『静坐与心身平衡』 "Meditation: Balancing the Body and Mind

Many thanks to my great friend and teacher, Dr. LiXin of the Shanghai Insight ACM Training center, for this contribution on the practice of meditation and its relationship to Chinese medical practice. For more information check out their website at http://www.insightacm.com/home.aspx.

身心本为一家，魂魄志意为用，魂魄者，先天本能也，志意者，后天社会程序也，亦习得本能，习惯反射也。

心者，神也，本原也，非志意之思维逻辑分析判断，此神经系统表浅功能，亦非欲望情感情绪感受，此躯体觉受身心反应模式耳。

古贤云，神总统魂魄，兼赅志意。是知魂魄志意，乃身与意两个层次之活动，维生致用之工具耳，非本原也。

奈何人之于此，只知身心，不知有神，或以躯壳感受，欲望冲击，情感振荡为我之存在，或以性格突显，思维精密，分析逻辑为我之真实，故而为物所攥，为外所牵引，失其本原，心荡神移，惮散不收，故而身心困顿，此诸病源头，亦疗疾根本也。

古人有言，与生之道，无非两者，外求之途，远离生乐；安心之道，返朴归真。

欲求身心安宁，必先认得方向，但从内观，勿觅他途。静候傻等，耐得性情，是为入门之阶。须知人之有神，如衡器有中，身心之振荡不安，如衡器遇着外力冲撞，不需时刻扶持，强力矫正，当放稳身心，避开外力，观其上下，任其左右，自会平常。

内观者，观身之感受，意之变动，外之振荡与内之交互作用，久久熟悉，细致入微，可知不在身，亦不在意，气质变化，精神光明，通于无穷，身可调，心可安。

游子回家，当家作主。

The body and mind are fundamentally one and the same. The hun, po, zhi, and yi are its manifest applications. The hun and po compose an individual's pre-natal instincts; the zhi and yi represent post-natal societal order. Constant application obtains instinct, a form of conditioned response.

The mind is another name for the spirit. This is the individual's original nature, not the logical, analytic thought process of the zhi and yi; this represents nothing more than the shallow workings of the nervous system. The spirit is also not the desires and emotions we feel; these are nothing more than the heart's response to the sensory experiences of the body.

The ancients say, the spirit unifies the hun and po, and completes the zhi and yi. This is the realization that the hun, po, zhi, yi represent two levels of physical and mental activity, the tools for preserving life, not the source of life itself.

How then do we come closer to the realization of truth? We commonly recognize the existense of the body and mind, and neglect that of the spirit. Desires arise from the sensory experiences of the physical body, and result in a wavering of emotion that we mistakenly identify with as self-existence; or in embracing our individuality and depth of reasoning, we accept the results of our analytic thought processes as self-truth. We grasp to our material creations, and our attention is stretched ever-further outwards, away from the source. The mind wavers and the spirit wanders, restlessly, we scatter ourselves without gathering until the mind and body suffer from exhaustion. This is the source of illness and accordingly, the root of its treatment.

The ancients say that there are but two ways in which to live: the path of outward seeking that leads one further from peace of mind, and the path of calming the mind, through which one turns inward to rediscover original nature.

In order to calm the mind and body, we must first orient ourselves directionally. We must look inward, without distraction, to sit idly and simply wait patiently for the wavering of emotion to pass. This is the doorway from which the path begins. We must remember that the body and mind are supported by the spirit just like the two sides of a balance are supported by its frame. This capricious, unsettled condition of the mind and body is similar to the see-sawing movements of a balance when weight is first applied. There is no need to remedy the situation through the use of brute strength. Instead, we must learn to escape from this 'weight' by setting the mind and body free, by observing above and below, accepting the right and left, and allow it to fall into a state of balance.

Looking inward we must observe the sensory experiences of the body and the movements of intention. By becoming intimate with the internal effects of external stimuli down to the finest detail we can see that our true nature is not in the body, nor is it in consciousness. The energy of the body shifts, the jing and the spirit become clear, allowing the body to regulate itself and the mind to be at ease.

The wandering child returns to become master of the home.