..续本文上一页h quality.

　　*

　　If the breath is heavy, you can keep it in a narrow range. When it”s light, you have to make it broad. If it”s so light that it”s very refined, you don”t have to breathe through the nose. You can be aware of the breath coming in and out through every pore all over the body.

　　*

　　Wherever there”s pain in the body, focus on making the breath go past it if you want to get results. Suppose you have a pain in your knee: You have to focus on breathing all the way down to the ends of your toes. If you have a pain in your shoulder, focus the breath past it to your arm.

　　*

　　Breath subdues pain. Mindfulness subdues the Hindrances.

　　*

　　When we meditate it”s as if we were milling the rice grains in our granary so that they”ll be ready to cook. The mind is like grains of rice. The Hindrances are like the husks. We have to crack the husks and then polish away the dirty red skin underneath. That”s when we”ll end up with good, white rice. The way to polish is to use directed thought and evaluation. Directed thought is when we focus the mind on being aware of the in-and-out breath, which is like taking a handful of rice and putting it in the teeth of our mill. We have to make sure that the teeth of the mill are in good shape. If we”re aware of just the in-breath and then get distracted with the out-breath, it”s as if the teeth of our mill were broken. When this happens, we have to fix them immediately. In other words, we reestablish mindfulness on the breath and brush away all other perceptions.

　　Evaluation is being observant, taking careful note of the breath as we breathe in, to see what it”s like, to see whether it”s comfortable, easy, and free-flowing. We then let the good breaths spread throughout the body to chase out the bad breath sensations. All the properties of the body will become pure; the mind will become bright. The body will feel cool and at ease. We have to look after the breath in this way, in the same way that we catch baby chicks to put in the coop. If we hold them too tight, they die. If we hold them too loosely, they run away. We have to gather them in our hands in a way that”s just right. That way they”ll all end up safely in the coop.

　　When we use directed thought and evaluation, it”s as if we polish away the dirty red skin from our rice grains. We”ll end up with nice, white rice (rapture, pleasure, and singleness of preoccupation). If we take the rice to market, it”ll fetch a good price. If we cook it, it will taste good and nourish the body. This is why we should all be intent on polishing the rice in our granary so that we”ll end up with Grade A rice.

　　*

　　The factors of jhana — directed thought, evaluation, rapture, and pleasure — all have to be gathered at the breath if you want to reach singleness of preoccupation. Directed thought is like laying claim to a piece of land. Evaluation is like planting it with seed. When the seed bears fruit, that”s rapture and pleasure.

　　*

　　Keeping awareness with the breath is directed thought. Knowing the characteristics of the breath is evaluation. Spreading the breath so that it permeates and fills the entire body is rapture. The sense of serenity and well-being in body and mind is pleasure. When the mind is freed from the Hindrances so that it”s one with the breath, that”s singleness of preoccupation. All of these factors of jhana turn mindfulness into a factor of Awakening.

　　*

　　Spreading the breath, letting all the breath sensations spread throughout all the elements and parts of the body — the blood vessels, the tendons, etc. — is like cutting a system of connecting roads through the wilderness. Any country with a good system of roads is bound to develop, because communication is easy.

　　*

　　If we constantly adjust and improve the breath in the various parts of …

《The Skill of Release - The Basics of Breathing》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…