantages to be gained along the way. Each attainment will make the sessions more enjoyable.
The Middle Dantien at the Heart is also called the “Solar Container.” There are many disciplines that yield spiritual power that can be followed by visualizing the reconciliation of yin and yang (female and male) forces in the Middle Dantien. Also, in the event there is a blockage or injury in the area of a specific meridian, healing energy can be directed from these two reservoirs to the respective meridian (yang for a yang meridian and yin for a yin meridian).
When you can enter deep meditation doing just the meridian and dantien meditations, you can let the yin and yang forces fill the Upper Dantien reservoir in the brain.
These additional purposes of the reservoirs need not be utilized to receive great benefit. Simply filling the reservoirs invariably produces the profoundly satisfying states of Grace that attend spiritual ascendance.
Regarding Pratyahara
Muladhara is related to odor or smell. The easiest way to do an exercise of this type is to smell something pleasant that you are not used to smelling. Fresia flowers or a gardenia have an odor that is known but not entirely familiar. Obtain a gardenia and smell it repeatedly. When it wilts, discard it. Then, as a meditation exercise, re-create the odor. Focus on the recollection of the fragrance so that you can smell the flower whenever you wish. Then, do the opposite, obliterate the smell when it is present, mentally overriding the olfactory stimulus.
Svadhisthana is associated with taste. Manipura is associated with sight. Anahata is associated with touch. Vishuddha is associated with sound.
The same techniques of obliterating a stimulus when it is present and recreating it when it is absent can be used with each of these senses.
You will progress at your own pace and will determine which interests you want to pursue, which areas of your life you need to work on, and which spiritual writers or religions appeal to you. You will have acquired the ability to gauge your own progress and to design your own program to achieve it. Always rely upon your ability to focus your attention inside your body wherever you put your attention.
The pulse exercise will be extremely valuable. Relax your hand and feel the pulse beating in your index finger. Count a dozen or so beats, holding fast to the count. Switch your attention to another finger and feel the pulse beat there. If you lose count, simply begin again, but be fierce in your concentration. Pratyahara is too often ignored, and the discipline of Concentration is rarely mastered. The inability to perform both disciplines deters a person from achieving higher states of consciousness.
It is also important to understand that the reason celibacy is advised in most spiritual paths is that projection of a sexual archetype upon a human being in your environment (being in love with someone) removes that necessary archetype from your psyche's service. Ideally, the archetype or instinct should be withdrawn and integrated into your own psyche where it will be available to fulfill the Bodhisattva's role. Spiritual programs always advise curtailing social life to limit the possibilities of falling in love.
Being independent does not necessarily mean being severed from society. Once the archetype is integrated, there is no emotional need that has to be pursued in social situations. Desires, in this as in all things, are the source of trouble.
1. Lung
2. Large Intestine
3. Stomach
4. Spleen
5. Heart
6. Small Intestine
7. Bladder
8. Kidney
9. Pericardium
10. Triple Warmer
11. Gall Bladder
12. Liver
