Ajahn Lee

Don't try to imprison it there.

If you try to force the breath and pin the mind down, your body is going to feel restricted and you won't feel at ease in your practice.

You'll start hurting here and aching there and your legs may fall asleep.

Keeping watch to make sure that it doesn't slip out after external thoughts.

to put it to good use by observing and evaluating the theme of our meditation.

If we put a lot of thought and evaluation into our breathing, the four properties of the body will be balanced and at peace.

Now we will summarize the methods of breath meditation under the heading of jhana.

Jhana means to be absorbed or focused in a single object or preoccupation as when we deal with the breath.

One, directed thought.

Think of the breath until you can keep it in mind without getting distracted.

Don't let it stray after other concepts or preoccupations.

Watch over your thoughts so that they deal only with the breath to the point where the breath becomes comfortable.

The mind becomes one at rest with the breath.

The mind is focused exclusively on issues connected with the breath.

Gain a sense of how to let this comfortable breath sensation spread and connect with the other breath sensations in the body.

Once the body has been soothed by the breath, feelings of pain will grow calm.

These three qualities must be brought together to bear on the same stream of breathing for the first level of jhana to arise.

Directed thought, singleness of preoccupation, evaluation.

These act as the causes.

When the causes are fully ripe, results will appear.