文／蓮生活佛 盧勝彥
有一位名中醫師告訴我，他治過一位大和尚的病，用手一把脈大大吃一驚，原來幾乎全身經脈均有阻塞，甚至所有的脈，成了壞「陰脈」。
中醫師也說，另有一位老比丘尼，從小病到老，氣血紛亂，整日整年整月病懨懨的，看起來很可憐。自度都難，如何度眾生？
中醫師問大和尚：「這種身體，如何修行？」
大和尚回答：「我們是修心，不修身。」
「修身練氣也很重要啊！」中醫師說。
「那是外道！」大和尚回答。
我個人反對大和尚的論調，想一想禪宗祖師「菩提達摩」，由天竺航海南遊，成為中華初祖。法則以心傳心，師師密付本心。但看到少林門人，枯坐參禪，久而氣血衰竭，恐落偏邪，因而傳授武功拳法，再教易筋經。
菩提達摩認為：「氣血暢通，機用縱橫，一棒一喝，應病與藥。」這位達摩祖師說，光修心，而未修身，恐落偏邪。所以才有少林武功的傳世啊！
在密教，主張「性命雙修」，也就是「心」重要，「身」也重要，因為身體的健康是修行的本源。
密教更明確的指出：
「練氣就是調心。」
「心平氣就和。」
煩惱多的人，其心紛亂，氣則無法調勻。
修氣的人，氣血通暢，身體舒泰，其心自然平和，最後的結果，煩惱也能除。
密教也有金剛拳法，那是導氣的功用！
我主張：「心氣合一。修氣是必要的！」
The Importance of Cultivating Chi
Written by Lian-shen Linving Buddha Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Cheng Yew Chung edited by Victor Hazen
True Buddha Foundation Translation Team
A Chinese physician told me that he had treated a senior monk for his illness. When he checked the monk’s pulse, he was shocked to discover that the monk’s body of meridians and channels showed signs of blockage. In fact all of his channels had been damaged, forming strains of Yin or dysfunctional channels.
The Chinese physician also mentioned a senior nun who had been ill since childhood. Her circulation of chi and blood was gravely disrupted. She was constantly suffering from the torment of her illness, and appeared pitiful. If she could not save herself, how could she deliver sentient beings?
The physician asked the senior monk, “With your health, how can you cultivate?”
The monk replied, “We cultivate the mind, not the body.”
“But isn’t it equally important to strengthen our health and cultivate chi?” The physician remarked.
“That’s heresy!” The senior monk refuted.
I personally disagree with the views of the senior monk. Think about the Zen patriarch Bodhidharma, who sailed north from India and became the first Chinese Zen patriarch. His teaching of Dharma is by way of mind transmission, and the essence of mind was secretly being transmitted between patriarchs. However, when Bodhidharma observed that the health of the Shaolin monks, who sat in meditation, had deteriorated from prolonged sitting, he feared that they might go astray in their meditation. Hence, he decided to teach them the martial arts and also the Muscle/Tendon Transformation Exercises (Yi Jin Jing).
Bodhidharma commented: “When the circulation of chi and blood is smooth, the body functions with great ease. With a wooden rod, I strike, and shout I must, one’s illness is given the right antidote.” Patriarch Bodhidharma actually said that a practitioner who only cultivated the mind and not the body was likely to go astray. Thus, we have the heritage of Shaolin Kungfu handed down since that time.
Tantric Buddhism places equal emphasis on the parallel cultivation of mind and body. Our health forms the very basis of our cultivation.
Tantric Buddhism also clearly states: “To cultivate chi is tantamount to harmonizing the mind. When the mind is harmonized, our chi is calm and smooth.”
When a person is troubled, his mind is disrupted, and therefore his chi is unbalanced.
A person who cultivates chi experiences a smooth circulation of his chi and blood, and finds comfort in his body. His mind shall naturally be at ease and, eventually, his defilement is uprooted.
The Tantric teachings include the Vajra Fist Exercises to help regulate the chi.
I advocate that it is vital to cultivate chi if one wishes to blend the mind with chi.
