One of the meditations really suited for today's world is the "atomic" or earth element meditation. This meditation was practiced by Dharanimdhara Bodhisattva, one of Shakyamuni Buddha's students, who described it in the Surangama Sutra.
The enlightened student Dharanimdhara said, "I meditated and perceived that the molecules of my body were such that they did not touch one another and could not be touched even by sharp weapons. I then awakened to the patient endurance of the absolute nature, the uncreated, and thereby attained samadhi. Then by turning my mind inwards, I realized the Bodhisattva stage of enlightenment and when I heard the Buddha expound the Lotus Sutra, I was the first to awaken to its knowledge and became a leader of the assembly. As the Buddha now asks about the best means of perfection, in my opinion the best consists in looking into the sameness of body and universe which are created by infection from falsehood arising from the Tathagata store, until this defilement vanishes and is replaced by perfect prajna wisdom which then leads to the realization of Supreme Enlightenment."
What Dharanimdhara Bodhisattva essentially did is first mentally visualize and then realize that his body was merely a collection of atoms. Since everything in your immediate environment also consists of atoms, you cannot tell where your body actually begins and leaves off. After all, all is atoms!
Think about it.
Once you know this, it's much easier to visualize your body as atoms, and to lose any attachment to your body since you cannot say for sure where it stops and where other stuff begins. After all, everything is atoms! If you can realize this, then you can generate detachment from your physical nature.
Try to experientially realize this, and also try to "realize" the empty gap between atoms and their empty nature themselves. In other words, try to realize the atomic nature, the particulate nature of your body - it's just made up of a collection or agglomeration of particles, just as the Diamond Sutra tells us.
If you can realize this, you can use this method to let go of the detachment to your body and the attachment to form, and thereby create an entryway into samadhi.
From samadhi, you can then turn inwards to discover your original formless nature, the absolute nature we call God, emptiness or Tao.
It all starts with first realizing that your body is just a collection of atoms, that those atoms are not you, and then using that realization to detach from the body.
Why not try this method for a few days ... or weeks ... to see how it suits you? That's why cultivation is all about.
Go ahead, try it!
As I explain in my book, Twenty Five Doors to Meditation, in the past those who succeeded in the earth element samadhi became able to walk through doors, mountains or travel in the earth because they realized the emptiness of their physical nature. Every now and then someone practicing Chinese martial arts would attain realization through this practice and then exhibit the attendant superpowers. There are stories of Indian and Tibetan yogis who would practice this technique also. Of course the purpose is not to become able to walk through walls, but to gain samadhi as a practice vehicle or entry station to the Tao.
Few people in the past would use this particular meditation technique because there were so many others that were much easier, but since today's world has atom discussions galore (with Star Trek and all that), it really is a meditation for our time! Dharanimdhara Bodhisattva did all the hard work of describing the meditation for us, so honor his wisdom by trying it out to see if it suits you.
After all, I always tell people they should always try out new meditations to see the results. They should also consistently practise at least 2 meditations: one they love, and one they hate or are not attracted to because that's the one that usually produces the most progress (we tend to hate those things that are best for us and which will help us change our karma).
Enough for now. A new meditation later. And if you're interested in learning more about the history of various spiritual practices and cultivation schools like this, there's no better book than the following:
http://www.meditationexpert.com/bestandworst.html
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Bill Bodri
P.S. One more thing. If this particular meditation intrigues you, on the website is a 40-page ebook on 5-element meditation you should pickup. It tells you not only how to cultivate the earth element like this, but how to cultivate your kundalini (fire element), your breathing (wind element), your hormones (water element). It's one of the most inexpensive books we have and a great way to test our materials.
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