For some 3 years, I sought a healing system called Naikan. Finally, in the writings of Zen master Hakuin, I found it. For anyone else seeking it, True Naikan is a form of introspection or meditation, also known as Neidan, in Taoism.
There is something modern on the web, calling itself Naikan. I can see no justification for the use of the name Naikan, as it is simple self reflection.
In the Yasenkanna, Hakuin recommended Introspective Meditation as a cure for heart-fire.(Zen Sickness, Uncontrolled Kundalini in Yoga). The method is said to cure many persistent chronic conditions, as well, Hakuin having cured himself of Tuberculosis with this method.
"If you decide to practice this secret technique you should temporarily cease your meditations, and get a sound night's sleep. lie on your back, put your legs together, stretching them out straight and pushing down as hard as you can with the soles of your feet. Close your eyes and draw all of your primal energy (whatever you conceive that to be) down into your abdomen so that it fills the lower body. Ideally this should start from a point inside the body, about 1 inch in from the navel, down through the lower back and legs, to the soles of the feet.(This area is called the lower elixir field in Taoism)
Periodically contemplate the following thoughts:
1. This elixir field is located in a sea of vital energy that keeps me alive. It is all a part of my true self. Does my true self breathe?
2. This elixir field is the place from which my true self originated. It's my true home. What messages, and what kind of messages could come from my true home?
3. This elixir field is also the home and place of my mind. How could the splendors of that place exist except as part of my mind?
4. This elixir field is the Buddha-nature(Ultimate reality) of my own self. How could Ultimate Reality express Ultimate Truth without that self?
Turn these contemplations over in your mind over and over. As you do, the cumulative effect of focusing your thoughts on them will gradually increase. Before long, the primal energy will concentrate in your lower body, and your abdomen will become round and taut."
For some, the results come quickly, for others, somewhat longer. It all depends on how assiduously the technique is practiced.
The Buddha also taught that we should 'cure all kinds of illness by putting the heart down into the soles of the feet.
The Agama sutras teach a method in which butter is used. It is unexcelled for treating debilitation of the heart, and is quoted below.
Master Hakuyu said, "When a student engaged in meditation finds that he is exhausted in body and mind because the four constituent elements of his body are in a state of disharmony, he should gird up his spirit and perform the following visualization:
"Imagine that a lump of soft butter, pure in color and fragrance and the size and shape of a duck egg, is suddenly placed on the top of your head. As it begins to slowly melt, it imparts an exquisite sensation, moistening and saturating your head within and without.
It continues to ooze down, moistening your shoulders, elbows, and chest; permeating lungs, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and bowels; moving down the spine through the hips pelvis, and buttocks. "At that point, all the congestions that have accumulated within the five organs and six viscera, all the aches and pains in the abdomen and other affected parts, will follow the heart as it sinks downward into the lower body. As it does, you will distinctly hear a sound like that of water trickling from a higher to a lower place. It will move lower down through the lower body, suffusing the legs with beneficial warmth, until it reaches the soles of the feet, where it stops.
"The student should then repeat the contemplation. As his vital energy flows downward, it gradually fills the lower region of the body, suffusing it with penetrating warmth, making him feel as if he were sitting up to his navel in a hot bath filled with a decoction of rare and fragrant medicinal herbs that have been gathered and infused by a skilled physician.
There is something modern on the web, calling itself Naikan. I can see no justification for the use of the name Naikan, as it is simple self reflection.
In the Yasenkanna, Hakuin recommended Introspective Meditation as a cure for heart-fire.(Zen Sickness, Uncontrolled Kundalini in Yoga). The method is said to cure many persistent chronic conditions, as well, Hakuin having cured himself of Tuberculosis with this method.
"If you decide to practice this secret technique you should temporarily cease your meditations, and get a sound night's sleep. lie on your back, put your legs together, stretching them out straight and pushing down as hard as you can with the soles of your feet. Close your eyes and draw all of your primal energy (whatever you conceive that to be) down into your abdomen so that it fills the lower body. Ideally this should start from a point inside the body, about 1 inch in from the navel, down through the lower back and legs, to the soles of the feet.(This area is called the lower elixir field in Taoism)
Periodically contemplate the following thoughts:
1. This elixir field is located in a sea of vital energy that keeps me alive. It is all a part of my true self. Does my true self breathe?
2. This elixir field is the place from which my true self originated. It's my true home. What messages, and what kind of messages could come from my true home?
3. This elixir field is also the home and place of my mind. How could the splendors of that place exist except as part of my mind?
4. This elixir field is the Buddha-nature(Ultimate reality) of my own self. How could Ultimate Reality express Ultimate Truth without that self?
Turn these contemplations over in your mind over and over. As you do, the cumulative effect of focusing your thoughts on them will gradually increase. Before long, the primal energy will concentrate in your lower body, and your abdomen will become round and taut."
For some, the results come quickly, for others, somewhat longer. It all depends on how assiduously the technique is practiced.
The Buddha also taught that we should 'cure all kinds of illness by putting the heart down into the soles of the feet.
The Agama sutras teach a method in which butter is used. It is unexcelled for treating debilitation of the heart, and is quoted below.
Master Hakuyu said, "When a student engaged in meditation finds that he is exhausted in body and mind because the four constituent elements of his body are in a state of disharmony, he should gird up his spirit and perform the following visualization:
"Imagine that a lump of soft butter, pure in color and fragrance and the size and shape of a duck egg, is suddenly placed on the top of your head. As it begins to slowly melt, it imparts an exquisite sensation, moistening and saturating your head within and without.
It continues to ooze down, moistening your shoulders, elbows, and chest; permeating lungs, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and bowels; moving down the spine through the hips pelvis, and buttocks. "At that point, all the congestions that have accumulated within the five organs and six viscera, all the aches and pains in the abdomen and other affected parts, will follow the heart as it sinks downward into the lower body. As it does, you will distinctly hear a sound like that of water trickling from a higher to a lower place. It will move lower down through the lower body, suffusing the legs with beneficial warmth, until it reaches the soles of the feet, where it stops.
"The student should then repeat the contemplation. As his vital energy flows downward, it gradually fills the lower region of the body, suffusing it with penetrating warmth, making him feel as if he were sitting up to his navel in a hot bath filled with a decoction of rare and fragrant medicinal herbs that have been gathered and infused by a skilled physician.
3 comments:
I have used this technique, and have found that an hour daily opens my perception to areas of tension and illness. After 3 months of mostly daily practice, I have noticed that the mental or emotional source of the illness is brought to the fore, and once discharged through either witnessing, or immersion, the illness fades.
This appears to be the method stated in Samadhi by Mike Sayama, p-45-46.
Of course since he was in the same tradution as the one that made the method more widely popular- Hakuin Ekaku.
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