Journey of The Mind : Transforming Yourself To Change Your Life

Journey of The MindTransforming Your Self To Change Your Life

Lance Ong

© 2011 by MINDSHIELD

ISBN: 978-981-08-8625-7

http://www.mindshield.me



Journey of the Mind 3

CONTENTS

Episode I: Welcome To The Journey Within

Chapter 1: Change Your Mind, Change Your Life

A Life of Tensionless Thought 6Owning an Internal Barometer 7

Chapter 2: B.O.A.T – Your Vessel For Going Within

Tools 9Zafu & Zabuton 10Seiza Bench 11Thai Mat 12

Body Posture: Sitting Styles 13Full Lotus 13Half Lotus 14Seiza Position 15Burmese Cross-Legged 16

Body Posture: Hand Seals 18Venus Lock 18Yin Yang 21Dhyana 24Hip Rest 25Knee Rest 26Hara Breathing 26

Open Space 27

Attention 29

Mental Hijacks and Mind Loops 29Develop the Force of Mindful Concentration 30


Episode II: Cast Off — Your Journey Begins

Chapter 3: Principles of The Mind's Eye

The Inner World Is Made Up Of Five 33Your Mind As Theatre 34

Chapter 4: The Secret of Stillness

Air Is Your Friend 36Stillness Brings Truth 36Breathe To Be Still 37One-Pointedness 38

Chapter 5: Cultivating Emotional Armour

Delusion of The Mind 40The Chaotic vs. The Calm 41The Secret To The Calm Mind 44Cultivating Equanimity 45Deeper Truth 47

Chapter 6: Seeing Beyond The Obvious

You Know More Than You Think 48A Right-Brained Approach 49Satori – Sudden Enlightenment 49Everything Happens For A Reason 50Insight Meditation 51Eyes of The Spirit 52

Chapter 7: Combining Your Powers

Clearing Negative Emotions 53Channeling Sexual Energy 53Access Inner Wisdom 53Centering Your Presence 54Restoring Energy 54

Chapter 8: Spirit and the Evolution of Soul

Three Levels To Mankind 55Guarding One's Weakness 56“Building a Better Me” 57We Are All In This Together 58

About The Author 59Contact Lance Ong 59


Episode I: Welcome To The Journey Within

Hello traveller! Welcome aboard the journey into your mind’s eye. This guide offers you safe passage into your world within. Yes, we are in good spirits, and I am sure you are eager to begin your voyage. But before we cast off, a few boarding rules so you can reap the rewards of your travels:

1. Although I speak to you in this boisterous and gay manner, you understand that the material we are covering is of a deep and profound nature.

2. Sometimes, you can glean more by reading between and behind the lines. What is not said can often be more revealing than what is said.

3. Words have multiple meanings, so being able to grasp several interpretations of a sentence will give you the richest mental map to the treasure within.

Now, raise the anchor and set sails! Let’s explore our destination.


CHAPTER ONEChange Your Mind, Change Your Life

“A Life of Tensionless Thought”

Take a look at the people in your life and the others around you, are they getting vertical frustration lines between their eyebrows or horizontal worry lines across their forehead?

In some cultures, men believe that having these horizontal lines across their forehead makes them look wise. So they deliberately look upwards, squeezing the tension in their foreheads until it etches permanent lines.

However, what they do not know is that those lines also indicate worry and tension-filled thought. Peaceful thinking is tensionless, and does not create these unnecessary lines.

If you wish to exhibit the look of wisdom, your forehead and the area between your eyebrows should be clear of tension lines. The lines would still be there if you look up or furrow your brows, but they only appear spontaneously and then disappear.

Does this mean you need Botox?

No... it does mean you can learn to think without tension.

With this ability, you can operate your mind with minimal friction, like a dolphin moving through the ocean — free and agile. Thought without tension is how your mind can be your best friend, giving you ingenious ideas that would not be formed in a mind filled with angst.

So as a start, notice whenever you are frowning, furrowing your brow, or squeezing your forehead, and consciously relax your facial muscles. By relaxing your expression, you influence your state of mind towards calmness and clear thought.

Later on your journey, you can practice Samatha meditation, which trains you to clear your mind of negative thoughts and build positive concentration.


“Owning an Internal Barometer”

A barometer measures atmospheric pressure. You can buy one at any sailing store or shop selling professional weather instruments.

An ‘internal barometer’, however, cannot be purchased and can only be developed and built by yourself through conscientious attention to your inner experience.

Your internal barometer allows you to be aware of moment-to-moment shifts in your state of mind; helping you sense your subtle changes of mood and thus steer your ship appropriately so you can avoid a storm.

Often in life, a lot of our problems are self-created. Whether it is an argument with someone, or an addiction to chocolate cake — all the decisions we make and actions we take could have been better made if we had the presence of mind to steady ourselves internally and respond from a space of centred calmness, rather than to react by instinct.

Owning an internal barometer makes it possible for you to know whether you are in the right state of mind to receive clear perceptions and select the best response. Thus, you can imagine how much better your life would be if you were “seeing clearly” and responding thoughtfully rather than reacting instinctively.

You can begin constructing an internal barometer by labelling the scales of your mood — become aware of your feelings and give them a vocabulary.

1. Check how you feel during different points of your day.

2. Notice where the feelings are located. You can often describe this in terms of how your head, heart, and gut areas feel. E.g. “My head is cool and clear, heart is warm and settled, gut is working like an engine.”

3. Label the emotion. E.g. “I call this my Productive State.”

The more you do this, the more aware you will become of the subtle shifting of energies in your body. The more aware you are, the better your barometer is working.


All of what you are learning now helps you develop third-eye awareness. But you cannot do it by skipping steps. The ability is built up in layers, thus you need to engage in the fundamental practice and master the basics as you progress to higher levels.

Now, it is time to prepare you for your journey. You need a good vessel. So let us explore your options in Chapter 2.


CHAPTER TWOB.O.A.T – Your Vessel For Going Within

Yes, a boat. You do not need a ship because you are on a one passenger ride.

Having yourself properly set up for your inward journey will make the trip much more comfortable and allow you to sustain concentration for longer periods of time.

The components of your boat are:

Body PostureOpen SpaceAttentionTools

(B.O.A.T is a simple acronym to remember what this chapter teaches. The sequence in which the information is described below is T.B.O.A because the flow is logical.)

Ready to build a BOAT? Here is the plan.

T: Tools

How you sit is important if you are going to be mind-travelling for 30 minutes to hours at a time. The two most common complaints are backache and butt ache.

How do you prevent this? Well, the secret to sustained inward gazing is the cushion.

A good cushion is essential to raise your hips above your knee level and tilt your pelvis forwards. This allows you to maintain the natural lumbar curve of your spine while sitting.

If you sit bare cross-legged on a hard floor, the first thing you notice is the coldness of the surface. After five minutes, the points of contact between your bones and the floor begin to ache. After ten minutes, your legs go to sleep. Fifteen minutes later, you notice you are


hunching over because your back muscles cannot sustain the unnatural posture.

All this disrupts your concentration — for how can the mind be at ease when the body is dis-eased?

Cushion to the rescue.

Zafu Cushion on a Zabuton Mat

You can use a traditional Zafu and Zabuton like this. The Zafu is the round cushion and the Zabuton is the padded mat below. You sit cross-legged on the Zafu, while the Zabuton cushions your knees and ankles from the ground.


Seiza Kneeling Bench

Zen practitioners often use a Seiza Bench for kneeling meditation. The legs of the bench are rounded, which allow it to tilt back and forth. Using a kneeling posture, place the Seiza Bench over your ankles, and sit your rear on top.

You still need cushioning for your knees and shin. It would be ideal if you had a Zabuton or a folded blanket as your cushion.


Thai Meditation Mat

Thai meditation mats are great for sitting in the Burmese Cross-Legged posture. Your rear sits on the raised portion, while your legs cross on the lower platform. Here the mat is pictured with a round cushion called the Zafu.

Go to a store and sit on the different cushions. That is the best way to know if they are right for you.

Speaking of sitting, how to cross your legs is another point of detail for body posture.


B: Body Posture – Sitting Styles

*Note: For all cross-legged postures, sit on a cushion to raise your hips off the ground and tilt your pelvis forwards. This protects your spinal curvature.

Full Lotus

This is the hardest pose to sustain for long periods, but yogis and enlightened masters have used it for centuries. With the help of your hands, place your left foot upon the right thigh; fold your right foot up over the left thigh. You can alternate legs.

Full Lotus is considered the most stable of all meditative postures, however, it also requires your limbs and joints to be flexible. Be gentle when practicing this posture. For most people, it will take time and conditioning before they can comfortably use this position.


Half Lotus

The Half Lotus is a more comfortable variation of the Full Lotus. It is preferred by accomplished meditators as it is easy to alternate the legs without arousing from the meditative state.

Place one foot upon the opposite thigh, while your other foot goes under the opposite thigh. By training with the Half Lotus, you can gradually gain enough flexibility to do the Full Lotus.


Kneeling or Seiza Position

Seiza with a Zafu Cushion


Kneeling is a traditional posture used in many cultures for prayer and formality. It can be pressurising on your shins and ankles as you can see in the first image — the blood being compressed in the feet. In the second image, observe the pressure relieved with the use of a Zafu cushion. The pressure is totally removed with the use of a Seiza bench, which distributes your bodyweight to the ground.

Kneel down on one knee first (as if proposing marriage), followed by your other knee. Keep your back upright and aligned while entering and exiting the Seiza posture.

Burmese Cross-Legged

The Burmese posture is comfortable and can be used for long meditational journeys. Sit on a cushion for this posture. The majority of the bodyweight is on the buttocks, while the knees and shins take light pressure. Blood circulation flows better because your legs are not directly pressing on each other.

Sitting on a cushion, fold one leg in until the sole of your foot touches the inner thigh of the opposite leg. Fold your other leg around this foot until the sole of your foot touches the shin or calf of your inner leg. You should get a triangular posture.


Burmese Cross-Legged

Excellent, you have got your legs settled. Now we come to that other mystical part of your body — your hands.


B: Body Posture – Hand Seals

Hand placement is important because it affects the type of meditation you are doing. Hands are energy conduits. Changing your hand position modifies the movement of energy in your body.

If you have ever gotten an electric shock, you know that your whole body is conductive. Biologists and neuroscientists already know that your brain and nervous system use bioelectricity.

Can you imagine what that is?

You have actually got voltage running through your body. And this energy is generated and stored by your living cells. Your body contains electrical, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields.

In many esoteric traditions, your body conducts more than just electricity, but also higher forms of energy that can be used in healing, spiritual development, and in our case, operating your third eye.

Begin mastering these five positions by trying them out for yourself. Over time, you can develop the sense to feel what a subtle change in hand position does for you internally.

Venus Lock

The fleshy part of your palm below your thumb is known as the Venus Mount in palmistry. Venus is the Goddess of Love in Roman mythology. She is associated with sensuality, sexuality, and the vitality for life. These qualities, when tapped in moderation and respectfully, bring joy into life. But when abused or overindulged, transform into a hideous beast that entraps humankind in its lowest state of being.

This hand position converts sexual energy into higher forms and balances the secretions of your internal glands. It increases your ability to focus and concentrate when contemplating, instead of being distracted by miscellaneous thoughts. If used when meditating, simply rest the hand position in your lap.


Instructions for women:Interlock your fingers. For women, the right little finger is on the bottom. Allow the tip of your right thumb to touch the webbing between the thumb and index fingers of your left hand. Lightly press the tip of your left thumb into the fleshy Venus Mount below your right thumb.

Instructions for men:Interlock your fingers. For men the left little finger is on the bottom. Allow the tip of your left thumb to touch the webbing between the thumb and index fingers of your right hand. Lightly press the tip of your right thumb into the fleshy Venus Mount below your left thumb.

Men’s Venus Lock in 3 Steps:



Yin Yang

The Yin Yang position helps you cultivate the inner qualities of heart. Using this hand position, you might feel a warmth gathering in your chest area, from your solar plexus to the hollow area below your throat (supra-sternal notch).

Yin Yang Final Position

Use this hand position to meditate on issues where you would like to increase insight through introspection with your heart. Following are examples of how you might apply the power of meditative introspection.

Issues regarding morality:Whether what you did was right or wrong?Should you have given way or pushed harder?What is the right thing to do in this situation?

Issues regarding relationships:Who is the right partner for me?What are my deeper feelings toward this person?How can I express my feelings?


Issues regarding your life path:Am I being true to myself here?What is my heart calling me to do?What do I really want out of this?

Instructions:Grab your left thumb with your right hand and form a fist. Wrap your four left fingers around the fist of your right hand.

Yin Yang in 3 Steps:



Dhyana

Dhyana – Left hand below, Right hand on top

The Dhyana gesture is often depicted in images and statues of the Buddha. The left hand represents the spiritual encompassing the material world — the right hand. The two thumbs represent the meeting of the divine and the mundane. Used with the breathing meditation explained later, it produces a calming effect that helps you expel negative emotions and regain your sense of peace and inner balance.

Instructions:Turn your palms face up. Place your right hand into your left and touch your thumbs together.


Hip Rest

Hip Rest – backhand on hips

The hip rest is a comfortable position to place your arms if your shoulders feel sore. Place the back of your hands at the crux of your hip. You should feel the weight lifted off your shoulders as your arms become supported from below.


Knee Rest

Knee Rest – palms on knees

Finally, you can place your hands palms downwards on the edge of your thighs, fingers touching your knees. This is a stable posture which is especially useful when you are practicing Hara breathing, which is the breathing technique used by healers, monks, yogis, ninja, and samurai of the past to nurture internal energy.

Hara Breathing:

1. Touch your tongue to the top of your palate (the roof of your mouth). Allow it to rest behind your upper row of teeth.

2. Breathing only through the nose, allow the breath to enter your nostrils and be received by your lower abdomen.

3. Feel your tummy gently expand as you breathe in and gently contract as you breathe out.4. Upon exhalation, contract your lower abdomen slightly in preparation for your next

breath.

The Hara is located approximately two inches below your navel and two inches inside. As


you perform the Hara Breath, pay attention to this area and notice any subtle changes that occur.

You can also use the Knee Rest as a neutral posture where you are open to receiving any thought or impression that comes to mind. This can be useful when you want to sense the atmosphere of an area to know whether it is conducive or welcoming.

O: Open Space

The space where you meditate is more important than how you position yourself. During your travels you might have realised that different places give you different feelings. These good spaces make it conducive to achieve positive states of mind.

As the world becomes more distressed and materialistic, good spaces rapidly diminish. Thus, you can progress faster if you uncover and secure a calm and clean space for your inward journey.

How do you know if the space is conducive? Simple — sit there and sense it. Use the knee rest posture described above and be open to any impression or sensation that comes to your awareness. You are born with an instinct that allows you to sense an environment. Over time, you can train your ability to use it. This is the basis for intuition.

Here are some pointers for locating a space:

Ensure a flow of fresh air.Calm and peaceful.Look for sunlight.Surroundings are kept clean.

You can guard a space by treating it as sacred. Sacred grounds, whether they be in a church, a monastery, or a yoga studio, are always kept immaculately clean.

The space reflects the mindset of the caretaker–owner. What you might notice is that if you take the time and effort to clear, organise, and refresh a living space, you feel better when you pass through it.


You should do this especially for your working space, as we spend so much of our lives at work. Having a clean, well-organised, and aesthetically beautiful space can improve your mood and boost your productivity.

Warnings about Space and Time

It might seem humorous to even mention this, but please do not meditate in places where the living do not tread, such as graveyards, dark forests, dilapidated buildings, and abandoned temples. Even if the place used to be a religious site, you should avoid it because it has been neglected.

Also, a warning about time: Avoid meditation during the spirit hour — 3 a.m.. This is the time of the night when Yin (feminine, moon, water) energy is at its highest and Yang (masculine, sun, fire) energy is at its lowest, thus spirits are said to be more active during this time. Add one hour on each side to be safe, so stop practice during the 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. timing.

That being said, a morning meditation is worthwhile as it gathers your mind and prepares you for the day ahead. If you make it a habit to wake earlier and sit still for 20 to 30 minutes, you might be surprised how much more focused and energised you feel. Plus, you accomplish more because you act on target and with enthusiasm.


A: Attention

The final component of your BOAT is to develop the capacity to direct your mind, rather than to be directed by it through its whims, fantasies, and desires. Have you ever had the experience where you are trying to get some work done, but your mind keeps drifting somewhere else? That is called a mental hijack.

Mental Hijacks and Mind Loops

These mental terrorists are what cause you to be playing games or surfing the internet instead of doing the work you are supposed to get done. You might have planned to write that crucial report, but images of other things keep popping up on the screen of your mind. You get caught in a mind loop, playing these mental images and movies back and forth.

You might have been distracted by an event which occurred in your past. Thus, you found yourself replaying the old memory and creating hypothetical scenarios where you were saying to yourself, “If only I did it like this...”.

Are you getting your work done? Nope.

Are you stuck in a loop? Yes.

People would like to believe that they are fully in charge of their minds, but pay attention to how your mind operates and you will realise what a monkey it can be!

The simple rule is: If you are not in charge of your mind, then your mind is in charge of you. Your magic monkey that spins illusions keeping you trapped for hours in fruitless thought and unproductive idling.

The ultimate productivity tool is not some fancy new gadget, but a disciplined mind — a mind that can sustain focus on command, remove undesired thoughts at will, and maintain the emotional state required to finish the job.

In a world of a zillion distractions, it is no wonder personal productivity drops when you have


access to more and more things:

SMS and chat messengers, cable TV channels, web surfing, social networks, pornography, online games, unread books and new movies... need more be said?

Imagine all the lost hours in a day you spend idling, daydreaming, or pursuing illusions of desire and necessity. Those hours, if channelled into your selected projects, take you further and faster to your dream goals.

Develop the Force of Mindful Concentration

If you want to accomplish anything fast, you have got to keep your mind on track. When your thoughts are focused, they are a laser beam that can cut through the hardest task. Often though, your laser gets dissipated by both internal and external distractions.

Internal distractions are those that arise from within your mind, like a fidgety restlessness or a sudden desire for excitement. They cause you to seek gratification from the zillion distractions. Gratifying yourself costs time, energy, and often money as well. Diverting your resources to short-term pleasures slows you down, much like how a ball and chain slows down a prisoner trying to escape the Rat Race.

External distractions are those that cross your path unexpectedly, like a phone call, a drop-in visitor, an urgent email; an advertisement, a hot babe, a handsome guy, or the aroma of freshly baked cookies. You have no control over bumping into these things. If you allow your attention to be captivated, you would probably enter a mind loop (a series of thoughts and mental images), which draws you away from the task at hand.

Developing the force of mindful concentration gives you the discipline and awareness to overcome distractions.

✓ Your sustained focus completes projects in less time than they used to take.

✓ Despite disruptions and distractions, you can quickly re-enter your productive state of mind or creative flow.


✓ You develop greater strength to resist addictions and temptations which drain your resources, and thus protect and magnify your path to success.

This completes the setup of your BOAT. In the next leg of your journey, you begin formal training to transform your mind. Put in the effort and you will be astounded with what you can achieve.


Episode II:Cast Off — Your Journey Begins

It is time to take your BOAT to the ocean, to know how well it will stand up to the storms and waves of the unconscious. What follows are two principles and three maps with instructions on how to navigate your BOAT.


CHAPTER THREEPrinciples of The Mind's Eye

#1 The Inner World Is Made Up Of Five

Think of something you like. (Do it.)

Now notice... how do you know you are thinking of this object?

For most people, their brain shows them an image. For people thinking about food, it is likely an image combined with the aroma and a memory of the taste.

Your brain records all perceptions and sensations received through your five senses and stores them as memories. If I were to ask you: “What does a sewer smell like?” You could easily recall the stench. Remembering that smell might trigger off a memory of a place or an episode you went through.

This is how your mind works subjectively to create your internal experience.

The sensations received from the world around you are recorded unconsciously by your brain even when you are not paying attention to them. These sensation-based memories can get mixed together and replayed to you anytime they are thought of, or are triggered off by external stimuli.

This forms your inner world when you close your eyes.

When you journey into the mind’s eye, you are traversing this inner world of sensory perceptions. One thought can lead to another. Objectively following the chain of thoughts could lead to insight. Allowing oneself to be misled by a negative chain of thoughts could lead to dreadful conclusions.

Notice that when you think of anything, it crystallises in your mind in a form of the five senses — sight, sound, taste, touch, smell. Pay attention to exactly which of the five senses a


mental object is recorded in. Try this with different categories of objects like people, food, and places.

When you can easily identify how a tangible mental object is stored in the five senses, try your hand at sorting intangible mental objects like the concepts of Purity, Truth, Health, and Honor.

The secret to working with intangibles is to first find out how they are represented in your mind. You could ask yourself: “What does purity mean to me?” Then be open to any mental object that manifests itself to you.

When the object arises in your awareness, you can then sort it into the five senses.

#2 Your Mind As Theatre

An excellent way to think about your mind’s eye is as if it were a stage play. For this analogy, there are five pieces to examine — the stage, the actors, the audience, the spotlight, and the director. Applying this framework while exploring your mind raises your awareness of what goes on in the dark (with eyes shut), and offers you a new level of control over your mind.

The Stage is the blackness you see when you close your eyes. When this screen of your mind is blank and there is no sensation, the stage is clear. However, you should also check whether you are talking to yourself while looking at a blank stage.

Your internal voice is known as the Narrator; that invisible storyteller operating the microphone behind the stage. The narrator is classified as an actor, while the stage is the space of your conscious awareness — the blankness upon which any thought can arise.

The Actors are the mental objects (thoughts) which arise within your awareness (stage). Remember that a mental object can come to you in any of the five senses. Even though you see nothing in your mind, you could be dwelling upon the thought as an emotion or an internal voice. These images, sounds, feelings, tastes and scents all count as actors.

Like any stage play, the scene in your mind is often rendered by a whole cast of actors at


once. It can get confusing. Thus, clearing the stage and allowing your actors to express a solo performance can clarify your thoughts.

The Audience is your unconscious mind; representing everything that you know and have experienced, but are not consciously thinking of right now. The audience is always watching the stage play. At some point, audience members may feel a burning desire to express themselves and thus jump on stage to become actors. Training your mind to focus is about stopping your audience members from jumping onto the stage without permission.

Allowing your mind to operate with formality is how you can prevent mental hijack.

The Spotlight is your attention. When you turn your attention to any thought in your mind, you are shining the spotlight on that actor. Using the spotlight is an art because when you focus on one thing, you are excluding everything around it.

Actors fight for the spotlight; some perform antics to get your attention. You need to decide whom to give the stage to by shining the quality of your attention upon them.

The Director is you. However, you start out as a novice. You only get promoted to director when you have developed stillness.

Stillness is when you can observe a mental performance without reacting or desiring to follow the train of thought. You learn to do this through Samatha meditation, which is the first phase of training presented later.

When you are a true-blue director, you would have trained yourself in clearing the stage, recognising your actors, controlling the audience, shining the spotlight, and being still.

Wear your title with pride because it is an accomplishment — a new level of mastery over your inner world.

* Spend some time noticing the content of your mind. Apply the theatre framework and see whether you can identify the five roles. Remember, only the stage and the actors are obvious and visible. The audience, spotlight, and director are subtle hidden elements that require patience and sensitivity to discern.


CHAPTER FOURThe Secret of Stillness

The Map of Breathing

Air Is Your Friend

Air is so critical to the body, yet often it is taken for granted. Without food, you might last 3 weeks, without water — 3 days, but without air — 3 minutes.

Breath is life. When you breathe in, you are taking in a substance which is life-sustaining. You cannot find this in sufficient density on other planets, nor in the vacuum of space.

Your body constantly oxygenates your blood with air drawn by your lungs. You automatically expel carbon dioxide. And yet the process works on a cellular level — so minute and autonomous that most people overlook its occurrence.

When you can cherish something as simple as fresh air, you are getting closer to harmony with nature. The closer you are to life around you, the closer you are to what is within you.

To know thyself — one’s true nature beyond ego and desire — is a key milestone on the path to enlightenment. And it begins with appreciating something as plain and easily neglected as air.

Stillness Brings Truth

Even when you sit by a calm lake, your body perfectly motionless, you are not still. Everything inside you is moving. Blood is circulating, brain cells are wriggling, food is digesting, toxins are being expelled... the complexity of the biochemical processes in your body are staggering.


Yet when you sit still, people say you are doing nothing. On the surface, it may seem that way, but what you are really doing is holding your body still, so you can observe what occurs in the world within.

Special Ability: True Sight

When you have mastered stillness, you can develop what is known as True Sight, which is the ability to see clearly and deeply into oneself and all of life’s situations.

True Sight can help you accurately perceive the mindset and motivations of other people, and also to pierce deep into oneself to resolve inner struggles. Problems like which partner is the right one, and what path to take in life, dissolve under the piercing gaze of True Sight.

To develop True Sight, the stillness required is not of the body, but of the mind and emotions. If the mind is clouded with thoughts, actors are fighting for the stage; the confusion drowns clear perception.

If the heart is biased by any unsettling emotion such as anger, apathy, elation, or envy, no true seeing can occur. Perception is mired by the emotions, like light passing through a coloured lens — you will see only what you feel like seeing.

Breathe To Be Still

You can still your mind and emotions by focusing your attention on a single object. In Samatha meditation, you turn your attention to your breathing.

It works by the spotlight theory: when you shine the light on a single point, it excludes everything else around it.

Gradually, all the actors or mental objects that were grasping for your attention fade away because they did not receive the light.

The spotlight is a form of energy, like how the sun nourishes all the plants it shines upon. If a plant does not receive sunlight, it withers and passes. Similarly, the thoughts in your mind — some are treasured herbs and flowers, while others are weeds.


What thought you choose to shine the light of your attention upon, energises it and causes it to multiply.

If one dwells upon angry thoughts, more of such weeds grow. If one nurtures flowers of kindness and herbs of compassion, more of these treasures grow in your garden.

Tending to the garden of your mind is crucial because you are living in it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Whether your garden is composed of treasured plants or ugly weeds is the root of what creates a life of suffering or a life of harmonious joy.

Thus, the purpose of Samatha meditation is to learn to direct the spotlight (your attention) so that you can control the growth and composition of the thoughts in your mental garden.

One-Pointedness: “Directing The Spotlight To Clear The Stage”

The practice is simple:

1. Use any sitting posture you are comfortable with. The Venus Lock hand position is recommended to aid concentration.

2. Close your lips and allow your tongue to touch the roof of your mouth (the palate).

3. Using the breath as a focal point, breathe in and out through your nose.

4. Pay attention to your breathing and notice its subtle varieties — how long or short the breath is; whether it is a chest breath (upper), a diaphragm breath (middle), or a belly breath (lower).

5. While you are doing this, certain thoughts (actors) may appear on the screen (stage) of your mind. Ignore them. Direct your attention (spotlight) back to your breathing.

6. You will know your mind is clear when no more actors appear on the stage. This state is known as Dhyana — when attachment to outer objects has been dissolved. You are in a position of inner peace.

7. This is a subtle point: Focusing on your breath does not mean you block out awareness of


the stage. You are fully aware of objects passing on the screen of your mind, but you are choosing to focus your attention on breathing. This is the difference between mindful concentration and blind concentration.


CHAPTER FIVECultivating Emotional Armour

The Map of Equanimity

Delusion of The Mind

One day I was standing on the platform at the train station when I heard someone swearing and cussing behind me. I turned around and here was a dark man in his mid-30s, enraged, shouting, and punching at... thin air.

I looked carefully to see if he was yelling at someone in the distance, but nothing — nobody in sight.

Then I knew he was probably reacting to something in his mind. There were wild actors on his stage, weeds in his garden.

So I stood there, giving him space to vent. He muttered some vulgarities about his boss. Yet... there was no boss around.

We are just like this man: in that long after the real argument or event has passed, we can still be fighting the illusion in our mind.

Often we fall prey to our emotions like that. Something happens at work that infuriates us, and we carry this emotion home to unleash on family members.

This can be damaging because what happens at work and what happens at home are often unrelated. The family member who receives the displaced anger feels abused, and relations sour if they take it personally, making life worse for everyone.

If you recall the lesson on stillness and true sight, you know that you cannot trust your


thinking once you have an unsettling emotion like anger lodged in your heart. The anger colours your perception, causing you to interpret everything through a negative frame of mind: you look for what is wrong and who is to blame; you pick a fight rather than seek understanding.

You only see more of what you already feel.

Since our lives are a manifestation of what is within us, we should make sure our thoughts and emotions are first in order before making choices, taking action, or expressing ourselves. The moment the word is said, the action done, or the dotted line signed, it cannot be taken back. The good or damage is done.

The Chaotic vs. The Calm

Life events fluctuate between the happy and the sad. For example, a job promotion with higher pay could be considered a happy event, until jealousy from colleagues and subsequent backstabbing produces a sad event.


Often these situations are hidden inside each other. Thus, it is difficult to know whether an apparently happy event is truly fortunate, or an apparently sad event is truly unfortunate.

What is more certain is how an individual will react to these apparently happy and sad events, depending on the nature of one’s mind – chaotic or calm.

A chaotic mind reacts to the happy and sad events of life with extreme emotions like wild excitement in good times, and anger and depression in bad times.

If the person were of a milder spirit, he or she would possess a calm mind, which in good times is contented and grateful, but does not lose oneself in enjoyment; in bad times is able to contemplate and reflect upon the issue, rather than blame self or others.

Given that one has little control over the ups and downs of life (vertical axis of the chart), one can still improve the quality of one’s life experience by shifting along the horizontal axis – by


cultivating a calm mind out of chaos.

The same set of life events can produce two different lifestyles depending on the nature of the individual.

Often people spend so much energy trying to control the events of life, and forget that life is really about the transformation of self.

The formula for success is simple: The better a person you are, the better your life unfolds.

A person of calm spirit attracts and reacts to events in a way that produces good fortune.A person of chaotic spirit attracts and reacts to events in a way that produces misfortune.

Your life is a direct result of who you are choosing to be.


The Secret To The Calm Mind

One of the greatest qualities for a person to develop is steadiness under pressure, a cool head, evenness of temper, non-reactiveness, emotional stability, and composure. Although known by many names, these are all summed up in the meaning of Equanimity.

You can develop the strength of equanimity through meditative practice. In fact, this is vital if you are to progress to higher levels. Developing equanimity means that no matter what happens to you in life, you will have such a deep awareness and acceptance of the present moment that nothing shakes you.

When disaster strikes, you carry on surefooted; when fortune blesses, you remember your roots; when temptation calls, you are self-disciplined.

These actions draw upon inner strength, different from the outward display of force and power.

To hurt and destroy: the force directed outward is blunt and explosive; the inner is chaotic.To nurture and create: inner strength is required; the outward expression is gentle and precise.

Thus it is easier to destroy, and harder to create; it is easier to be chaotic, harder to be calm.

FLASHBACK

! Now... count how many times you have been sidetracked from your goals because you became chaotic, both in good times and bad.

! What was the result in each of these incidents?

! How would things be different if you had held yourself steady in each of those situations?


Cultivating Equanimity: “Controlling The Audience”

The audience of a stage play are the ones who make judgements and have emotional reactions to the actors’ performance.

Similarly, your unconscious mind makes judgements and has emotional reactions to the thoughts and mental objects floating in your consciousness.

Allowing your audience to get so riled up that they jump on stage to tell their version of the story is a big no-no in theatre.

Similarly, allowing your unconscious mind to overreact to fleeting thoughts and emotions is a big no-no in managing your mind.

When you have developed equanimity, you are able to observe your internal experience (actors on the stage) while maintaining emotional balance.

Developing this ability gives you the inner strength to go through your experiences in life while maintaining emotional balance.

Maintaining balance shifts you from the chaotic to the calm, and through your improved perception and reactions, transforms the quality of your life.

The following practice helps you cultivate equanimity:

1. Recognise Dhyana

In the Map of Breathing, you practiced the meditation of one-pointedness, where you trained to clear your mind by directing your attention to your breathing.

When the stage of your mind is clear, there arises a deep sense of inner peace known as the state of Dhyana.

Learn to recognise the feeling of Dhyana. Describe it in terms of how your head, heart, and gut areas feel. This is how you will know whether you are truly in a state of inner peace as you go about your day.


2. Calm Observation

The goal in this higher-level meditation is to observe your internal experience while holding the state of Dhyana constant.

Using a sitting posture of your preference and the hand position of Dhyana, close your eyes and be aware of the stage and your breathing.

Breathe until you access the state of Dhyana. This is the one-pointed meditation you learned before.

Once fully in the state of inner peace, turn your attention (the spotlight) from your breathing to the stage.

Observe the stage play – any actors or mental objects in consciousness – and notice when you have emotional reactions to what you are observing. Do not shy away from the emotion, but allow yourself to experience it.

If these emotions are strong enough to disrupt Dhyana, you need to bring yourself back into balance through breathing and deeper contemplation.

3. Restoring Balance

Meditate on how you have the emotion, but also how the emotion is not you. It is a fleeting reaction from your audience. And if you allow it to pass through you without taking you in the process, it shall.

Your breathing works like a pump that allows the emotion to flow through you. Each breath you take moves the feelings along with it.

Instead of saying, “I am angry”, you would observe: “There is anger”.Instead of concluding, “I am jealous”, you would comment: “There is jealousy.”

Then breathe and allow the emotion to pass through, while you hold steady to the state of Dhyana.


Deeper Truth

A realisation here is that you are not your emotions.

Yes, your feelings are a core part of you, but you do not have to be led by them. As a child, you may have yearned for the tingling sweetness of ice cream, but as an adult, you know that too much cream and sugar converts to fat and messes with your energy levels. Thus, you control the impulse to consume.

Feelings are also malleable. On a day when you are not in a good mood, something humble such as a request for a donation might be perceived negatively. But on another day when you feel like you are walking on air, giving that donation makes you even happier.

Developing emotional maturity forms a major lesson in your life. This is part of character building, the transformation of self. If God exists and wants to see a change in you, what do you think that change would be?

Repair the ozone? Heal the Earth? Love your parents?May I suggest: a change of heart. Everything else will follow after that.

The better a person you are, the better your life unfolds; the better the lives of everyone you love, and anyone you touch (literally).

If you do not yet believe, take a moment to think about the times when you allowed yourself to dwell on a negative emotion in the shade of one of the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Greed, Envy, Sloth, Pride, Wrath, or Gluttony.

Take your time and reflect on it objectively: When you persist in acting out any of the seven bad emotions, do more or less problems enter your life?

Thus, minding your emotions and not allowing yourself to dwell upon the negative is one powerful way to transform your life. Know that you are more than your feelings; that negative feelings are indications of how you need to grow. When you have successfully cultivated a beautiful garden, friends will want to visit, opportunities will bloom, and suddenly you will find yourself on the right path.


CHAPTER SIXSeeing Beyond The Obvious

The Map of Insight

Each day you breathe, you might encounter a number of vexing situations to which you might not have the answers. These represent roadblocks in life. To make progress quickly means overcoming or bypassing these obstacles with ease and efficiency.

Sometimes, a person can bang the same roadblock for years, not realising that the solution is not in more effort or persistence, but in varying the approach or methodology – not working harder, but smarter.

One quality that blinds an individual from noticing a smarter way of working is to possess a chaotic heart-mind. Extreme thoughts and emotions produce a sense of desperation that acts like a horse’s blinkers, giving their wearer the perspective that the current approach is the only way to reach their goal.

Thus, you see people with fists clenched, gritting their teeth, saying, “I must. I have to! This is the only way!” This is also called banging the same roadblock year after year, or working hard but getting nowhere.

However, there is an easy solution to all this: Take your blinkers off.

You Know Much More Than You Think

A lot of what you know lies dormant in your unconscious mind. You can access this natural brilliance when you contemplate through a calm state of mind (the alpha brainwave). When you feel agitated or perturbed, your brain shifts to high beta brainwaves, which are associated with logical analysis and focused thinking.


“But wait,” you ask. “How could that be a bad thing? If I have a problem, I would like to be logical and focused about it.”

Yes, logic and focus is a good thing. But when you are already trapped by your own logic – the horse’s blinkers and ‘I have to… I must’ – then you cannot solve the problem with the same thinking that created it.

You need to think out of the box, and you can easily do this by shifting the emotional state through which you do your thinking. When your emotions are settled, the actors that appear on the stage of your mind are different from those that appear when you are tense. This is the mind-body connection. We are using this principle in reverse where the body affects the mind.

A Right-Brained Approach

Contemplating your life issues from an equanimous state of mind gives you leaps of insight inaccessible by trapped logic. Analytical thinking tends to push and drill down to specifics; sometimes what you need is to sit back and see the big picture – make space and allow understanding to arise rather than analyse in circles.

Making space is an art. Some might have trouble with this because of a component of the psyche called the ego, which could have a strong will. Let us analyse this and see what we get.

The ego is concerned with ‘who I am’ and ‘what I want’. The will is that faculty by which control is deliberately exerted. When you bring the two together, what do you get?

Someone who habitually imposes their will to get desired results. While this is excellent for goal achievement, it flops when it comes to developing insight. Making space requires you to hold back your will and desire, allowing something to arise in its natural state without changing or altering it in any way.

Satori – Sudden Enlightenment

In meditation, insight arises in flashes that are complete and perfect in their delivered form as mental objects. If the ego and will interfere, one could manipulate the object into how one


thinks it should be, rather than seeing it as it is.

Imagine this hypothetical scenario of will overriding intuition:

Suppose it is suppertime and you are wondering what fruit you should eat. You close your eyes and up pops an image of an apple. It is clearly a red apple with a stem, but you are not satisfied and push the image aside in favour of a banana because you believe that bananas give more energy.

What you did not know was that a chunk of malt candy was stuck to your molar and chewing apple fibre would have removed it. Since you were not in the habit of brushing after a fruit supper, it would be another glorious night for the tooth decay squad.

Thus, working with your intuition can mean being open-minded and not assuming that one knows what is best for oneself. Often we fix our mind on a hopeless method for achieving a goal, believing blindly even when hard evidence proves the contrary. This is what leads to getting stuck at the same roadblock for years – when perseverance becomes stubbornness.

Everything Happens For A Reason

If you believe that there is a greater purpose to your life above your daily routine, then look for it. Learn to read the signs in your life. If you are banging a wall, there is a reason for that. If you try something more than three times and it does not work, it is a sign: “IT DOES NOT WORK”. Heed the signal and change your approach. This does not mean that you give up your goal, only that you alter your method.

If you really want something to work, make sure you are doing it with the right intention. If your heart is in the right place, Heaven and Earth will move to help you realise the dream. Right intention means that the emotion driving your action stems from virtue rather than vice.

Two people want to succeed:

One is motivated by revenge because in the past, his peers and seniors looked down on him, so he wants to prove himself better than them.

One is motivated by filial piety because he sees his parents aging and he wants to take better


care of them.

To the common eye, both these men look successful, and one might be unable to distinguish the man from his clothes. But look through the windows of the soul and into their hearts, and you will notice that their merit differs greatly.

One man succeeds in glorifying himself and dissing his peers.One man succeeds at honouring his parents and protecting his family.

Both are successful. Both have a strong will. But one was more ego-oriented in selecting his goal; one was more selfless and benevolent in his pursuit. One life living in anger and envy; one life bringing love and harmony.

From within your heart, you create your life. The emotion you dwell upon unfolds through your actions. Thus, cultivating oneself from chaotic to calm, and then to virtuous, is a master key in the transformation of one’s life.

Insight Meditation

It might not come so easy at first, but if you can calm the heart-mind, clear the stage to make space, and keep your will and ego in check, insight can arise because you created the environment for it.

Use the following steps for your insight practice:

1. Clear your emotional state.Clear the stage by breathing in one-pointedness until you reach Dhyana. Your emotions are settled and you sense stillness.

2. Have the question or issue in mind.Ponder your problem and notice where exactly you are stuck. When you have it, then let it go – allow it to take a backseat in your mind.

3. Breathe and allow actors or mental objects to arise.Start breathing gently now with attention on the stage. Actors in any of the five senses may arise. Be patient, good things take time. When it appears…


4. Observe calmly, do not push or manipulate the object. Allow it to unfold naturally.Keep an equanimous state of mind that observes but does not react to the stage play. The breath may be used to steady the emotions.

5. To clear the mind’s eye, simply inhale and exhale a few deep breaths.The will is applied to clear the stage, like a giant wind blowing all the actors away.

Eyes of The Spirit

There comes a magical gift when you transcend ego-based desire and cultivate sufficient virtue. You are awakened to your spiritual nature, which puts you in touch with the force within you. When spirit and self are aligned, great things are possible in your life.

That is all that can be said for now. It is for you to discover when you get there. Thus, be diligent in your cultivation of self. Every place and every situation in life is your training ground.

What you achieve in life is not as important as who you become. It is a test of who you are choosing to be in every decision you make, through every action you take. Can humanity overcome its primal nature to be one with its spirit?

Only you can decide.


CHAPTER SEVENCombining Your Powers

This segment shows you how to put what you have learnt together in powerful combinations to tackle specific problems. Add this to your repertoire of mind-body tools and become the captain of your ship. When applied faithfully, you can increase your level of self-control, inner peace, wisdom, concentration, and even energy.

Combo #1: Clearing Negative Emotions

There are times when you know you are caught in the grasp of a negative emotion (think seven sins). These forces urge you to do ‘baaad’ things, which creates more problems for you. Following the negative propels you along a downward spiral where the end is never pretty. Thus, take control to clear the emotions and their sponsoring thoughts by using the Dhyana state and observing the emotion from an equanimous state of mind. (See Map of Equanimity.)

Combo #2: Channeling Sexual Energy

One’s sex drive is a powerful force. It can lead you to emotional bliss; it can also tempt you down a dark path. Channel it when necessary. The fundamental technique is to use Hara breathing and the Venus Lock, with one-pointed focus on the Hara. When breathing, you should be aware of the movement of your tummy. Your slow breath acts like a pump, which converts raw sexual energy into higher forms.

Combo #3: Access Inner Wisdom

When contemplating life issues, you want to think with your heart. But it needs to be a calm heart and not a flustered one. Thus, get to Dhyana first (One-Pointed Breathing). When you feel you are steady, contemplate the issue logically to see where you are stuck. Then stop the analytical thinking and switch to the reverse: make space in your mind for insight to arise (clear the stage). Shift to the Yin-Yang gesture and apply the open and non-pushing state of mind to observe any mental objects that arise. (See Insight Meditation.)


Combo #4: Centering Your Presence

There are times when you might want to refocus your attention after it has been distracted. This is useful when studying, working, and even when in conversation. Using any neutral posture like the Hip Rest or Knee Rest, breathe through your nose (tongue touching palate) and into your centre – two inches above your navel button. Each inhalation draws your attention and awareness from your mind and surroundings, down into this centre. You can imagine it as light converging into your middle point.

Combo #5: Restoring Energy

When you need energy and zest, like when trying to wake up in the morning, reverse the Dhyana gesture with your right hand below your left. This draws the spiritual into the material. Clear your mind of thoughts and just breathe naturally. Allow yourself to drift; the rejuvenation occurs by itself. You can do this standing, sitting, and even while lying down in bed. You do not need to cross your legs, but remember to touch your tongue to your palate and breathe through your nose. This is one of the most amazing applications of meditation I have experienced.


CHAPTER EIGHTSpirit and the Evolution of Soul

Three Levels To Mankind

Everything you have been learning here is teaching you to manage your psyche. We often hear of people training their bodies (fitness) and training their minds (intellect), but how often do you hear of people training their soul?

In the Buddhist and Biblical texts, there are three levels to mankind:

Buddhist - Taoist Biblical

! Shen – Spirit Pneuma – Spirit

" Qi – Heart-Mind Psyche – Soul

# Jing – Body Soma – Body

Simply put, both the East and West speak of the three levels. But the important thing to note here is the mid-level, where Qi and Heart-Mind or Psyche and Soul exist. Notice that they do not simply say ‘mind’ because one’s thoughts and intellect are not what they are referring to.

In the East, you cultivate Qi " through managing the Heart-Mind (Xin $), which refers to the positive or negative condition of one’s thoughts and emotions. The Han Chinese people do not represent mind – the faculty of consciousness, intellect, reasoning, and judgment – with a word by itself. The mind is always spoken of in relation to the heart. It is thought to be what makes one human.

In the West, the word ‘soul’ is often used in biblical terms to represent the transcendental consciousness of man in moral relation to God. The soul animates the body and manifests the psyche – the mind and sense of self. The condition of your psyche is designed to facilitate


lessons through life for your soul. People are afflicted with one mental condition or another – some are timid, some are brash, some greedy, some stingy, some battle laziness, some battle workaholism.

In both the East and West, cultivating the heart-mind or psyche is essential because it is the bridge between man and spirit. Building the bridge to spirit is paramount because the more aligned you are with the Light, the more of it flows through you into your life. When the bridge is broken or has not been built, spirit cannot act in your life. Thus, one faces continual trials, wallowing in darkness until one can liberate oneself by draining the darkness from one’s soul.

You open the doorway to spirit through cultivating your psyche or heart-mind.

Guarding One’s Weakness

What takes a person a lifetime to build, has often been torn down in a moment of folly.

In giving in to lust, a university professor sleeps with his student, resulting in being stripped of his tenure and the student being expelled.

In giving in to jealousy and malice, a teenage girl poisons her best friend, hoping that the guy will direct his affections towards her once her friend is gone.

In giving in to pride and greed, a gambler bets his family’s fortune in a gigantic show hand. He loses everything, sells the home, and puts his children in debt.

Where there is chaos in the world, it often stems from confusion and darkness in the hearts of people. When it becomes so dark that you cannot tell right from wrong, you lose connection with your conscience. Then you are in danger of doing disastrous acts like putting melamine (plastic) in baby milk powder to raise the protein count, kidnapping children for child labour and prostitution, or running a blood diamond cartel in West Africa.

What is important to remember is that small evils lead to greater evils. The heart does not turn black in an instant; such darkness is the result of it being a host for negative emotion and allowing it to fester until one’s psyche is completely consumed by it, transforming one into a living demon.


This is what it means to sell your soul to Mr D. You are not really selling anything; you sever your divine nature to live a life shrouded in satisfying mortal desires.

For what could hurt a father more than to mislead his children and turn them against him?

Therefore, guard your weakness like you are guarding your soul. If you know you are prone to pride, strive to be humble in all situations. If you know you are easily enraged, strive to develop calmness, patience, and understanding. If you know you are self-centred and money-hungry, consider the needs of others and be more magnanimous in sharing what little you have.

“Building a Better Me”

Little acts of virtue mould your nature. Over time, you will feel happy and comfortable living with yourself. Where there were addictive behaviours, there are now none. Where thoughts and emotions were in chaos – they are now replaced by an inner calm and sense of well-being.

You make better choices because your first reaction comes through a higher nature. You have better relationships because there is no vindictiveness in your soul. You make more money because you give genuine value rather than resort to trickery, lies, or snatching.

All that you go through in life is a result of who you are. There are turning points everywhere. One might perform a lowly act thinking that no one will notice. But in carrying the thought and emotion through to word and deed, one has already darkened one’s heart. Thus, more of such actions are invited, resulting in the downward spiral of one’s life.

To be a person of character, be very mindful of the thoughts and emotions you dwell upon. Know whether they stem from virtue or vice. In deciding whether to say or do something, ask yourself: “Through my actions, am I bringing heaven or hell unto earth?”

Bring heaven and you bring peace, harmony, joy, love, and gratitude. You exhibit angelic qualities or buddha nature. Bring hell and… well, we are already familiar with that.


We Are All In This Together

Why are you being such a goody two-shoes? Is it just for yourself?

No, it is for everyone you love and anyone who cares for you. In this globalised age, the whole world is interconnected. What you do or say can affect the lives of others. Similarly, the actions of others affect your life as well.

If one person blows up a nuclear bomb, the whole world suffers together – radioactive particles, climate change, infertile ground, deformed babies and more. Several cases exist of teenagers who felt so outcast at school that they used machine guns and homemade bombs to kill classmates and teachers.

Are we really that separate from each other? When you look at your fellow man, can you tell whether his or her psyche is about to go over the edge? These things are happening at your doorstep. These people are all around you. Their suffering can cause your suffering; your actions are their reality.

Thus, be diligent in your cultivation of self. When the Light flows through you, it shines into the lives of everyone around you. The more you can help your fellow man reach for the Light within themselves, the better a place the world will be for everyone – when a heaven is created on earth.


About The Author

Lance Ong is one of Asia’s foremost experts on the cognitive mind. A recognised Master Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, he designed the Mindshield, which is a coaching system dedicated to protecting the psyche of individuals, such that they may flourish to live their dreams.

In his therapeutic practice, Lance guides his clients to create the changes they seek in their lives. These issues range from the dark and serious to the lighter and more upbeat like finding one’s direction in life, building self-confidence, or overcoming a shopping addiction.

Lance believes that the majority of the problems in the world all boil down to one issue: The human psyche is where the battle for a world worth living in is won or lost. Thus, he dedicates his effort to healing and teaching people about their enormous capacity to transform their lives through simple and effective tools of the mind, body, and spirit.

Contacting Lance Ong

If you would like to contact Lance to speak for your organisation or you would like to engage him as your personal coach, simply drop an email to [email protected] or visit the website at www.mindshield.me for more details.

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Journey of The Mind : Transforming Yourself To Change Your Life