Sixteen Contemplations on Mindfulness of Breathing

A Zen guided meditation by Sosan Theresa Flynn on the Sixteen Contemplations on Mindfulness of Breathing, attributed to the Buddha.

Transcript

I'd like to read the sutra to you,

And we can do it kind of as a guided meditation.

So let me do that.

And I'm reading mostly from Thich Nhat Hanh's translation,

Although I've also been using a translation from this wonderful book called Breath by Breath,

The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation by Larry Rosenberg.

It's not a new book,

But it's really great.

I highly recommend it.

So these are,

As far as we know,

The direct words of the Buddha.

What is the way to develop and practice continuously the method of full awareness of breathing so that the practice will be rewarding and offer great benefit?

It is like this.

The practitioner goes into the forest or to the foot of a tree,

Or to their bedroom or to a zendo.

I made that part up.

But we can say,

For us,

Goes somewhere or any deserted place,

Sits in a stable posture,

Holding his or her or their body quite straight,

And practices like this.

Breathing in,

I know I am breathing in.

Breathing out,

I know I am breathing out.

Breathing in a long breath,

I know I am breathing in a long breath.

Breathing out a long breath,

I know I am breathing out a long breath.

Breathing in a short breath,

I know I am breathing in a short breath.

Breathing out a short breath,

I know I am breathing out a short breath.

Breathing in,

I am aware of my whole body.

Breathing out,

I am aware of my whole body.

Or another translation,

Breathing in,

Sensitive to the whole body.

Breathing out,

Sensitive to the whole body.

Breathing in,

I calm my whole body.

Breathing out,

I calm my whole body.

Breathing in,

I feel joyful.

Breathing out,

I feel joyful.

And this isn't forcing a feeling onto ourselves.

It's more just being aware and noticing when joy arises.

Or another translation has breathing in,

Sensitive to rapture.

Breathing out,

Sensitive to rapture.

So that's a kind of intense pleasure or intense joy that can arise when we really are paying attention to our breath and our body.

There's a joy or a rapture that arises from that deep connection.

And then after that joy or rapture,

We may feel more just a more stable happiness or pleasure.

So it's not quite as intense as the joy or rapture,

But it's a more subtle feeling of things being right or things being one.

So this next one is breathing in,

I feel happy.

Breathing out,

I feel happy.

Or breathing in,

Sensitive to pleasure.

Breathing out,

Sensitive to pleasure.

Breathing out,

Sensitive to pleasure.

And next is breathing in,

I'm aware of my mental formations.

So mental formations are things that arise from our feelings.

So feelings at a base level are like,

Dislike,

And neutral.

And usually when there's a like or a dislike or even a neutral,

Then some emotion or thoughts or thoughts and emotions arise,

Mental formations arise.

So we like something,

We have a story about wanting more or wanting it to last,

Grabbing onto it,

A fear that it will go away.

So that's a mental formation,

Or we dislike something and we want it to end,

This isn't fair,

All kinds of ideas and maybe an emotion of anger arises.

So those are the mental formations.

So just noticing those.

So breathing in,

I'm aware of my mental formations.

Breathing out,

I'm aware of my mental formations.

And don't worry if your awareness of these doesn't feel very strong.

So I'm going through this,

Sometimes people spend a year on just the first four contemplations and we're going through these kind of quickly.

But I think you can get a taste of it.

You can get a taste of being sensitive to your mental processes as you breathe in and you breathe out.

Even just the mental process of whether you like the sound of my voice or don't like the sound of my voice,

Or like this meditation exercise or don't like it,

Or don't care about it,

Neutral,

Or are confused,

Don't know how you feel about it.

So once we notice the mental formations then usually quite naturally they start to calm down.

Could take a long time,

But it will happen when we notice them and be friends with them.

Then they start to calm down and we can relax with them.

So the next contemplation is breathing in,

I calm my mental formations.

Breathing out,

I calm my mental formations.

And next is breathing in,

I am aware of my mind itself.

Breathing in,

Aware of my mind.

Breathing out,

Aware of my mind.

Breathing in,

I make my mind happy or gladden the mind.

And again that comes naturally as we notice the mind then the mind becomes happy.

So noticing that shift or inviting it.

Breathing in,

I make my mind happy.

Breathing out,

I make my mind happy.

Breathing in,

I concentrate or steady my mind.

Breathing out,

I concentrate or steady my mind.

Breathing in,

I liberate my mind.

Breathing out,

I liberate my mind.

Breathing in,

I observe impermanence.

Breathing out,

I observe impermanence.

We can just observe impermanence of the breath among other things.

Breathing in,

I observe the disappearance of desire of a grasping,

Clinging kind of desire.

Breathing out,

I observe the disappearance of desire.

Breathing in,

I observe the no birth,

No death nature of all phenomena.

Breathing out,

I observe the no birth,

No death nature of all phenomena.

Breathing in,

I observe letting go.

Breathing out,

I observe letting go.

So thank you.

These are the 16 contemplations on the mindfulness of breathing.

Reviews

That was easy to understand and make applicable for my practice.

Simple, clear instruction but more importantly, very helpful. Thank you, Sosan 🙏🏼 I’ll definitely be returning to this

Wonderful. Thank you. I will revisit this. On a sidenote, my “mental formation” of the coughing in the background was definitely influenced by current day Covid situations. 🙂

Hey, listened to this wonderful centering meditation and smiled - byakuren

Thank you for sharing these opportunities for our awareness, growth and healing. Joan

That was a very practical way of starting to practice these 16 observations from the Anapanasati Sutta. Awesome

I REALLY found this to be most beneficial. As I repeated the mantras I became aware and had a small taste of where this practice can go. Very encouraging to me my formative meditation experience.

Gosh.. I loved that. How fascinating, and incredibly helpful. Thank you so much.

Valuable information. More a talk than a meditation. Worth listening to. Thanks.

Thank you so much - I will come back and go throu again and again 🙏🏽💖🙏🏽

Very nice reminder of impermanence and being present

So much wisdom and so much generosity. I am ver grateful. Namaste

Great meditation. So simple and liberating!

Becoming more aware of my 'mental formations' was like a lightbulb moment for me. Thank you 🙏

Amazing how awareness changes and purifies during this meditation 🙏🏻thank you 🌹