Take Advantage of the Breath

Try to take advantage of your breath. We use it mainly just to keep alive. But the Buddha said, and lots of the ajaans have said, that there’s a lot more to the breath than just in and out, a lot more than just keeping you alive. You can do a lot for the health of the body, the health of the mind, by giving the breath your full attention.

So. Put all your other concerns to one side right now. It’s just you and the breath. See where you feel the breath in the body. And ask yourself, “Does it feel right? Is there any tension in any part of the body that gets in the way of the breath spreading throughout the body evenly?” If there is, allow that tension to dissolve.

You might go down through the body comparing your left side to your right side: left side of the head, right side of the head; left side of the neck, right side of the neck; and on down, down, down. Whichever side has more tension, allow that side to relax. See if you can have a sense of the whole body breathing in, the whole body breathing out—down to every cell.

As you do this, you’ll begin to find that you can get a sense of intense well-being from just breathing in, breathing out. That gives the mind a good place to stay. You don’t have to go searching for your happiness outside.

It’s like having your own land and your own farm inside. You’re taking good advantage of the land by planting it with all the good crops you need. You don’t have to go barging into other people’s territory and planting crops there. After all, even if they’d let you do that, they’ll take part of the crops. A lot of people are not too happy for you to look for your happiness with them. So you’re safer when you’ve got your own independent source inside, your own source of food for the mind.

At the same time, when you’ve got the mind here in the present moment without any concerns about anything else, that gives the mind a chance to rest. And it’s better than resting just in sleep. In sleep, you’re not developing any good qualities.

But resting here, you’re developing mindfulness, alertness, ardency. Mindfulness is the ability to keep something in mind, like the breath. Alertness is watching what you’re actually doing and the results that you’re getting. And ardency is the quality that wants to do this well, so that there’s a sense of unity here in the present moment. The mind is unified with the body. The breath is the glue that puts them together. You find that you need a lot less from outside when you develop your own internal resources like this.

So take advantage of what you’ve got. Most people go through life with a strong sense of hunger, and they try to fill it up with things from outside. But things from outside just keep staying outside, outside. If you want something to really fill you up inside, you have to get your source of food in here. And the breath is a good place to start.