White Skeleton Meditation instructions

[Jetsun]

I have been practising this method on and off for some time now going by the instructions given by Bill Bodri which you can buy from his website, or there are some basic instructions of the method here http://taoism.about.com/od/meditation/ht/White_Skeleton.htm . It basically consists of giving away your body, visualising your skeleton as white light, then imaging your bones turning to dust, which is the best method I have found to get to a somewhat empty mind and purifying the channels.

 

But then I was reading 'The Anapa Chi Conversations of master Nan Huai-Chin and Peter Senge' and master Nan said:

 

"In the White Skeleton meditation practice, the Buddha taught us to meditate that the skull is chopped off and placed upside down inside the cavity below the rib cage. If you can visualize that, for sure you won’t have high blood pressure."

 

Which confuses me as I have not heard this aspect of the meditation in any of the instructions I have ever read of the method, does anyone here have any more information about where this aspect of visualising the head in the body comes in during the meditation or know of any instructions anywhere which includes this aspect?

[寒月 Hanyue]

I've wondered the same thing. I have several versions of the practice from Bodri, from his pdfs and his published books. None that I recall mention that aspect.

 

Best,

[Birch]

Never heard that either. What I have heard/read somewhere is it can make people too 'hot' so worth (maybe) offsetting it with something, well, not as hot.

 

---- hearsay alert---

[Walker]

Will ask around. I have many friends in China who studied with Master Nan at various stages of the last third or so of his life. For the record--and this should be no surprise given his volume of students and the fact that some were taught in different ways, as well as in light of the fallibility of human memory--one does not always find all of his students, even those who were fairly close to him, in perfect agreement on all points, the full lotus posture namely being one place where various students hold widely varied notions. One thing nobody who studied with him questions is that he was a great master.

 

I have learned some of the same Wudang methods from students of the same master, and differences abound haha... Guess it goes with the territory... Transmission doesn't seem to happen Xerox style... Not even sure if it is meant to.

[Jetsun]

Thanks for the replies, it would be very interesting to know how the Chinese students were taught the practice. I emailed Bill Bodri with this question and he was kind enough to reply to me very quickly saying:

 

"There are over 3 dozen versions of the skeleton visualization. THE LITTLE BOOK OF MEDITATION has detailed instructions,which is what you want and need. The important point is a stable visualization held in the mind. Each version differs as to particulars."

 

Which is annoying because The Little Book of Meditation is one of the few of his books I haven't got. Does anyone have this book and can repeat what it says about visualising the head inside of the body?

[ChiDragon]

Use common sense. The truth of a matter should be just one or two versions. If there are over 3 dozen versions to a truth, then this is an indication that there is no truth. "visualising the head inside of the body" is bunch of fiction thought by a crazy ancient Taoist or whoever. It is not something worth wasting your time to pursue for.

[寒月 Hanyue]

Thanks for the replies, it would be very interesting to know how the Chinese students were taught the practice. I emailed Bill Bodri with this question and he was kind enough to reply to me very quickly saying:

 

"There are over 3 dozen versions of the skeleton visualization. THE LITTLE BOOK OF MEDITATION has detailed instructions,which is what you want and need. The important point is a stable visualization held in the mind. Each version differs as to particulars."

 

Which is annoying because The Little Book of Meditation is one of the few of his books I haven't got. Does anyone have this book and can repeat what it says about visualising the head inside of the body?

 

I do, and it doesn't. Not in the section on white skeleton, it may do elsewhere. Bodri waffles and rambles a lot.

 

Best,

 

P.s. If you can stand Bodri's usual stance and writing style, it is an interesting book in that it lays out all the practices in one place. It was meant as a companion for 'Little book of Hercules', Hercules lays out the gongfu process, the Meditation book the methods. However, both waffle and ramble on and repeat each a lot, so.

[Cheshire Cat]

This meditation comes from the buddhist tradition and it was considered so good that even taoists began to cultivate in this way.

 

In brief, this meditation is part of the buddhist contemplation of the 32 body parts (koṭṭhāsa) to develop jhana and a little taste of vipasyana.

In the buddhist sutras, Buddha does not mention the details of putting your skull in your ribcage.

This is a chinese variation.

[Jetsun]

Use common sense. The truth of a matter should be just one or two versions. If there are over 3 dozen versions to a truth, then this is an indication that there is no truth. "visualising the head inside of the body" is bunch of fiction thought by a crazy ancient Taoist or whoever. It is not something worth wasting your time to pursue for.

 

I usually would agree that if something sounds crazy then avoid it but Master Nan seems to know what he is talking about, he explains it like this

 

"The Qi that stays in the head is the most difficult to release, more so than the Qi in lower body. Once the Qi that stays in the head is fully released, the skull disappears and all kinds of wisdoms may be attained. You see - the real problems all originated from up here in the head, not from down there. The problems from down below are fake ones, they all originated from up here. Therefore all the problems will disappear if the head is chopped off."

 

And even using the basic instructions I have found it a very powerful meditation so I should probably just stick to that, the end result is emptiness meditation which is the intent of most other meditations so as long as it leads there I guess you can't go too wrong even if the method before it has been corrupted from the original.

 

I do, and it doesn't. Not in the section on white skeleton, it may do elsewhere. Bodri waffles and rambles a lot.

 

Best,

 

P.s. If you can stand Bodri's usual stance and writing style, it is an interesting book in that it lays out all the practices in one place. It was meant as a companion for 'Little book of Hercules', Hercules lays out the gongfu process, the Meditation book the methods. However, both waffle and ramble on and repeat each a lot, so.

 

Thanks, so maybe he was just trying to get me to buy his book. I have many of his other books which are quite good but I may yet get this other one to add to the collection at some point, although I have too many other things to get through first.

[Aetherous]

Not visualizing anything in the head = you don't get qi stagnation in the head. Chopping off the head seems good to me!

[寒月 Hanyue]

Hey Jetsun

 

Thanks, so maybe he was just trying to get me to buy his book. I have many of his other books which are quite good but I may yet get this other one to add to the collection at some point, although I have too many other things to get through first.

 

Maybe, but I think it might also be a case of;

 

"There are over 3 dozen versions of the skeleton visualization. THE LITTLE BOOK OF MEDITATION has detailed instructions,which is what you want and need. The important point is a stable visualization held in the mind. Each version differs as to particulars."

 

So he might simply be saying, you don't need to worry about the head in the rib cage thing. Just follow these instructions and it will do everything you need/want.

 

I find Bodri's teaching style of excessive over repetition to be tiresome reading. I know why he does it, and he says he is going to, so it is intentional. I just find it tiring to read. Repeat a little, get the point across. But he goes overboard. If you can get passed that, then it's a good book as a summary of the teachings from Master Nan and how they fit together etc.

 

Personally I'd rather read Master Nan. But the only books of his I don't have are the out of print over priced ones Oh well.

 

Best,

[Jetsun]

You can get PDF's of most of the expensive ones

[GrandmasterP]

What's the full title and author of that Little Book of Meditation please Jetsun?

Looks interesting but Amazon UK can't find it.

[Jetsun]

What's the full title and author of that Little Book of Meditation please Jetsun?

Looks interesting but Amazon UK can't find it.

 

The Little Book of Meditiation - William Bodri

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Little-Book-Meditation-Spiritual/dp/0972190783/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353513079&sr=8-1

[GrandmasterP]

 

 

The Little Book of Meditiation - William Bodri

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Little-Book-Meditation-Spiritual/dp/0972190783/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353513079&sr=8-1

........

Cheers.

[Walker]

I had a chance to ask one friend yesterday. He is a taijiquan teacher who studied off and on with the late Master Nan during the last twelve or more years, and he lived intermittently at the Taihu Lake Hall of Great Learning (太湖大学堂), which was Master Nan's seat in recent years. As soon as I mentioned my question he knew what I was talking about and said, yes, one can visualize the skull upsidedown within the chest cavity if one has high blood pressure. He said that people who do not have high blood pressure should not practice this way. He also said that this modification is Master Nan's own (not, "a crazy ancient Daoist or whoever's") and does not appear in Buddhist Sutras. Finally, he said that although many people who studied with Master Nan know the the white skeleton visualization practice, not that many actually use it.

 

As I bump into them I can ask other friends who were in Master Nan's circle, but I will only post if I hear anything remarkably different from the above.

 

Regarding the term "high blood pressure" when it is connected to cultivation techniques and traditional medicine: the concept of high blood pressure comes from modern medicine. While in the past human beings certainly had high blood pressure, in terms of Chinese medicine at least, there was no specific term for the condition, and although most traditional physicians took the pulse, they did not do so to measure blood pressure per se. Therefore, if one finds that a medicine or practice is specifically designed to alleviate high blood pressure, there is a reasonable possibility that its origins are modern; another good possibility is that an ancient medicine or practice is being explained through a modern vocabulary. High-blood pressure-related syndromes in ancient Chinese medicine are quite likely to be connected to rising of excessive liver fire or liver yang, and a strictly traditional discussion of treating them would use related vocabulary.

Edited November 24, 2012 by Walker

[Jetsun]

Thanks Walker that is really helpful, the wonders of the internet generation always amazes me that you can contact practitioners across the other side of the world to get such obscure information. Fortunately I don't have bad blood pressure at the moment so I won't be adding it in, but if I ever do get it at least I know something which might help.

 

It surprises me that not many people use this method, reading Bodri's books he talks about having to teach it to many monks who's health had deteriorated and had stagnant channels and seems to regard it is quite important, I wonder the reason why many don't use it.

[Mandrake]

Jetsun,

 

Probably the same reason as why so few people practice shamatha methods. People want "sensations" quickly (not progress, but sensations), and resist disciplining the mind. Too often it seems that practitioners jump around; this is sometimes quite unfortunate since some methods are inherently designed to be practiced for a longer interval, and then it's benefits will bloom out fully.

 

The White Skeleton meditation was what really got things going for me, and kickstarted my qi and mai development.

If you combine it with some types of breathing practices, its a killer combo.

 

 

Mandrake

 

 

 

It surprises me that not many people use this method, reading Bodri's books he talks about having to teach it to many monks who's health had deteriorated and had stagnant channels and seems to regard it is quite important, I wonder the reason why many don't use it.

[thelerner]

It's not Bodri's method, but other schools of Taoism use a visualization techniques to 'light up' the skeleton. I believe its a healing technique, strong bones, strong marrow, good blood, chi goes (& heals) where attention goes.

 

Giles Marin has a 30 minute guided meditation called The Bone Dreaming Meditation (on his Sleeping Chi Gung CD) that slowly takes you through the whole skeletal system, lighting it up as you go. Its very good, even separating out the bones that separate the skull, lighting up each tooth and feeling the system stretch with each breath.

 

Kaishan Gi gong also has a very deep healing guided meditation that starts with lighting up the skeleton and then has you slowly imagine yourself aging to a healthy 140 year old, then down to a baby.

[Jetsun]

What is certain in this White Skeleton meditaion? Many say that this is ne of the best meditation practices but why?

 

I think it is considered good because it is relatively easy but yet contains so many aspects from other forms of meditation in one package

 

For example you start with joyfully giving away your flesh to hungry ghosts, this is training in generosity and non attachment to the body while feeding hungry ghosts which repays heavy karma, this meditation alone in the Buddhist Chod tradition is considered very powerful and healing.

 

Then the next section you visualise your bones one by one as bright white light, I think this is a Taoist addition which thelearner has explained is powerful for healing and opening up the Qi channels, also because you are dealing with the bones you are dealing with the densest aspect of the body so it is not a superficial qi exercise. Because you have to maintain a constant visualisation it is also a meditation in one pointed focus and concentration which is the aim of so many other meditation methods.

 

Then the last stage of visualising the bones turning to dust is an exercise in letting go and just allowing without clinging, so it is a fast way to enter into a clear empty mind state, as all your attachments, issues and problems are contained within the body so without it there is nothing to hold onto or deal with all that is left is awareness. I sometimes burst out laughing in this stage as I realise so many of the things I carry around with me and worry about can just be let go in an instant.

 

So I think people like Master Nan regard it with a lot of worth because it contains a great deal of Buddhist and Taoist technique and wisdom in one method.

Edited November 26, 2012 by Jetsun

[Ansijia]

Master Nan's school in Suzhou was very kind sending me the website of their online bookstore (The Laoku Books ),which is the authorized bookstore selling master Nan's books, also in English .

http://www.laokubook.../Item/1406.aspx .

nice of them

[Ansijia]

hmmm.. it' s a little hard to navigate online shop as it' s in Chinese.

I sent them a question about all Engl.lang. titles available and int'l delivery, will post the answer asap

[joeblast]

What is certain in this White Skeleton meditation? Many say that this is one of the best meditation practices but why?

Why, what makes us grow old - mostly it is the rotting of the fluids in various fashions that leads to organ damage. White skeleton energizes the bones and helps promote fresh blood, the emptiness at the end is the best method to integrate energies.

[Jetsun]

hmmm.. it' s a little hard to navigate online shop as it' s in Chinese.

I sent them a question about all Engl.lang. titles available and int'l delivery, will post the answer asap

 

Thanks for the link, if you find any other titles by Master Nan which are new or we aren't commonly aware of let us know, apparently only a small portion of his work has been translated into English so far mostly by William Bodri, I wouldn't be surprised if more get translated at some point by others which could go under the radar.

[Chi Boy]

Anyone read "The Little Book of Meditation"? I just ordered it and some point in the internet are questioning his credibility. I just want to learn meditation after reading about all the positive effects on the mind.