Thursday, June 16, 2011

Meditation and our free will

World-record holder iceman Wim Hof went to Hong Kong and demonstrated his skills, well, as the major attraction of the 2011 Count Down event at the shopping arcade in TST East, featuring beautiful young female models pouring ice to his ice bath, an entertaining event for locals and tourists alike. Wim is a genius in Tommo yoga, an esoteric practice by some Tibetan monks. Fair to say, withstanding cold has not been the primary objective for the monks, but entertainment certainly knows no bound.

Some of my friends are afraid of learning chi-kung fearing that this practice may compromise their free-will. Wim certainly showed us that chi can be used for other purpose, and a practitioner doesn't necessarily have to heed to any "inner voice" that comes its way along the path of practice. If we look at it carefully, our conclusion can become quite interesting: For the Tibetan monks, seeking inner voices is the objective and the ability to withstand intense cold weather is the side-effect. And in Wim's case, it is most likely to be just the opposite. And, Buddha forbids, the audience at the Countdown were treating the demonstration as free-entertainment for a happy evening.

Needless to say, those who have (hidden) psychotic tendency should avoid deep meditation, lest they might be carried away by "angels and demons" out of their own control. For the average modern man, he can certainly exercise his own good judgment and free-will, and to take whatever benefit (including as being entertained!) he would like to choose.

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