Hello,

From most information I find, where one focus's their attention on the breath is as personal as favoring either Coke or Pepsi. Then I see claims of superiority being made and I get confused.

In Zen, Katsuki Sekida stresses deeper exhalation down to the line of the reserve volume of oxygen, at about 1200 ml. You focus on the tandem. Your attention is at the rise and fall of the stomach with tension emphasized between the abdominal muscles and diaphragm. His claim is that this is the only way to go.

In "Practicing the Jhanas" based off of the teachings of Venerable Pa Auk Sayadaw, it says: "The attention is placed at the awareness of breath as it goes in and out of the nostrils...This is very important! If you do not follow this instruction your practice will never progress to the point where the nimitta merges with the breath at the anapana spot."

Well, hell, I want nimitta to merge. I want white light to appear when concentration deepens and the jhana factors are gaining strength!

>Rich Hanson (A Theravadin guy) claims that there's a connection with longer exhalation and functional MRI-backed stages of absorption.
>It seems like if you focus attention at the nostrils, you have to ignore the rising/falling of belly. However, the reverse doesn't seem to be true.
>If you're focusing attention at the nostrils, are you still doing deeper breathing (diaphragmatic/abdominal) or are you doing thoracic cavity breathing? Hasn't it been proven that deeper breathing is better for you on all fronts?

I like focusing attention on my stomach. But it's not like I've attained anything of prominence to keep me from doing the other method if need be.

As far as traditions go: I have an elemental attraction to Zen (Rinzai-ish) but I want Jhanas, I want Stream Entry, I want all that and I'm just going to have to put Zen on the back-burner so I can follow instructions the right way. But this bifurcating of where one places attention has me all messed.

Does it matter? How much? Am I denying myself white light if I stick with the stomach? Need as much in-put as any of you are willing to give.

Thanks very much,
Mike

PS: I've been sitting for eight months, attention always on stomach; four months emphasizing longer exhalation; hard time switching to nostrils.

No, it really doesn't matter. And while Sekida's Zen Training is full of useful insights, I found bamboo breathing quite harmful to my practice. Also, I didn't understand the insights it presents until I'd realized them by other means, many years after I'd first read the book.

Hi Michael,

I have used both nostrils and abdomen as a 'touching point' - i.e. somewhere to gently rest awareness. It is helpful to think of lightly placing your awareness on the point, as it is very common to 'over-focus'. I have also used different breath lengths, however, slow and smooth seems the way to go overall. It can help to breath in long for a while then short for a while and counting the breath is a good way of initially settling the mind when you sit.

A quick word on jhana - there is a lot of guff spoken about it on the wider internet and even in some books. Of course you want to progress on the path, and effort and persistence is required! However, it is best not to 'aim' for jhana when you sit as then it becomes something to cling / want and that can create a whole load of mind stuff. I had this problem and eventually got through it by switching to metta (i.e. loving-kindness) once my mind settled down.

Sometimes jhana states arise, sometimes not (if you are very stressed / ill / tired for example it can be tricky as they take a fair bit of energy to get into). The key thing is to try to relax and bring the awareness back to the breath over and over and over. Eventually, the hindrances then settle down and jhana can happen - normally the arising of joy and happiness (piti and sukha) to start with. This can occur as pleasant feelings to something quite ecstatic.

Some of the teachers out there are obsessed with seeing a nimitta prior to jhana arising. These are normally described a bright light/disc. However, jhana can arise without such a phenomena occurring. There is a sort of 'shift' in energy/awareness that happens. Other teachers also say that in jhana there is no awareness of the body. This is true in 'arupa jhana' - but most people start with 'rupa jhana' where there is still bodily awareness.

Hope that helps !

Jim

Thanks guys I appreciate the input. It helps. I'm just starting to practice metta too.