Teaching You Zazen 12: How to Breathe

2007/10/20 13:45:19

Birth and death lie between one inhalation and one exhalation. If the question of breathing is not resolved, any talk about the question of birth and death is just oral Chan. Everyone can breathe — those who can't are already dead. But in reality, those who truly know how to breathe are quite rare.

Our ordinary breathing state and extraordinary breathing states are merely different states of breathing — all of them are outgrowths above the root of the breathing tree. Flowers blooming and falling, branches flourishing and withering — they're all this sort of thing. Therefore, those with keen root faculties need not waste effort on the branches and leaves. Instead, they go straight for the root, pulling it up entirely — and only then are they truly free with regard to breathing. So-called freedom with regard to breathing does not mean not breathing. Rather, it's like eating every day without biting down on a single grain of rice — breathing every day without touching a single breath.

The above is what those of sharp capacity do. It's not something modern people can achieve all at once. Therefore, one can only start from the most trivial twigs and branches, and first learn the simplest matters of breathing.

For the average person, the easiest way to distinguish breathing states is through singing. One listen to the voice, and the breathing state is laid bare with nowhere to hide. The worst kind is the breathing state where the neck muscles are fully tensed. Next is the breathing state supported by the muscles near the collarbones. After that, the breathing state supported by the muscles of the lower thorax. The last is the breathing state supported by the abdominal muscles. Using not-entirely-rigorous terminology, these can respectively be called: cervical, clavicular, thoracic, and abdominal breathing.

The first thing to learn is abdominal breathing. Note: all breathing must be through the nasal passages, not the oral cavity. If one ends up breathing solely through the mouth, death is not far off. Don't believe it? Go to a hospital and look — those critically ill patients, right before they pass, aren't they gasping through their mouths?

Clear nasal passages and easy breathing are important indicators of a person's health. Don't think this is a simple matter. In reality, many people have various problems with their nasal passages and upper respiratory tract. These problems must be resolved through breathing training. Once this is resolved, next comes ensuring the patency of the lower respiratory tract, the lungs, and so on. Only when all of these are unobstructed and the muscles are coordinated is it possible to perform perfect abdominal breathing. The latter enables the entire upper body to be fully expanded, with all organs, tissues, and so forth in a state of coordinated ease — and only then is there a foundation for further investigation.

Moreover, there is a deeper issue here. The opening of the body's central channel must begin from this point. Because the openings of the left and right channels are in the nasal passages. Without the central channel being open, all bodily cultivation is nonsense. Note: this has nothing to do with the so-called Small Heavenly Circuit or Grand Heavenly Circuit — those are merely certain states resulting from specific forms of focused attention, and they're all included within the opening of the central channel. When the central channel is open, the so-called Small Heavenly Circuit, Grand Heavenly Circuit, and "N flowers gathering at the crown" are all contained within it.

In fact, the opening of the central channel is nothing mysterious — it's something the human body inherently possesses, and anyone can achieve it. And even after it's achieved, it's still only the most basic of foundations — not even reaching the most basic level of coarse stability in meditative absorption.

This ID will now say something very serious, very grave — something no one has said since ancient times: all bodily cultivation practices of Daoism and similar traditions, at their highest state, have not even reached the most basic level of coarse stability in meditative absorption — let alone the absurd stuff called qigong.

Note: breathing is closely related to the body's fluid balance. If breathing has problems, the body's fluids will certainly have problems. The body's fluids include many types. The simplest test: to see whether you have illness or problems, swallow your saliva right now. A healthy, problem-free body's saliva should be clear, refreshing, like jade dew, with a slight sweet taste. If it's not like this, then the body certainly has issues. Through breathing training, once one reaches the state that Daoism calls the opening of the Small Heavenly Circuit, the quality of the body's fluids will undergo considerable change.

Of course, all of this is trivial stuff. If one is truly grounded in the investigation of birth and death, all this breathing and fluid business is just intermediate, unavoidable stages — nothing remarkable. However, an objective standard of judgment is provided here: as foundational training before meditative absorption, there must be three basic stages:

1. Resolution of the breathing question. 2. Resolution of the fluid question. 3. Resolution of the central channel question.

For the resolution of each question, there is a uniform acceptance standard for all people — no one can cut corners. If we're talking about science, this is the scientific standard: all people, under all experimental conditions, must satisfy it.

Regarding the first question: once abdominal breathing is achieved, while maintaining this breathing state and going further, one may enter so-called turtle breathing, heel breathing, and other non-ordinary breathing states. But these are all just playing tricks on the branches — there's nothing particularly special about them. Different tricks produce different special states, and that's all.

Therefore, once abdominal breathing is achieved naturally, whether to enter other non-ordinary breathing states is merely a question of play. The non-play question is this: regardless of what breathing state is ultimately adopted, the purpose is to uproot the root.

No matter which branch you start from, tracing it back always leads to the root, reaching the source. And the crux of the matter is this: to break through the root-source with nothing to break through, to have nowhere to go yet give rise to the root — only then can the possibility of resolving the breathing question be reached.