‘Samadhi’ Defeats the Demons

一「定」胜群魔

Someone mentioned that whenever he sat in meditation he felt that he was about to fall into a deep abyss and he was very scared. This is the very initial stage prior to obtaining Chan samadhi. You should not be frightened. When you are sitting there, you will feel as if a millstone is hanging over your head and is about to drop, or as if an atomic bomb about to explode over you. What should you do? Open you eyes. If you are attached to that state, it is easy to enter a demonic state. The atomic bomb will blow your head off. However, if you are not attached to marks and remain calm, you will be fine. It is said, “Samadhi can defeat all demons” If you have samadhi, all demons will run away. It is a false state when you see yourself falling into a 10,000 foot abyss. Why does the state of a 10,000 foot abyss manifest? This represents that your past karmic offenses are as deep as an abyss. If you know that you have heavy karmic offenses, you should cultivate and not be afraid. In Chan meditation, states will appear. Sometimes they are good states and other times they are evil states. Why do these states appear? In the past, you harbored good thoughts and now they manifest when you sit in meditation. Or you harbored evil thoughts, so demonic obstacle states will manifest. No matter whether it is a good or a bad state, it comes from the false thoughts you had in the past. Therefore, cultivators should not casually engage in false thinking.

有人说他打坐的时候，总觉得自己就要掉到很深的山涧里，他很害怕；这是刚刚要得到禅定的一个开始，你在这个时候不要怕。你在那儿打坐，觉得头顶上有个磨盘就要掉下来，有个原子弹在头上就要爆炸，这怎么办？你就睁开眼睛。这个时候你要是着相，很容易入魔的境界，真的会有个原子弹在你头上爆了；你要是不着相，定定的就没有事，「一『定』胜群魔」你有「定」，什么魔都跑了。你见到自己好像要跌到万丈悬崖，这都是虚妄的境界。为什么会有万丈悬崖呢？这表示你往昔的业障深重，比万丈悬崖都深。你现在知道你的业障重，就要赶快修道，不要生恐惧心。坐禅的时候会有境界发生，有的时候，有一个善的境界来了；有时候，有一个恶的境界来了。为什么会有这些境界？就因为你在往昔生了一个善念，等你坐禅的时候，那个善的境界就现前；你或者生一个恶念，那个魔障的境界就来了。无论顺境逆境，都是从往昔你所打的妄想生出来的；所以修道的人，不要随便打妄想。