The Manual of Meditation is a collection of meditation instructions that should be used daily, like a musical instrument in the hands of a musician. “The Lotus Bud Opens Gently,” with about 40 exercises combining in-breath and out-breath with a smile, allows the practitioner to select suitable verses and practice from 10–20 seconds to several weeks. For example, the “mountain solid” exercise: breathing in, visualize yourself as a mountain peak; breathing out, feel your solidity. The nourishing exercise includes the following gatha:

• Breathing in, I know I am breathing in
• Breathing out, I know I am breathing out
• In-breath becomes deep
• Out-breath becomes slow
• Breathing in, I feel healthy
• Breathing out, I feel light
• Breathing in, my mind is calm
• Breathing out, I smile
• Dwelling in the present moment
• This moment is a wonderful moment

Meditation is also food for body and mind (the joy of meditation as nourishment) and has a healing effect: when restless or sorrowful, the practitioner embraces that emotion with mindfulness — breathing in, knowing “I am restless/sorrowful,” breathing out, “I smile to my restlessness/sorrow” — to soothe and to transform.

The method of contemplating the four elements (earth, water, air, fire), the fifth element (space), and consciousness, then expanding to inside–outside, helps recognize interdependent co-arising, dissolving the separate self. Walking meditation and the three daily prostrations are also opportunities to break through the notions of birth and death, returning to the “homeland” of mindfulness in each breath.

The practitioner needs to have “The Lotus Bud Opens Gently” in hand to recognize the need for meditation practice, choose suitable exercises to encourage the intention to practice, strengthen mindfulness, concentration, and insight, ultimately leading to the transformation of suffering and liberation from birth and death.