..续本文上一页keeping your views in line with the truth of the breath -- is Right View, part of the Noble Path.

　　Knowing which ways of breathing are uncomfortable, knowing how to vary the breath; knowing, "That way of breathing is uncomfortable; I”ll have to breathe like this in order to feel at ease:" This is Right Resolve.

　　The mental factors that think about and correctly evaluate all aspects of the breath are Right Speech.

　　Knowing various ways of improving the breath; breathing, for example, in long and out long, in short and out short, in short and out long, in long and out short, until you come across the breath most comfortable for you: This is Right Action.

　　Knowing how to use the breath to purify the blood, how to let this purified blood nourish the heart muscles, how to adjust the breath so that it eases the body and soothes the mind, how to breathe so that you feel full and refreshed in body and mind: This is Right Livelihood.

　　Trying to adjust the breath until it soothes the body and mind, and to keep trying as long as you aren”t fully at ease, is Right Effort.

　　Being mindful and alert to the in-and-out breath at all times, knowing the various aspects of the breath -- the up-flowing breath, the down-flowing breath, the breath in the stomach, the breath in the intestines, the breath flowing along the muscles and out to every pore -- keeping track of these things with every in-and-out breath: This is Right Mindfulness.

　　A mind intent only on issues related to the breath, not pulling any other objects in to interfere, until the breath is refined, giving rise to fixed absorption and then liberating insight right there: This is Right Concentration.

　　To think of the breath is termed vitakka, directed thought. To adjust the breath and let it spread is called vicara, evaluation. When all aspects of the breath flow freely throughout the body, you feel full and refreshed in body and mind: This is piti, rapture. When body and mind are both at rest, you feel serene and at ease: This is sukha, pleasure. And once you feel pleasure, the mind is bound to stay snug with a single preoccupation and not go straying after any others: This is ekaggatarammana, singleness of preoccupation. These five factors form the beginning stage of Right Concentration.

　　When all these parts of the Noble Path -- virtue, concentration, and discernment -- are brought together fully mature in the heart, you gain insight into all aspects of the breath, knowing that "Breathing this way gives rise to skillful mental states. Breathing that way gives rise to unskillful mental states." You aren”t caught up with the factors -- the breath in all its aspects -- that fabricate the body, the factors that fabricate speech, the factors that fabricate the mind, whether for good or for ill. You let them be, in line with their inherent nature: This is the disbanding of stress.

　　Another, even briefer way to express the four Noble Truths is this: The in-and-out breath is the truth of stress. Not being aware of the in-breath, not being aware of the out-breath: This is the cause of stress -- obscured, deluded awareness. Seeing into all aspects of the breath so clearly that you can let them go with no sense of attachment, is the disbanding of stress. Being constantly mindful and alert to all aspects of the breath, is the path to the disbanding of stress.

　　When you can do this, you can say that you”re correctly following the path of breath meditation. You have cognitive skill, able to know all four Truths clearly. You can attain release. Release is a mind that doesn”t cling to low causes and low effects -- i.e., stress and its cause; or to high causes and high effects -- the disbanding of stress and the path to its disbanding. It”s a mind unattached to the things that cause it to kn…

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