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"The Seven Factors of Enlightenment, when developed & pursued, bring clear knowing & release to their culmination." MN118 the Buddha
In STEP 4 your focus is on bringing unity to the structure of your attention by refining your skill in abandoning control and cultivating the first Six Enlightenment Factors. This is done by monitoring and adjusting the Enlightenment Factors while developing stable attention on your meditation object. During TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing the structure, quality and balance of your attention is more important than your meditation object. This means that while the centre of your attention rests on your meditation object, your peripheral awareness observes and adjusts the structure of attention itself.
HOW TO DO THIS MEDITATION
THIS IS YOUR MEDITATIVE TRAINING
THIS MENU TELLS YOU WHAT TO DO NEXT
Support guided meditation for the cultivate of meditative joy, tranquility & samadhi in TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing.
This guided meditation is also available on Insight Timer meditation app.
The purpose of Addition 1 to your mindfulness of breathing is twofold:
POSTURE OF ATTENTION
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
INSERT ADDITION 1 HERE
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
Marker 6
Notice that you can know if your breath is drawing into your body, or if it is going out again. Establish a continuous stream of remembering in regards to knowing each breath.
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. You task here is to gently calm the intellectual function of your mind while increasing the knowing function of awareness. If the intellectual 'doing' is too high then subtle restlessness will be present and attention will not stabilise on one point of breath preventing tranquility from arising.
As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. This is experienced as a disappearance of the concept 'I am breathing in, I am breathing out' or any idea that there is such a thing as the length of the breath. For sensations along the length of the breath to be perceived, there must also be a concept of time. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in cultivating meditative joy.
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
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
Addition 1
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 abandoning effort within your body. How nice it feels.
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
INSERT ADDITION 2 HERE
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 your 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 abandoning, the contentment of release. When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention.
(5 minutes)
Marker 6
Notice that you can know if your breath is drawing into your body, or if it is going out again. Establish a continuous stream of remembering in regards to knowing each breath.
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. You task here is to gently calm the intellectual function of your mind while increasing the knowing function of awareness. If the intellectual 'doing' is too high then subtle restlessness will be present and attention will not stabilise on one point of breath preventing tranquility from arising.
As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. This is experienced as a disappearance of the concept 'I am breathing in, I am breathing out' or any idea that there is such a thing as the length of the breath. For sensations along the length of the breath to be perceived, there must also be a concept of time. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in 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 abandoning within the natural flow of your breathing.
POSTURE OF ATTENTION
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
Addition 1
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 abandoning effort within your body. How nice it feels.
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
Addition 2
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 your 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 abandoning, the contentment of release. When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention.
(5 minutes)
INSERT ADDITION 3 HERE
Once meditative joy is established with your posture of attention, bring your awareness to inside your lungs.
NOTE: (Markers 5-6 replaced by Addition 3).
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. You task here is to gently calm the intellectual function of your mind while increasing the knowing function of awareness. If the intellectual 'doing' is too high then subtle restlessness will be present and attention will not stabilise on one point of breath preventing tranquility from arising.
As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. This is experienced as a disappearance of the concept 'I am breathing in, I am breathing out' or any idea that there is such a thing as the length of the breath. For sensations along the length of the breath to be perceived, there must also be a concept of time. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.
You are ready to progress to Addition 4 when you can perceive the subtle pleasure of abandoning 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
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
Addition 1
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 abandoning effort within your body. How nice it feels.
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
Addition 2
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 your 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 abandoning, the contentment of release. When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention.
(5 minutes)
Addition 3
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 abandoning 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 abandoning, stretch, abandon. 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.
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(5 minutes)
INSERT ADDITION 4 HERE
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.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. You task here is to gently calm the intellectual function of your mind while increasing the knowing function of awareness. If the intellectual 'doing' is too high then subtle restlessness will be present and attention will not stabilise on one point of breath preventing tranquility from arising.
As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. This is experienced as a disappearance of the concept 'I am breathing in, I am breathing out' or any idea that there is such a thing as the length of the breath. For sensations along the length of the breath to be perceived, there must also be a concept of time. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.
You are ready to progress to Addition 5 when you can perceive the subtle pleasure of abandoning 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
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
Addition 1
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 abandoning effort within your body. How nice it feels.
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
Addition 2
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 your 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 abandoning, the contentment of release. When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention.
(5 minutes)
Addition 3
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 abandoning 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 abandoning, stretch, abandon. 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.
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(5 minutes)
Addition 4
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.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
INSERT ADDITION 5 HERE
Stablise your attention on one point of breath sensation while maintaining meditative joy within your mind. Developed sustained attention on one point of breath sensation for a long period of time until tranquility, as an absent of movement with continuous knowing, arises and stabilises within your attention. Allow the experience of meditative joy and tranquility to merge as a posture of stable attention.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.
You are ready to progress to Addition 6 when you can effortlessly rest attention on one point of breath sensation free from subtle dullness, wandering, and restlessness and the Enlightenment Factor of tranquility becomes a stable part of your posture of attention.
“They train them self: ‘I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.’ They train them self: ‘I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body’.” MN10 The Buddha
The purpose of Addition 6 is to maintain the stability of the development of your samadhi. As your mind calms on one point of breath sensation, the ability to perceive each breath can also become feint. The inability to perceive the breath at this stage will cause mindfulness to become weak, and if the knowing function of awareness is not strong then samadhi (unification of attention) will begin to collapse.
POSTURE OF ATTENTION
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
Addition 1
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 abandoning effort within your body. How nice it feels.
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
Addition 2
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 your 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 abandoning, the contentment of release. When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention.
(5 minutes)
Addition 3
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 abandoning 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 abandoning, stretch, abandon. 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.
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(5 minutes)
Addition 4
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.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
Addition 5
Stablise your attention on one point of breath sensation while maintaining meditative joy within your mind. Developed sustained attention on one point of breath sensation for a long period of time until tranquility, as an absent of movement with continuous knowing, arises and stabilises within your attention. Allow the experience of meditative joy and tranquility to merge as a posture of stable attention.
INSERT ADDITION 6 HERE
As your mind calms on one point of breath sensation, the ability to perceive each breath can also become feint. The inability to perceive the breath at this stage will cause mindfulness to become weak and if knowing is not strong samadhi will begin to collapse.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.
You are ready to progress to Addition 7 when you can perceive the subtle sensations of the breath in one stable point of breath sensation and the clarity of knowing, infused with the joy of abandoning becomes a stable part of your attention. This will be corelated at this stage with a shutting down of the six sense fields though sound may still be known as a distant experience.
“They train them self: ‘I will breathe in calming formations.’ They train them self: ‘I will breathe out calming formations’.” MN10 The Buddha
The purpose of Addition 7 is to develop unified stable attention free from meditative hindrances in preparation for the conditions for access concentration to arise.
POSTURE OF ATTENTION
TIER 2 Mindfulness of Breathing
The structure of your daily mindfulness of breathing is the same except that you add one more additional skill. Insert these Meditation Skills for training establishment of the first six Factors of Enlightenment and the conditions for the arising of access concentration.
YOUR MEDITATION SO FAR
Read the meditation instructions below, they have been laid out in a simple step by step process. Once familiar, begin your meditation the following below instructions.
Begin your meditation by sitting comfortably on a chair or the floor. Palms resting one on the other in your lap, thumbs lightly touching in the middle as a grounding point for attention. Allowing your eyelids to gently close as this sends a signal to the mind that it is time to relax; it is time to develop calm. Once your eyelids are relaxed spend a few moments reflecting on small things you’re grateful for to sweeten your mind; smile when you are doing this. Then bring to mind the purpose for this meditation.
(5 minutes)
Addition 1
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 abandoning effort within your body. How nice it feels.
(5 minutes)
Marker 4
Begin to soften/relax awareness into your body until awareness and the presence of your body become one. As you soften into your body, the natural flow of breathing will appear to you as a subtle movement in your body, establish a stream of remembering on it.
(5 minutes)
Addition 2
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 your 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 abandoning, the contentment of release. When doing it notice how this meditative joy within the mind naturally balances energy and stabilises attention.
(5 minutes)
Addition 3
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 abandoning 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 abandoning, stretch, abandon. 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.
(5 minutes)
Marker 7
Notice the moment each breath draws in, and the moment each breath goes out. Become aware of the full length of each in-breath, and the full length of each out-breath.
(5 minutes)
Addition 4
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.
(10 minutes)
Marker 8
Once you have become clearer in regards to the beginning and length of each breath, start to notice the difference in sensations between each in-breath and out-breath.
(10 minutes)
Marker 9
Gradually soften and relax your desire 'to do' the meditation. As you calm the intellectual functions of your mind, the perception of time will also weaken. When this concept of observing over time is abandoned, you will be left with one point of breath sensation within your awareness. It is on this one point that you allow your attention to rest so that it may stabilise on it.
Addition 5
Stablise your attention on one point of breath sensation while maintaining meditative joy within your mind. Developed sustained attention on one point of breath sensation for a long period of time until tranquility, as an absent of movement with continuous knowing, arises and stabilises within your attention. Allow the experience of meditative joy and tranquility to merge as a posture of stable attention.
Addition 6
Slightly widen your peripheral awareness to the subtle movements of your whole body as it breathes. As each breath draws in, you will notice a subtle movement as your body expands outwards. As each breaths goes out, you will notice a subtle movement as your body deflates inward. Gradually pump up the clarity of your knowing and meditative joy while maintaining effortless attention on one point of breath sensation. Perceive the subtle sensations of the breath in one stable point of breath sensation and the clarity of knowing, infused with the joy of abandoning becomes a stable part of your attention.
INSERT ADDITION 7 HERE
Markers 11 & 12 are the signs of meditative attention that is at the doorway to access concentration. While Marker 11 is concerned with calming the 'doer', Marker 12 is concerned with the arising of access concentration. Access concentration is experienced as stable, unified attention free from the meditative hindrances.
INSTRUCTIONS MARKER 11
CALMING THE FINAL HINDRANCES
Anticipation: Desire for pleasurable states.
Fear: Fear of giving up all control.
OBSERVE CALM ABANDON IN THIS ORDER
Access Concentration is also established by observing, calming and abandoning.
Once you can stabilise your attention on breath sensation, without any effort or distraction, free from all Meditative Hindrances, you are said to have reached access concentration. It is access concentration because it creates an access doorway to jhana.
Now that you are familiar with the meditation instructions it is time to begin your daily meditation in order to start training your skill in attention.
You are ready to progress to TIER 3 Mindfulness of Breathing to develop skill in establishing access concentration when you can stabilise your attention on breath sensation, without any effort or distraction, free from all Meditative Hindrance.
Your support enables me to continue to offer MIDL Mindfulness Meditation to everyone who is open to receiving it.
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