Blooming of the Thousand-Petaled Lotus

From the Chronicles of Tao

By Deng Ming-Dao

One of the highest meditations that Saihung learned, the ling qiu meditation, opened the psychic centers. The body centers, situated in a straight line from the base of the body to the top of the head, had specific healing and spiritual powers. Meditation aimed at bringing the life force straight up through each of the centers of the crown. Paralleling the Indian Kundalini meditation, the Taoists opened each of the centers until, at the very top, they reached what the Hindus called Samadhi, the Buddhists called Nirvana, and the Taoists called Stillness. Saihung began to practice the attainment of that Immortal Spirit.

Each center, according to its anatomical placement, controlled and healed the adjacent body structures and organs and yielded particular psychic powers. The Grand Master continually warned Saihung that the abilities that would come to him would be gifts from gods and were not to be abused. Many ascetics, having come this far, had fallen because they had grown obsessed with the importance of their centers. Instead of reaching the spiritual, they remained fascinated with the use of their lower centers and became trapped in the abuse of their powers.

Before he meditated to awaken each center, Saihung studied the center's colors and response to invocation, and looked at at diagram of its shape. Each center was imagined as a lotus bed that could be opened by the specific sound of the invocation. Within the flower was a certain pattern of colors. While he concentrated on that pattern in meditation, Saihung produced the invocation. The blooming center lit up, and its powers began to emanate. Saihung felt whirling sensations and heat whenever the center was activated. When the meditation was complete, the center closed and became dormant again.

The first center was actually outside the body and was the source of energy. Saihung brought the life force into his body at the base of his spine. Both this center and the next one at the navel controlled life and reproduction. Meditating on them brought lightness, increased physical energy; and sexual desire. The Grand Master warned him that feelings of physical and sexual power would become so strong that he might be reluctant to go on. He said that many adepts remained at those two centers, cultivating massive strength and sexuality for all sorts of deviant purposes. When Saihung opened the centers, he found it was true. Deep sexual cravings and the realization that he could develop the power of an almost unbeatable martial artist tempted him and strained his discipline. 

As soon as he opened the solar-plexus center, his ordeal ceased. He had passed into the spiritual centers. The solar plexus was a source of vitality for him and gave him increased power to heal. 

The heart was compassion, skill, appreciation of beauty, and artistry. Opening it developed artistic ability and supported the arts. The Grand Master emphasized that creativity arose from this center and that people like Mist Through a Grove, an unusually talented muscian, natrually had theirs open.

The throat center, not surpinsingly, aided singing, but was also responsible for clairvoyance. Used in combination with the third eye, it interpreted the perceptions of other realties seen by that center. Often Saihung did not understand his spiritual experiences until the throat center poured forth verbal understanding.

The upper dan tian, or third eye, perceived other dimensions. The Grand Master stressed again that most people, and Saihung, had agreed to see the world only in a certain way and had called that "existence." In actuality, it was not real. Reality was the shifting of different illusions, because many dimensions coexisted. Using the third eye, Saihung could pierce through the illusory world for the meaning behind it.

Ascending the body centers symbolized the whole of Saihung's training. He had developed his body powers; learned martial arts; secured his health, longevity, and vitality; become versed in art, literature, science, and divination; and had perceived extrasensory realities and spiritual wisdom.

Now, he entered his final center. He was on the threshold of a level that was at once a culmination of many arduous years and the foundation for higher stages: the Crown Center. The Thousand-Petaled Lotus bloomed. His senses dropped away. There was no external reality, no internal reality. He felt nothing, thought nothing. He merged completely with Voidness.