Spiritual Meditation

Image for meditation
Spiritual Meditation at Xian Sheng’s home

Spiritual Meditation is a form of meditation that is unique to our Baitiangong spiritual movement. Before we start our spiritual meditation, we would kneel down and pray to the CREATOR, and after we settled down into our meditation pose, we offer our mind, body and soul to the CREATOR in meditation. Xian Sheng explained that only a Disciple of the CREATOR can allow our soul to travel to the planes of Heaven and Hell. Some people in other types of deep meditation have experienced either a wondrous plane or a hellish plane that they instantly described as Heaven or Hell respectively. These are other spiritual planes only, as Heaven and Hell are not accessible to any soul without the consent of the Disciple of GOD or permitted by GOD.

Warning!

Xian Sheng warned all the Baitiangong followers never to practice Spiritual Meditation on their own without the supervision of two appointed Baitiangong Elders because when the soul leaves the body, the body would be exposed to wandering souls and other spirits, both good and evil. There are documented incidences of errant Baitiangong followers who did not take heed of Xian Sheng’s warning and meditate on their own. A female follower suffered from depression and loss of appetite, a male follower started to see a lot of unattached heads floating about until he was finally hospitalised and a non-Baitiangong follower landed himself in the police station and was eventually hospitalised for insanity. They are many undocumented incidences as well, but after seeking Xian Sheng for help and after a strong reprimand, they returned back to normal.

There are many websites that highlight the dangers of transcendental meditation, similar to our Spiritual Meditation where the soul leaves its physical body and travels to other spiritual planes. These dangers include serious nervous breakdowns, episodes of dangerous and bizarre behaviour, suicidal and homicidal ideation, threats and attempts, psychotic episodes, crime, depression and manic behaviour following these meditations. Unfortunately for them, they did not have the pleasure of knowing Xian Sheng or they would be easily cured by him. During Spiritual Meditation, Xian Sheng or the designated Elders would recite the Prayer which forms a protective aura around those in meditation. This aura warns and prevents spirits that are lingering around not to try to possess or disturb those in meditation. We must be aware that when we deal with the spiritual realm without proper spiritual protection or understanding, we risk exposing ourselves to the dangers above.

Aims of Baitiangong Spiritual Meditation

The advancement in the fields of science and technology has brought many people out of the ignorant days of superstition and irrational belief in supernatural influences. Unfortunately, the reasoning mind has also been stifled when it comes to the domain of spirituality as people demand scientific proof for the existence of the soul, the existence of Heaven and Hell and the existence of GOD.

Scientific research in meditation has proven that it can produce deep relaxation in some people, and deep relaxation can have physical and psychological health benefits. Meditation can help alleviate stress, help to reduce blood pressure, anxiety, depression and anger. Meditation can also increase intelligence by making both brain hemispheres work together, boost memory, increase brain size and enhance emotional intelligence (EQ).

In the early days of Baitiangong spiritual meditation, miracles that are beyond scientific explanation, like a blind man being able to see again and a cripple able to walk again, are a common sight, which was why Xian Sheng was able to draw in large crowds. Unfortunately, these miracles were not recorded and acknowledged by them. Many of them left after thanking Xian Sheng and never came back. During the turbulent times in 1979, after the bad publicity by the press and the inability of Xian Sheng to seek legal action in the courts in Malaysia, many followers left the movement as their understanding of Baitiangong knowledge was very low and they joined merely for seeking healing and miracles. We have therefore lost the opportunity to record their testimony as documented proof. Nevertheless, there are many cases of spiritual healing recorded.

The main aim of Spiritual Meditation is the five realisations, namely the realisation of the existence of the soul, the realisation of the existence of Heaven and Hell and finally, the realisation of the existence of the CREATOR. Scientific proof requires that the interpretation of results or observations must be in accordance with scientific methods. However, as the scientific methods vary depending on the subject matter, benefits derived from meditation such as physical and psychological health and increased intelligence are accepted as scientific proof, but spiritual healing where a person is healed from ailments that medical science is unable to explain such as the blind are able to see again, the crippled able to walk again, followers with heart ailments are completely cured after meditation and etc. are dismissed as unscientific. It is interesting to note that in both cases, the results are not repeatable in every experiment under laboratory conditions if one demands for empirical evidence. Nevertheless, if miracles in meditation can be repeated, they would not be known as miracles and would not require a Disciple of the CREATOR to perform them.

The existence of the soul and Heaven and Hell are beyond the scope of science as science only deals with the physical aspects of the universe. How would you convince a skeptical person that they have a soul and that Heaven and Hell exist? During spiritual meditation, when a person finds himself or herself standing before their physical body sitting in a meditation pose, they would be faced with the realisation that it could be their soul that is staring back at their body. If they found themselves in a wondrous place that is beautiful beyond description and saw things that defy scientific explanations in our physical world, they would be faced with the realisation that Heaven exists. If they found themselves witnessing or even participating in such horrendous acts of torture that make the actions of Hitler or Cambodia’s Pol Pot seemed compassionate by comparison, then they would be faced with the realisation that Hell exists.

A person in meditation would experience and remember the details vividly just as they would in reality. Spiritual Meditation in Baitiangong would allow a person to be spiritually awakened and they may ask themselves questions like: Do I have a soul? When I pass away, would my soul go to Heaven or Hell? What are the criteria for going to Heaven? Would I need to realise the CREATOR exist and pray to the CREATOR of Heaven to go there?

Early History

In the early history of our movement, many Baitiangong brothers and sisters and even non-Baitiangong followers have the opportunity to experience many wondrous, fascinating and even horrible encounters during Baitiangong Spiritual Meditation. In those days, Spiritual Meditation was very lively and many people who meditated found their soul leaving their physical bodies to visit Heaven, Hell and other spiritual planes. Many joined in the Spiritual Meditation to seek healing for various ailments that were beyond any doctor’s medical assistance. Some are even able to perform incredible acrobatic feats as seen in the Olympics while some are able to perform Chinese martial arts. It was most unfortunate that video camcorders and compact cameras were not readily available in the 1970s. Xian Sheng allowed this form of meditation during the early years of his ministry as it enabled Xian Sheng to easily attract people from all over to listen to his sermons. Although many were fortunate to have an out-of-body (OBE) experience, not everyone experienced them, as Xian Sheng informed us that if everyone went into meditation at the same time, every time, people would accuse Xian Sheng of performing some form of mass hypnosis that induces mass hallucination. Furthermore, it would not seem to be a miracle for those who experienced them.

Unfortunately, witnessing and experiencing all of these miracles only have a temporary effect on many people who participated. Many just walked away after being healed and never bother to listen to Xian Sheng’s sermon about saving their soul. Some even attributed their miraculous healing to other mediums or deities as that would nullify their personal obligation to listen to Xian Sheng’s sermons. Xian Sheng has never asked them for any monetary rewards or any favours, not even for them to thank him, but instead ask them to kneel down and thank the CREATOR. In subsequent years, Xian Sheng informs those seeking Spiritual Healing that they would be healed depending on their own belief in the CREATOR. The miracles dwindled over the years as Xian Sheng wanted the new followers to use their analytical mind and logical thinking to understand why they should remain in the spiritual movement instead of relying on miracles. Even the Devil has the power to perform miracles such as healing the body, but only Xian Sheng would teach people to save their souls, by praying to the CREATOR.

Cessation of Spiritual Meditation in public places

Xian Sheng stopped the practice of public spiritual meditation as he was not happy with the results, that people are more interested to seek spiritual healing and witness miracles, instead of staying on to listen to his sermons to gain spiritual knowledge. Furthermore, the followers that remained faithful to Xian Sheng’s teachings after the turbulent times of false media reporting and unsubstantiated mass arrest by the authorities, are worthy of his attention that he does not need to attract more followers through spiritual meditation.

Claims of possession by Tian Gong, the Holy Spirit, the various deities, a deceased person or even Xian Sheng

There have been incidences of followers in meditation claiming to be Tian Gong or the Holy Spirit or one of the various Chinese deities that have taken possession of the follower and speaking through them. They would demand the attention of bystanders not in meditation or order them to kneel down or give advice and orders. Sometimes a follower in meditation would claim to be the host for a deceased person that wants to speak to their family members or some even claimed to be Xian Sheng himself.

Xian Sheng has taught us to use our analytical mind and logical thinking to determine for ourselves the truth of their claims as our examination in life can also come from spiritual meditation. Would GOD or the Holy Spirit or other deities demand our attention and our prayers or speak to us only during meditations? Xian Sheng has repeatedly warned us to ignore these outbursts, not to engage them in a conversation directly, but to record them down using cassette recorders or video camcorders for later discussion. He gave us a four-step procedure to deal with them: receive them, accept them, evaluate them and place a value on them. Xian Sheng can foresee that such outbursts can occur in the future and can cause disruption and compromise the spiritual movement. For those who cannot control themselves, Xian Sheng would ask them to stop meditation until such a time they regain self-control. There was also a time when Xian Sheng contemplated the idea of completely stopping spiritual meditations due to the uncertainty or even dangers posed. It is interesting to note that Xian Sheng mentioned that during the ministry of Jesus and Prophet Muhammad, meditation was also practised and they faced similar problems as well. Could this be the reason why the practice of meditation is missing from these religions?

Silent Meditation

Nevertheless, Xian Sheng allowed the spiritual meditations to proceed. Notwithstanding the occasional outburst of possession-like meditation, the meditations were still noisy from sounds of slapping hands against the body area that requires attention, both for healing themselves and others sitting in front of them, talking out loud while in meditation as they could not control themselves, babbling out their subconscious thoughts, even to the extent of berating others and other physical movements.

Xian Sheng implemented silent meditation as early as December 1994 in Singapore, but it only became the standard practice in September 1999, in an effort to curb all these undesirable activities as the main purpose of meditation is the Five Realisations, particularly the existence of the soul, of Heaven and Hell and of the CREATOR. Brothers and sisters were taught to sit apart at a distance of both their outstretched arms from each other to prevent interference of each other’s vibration, sit apart from family members as it could hamper their concentration, not to pay attention to any sounds from their surroundings, silently heal themselves in meditation and not to seek out those in meditation to heal them, not to repeatedly recite the Prayer as done in the past or think about what they prayed for prior to meditation, but to relax and clear all thoughts in their mind, so that they can achieve a state of meditation, preferably achieving the ultimate aim of Spiritual Meditation, the Five Realisations.