Meditative Exercises of Shaolin Martial Arts : Seated Buddhist Meditation

[TheNiceguy1212]

I bet if that guy sleeps on a memory foam bed, he'll sleep instantly instead of sleeping in a meditating position :)

I wish i could sleep like that, would be useful in sticky situations

[Monk537]

Got to my first dan in shaolin kung ku , trained with the british kung fu team in london for a year then went on to be a referee and judge for the b c c m a , when we got to black belt , we learnt the breathing tec s like this monk , it really helps with every day life , every thing starts with your brain , you can take total control and when you do its a great feeling ,,lose all your anger and hate then enjoy life for what it trully is ,,,the Monk !!! my nick name

[falthy3]

"You don't want to be meditating in front of a trash can" lol this guys is so awesome and funny ;DD

[wowggscrub]

arnt buddist sopposed to be non violent and yet martial arts humm cognitive dissonence

[DesertSmeagle]

hmmm very interesting...just one question....does the lotus position destroy your knees? it looks painful.

[noclouds111]

@DesertSmeagle Not all postures are for everyone. If a posture causes pain, skip it.

On the other hand, there are alternatives to most postures. In the case of 'lotus', one can substitute with half-lotus, which folds the lower legs, but does not cross them.

[chinguidinsky]

I've tried seep meditation and my body does not remain in that position, when I wake up my chest is laying on my legs and my forehead on the floor lol, I wonder how they manage to stay like that all night.

[BrightMakesGreen]

Thank you, I didn't know that the Shaolin's monks do the sleep meditation.

[Joe55tv]

is this the meditarion that helps you do a kip up?

[imawesome89100]

and iv been sleeping laying down =(

[KevoRidesFit]

stop judging and watch

[fitze285]

this is a nice set, thank you very much! feels great!

[ruzickaw]

wrong sitting posture. Knees should be lower than hips. But it does not matter. Listening to this guy one can hear that he does not really meditate.

[qiankundanuoyi1]

@ruzickaw hearing from his training routine he did train in shaolin since young, perhaps.

[ShaolinMartin]

Shaolin Kung Fu isnt about beautiful stances,splits and flips.You all should know that,before you say that his Lotus pose is bad etc.

[ironpalmslapped]

Questioning anything about this man before seeing his training regimen is complete ignorance....you can't comment on something that the western world doesn't even hardly accept much less understand....he is trying to help people who want to learn the basics, so, naturally, he will have to "dumb it down" a little...that coupled with an obvious language barrier is apparently perfect for a bunch of people who have read one too many google search results and are now gurus on the subject

[mike4ty4]

@ironpalmslapped Rational thought is all about questioning. Not just taking everything on blind faith.

[mike4ty4]

@ironpalmslapped And why does it matter whether or not the whole western world understands it or not? What matters is how deep *you* the questioner investigate, research, study, and question it.

[phoeniximperator]

thank you

[dharmaseed]

You want to find a 'quiet place where you can meditate, without distractions'?? At first, maybe. As the mind becomes more aware though, you would progress in your meditation to the point where you no longer need 'a quiet place'.

[KHALSAWARRIOR]

@dharmaseed  So very true my friend :)

[abramo10]

the man taught me how to sit now i fell stupid

[combatcommand]

He's not as flexible as the shaolin monks i've seen, I don't think he payed attention in QiGong class.

[ukijhu97]

@combatcommand For Buddhists i doubt they concern themselves with how flexible they are since the main point is to achieve enlightenment and leave all those distractive thoughts behind.

[combatcommand]

@ukijhu97 shaolin secular disciples spend 6 hours training this sort of shit. EVERYDAY.

[ukijhu97]

@combatcommand Ok cool. never take expertvillage seriously anyway.

[ak4x6]

i hate the fucking ads

[Fyamei]

So, a Shaolin monk that can't even hold a lotus position without holding his legs up with his hands? Uh huh. I don't buy it at all.

[mixedgrain]

To colocal87. Your response shows a profound misunderstanding of what meditation is. Sleep and meditation are different mental states!! One is concious, the other is unconcious so the brainwave patterns are different as well. Meditation is physically demanding as well - it is not "resting the body." Try sitting in the CORRECT meditative position through the night and see if you feel 'fully rested". I doubt if you are physically capable of meditating in the correct position for an hour -

[mixedgrain]

"We SLEEP while we meditate." What kind of meditation is that? Meditation by definition is the cultivation of pure awareness - not unconciousness!! Lol! It is certainly not zen which Shaolin is supposed to be. In any decent zendo or meditation centre, they have someone walking around to ensure that no one falls asleep. As someone pointed out, his speech and mannerisms indicate a turbulent mind. He is obviously selling something.

[colocal87]

@mixedgrain ah but sleep by definition is resting the mind and body, so yes you can meditate through the night and in the morning feel fully rested

[Nidish9644]

@mixedgrain Meditation = Conscious Sleep

Sleep = Unconscious Meditation

[Nidish9644]

@mixedgrain Look, monks don't stay in bed and say they are meditating as they will be overcome by sleep... And as we are speaking about meditation, I don't think we need to distinguish between any "schools" of meditation or spirituality... I say this as the practice of meditation is meant to reach the highest state in every religion(watever d technique is)... And for meditation, one doesn't need to have any fixed posture... As d mind is doing d work, u dont need 2 hv any specified posture(contd)

[mixedgrain]

@Nidish9644 You said, "monks don't stay in bed and say they are meditating as they will be overcome by sleep." That and your other statements above show that you clearly distinguish between sleep and meditation. (No one has achieved Satori by sleeping otherwise we'd all be enlightened!) That is what I said was wrong with this monk's statement that he sleeps while meditating so I am not sure why you chose to conflate both by redefining the terms in your original comment.

[mixedgrain]

@Nidish9644 You said,"I don't think we need to distinguish between any "schools" of meditation..." I beg to differ. This monk claims to be Shaolin which is a Zen tradition. Zen has practices different from Hindu yogic schools or even other Buddhist schools for very good reasons. If this person has a do-it-yourself approach to meditation or if he has a guru who claims to have integrated techniques from different schools, fine. But don't redefine Zen to suit your particular vision/interpretation.

[Nidish9644]

@mixedgrain I am not redefining zen or something, I just am asking you to acknowledge dat dey r meditating... And yes, u can achieve enlightenment by meditating lying down... And I got my previous statement from The venerable Prof Walpola Sri Rahula Maha Thera... And i know that Meditation is very different from sleep, but both are similar states, of which I have explained in my revious posts(3) as answer to ur comment... well, I don't say dat people in Shaolin sleep while dey meditate though..

[mixedgrain]

@Nidish9644 Fair enough.The purpose of my original comment was to raise a red flag that just because a person is dressed as a monk does not necessarily mean a certain level of spiritual attainment. Unfortunately, Shaolin in mainland China has become a huge money-making organisation with "franchises" around the world. I'm sure this monk has spent long hours perfecting his martial skills but his persona and comments indicate that the same level of care was not devoted to spiritual cultivation.

[Nidish9644]

@mixedgrain I accept, and i don't even think he hass practiced Kung Fu well... Just look at his Lotus posture...

[Nidish9644]

@mixedgrain (contd)d postre dos lttle... I hv meditatd mny tyms lyin down an hv progressd... An my statemnt is tru wen u really undrstnd wat sleepin is... Sleepin is a state of complete rst, wer u dont hv any cnsciousnss of ur exstnc(d duration b/w u gettin asleep an gettin up will seem lessr dan 1s) Meditation is also a state of complete rst, bt u hv cnsciousnss of ur prsnce(u can feel tym goin by)... (contd)

[Nidish9644]

@mixedgrain (contd) Howevr, in more advncd stats of meditation, u mite frgt ur exstnce in d world, bt der will always b u fr it is u who is focusng ur attention... If u tink abt it in d meditative state, u cm out... dis is a pnt 2 b notd, u can cm out of meditation wenevr u wnt, but not frm sleep...

[RV8231978]

for someone who knows alot about meditation, he sure is hyper..

[Tantalis77]

close your eyes? i always thought u weren't supposed to.

[StargodArbiter]

Fully trained Shaolin warrior monks actually don't even need to be seated or still to perform "no-mind," which is the entire point of meditation. Stopping the internal dialogue of the mind and it's constant stream of mental images and verbalizations is the entire point. Breathing and posture is just something to give the body to relax into, but it's not necessary at all when learned. So, really, it doesn't even matter what you're doing, or if you are even sitting.

[supralee]

that is not right way to describe, mine point is attention what it produces or dosent produce is secondary.and if that attention is moving inside you just do it wrong way as this man in this video is teaching.

[Foreverlost2011]

this was just a medioker (sp) instruction for white american ppl who have to pay 1000s of dollars for cheap instruction like that. lol.

[ThirdEyeLight]

Does anyone know how a left handed male would cross his legs? It seems to follow Yin Yang theory so it would seem that the left handed male would cross his legs with the left leg in front.

[Deke101]

Maybe it's not the left handed male, but the GAY male who crosses his legs the other way. Does homosexuality affect Yin and Yang theory?

Maybe I should not be opening THIS can of worms! lol.

[ThirdEyeLight]

Yes that is a good possibility as far as Yin Yang theory. I had thought about that but seeing as how my father is left handed but probably not gay I figured it has more to do with dominant and non dominant rather than true male female meaning

[premachu3]

yogeeshasram knows about 10000 times more then you, when it comes to mediatation

[honhanguyen]

Sitting like in the video with the legs crossed lit tht will kill you in no time. Must have a stable base before you can be still. This is not the right teaching. I would not follow this monk's teaching, he talked too fast, sound so easy. Wonder if he ever meditated?

[Hallowspacegirl]

I have meditated in this position with hands touching, and it's wonderful. I did not feel pain and managed to relax and reach a peaceful state. I do think he could have got into more detail about the process itself, how to focus, types of relaxed breathing.

But the way he was sitting was just fine.

[FridaySternShow]

one time I did this before bed and after I was done and went to sleep I could not sleep the entire night and only got like 2 or 3 hours sleep if that. the next day I was not even tired and i stayed up late no problem.

[luicho0303]

normally it's done 3 or 4 times a day, recomendable after u get up, and then start u'r daily routing , it fills u up with energy and focus u on what u have to do, it works that way for me! normally i would be drinking energy drinks all the time, now i don't need them

[Brandonakaearl]

does your back have to be perfectly straight or anything or does it matter cause i tried it and for some reason the joints in my legs started to hurt from keeping my back straight and it threw me off

[experimentalartz]

try zazen, is the best meditation practice i know, it will help with your posture problem...search on the youtube, it has a lot of videos about zazen. note that they uses a cushion called zafu during zazen, to keep your back straight.

[raidtothegrave]

you have bad posture, keep your back straight not only when your doing this but all day if you can. after a while your body will get use to being in the correct position and you will have better circulation and feel better =] plus its just better to have good posture then to be slouching all the time.

[kcpalooza]

you are a model to which all men should look, God bless the shaolin monks

[plovakia]

he stays in the US too so maybe u can try looking for him XD

[TenTonTommy777]

@kcpalooza

lol funny if you think about it that in buddhism there is no "God" ^^

[megashalinify]

@TenTonTommy777 we have buddha

[Daniel9787]

i am not the worlds expert or a shaolin monk. but i was just trying to show that im not just some guy at a computer all day. i have studied buddist meditation and qi-gong the same amount of time i have studied kung fu.

i was just trying to tell everyone that this guy isnt what he says he is. just because he is chinese doesnt mean he is a true monk. i was just pointing out that you dont "sleep" while you meditate. and all i got in responce was people hurling abuse at me.

amitofo

[Xaznhotguy4lifex]

You don't know jack about how tradition shaolin master trained. You might of had learned some wushu in the nearby school. Everything that a shaolin monk does can relay on kung fu. Unfortunitely, some of the traditional way of training has been gone.

[Daniel9787]

the standard in shaolin is so high and this guy isnt up there. he cant even do the lotus position properly. while you are meditating you go deep inside yourself "inner space" and yes you do go into a trace like state but you never fall asleep. thats way dharmo made the monks do yoga which later became chi gong and which later evolved into kung fu. the reason dharmo taught the monks yoga was because they kept falling asleep while they were meditating.

[Daniel9787]

whats your dads name? and is he still in shaolin/dengfeng now? im going back there next week, i might know him or heard of him.

[Daniel9787]

nobody 'SLEEPS' while they are meditating fact...when you meditate you are focusing your mind. hands up who's mind is focused and clear when they are sleeping??? didnt think so. who here has met the abbot of the shaolin temple and trained and lived with the top monks? and who has demonstrated shaolin chaun to the chairman of the olympics in front of international press???...by the way your learning "meditation" on the internet and you say i dont know jack shit...LOL. good luck with that.

[aaronjie]

Umm, my father was a 34th generation shaolin monk and he started when he was a child and a advanced state for shaolin is to have a trance a state of deep sleep.

[garymartz]

Actualy,In a deep states of Trance called the Delta waves whitch is the state when you sleep also is the state of Universal consciousness, In this state you can be awake and asleep at the same time.

The 4 states of consciousness (Brain Waves)

Beta wave (the here and now)

Alpha wave (Medatition state)

Theta wave (A deepening state of Alpha)

Delta wave (the Universal Consciousness)

[daiaonu]

he ment they sleep in the position too, when they meditate they dont fall alseep no, in fact the reason the monks started wuyi practice was to build up thier bodys so that they wouldnt fall asleep during meditation, well and cuz robbers kept beating them up

[Jay12341235]

lol

[Daniel9787]

nobody 'SLEEPS' while they are meditating fact...

[quartercherries]

i almost went into a trance when you went still quickly to demonstrate the state.

[34thshaolinstudent]

Shut up @ Daniel9787 LOL. U don't know jack shit.

[quartercherries]

you're a real nice person.  or are you?...hmm haha

[Daniel9787]

i trained shaolin kung fu for 8 years and i studied 1 year in shaolin and i can tell straight away this guy is not a monk. shaolin monks dont sleep while they meditate!

[Xaznhotguy4lifex]

you don't know jack about Shaolin Monks, many of the traditional master practice kung fu while they are sleeping, their life style are all spend in kung fu, sleeping, eating, walking, etc. You probably studied in some nearby school and in the Shaolin Temple, Believe me, i been to shaolin b4 and that is how the traditional master practice.

[Seebaer73]

(i trained shaolin kung fu for 8 years and i studied 1 year in shaolin and i can tell straight.....)

@Daniel

But you have nothing lerned about Wu-De and Buddhism? Kung Fu Training is not All ....

[Duvaldk]

... but the sound sucks

[chinguidinsky]

It took me ages to find a video on meditation that would just say the reason for doing it. This man really goes right to the point for sure. weeeeee!

[Jancsika402]

Very good, Thanks!

[PurityGuru]

Great Video!