Right now, basically… you’re actually huffing and puffing because your lungs are bad—you’re ill, and your breathing is very heavy. But this does not affect my view, because it has nothing to do with me. The mind is unattached; it no longer makes distinctions. When I sit in meditation, my breathing is actually very loud, but I am me, breathing is breathing; those are two separate things.
(If I treat breathing like thoughts, should I just leave it alone and let it be?)
Yes. But sometimes, any method or Dharma door is simply there to let you temporarily see your own emptiness clearly. It is because you cannot see it clearly that you learn many methods to assist you.
You always know that whatever you are most attached to is bound to affect you the most; what you are not attached to does not affect you. How do you break through that attachment? Do you have to stop breathing? Then dead people do not breathe. It is simply that regulating the breath and regulating respiration can keep the mind from becoming scattered, keep your mind and thoughts concentrated, and keep them from becoming scattered. The best method is contemplating the breath; your thoughts and mind are very focused.
But surely you do… Even an arhat entering cessation samadhi still has a thread of breath—faint, just a thread of breath. Of course, that takes a long time to cultivate; it is part of the process of cultivation and realization. You can use anything. Use whatever you like. One day you will suddenly awaken.
But the highest view is right there. Once you see it clearly, that is OK. When you abide in the Buddha, where your mind is matters. In other words, abide in the Buddha Way and practice like this. This is how I put it: you practice this way, and that is OK. That is how the Buddha put it, and that is how you practice. There is a Dharma door; rely on it and practice that way. Today is good, tomorrow is not; today is good, tomorrow is not. But one day you will awaken, but you must practice diligently.
Also, do not say you want to become something, and do not say: “Something about me is not right; I want to change it.” For example, my lungs are bad. If, while sitting in meditation, I think: “I have a thought: I want to transform it,” or whatever—the thought is wrong.
But when you sit there, you practice, and it transforms—it is that simple. As long as you awaken and practice, your greed, hatred, delusion, arrogance, and doubt transform. When you have no thought of “transforming,” it transforms; when you have a thought of “transforming,” that is another attachment.
If you have a thought of realizing Buddhahood, you cannot realize it. Just practice this way; just listen this way. He is Buddha, and it simply flows out like this. Consciousness, consciousness—that is how it is.
Note: This text was prepared from a teaching video by Yang Ning. If it differs from the video, the video takes precedence. Watch the video.