The best part came next. Shifu emphasized that breathing is the basis for sitting meditation. When you breathe in, you should feel the fullness of your bellies. When you breathe out, your bellies should contract naturally. Your breaths cannot be coarse. They need to be thin and long.

Shifu then let us practice, first concentrating on our palms, our forefingers, and then our Navel Chakra. Haven’t been practicing diligently, I suddenly felt an intense pain in my navel chakra, as though being drilled by a diamond pestle. Then Shifu led us to concentrate on the root chakra. All of a sudden, I felt a large amount of foul air began to emit from my lower belly, swirling downwards like the Tai Chi logo.

When I heard Shifu’s voice once again, asking us to concentrate on Sacral Chakra, a strong Qi shot through the two holes at the end of my spine and reached my Wisdom Chakra and Chan Chakra. The Qi had turned golden and formed a strong field, breaking through the top of my head and continued upward. All of a sudden, the meditation center seemed to be covered by the light of the Buddha. Golden Qi rushed about inside my body. I felt I was going to explode.

Lastly, Shifu intended to bless all practitioners in Shanghai. He told us to focus on the Chan Chakra and Heart Chakra. When Shifu started chanting, (Shifu actually opened the door of wisdom to the Buddha land for us). Everyone seemed to have entered Nirvana that very moment, solemn and sacred.

After it was over, I asked Shifu what I should do if I felt the Qi rushing about and almost made me explode? Could I control it? Shifu laughed and said: This was good. It won’t explode. Qi is smart. They flow to repair the organs that need to be repaired. Don’t need to control them. They possess much wisdom.

After that, I took my family over for a picture with Shifu. We thanked him for flying all the way here to encourage us, and let us know what it means to surpass our body, mind, and spirit at once. I told him I was determined to practice even harder and thanked him for this honorable opportunity to attend his lecture in person.

In the morning of 25^th, Shifu went to the meditation center in Shanghai and further inquired about the general conditions of practitioners, many of whom asked him to bless the big three colored light logo on the wall, but Shifu discovered that the sign had already been blessed!

In fact, it was the same sign that hanged in the lecture hall the day before. Shifu then began to teach us how to determine whether an object had been blessed. He said: Anything that was blessed would glow red (the glow of life) or yellow (the glow of wisdom) or green (the glow of Buddha). Shifu asked everyone to concentrate on Heart Chakra and connect it to the Chan Chakra, and we should be able to see the movement of the three colored light.

If not for the strength of my husband's belief in Shifu, and his gentle reminder throughout the years, I didn’t think I would be able to meet Shifu here. I was really thankful to Shifu and my husband.

I should have become more devoted to my practice and bring them along. I was ignorant in the past. Having encountered such wonderful dharma, such wonderful Shifu, and been given a chance to practice with my countless selves in the past was miraculous, but I had wasted so much time away from Chan for so many years. I must repent and practice harder in the future!

Afterwards, Shifu taught us to concentrate on the field of Qi between our palms. He also trained us to improve our concentration and the ability to sense the interiors of our bodies while meditating.

At that moment, I felt a strong, golden Qi flowing between my palms. Then Shifu wanted us to turn our palms up and placed them on our knees. I felt that I was holding the sun on one hand and the moon on another, and I myself began to rotate inside the universe.

I saw a sky filled with stars and Buddha teaching his disciples under the Bodhi tree. I was really grateful for Shifu, who never left any of us behind. He had been tirelessly guiding and teaching all of us, even pupils as incompetent as me.

That day, I sensed how Shifu used all his might to teach us and bring us up to speed quickly. When I began to weep once again, touched by Shifu's eagerness and compassion, my unknowing son slunk beside me and asked: Mom, why are you always crying? What's wrong? I told him: Nothing's wrong! Mom is happy, happy that our entire family is here. What an honor this is! I was really thankful to Shifu and my husband. If not for my husband, I won't even come here from Fuzhou.

I can never repay Shifu, for his kindness and what he had done. The only thing I could do was to continue to practice diligently. I decided to write down my experiences for all to read, to increase the confidence of all practitioners. What I had seen and felt probably didn't even match a millionth of what Shifu had given us.

Chan is full of great wisdom and miracles of the universe. It surpasses everything, allowing those who practice it to reach the land of the ultimate bliss. Hope every one of our brothers and sisters live up to Shifu's expectations. Only by practicing harder can we be worthy of Shifu's love.

With a bow,  Yang

2011/07/31