Monday, April 25, 2016

16 exercises on mindful breathing (whole picture)

The whole picture of "16 exercises on mindful breathing" is the following. Please refer to: 
http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2015/10/16-exercises-on-mindful-breathing.html

1-4: Body
(1-2): Revive awareness through conscious breathing (return to true self by stopping thinking, perception)
(3-4): Be aware of the pain in the whole body + Release the tension in the whole body (check your body condition and relax)

5-8: Feelings
(5-6): Generate joy and happiness by touching the wonders of life (check whether you are mindful)
(7-8): Be aware of the feelings + Calm the feelings (check your emotional condition and calm down)

9-12: Mind (mental formations + consciousness)
(9-10): Be aware of the mental formations and the seeds in store consciousness + Water the wholesome seeds (selective watering to the wholesome seeds)
(11-12): Concentrate the mind + Liberate the mind (look deeply into the unwholesome mind, understand the root cause, and transform the unwholesome mind and seeds) 

13-16: Objects of Mind (dharmas = perceptions)
(13-14): Observe the impermanent nature of all objects of mind, perceptions + Be convinced of impermanence by observing the disappearance of cravings, ideas (attain insight of impermanence)
(15-16): Observe the no birth, no death nature of all phenomena + observe letting go of all notions (attain insight of no self, throw away all notions, attain full enlightenment)

* Notes:
1) Humans are made of 5 aggregates (skandhas).
 ① body (form)
 ② feelings (emotions)
 ③ perception (idea, thought)
 ④ mental formations (51)
 ⑤ consciousness (5 senses, mind, manas, store)
16 exercises on mindful breathing is for taking good care of these 5 aggregates (skandhas). And finally we will be able to attain full enlightenment.

2) Body
 The first four (1-4) exercises are the mindful breathing for the body.
(1-2): Nurturing the positive condition of the body
Breath is regarded as the body. If we (ego) concentrate on our breathing, we can stop thinking, or perception. So, awareness revives. We take good care of our perception here.
(3-4): Caring the negative condition of the body
We take good care of our pain in the body here.

3) Feelings
 The next four (5-8) exercises are the mindful breathing for the feelings.
(5-6): Nurturing the positive condition of the feelings 
We feel joyful and happy when we are mindful, because we can touch the wonders of life. Because joy and happiness arise right after conscious breathing, in chronological order (5-6) comes right after (1-2). So, we can check whether we are breathing correctly here.
(7-8): Caring the negative condition of the feelings
We take good care of our painful feelings here.

4) Mind
 The next four (9-12) exercises are the mindful breathing for the mind (mental formations + consciousness).
(9-10): Nurturing the positive condition of the mind (mental formations + consciousness)
We recognize the wholesome seeds in store consciousness and water them for the manifestation of the wholesome mental formations. The difference between (5-6) and (9-10) is that (5-6) is recognizing the manifested mental formations and (9-10) is the selective watering for the future manifestation of the wholesome mental formations. So, we take good care of our consciousness and future mental formations here.
(11-12):  Caring the negative condition of the mind (mental formations + consciousness)
We take good care of our unwholesome mental formations here.  (7-8) is only to recognize, embrace and relieve our painful feelings. But (11-12) includes looking deeply into the manifested unwholesome mental formations, understanding the root cause, transforming them by the energy of compassion, and return the transformed seeds into the store consciousness. So, we take good care of our unwholesome mental formations and consciousness deeply here.

5) Objects of Mind
 The last four (13-16) exercises are the mindful breathing for the objects of mind (perceptions). We temporarily stop thinking, or perception by (1-2) but here we throw away all perceptions by understanding the true nature eternally.
(13-14): Understanding the impermanent nature of all perceptions
We understand impermanence which means interbeing (emptiness) in terms of time.
(15-16): Understanding the no self nature of all perceptions, and letting go
We throw away all notions by understanding the no birth, no death nature, or 'no self' which means interbeing (emptiness) in terms of space. We attain full enlightenment, or nirvana through the extinction of all notions.

(Cf.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eSuUDzwAWs
http://compassion5151.blogspot.jp/2016/04/notice-of-private-lessons-for-one-more.html
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