Contemplative Practice Bears Fruit Only Through Perseverance

Blue Sky Mindfulness of Breathing Diary: In the evening, I sat down for meditation. I did ten minutes of active deep breathing. Before ending the deep breathing, I gradually began to feel the qi sensation. Afterwards, I focused on the breath at the nose. During the fourth inhalation, I felt the qi mechanism at the Dantian activate, and the abdominal muscles began to twitch irregularly. Slowly inhaling and exhaling, the abdominal muscle twitching intensified. After one inhalation, I paused and remained still, waiting. The abdominal muscles then began to contract rhythmically, causing the abdomen to continue expanding, simultaneously pulling the chest and ribcage outward to extend. The airflow continued to be drawn in through the nostrils until the abdominal muscles felt full. During exhalation, I breathed out naturally. In this way, I entered deep breathing, and my thoughts continued to focus on the breath at the root of the nose. After about ten minutes, just before the end of an inhalation, the muscles in the lower abdomen began to contract, and I felt the airflow rush downward again, as if reaching the very bottom. The chest and abdomen felt like an air chamber, with air flowing in and out. This continued until the end of the meditation session.

During today's deep breathing process, my abdomen felt much warmer than before. When inhaling, it filled with air, and when exhaling, I felt the abdominal cavity muscles come together, making the abdomen feel very comfortable. There were very few wandering thoughts during this period; if I didn't actively think about things, no other distracting thoughts flashed through my mind. After the meditation ended, I continued sitting on the bed, breathing slowly. At that time, fellow practitioners in the group chat started a conversation, discussing their meditation experiences. After talking for a while, I couldn't continue speaking because, due to inertia, the Dantian was still strongly inhaling and exhaling, making it impossible to sustain speech. So, I rested.

Comment: Persisting daily in mindfulness of breathing will lead to progressively better meditative concentration (Samadhi). The mind becomes increasingly refined and focused, and the observation becomes more and more detailed. The more detailed the observation, the more focused the mind becomes, and the better the Samadhi. This is a virtuous cycle. However, once the skill becomes well-honed, the phenomena observed no longer present new changes, and it feels as if the practice has made no progress, stagnating. At this point, a divergence phenomenon occurs. Some people may feel it's boring and meaningless, gradually developing a weary and regressive mindset. In truth, as long as one persists, the skill is constantly improving. The progress is more obvious in the initial stages; later on, it's just less apparent. It's like being in shallow water: everything one does is clearly visible. But when one moves into deep water, everything done becomes less obvious.

Understanding this principle, one must overcome this sense of boredom and not give up halfway. The better the skill becomes, the less obvious the progress. Do not be concerned with the superficial stagnation; this is merely a test of one's patience. Only those who are patient and persevering can reach the summit.