First 6 MonthsFor the first 6 months, you can choose any convenient time to practice. You should choose a quiet place to practice the method. You should practice the exercises regularly in the following order: 1. Making A Spiritual Commitment SITTING POSITIONSit on a cushion on top of a carpet or a blanket to avoid direct contact with the ground. Fold your legs such that the knees touch the carpet to establish a good balance. Sit straight; slightly pull in your chin to keep a straight backbone. Place your palms on your thighs, and your arms against your side ribs. Face southward. You can select one of the following sitting positions:
|
 | The tongue: In a natural and relaxed position, let the tip of your tongue lightly touch the line between your upper gum and your front teeth. |
 | Incisors against incisors: Front teeth slightly touching together, mouth closed. |
| Sit straight; slightly pull in your chin. | |
 | The eyes: In a natural and relaxed position, keep your eyes closed and focus forward from the center point between your eyebrows. |
1. Making A Spiritual Commitment
The practice session starts with making a spiritual commitment.
- Siting down, facing southward, with back bone straight and legs folded in one of the positions mentioned previously.
- In a natural and relaxed position, let the tip of your tongue lightly touch the line between your upper gum and your front teeth. Keep the mouth closed. In a natural and relaxed position, keep your eyes closed, and focus forward from the center point between your eyebrows.
- Keep the palms of your hands fully touching each other, in prayer position, at chest level. (Keep your hands pointed upward. Do not point your hands horizontally or into your chin).
- Focusing your mind at the top of your head, mentally repeat the following mantras:
Nam Mo A Di Da Phat (3 times)
[nahm moh ah yee dah fut ]
Repeat 2 times:
Nam Mo Tay Phuong Cuc Lac The Gioi Quan The Am Bo Tat
[nahm moh taay phu-ung kuk lakh the zuh/oy kwan the ahm boh that ]
(Pure Divine Energy of Compassion)
Nam Mo Long Hoa Giao Chu Di Lac
[nahm mo laumng hua zao chuu zi lakh ]
(Pure Divine Energy of Serenity)
I am (use your name). Please accept my sincere promise to pursue the spiritual path to reach enlightenment and liberation of my soul.
Next mentally repeat the following phrases 1 time:
From now on, I will strive to:
Then bow 3 times with your hands. Keep your spine straight, not bowing.
2. CONCENTRATION OF SPIRITUAL ENERGY
After the Spiritual Commitment, continue with the exercise of Concentration of Spiritual Energy as follows:
- Slowly bring up your folded arms to shoulder level, pulled back and at right angle with your backbone. Using the tip of your thumbs, plug your ear completely.
- Put the tip of your index fingers lightly on your temple at the hairline.
- Using the tips of your middle fingers, press lightly on the bone at the ends of your eyes then lightly pull away to close your eyelids completely. Fold your remaining fingers inside your palms.
During this exercise, constantly keep the following position:
Sitting down. Facing southward. With legs folded in one of the positions mentioned previously. The backbone straight, the tip of the tongue lightly touching the line between your gum and your front teeth; the mouth closed. The eyes closed, looking straight ahead of you from the center point between the eyebrows, and breathing normally. . Hold this position for at least five minutes to a maximum of fifteen minutes.
Notes:
Beginners may hear buzzing sounds in their ears. After practicing for a longer period of time, you will no longer hear these sounds in your head.
Concentration of Spiritual Energy (Soi Hon):
Soi means to search for, Hon means lucidity and serenity. This exercise of concentration of spiritual energy is a method to restore our lucidity and serenity. According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine, this exercise will restore balance to the brain and nervous system.While doing this exercise, if your mind should start getting cluttered with thoughts and worries, practice the silent invocation of the mantra Nam Mo A Di Da Phat to gradually move away from these and focus again on the exercise.
In order to correctly identify the location at the temple area where your forefingers should press down at the hairline, lightly bite your jaws together. You will feel a point at the hairline where the temple muscle slightly moves as your jaws bite down; that point is the correct point to press down with the tip of your forefingers.
Explanations:
"No religion on earth has yet practiced this concentration of spiritual energy that permits the central point on the top of your head or the cranial psychic center to be developed and the vibrations to evolve into infinity…
When you raise your elbows level with your shoulders, all the corresponding nerves of the lung, heart, etc… are activated, causing you to perspire.
At the beginning, when closing your ears by inserting your thumbs into your earholes, you'll hear a lot of buzzing sounds inside your head. In time, you will not hear them anymore and will start to feel serene. During daily activities, we expend a lot of our energy to earn a living, thus we experience mental stress that harms our nervous system. So, after work, we can do this exercise at home to strengthen the energy frequency of our mind and recuperate the energy lost through the day. When using the thumbs to close your ears, you are converging the energy to the head and concentrating it on the point between your eyebrows. Your forefingers and middle fingers above your temples and at the outside ends of the eyes are also doing the same function of transmitting energy to the center point between the eyebrows. When you are capable of concentrating your energy, it will proceed to the correct middle path, which leads you directly to the universal central power of vital energy. At that time, your mind will become more and more at ease.
It is recommended that beginners practice this exercise for at least 6 months to strengthen their mind. We have absorbed too much impurity due to agitation; therefore, we have to first correct and purify our mind. For beginners, there is no specific time required to practice. Whenever you have any spare time, you may practice this concentration of spiritual energy to calm yourself and eliminate unnecessary agitation of this current life…"
(Mr Luong-Si-Hang, Extract from the Practice of the Vo-Vi Meditation Method, Culver City, July 1982)
3. Post-Meditation Massage
After the exercise of Concentration of Energy or after the Contemplative Meditation, do the following massage to draw energy back to your body:
- Rub your hands together to warm them (while rubbing your hands, the fingers must point upward).
- Cover your nose with your palms, and rub your face.
- Slowly raise both hands to your head.
- Cover your head with your palms to draw energy back to your body.
- Slide your hands along the side of your head.
- Use your thumb and forefinger to pull down your earlobes a few times.
Repeat the movements (2 to 6) 2 times. You should rub your face like this 3 times. - Rub your hands together to warm them.
- Massage your arms to regulate the blood circulation from shoulder down to wrist, then acupress the outside ends of your palms. Do this 3 times on each arm.
- Again, rub your hands together to warm them.
- Massage your legs from thighs down to feet with your palms. Do this 3 times on each leg.
- Finally, hold the soles of your feet together with your hands,then rub them together 50 times.
You should do all these movements for a complete massage after the Concentration of Spiritual Energy for beginners or after meditation for advanced practitioners.
4. The Lying Down Abdominal Breathing
After the Post-Meditation Massage, you can continue with the Lying Down Abdominal Breathing Exercise.
The exercise of Lying Down Abdominal Breathing helps to purify the body and regulate the functioning of the bowels. You may practice this method any time your stomach is not full, or 2 to 3 hours after a meal.
The following position should be kept during the entire exercise:
- Lay down on your back on a firm flat surface, preferably in a quiet location where you will not be disturbed for the entire length of the exercise. Keep your arms and legs fully extended out, limp and relaxed. Tell yourself to forget about your body.
- Close your mouth, let the tip of your tongue lightly touch the line between your upper gum and your front teeth.
- Close your eyes, look straight ahead from the center point between your eyebrows, and focus your attention at your navel. Keep this mental focus at the navel for the entire length of the exercise.
- Start by exhaling through your nose and gradually flatten your abdomen as much as possible. Slowly inhale to inflate the abdomen without holding your breath. Slowly exhale until the abdomen is completely flattened. After a complete inhalation and exhalation, mentally count "One" breath.
- Continue inhaling and exhaling the next breath and count "2". Don't hold your breath, breathe evenly and count "3". Continue, counting 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 up to 12. This completes one cycle.
- Rest for a few seconds, and begin a new cycle. With each new cycle, you will be dropping a number. Slowly exhale, empty your abdomen, and start again with 1. Continue breathing and count only up to 11. The next time, count only up to 10, then 9, and so on. 1 to 8… 1 to 7… 1 to 6 … 1 to 5… 1 to 4 … 1 to 3 … 1 to 2 … and finally, just "1". Having counted the last breath ends the entire Lying Down Abdominal Breathing.
The total number of breaths should be 78 or twelve cycles. Your breathing must be smooth and rhythmic. If you go too fast, you will get fewer results. If you go too slowly, it is easy to fall asleep.
You may practice this method any time your stomach is not full, or 2 to 3 hours after a meal. You may practice it after the exercise of concentration of spiritual energy or do it separately at any time during the day.
Explanations:
"Why do you have to think of "filling up" your navel? By "filling up" your navel you have instantly focused on your kidneys, because there is a direct relationship between your navel and your kidneys.
When you fill your navel by inhaling, you have created a pressure against your kidneys at your back. Even when exhaling, there is also a pressure at your back. Thus, the exhaling then inhaling will form one cycle of continuous breath. Then do the second cycle of breath continuously, so that a pressure force will be formed to expel the impure energy of your kidneys and organs out through the way of excretion. Do continuously one cycle to twelve cycles of abdominal breathing. Those gentle breath cycles will create a pressure on your kidneys, leading to the expulsion of the impure energy out through your waste or perspiration. It will also unblock part of the impure energy of your spine. Then continue from 1 to 11 breath cycles then pause, 1 to 10, 1 to 9,…, 1.
Lie down and using the center point between your eyebrows, focus on your navel. During your breathing exercise, when you focus on your navel, you will eventually focus on your astral body. That connection will assist you in the union of your soul and astral body, once the order of your body reaches its point of equilibrium… The center point between your eyebrows is related to your soul, while the navel area is related to your astral body…
Beginners, especially athletes who are used to breathing with their chest, probably will experience difficulty breathing with their abdomen. However, they should make an effort and be determined to achieve!
What is more real than using the pure vital breath of the cosmic universe to cleanse ourselves and to purify the organs of this microcosm? The vital energy of men who are pleasure lovers will certainly be weakened. Women who give birth to many children will experience the same; their vital energy will be weakened, too. In those cases, if you adopt this abdominal breathing, you will gradually recuperate the lost energy and will become stronger and conscious of many things.
We recommend that beginners practice only the above two dharma techniques for six months before proceeding further. This breathing method will greatly benefit the physical body, and will strengthen the four limbs, so that we can avoid incurable diseases such as paralysis or heart and liver disease due to our lack of order. Greedy eating and drinking will cause many diseases. Ambitions and carnal desires also harm the brains. Therefore, diseases are caused by one's character." (Mr Luong-Si-Hang)
5. Invoking The Mantra of Nam-Mo-A-Di-Da-Phat
The silent invocation of the six vibratory words "Nam-Mo-A-Di-Da-Phat" will increase the energy vibrations of the brains and nervous system. It will stabilize one's spirit and restore equlibrium to one's spiritual consciousness. You can practice this exercise whenever you have some leisure time during the day.
Keep your head straight, invoke the mantra silently, keeping your mouth closed, incisors against incisors, and tongue curled up to the upper gum. Concentrate and use your mind to invoke the mantra Nam Mo A Di Da Phat while placing the resonance of each word onto the corresponding energy center of your body.
NAM (Nah..ummm) : When you invoke "Nam", watch for the resonance within your physical body and focus on the energy center located at the middle point between the eyebrows.
MO (Mohhhhh): When you invoke "Mo", focus on the internal resonance at the energy center located at the top of your head.
A (Ahhh): When you invoke "A", focus on the vibrations emitted by the final –ahhh- sound of the Word A at the energy center located at the midpoint between your kidneys.
DI (Yeee or Zeee): When you invoke "DI", focus on the vibrations emitted by the final –Yeee- sound of the word DI at the energy center located at the middle of your chest area.
DA (Dahhhh) : Vibrations emitted by the final –ahhh- sound of the word DA impact energy centers at all the pores on the surface of your skin, emitting peaceful light.
PHAT (Fut): When you invoke "PHAT", focus on the vibrations at the energy center located at your navel.
THE PRINCIPLE OF NAM MO A DI DA PHAT
We must understand the original principle of NAM MO A DI DA PHAT when invoking this mantra. Nam is fire, Mo is air, A is water, Di is expansion, Da is emanation of light and color, and Phat is inspiration. Everything on this earth can be condensed into this principle, from a blade of grass to the human body. All belong to the four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth.
When we curl our tongue up to our upper gum, teeth against teeth, mouth closed, and use our mind to invoke the mantra of Nam Mo A Di Da Phat, we let the energy vibrations of the original principle of Nam Mo A Di Da Phat circulate throughout our body. Only when the energy vibrations move to the corresponding energy centers of the body, will the soul become light and form an aura like the Buddha A DI DA. He only practiced the silent invocation of the mantra Nam Mo A Di Da Phat for his spiritual training, but He could travel everywhere.
- NAM truly represents the South Gate of Heaven and the South Binh Dinh Fire. The energy flow on each side of your forehead will build up at the middle point between your eyebrows. These two energies will then connect and spark brightly. Why do we invoke the word "NAM"? Nam enables the concentration of energy at the middle point between the eyebrows, and the harmonization with the South direction of Heaven and Earth. When fire generates fire, energy shines faster and will help the soul to attain higher levels.
- MO shows the invisible things. When we close our eyes, we can view the scenery from above.
- A Nham Qui (ah neyammm qui) gathers in the kidneys. Water and energy come together in the spiritual renal water. When the kidneys don't function well, you cannot sleep, but when water and energy connect, you feel better and sleep well.
- DI preserves the 3 precious energies: the seminal essence of life, the vital breath energy, and spiritual energy. These 3 energies come together to progress upward and stabilize you.
- DA is an aura a golden color that covers everything. When we are serene, a spiritual energy in the form of a golden aura radiates over our entire body and protects it.
- PHAT is recognizing the serenity inside ourselves. We must admit our problems so as to repent. We must repent to permit progress toward enlightenment.
(Mr Luong-Si-Hang)
See the full explanation of the principle of Nam Mo A Di Da Phat (Hyperlink here)
