THINGS TO TAKE NOTE OF WHEN PERFORMING RECITATIONS
Master Jun Hong Lu: It’s not recommended to feel excessively energised when performing your recitation. Many people will say, “I’m very energised when I recite the Buddhist scriptures; the moment I recite, I feel energised”.
When you are charged, your eyes will be wide open, causing excessive energy to be expended. At this point, if you keep reciting over an extended period, your internal body heat will build up. Eventually, you may end up with blisters in your mouth and restlessness may set in. These are symptoms of internal body heat. Do you understand? Please bear in mind what I tell you as these are time-honoured teachings.
If you perform recitation with your eyes wide open, thinking “I’m full of energy!”, what you do is likely to be erroneous. In fact, one must adopt a suitable approach when performing recitation.
We must emulate the Bodhisattva by keeping our eyes only 30% open when performing recitation. Take a look at the Bodhisattva, Her eyes are perpetually only 30% open and 70% shut. It is important to control your internal heat so that it does not cause any harm to your health.
Separately, I’d like to remind all of you not to recite the Buddhist scriptures loudly or with force. Otherwise, you will harm your vital energy, leaving yourself physically drained after one day of recitation due to a great expense of energy.
Let me give you a simple example: If you are continuously talking from the morning until late into the night, isn’t that detrimental to your energy? There is an ingenious method to perform recitation.
First and foremost, you may make some sound as you recite, but it must not be audible – you should recite in a way that brings forth your inner voice but at the same time it mustn’t be loud.
The best method for recitation is to move your lips as you recite softly. As your Master, I’m here today to guide all of you the method to perform recitation by highlighting the things that you should be aware of as you go about your recitations.
Source: Master Jun Hong Lu’s Buddhism In Plain Terms, Volume 4 Chapter 11
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