“Samadhi” Defeats the Demons

　　一「定」勝群魔

　　Someone mentioned that whenever he sat in meditation he felt that he was about to fall into a deep abyss and he was very scared. This is the very initial stage prior to obtaining Chan samadhi. You should not be frightened. When you are sitting there, you will feel as if a millstone is hanging over your head and is about to drop, or as if an atomic bomb about to explode over you. What should you do

　　 Open you eyes. If you are attached to that state, it is easy to enter a demonic state. The atomic bomb will blow your head off. However, if you are not attached to marks and remain calm, you will be fine. It is said, “Samadhi can defeat all demons” If you have samadhi, all demons will run away. It is a false state when you see yourself falling into a 10,000 foot abyss. Why does the state of a 10,000 foot abyss manifest

　　 This represents that your past karmic offenses are as deep as an abyss. If you know that you have heavy karmic offenses, you should cultivate and not be afraid. In Chan meditation, states will appear. Sometimes they are good states and other times they are evil states. Why do these states appear

　　 In the past, you harbored good thoughts and now they manifest when you sit in meditation. Or you harbored evil thoughts, so demonic obstacle states will manifest. No matter whether it is a good or a bad state, it comes from the false thoughts you had in the past. Therefore, cultivators should not casually engage in false thinking.

　　有人說他打坐的時候，總覺得自己就要掉到很深的山澗裏，他很害怕；這是剛剛要得到禅定的一個開始，你在這個時候不要怕。你在那兒打坐，覺得頭頂上有個磨盤就要掉下來，有個原子彈在頭上就要爆炸，這怎麼辦？你就睜開眼睛。這個時候你要是著相，很容易入魔的境界，真的會有個原子彈在你頭上爆了；你要是不著相，定定的就沒有事，「一『定』勝群魔」你有「定」，什麼魔都跑了。你見到自己好像要跌到萬丈懸崖，這都是虛妄的境界。爲什麼會有萬丈懸崖呢？這表示你往昔的業障深重，比萬丈懸崖都深。你現在知道你的業障重，就要趕快修道，不要生恐懼心。坐禅的時候會有境界發生，有的時候，有一個善的境界來了；有時候，有一個惡的境界來了。爲什麼會有這些境界？就因爲你在往昔生了一個善念，等你坐禅的時候，那個善的境界就現前；你或者生一個惡念，那個魔障的境界就來了。無論順境逆境，都是從往昔你所打的妄想生出來的；所以修道的人，不要隨便打妄想。