☆Refreshing Meditation
Is Better Than
Deep Sleep

In the past I held very deep rooted concepts, thinking that a human being could only feel good if one has a full eight-hour sleep. Also that working through the night, sleeping too late or poor quality sleep would adversely affect one's mood and work the next day.

These concepts did not changed until I served in the army. At that time, because of digging work and preparation for war on the outer islands of Chinmen, I often did not have enough sleep. During the holidays, many people put a "holiday badge" on their chests and slept longer. At that time, I had on average five hours of sleep every day. At times, it was even less. But during those two years of service, my mind and physical fitness were in peak condition. I remember once after a night's work without sleep, the commander allowed us to have two hours of rest. After that two hour sleep, I was highly spirited with the power like that of a lion or tiger. It was like having slept for three days. I remembered that Napoleon had no sleep for several days and yet he was able to command his army, fully spirited, by utilizing just small periods of time to rest. So I wondered how can just two hours of sleep fully replenish all one's energy? I knew the answer probably lay with the quality of sleep.

There was more time for sleep after leaving the military service. However, I could not sleep when I lay on my bed, although I often had dreams. Very often, I seemed to be awake the whole night till dawn. Even though I had lay down for a full eight hours my spirit was poor when I got up and I could not concentrate. It was like a lack of sleep syndrome that I was experiencing. It was totally different from when I was a soldier and was so exhausted every day that I fell asleep immediately the moment I lay down, without dreaming. Whenever I got up, it was like only five minutes had elapsed.

After initiation, Master only asks us to do a little "homework" -- keep the five precepts and meditate for two and half hours every day. Initially I thought, what's the difficulty with this? However, as a matter of fact, I often did not do enough "homework". Often, at the end of a busy day's work, small matters and trying to put my three-year-old boy with unlimited energy to sleep, my wife (a fellow initiate) and I were already exhausted. After less than an hour's meditation, we often made a poor excuse to go to sleep since it was usually late and we had work the next day. Recently, during meditation, I suddenly realized that we have been cheated by the mind. In fact, meditation does not conflict with sleep because meditation is more restful than sleep. The satisfaction experienced after being in samadhi cannot be compared to sleeping. Even without achieving the state of samadhi, meditation is still better than sleeping, although my back is often a little sore and my legs a bit numb because my sitting posture is not as comfortable as during sleep. Upon asking my wife and other fellow practitioners how one felt if one meditated or continued doing Master's work no matter how late into the night, everyone said that the next morning one's spirit would not only be rested, but also one felt very stable due to Master's nurturing.

So, brothers and sisters, meditation does not rob us of sleep but instead enhances the state of rest, making us feel more satisfied. Therefore, isn't it true that the less sleep we have the more time we will have to meditate?

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