7. Questions and Answers on Chan

　　Question: When we sit in meditation, what should our mind contemplate

　　Venerable Master: There is no fixed place where the mind should be. You must find how to let your mind not dwell anywhere. If there is a location, your mind will reside there. Find out how to let the mind not reside anywhere and not think of good or bad. That is where you should apply effort. If you concentrate on a place and think of good and bad, then you are still caught up in attachments. In cultivating, we want to remain detached from everything. When there are no more attachments, we will even forget about our own body. If we are not even aware of our own body, what is left to attach to

　　Question: Why must we sit in the full lotus position in order to enter samadhi

　　 Are other methods acceptable

　　 Is it all right to just sit still if we cannot bend our legs into that position

　　Venerable Master: It is okay too. This position is the vajra position though, so it is stronger. Question: Could the Venerable Master please point out the way for me

　　 When someone is meditating, who or what is

　　the meditator

　　Venerable Master: You find out.

　　Question: What is the difference between entering samadhi and sleeping

　　Venerable Master: Put simply, the posture of entering samadhi is to sit upright with your back straight and not tilt sideways. If your skill reaches the point where your breath stops or your pulse stops, you may appear to be as if dead, but you still have feelings. You can sit for a whole day without moving or for ten days without moving, or even sit for a month without moving. On the other hand, sleeping is different, because your head and body may recline and twist. You have no control over them in sleep. And when asleep, your breathing becomes heavier, so that your exhales and inhales often result in snoring. That is the basic difference

　　between the two.

　　Question: Please tell us about the lotus posture.

　　Venerable Master: The sitting posture itself resembles a lotus. Also, sitting on a lotus all the time symbolizes that ones body is light and concentrated. It also represents the lotus in which the treasury of worlds is located. These are reasons why this sitting position is known as the lotus posture. It is also called the auspicious position.

　　Question: Is the half-lotus sitting position analogous to a silver pagoda and the full lotus position to a gold pagoda

　　Venerable Master: And, no position, no pagoda.

　　Question: What is the next step in meditation

　　Venerable Master: The first requirements in meditation are to clear our minds and lessen our desires. A clear mind has no false thinking. Less desire means being less emotional.

　　Question: What is the primary purpose of meditation

　　Venerable Master: The advantages to meditation are manifold. Whether we study, work, or take care of the house, daily meditation increases our concentration, lessens the pressures of life, and increases our physical health. If we honestly want to develop our wisdom and become liberated, then we must develop this habit. We must be committed to meditation for the long term, so that we can eventually be liberated from the cycle of birth and death.

　　Question: Is meditation a practice that tends to be more dangerous because one is more prone to being possessed by demons

　　Venerable Master: There are different causes and conditions for this situation, not one. Some people cultivate and become possessed by demons more easily because they are extremely selfish, opinionated, and self-centered. These are the reasons why they cultivate.

　　Question: Meditators see illusions, as most people would call them. Could you please explain this phenomenon that occurs during meditation

　　Venerable Master: Any phenomenon is illusory and false. What you see are…

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