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Advice from Zandtaomed
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Viveka-Zandtao



Appendix C

Mindfulness with Breathing

   

Tetrads

Key Points

Thay Additions

Thay description 65

First

The Long Breath

Buddha’s Pranayama

In/out

Kaya

The Short Breath

Cooling Emotions

Long/short

Experiencing All Breaths

Develop a kaya-conditioner routine

Experiencing body

Harmonising body with heart - oneness of body and heart

Calming the Breath

Calming body

Second

Piti (contentment)

Stopping spinning

Experiencing joy

Vedana

Sukha (joy)

Experiencing bliss

Experiencing the mind-conditioner

Develop a vedana-conditioner routine

44.3 feelings arising from body and mind

Experiencing mental formations

Harmonising body and vedana with heart - oneness with heart

Calming the mind-conditioner

Develop a feeling of temporary nibbana nibbana-dhatu

Calming mental formations

Third

Experiencing citta.

Working correctly - supramundane

Experiencing mind

Citta

Delighting the Mind

Present moment touching seeds

46.6 Present Moment - joy arising from touching seeds

Gladdening mind

Concentrating the Mind

Stability, purity, activeness

Concentrating mind

Harmonising citta, vedana and kaya with heart - oneness with heart

Liberating the Mind

 End upadana and kilesa (now). Not attaching to the khandhas.

47.7 - description of what is liberated. Untying fetters

Liberating mind

Dhamma

All dharmas - objects of mind

Fourth

Integrate mind emotion and body in heart-consciousness leading to Anicca and anatta

4 aspects of dhamma:-

Anicca

Contemplating anicca

Heart

Dissolving attachment and fading away Quenching Dukkha - nirodha

Nature itself, laws of nature, duty, rewards duty

Disappearing Desire

Contemplating non-craving

Interdependence

All 6 – anicca, dukkha, anatta, sunnata, tathata, idappaccayata

Cessation

Contemplating nirvana

Throwing it all back. State of atammayata leads to faith bringing in light of consciousness and awakening the heart.

Practice a time of deep observation - not achieving the 4 tetrads only but once we have brought in consciousness spend time just observing in a state of Awakened Heart, Consciousness, Unity and Atammayata

Letting go

Contemplating letting go

Quotes from Thay's book used in above table:-

p44.3 "The seventh and eighth exercises bring your attention to all feelings that arise, whether produced by the body (kayasamskara) or the mind (cittasamskara). The mind’s functions include feelings and perceptions. When you are aware of every bodily function and every mental action, you are aware of every feeling. The eighth exercise calms the body and mind and makes them peaceful."

p46.6 "The tenth exercise makes our minds happy, because it is easier for the mind to become concentrated when it’s in a peaceful, happy state than when it’s filled with sorrow or anxiety. We’re aware that we have the opportunity to practice meditation and that there is no moment as important as the present one. Calmly abiding in the present moment, immense joy arises each time we touch in ourselves the seeds of faith, compassion, goodness, equanimity, liberty, and so on. These seeds are buried deep in our consciousness, and we need only to touch them and water them with conscious breathing for them to manifest."

p47.7 "The mind is bound either because of the past or the future, or because of other latent desires, or anger. With clear observation, we can locate the knots that are binding us, making it impossible for our minds to be free and at peace. We loosen these knots and untie the ropes that bind our minds. Full Awareness of Breathing shines into the mind the light of the observation that can illumine and set the mind free. Looking deeply at the nature of mental formations such as fear, anger, anxiety, and so on, brings about the understanding that will liberate us."

p50.4 Thay disagrees with MwB and Zandtaomed. "Although the first four exercises help our concentration very much, and every time we practice it is helpful to do these, it is not always necessary to practice the sixteen exercises in sequence." Always - perhaps strict but going through all 4 tetrads is the usual process.

Observation meditation - no separation - non-duality - 4 tetrads - kaya conditioner creating calm body -vedana conditioner creating calm feelings - citta-conditioner calm mind - connecting to Dhamma - buddha-nature. p54.0 "Observation meditation is a lucid awareness of what is going on in the Four Establishments: body, feelings, mind, and all dharmas, “persevering, fully awake, clearly understanding his state, gone beyond all attachment and aversion to this life."



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