Breath Meditation using the Mantra "Buddho"

A meditation using the mantra "Buddho" (Knowing) to help keep attention focused on the breath.

Transcript

Awareness of breathing,

Recollecting the mantra,

Buddho,

Knowing.

Focusing your attention to your sitting posture,

Simply being aware that now you are sitting with a straight yet relaxed posture.

At first simply feeling the physical feelings of the buttocks pressing against the mat or the cushion or the chair on which you sit.

Grounding awareness in the present moment.

Allow a broad awareness to embrace your whole body for a few moments,

Simply knowing the sitting posture.

And now we are going to take three slow and deep in and out breaths,

Releasing any tension you may be feeling,

Particularly with the out breath.

Breathing slowly and deeply in,

All the way into the abdomen.

And then breathing out,

Letting go.

And once again breathing in,

Breathing out,

Relaxing,

Putting things down.

And one more deep in and out breath at your own pace,

Bringing a fresh awareness,

A sense of being present into the new moment.

Now allow the breathing to become relaxed and natural,

Breathing ordinarily at your own pace.

Imagine that we are now doing a session of sitting meditation.

Other than meditating now,

We don't need to do anything or go anywhere.

Not following thoughts,

Allowing thoughts to simply drop away.

Just sitting,

Just breathing,

Taking small,

Relaxed,

Natural breaths.

And now with natural awareness,

Try to feel the area around the top of the head.

Be aware of the various feelings on the surface area of the skin,

In the area at the top of the head.

Can include the face,

And the ears,

And the neck.

Now include the upper shoulder area.

Simply aware,

Simply feeling,

Knowing the various feelings on the surface of the skin in the shoulder area.

Feeling more aware,

More alert,

More in the present moment.

And at the same time,

Relaxing into mindful awareness.

Aware of the shoulders,

Relaxing the shoulders.

Now include the chest in this awareness.

And then include the stomach area.

And bring this gentle,

Knowing awareness to include all of your back.

Now include your arms.

Embracing the whole upper area of the body with gentle awareness.

Not judging,

Not discriminating.

Simply knowing the felt sense of this body now.

Sitting.

Setting the body as it is,

With an alert,

Yet gentle,

Knowing.

Now include the lower abdomen.

The groin.

And the buttocks.

Feel your bottom pressing against the surface underneath.

Allowing the awareness to shift from the realms of thoughts and emotions.

And simply settling with the awareness of sitting.

Being present in the moment,

Grounded.

Now slowly include the legs and the feet in your awareness.

Feel the whole body simply sitting,

Knowing the sitting posture.

Now bring your awareness to your in and out breathing.

Being mindful of each in and out breath.

We are going to use a mental noting method now,

So as to assist our mindfulness in staying with the feeling of the in and out breath.

We will note in three distinct places.

At the tip of the nose,

In the area of the chest,

And in the abdomen.

As the breath comes in through the nose,

Mentally note one at the nose.

As the breath comes into the chest,

Note two at the chest.

As the breath comes into the abdomen,

Note three at the abdomen.

And as the breath leaves the body,

Note three at the abdomen,

Two at the chest,

And one at the nose.

The mental noting is gentle and quiet.

One two three.

Three two one.

One two three.

Three two one.

The main meditation object is the feeling of the breath.

We intend to be aware of the feeling of the breath as it passes through the nose,

Down through the chest,

And into the abdomen.

And then aware of the breath as it passes from the abdomen,

Out through the chest,

And out the nose.

One two three.

Three two one.

The gentle mental noting helps us to stay with our meditation object,

Not letting the mind wander off into thinking about this or that.

Aware of the in-breath.

One two three.

And aware of the out-breath.

Three two one.

From now on,

The pauses between instructions will become longer.

This is your opportunity to practice being mindfully aware of the breath,

Noting one two three and three two one.

At three distinct places.

Nose chest abdomen,

Abdomen chest nose.

And then aware of the breath as it passes through the abdomen,

Out through the chest,

Out through the abdomen.

Aware of the entire in-breath.

One two three.

And the entire out-breath.

Three two one.

And the entire out-breath.

And the entire out-breath.

One two three.

Three two one.

And the entire out-breath.

While still intending to be aware of the breath at these same three points,

We will now change our noting method to a more simple one.

Allowing the mind to become a little more quiet,

A little more spacious,

By simply recollecting the word buddho.

We do this by breaking this word into two syllables,

The syllable buddho and the syllable do.

With each in-breath we note or recollect the syllable buddho,

And with each out-breath we recollect the syllable do.

Breathing in,

Noting buddho,

And breathing out,

Noting do.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

The buddha was the one who knew,

The one who realized the ultimate truth.

Do means knowing,

Mindfully knowing.

The buddha was the awakened one.

Buddho also means awakened knowing,

Mindful knowing.

Our meditation now is to know the breath with mindfulness.

Being aware of the feelings involved in breathing in and breathing out,

Knowing the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath,

Knowing with buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Once again,

There will be longer and longer pauses for you to practice mindfully noting the breath with the recollection buddho.

Noting budd on the in-breath and do on the out-breath,

The noting is gentle and quiet.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

If you find now that you can know the sensation of the breathing more distinctly at one of the three places,

You can choose to place your awareness primarily on that one place,

Be it the area of the nose or the chest or in the area of the abdomen,

Wherever you can feel the breath most clearly.

Allowing awareness to rest with the sensations of the breath in just one place,

Still recollecting the syllables budd and do.

If you would prefer to continue observing the breath in all three places,

That's fine too.

Wherever seems more peaceful,

You can choose.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

Buddho.

You might notice that even when you observe the breath in just one place,

There are sensations in that one place at the beginning of the in-breath,

At the middle of the in-breath and at the end of the in-breath.

Similarly with the out-breath.

Try to be mindfully aware of all of these subtle changes,

Knowing the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath as it arises and falls away in just one area or in all three places as before,

If you prefer.

Try to maintain awareness of the entire in-breath and the entire out-breath,

Being aware of the feelings involved in the natural breathing,

Recollecting buddho.

Try to hear my voice as if it is in the distance somewhat,

As a gentle reminder,

As some quiet encouragement.

From this point onwards,

I will occasionally be quoting some teachings of Ajahn Chah,

Teachings pertaining to this faculty of knowing.

Try to allow these teachings to inform your mindfulness.

The Buddha taught to look at whatever appears.

Things don't stay.

Having arisen,

They cease.

Ceasing they appear again.

And having appeared,

They cease.

The breath comes into the body quite naturally and then simply leaves the body again.

Then there is another in-breath and then another out-breath.

Knowing and going,

Arising and passing away.

Knowing each in-breath and knowing each out-breath.

Knowing the arising and passing away of each in and out-breath.

Starting with buddho.

Once again there will be a long pause for you to practice mindfulness of breathing meditation with the recollection buddho.

It is not that the Buddha entered final nibbana long ago and cannot teach us now.

The Buddha nature,

Which means our own minds,

When clear knowledge has arisen,

Will lead us to investigate and know all dhammas.

This knowing of the dhamma is the Buddha himself.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Knowing the in-breath,

Recollecting buddho.

Knowing the out-breath,

Recollecting dho.

Six types of consciousness are mentioned in the teachings.

But it is only a convention to specify when we are knowing at different points of sense contact.

Through the eyes,

The ears,

The nose,

The tongue,

The body or the mind.

In truth there are not six.

It is one faculty of knowing that is capable of awareness at these six points.

And this one mind,

This one who knows,

Has the potential to know things as they really are.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

Buddha,

Buddha,

Knowing.

It can be helpful to bring an inquiring,

Contemplative attitude to our meditation.

As you are practicing mindful awareness,

Try to be interested in knowing the rise and fall of phenomena.

Even though the breath is our primary meditation object,

Perhaps there are other physical feelings which arise,

Stay for a while,

Change and cease.

Simply know these.

Similarly thoughts may stir,

Bubble up and then fall away.

When thoughts arise,

Know this.

And then let them go,

Simply starting again.

Taking one in-breath,

Put,

And one out-breath,

Do.

Put,

Down.

Or perhaps there are subtle changes in mood.

These also arise,

Stay for some time and cease.

Know these.

And then let them go,

Simply starting again.

And then let them go,

Simply starting again.

Knowing and seeing correctly,

Or knowing and seeing wrongly,

Are functions of this one faculty of awareness.

Whenever this one who knows is still obscured,

Its knowing is the knowing of delusion.

Right view also arises from the one who knows.

This faculty of awareness.

When it is correct,

The incorrect will vanish.

Knowing one in-breath,

Put,

And one out-breath,

Do.

Another in-breath and another out-breath,

Mindfully knowing.

And then let them go,

Simply starting again.

And then let them go,

Simply starting again.

This impermanence is the real Dhamma.

Knowing things thoroughly with the standard of not permanent,

Not real,

A transformation takes place into something permanent and certain.

And then one no longer carries the burden of things.

It's a production.

Yes,

There is one Buddha,

Meaning right view.

Whoever awakens to that is not different to the Buddha.

So the Buddha and sentient beings are not far apart.

This is something to be realized within.

Put,

Tao,

Put,

Tao.

In a couple of minutes,

This guided meditation will end.

Try to enjoy these last remaining moments.

If you have time to continue this meditation,

Please do so.

Maintaining awareness of the breath,

Recollecting Put,

Tao and observing impermanence.

Hearing my voice as if in the distance.

If you wish to,

You can dedicate the merit produced by this meditation now to a relative,

A friend or a teacher,

Either living or deceased.

And whenever you are ready,

You can open your eyes.

Try to bring this quality of knowing with mindfulness and wisdom to whatever other activities and duties you may need to perform throughout the day.

Be well.

Reviews

Thank you for your teachings that have accompanied and enriched me for the past two weeks 🙏

My deepest gratitude for this meditation and for your teachings.

Clear, concise language. Well spoken and to the point

Excellent thank you. I found the monotonous, staccato delivery cold and difficult to listen to, but I benefitted in spite of this. Be well.

Wonderful meditation which offered a glimpse of the way things are. Thank you Ajahn.

I've been struggling a bit with keeping my focus on the breath. This guided session was supremely helpful with that. Thank you, Ajaan.

Again, Thank You for the equipoise and soft-spoken instruction.

Best meditation ever. Very grateful to Ajhan Achelo. May you always be well and happy.

Upon experiencing impermance directly I felt a great sense of joy and pleasure. Thank you Ajahn Achalo for this teaching 🙏

outstanding. thank you and much metta Ajahn Achalo 🙏🏼

🙏🌟Thank You for this Practice💞 I am able to remain focused for the entire 50 minutes🙏🌟

I first tried this a year ago and didn't much like it. But I kept coming back to the technique in between trying others, and decided to listen to this guided meditation again today. And BAM! It was wonderful. I understood things in the directions that I'd missed before, and really found some spaciousness of mind and yes, some Knowing. So I reccommend to anyone for whom this doesn't resonate to put it down, let it marinate a while, and come back to it later.

Calming, peaceful. Namaste.

Beautifully paced and worded making the 50 mins effortless, leaving me calm and free of all concern.

Provides techniques to improve your meditation. practice

I found this meditation most relaxing, and easy to stay focused.
Ajahn Achalo has a very soothing voice.

Lovely breath meditation

Thank you so much for this wonderful guidance and your presence - with love and light 🙏🏽💖🙏🏽

I've been doing Buddho meditation for 45 years and was never clear about the process. Here, it's articulated real well in steps. If you know meditation well, then the doctrines will become clear. I'm looking forward to learn more about the Buddhist doctrine.