Part Three: Cultivation and Realization Methods
- The first step is seeing one’s true nature. Sit in the lotus position (full lotus is best; half lotus or loose crossed legs are also acceptable), with your hands placed casually on your knees, palms facing up. Visualize that directly beneath your seat there is another you (as if you were sitting on a mirror), except that he is sitting upside down, head downward. Visualize this scene clearly.
- After visualizing the state from the first step, further visualize that your thoughts suddenly enter the mind of the person below, and your real physical body becomes a false appearance brought forth by the visualization — the observer and the observed have switched places.
- If the second step is successfully cultivated and realized, then in a single instant the observer and the observed merge into one — there is no observed and no observer.
The starting point of this practice is to visualize yourself sitting upside down with your head downward, which closely resembles the posture of a human being in the mother’s womb. This greatly aids the transformation of the physiology and can prevent the nocturnal emission that some men experience during cultivation and realization.