MEDITATION 23: EVERYONE IS BREATHING

Everyone is breathing, but everyone has his or her own breath which is different from each other.

Those who are worrying will breathe tired and heavily.
Those who are excited will breathe rapidly.
Those who are planning an evil plot will breathe stagnantly.
Those who are healthy will breathe leisurely, while the weak ones will breathe interruptedly.
Those who have many blessings will breathe generously, while the unblessed ones will breathe hardly.

Those who are moral will breathe stably, while the evil ones will breathe faintly.
Those who want to meditate to reach a peaceful mind must get the three breaths: leisure breath of the healthy ones; generous breath of the blessed ones; and, stable breath of the ethical ones. Then the practitioner can enter the breath of meditation, and breathe consciously.

Thus, the practitioner must first do inner exercise for a better health, create good karma, and improve morality. Inner exercise must be done forever without limits of time or level. Good karma must be achieved forever without limit of quantity or category. Morality must be improved forever until no-self. The three factors of Inner strength, Good karma, and Ethics must be accumulated unlimitedly, and never think they are enough.

The breath of meditation is conscious breath, experiencing the breath in, experiencing the breath out clearly.

The breath of meditation does not allow us to control it, especially not allowing us to try to breathe long or breathe much. We must be intelligent to know how much is enough for an inhalation, and do not try to get more air. Almost all the practitioners were wrong when they try to breath much, because they thought the more they breathe, the faster they get the result. But, unexpectedly, a plentiful breathing will lead to obstruction.

The lesson of little breath also gives us many things in life. Those who want plenty, want to hurry, want to be quick, will almost fail. We want to study well soon, to finish training soon, to get rich soon, to be respected by lots of people, to be famous imposingly…those are the signs of being broken.

The breath of meditation also requires the feeling of the whole body. We must always be aware of the whole body… If we do not know the whole body, when our mind is calmer, we will attend to the part above, especially to the head. When the mind is calmer, the attention on the head will cause a pleasure feeling, similar to a drug. This pleasurable feeling gives us a self confidence that we have moved in the right way, so the result is feeling good and happy. But the attention only on the head causes an extremely bad consequence. Our deep power from the bottom will move upward, attacks the brain, ruins the pituitary gland, then ends up in one of two cases: insanity, or back to the state of the day before meditation.

Although our mind is getting calmer and calmer, we must also try to know and attend the lower part of the body to keep the inner strength down, so our inner power structure can keep stable.

At the beginning of the conscious breath, we breath and know every turn in or out clearly. We do not breathe long or plentifully, but the exhaling will always be longer than inhaling. Although the inhaling is shorter, but the amount of the air is also enough for the longer exhaling. It is extremely wrong if we try to inhale long or plentifully, because it will damage our body.

No matter that we breathe the right way, we are also attacked by the thoughts. But do not worry. Then we will feel the thoughts are scant, and the mind calmer and brighter. Do not be impatient and change the method, it will be worse.

If we can practice such breathing, it will not take much time for us to get a calmer mind, but this level is nothing. Deeply inside we still have many mistakes, still keep our wrong concepts. That is why we must firstly have a long while to realize about the short existence of the body, about the no-self of both mind and body. Perhaps our mind is calmer, but we still have many wrong concepts inside. We think we are very sublime now, we become arrogant gradually. This is extremely dangerous.

When we get a mind calmer and brighter, we will see many strange visions. Light in front of our head, a soft power covering our whole body, seeing our own vital organs, body as light as a cloud… all those states are seducing us to leave the breath and the feeling of the whole body.

The practitioners must be wise, and not pay attention to such states, just keep the breath cautiously, just know the inhaling and exhaling clearly.

When we practice that conscious breath, we will get a new soft power which moves around the body to improve everything. Many hidden and chronic diseases will be eradicated gradually. If we have some blessings, we can get a special strength too.

Those who can practice very often this conscious breath will be confident and pleased. They always try to practice all day because that task makes their mind and body easy. Gradually, even in busy working, we also try to remember our whole body, then the breath will appear, and we follow that breath.

However, this is a crucial thing. When the mind become calmer and brighter, we must remind ourselves that there is nothing ME, the body is not ME, the mind is not ME. Inhaling, knowing that there is nothing ME; Exhaling, knowing that there is nothing ME. All reminders must be attached to the breath, in and out. If we remind ourselves without attaching to the breath, we will be interested by those reminders and pay a little attention to the breath, which is not good. Inhale, remember that this body is short-lived; exhale, remember that this body is short-lived.

Inhale, understanding that we still have many mistakes; exhale, understanding that we still have many mistakes.
Inhale, knowing the whole body; exhale, knowing the whole body.
Inhale, devote our absolute homage to Buddha; exhale, devote our absolute homage to Buddha.
Inhale, spread our love to all beings; exhale, spread our love to all beings.

However, if those who can remind themselves the three virtues: Homage to Buddha, Compassion, and Modesty, at the beginning of the meditation session, that’s all. They just need reminding nothing is ME while meditating.

We repeat, the breath of meditation is conscious, is aware of inhaling and exhaling clearly. However, it does not require long or deep or plentiful air. It is natural and conscious. The inhaling will be always shorter than the exhaling.

The conscious breath will cause a calmer and brighter mind. But when the mind become calmer and brighter, the practitioners are tempted to pay more attention to that calmness and brightness, and less attention to the breath. That is not good. The conscious breath is the cause, the bright mind is the result. If we leave the cause to follow the result, the result will disappear soon. If we follow the bright mind and leave the breath, the bright mind will disappear soon. Then the practitioners will go backward to the beginning.

So, no matter what results appear, the practitioners must be wise to be aware of the breath clearly to keep the root, to keep the cause, so the result will be stable.

Anyway, the result of meditation is rooted from the good karma in the past. When the good karma is exhausted, meditation will be extinguished. So the practitioners must make good karma forever, unlimitedly, to make the result of meditation unlimited too. Good karma is the root of meditation