TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing

"The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, when developed & pursued, bring clear knowing & release to their culmination." MN118 the Buddha 

In this lesson we will cover how to bring unity to the structure of your attention by monitoring and gradually adding the first six of the Seven Enlightenment Factors. Development of samadhi now switches from 'doing' the Experiential Markers, to allowing them to unfold naturally as a natural expression of letting go.

Meditation Type: Samatha (calm, tranquility)

Instructions

• Read instructions: TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing (separate page).

Meditation

• Meditation Skill 14: Cultivate Skill in Joy & Tranquility
• Addition 1: Establish a Posture of Mindfulness & Curiosity
• Addition 2: Bring the Joy of Abandoning into Your Mind
• Addition 3: Access the Pleasure of Abandoning in Breathing
• Addition 4: Access Meditative Joy by Calming Effort
• Addition 5: Establish Joy & Tranquility in Attention

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The purpose of Addition 1 to your mindfulness of breathing is twofold:

1. To develop skill in establishing mindfulness and curiosity by softening and letting go of effort within your body.
2. To train your ability to be able to perceive the subtle pleasure of that letting go.

POSTURE OF ATTENTION

1. Mindfulness as a stream on remembering.
2. Curiosity as desire to understand.
3. Effort as balance in energy and structure of attention.
4. Softening as an inclination towards letting go.

 Your meditation is based on the structure your learnt in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing.

 YOUR MEDITATION SO FAR 

• Create your meditation posture.
• (Markers 1-3 replaced by Addition 1).

Insert Here:

• Addition 1: Establish a Posture of Mindfulness & Curiosity.

• MARKER 4: Awareness Grounded Within the Body.
• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of your Breathing.
• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.
• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.
• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.
• MARKER 9: Knowing One Point of Breath Sensation.

(5 minutes)

INSERT ADDITION 1 AS ABOVE

Begin your meditation with eyes open and allow your eyes to engage with the room around you, then soften that seeing. Allow your eyelids to relax, to become heavy, feeling the pleasure of it. 

Allow this relaxation to flow down through your face, your chest, arms and legs. Tune into the subtle pleasure of this relaxation, of letting go of effort within your body. 

How nice it feels.

You are ready to progress to Addition 2 when you can establish mindfulness, curiosity and the joy as the subtle pleasure of abandoning as a posture of meditative attention by softening awareness into your body.

The purpose of Addition 2 to your mindfulness of breathing is to establish the Enlightenment Factor of meditative joy as a quality of your posture of attention.

POSTURE OF ATTENTION

1. Mindfulness as a stream on remembering.
2. Curiosity as desire to understand.
3. Effort as balance in energy and structure of attention.
4. Softening as an inclination towards letting go.
5. Joy as the subtle pleasure of letting go.

 Your meditation is based on the structure your learnt in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing.

 YOUR MEDITATION SO FAR 

• Create your meditation posture.
• Addition 1: Establish a Posture of Mindfulness & Curiosity.
• MARKER 4: Awareness Grounded Within the Body.

Insert Here:

• Addition 2: Bring the Joy of Letting Go Into Your Mind.

• MARKER 5: Natural Flow of your Breathing.
• MARKER 6: Knowing In & Out Breaths.
• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.
• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.
• MARKER 9: Knowing One Point of Breath Sensation.

(5 minutes)

INSERT ADDITION 2 AS ABOVE

Maintain present moment awareness of your body sensations in order to develop the precision and clarity within your attention necessary to cultivate samadhi. As the subtle pleasure builds within your body, gently smile into that subtle pleasure with your eyes. 

The smile is gentle and relaxed, like you're smiling with your eyes at a loved one, showing them how much you care. 

Allow the subtle pleasure to enter your mind as the joy of letting go, the contentment of release. 

When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention. 

You are ready to progress to Addition 3 when you can bring the subtle pleasure of abandoning within your body into your mind as the pleasure of the joy of abandoning.

The purpose of Addition 3 to your mindfulness of breathing is to develop the perception of the subtle pleasure of letting go within the natural flow of your breathing.

POSTURE OF ATTENTION

1. Mindfulness as a stream on remembering.
2. Curiosity as desire to understand.
3. Effort as balance in energy and structure of attention.
4. Softening as an inclination towards letting go.
5. Joy as the subtle pleasure of letting go.

 Your meditation is based on the structure your learnt in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing.

 YOUR MEDITATION SO FAR 

• Create your meditation posture.
• Addition 1: Establish a Posture of Mindfulness & Curiosity.
• MARKER 4: Awareness Grounded Within the Body.
• Addition 2: Bring the Joy of Letting Go Into Your Mind. 
• (Markers 5-6 replaced by Addition 3).

Insert Here:

• Addition 3: Access the Pleasure of Letting Go in Breathing.

• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.
• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.
• MARKER 9: Knowing One Point of Breath Sensation.

(5 minutes)

INSERT ADDITION 3 HERE

Once meditative joy is established with your posture of attention, bring your awareness to inside your lungs. 

Allow breathing to occur naturally free from control. Noticing as the breath comes in your chest it expands out-wards, like a yoga stretch. Notice how nice this natural stretch with each in breath feels. 

As each breath goes out and your body deflates, notice the subtle pleasure of letting go that naturally occurs with each out-breath. 

From inside your breathing be aware of its pleasure: breath comes in: gentle stretch, breath goes out; pleasure of letting go, abandoning effort. Tuning into how nice it feels, allowing the whole breath to fill with this pleasure, this sense of ease.

Maintain present moment awareness of the natural flow of breathing within your body in order to develop the precision and clarity within your attention necessary to cultivate samadhi.

NOTE: (Markers 5-6 replaced by Addition 3).

You are ready to progress to Addition 4 when you can perceive the subtle pleasure of letting go within your breathing as it occurs autonomously within your body.

The purpose of Addition 4 to your mindfulness of breathing is to develop the perception of the subtle pleasure of abandoning to prevent dullness while calming the functions of the body and intellectual functions of the mind.

POSTURE OF ATTENTION

1. Mindfulness as a stream on remembering.
2. Curiosity as desire to understand.
3. Effort as balance in energy and structure of attention.
4. Softening as an inclination towards letting go.
5. Joy as the subtle pleasure of letting go.

 Your meditation is based on the structure your learnt in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing.

 YOUR MEDITATION SO FAR 

• Create your meditation posture.
• Addition 1: Establish a Posture of Mindfulness & Curiosity.
• MARKER 4: Awareness Grounded Within the Body.
• Addition 2: Bring the Joy of Letting Go Into Your Mind. 
• Addition 3: Access the Pleasure of Letting Go in Breathing.
• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.

Insert Here:

• Addition 4: Access Meditative Joy by Calming Effort 'to do'.

• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.
• MARKER 9: Knowing One Point of Breath Sensation.

(5 minutes)

INSERT ADDITION 4 AS ABOVE

Once your attention is stable on the length of each breath begin to calm the effort to do the meditation with the intention of gradually calming the intellectual functions of your mind while increasing the knowing function of awareness.

Once attention settles of the length of each breath begin a process of calming. Notice and systematically relax any held tension in your body from the top down. 

Tune into the subtle pleasure of each relaxing, each letting go.

Once your body feels pleasurable relaxed, begin this process in your mind. Observe and gently soften any desire 'to do' the meditation.

Tune into the subtle pleasure of each relaxing, each letting go.

This will bring your mind and body closer to tranquility and samadhi develops sensations within each breath will appear to you for Marker 8.

The pleasure of the meditative joy will counter the tendency towards dullness.

Maintain present moment awareness of the natural flow of sensations within your breathing in order to develop the precision and clarity within your attention necessary to cultivate samadhi.

You are ready to progress to Addition 5 when you can perceive the subtle pleasure of letting go of the physical and mental effort 'to do' and the flow of sensation within each breath is clear to you. 

The purpose of Addition 5 is to give rise to the conditions for the Enlightenment Factor of tranquility, then to infuse it with meditative joy and establish it as a quality of your posture of attention. 

POSTURE OF ATTENTION

1. Mindfulness as a stream on remembering.
2. Curiosity as desire to understand.
3. Effort as balance in energy and structure of attention.
4. Softening as an inclination towards letting go.
5. Joy as the subtle pleasure of letting go.
6. Tranquility as the calming of physical and mental activity.

 Your meditation is based on the structure your learnt in TIER 1 Mindfulness of Breathing.

 YOUR MEDITATION SO FAR 

• Create your meditation posture.
• Addition 1: Establish a Posture of Mindfulness & Curiosity.
• MARKER 4: Awareness Grounded Within Body
• Addition 2: Bring the Joy of Letting Go Into Your Mind. 
• Addition 3: Access the Pleasure of Letting Go in Breathing.
• MARKER 7: Knowing the Length of Each Breath.
• Addition 4: Access Meditative Joy by Calming Effort 'to do'.
• MARKER 8: Knowing Sensation Within Each Breath.
• MARKER 9: Knowing One Point of Breath Sensation.

Insert Here:

• Addition 5: Establish Joy & Tranquility as Factors of Attention.

INSERT ADDITION 5 AS ABOVE

Practice stabilising your attention as in Addition 4, with the addition of maintaining meditative joy and tranquility within your mind until your attention rests on one point of breath sensation by itself (sustains: vicarra). It is important that sustained attention is not developed through force but rather as a maturity of the meditative joy and tranquility that arises through letting go. 

Allow the experience of meditative joy and tranquility to merge as a posture of stable attention. Learn to allow your attention to rest on one point of breath sensation. Gently smile with your eyes to maintain meditative joy within your mind.

As attention sustains you will experience shifts from effort to effortlessness, this shift is very distinct. Your main goal is to learn to move from intentional vitakka (intentional applying of attention) to autonomous vitakka (your mind now autonomously applies attention to the meditation object). 

It is this shift that gives rise to the experience of effortlessness. When this occurs, maintain silent, stable attention for a period of time on that point of breath sensation, abandoning all doing within your mind and continuing to experience the pleasure of that abandoning.

When all 'doing' is abandoned and the intellectual functions of the mind completely calmed tranquility will begin to arise.

Breath sensation will become very subtle and may even disappear, keep attention on that one point and perceive the beauty, pleasure in the building calm. If breathing appears to stop calm any fear associated with this. trust that breathing is still occurring, but your awareness is so subtle that the grossness of breath sensation has now been abandoned.

Allow the experience of meditative joy and tranquility to merge as a posture of stable attention and for attention to rest on this beauty and joy.

Maintain present moment awareness of the natural flow of sensations within your breathing in order to develop the precision and clarity within your attention necessary to cultivate samadhi. Be careful of subtle dullness at this stage as breath sensation becomes very subtle.

MAP: Body Sitting --> Flow of Breath (body) --> Length of Breath (body) --> Breath Sensations (nose) --> One Point Breath Sensation (nose) --> Sustained Attention (nose).

You are ready to progress to TIER 3 of Mindfulness of Breathing to develop skill in establishing access concentration when you can allow your attention on one point of breath sensation, without any effort or distraction, and with meditative joy and tranquility present within your mind.

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