Spirit-Breathing

IV. Spirit-Breathing

1. Practicing the technique of the turn-about with a devoted-spirit will assure positive results. However, if one practices with the desire to achieve a certain goal, then success will surely be eluded.
2. The general causes of failure in the Recollective Resolve are laziness and distractedness. There is a remedy: redirecting control of the breath.
3. The Bodhi-mind needs to direct the breathing. When the Garbha-child stirs, there develops proper-breathing. In such fashion the Qi is united with the Mind.
4. Individual thoughts are random excesses of the Body Consciousness. Thus this randomness of activity triggers inhalation and exhalation. Both thought and breath respond to each other like sound and echo. Hence, in a single day countless breaths gives way to incessant patterns of thought. In time, the clarity of the spirit is depleted leading to its expiration.
5. It’s impossible to dam-up the incessant flow of thoughts; it would be like cutting-off breathing itself. Thus in order to address ceaseless distractedness of mind, one needs to apply the proper prescription of uniting the breath and mind in the Bodhi-child.
6. This prescription makes use of two essential lights: the Light of Yang and the Translucent Light of Yin. The Light of Yang means the exuberance of the Qi-energies, like emanating from the golden-furnace of the Sun. The Translucent Light of Yin means the inner-luminosity, like arising from the luminous surface of the Moon. Both the Light of the Yang and the Translucent Light of Yin share the same spiritual-core of the One Mind and Absolute.
7. When meditating one lowers one’s gaze to the dantian-point of the Garbha-child. In doing so one abdicates the former-control of the Body-Consciousness. This is the beginning of the Spirit-Breathing, or inner-listening to the heart-beat of the Child of Light.
8. This is akin to exchanging mundane-breathing for the inner-circulation of the Qi-energies which are now emanating from the heart of the Bodhi-child. If the transition occurs unheeded, then one no longer hears the sound of respiration. One simply turns-about the breathing and hearing and listens for the silent-flow of a softer breath of a much subtler and supple-Mind. This empowers “True-Breathing”, one that penetrates to the ultimate truths of Spiritual-Awareness. This translates as the Garbha-child now doing the breathing through you.
9. Over time, even the subtleness of this movement of the Primordial Spirit begins to subside as the True-Breathing penetrates the unimaginable depths of the Unborn Mind.
10. When the unnoticeable-movement of this subtle Qi-flow as directed from within the womb of the Garbha-child is initiated, all flows as Such in the heart of the Imageless-Spirit.
11. Movement in this context is often misunderstood. Both the Bodhi-mind and breath are now inextricably linked. It’s like imageless-strings pulling each other to effect quietude of Mind and spirit.
12. The ancient sages have a wonderfully apt analogy of this interconnection: the mother hen is able to hatch her eggs because she is always listening attentively and inwardly to the chick’s development. Although she is apparently only warming the outer-shell, her intense-focusing also generates an inner-heat—a circulation of Qi that incubates the embryos.
13. Therefore the mother hen, although momentarily leaving the eggs from time to time, always does so with an attitude of listening with a bent-ear. This is synonymous with the inner-concentration never being interrupted within the Primordial Spirit.
14. The full “spiritual-hatching” within the mind of the alert adept means death for the carnal-mind, but a Supreme-Awakening for one within the Undivided Mind of the Unborn.
15. The Blessed Ones state: “When your mind and heart are centered in one-pointedness of spirit, then nothing is impossible for you.”
16. When mind becomes restless and unhinged, simply Recollect Spirit-Breathing. Allow the gentle Bodhi-breath of the Suchchild to fill all your nights and days with the infinite inner-solitude of Spirit.
17. Remember, the unattended mind drifts off into laziness and mental stupor—even into oblivion; if one still hears their own respiration during dhyana it means that the breath is of the coarse-mind—leading to drowsiness; thus, remaining attentive in the Light of Spirit’s inner-resourcefulness (the soft-breathing of the Bodhi-child) will assure proper-absorption in meditation.

The Bodhi-mind needs to direct the breathing. When the Garbha-child stirs, there develops proper-breathing. In such fashion the Qi is united with the Mind: something quite remarkable is beginning to stir-within. This is no ordinary occurrence. The seed of the Bodhi-mind is awakening and it is re-directing all the Qi-fields within you, re-directing the dynamics of your own respiration. It is the very root-source of Primordial-Breathing.

When meditating one lowers one’s gaze to the dantian-point of the Garbha-child. In doing so one abdicates the former-control of the Body-Consciousness. This is the beginning of the Spirit-Breathing, or inner listening to the heart-beat of the Child of Light: the dantian-point is located a few inches below the navel and is the source for “proper-breathing” within many diverse energy-systems. One simply breathes from this location and not the upper-chest region. In this context the dantian (or Bodhi-Chakra) is the inner-nursery of the Bodhi-child. As was stated in the Lankavatarian Book of the Dead:

Its quality is one of primordial innocence and childlike joy, devoid of prejudice and attachments of the discriminatory mind. Indeed, its dignity and tremendous sense of mission as a Light Bringer (Bodhisattva) awakens the very Realm of Noble Wisdom within one’s inmost self. By nurturing the qualities of the Bodhi Chakra through sambodhi we begin to Recollect the Way home to the Unborn Mind through a Spirit of undivided self-awareness.

One no-longer breathes on one’s own but now has a limitless supply of Primordial-Qi flowing from the Garbha-child. It’s like being on a respirator that is doing the breathing for you. But now the respirator is concentrated sambodhi—the limitless power of the Bodhi-mind. IT takes control as it is now “Spirit-Breathing” and not the skandhic-apparatus. Yea, this is the true meaning behind the spiritual notion of being “prior to the breath”.

This empowers “True-Breathing”, one that penetrates to the ultimate truths of Spiritual-Awareness. This translates as the Garbha-child now doing the breathing through you: ordinary breath-control is oftentimes uneven, even laborious. “True-Breathing” is spiritual in nature—MORE true and innate to your actual-identity in the Unborn; one soon comes to realize through Spirit-Breathing that the nurturing Qi-field is naturally expanding within. Indeed, it is your True Natural State of being.

The Blessed Ones state: “When your mind and heart are centered in one pointedness of spirit, then nothing is impossible for you”: this simple axiom is worth volumes in terms of Transcendental-Awareness and even day-by-day practicalities. One-pointedness of Mind IS one-pointedness of Spirit—it’s seeing the Dharmadhatu through the Primordial Spirit’s point of reference.