 --------------------------------------------- This is part two of a series of two articles on Ch'i Kung. 1. Buddhist Ch'i Kung - The practical side 2. Stillness in Movement - The meditative side --------------------------------------------- What you are currently reading is a simplified adaption of the introduction to Ajahn Kalyāno’s forthcoming book Realistic Virtue. The essence of it is the influence mindfulness established on the body exercises on our relationship with our thoughts and feelings. *** It is possible through meditation to unify our experience of life, of our mind and body and the world we live in completely within an open awareness, a sense of space. Within this space it is then possible for the different elements of our experience, the body, thoughts and feelings to find their natural place and dynamic: The essence of the mind can step back and find its centre in the body, thus we find a safe refuge. The content of our minds, thoughts and emotions appear in front of the body becoming a clear medium through which we experience the world. Physical feeling and mental or emotional feeling thus separate. We see movement within the stillness of space and we can stay with the space. Our inner world, which we realise was a product of our relation to the outer world, goes back to its source leaving the inner mind empty and bright. We do not identify with any particular part of the experience. Our experience becomes simply one of open ‘awareness’ in which all phenomena, real objects and also mind-made objects, thought and feelings, come together and yet are not confused with each other. We see the movements of our minds within this space, as well as the content. Let us represent this space, this field of information, like this, mapping it onto our subjective experience.  As we centre the mind within the body we look out at the world through the window of our thoughts and their formative perceptions that are the central axis of the mind. We thus also see clearly and separately what we are projecting on to the world and what information comes back to us – the cause and effect of our mental activity. This can become a conscious process as we place our states of mind back into or onto the world of their origin. Then, very simply, we can be honestly asking: “What is it I am averse to here?” “What is it I am attracted to?” From a place of spiritual refuge our minds can take a fresh look. We can end up reviewing the priorities of our lives and at the same time see how and where to follow these priorities – a clear experience of body and mind taking us to a clear present-moment view of the world we live in and our relationship to it. We have a clear, broad, open and unified awareness of life.  Finally to put all this in its ultimate perspective the highest spirituality lies in relinquishing ourselves rather than in self development. It is the happiness of the altruist. It is also the happiness of the wise who, seeing clearly, are freed from their attachment to the impermanent, conditioned world including this illusion we call ourselves. Ultimately this path goes beyond all kinds of being to the realisation of a state of pure truth or knowing. So the true path lies not in a refinement of being (not even in being energy rather than matter) but in a refinement of knowing and seeing which covers all aspects of our experience. The refinement of our minds through meditation is aimed at this. I offer this for your reflection, Ajahn Kalyāno https://www.openthesky.co.uk ------------------------------
For an example of my personal experience of the practice of stillness in movement as Chi Kung, please see pages 14-15 of the book Virtue and Reality. --------------------------------------------- This is part two of a series of two articles on Ch'i Kung. 1. Buddhist Ch'i Kung - The practical side 2. Stillness in Movement - The meditative side --------------------------------------------- Comments are closed.
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Open The Sky - Reflective and creative work by Ajahn Kalyano
