Boundless Healing
THE FOUR HEALING POWERS OF MIND
The four healing powers are positive images, words, feeling, and
belief. Bringing these qualities of mind to our meditation strengthens
the power to heal our mental, emotional, and physical afflictions.
POSITIVE IMAGES
When we visualize positive objects, the exercise of our imagination
engages and absorbs our minds. If we can maintain the images in
our minds for some duration, the healing will be more intimate
and effective. The mind tends to wander about, especially if we
are new to meditation. If we practice staying with the image as
long as we comfortably can, eventually our concentration will
improve.
Although visualization is a pillar of Tibetan meditation, many
Westerners find it rather strange at first. Forming mental images
is universal, even if we are not used to doing it as part of meditation.
With few exceptions, we all visualize constantly in daily life.
Most of the time, our minds are occupied with neutral images or
negative ones. If we develop the habit of seeing positive images
instead, the peaceful nature of our minds begins to emerge, and
we give joy a chance to flourish.
POSITIVE WORDS
Words can have a great power, for good or ill. As thinking creatures,
we constantly have inner dialogues going on in our minds. We put
labels on things and name them. It is our way of recognizing and
confirming the quality of something.
Meditating upon an image as positive and even comment to ourselves
on its positive nature. For example, if we are visualizing a flower,
we might think "Its color is so spectacular, the whole atmosphere
is radiant with its brilliance"; or "The dew is dripping from
its healthy, fresh petals"; or "It is so pure, as if made of rainbow
light"; or "I wish everybody could enjoy such a feast for the
eyes."
POSITIVE FEELING
The mind not only thinks and recognizes; it feels. If we involve
our awareness of the positive qualities of an object through emotion,
the healing of mind and body is much stronger. For example, in
meditation, if we imagine a beautiful flower, we might just think,
"How beautiful that flower is," but then the positive impression
is a shadow of what it could be. Instead, we can open up to the
flower on the level of feeling–feel the enchanting beauty, the
freshness of dew dripping from it, the clarity of its colors,
like immaculate light. We can feel the qualities of the flower
in our hearts and bodies and celebrate the flower, instead of
just thinking of it intellectually.
We can bring this same openhearted approach to appreciating the
beauty around us every day of our lives. Opening ourselves to
feelings in meditation can bring more zest and enjoyment to everything
we do.
POSITIVE BELIEF
If we do not trust in the power of our meditation to heal, its
strength and energy will be weak. Belief gives the meditation
a firm foundation; it engages the mind in a way that is effective
and total. This is not blind faith, but a faith and trust based
on knowledge that the healing power of mind can be fully called
forth with the help of images, words, and feelings. We need to
believe that we actually can improve our lives in this way. Even
if meditation moves us one step forward, we can fall right back
if we are always harboring doubts in our minds.
Intellectual and material-minded people like ourselves can find
it hard to trust and believe in anything. We need to remember
that the mind is a powerful source of healing and that the purpose
of healing meditation is to awaken our inner resources. We need
to rely on the help of mental objects and believe in the power
of the mind. If we tend to be skeptical of everything and say,
"How can I believe this will make me feel better;" it will be
best to simply suspend such judgments. Even if it is only for
the duration of the meditation, we should give ourselves completely
to feeling and belief. Our intellects can get in the way by fighting
and struggling. We may just need to take a leap into a trusting
attitude.
We might think that by believing, we are only pretending to do
something. If necessary, we should go ahead and pretend that we
believe, but we should do so with all our heart and feeling. Remember
that actors can call up emotions fully by pretending, but only
if they believe in the roles they are playing.
If we can just keep seeing, thinking about, and feeling the positive
qualities of the meditative object, slowly some benefits will
come, though they may be simple. When we start experiencing these
results, a more trusting attitude will flourish in us spontaneously.
If we like the meditation, that is the beginning of believing.
We could start with just the thought of liking to visualize a
particular image. As we become more familiar with the image, our
enjoyment may increase. We should notice any positive feelings;
that is where trust begins.
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