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Talk: 19890426-Larry_Rosenberg-UNK-conscious_breathing_i_reflections_on_anapanasati_i-1566 Leandra Tejedor Start_time: 00:33:00 Display_question: In piti and sukha is the practice traditionally based in the nostrils or could it be in the whole breath? Keyword_search: piti, sukha, nostrils, breath, New Age, Buddhist, samadhi, anapanasati, liberating awareness, Buddha, Burmese, energy, zoom lens, wide angle lens, fear, whole body, daily life Question_content: Questioner: In piti and sukha is the practice traditionally based in the nostrils or could it be in the whole breath? Larry: Okay, there are differences of opinion on that. I would say overwhelmingly, it is thought what I'm relying on now, commentaries, and I would say my own experience, because I've used the whole breath quite a bit, and I've also used this. I was prejudiced against the nostrils. It seemed somehow, all too artificial, and too limited, and the whole breath sounded more romantic, and holistic, in New Age. So, I did a lot of that. You know what I mean? It wasn't just me. Okay? And it became almost ideological, within Buddhist circles, sort of like all of these, the stodgy kind of narrow-minded people stick to the nostrils, and the free spirits, they're just with the whole breath, it's more natural. And it became really, I didn't realize it at the time, but it's obvious what I was doing. But I've since worked with it just as... just for what it is. Break_line: I would say overwhelmingly, the opinion of the commentators, over the past, is that the quickest way to develop piti and sukha, is through… because you're trying to become one pointed okay, here's the way it's put. The narrower the area that you're working on, the smaller the region that you're working on, the more concentrated you can get, quickly. Now, which is not to say that the whole breath has no value. It's very beautiful and valuable. In fact, for other things, it is much better. But for developing the Samadhi practice quickly, because there's an exquisitely subtle sensation, that comes here after a while, and so that you can drop into, if you can stay with it, you can drop into piti and sukha more quickly. Break_line:Again, I put a footnote of individual differences, if you're a person that you might say, that sounds interesting, but I do the whole breath, and it takes me to piti and sukha oh, I would trust your experience fine, full speed ahead, whatever works. But I would say overall this seems to be what, and my experience bears it out. I can get some of that with the whole breath but when I go here, it's much quicker. Break_line: I should make... just to finish this train of thought. Finally, when you're developing the Samadhi, it isn't about the breath at all. In fact, the big joke is that anapanasati, the full awareness of the breathing, has nothing to do with the breathing. Finally, it has to do with developing liberating awareness, the awareness that sees through all of our attachments, and so forth. So that in the Samadhi practice, let's say you're following the breath, but at a certain point the breath stops, and you come to one pointedness, it's sort of a convergence, of all these scattered energies. The breath was the medium to gather all of that divergent energy, and then it feels as if you're not breathing at all, and that can be an issue, when you're not used to that. And so there... no matter where you are, forget about it, because you're not feeling the breath. It's that still what has been your experience? Questioner: I usually use the whole breath Larry: Meaning just this. Questioner: I feel the whole body. (inaudible) Sometimes you feel like the whole breath is there for other things. Worse things. Larry: Yes. Okay, one of the things that we're developing when we're… let's say you're with the whole body, and the whole breath, that's a more comprehensive kind of attention. The Buddha basically talked about two kinds of attention. One is very focused like what do you call it with cameras, a zoom lens, and the other would be more like wide angle. Yours is more wide angle. Now, most of what has been brought to this country, has been brought here through the Burmese approach, which emphasizes more the zoom lens point to point focusing, moment to moment, object by object. But that's not the only kind of attention. It's an extremely valuable thing to be able to do, and every yogi should be able to land on one object and stay there. It's very helpful to be able to do that, not just the breath, it can be anything. Break_line: But now the more comprehensive part, turns out to be invaluable for the very rich things that we'd be getting into, in the later contemplations, because then you're having to be attentive to, let's say fear while breathing in and breathing out. It's a much bigger canvas that you're working with, also that working with the whole breath, the whole body, and the whole breath, especially if you're drawn to it, as it seems you are, carries over into daily life, in a very beautiful way. It can, in just ordinary walking, and just being very steadied, and grounded, in just daily life. It's a beautiful practice. I'm not in any way discrediting it, but for just the development of samadhi. I found this to be quicker experiment, see which is best for you. End_time: 00:38:29
