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Message: <blockquote data-quote="praneeth.pj" data-source="post: 16097939" data-attributes="member: 463147">Your attempt depends on your wisdomSee how marvelous the above fable that  the Buddha used  to explain this matter to us. When you discern inhaling  and exhaling in  this manner properly, your mindfulness is established on  the breath  with respect to meditation. You will now be able to keep  your mind  focused on your breath without letting it scatter to outside  objects.  But, you could do it only based on your effort, your wisdom,  and your  mindfulness.This implies that you will get declined  to your former  status if you lessen your effort. What you should do is  keep your focus  to your breath continuously. When you are retaining your  mindfulness  on to your inhale and exhale and when the long breathing  in, long  breathing out, short breathing in, and short breathing out are  well  realized, you will be able to focus your mind on to complete  inhalation  and also to realize it. That is, you will be able to  completely know  the inhalation when it is entering into the body and  when it is ending  entering into the body. You will also know completely  that the  exhalation is end when the exhalation is end.Inhale-exhale is also a body…Because every breath (sabbakāya  patisanvēdi) or the  inhale-exhale is correlated with body, it is  described as a kind of  body in the Dhamma. It is also called as Kāya  Sankhāra.When you start to establish your  mindfulness only on to  the inhale and exhale (passanbhayan kāya  sankhāran) with a complete  attention on breathing in and breathing out  and by realizing the  breathing in and breathing out, your mind starts to  concentrate; then  breathing in and breathing out start to become  lightened (in weight).  When breathing in and breathing out become  lightened, you will keep  your mind’s focus on the breathing in and  breathing out by  understanding it. That is, inhaled breath will become  lightened when  you are breathing in. You will breathe in by  understanding it. When you  are breathing out, you will breathe out by  understanding it.You would now capable of cultivating  Aanāpānasati by  understanding how to breathe in, breathe out, inhale  deeply, exhale  deeply, and how the complete breath become lightened.2.3 The way to cultivate the Vēdanānupassanā and Chittānupassanā in Aanāpānasati meditationBreathe in and breathe out by understanding it…You have the opportunity to develop  Aanāpānasati  furthermore. You have learnt about it to the point where  breathing in  and breathing out are allayed. When breathing in and  breathing out are  being allayed, you will feel happiness bit by bit.  What should you do  when you feel happiness? Yes, don’t stare at the  happiness fondly by  stopping the meditation. If you do that, your  concentration will get  destroyed, and you will lose your chance to  develop the meditation.  What you should do is continuing breathing in  and breathing out while  understanding the happiness.<a href="http://english.mahamevnawa.lk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/205285_261241953983092_925119683_n.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://english.mahamevnawa.lk/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/205285_261241953983092_925119683_n.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></a>You are not changing the process of  being mindful about  your breathing in and breathing out. Let’s say a  concentration  (Samādhi) was developed while meditating. Most people  think that  development of a concentration happens automatically. It is a  problem  that they face. Concentration was formed because of appropriate  causes.  Concentration was developed because an effort was established  and  wisdom was developed for that. Concentration will disappear when you   wake up from it. One who doesn’t have this knowledge thinks that the   concentration has to be formed in him as soon as he starts Aanāpānasati   like before. He further thinks about the concentration he had paying   less attention to the Aanāpānasati. Because of this reason,   concentration will not be formed since Aanāpānasati is not well   practiced.Don’t be sad because you lost your concentration (Samādhi)…Consequently, the concentration will be  lost, and he  will be sad. “Oh! I could develop concentration very well  in the past. I  had a good concentration at that time. But, concentration  is not  developed in me anymore.” Then he becomes mentally unhappy about  it. As  soon as he generates sadness, he will have to face an obstacle.  That  is, his mind will start to scatter. A mind with such a scattered  status  would not be allayed. When the mind cannot be calmed, it will be   unable to be mindful about the objective of the breathing meditation.   When one is unable to focus his mind on the objective of breathing in   and breathing out, he loses his mindfulness. When mindfulness is lost,   the mind will not consent to the object of the meditation. When the mind   is not focused well, concentration will fade away further. He will  then  be more distressed. Therefore, it (thinking about happiness and  losing  the focus on the Aanāpānasati) is not a correct of practicing  the  Aanāpānasati.Concentration is an effect of some causes…Most of the time with regards to  meditation, it is  important for you to remember that concentration  (Samādhi) forms only  as a result of some causes. When those causes are  dissipated, Samādhi  will disappear. If someone is capable of focusing  his mind to breathing  in and breathing out continuously, he will be able  to preserve the  Samādhi within him for a long time without any  interruptions.When he focuses his mind by performing  Aanāpānasati  meditation in this manner, he will start to feel happiness.  That joy he  feels is not something we feel generally in other joyful  moments. We  know that we enjoy our lives by listening to a song,  participating in a  trip, eating a tasty food, or watching something  entertaining.  Happiness one gets by these things is rough, but the  happiness one  feels due to Samādhi is different. It is a happiness that  makes your  mind quenched, calmed, and lightened. That person will  breathe in and  breathe out without getting attached to that happiness.Now, understand that happiness too…What would happen to him when he is  maintaining a mind  focused on his breath? He will feel pleasure after  that form of  happiness, which delighted the mind, is being suppressed.  When that  pleasure is present, he will feel pleasure both physically and   mentally. Now you know that the breathing in and breathing out are felt   lightly. But this doesn’t mean that breathing in and breathing out will   be vanished suddenly. If he doesn’t feel breathing in and breathing   out, he will be unable to focus on breathing in and breathing out   continuously.Continue in your focused…We know that there are some devotees who  would stop  being mindful about breathing in and breathing out when they  are  cultivating the breathing meditation and developing the Samādhi   gradually. Then, they just get use to gaze at the breathing in and   breathing out. Because of the practiced Samādhi, there are some people   whose breath would become light so that they would not even feel it. If   breathing in and breathing out cannot be felt anymore, what is the   meditation he could do? He will unable to think about what he should do.   Therefore, the best thing to do is to contemplate in the following  way:  “breathing in and breathing out will never be unknown to me. It is   possible to think about breathing in and breathing out even for  several  hours. Contemplation on breath has to be done thinking,  breathing in…  breathing out… breathing in… breathing out… etc.” That’s  how breathing  in and breathing out has to be developed. Some people  lose the  mindfulness about the inhaling and exhaling breath after doing   Aanāpānasati meditation for sometime. Those devotees should make a   determination at the beginning of the meditation: ‘I will continue to   contemplate on the breathing in and breathing out. I will not let it to   be slide away from my consciousness.’ Then you can continue to keep on   breathe in and breathe out. If it slides away from your consciousness   when you are breathing in and breathing out in such a manner   continuously, you should think that ‘even though I don’t feel my breath,   breathing in and breathing out are not ceased to exist; there exists   breathing in; there exists breathing out; therefore, I will contemplate   it mindfully.’ Then start to inquire breathing in and breathing out   wisely. You will then realize that the breathing in and breathing out   are still in you. Thus, what you need to do in Aanāpānasati meditation   is to keep practicing to continue the breathing in and breathing out   mindfully.Realize the Chitta Sankhāra as well…What would happen when you practice the  breathing  meditation continuously and gain pleasure? You will well  realize the  perception of pleasure within the breathing in and breathing  out. You  will perceive breathing in and breathing out well. Breathing  in will be  well realized as a breathing in. Breathing out will be well  realized  as a breathing out. You will continue to breathe in and breathe  out by  feeling and recognizing it. It is called the Chitta Sankhāra  (feeling  and recognition). The words ‘Chitta Sankhāra’ is used because  it is  related to mind.Recognition and practicing…When you are breathing in and breathing  out with the  knowledge of feeling and recognition, which are attached to  the mind,  what is being felt and recognized will also start to become  lightened.  But it is not to the feeling of becoming lightened that your   mindfulness should be focused. By understanding this, breathing in and   breathing out will be carried out continuously. The specialty of the   Supreme Buddha’s preaching is that He preached as ‘Pajānāthi’ when He   started to preach the Aanāpānasati. Pajānāthi means ‘to understand   well.’ He used the word Pajānāthi also to long breaths. Then He used the   word ‘Sikkhati’ instead of Pajānāthi. Sikkhati means ‘to practice.’ In   order to practice, one needs to be skilful enough to keep his   mindfulness to the breathing in and breathing out without getting lost   in other things of the mind. The above mentioned practice is achieved by   that skill. So, you must practice to breathe in and breathe out by   completely knowing the breathing in and breathing out. You must practice   to focus your mindfulness on the breathing in and breathing out by   knowing the alleviation of breathing in and breathing out.Chitta Sankhāra too gets allayed…There will be happiness when all of  those get completely  allayed. One must practice to focus on breathing in  and breathing out  by understanding the happiness. Next, the tranquility  (Passaddhi) of  the body and mind will be occurred. That is when the  pleasure will be  formed. You need to practice to be mindful about the  breathing in and  breathing out while understanding the pleasure. Then  you need to  practice well to be mindful about the breathing in and  breathing out,  while understanding about the feeling and recognition of  both breathing  in and breathing out. Next, feeling and recognition  within breathing  in and breathing out will be allayed. You need to keep  your focus on  the breathing in and breathing out while understanding  that (feeling  and recognition) alleviation. You will next understand the  mind well.  You will practice to keep the mindfulness in breathing in  and breathing  out with allayed Kāya Sankhāra and Chitta Sankhāra.Mind will reach the contemplated state (Dhyāna)…Your mind will now become joyful. You  need to keep your  mindfulness focused to breathing in and breathing out  also when your  mind becomes joyful. Your mind will then become more  agreeable. When it  is becoming more and more agreeable also, you have to  keep your  mindfulness focused on to breathing in and breathing out. By  that time,  your mind will reach a contemplated (Dhyāna) state by  suppressing all  five hindrances (Pancha Nivaranha) in your mind. One can  easily attain  the first state of contemplation (Pathamajdhyāna) through  Aanāpānasati.  One who has become capable of cultivating first  contemplated state for  a long time can maintain only a concentration  without a consideration  (Manasikāra). You can then practice your mind in  the second state of  contemplation (Dutiyajdhyāna). One who cultivates  mind in the second  contemplated state for a long time can practice the  third state of  contemplation (Tatiyajdhyāna). One who cultivates mind in  the third  contemplated state for a long time can practice the fourth  state of  contemplation (Chatuthajdyāna).Dhyāna for us in households too…?Some can get startled when they just  hear the word  ‘Dhyāna’. They can get frightened thinking that ‘we are  living  household lives; how can we cultivate these Dhyānas?’ It happens  not  because there is a weakness in the Dhamma but because there are no   people who talk about the real Dhamma around you, your confidence about   the Dhamma has been abandoned, you don’t have faith towards the Dhamma,   and you don’t know how to practically use the Dhamma in your lives. We   also know that there are thousands of people who cultivate  concentration  and Dhyāna in this country. They do this in their daily  household  lives. It is something I practically know very well.  Therefore, don’t  create such doubts about it in your heart. What you  must believe is the  Buddha’s Dhamma. Therefore, when you are able to  develop a  concentration, you shall practice it frequently.We are still teaching you how to develop  the Samatha  Bhāvana. If you develop meditation/mind in the way we  described to this  point, you will be able to develop the Samatha. But  there are various  methods to follow in this country when the  concentration is not  cultivated. Be careful not to get trapped in those  ideas/methods. Some  people may tell you that it is a simple thing for  them and that they  could put you into a concentration just within 10  minutes. Some would  also say that if you can stay in concentration for  30 minutes, they  would push you to first state of contemplation. They  tell these things  to see how bad you want it. But it just shows their  state of lacking  proper knowledge. In the concentration (Samādhi), the  five hindrances  need to be suppressed. Until these five hindrances are  suppressed,  concentration cannot be developed. Concentration will be  formed when  five hindrances are suppressed. Consequently, the  mindfulness will be  developed.</blockquote>

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