How To Practice Anapanasati (Breathing Awareness Meditation)

An Eternal Now SG

Shakyamuni Buddha used anapana practice extensively to attain enlightenment. After his enlightenment, he undertook three retreats in his life of several months duration each time. During those retreats he extensively practiced anapana.

When his son Rahula came to him asking for instruction on how to attain enlightenment, he taught Rahula anapana. He taught his number one student Mahakasypa (and other students) anapana so he could get the Tao, too. From all this we know that anapana is one of the most important methods of cultivation to reach enlightenment. It is a non-denominational method that can be practiced by every individual. So if you are a member of any religion, there is no harm in practicing it.

Anapana is one of the two methods by which Buddhism gained entry into China due to the effectiveness of its cultivation methods. The two methods that made this possible were anapana and the white skeleton visualization (body impurity) method. The white skeleton visualization method helps lay the foundation for transforming the body and its chi channels for cultivation, and anapana helps you attain enlightenment. Surprisingly, despite its key importance in cultivating for attainment, a strong anapana tradition never made its way into Tibet which is a pity because with anapana it is easier to gain enlightenment than most of the esoteric practices people think are high stage in Tibet! You can read about this on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anapanasati

So how do you practice anapana?

Some people say there are six steps to anapana, such as the Chinese Tien-tai master Chih-i. You can read about this in THE SIX DHARMA GATES TO THE SUBLIME that has recently been translated into English after so many centuries of waiting. Such an important little book and it’s taken years for someone to translate it. People always pick the wrong things to translate rather than the really useful stuff. Amazon.com has it here:

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=meditationexp-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=1935413015&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Some people say there are 16 steps to anapana, the last one being to offer everything away. See the following for details:

http://www.meditationexpert.com/meditation-techniques/m_anapanasati_sutra_breathing_yoga_pranayama.html

In the Anapansati Sutra spoken by Buddha, only a few instructional steps were originally recorded that have you watching your breath. Further details were added by later generations of masters, with perhaps the most important addition to this practice understanding being the “Dharmatara Dhyana Sutra” first translated by Buddhabhadra.

This sutra, if translated into English today, would explain anapana and the practice steps and gong-fu of cultivation in a very clear, non-denominational fashion and would revolutionize most all religions. It would blow people away, and I’m praying for a translator to take it on. However, the Dharmataradhyana sutra is very hard to translate, so no one has touched it for about 1000 years. However, it is really the foundational work for the Zen school, and something people should translate if given the chance. But as usual, people spend their time translating almost everything else other than what’s really needed, helpful and useful and will save the most people … like a book of koans or another book of Tibetan yoga for instance. Fun stuff, but doesn’t really help anybody in any major way whereas the foundational practice method for enlightenment, for Zen, and which never made its way into even the Tibetan tradition or western schools remains neglected.

Imagine: Buddha succeeded through anapana, his students succeeded through anapana, Buddhism made its way into China because of anapana, the anapana tradition did not make its way into Tibet in a big way despite its importance, this sutra was key in helping lay the practice foundation for the entire school of Zen and no one, nobody has translated it. See what I mean when I tell people over and over again it is very hard to get the real teachings or really important teachings? And people wonder why the religions don’t have many individuals of high stage attainment or a clear path. This is just another example of the bad karma of human beings. But enough of that …

Let’s turn to practice instructions…

Now in some explanations of anapana, it says you should focus on the tip of your nose. Yoga schools often say that as well. But if you actually focus on the tip of your nose, some people go crazy, so that’s not the meaning at all. How can you enter samadhi if you are actually continually focusing on the nose? People came up with this idea because they did not understand the instructions in the sutra. And if you count your breatsh and focus on the numbers, all you can ever hope for is to become a super accountant….errrrh… crazy accountant.

The right way to do it is to attain a state so relaxed and comfortable that you forget your body, like being half awake or half asleep. In that state you still know when the breath enters or leaves the nostrils because of awareness. Is there any special effort to this? No! Try it right now. Close your eyes and witness/watch/observe with your mind. Do you know when the breath enters or leaves the nose? Of course. Did you have to make any special effort? No, of course not. When you naturally know the breath enters or leaves the nostrils, that’s the meaning of focusing on the tip of the nose. That’s anapana practice.

Typically your mind stream is in a state of flow, consciousness is a scenario that flows like a river, but the breathing is an in and out event, a discrete event that is separate from what goes on within that flow. It happens despite the flow or contents of consciousness, so you can use it as an anchor to drop the attachment to the tableau. When you concentrate on that breaking phenomena of birth and death, you can detach from the entire flow visage/scenario/continuum/soup that you are in without knowing it, and realize awareness itself.

It is awareness practice that will enable you to eventually separate from consciousness and cultivate pure awareness. From there you can then proceed farther. I’m not going to go into the details how or why or what comes next, just the entry way. You have to practice to prove things for yourself. But here’s one big secret I’m going to share with you: in many schools they tell you to combine your breath with thought. You don’t have to make any effort to do this. You don’t have to try to squeeze the two together or anything like that. Once you know there is breath going in and out the nostrils, that’s the meaning of breath and awareness become one. You know it, so thoughts and breath are unified. Later you attain respiratory cessation and when you know that, they are unified as well. But initially you should consider just knowing the in and out breath as union.

Eventually with good anapana practice you’ll realize it’s not YOUR awareness, but just “awareness” that knows or “awareness that functions” because the ego quiets down. That’s real progress. Buddha said that the real mind is everywhere, that awareness is everywhere and not within the body. Therefore it is really universal awareness powering things. You think of awareness as yours because of the habit of hearing thoughts in the head, but it is actually just the universal awareness operating. Thoughts and the chi flow that comes with them are a separate issue.

The awareness/presence of the internal dialogue or wandering mind makes you think you are an ego. It’s due in part to the presence of the body anad attachment to its energies and perceptions of which consciousness is one as well. Who said the the thoughts inside of being an ego are correct? Who? To discover the universal nature of awareness that everyone shares, and then what lies beyond, you can use anapana as a route. You can also use Kuan Yin’s method of listening to sound to detach and find the course, but that’s different and we’ll describe it later. When you match the two you’ll see what everybody is after when they seek enlightenment. Each religion … same thing, same end point if they target high enough. Some don’t want the ultimate nature but that’s another story.

People always think it’s THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL awareness that is functioning and forget that there is only one awareness in the universe that shines through all sentient beings, just like there’s one moon in the sky that is seen in all the puddles below. One moon, 10000 puddles, 10000 moons. Now you knwo the meaning of that Zen story.

That one original awareness shines through all our seeing, hearing, thinking, knowing. it powers it. It is it. Somehow we combine ideas of being an individual ego with that one awareness shining and get them all mixed up and start clinging to the ego ideas (Buddha described this int he Surangama Sutra), but anapana will help us make things clear. It’s a way to reach the independence of awareness from the scenario that is being witnessed/experienced in consciounsess. Some schools call this “detachment” and now you know the meaning, for detachment is the process and aarness realizaiton is only the preliminary stage or step of completion. But you have to practice to know that.

You do not make anything new or create anything in anapana but use this observation method to basically cut through delusion-ignorance to see what really is, like using Manjushri’s sword to cut off delusions. Through anapana you can detach from body and mind, mind in this case meaning thoughts and consciousness. When you realize how the ordinary mind really works from self-observation, we call that understanding wisdom. In western schools we call it “Sophia” whereas in Buddhism we call it prajna and in other schools discriminative analysis.

In other words, “you have to know your own mind” means you have to investigate it. Without investigation (Confucius’ term) you’ll never get the Tao, only samadhi states. That’s how Buddhism is different from all the world’s religions. Buddhism stress prajna wisdom, or understanding and analysis of what’s going on. All the religions have samadhi — which produces saints and sages — but if you want answers for everything and analysis, you must turn to Buddhism. Judaism, Islam, Christianity, even Taoism and Confuciansim cannot help you. But you have to investigate which is why even Confucius told you so.

You don’t need to count to do anapana. Just notice the breath going in and then out. Once you notice something else you’ve lost that unity. One other point — for more advanced practitioners. People who practice anapana often notice there is tightness in the body or pain, hotness, cold, etc. Just watch it, obsevre it and it will dissolve. Don’t focus on it or force it.

Once again, to open up the constricted channels causing this in those areas, just notice the area and let it breathe. Some schools use the mental issuance of two silent sounds – HA and HUNG (such as in “soha” or “om mani padme hung”) imagined lightly originating from those knots to help release the channels in those areas so the chi can go through. “Ha” for instance helps you break the tendency to grab and reminds you to give away, to offer. Mantras work, too. So does letting the area dissolve into light or slowly pulsing light THROUGH the area without resistance as you sometimes see in videos of cuttlefish or deep sea pulsing jellyfish.

The point is, you shine light or let light shine without force or obstructions in such a way that the tissues relax. If you use skeleton visualization on the spot, you just imagine the area is the underlying skelton for a single fraction of a moment, and then let go. Repeat if required. Liek shampoos say: wash, rinse, repeat … but only repatif necessary and not necessarily immediately. The areas open up if you practice emptiness, so don’t use force.

Always use the out breath to recite these sounds. The skeleton visualization is another method to help loosen knotos — in a fraction of ta second you just know you are a skeelton, let go and you are done. That’s real white skeleton visualization practice, but people ordinarily think they need to use force.

Just never try to force a knot to open. That’s incorrect Tao school, yoga and esoteric school practice. “Hung” is a more forceful sound than “ha” if you must use a little extra strength dissolution method. There are lots of helpful practice techniques like this at the earliest stages of the path, but don’t turn the method into qi-gong. It’s watching the breath, not anything else though Mencius called it “cultivating the breath” because when you watch the breath and let go, you eventually can let go of the body and realize the body of universal awareness with its own type of universal chi. But only a cultivator can do it. The point is, you can use anapana to help transform your body. It’s pretty darn easy to do so when you practice anapana correctly.

If you follow your breathing in and out the tip of the nose, as you get better at it you can eventually switch the focus to the middle of the nose, then the upper bridge and then the third eye location of the Ajna chakra. A really talented practitioner can even do breathing through all his chakras, but not beginners at the earliest stages of practice. When you reach this point you can use anapana to rejuvenate yourself with energy, or even to extend your life for long periods of time if your chakras and channels are all open. That’s why Buddha, Tsong Khapa and several other great enlightened masters were able to order several of their students to stay living in this world until the next Buddha. Many traditions have this. You can transform the entire body to be able to do this and reach a stage not only of the Arhats where the body can appear and disappear at will, but even further. When this happens the entire body and cells fill with chi and you can let go of the body to enter into dhyana. You don’t hold on to that state but just fill with chi and let go.

Know when the air flows through the nostrils. You don’t focus on the in breath or out breath but just know that the in and out of the air is there. You can feel it in the nostrils. The whole idea is to forget the body and detach from the realm of chi/energy associated with the ordinary panorama of consciousness. You want to start to cultivate AWARENESS without clinging. Let go of everything. Then you can enter into the first dhyana. In the first and second dhyana you’ll always be happy and blissful, you’ll forget about hunger and sex, and will be able to leave the world at will. If you don’t want to be here anymore, with one thought you can depart.

In order to better relax and forget the body when you practice anapana, it helps to first understand some basic principles of cultivation practice. This is not “theory” but truth. Everything you see right now is your mind. Everything you see, hear, feel, taste, smell is your mind that you are experiencing. PAUSE right now and think about what you just read. You only ever experience your mind and nothing else. In fact, you can never experience anything else other than your mind.

What do you think you are experiencing, the world? Ridiculous. You are only knowing your own mind. You sense the world and those senses are turned into images of consciousness, so you only ever experience mental states, ie. consciousness or mind. Think about it. .. Take your time to pause and think about it as this article will still be here. No reason to rush ahead.

Now because the mind is changeable like a dream, it’s unreal and yet there is an appearance there. So what appears to be there is both real and unreal, or let’s say neither real nor unreal. And because you only ever experience your own mind, that’s why there is no inside or outside, no in or out, no coming or going. You are always within consciousness, and the cloud of consciousness that flows is within mind but you think it’s the external world. WHy? Because you forgot, you didn’t do this analysis. Your prajna wisdom is not active.

The real mind that knows always stays, is non-moving, still. The movie scenes change but the projection screen never changes, is always empty, still, silent, true and knows. We think consciousness is the mind, but it is the contents of the mind. The true self that’s real, dependable, never moves, never comes nor goes, that’s pure, eternal, blissful is the One fundamental nature that has the power of awareness as just one of its myriad infinite functions, and so we often call This the One Mind or true mind of reality. That’s what Zen calls the original nature. You usually call this “God” but It is not a person or being or state or anything you can call existence or non-existence. You can only find it through cultivation and by wisdom analysis, which we call “prajna.” That means understanding all this. You also need merit to rediscover your true self which is why I always tell people to do good deeds and clarify their behavior. Don’t think you can just meditate and Bingo-Presto you get it. Sorry Charlie.

As an example using sight, your physical eyes translate visual signals into consciousness and this is what you experience — consciousness only, a mental continuum of images — consciousness only. So you are only ever experiencing your OWN MIND. That being the case, whatever you see, hear, feel, touch is you. You can now relax during meditation. You only ever experience YOU. The world you see is YOU that you are experiencing. Why? Because it’s your mind, your mental images, your consciousness, you. You only ever experience your own consciousness, i.e. YOU.

That being the case, let go. There’s nothing to figure out because you are that knowing nature and can know, and when you need to figure out something you will. It will always be you which does this. Who cares what arises — pain, pleasure, emptiness, whatever. It will always be you. You might not figure out things correctly but the experiencer will alwasy be YOU. Later, we can talk about no expereince, no experiencer, no experiencing but right now at this stage stick with this.

Other people are also always experiencing only themselves. And since everyone is experiencing the same environment, you will eventually realize that the underlying foundation of everyone’s consciousness is the same. There is just an illusion of separation, of individuality that we cling to out of ignorance. Everyone is a Buddha. Everyone is the same original nature shining awareness. The proof is more robust than that, but the words should give you some faith in the one original nature. It is the ultimate source of both matter and mind, but we use awareness to reach it. You’re not an exception and everyone else is It. It is ALL It.

You can never find your original nature through the avenue of science that investigates matter or energy either. Ridiculous. Never. Billions and trillions of dollars and effort every year … even to know why a salamander changes color or something like that … but not a drop for cultivation. Amazing. You must experience all this within your own mind by tracing awareness back to its empty source and then your body — composed of hardened chi or energy — will start to transform just as the whole dream plane is transforming. Why hold on to things if that’s the way it really is? You can’t make an illusion into something real no matter how hard you can try. You can only drop into pain, suffering, ignorance and discomfort. You can revolve around in miserable states forever.

After you see the Tao, that’s when masters can cultivate the sambhogakaya, or perfected human body and “beautified” or purified chi bodies. After they see the Tao by letting go of thoughts, their chi starts to move because the universe is moving and alwasy trasnfrorming; thoughts hold the body and it’s chi in artifical shapes we are not. If you try to cultivate the body ahead of gaining the right view there’s just no way anyone succeeds. They all think they will, but none do. Same story in Taoism, Tibetan Buddhism, yoga, kaballists, western alchemy, Shinto, you name it. But let’s not go into that because we want to talk about anapana which incidentally, does help your transform the body while helping you reach the Tao. No other method is safer. No other method is as useful in terms of banishing sickness and extending the life, as well as opening up chakras, chi channels and so forth. So if you want enlightenment into the original nature, the original mind then practice anapana. If you want to transform your karmic body into the sambhogakaya reward body of purified chi and purified karma, then practice anapana.

There’s no inside or outside of the mind or your head. You hear thoughts in your head and feel the back of the skull when you meditate, but open your eyes and you see the world. Inside-outside, eyes opened or eyes shut, dreaming or waking states, awake or asleep — it’s all the same one thing: consciousness. It’s not light or dark, long or short but consciousness. Knowing the mind’s true nature, we call this the “light of awareness.” It’s pristine, clean, pure, stainless, immovable, present. It’s all you so there is no difference in terms of the experience being consciousness or not consciousness. There is always awareness. The contents of awareness are consciousness, so you can relax because awareness will always be there but the contents will always be changing, just like in a dream. You cannot hold on to them. To hold on to them is samadhi. Awareness will alwasy be there so you will neevr be alone. That’s why we say there is a Buddha everywhere.

Energy will always be there too. Energy is the substance of consciousness. Chi and consciousness are linked because chi is energy and consciousness is appearance. It’s like two sides of a coin in that both go together. That is, only at the low stages of the path. In terms of the ultimate, there is no such thing — no such thing as chi or consciousness. (1) Or you can say the “substance” or “essence” is the most purified chi, so pure that it’s no longer chi, no longer there, so that there is nothing any longer. It’s empty of everything including chi and mind and that’s essence. (2) Or you can say that consciousness becomes so pure, so still, so unmoving, so absent of suffering, marks and undulations that there is no consciousness any longer. There is emptiness or void. It’s not a “thing” that’s empty because what is real is that absence of everything, including what we call emptiness.

Emptiness that you are thinking about is an image, and it’s not empty space, empty consciousness, or even nothingness. We just call it EMPTY. We use those words to denote negation of anything we might know … any phenomena, experience, existence in general etc. So some schools say empty, some say pure consciousness, some say no consciousness at all. Some use words like awareness, clear light, perception, being, reality or existence. So the original nature that is right now this very moment is empty yet where we have this world of appearance that seems to be here but is unreal, so you cannot say it’s non-existence if this is here, and you cannot say what’s here is real if it doesn’t stay and is as changeable and effervescent as a dream, which it is but you just don’t know it. You just think it’s stable because you’ve created that thought habit in yourself and it’s becomes a set of colored lens that attached rigid edges onto everything in such a way that you take all things as individual units. But everything interpenetrates and is connected to everything else in one big soup, one big jewled net of Indra … every atoms, cell, electron is like this.

There are no individual units of anything, just a false perception of individuality and separate units formed through aeons of wrong habit energy. meditation is to let go of habit energies through detachment, and detachment through wisdom, and through wisdom to let go of saamdhi to reach the One behind. Even to take things as a single agglomeration is wrong because that “one agglomeration” means you’ve abandoned emptiness – you’ve got an image of “one” in your mind. The highest Tao is not emptiness, but neither emptiness nor existence. But don’t cling to that either, for the duality of knowing and not knowing are both functions of the original nature. Seems you cannot escape. It’s one big circle/whole. The two are the same, nirvana and samsara are one and you get there through the mind, i.e. meditation. That’s the only way. Not through cultivating the body. But anapana will help you cultivate both mind a body — a double whammy that saves precious time. If you are old if will help restore you, too.

That’s just my way of explaining it, not the real truth of the matter. I’m skipping facts and details to write a brief article. It’s just to help you for this method, so don’t take those words as the ultimate. Just use them to help.

You just experience different pictures or images in consciousness but it’s still the same one consciousness. The same thing that gives birth to awarness you had as a child is the same one you have today, but the flow has changed all along. It is the same thing standing behind awareness you have right now, isn’t it? THAT – which you think of as YOU – has not changed, has it? It hasn’t aged, has it? The body has aged, the contents or flow of consciousness has changed, but now you know the body is not you. The purest empty consciousness that has not aged, that is the awareness that has not aged, that is the base of awareness that we call the non-moving empty original nature and THAT is the real you.

Sometimes for colloquial sake we call it “consciousness” to be lax, so you have to be forgiving and always interpret correctly. Many schools don’t get the terminology correct and it confuses people — mind, consciousness, empty, awareness. Sometimes they mean the same thing and sometimes not, so it’s confusing. It confuses the hell out of me too but we have to deal with all these different cultures and writings. In Tibet they just call it clear light, so you have all these different competing terminologies. The point is, that’s all you ever experience so close your eyes with anapana practice, let go and relax because it will alwasy be there and the contents of consciousness will change so don’t bother to hold on. You already know everything. You know when there is an in-breath in the nostrils and when there is an out-breath. Nothing will change, you’re not missing anything, just let go of thoughts and notice the breath and detach.

One day you definitely will be old and gray but that one pure consciousness will never move or age. Your eyes may not work, your body may be sick or failing, but those are new scenarios of consciousness. They are not you. You will still be able to think and know, maybe not clearly, but mentation (whatever it is, however good or bad, crippled, crazy, insane, coma-like or perfect) are contents of consciousness. The knowing comes from the real you. Even if you get Alzheimers or dementia and lose your mind, there will be knowing of the contents of consciousness. Who said the contents are all good or will always be good or are not like a broken machine? Those contents — thoughts — are not you but passing scenery. Good or bad, whatever you expereince — that’s karma. That’s why you cultivate — to change that fate. Current fate and future fate. Future fate for this life and future fate for subsequent lives.

The different worldview, mind stream, cultural concepts, even access to cultivation teachings will change next time around. Don’t count on the fact you’ll be Jewish again, or a girl, or tall, or Chinese, or Hindu/Muslim, or rich or naturally musically talented or athletic … Most important of all, cultivation teachings that help you surmount all this and become the master and end suffering and increase your ability to do things for the world — they might be there and might be denied. Depends on your merits so hurry to cultivate and make progress and plant the seeds now. You WILL die and get a new life with a different sex, race, body, worldview, etc. maybe even become an animal, hungry ghost, heavenly being, whatever. Then all the pain and suffering and ignorance and yet more mistakes repeat over and over again with changing consciousness, with pain and suffering until you decide to cultivate and jump out of the control of consciousness by no longer following along. Only the tableau of consciousness contents changes. Everything is always transforming.

Forget this New Age idea of evolution: “Each life I’m learning a new lesson and getting better.” Bullshit. There’s no guarantee of that or anything at all. Look around at the most painful conditions in the world and that’s your future fate at some point in itme. Has to be, especially if it happens to the world’s majority. No one has good karma forever. SO JUMP OUT OF IT ENTIRELY. Work to do it now. “Evolution” lasts forever. It just means “transformation” and who says transformation is always upwards and for the better? That’s science fiction nonsense. Transformation is just transformation and better is because of good deeds and merit.

Don’t let the last 100 years of human progress fool you. There are countless worlds, realms, etc. in different states and different trajectories and who knows what’s around the corner. Did you even predict this recession? If not, don’t talk wishy-washy love-the-whole-way round New Age gobbelygook nonsense. You cannot predict what will happen and where you will be, unless of course you become a master. Then you can choose. Otherwise, all this New Age idea of choosing is nonsense. You really think people are that powerful if they don’t cultivate, attain the dharmakaya and sambhogakaya. I’m laughing my butt off ….

Do you want pain and suffering forever? You only become a master by finding the ultimate one source (that all religions talk about — there is only one and it’s the same thing) and then you are free to come and go as you please, free of pain and suffering, and can help as you wish. That is the ultimate destination. What are you waiting for?

There is no inside of you or outside of you. It is all one thing. There is no inside or outside when you open or close your eyes, or whether it’s this state or that state you experience. There is only one thing going on — a consciousness tableau you are experiencing. But where is the “you” if you are not the transforming body or consciousness to which you identify? All that is being experienced is a limited consciousness, which is a flowing scenery like a river or waterfall or torrent or churning ocean. The flow is not real either since it doesn’t stay. There’s nothing you can grasp on to. But the flow, as a continuity, is not your true self either. Buddha warned you about that. The true self is what stays, what remains, what is pure and clear, blissful, peaceful, eternal, sure. It’s foundational — nothing beyond it, self-so, universal, nothing besides. All sorts of adjectives like that which you find in Judaism, Sufism, etc. but no one gets it. They all want a god, being, person, heaven, etc. but That unmoving one is the eternal forever thing you want to find. It’s always there, still there, always will be but you cover it over hankering after this or that which cannot satisfy you or provide real pleasure and contentment. It’s your TRUE NATURE, not something you make up. You have to reach THAT ONE in spiritual cultivation. We call it awakeneing, enlightenment, realization or liberation.

Think about this, for to realize this is to attain the right view. Also, what is BEHIND the consciousness you experience? What’s behind it? The non-moving one, that’s what is there. In fact, it’s always been there.

When you know that, you can finally relax completely. Awareness is the knowing of consciousness. Awareness is empty, but the content of it is consciousness. Awareness is knowing. Consciousness is what can be known, ie. thoughts, images, discriminations, sensations, feelings, perceptions, etc. Awareness and consciousness are actually one, like a mirror and the reflection within it.

They have to be a unity, there has to be no difference between the two. The reflection lacks substance and reality but it’s there. So who says that there is nothing or annihilation? When the mirror is empty we say extinction but there is the potential for an image or knowing that’s just as valid. The image, or consciousness, doesn’t seem real but it’s real for as long as it lasts which is a moment so brief you must say it’s non-existent. Actually, nothing is really happening. So you can relax because there will always be knowing and contents, i.e. chi or energy and the appearance of mind. But they’re empty, so why fret so much? Just let go and deal with whatever comes up, and create new good karma in its stead.

So what is the original nature? Everything you read about in the Heart Sutra are the contents of consciousness that are not IT. The five skandhas, your eyes, ears, nose, etc. the linked chain of existence, the Four Noble truths, prajna wisdom understanding, and so on. Even when asleep and you “experience nothing,” you wake up and the continuity of the world is there again. You cannot say you didn’t exist, can you? There was continuity during the time (waking) clear consciousness seemed to be absent. Awareness wasn’t absent. It just didn’t have content, it didn’t have an object you were aware of. So even with the “samadhi of nothingness” in the Formless Realm there is still a foundational state you are not aware of while in that samadhi absorption, and that’s what you are seeking.

Awareness is a function of the original nature. It’s always there and always will be there. It’s simply that the content of awareness — the panorama or movie show — always changes and flows like a river. It’s empty, effervescent, all one thing so nothing is independent. It’s all one show of perfect interdependence. But it’s not one thing because it’s empty of reality, so how can we say a thing is there? Even Vedanta says all this — go read Ramana Maharshi’s ”Be As You Are “to find out. All the sages tell you the same thing. Get off this Bible thing about a chosen people, we’re saved, someone else has saved us, there is a prophecy, etc. Sorry, the universe goes on forever, no one is chosen, you save yourself and it’s all due to cultivation. Otherwise up and down you go again, bobbing like this through endless states of consciousness transformation forever. The pot of soup never stops boiling, it’s always simmering, it’s always being stireed.

Consciousness could be a visage of the ordinary world, a dream world, deep dreamless sleep, any of the samadhi states. They are not the Tao but things that occupy consciousness, or occupy awareness, however you wish to word it. These are all passing dream states of consciousness that awareness knows. They change, nothing stays still, you cannot hold on to anything, you cannot gain anything in all this. Behind the awareness is something pure, still, unmoving, eternal, immaculate. That’s the original nature. You think you’re doing something but you’re not — it’s just consciousness moving. How to realize this? Anapana. Relax the body, let go of consciousness by knowing the breathing. The rest will happen slowly in time.

So take seeing as an example. When you close your eyes, what you see is darkness. Darkness means black — it’s not the absence of light but a color. You are always seeing colors because AWARENESS sees colors, not light enables you to see, and this means you are always seeing light. All you are ever seeing is colors, or we can say “light” if we want. That’s “seeing the light” cultivation practice (i.e. Mahakasyapa) when you realize that and stay in that state without clinging.

You’ll never be without light in the universe no matter where you go — the visage of what you see is just colors that change and we attach names and labels to parts of the scenario. So go to heaven, go to the deepest darkest hells and you will never be alone. There will always be light, there will always be energy or chi so we say there is a Buddha everywhere. This is why the Bible says “God is light”. Wow, they even have it in there. You can’t get rid of it so you can just relax and let go.

With light comes chi, or energy. Chi and light are synonymous. If there is light there is chi and if there is chi there is light. Wherever you go in the universe the mind of awareness is always experiencing light and chi. Now that you know that, you can relax in meditation knowing you’re not going anywhere and will never be alone. It’s just a scenario of consciousness that changes — moving light and energy. Sound, such as used in Kuan Yin’s method of tracing sound back to its source, is energy, too. The real YOU never moves. The scenery, however, all just passes by. You can’t get rid of it so just relax. Don’t hold on to it. It’s changing anyway, so why bother? Pain, pleasure, riches, fame, whatever … they just flow in front of it like an endless river. There’s nothing you can grab onto and hold as real, permanent, lasting, real.

If you can do this and forget the body which is just light and chi, and therefore ignore the body sensations and things you see while practicing anapana, you can enter the first dhyana. Throw all that stuff away and let go of it because it’s not the real you, it’s an illusion that cannot last, it’s not important during your practice session anyway. You don’t need to understand with forced thinking, you just know so let things go naturally. You will focus on the breath which is quasi independent of the rest of the flowing tableau with an independent beat of birth and death, birth and death, in and out, birth and death. It’s quasi independent because breathing always happens. It gives you a way to jump out, something you can focus on within that flow because of its regularity.

Breathing has to go in and out, so it is a way of realizing birth and death and breaking free of following thoughts rather than the sleepy, dreamy way of going along with consciousness we normally get accustomed to. If awareness can detach from the normal tableau because of the knowing of breathing, you can enter into samadhi. Breathing seems a bit independent because your body just does it rhythmically, and it is involved with the chi of your body as well. You can use that to your advantage to let go and realize the true nature of awareness in that it is separate, independent of consciousness and clear and empty. But you have to come to that realization yourself. Just watch the in and out breath, become filled with chi, ignore all that, and see what happens. Your mind is clear so KNOWING is separate from the chi of breathing. This means that thoughts come and go, come in and then go out like birth and death, Only knowing never moves. Remember that: only knowing never moves. So with this method you can realize prajna emptiness.

Knowing is so clear. Thoughts are temporary things in the mind/consciousness that arise and depart, but the habit pattern of clinging to them and covering over the foundational mind of who you are, what you are is too old to break away from without cultivation practice. Everything you experience in the mind — the whole mental continuum of the five skandhas of feelings, appearances, sounds, colors, etc. are THOUGHTS, images, marks, names and labels. Behind them your true mind is always there. You don’t have to create it, but just discover it once again but letting go of ignorance, ignorant view, and detaching from thoughts that stain it. It is empty from the start. All sentient beings have it from the lowliest worm or microbe to the biggest whale. Humans, ghosts, protect Gods, animals, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas — they are all It. That’s why we say all are Buddhas. It’s all the same thing, the same one thing, so what are you religions fighting over? Certainly not the Tao. Must be something else. I see no reason for a jihad of killing or “you must follow my master’s way.” Let everything go and you can realize the original nature which is what you are. The jihad is in your own mind, not something you do to someone else. So why be afraid to let go and find out what you are since this is what you are. The only thing that happens is that illusions and ignorance depart, false thinking disappears, mistakes of perception are not made. All the sages of every school tell you the result is peaceful, blissful, “Union,” and if you want to be active and help the world, this is the only true way — for reasons I will not go into.

Just use this understanding to attain samadhi and let go. Don’t argue with it or find fault or punch holes in what I said. You want samadhi? Go along with the ride without too much analysis and practice. Practice, practice, practice anapana. Forget the body knowing you are never missing anything and will never be alone. Awareness will always be there, the true self will always be there, contents will always be there but will simply be changing as they always do. Nothing has changed except your understanding, your knowing of this has transpired which we call “prajna wisdom” or transcendental understanding. Now you can let go and be blissful and free, free of suffering and sorrow and tremendously helpful to other sentient beings.

Whether what I said is right or wrong, don’t argue. Just use this door as an entryway into dhyana. Awareness can learn to separate from the visage of consciousness – the chi feelings in the body and colors you see – and be pure by itself.

Start by practiing anapana. If you can do this and forget the body — which is just light or chi — you can enter into the first dhyana. Just use the technique to attain samadhi by letting go. Forget the body knowing you are the mind, not the bodynor images, colors, lights, appearances you see. Forget the chi (energy) you feel as your body or as movement because chi is alwasy there changing, rolling, trasnforming and is not you either. It’s empty. It’s empty of fixity. It’s empty of non-clinging. Just let go, dioscard everything and know the in breath and out breath through the nostrils. Then the chakras will open but forget this and enter into samadhi.

If you need more instructions, see the sutra articles on anapana and research Rahula’s instructions ont he internet, or the 100 word inscription in Taoism. The world is like a dream so treat it that way and don’t use force. This body is not you, it’s not yours. It’s a waste of life if you don’t practice and if you do practice that you don’t realize your true self. Don’t think that these instructions are so east to come by or that just by reading them youwill understand them. You must practice to truly understand and master a technique. You must prove everything in spiritual cultivation and not settle for dogma, no matter what school, path or religion.

Tags: anapana, anapanasati, dharmatara

Filed under Enlightenment, Meditation, Samadhi - dhyana by admin