2021-01-05 Mindfulness of Breathing (2) Introduction

Insight Meditation Center12min

Gil Fronsdal

00:02

Today I'd like to continue the introduction to the theme for this next period of time. So the theme is mindfulness of breathing. And specifically the teachings the Buddha gave, called ānāpānasati, the 16 stages or 16, steps to mindfulness of breathing. So to give a little further introduction to this.

Gil Fronsdal

00:28

The intimacy of breathing to the world, and to ourselves is quite phenomenal. And if we live kind of, in our thoughts the whole time, we might not really appreciate this great intimacy, cooperative nature, connected nature that we have with our world around us, and also to the world within us. And breathing is really a bridge to for us can be a bridge for us to kind of feel a deeper connection to the world, and a deeper connection to ourselves.

Gil Fronsdal

01:14

And to give you, you know, one example is that that a little bit more conceptual, but in a way that had a big impact on me when I was in college, I took a botany class. And I was sitting in this big amphitheater in Davis, California, where I went to college. And the professor was giving a drawing on the board with big, circular diagrams of the cycle of oxygen and carbon dioxide, and how this whole cycles have operated in nature and, and I was enthralled by this whole description. And I think I got maybe somewhat concentrated listening to it and involved in it. And then, and then, but then I, as I left and ended the class, walking out of this amphitheater, this big classroom, you come into this courtyard with some very big Valley Oaks, old, old big, large oak trees. And, and I just was stunned, I stood in the middle of the courtyard, and looked at these oak trees, having just heard about the cycles of oxygen and carbon dioxide and, and thought, "I could lose a kidney, I could lose an arm, I could lose an eye, I could lose all kinds of parts of my body. But I still depend on these plants, creating oxygen. They're in some ways more important to me than some of these parts of my own body."

Gil Fronsdal

02:55

So that was my thinking. And then I wondered, and this is kind of what kind of really kind of stopped my mind for a little bit, then a wonderful, delightful way. Then I thought, "In that case. Where do I stop? And where do the trees begin?" And I had this feeling that from this perspective I was doing, there was a continuity and there was no sharp line between me here and the trees there. Somehow we were in it together.

Gil Fronsdal

03:28

And the sense of intimacy, interconnectivity, mutuality, and mutual support was a very inspiring moment in my life - to feel that, to sense that. So feeling this connection, this intimacy, and some of that came became because I was somewhat concentrated. To be able to ride the breath and get concentrated clears the mind of the debris in the mind, the distractibility of the mind, so that we see with greater clarity. And there tends to be a feeling of intimacy and connection that comes from that.

Gil Fronsdal

04:07

And also turning the attention inward to the breathing is a way of also deeply connecting to ourselves. Because it turns out that the deeper we go into meditation, the more we can feel and see how the subtle adjustments and changes in the breathing have to do with our emotional and mental state. And our reactivity. It's possible, be very settled, and then see that when we start picking up a particular exciting thought, the breathing changes accordingly. And maybe the system thinks it needs more oxygen now in order to have more energy to kind of get engaged in this thing.

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