Appendix ~~~~~~~~ The earliest editions of Keeping the Breath in Mind contain a version of Step 3 in Method 2 that Ajaan Lee later shortened and revised to its present form. Some people, though, find the original version helpful, so here it is: 3. Observe the breath as it goes in and out, noticing whether it's comfortable or uncomfortable, broad or constricted, obstructed or free-flowing, fast or slow, short or long, warm or cool. If the breath doesn't feel comfortable, change it until it does. For instance, if breathing in long and out long is uncomfortable, try breathing in short and out short. As soon as you find that your breath feels comfortable, let this comfortable breath sensation spread to the different parts of your body. For example, when you breathe in and out once, think of an important part of the body, as follows: As you let the breath pass into the bronchial tubes, think of it as going all the way down the right side of your abdomen to the bladder. As you take another in-and-out breath, think of the breath as going from the main arteries to the liver and heart on down through your left side to the stomach and intestines. As you take another in-and-out breath, think of the breath as going from the base of the throat all the way down the internal (front) side of the spine. As you take another in-and-out breath, think of letting the breath go from the base of the throat down the front of your chest through to the tip of the breastbone, to the navel and out into the air. As you take another in-and-out breath, inhale the breath into the palate down to the base of the throat, on through the middle of the chest to the large intestine, the rectum and out into the air. Once you've completed these five turns inside the body, let the breath flow along the outside of the body: As you take an in-and-out breath, think of inhaling the breath at the base of the skull and letting it go all the way down the external (back) side of the spine. Now, if you're male, think first of your right side, both with the legs and with the arms. As you take an in-and-out breath, think of the right buttock and of letting the breath run all the way down the right leg to the tips of your toes. As you take another in-and-out breath, think of the left buttock and of letting the breath run all the way down the left leg to the tips of your toes. As you take another in-and-out breath, think of the base of the skull and of letting the breath run down your right shoulder, along your right arm to the tips of your fingers. As you take another in-and-out breath, inhale the breath into the base of the skull and let it run down your left shoulder, along your arm to the tips of your fingers. As you take another in-and-out breath, inhale the breath into the area inside your skull, thinking of your ears -- eyes -nose -- mouth. (Men should think of the right side first, with each part of the body: the right eye, right ear, right nostril, right arm, right leg, etc.; women: the left eye, left ear, left nostril, left arm, left leg, etc.) Once you've finished, keep careful watch over your breath. Make the breath refined, light and free-flowing. Keep the mind steady and still in this breath. Be thoroughly mindful and self-aware. Let the various breath sensations join and permeate throughout the body. Let the mind be neutral, impassive and well-composed. Glossary ~~~~~~~~ arahant: A Worthy One or Pure One, i.e., a person whose heart is freed from the effluents of defilement, and is thus not destined for further rebirth. An epithet for the Buddha and the highest level of his Noble Disciples. ariya sacca: Noble Truth. The word Noble (ariya) here can also mean ideal or standard, and in this phrase carries the meaning of objective or universal truth. There are four: stress, its cause, its disbanding, and the path of practice leading to its disbanding. asava: Effluent -- mental defilements (sensuality, states of being, views and unawareness) in their role as causes of the flood of rebirth. avijja: Unawareness, ignorance, obscured awareness, counterfeit knowledge. ayatana: Sense medium. The inner sense media are the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and intellect. The outer sense media are their corresponding objects. buddha (buddho): The mind's innate quality of pure knowingness, as distinct from the themes with which it is preoccupied and its knowledge about those preoccupations. dhamma: Event; phenomenon; the way things are in and of themselves; their inherent qualities; the basic principles which underlie their behavior. Also, principles of behavior that human beings ought to follow so as to fit in with the right natural order of things; qualities of mind they should develop so as to realize the inherent quality of the mind in and of itself. By extension, Dhamma refers also to any doctrine that teaches such matters. To view things -- mental or physical -- in terms of the Dhamma means to view them simply as events or phenomena, as they are directly perceived in and of themselves, seeing the regularity of the principles underlying their behavior. To view them in terms of the world means to view them with regard to their meaning, role or emotional coloring -- i.e., in terms of how they fit into our view of life and the world. dhatu: Element; potential; property; the elementary properties that make up the inner sense of the body and mind: earth (solidity), water (liquidity), fire (heat), wind (energy or motion), space and cognizance. The breath is regarded as an aspect of the wind property, and all feelings of energy in the body are classed as breath sensations. According to ancient Indian and Thai physiology, diseases come from an aggravation or imbalance in any of the first four of these properties. Well-being is defined as a state in which none of them is dominant: All are quiet, unaroused, balanced and still. ekaggatarammana: Singleness of object or preoccupation. jhana: Meditative absorption in a single notion or sensation. khandha: The component parts of sensory perception; physical and mental phenomena as they are directly experienced: rupa (sensations, sense data), vedana (feelings of pleasure, pain or indifference), sanna (labels, names, concepts, allusions), sankhara (mental fashionings, thought formations), vinnana (cognizance). lokavidu: An expert with regard to the cosmos -- an epithet normally used for the Buddha. magga-citta: The state of mind that forms the path leading to the transcendent qualities culminating in Liberation. Phala-citta refers to the mental state that follows immediately on magga-citta and experiences its fruit. nibbana (nirvana): Liberation; the unbinding of the mind from greed, anger and delusion, from physical sensations and mental acts. As this term is used to refer also to the extinguishing of fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling and peace. (According to the physics taught at the time of the Buddha, the property of fire in a latent state exists to a greater or lesser extent in all objects. When activated, it seizes and adheres to its fuel. When extinguished, it is unbound.) nimitta: Mental sign, theme or image. nivarana: Hindrance. The mental qualities that hinder the mind from becoming centered are five: Sensual desires, ill will, torpor & lethargy, restlessness & anxiety, and uncertainty. pali: The name of the most ancient recension of the Buddhist canon now extant and -- by extension -- of the language in which it was composed. samadhi: Concentration; the act of keeping the mind centered or intent on a single preoccupation. The three levels of concentration -- momentary, threshold and fixed penetration -- can be understood in terms of the first three steps in the section on jhana: Momentary concentration goes no further than step (a); threshold concentration combines steps (a) and (c); fixed penetration combines steps (a), (b) and (c) and goes on to include all four levels of jhana. sangha: The community of the Buddha's followers. On the conventional level, this refers to the Buddhist monkhood. On the ideal (ariya) level, it refers to those of the Buddha's followers - whether lay or ordained -- who have practiced to the point of gaining at least the first of the transcendent qualities culminating in Liberation. sankhara: Fashioning -- the forces and factors that fashion things, the process of fashioning, and the fashioned things that result. As the fourth khandha, this refers to the act of fashioning thoughts, urges, etc., within the mind. As a blanket term for all five khandhas, it refers to all things conditioned, compounded or fashioned by nature. `Sankharupekkha-nana' refers to a stage of liberating insight in which all sankhara are viewed with a sense of indifference. vipassana (-nana): Liberating insight -- clear, intuitive discernment into physical and mental phenomena as they arise and disappear, seeing them for what they are in terms of the four Noble Truths and the characteristics of inconstancy, stress and `notselfness'. * * * If anything in this translation is inaccurate or misleading, I ask forgiveness of the author and reader for having unwittingly stood in their way. As for whatever may be accurate, I hope the reader will make the best use of it, translating it a few steps further, into the heart, so as to attain the truth to which it points. The Translator Chant for the Dedication of Merit sabbe satta sada hontu avera sukha-jivino katam punna-phalam mayham sabbe bhagi bhavantu te "May all living beings always live happily, free from animosity. May all of us share in the blessings that spring from the good I have done."