THE SIXTEEN EXERCISES OF MINDFUL BREATHING
In the Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing, the Buddha shows us how to develop our concentration and transform our fear, despair, anger, and craving. I was so happy the day I discovered this text. I thought I’d discovered the greatest treasure in the world. Before, I’d been content to simply gain knowledge. I didn’t know how to enjoy the present moment, to look deeply into my life, and to enjoy the positive conditions that were all around me. This sutra is so basic and so wonderful. There are many great sutras, but approaching them without this one is like trying to reach the top of a mountain without a path to go on.
There are four sets of four exercises. The first set is for looking into the realm of the body. The second set is for looking into our feelings. The third set is to contemplate our mind. The fourth set is to contemplate the objects of our mind: all phenomena.
THE REALM OF THE BODY
The first four exercises help us return to our body in order to look deeply into it and care for it. The first object of awareness is our breath itself. Our breath may be short, long, heavy, or light. Just notice it; don’t try to change it. Allow it to be. Practicing awareness in this way, our mind and our breath become one. We also see that breathing is an aspect of the body and that awareness of breathing puts us in touch with the body. It’s important that in our daily life, we learn to create harmony and ease in our body and reunite body and mind. We breathe in and out with awareness and bring our mind back to our body. We focus on our body to calm, relax, heal, and bring ease to the body.
1 AWARENESS OF BREATHING
The first exercise is to be aware of your in-breath and out-breath. As you breathe in, bring your attention to your in-breath. Focus your attention only on your in-breath and release everything else—the past, the future, your projects. Just by breathing in, you are free, because in that moment you are not your sorrow, your fear, or your regret. You are only your in-breath. As you breathe in, say the first sentence silently; as you breathe out say the second sentence. As you continue to breathe in and out, you can use just the key words “in, out.”
Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in.
Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.
In.
Out.
Practicing this exercise is already enlightenment. Normally we don’t know we’re breathing in. Now, we put our mind into it, and we recognize “I’m breathing in.” We may have the insight, “I’m alive”! To be alive is something wonderful. Breathing in and breathing out in awareness can be very enjoyable. This is the basis of mindfulness practice. Please don’t underestimate this easy exercise. Even if you’ve practiced mindful breathing for many years, this remains a wonderful practice, and you can continue to get more and more benefit from it.
2 FOLLOWING THE BREATH
Breathing in, I follow my in-breath from the beginning to the end.
Breathing out, I follow my out-breath from the beginning to the end.
Following the in-breath.
Following the out-breath.
There’s no interruption in your attention during the whole time of breathing in and breathing out. You focus your mind entirely on your in-breath and out-breath. Not a millisecond is lost. The object of your concentration is your in-breath. You are entirely with your in-breath, and you dwell very solidly in your in-breath. There’s no more thinking, no more past, no more future. You’re really enjoying your in-breath. You don’t have to suffer during the practice. When you focus your attention on your breath, you will find out very quickly that you’re a living reality, present here and now, sitting on this beautiful planet Earth, and around you there are trees, sunshine, and blue sky. When you practice mindful breathing while walking, you see that it’s a wonder to be alive and making steps on this beautiful planet, and happiness comes right away.
3 AWARENESS OF BODY
Breathing in, I’m aware of my whole body.
Breathing out, I’m aware of my whole body.
We see that awareness of our breathing is, at the same time, awareness of our entire body. Our mind, our breath, and our whole body are one. We reconnect with our body. We remember our body is there. When body and mind are together we are truly present and we can live every moment of daily life deeply. We reconcile with our body, we become our body, and we stop the alienation and separation of body and mind from each other. Going back to your body, you touch the wonder that is the body. Its functioning is the result of millions of processes. If you know how to connect and be in touch with your body, you can connect with Mother Earth and the whole cosmos.
4 CALMING AND RELEASING TENSION IN THE BODY
Breathing in, I calm my body.
Breathing out, I release the tension in my body.
Calming our body allows it to rest. Resting is a precondition for the healing of body and mind. Returning to our body, we may become aware of the suffering and tension in our body. Living in forgetfulness, we’ve allowed stress and pain to accumulate in our body, and modern life brings added stress. We have to be kind to our body and give it an opportunity to relax. While breathing in and breathing out, we calm our body and allow the tension in our body to be released.
Whatever the position of our body, whether we’re lying, standing, sitting, or walking, we can always practice mindful breathing and releasing the tension. You can practice while cooking breakfast, taking a shower, driving the car, or sitting on the bus. You don’t have to set aside a special time. We shouldn’t say, “I have no time to practice.” We have plenty of time. We can practice all day long and get the benefit of practice right away.
Walking to the classroom, the workplace, or the meditation hall, you can allow the tension to be released with each step. Walk as a free person and enjoy every step you make. You’re no longer in a hurry. Walk with ease, releasing the tension in the body with each step. This is the way to walk every time you need to go from one place to another. When you practice like this you get relaxation and joy, and it benefits everyone around you. To practice mindful breathing is an act of love. You become an instrument of peace and joy, and you can help others.
THE REALM OF THE FEELINGS
With these four exercises, we return to our feelings in order to develop joy and happiness and transform suffering. Our feelings are us. If we don’t look after them, who will? Every day we have painful feelings, and we need to learn how to look after them. Our teachers and friends can help us to a certain extent, but we have to do the work. Our body and our feelings are our territory, and we are the king or queen responsible for that territory. After breathing with awareness and calming the body, it’s natural for feelings of joy and well-being to arise. As you do the sixteen exercises, you will find that each exercise leads to the next.
5 CULTIVATING JOY
Breathing in, I’m aware of a feeling of joy.
Breathing out, I’m aware of a feeling of joy.
We tend to lose ourselves in our work and in our worries, and we can’t see the wonders of life. Now we’re coming back to be in touch with the clear air, the cup of tea, the flowers and grass, with the wonderful planet earth. We see that our senses allow us to be in touch with these things, and joy comes easily.
6 CULTIVATING HAPPINESS
Breathing in, I’m aware of a feeling of happiness.
Breathing out, I’m aware of a feeling of happiness.
In the sixth exercise, joy becomes happiness and peace. Happiness is possible here and now. We need only to breathe in for a few seconds to see that it’s possible to be happy right away. Many people believe that wealth, power, or fame will make them happy. But by practicing this way we know that mindfulness and concentration are sources of happiness. Joy and happiness differ a little in that joy still contains some amount of excitement.
We tend to believe that we don’t have enough conditions to be happy. We run into the future and look for more conditions of happiness. If we’ve mastered the first four exercises and find ourselves established in the here and the now, it’s easy to recognize that we already have more than enough conditions to be happy. “Breathing in, I’m aware of the feeling of happiness” is not imagination or wishful thinking, because when we come back to ourselves, we can be in touch with the conditions for happiness within us and around us.
7 RECOGNIZING PAINFUL FEELINGS
Breathing in, I’m aware of a painful feeling in me.
Breathing out, I’m aware of a painful feeling in me.
This is the practice of simple recognition of the painful feeling that’s arising. There is the energy of pain, but there is also the energy of mindfulness that is recognizing and embracing the pain tenderly, without the desire to suppress it. When we don’t practice, it’s easy to allow the pain to overwhelm us or to try to run away and cover up the painful feeling by eating, listening to music, going online—anything not to confront the suffering inside. The market provides us with many things to cover up our suffering. By consuming, we allow the suffering to grow. We have to be in touch with our pain in order to have an opportunity to heal it. We practice meditation to get in touch with our joy and happiness and with our suffering and pain. Bringing our mind back to our body and cultivating joy and happiness can give us the strength we need to encounter and embrace our painful feelings. We aren’t running away or covering up anymore. Taking care of the painful feeling, our body and mind are no longer alienated from each other.
8 RELIEVING A PAINFUL FEELING
Breathing in, I embrace my painful feeling.
Breathing out, I calm my painful feeling.
When we know how to tenderly embrace a painful feeling or emotion, we can already get some relief. Every time we notice that a painful feeling or emotion is coming up, we come back to our mindful breathing and generate the energy of mindfulness and concentration to recognize and embrace the pain, in the same way that a loving mother recognizes the suffering of her child and embraces the child lovingly in her arms.
With these exercises for the feelings, we know how to handle happiness and pain. When we know how to handle happiness, we can continue to nourish our love, peace, and happiness with our awareness and keep them there for a long time. When there’s pain, we’re not afraid because we know how to handle it, get relief, and transform the pain into greater understanding. In the beginning we may not know where our suffering has come from, but if we’re able to recognize it and hold it tenderly, we suffer less already. If we continue with mindfulness and concentration, we’ll soon discover the source and the roots of our pain and suffering, and understanding and compassion can arise.
THE REALM OF THE MIND
The mind is made up of mental formations. Each mental formation is like a drop of water in the river of the mind. Anger, fear, mindfulness, concentration, loving kindness, and insight are all mental formations. In the ninth exercise of mindful breathing, we sit on the bank of the river of mental formations and recognize any mental formation that arises.
9 AWARE OF MENTAL FORMATIONS
Breathing in, I contemplate my mind
Breathing out, I contemplate my mind.
All the mental formations can manifest in mind consciousness. There are fifty-one categories of mental formations: five universal, five particular, eleven wholesome, twenty-six unwholesome, and four indeterminate. First there are the five mental formations that are called universal because they operate at all times and in all levels of consciousness. The five particular do not operate with every consciousness. The category of wholesome mental formations includes compassion, loving kindness, faith, and so on. The category of unwholesome mental formations includes the major afflictions such as greed, anger, and delusion, and lesser unwholesome mental states such as vexation, selfishness, envy, and so on.
The indeterminate or neutral mental formations are neither inherently wholesome nor unwholesome. When our body and mind need rest, sleep is wholesome. But if we sleep too much it can be unwholesome. If we hurt someone and regret it, that is beneficial regret. But if our regret leads to a guilt complex that colors whatever we do in the future, it can be called unwholesome regret. When our thinking helps us see clearly it is beneficial. But if our mind is scattered in many directions, that thinking is unbeneficial.
All the mental formations are in our consciousness in the form of seeds. Every time one of them manifests as energy, we want to have enough awareness to recognize it and call it by its true name. “Hello there, my mental formation. Your name is jealousy. I know you. I will take good care of you.”
The author has added a number of mental formations to the traditional list.
Five Universal
Mental Formations
contact
attention
feeling
perception
volition
Five Particular
Mental Formations
intention
determination
mindfulness
concentration
insight
Eleven Wholesome
Mental Formations
faith
inner shame
shame before others
absence of craving
absence of hatred
absence of ignorance
diligence, energy
tranquility, ease
vigilance, energy
equanimity
non-harming
Wholesome Mental
Formations Added
by Thich Nhat Hanh
non-fear
absence of anxiety
stability, solidity
loving kindness
compassion
joy
humility
happiness
feverlessness
freedom, sovereignty
Six Primary
Unwholesome
Mental Formations
craving, covetousness
hatred
ignorance, confusion
arrogance
doubt, suspicion
wrong view
Twenty Secondary
Unwholesome
Mental Formations
anger
resentment, enmity
concealment
maliciousness
jealousy
selfishness, parsimony
deceitfulness, fraud
guile
desire to harm
mischievous
exhuberance
lack of inner shame
lack of shame
before others
restlessness
drowsiness
lack of faith, unbelief
laziness
negligence
forgetfulness
distraction
lack of discernment
Unwholesome Mental
Formations Added
by Thich Nhat Hanh
fear
anxiety
despair
Four Indeterminate
Mental Formations
(Neither Wholesome
nor Unwholesome)
regret, repentance
sleepiness
initial thought
sustained thought
10 GLADDENING THE MIND
Breathing in, I make my mind happy.
Breathing out, I make my mind happy.
It’s easier for the mind to become concentrated when it’s in a peaceful, happy state than when it’s filled with sorrow or anxiety. We are aware that we have the opportunity to practice meditation and that there is no moment as important as the present one. Calmly abiding in the present moment, joy arises each time we touch in ourselves the seeds of compassion, faith, goodness, equanimity, liberty, love, forgiveness, understanding, and so on. We know these mental formations are buried deep in our consciousness as seeds, and we need only touch them and water them with conscious breathing for them to manifest. In our daily life we should be able to nourish them and give them a chance to manifest as beautiful mental formations. Whenever the mental formation of compassion or joy arises, we feel wonderful. We have many good mental formations like this in our consciousness, and we should give them a chance to manifest as often as possible.
We know that our loved one also has good things inside, and we may like to say or do something to help these good things come up and make our loved one happy. You don’t want to water the seeds of anger, fear, and jealousy in them. You only want to water the seeds of joy, happiness, and compassion in yourself and in the other person. This is called the practice of selective watering or Right Diligence. This strengthens our mind so that when we want to embrace and look into our negative mental formations, we’re able to do so with more clarity and solidity.
11 CONCENTRATION
Breathing in, I concentrate my mind.
Breathing out, I concentrate my mind.
To meditate means to be fully present and to concentrate on the object of your meditation. All mental formations that manifest in the present moment can become objects of your concentration. You focus your mind wholly on one object, like a lens receiving rays of sunlight and concentrating them so they converge on one spot. In this way you can make a breakthrough into the true nature of the object of your meditation, and get the kind of insight, the kind of view that contains understanding and that will help liberate you from the things that bind you: your anger, craving, and delusion.
12 LIBERATION
Breathing in, I liberate my mind.
Breathing out, I liberate my mind.
Happiness is possible when we are liberated from our anger, fear, and delusion. With the eighth exercise, you can get some relief, but our mind may still be bound by the past, the future, latent desires, anger, and other afflictions. With clear observation, we can locate the knots that are binding us and making it impossible for our mind to be free and at peace. We loosen these knots and untie the ropes that bind our mind. With full awareness of breathing the light of observation shines in, illuminates the mind, and sets it free. Looking deeply into the nature of mental formations like fear, anger, or anxiety brings about the understanding that will liberate us from the causes of our suffering—attachment, violence, and delusion.
THE REALM OF THE OBJECTS OF MIND
The last four exercises of mindful breathing offer us some practices of concentration that can help liberate us from the misperceptions and delusion that have perpetuated our suffering.
Mind and object of mind arise at the same time; mind and its object are always together. Consciousness is always consciousness of something. Feeling is always feeling something. Loving and hating are always loving and hating something. All physiological phenomena, such as the breath, the nervous system, and the sense organs; all psychological phenomena, such as feelings, thoughts, and consciousness; and all physical phenomena, such as the earth, water, grass, trees, mountains, and rivers, are objects of mind. The realm of the objects of mind is the realm of perception.
13 IMPERMANENCE
Breathing in, I observe the impermanent nature of all things.
Breathing out, I contemplate the impermanent nature of all things.
The thirteenth breathing exercise sheds light on the ever-changing, impermanent nature of all that exists. Our breathing itself is also impermanent. The insight into impermanence opens the way for us to see the interrelated and selfless nature of all that exists. Nothing has a separate, independent self.
The contemplation on impermanence can help us live our life with the insight of impermanence so we can be free from many afflictions such as anger, fear, and delusion. It isn’t the idea or notion of impermanence, but the insight of impermanence that can free and save us. Impermanence is not a negative note in the song of life. If there were no impermanence, life would be impossible. Without impermanence how could your little girl grow up and become a young woman? Without impermanence how could you hope to transform your suffering? You can hope to transform your suffering because you know it is impermanent. So impermanence is something positive. We should say, “Long live impermanence!”
14 LETTING GO
Breathing in, I contemplate letting go.
Breathing out, I contemplate letting go.
This is the practice of releasing and letting go of our notions and ideas. Notions of birth and death, being and nonbeing, self and other, same and different are the foundation of our fear and anxiety. Letting go of these notions sets you free. You touch your true nature. We let go of our notions and we’re in touch with reality. To live with a clear mind and to understand the deepest teachings of great spiritual teachers, we have to remove our dualistic way of thinking, the source of our misunderstanding and wrong perceptions. If we’re caught in dualistic thinking, when we observe a father and son, we’ll see them as two completely different people. But when we look deeply into the person of the son, we see the father in each cell of the son. If you get angry with your father, even if you don’t want to have anything to do with him ever again, you can’t remove your father from you. Your father is present in every cell of your body.
15 ABANDONING DESIRE
Breathing in, I observe the disappearance of desire.
Breathing out, I observe the disappearance of desire.
This exercise allows us to recognize the true nature of the object of our desire, to see that every phenomenon is impermanent, already in the process of disintegrating, so that we are no longer possessed by the idea of holding on to anything as an object of our desire or seeing it as a separate entity. When we breathe in and look deeply into the object of our craving, we see the many dangers hidden within it. We know that running after it may destroy our body and mind. We see many people destroying themselves by running after the object of their craving. At the same time there are other people who see that true happiness is made of understanding and love. The more they cultivate understanding and love, the happier they become. That is how contemplating non-craving helps us to be liberated. We look deeply to see the true nature of the object of our craving.
16 EXTINCTION OF ALL NOTIONS
Breathing in, I contemplate the extinction of all notions.
Breathing out, I contemplate the extinction of all notions.
Nirvana is our true nature of no birth and no death, no being and no nonbeing. Nirvana is insight, the freedom from all kinds of notions, concepts, ideas, and misperceptions. It’s possible to touch our nature of nirvana during this very life. Nirvana is available in the here and the now. Many people in the Christian tradition use the beautiful phrase “resting in God.” Allowing yourself to rest in God is like a wave resting in its essential nature: the water. Imagine a wave rising and falling on the surface of the ocean. Observing the wave, we can see it has a beginning and an end; it comes up and it goes down. But when the wave looks into herself, she sees that she is water. She’s a wave, but she is also water, and water cannot be described in terms of being and nonbeing, coming and going, up and down. The wave is water right in the here and now.
Just as the wave doesn’t need to go looking for water, we don’t need to go seeking nirvana. Nirvana is already there. We can enjoy nirvana right away. With mindfulness and concentration, we are able to touch our true nature. We know that a cloud can never die; it can only become snow, rain, or ice. A cloud can never become nothing. The true nature of no birth and no death is there in everything, including ourselves. To be the cloud floating in the sky is a wonderful thing, and to become the rain falling down on the Earth and nourishing everything is also a wonderful thing. To become a river, to become a cup of tea for someone to drink is also wonderful. To become water vapor and a cloud again is also something wonderful.
This insight corresponds to what science has found and expressed in the first law of thermodynamics: that nothing is born, nothing dies; everything is in transformation.
You can study and practice these sixteen exercises intelligently. The first four exercises help our concentration very much, and every time we practice it’s helpful to do them. But it isn’t always necessary to practice the sixteen exercises in sequence or to practice all sixteen in one session. For example, you might like to focus on practicing the fourteenth exercise for several days or longer. These exercises are presented very simply, but their effectiveness is immeasurable.
THE THREE DOORS OF LIBERATION
To the practice of the Sixteen Exercises we can add the concentrations on The Three Doors of Liberation: emptiness, signlessness, and aimlessness. The teaching of the Three Doors of Liberation is found in all schools of Buddhism. Entering these doors, we dwell in concentration, in touch with reality and liberated from fear, confusion, and sadness.
EMPTINESS
Breathing in, I contemplate emptiness.
Breathing out, I contemplate emptiness.
Emptiness does not mean nonexistence. It means impermanence, nonself, interdependent co-arising—that is, that things arise depending on each other and are made of each other. The flower depends on the rain, the soil, and other elements, and the flower is full of everything in the cosmos—sunshine, clouds, air, and space. The flower is empty of only one thing: a separate existence. That is the meaning of emptiness. This concentration is a key to unlock the door to reality.
We maintain the awareness that everything is connected. Our happiness and suffering are the happiness and suffering of others. When our actions are based on nonself, they will be in accord with reality. We will know what to do and what not to do to help the situation. True emptiness goes beyond notions of existence and nonexistence, being and nonbeing. To say that the flower exists is not exactly correct, but to say that it does not exist is also not correct. Everything is in a state of constant change and is empty of a separate self. When we penetrate emptiness deeply, we see the interbeing nature of everything that is.
SIGNLESSNESS
Breathing in, I contemplate signlessness.
Breathing out, I contemplate signlessness.
“Sign” means a form, an appearance, an object of our perception. Everything manifests by means of signs, but we tend to get caught by these signs. If you see a flower only as a flower and don’t see the sunshine, clouds, earth, time, and space in it, you are caught in the sign of the flower. When you touch the interbeing nature of the flower, however, you truly see the flower. If you see a person and don’t also see their society, education, ancestors, culture, and environment, you have not really seen that person. Instead, you have been taken in by the sign of that person, the outward appearance of a separate self. When you can see that person deeply, you touch the whole cosmos, and you will not be fooled by appearances.
Until we touch the signless nature of things, we cannot touch reality. The greatest relief is when we break through the barriers of sign and touch the world of signlessness: nirvana. Where do we look to find the world of no signs? Right here in the world of signs. When we go beyond signs, we enter the world of nonduality, non-fear, and non-blaming. We can see the flower, the water, and our child beyond space and time. We know that our ancestors are present in us, right here and right now. We see that the Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and all our spiritual ancestors have not died.
AIMLESSNESS
Breathing in, I contemplate aimlessness.
Breathing out, I contemplate aimlessness.
There is nothing to do, nowhere to go, nothing to realize, nothing to attain. Does the rose have to do something? No, the purpose of a rose is to be a rose. Your purpose is to be yourself. You contain the whole cosmos. You don’t have to run after anything or become someone else. You are wonderful just as you are. Aimlessness allows us to enjoy ourselves, the blue sky, and everything that is refreshing and healing in the present moment.
We don’t need to put anything in front of us and run after it. We already have everything we are looking for. Life is precious as it is. All the elements for your happiness are already here. There is no need to run, strive, search, or struggle; just be. Simply being in the moment in this place is the deepest practice of meditation. Most people can’t believe that just walking as though you have nowhere to go is enough. They think that striving and competing are normal and necessary. Try practicing aimlessness for just five minutes, and you will see how happy you are during those five minutes.
The moment of chopping wood and carrying water is the moment of happiness. We do not need to wait for these chores to be done to be happy. To have happiness in this moment is the spirit of aimlessness. Otherwise, we will run in circles for the rest of our lives. We have everything we need to make the present moment the happiest moment in our life, even if we have a headache or a cold, we don’t have to wait. Having a cold is part of life.
We meditate not to attain enlightenment, because enlightenment is already there in us. We don’t have to search anywhere. We don’t need a purpose or a goal. We don’t practice in order to obtain a high position. When we see that we don’t lack anything, that we already are what we want to become, then our striving just comes to a halt. We are at peace in the present moment, just seeing the sunlight streaming through our window or hearing the sound of the rain. We don’t have to run anywhere. We can enjoy every moment. People talk about entering nirvana, but we are already there. Aimlessness and nirvana are one. All we have to do is to be ourselves, fully and authentically. We simply return to ourselves and touch the peace and joy that are already there within and around us.
Related Titles by Thich Nhat Hanh
Be Free Where You Are
Breathe, You Are Alive!
Cultivating the Mind of Love
Happiness
The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching
How to Walk
Making Space
Old Path White Clouds
Present Moment, Wonderful Moment
Understanding Our Mind
Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet
Further Resources
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