~Spoken
by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Harvard Univ., U.S.A. February 24, 1991
(Originally in English)
Some
people asked me if I could teach them a meditation method that will
stop the breathing and the heartbeat. I said, "No need to be such
a hurry. Wait a while; when you die, all this will happen." This
is not a necessary thing to do. We have no need to intervene with nature's
functions. This is not a way to enlightenment. Then, they asked me if
I would teach them a meditation method, which would increase their body
heat, so that it becomes like a flame of samadhi - samadhi power through
heat. I said, "No need, just jump into the oven!"
This
is nonsense! It has nothing to do with enlightenment. Maybe the Masters
or the practitioners in the Himalayas don't have enough heat, and they
must practice what we call "tummo" heat from the solar plexus
to develop heat to warm the body during the cold Himalayan weather.
But here, we have central heating and heaters; we have everything, and
there is no need for that. And I cited an example of the Buddha. One
person came to the Buddha and boasted that he could walk across the
water to reach the other shore. The Buddha asked, "How long did
you practice before you could reach it?" He said "Twenty-five
years." The Buddha said, "Why waste time and money? I only
pay 5 cents and I can cross the river by boat."
These
are wrong conceptions. We practice to enlighten ourselves: to know what
else we can do for humankind, how we are related to the universe, and
how we can offer anything to the universe, which offers us so much;
or to free ourselves from suffering, to free ourselves from the slavery
of birth, death, and reincarnation. But we do not practice to show off.
There is no need to increase heat or cold, no need to stop the heartbeat
and breathing. These are ephemeral phenomena, the working and functioning
of nature. We do not bother.
The
God Nature is not in the breath; it's not in the heartbeat or in the
heat from the stomach. The God Nature is also in them, but they are
only one small aspect of God Nature. We should find the whole, and then
we will understand every detail. We should not just bother about details
and forget the whole. So, the wrong conception needs to be changed in
order to raise our level, at least our intellectual level, in order
to understand further. If we keep attached to this kind of conception
or worn-out prejudice, we have no hope of being more civilized, more
intelligent.
~Spoken
by Supreme Master Ching Hai
Panama January 28, 1991
(Originally in English)
No doubt, when you practice Pranayama you will have many benefits. You
might have health, maybe a little bit longer life, you might have some
magical powers, or maybe you will feel calmer. There is nothing without
benefits. But Pranayama alone brings you nowhere because we live eternally
without breath. What we call life must not mean the body. If you mean
life is the body, then you practice and the breath is important for
the body, for the ordinary people only. Many people don't need it. Did
you read "The Autobiography of a Yogi" by Yogananda? When
his Master was in samadhi, he didn't even breathe. Do you think he had
no wisdom at that time when he had no breath? Where had his wisdom gone?
How does he attain wisdom then, when he has no breath to practice Pranayama
with?
I
know many people who practice with the breathing method, not Pranayama,
but they count the breath. There are many practices concerning the breath
and using the breath as a concentration method. And so far as concentration
is concerned, it helps. It helps some people, but I would not advise
anyone to use it. There are many better ways than relying on the ephemeral
breath. You must train your mind to concentrate by itself, by the soul
force, and not by relying on external aids. Otherwise, when you are
in an accident, when you faint, when you die, or when you are sick or
asleep and not aware of your breathing, how would you practice? We cannot
practice just when we are awake or when we are aware of the breath.
We must train to practice all the time, 24 hours, and that can be done
only by the soul.
I
know many people who practice the breath up to the level that they can
go without breathing and that is the highest by these methods. If someone
can stop breathing, they would congratulate him because that is the
highest they can go. But when they stop breathing, that means breathing
is, after all, not that important. You can live without it.
Actually,
the breath, if I may tell you the truth, is not to be touched. There
are two currents in the body: one is what we call life force or "shabd"
current and the other one is called the "motor" current or
life current. The shabd current is the one from God, vibrating in all
kinds of life, with or without breath, animate or inanimate. The shabd
is the one we hear. And the other current is the motor current, which
takes care of the heat, the cold, the digestive and respiratory systems,
and all kinds of things, including the breath. That is regulated already,
and we should not bother about it. We should not make it short or long,
or stop it or control it by any means because it is arranged by the
Most Intelligent. If we mess about with this machine, it might go wrong.
When it is having trouble, then we should fix it or take care of it;
otherwise, we should not bother or we might touch the wrong button and
it will go wrong altogether.
