The Practice Which leads to Nibbana - A Buddhist Library

w 50your mind to be thus continuously aware of the breath from thebeginning to the end. As you are doing this then the nimitta (signof concentration) may appear. If the nimitta appears you shouldnot immediately shift your attention to it, but continue to be awareof the breath.If you are aware continuously of the breath from the beginningto the end calmly for about one hour and no nimitta appears thenyou should move on to the next stage:4. ÒCalming the breath body I will breathe inÓ, thus he trainshimself and, ÒCalming the breath body I will breathe outÓ, thus hetrains himself.To do this you should decide that you should cause the breath tobe calm and continue to be aware continuously of the breath fromthe beginning to the end. You should not do anything more thanthat to make the breath become calm because if you do you will findthat your concentration will be broken and fall away. There arefour factors given in the Visuddhimagga that are sufficient to makethe breath become calm (Vsm. VIII, 175). They are reflecting, bringingto mind, attending, and deciding (Œbhoga, samannŒhŒra,manasikŒra, v´ma×sa). So that all you need to do at this stage is todecide to calm the breath and to continue to be continuously awareof the breath. By practising in this way you will find that the breathbecomes calmer and the nimitta may appear.Just before the nimitta appears a lot of meditators encounter difficulties;mostly they find that the breath becomes very subtle and isnot clear to their mind. If this happens you should keep your awarenessat the place where you last noticed the breath and wait for itthere.You should reflect that you are not a person who is not breathing,but you are breathing and your mindfulness is not strong enough to