Questions and Answers on the Contemplative Practice of the Four Establishments of Mindfulness, 33

Question: When I meditate, my mind rests on a single point. If I add another object of attention, is the mind resting on two points simultaneously?

Answer: This means that when your meditative concentration (samādhi) is not yet strong at the beginning, it is enough to simply observe the flow of breath at the nostrils. Once your meditative concentration strengthens, you can then observe how the breath travels after passing through the nostrils, and you can also observe what happens when the breath enters the chest cavity. As your meditative concentration grows stronger, you can contemplate the conditions along all the channels through which the breath travels, with more points of observation and for a longer duration. If your meditative concentration strengthens further, you can follow the breath in observation—observing wherever the breath goes, with the mind following the breath; the same applies when the breath goes out. If your meditative concentration is insufficient, just observe the flow of breath within the nasal cavity and nostrils, and gradually expand the objects of your contemplative practice (vipaśyanā-caryā) as your meditative concentration increases.

Question: How should one face the afflictions and suffering encountered in spiritual practice?

Answer: When you feel suffering, observe the suffering carefully; after observing it for a long time, the suffering will cease. Every event that appears in our lives seems very special to us, but once we have observed these things for a long time, we will feel that they are nothing much—nothing counts as anything. It is the same with observing the five aggregates (pañca-skandha) and the eighteen realms: after observing them for a long time, you will know that the five aggregates and eighteen realms are nothing at all—they are all empty and without self. However you pursue them, it all comes to nothing in the end; joy is empty, and suffering is also empty. It is better to just let things go, neither grasping nor taking, and thereby eradicate the view of self (satkāya-dṛṣṭi-prahāṇa), lessen the afflictions of self-grasping, and no longer suffer.