Begin by integrating our body and mind

The first step in practicing Chan is to understand what Chan is.  Chan could be regarded as a philosophy about one's life from birth to death and all its ups and downs in between.  Through this philosophy, we could understand ourselves better. Not too many people understand themselves.  If you don't understand yourself, how are you able to understand others.  That's why it is so easy to create conflicts.  If you could understand the meaning of Chan, you would understand your true relationship with others, the society and even the universe.  You could manifest balance and harmony amongst conflicts.  This is the power of Chan.

Every sentient being in the universe is composed of a physical entity and a spiritual entity.  Or we could say that these two entities are one inside the other.  So are us human.  We also have a spiritual self inside our physical body.  If we have no spirit in us, then we are no different from a vegetable.

On the other hand, if we have only a spirit without a physical body, then we would not be able to showcase our life. Therefore, we must balance our physical and spiritual selves.  This is the reason Chan practice begins by integrating our body and mind. That's the only way to live to our fullest.  It is especially important that we calm our mind during Chan meditation. Stop all motions of our body.  Then we are conquering our habitual thoughts and comforts.

Practicing Chan also improves the quality of our health.  We would become healthier and live longer, because through practicing Chan, we are to focus on the tiniest member of our body, our cells.  When every cell in us becomes healthier, our organs would become healthier.  In turn, our entire system,  functions and interactions would be improved.  That's why when we meditate, we focus on the tiniest changes in our body and its chi flow.

Entering Chan Ding to let our inner potential to flourish

On the spiritual side, we would for sure feel joyful and cheerful.  As we indicated before that we do have a spirit in our body.  This spirit can also be call as our "self nature". It is what the Christians called, "Holy Ghost" or "Inner God".  This spirit brings to us wisdom.  Wisdom is not intelligence.  We label the function of thinking or learning knowledge as "conscious activities" for our brain.  No matter how much conscious activities that we conduct would not be as effective as just a little intuition from our spirit.

Have you ever been stuck on finding a right solution for many days? Then suddenly one day, out of the blue, an idea came to you completely unexpected, which gave you the perfect solution.  That is what we called wisdom.  This is the wisdom from your spirit. This is the true inner potential development.

And the only way to develop this true inner potential of ours is through Chan Ding, or jhana.  Through Chan Ding is the only way to surpass physical and biological limitations, as well as conscious interruptions from our mind, entering into the spiritual realm is the only way uncover our inner wisdom. 

Don't just take my word for it.  Just practice and witness yourself.