100 Buddhist Health Tips
1. Remember: Sleep is the most important element of health preservation. The ideal time for sleep is from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM. This period corresponds to the "winter" of the day, a time for storage. If the body does not store energy during this time, there will be no growth in spring and summer, leading to a lack of energy the next day.
2. All medicines, whether from Traditional Chinese Medicine or Western Medicine, treat the symptoms of a disease, not its root cause. This is because all illnesses are the effects of mistaken causes. As long as the mistaken cause is not removed, the effect will not be eradicated. The foundation of health lies in the mind; all methods arise from the mind. When the mind is pure, the body is pure. Therefore, when you are ill, do not seek solutions outside; rely on your body's own healing system to repair itself. In reality, humans are no different from animals. Animals heal themselves, and so can humans.
3. The right mindset is far more effective than expensive medicines and risky surgeries in helping patients eliminate disease. With the right mindset, you will make the right decisions, take the right actions, and thus prevent many illnesses from occurring.
4. All the wisdom a person possesses does not come from books, but arises from a sincere and pure heart (what Buddhism calls the Bodhi-mind), which is born from meditation.
5. Humans are the most perfectly constructed spiritual beings among all living things. A healthy body is innate to human beings. The regulation of one's health condition is accomplished by the body's own regulatory and repair systems, not by external factors. External factors can only play a supplementary role.
6. Most illnesses are phenomena of the body's self-regulation and cleansing process, a state of the body's automatic adjustment to maintain balance. Therefore, they should be regarded as normal physiological phenomena, not as diseases to be eliminated. Thus, when one is ill, one must not harbor resentment or anger. The mind must be calm; when the mind is calm, the Qi flows smoothly; when the Qi flows smoothly, the blood circulates freely; with smooth Qi and blood, all diseases disappear.
7. Human health depends on two key elements: 1) Sufficient Qi and blood; 2) Unobstructed meridians (including blood vessels and channels for expelling waste).
8. Sufficient Qi and blood depend on: adequate food + bile + high-quality sleep within a necessary time frame (after it gets dark at night until 1:40 AM, when the brain is completely inactive and the autonomic nervous system is in control) + good lifestyle habits.
9. Unobstructed meridians require a pure heart. The seven emotions and six desires all disrupt a pure heart, thereby interfering with the normal function of the meridians.
10. Maintaining a healthy body requires not only "increasing income" (boosting Qi and blood) but also "reducing expenditure" (minimizing the loss of Qi and blood).
11. Overeating will not increase Qi and blood; instead, it becomes a burden of waste in the body, which in turn consumes Qi and blood to be cleared. The five zang-organs and six fu-organs are a factory for Qi and blood, with food as the raw material. The factory's processing capacity is limited, while the supply of food is infinite. Therefore, the quantity of food must be controlled.
12. Moderate exercise can help the circulation of Qi and blood, but it also consumes them. The body's microcirculation should primarily be achieved through relaxation and stillness, which is also essential for health.
13. The more waste there is in the body, the more Qi and blood are needed to clear it. However, Qi and blood decrease due to the increase in waste and blockages in the vessels, creating a vicious cycle. This is precisely the mechanism of aging. Therefore, if one wants to stay healthy and not age, one must: 1) Reduce internal waste; 2) Improve the畅通 of the blood vessels and meridians; 3) Increase the body's Qi and blood.
14. Rather than trusting medicine or examination data, trust your own feelings and your innate self-regulatory ability. However, this requires that you have attained wisdom (your wisdom has opened up) in order to discern all this.
15. Health begins with regulating the mind and character. For your health, you should study Buddhism. The happiness derived from studying Buddhism is the highest enjoyment in life.
16. For a person with a chronic illness, the condition will only manifest when the Qi and blood are sufficient (either through the methods for supplementing Qi and blood described here, or through meditation to unblock the energy flow). Therefore, practitioners of Qigong will experience some "illness-like" phenomena after reaching a certain level of skill. At this time, one must remain calm, settle the mind, and practice more meditation to increase one's Qi and blood in order to pass through this period as quickly as possible.
17. When a person violates the principles of health preservation, they may not get sick immediately, but once it becomes a habit, the chances of falling ill will greatly increase. This is like traffic rules: violating them may not lead to an accident, but the danger is obvious.
18. Why is it beneficial for health preservation to maintain a certain degree of hunger and thirst? This is the marvelous function of "emptiness" (Xu). Taoism teaches that emptiness brings spiritual clarity. This is similar to how modesty leads to progress while arrogance leads to stagnation. Therefore, one must always maintain a state of "empty and spiritual" to remain clear-headed and healthy at all times.
19. If one wants to be healthy