..续本文上一页any hundred breaths in a row. This is why this stage is called ”FULL sustained attention on the breath” . You cannot reach this stage through force, through holding or gripping. You can only attain this degree of stillness by letting go of everything in the entire universe, except for this momentary experience of breath happening silently now. ”You” don”t reach this stage; the mind reaches this stage. The mind does the work itself The mind recognizes this stage to be a very peaceful and pleasant abiding, just being alone with the breath. This is where the ”doer”, the major part of one”s ego, starts to disappear.

　　You will find that progress happens effortlessly at this stage of the meditation. You just have to get out of the way, let go, and watch it all happen. The mind will automatically incline, if you only let it, towards this very simple, peaceful and delicious unity of being alone with one thing, just being with the breath in each and every moment. This is the unity of mind, the unity in the moment, the unity in stillness.

　　The fourth stage is what I call the ”springboard” of meditation, because from here one can pe into the blissful states. When you simply maintain this unity of consciousness, by not interfering, the breath will begin to disappear. The breath appears to fade away as the mind focuses instead on what is at the centre of the experience of breath, which is the awesome peace, freedom and bliss.

　　At this stage I use the term ”the beautiful breath”. Here the mind recognizes that this peaceful breath is extraordinarily beautiful. You are aware of this beautiful breath continuously, moment after moment, with no break in the chain of experience. You are aware only of the beautiful breath, without effort, and for a very long time.

　　Now you let the breath disappear and all that is left is ”the beautiful”. Disembodied beauty becomes the sole object of the mind. The mind is now taking the mind as its own object. You are now not aware at all of breath, body, thought, sound or the world outside. All that you are aware of is beauty, peace, bliss, light or whatever your perception will later call it. You are experiencing only beauty, with nothing being beautiful, continuously, effortlessly. You have long ago let go of chatter, let go of descriptions and assessments. Here, the mind is so still that you cannot say anything.

　　You are just experiencing the first flowering of bliss in the mind. That bliss will develop, grow, become very firm and strong. Thus you enter into those states of meditation called Jhana. But that is for Part 3 of this booklet!

　　PART 3

　　”Do absolutely nothing and see how smooth and beautiful

　　and timeless the breath can appear”

　　Parts 1 and 2 describe the first four stages (as they are called here) of meditation

　　These are:

　　·Sustained attention on the present moment;

　　·Silent awareness of the present moment;

　　·Silent present moment awareness of the breath; and

　　·Full sustained attention on the breath.

　　Each of these stages needs to be well developed before going in to the next stage. When one rushes through these” stages of letting go” then the higher stages will be unreachable. It is like constructing a tall building with inadequate foundations. The first storey is built quickly and so is the second and third storey. When the fourth storey is added, though, the structure begins to wobble a bit. Then when they try to add a fifth storey it all comes tumbling down. So please take a lot of time on these four initial stages, making them all firm and stable, before proceeding on to the fifth stage. You should be able to maintain the fourth stage, ”full sustained attention on the breath”, aware of every moment of the breath without a single break, for two or three hundred breaths in su…

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