"When you Know the Breath" – A Personal Experience of Anapanasati(1) in a Poem

When you know2 the Breath
Either general moving in and out3
Or moving sensations about a fixed point4
When you know the Breath

When you know the Breath
Either “see” it or feel it
As long as you know it
When you know the Breath

When you know the Breath
After a period of time
Colored nimita5 will appear
Continue knowing the breath

When you know the Breath
After a longer period of time
Sparkling white nimita will come
And unite with the breath

That’s when you know
You can let go of the breath
And know the nimita
Whole-heartedly
One-pointedly6


NOTES:

1. Anapanasati: Mindfulness of the Breath. The breath is one of the 40 meditation objects prescribed by the Buddha. It is simple enough to practice for all personalities to attain Jhanas (one-pointedness concentration).
2. Know: Meditation is just being mindful. Being mindful is just being aware, just knowing.
3. Moving in and out: this refers to breath inhalation and exhalation, taking the nostrils as the reference point.
4. A fixed point: this fixed point is usually a spot on the skin between the nostrils and the upper lip.
5. Nimita: Pali word for sign (of concentration).
6. One-pointedness, also known as single-minded concentration, is one of the jhanic factors.

For further technical analysis and understanding of meditation, please refer to a reliable Samatha Meditation manual for e.g. “Jhanas” by Ven. Dr. H. Gunaratana.

Destination Clear Blue Sky

Regardless of clouds is the clear blue sky
Absence of clouds is not its condition
A clouded sky, a perspective from Earth

To experience the clear blue sky
Not by clearing clouds from Earth
But by breaking free of its gravity
To raise above the cloud level

- dedicated in memory of my late teacher Peter Della Santina in 2006

Disentanglement

Untying a knot
The effect is no knot
No knot is not a knot
There is no knot in the first place

- written in 2006