Gather your strength in one point only – the lower belly!
Sadly, most human beings now spend the lion share of their life engaged with the unending, rambling thought constructs inside their head. A litany of ideas, prejudices, and opinions are at center stage resulting in a lifetime of squandered opportunity.
Developing new habits is possible. A strong, newly discovered stability and equilibrium is waiting to be established. Through earnest practice one can learn to keep strength in the lower belly.
Buddha said: “Meditate sincerely with focus. Be pure in mind and deed. Doing so will result in exponential growth, creating an island that no flood or untoward circumstance can penetrate.” (Buddha Dhammapada – translation by Z. M. Ji Haeng)
Ordinarily, human beings breathe approximately eighteen times per minute. Reducing this to ten is attainable with a modicum of sincere effort and resolve. During actual seated meditation, achieving three to four breaths per minute is possible and will reap tangible rewards in your day to day deportment, poise, and demeanor. After some time, even two breaths per minute may occur. The only singular strength necessary to exhibit in your daily life should emanate from abdominal breathing. As the sixth ancestor, Hui Neng instructed, “Don’t try to free yourself of thoughts. Just keep your focus in the belly.”
Long, slow, out breathing is the foundation of practice and brings with it great peace. Arts such as ikebana, calligraphy, music performance, tea ceremony, and all martial arts, recognize their foundation in the mastery of breathing.
Maintaining awareness of your physical posture and balance at all times is an additional benefit. In passing, it should be noted that breathing through the mouth when not engaged in physical effort is a sure sign of health decline.
After consistent application, “hara” breathing eliminates physiological and psychological disturbances creating an inner calm. A calm that is no longer dependent on the all too available relaxation expedients such as alcohol and drugs. Wake up! Start living life instead of being conditioned by desires and extraneous thinking. The five senses or “skandas” as they are referenced in Sanskrit – eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind make wonderful servants. A tasty meal, pleasant floral bouquet, beautiful music, a compelling landscape etc. can contribute to an interesting life. However, when these senses control us as often allowed to do, they inevitably lead us away from the present moment back to our default setting of desire, longing, mental attachments and being lost in our thinking. Releasing from your self fabricated ego in every situation is paramount. Authentic religious training has seemingly disappeared in human beings personal development over time. Much of humanity is now on automatic pilot. Centuries ago, ardent training served as a hallmark in major religions, a remarkable source of engaged discipline both mentally and physically..
Circumstances will appear in life from time to time requiring a no nonsense, martial arts type response. My teacher Zen Master Seung Sahn used to say, “It is not possible to treat all illnesses with the same medicine.” Meeting these trials with composure, poise, and a not moving center is possible with hara development. More next week…..
Ji Haeng Zen Master – The Desert Dragon