There are many types of meditation. I can find more than 23 types of meditation on the Internet. There are focused attention, open monitoring, effortless presence, zen, focusing on breath, just sitting, vipassana, mindfulness, loving kindness, mantra, transcendental, visualisation, third eye, chakra, kundalini, Kriya, sound (nada), pranayama, Qi Gong, Tao, yoga, contemplative prayer, sitting with God, self-enquirer, etc, etc. etc.
All these meditation techniques are aiming to have a tranquil and a calm mind that can lead us to inner happiness. I, myself was a vipassana meditator for nearly ten years and yet my mind was not as calm as I want it be. Well may be I was not a good meditator. My practice time may not have been long enough or maybe I am not a good student after all. In 2014 I attended a 10 days retreat. After the retreat I went around to ask some long term vipassana meditators two questions. My questions were:
1) can you keep your mind quiet during meditation?
2) do your legs get numb?
The answers from majority:
1) No, my mind is full of thoughts but I just let them go
2) you must be kidding if you are not numb sitting cross legged
For someone who has practiced much longer than myself and are still having thoughts in their mind, how can I expect myself to have a tranquil/silent mind? Is this possible? Science defines our mind as something full of mental processes, thoughts and consciousness. According to this definition, thoughts in our mind are normal. This is our habit since birth. Our habit of analysing, evaluation, judging, differentiating, comparing and questioning. In meditation we are learning a new habit of letting go of our old habits. This new habit is to master our minds. When we want to think, we think in an objective way. When we don’t need to think we let it rest in the world of wordless cognitive awareness.
Can we achieve this? Can we achieve complete silence in our minds? During the retreat in 2014 I could not say we can achieve it but now I can assure with you that we can if we practice according to TTK’s KN method it may be attainable. Although I couldn’t maintain complete silence for 24 hours most of the time I can.
When we talk about meditation we think of sitting meditation with crossed legs. To me meditation doesn’t mean just sitting crosslegged. It means we maintain a tranquil mind throughout the day not just sitting. Meditation can be siting, walking, lying down and standing meditation. With whatever we do our mind is always silent with cognitive awareness. This is meditation. Of course sitting meditation is important for the deeper level of samadhi if we want to go further to develop the wisdom within.
Here I would like to share on practicing 'Khong Noi'.
My blood sugar level was borderline for the past few years. Since 2014 it was between 6 and 9. I watched my diet closely. I've tried to avoid any food with added sugar. I did 40 mins (20 mins in the morning and 20 mins in the evening) exercise every day to keep it low. I drank the lady fingers water. I ate brown rice and various dietary changes.
After the 2015 TCB & BN1 courses, I tested TTK's techniques. I measured my blood sugar level before and after sitting meditation with the subject of KN. I recorded the differences. I saw it change dramatically. I was happy but during the day it would go back up. I did this for a while and then stopped.
I then tested this with a different technique. I used the 'Khong Noi' in 4 prostrates (walking, standing, lying and sitting + Qi Gong). Now I don't need to say the KN in my head and am aware of KN.
For three weeks my blood sugar has been between 4.2 and 5.7 no matter what I eat. I tested myself by eating lot of carbs at night, eating dessert, eating things I have avoided before and my blood sugar level is still under the threshold. It is unbelievable!
I believe having a calm and tranquil mind is very important for our body. I am very thankful to Chi Nganh & Chi Tham who insisted and told me off over a phone conversation for taking part in the 2015 courses. I am thankful for chị Hương and chị Chi who have shown me the way even before I attended the two courses. I am thankful to have meet Ni Su Triet Nhu and of course the KN technique from Venerable Thich Thong Triet.
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