One Week Retreat - Shamatha and the Four Immeasurables
D3S2 - The Classic Method at the Nostrils, and Vividness
David Oromith · 72 minutes · recorded August 20, 2025
The best known method of all, classic in the Theravada and also found in secular mindfulness: the sensations of air at the nostrils, as Buddhaghosa set it down. This is where vividness, the third quality, comes in, with the third of Lama Alan Wallace's balances, accentuating clarity without destabilising the mind. Narrowing the focus is not squeezing the mind through a straw. As the body calms it needs less oxygen, the breath becomes subtler, and the challenge is to attend to that.
Distraction and attention Secular mindfulness Mindfulness of breathing Shamatha (calm abiding) The four immeasurables