The-Tibetan-Book-of-Living-and-Dying

BRINGING THE MIND HOME 73breathing in, now I'm breathing out") for mindfulness; what isimportant is pure presence.Don't concentrate too much on the breath. What is veryimportant, the masters always advise, is not to fixate whilepracticing the concentration of Calm Abiding. That's why theyrecommend you place about 25 percent of your attention onmindfulness of the breath. But then, as you will discover,mindfulness alone is not enough. While you are supposed tobe watching the breath, after only one or two minutes youcan find yourself playing in a football game or starring in yourown film. So another 25 percent should be devoted to a continuousand watchful awareness, one that oversees and checkswhether you are still mindful of the breath. The remaining 50percent of your attention is left abiding, spaciously.As you become more mindful of your breathing, you willfind that you become more and more present, gather all yourscattered aspects back into yourself, and become whole.Rather than "watching" the breath, let yourself graduallyidentify with it, as if you were becoming it. Slowly the breath,the breather, and the breathing become one; duality and separationdissolve.You will find that this very simple process of mindfulnessfilters your thoughts and emotions. Then, as if you were sheddingan old skin, something is peeled off and freed.The Three Methods in OneEach of these three methods forms a complete meditationpractice on its own. However, after many years of teaching, Ihave found that what can be particularly effective is to combinethem into one practice, in the order given here. First, restingour mind on an object can transform our outerenvironment and acts on the level of form and the body. Second,reciting or chanting a mantra can purify our inner worldof sound, emotion, and energy. Third, watching the breath canpacify the innermost dimension of the mind, as well as theprana, "the vehicle of the mind." So the three methods work,in turn, on the three aspects that we are composed of: body,speech, and mind. As you practice them, one leads into the nextand enables you to become steadily more peaceful and morepresent.Begin by resting your gaze on an object, say the photograph ofPadmasambhava. Gaze into his face. A sacred image like thisactually transmits peace. The power of its blessing brings suchserenity that simply to look at it will calm your mind. What is