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Relying on Your Own Breath
Breathing deeply, long, and pleasantly with the belly: The in-breath lasts from four to ten seconds, the out-breath is usually longer, and you can press your belly to breathe out for up to fifteen seconds. When the belly rises as you breathe in and falls as you breathe out, pressing the belly further helps to expel all the old air, allowing you to breathe in fresh air more deeply. Practicing belly breathing in a spacious environment nourishes body and mind with peace; follow the rising and falling of the belly, play with the breath, and let the in-breath come naturally and comfortably.
Breathing with mindfulness, concentration, and insight is to take refuge in the true nature of the Three Jewels in every present moment. Each in-breath and out-breath is a lifetime, “The Pure Land is now or never”: if you cannot find happiness in this breath, you will not find it anywhere else. The Buddhist view of time and space is without beginning or end; each moment contains eternity, like the image of a leaf living for ten months and undergoing rebirth to become earth, tree, and new leaf. The in-breath is Nirvana, the Pure Land, happiness, and freedom right here.
