20/04/2016
"...we should strive to understand the long breathing thoroughly by practicing with its many different forms, we should get to know all the forms of long breathing the body is capable of doing: long breathing, longer, breathing, longest breathing, long soft and gentle breathing, long rough breathing, and so on. Sit and observe the forms of long breathing until we know all about them.
To do this most easily Buddhadāsa suggests that we practice in a particular way, that is, we count as we breathe in and out to make the breathing longer, as long as we wish, thus we perhaps would count in our mind - not out loud - up to three, or up to five as we breathe in, and, if our counting is equal to seconds in time, then we’d immediately have a three or five second in breath to contemplate. We do the same with the out breath. In this way we can lengthen or shorten the breathing as we like."
From Tan Dhammavidu's updated and revised Ānāpānasati Meditation instruction.
Now, Buddhadāsa makes it clear in his Thai talks that the first step of this practice, concerning the long in and out breathing, is actually a preparation for meditation, in the same way that the pancasīla, the five precepts, or guidelines for would-be meditators to practise in their ordinary lives,…
