Transcending the breath

We should think of our "inbreath" as life and the "outbreath" as death since a corpse does not breathe.  Our breathing in a way, represents the cycle of life & death.  Also, our psychophysical body, in this respect, is a concrete phenomenon of life & death.  The fifty trillion cells in our body are being born and are dying.  So now, where does meditation fit into this picture? 

From the Buddhist perspective the answer is quite simple: meditation is not about the in or out breath—it's really about transcending the breath, as it were, finding the sweet spot where the inbreath and outbreath gain no entry.  More specifically, meditation is also about the source (mukha) of our breathing.  In the process of meditation, one is to be mindful of the outside source (pari-mukha) which is antecedent to the breath which, in fact, animates the entire psychophysical organism.  Being mindful (sati), we are to observe the impurity or foulness of the corporeal organism together with composite things so that we are able to escape from being, overly, yoked to the corporeal organism as if we were dependent upon it. 

The problem is not so much about our psychophysical organism, itself, but the degree to which we yoke ourselves to it.  Being mindful of the outside source, which is purely animative, we diminish the heaviness of the yoke.  We see that our fifty trillion sattvas (cells) that make up the body depend on the parimukha.  By being mindful of the inbreath and outbreath—not following either—we are, in effect, reclaiming our natural mind or the same, our Buddha-nature.

For the run-of-the-mill person (puthujjana) they are their inbreath and outbreath.  They, unconsciously, follow the breath.  They are also their heart beat.  They are their physiology, in other words, or said another way, “this is mine, this I am, this is my self.”  Such a condition constitutes desire for the finite organism; including an unwillingness to let go; having assumed this is me, this I am, this is my self.  But something far different happens when we can dis-identify with both the inbreath and outbreath, trusting that we are the outside source of our breathing and for that matter, outside of the realm of the psychophysical organism.

So far a tentative hypothesis, if we look at our body, the pineal gland receives the input from the parimukha.  It, itself, is not the source, but like an antenna it receives it.  I hasten to add, that DNA is not the prime mover since it cannot activate itself, that is, turn itself off or on.  It just represents the blueprints.  Agency and activity lie outside of our body.  Call us "breath animators" but still we are neither the cycle of breathing nor the psychophysical body.  In order to have an effective meditation, we need to identify with the input signal which transcends the breath which is never other than antecedent to the inbreath and outbreath.

 

Comments

[n. yeti]

Haven't mentioned this before, but a meditation practice of breathing in (with inward breath) while breathing out and vice versa has yielded a most beneficial Samadhi. I discovered this through intuitive means some time back and am curious if others have stumbled upon this technique. It rapidly demolishes gross mental dharmas and transcends bodily perception/aperception in breathing mindfulness (anapanasati).

[mathesis]

From a different Christian perspective we once wrote concerning the "Life-Breath" and the "Trillion Cells":

http://platoaugustine.blogspot.pt/search?updated-max=2015-04-05T09:14:00-07:00

In the Mysteries of Good Friday we witness the apotheosis and epiphany of Divine Love, and man striving to purify his soul and to see clearly with the pure eyes of his heart perceives by supernatural illumination (for it cannot be perceived by fallen corrupted reason) the Infinite Love and Divine Gratuitous Gift present in all Existence and Creation, the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness, the Divine Offering and Gift of God both in the Creation and in the Redemption. God has given us Being and Life (it is as if we perceived clearly each of the billion cells in our bodies) and we see with spiritual vision the Infinite Oneness, Life and Beauty of Creation, despite of all sorrow and pain and mishap from the point of view of our limited corrupted minds and reason, so that all creatures should be moved to tears and repentance and spiritual joy.

[mathesis]

I find this blog and in particular these last posts and in general those with a more philosophic and scientific focus to be profoundly interesting. Please keep up to good work.