Learnings from Meditation
Praying to Heaven to Show the Way, 3rd movement Heaven Nature Heart Mantra
"Let your heart experience Truth as naturally as the body experiences qi."
~ Truth Unfolds Like a Flower, First movement of Releasing the Heart
I have changed a lot in the four years since I started on the path to be a Sheng Zhen teacher. This practice allows you to go deeper and further the more you stay with it. Watching truth unfold, feeling it in my heart, is pure joy.
I went back to read some of my earliest posts on this website, and was pleased to see that not only did I still agree with everything I'd written, but with time, I have come to understand more fully how important these lessons were/are for me. So, with minor edits, I am reposting an article from December of 2016. ~ Peter Van Buren
Mantra
During one of the meditation sessions at that training, a mantra came to me: “Trust love. Surrender.” Meditating on the words again and again, I have come to this current understanding of their meaning.
Put my trust in Love. Love is very smart. Love knows best. Trust completely. Open my heart and let love guide me. Gratefully accept the path that love puts before me, realizing that it may have ups and downs. This is normal.
I will die someday. All of us will, we know this. When it happens, I will return to the source from which I came. I will return to the Source, to Love. So, there’s no need for me to worry or fear. Instead, I surrender my worries, my fears, my feelings of inadequacy, of unworthiness. By surrendering, I free myself from the grip of negativity, so that I can love with abandon. Love everything and everyone. Open my heart and let the love flow.
Everyone is connected to me; everyone is a part of me. And, I am a part of them. We are all a part of the One. By loving others, I love myself. Caring for myself helps others. Helping alleviate the pain and suffering of anyone directly helps me. No pain, (the) ALL gain(s). And there is more and more love for all.
I will journey down the path that love gives me, with an open heart, without fear, joyful embracing the wonder and awe of this magical life. Now, that’s a life, that's a vision, to strive for.
Gambaru
I learned this word from TV Journalist Ann Curry, who was one of the guests on a PBS holiday special by celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich. The show involved Lidia asking each of her guests to recount holiday memories from their families' celebrations.
Ann’s mother, Hiroe, was Japanese, meeting and marrying her serviceman father after World War II. Consequently, Ann told Lidia about some of her mother’s non-traditional holiday recipes, as she admitted her mother never really learned to cook turkey.
But, the story Ann told that stuck with me was about the word, “gambaru”. Her mother would whisper this word in Ann’s ear as she was leaving from family get-togethers. When Ann asked for a translation, Hiroe told her simply “have strength”. Eventually Ann realized the word means so much more.
She now translates it as, "Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER give up, even and especially if there is no hope of winning.” Here’s more background on Gmabaru and Ann’s mother’s story.
Acceptance
Everything that has happened to take me to this moment was correct. I am in the right place of now, which is a moment on the path to what lies ahead. Part of trusting love is accepting what is without regrets or other negative feelings.
This is not fatalistic. All is not predetermined. Rather this recognizes that I must fully accept what “is” to open the possibility that I might affect the future in a positive way.
I still need to do my best to bring forth the future I desire, acting with hope, creativity, courage, and gambaru. By doing this, I open the possibility to create a world where everyone and everything is loved, respected and cherished.
Life’s Lessons
One of life’s great practical jokes involves lessons. On my path through life, I will encounter a special set of lessons I need to learn. If I don’t learn the lesson that is being taught, life will simply repeat that lesson over and over again until I do. No matter how much I dislike the lesson.
Only when I have heard the lesson, understood it, incorporated it and accepted it, will life end the repetition and allow me to move on.
This is why the same thing keeps happening to you, or you notice the same thing happening again and again to someone else. It is the story of Sisyphus and the rock, except I can break the cycle by embracing the lesson.
Goals
Creating goals provides direction. However, as I start toward my goal, I may not fully understand, or understand at all, how I will achieve the goal. This is OK, and it is true for many of the most worthwhile paths.
To start, I only need to know how to take the first step, and gather the will to take it. Then I move down the path, one step at a time, sometimes moving faster, sometimes slower; sometimes taking a detour or stopping or needing to back track. I just need to trust my heart to find the next step, and trust love as I take it.
Little by little, step by step, great things can happen. After a while, I may find that I have attained goals that I never considered, and they may even be better and more desirable than my original intent. I will show gratitude.
The One
There is only one god, and there are an infinite number of gods.
God is Love. Love created qi, and all qi comes from love. Love is the source, and love's qi created and connects everyone and everything. Qi/love/god is within each of us. It always has been so, and all religions recognize this truth in their foundations.
Our egos, as manifest in our religious and governmental institutions, have taught us to emphasize our differences, rather than this one basic truth. Focusing on our differences creates hatred, fear and greed. But, deep down, we all know we are one.
By opening my heart, I can connect the god within me to the web of qi in the universe. The web of love that unites everything. I connect to the source. I reunite and return to oneness. This is magical and beyond comprehension. I cannot think this. I can only be this.
This is Sheng Zhen.
The goal is to be in the state of Sheng Zhen all the time. The “Practice of Sheng Zhen” is just that – a practice that helps you become more and more Sheng Zhen in your life.
Keep practicing and smile. Be Sheng Zhen.