The Result of Regulating the Breath

In everyday life, in environments with relatively fresh air, practice deep breathing frequently, and use the breathing-based recollection of the Buddha (buddhānusmṛti) to regulate body and mind. This makes it easier to open up the qi channels, purify the mind, keep the head clear, and make thinking nimble. It can be practiced while walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, with no restriction on bodily posture. A person lives on one breath; when the breath is well regulated, it is as if the nutrients of the four great elements have been replenished, and the body becomes healthy. At the same time, combine it with meditation: contemplate the qi circulating throughout the body, contemplate the Buddha's light shining over the whole body, the whole body relaxed and healthy, with diseased qi and the qi of karmic obstructions all expelled from the body. Both the breath and the body are composed of the four great elements, so regulating the breath is equivalent to regulating the body, and contemplating the breath is also equivalent to contemplating the body. Contemplating the body ultimately leads to the body being empty, without body.