Chi
Kung Culture Society of TAIPEI
A subliminal recording is used as a concentration method but it is not the highest form of practice in balancing our system. We may say subliminal recordings are a convenient method which is much easier for ordinary people to use but this is not the best way for us to enter into a higher form of perfecting our mind and body at the same time.
Different schools stress this same concept in similar ways. Lao-tse says that emptiness and humbleness are the best ways for us to get in touch with the Tao. Zen Buddhism stresses the importance of entering into the state of prajna which means we go directly into the state of zen or totally let go. In other words, we should be able to go directly into the state of emptiness without using any thoughts or rational conduction because all such rationalization processes, chanting, praying or breath control will interupt our channel which allows us to go beyond the control of the six senses. In this way, our mental activities will act as the biggest blockages to prevent us from entering into the higher state of chi or the Tao. ¡@It is quite clear that if we use subliminal practices during meditation practices, we will then be trapped exactly at the level of using subliminal recordings. We will rely too much on the subliminal recordings and not develop our own abilities to concentrate. We should avoid using subliminal recordings. The practice of Zen, the Tao, and chi requires people first to reach the gate of emptiness before we are able to step through the door of being. Therefore, the way to lead us into the gate of emptiness should be focused on not using our mind as much as possible. In other words, using the fewest thoughts during the practice at the beginning stages will be the ideal method to help us let go of our mind more easily and thus our thoughts will be merged into our actions, practice, and movements totally. We can see this in many practices. The ancient type of Taoist or Zen Buddhist practice required the perfecting of our body first. This means the perfection of both body and mind through the training starting from the body first and later interacting with the mind. Therefore, the ancient Taoist practice stressed the importance of “hhsin ming shuang shou" [perfection practice of both body and mind which stresses about the importance of stengthening our body first and unification of body and mind later]. The ancient Zen Buddhist practice stressed the importance of “dding hwei shuang shou" [perfection practice of the stability of our body first and opening up of our wisdom which focuses on the unification of both body and mind as a result.] The Tibetan Buddhist practice also stressed the importance of perfecting our body first which will finally lead to the achievement of Buddhahood. This process first starts with the training of the body through the help of the five elements [earth, water, fire, wind, and emptiness which respectively represent our body, our blood, our heart, the channel or passage between the internal organs and body cells, and our mind trained into an empty state) as the starting method to train our body. After that, our wisdom will be trained through another three levels of practice.
The Confucians stressed the importance of perfecting the body as a means to promote the mind. Meng-tse especially emphasized this through a form of physical suffering akin to torturing ourself until we are able to enter into the state of perfecting our mind. Meng-tse used the following terms to describe the process: “cchen yi jeng hsin, ge wo tse tse, shou shen chi jya, dz guo ping tien hsia" [we have to focus our mind in a sincere manner, open up our mind to observe and understand everything in an enlightened way, perfect ourself both individually and assimilate with nature at the same time before we are able to be an individual or have a family. With all such preparations and power we will then be able to pass down the wisdom and way to provide a better administering policy and harmonious balance for the world.]
In these ways, the Taoist, the Zen Buddhist, the Tibetan Buddhist and the Confucianists are all stressing the importance of perfecting the body as well as the mind together with the training of the body as a base to further on the process of self-completion. With this understanding we can see that using subliminal recordings will limit our development in the long run.
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