Chan Can Control Cholesterol Level

​Tam has been taking prescription medicine to lower his cholesterol, everyday, since 2008. During our one month Chan Meditation retreat, he decided not to take his pills, since he would be eating a simple vegetarian diet and meditating all day. ​

During the Chan retreat, he felt his health was getting better and better every day.

About six weeks later, Tam still had not taken any of his cholesterol pills. He thought that maybe he should start taking them again. 

So one night, at about 10pm, he took one pill before bed. About half an hour later, his entire body suddenly began to itch. He tried to fall asleep, but the itching was too intense. So at about 12am, he got up and began to meditate. After sitting for about 30 minutes, the itching dramatically decreased, and he was able to lie down and sleep.

When he reported his experience during a Dharma Talk a month later, our teacher, Dharma Master YongHua explained that Tam made giant strides during the Chan Qi, and reached the upper tiers of the formless realm samadhis. When he took the pill after the Chan Qi, due to his skill level, his body naturally rejected the toxins contained in the cholesterol medicine, which is why his body became itchy. When he decided to meditate for half an hour, that’s when he was able to get rid of most of the toxins from the pills.

Thus we can see that, due to his formless realm samadhi, Tam was able to regulate his cholesterol level without any medicine. Since that day, he has no longer been taking any cholesterol pills.