About This Teaching
This section describes Ajahn Chah's simple approach to posture: sit cross-legged, right leg on left and right hand on left, back straight, neither too tense nor too relaxed. He sometimes suggested going through the 32 parts of the body before turning to the breath.
In his own instructions, beginners follow the breath at three points: the nose tip, the heart and the abdomen. Later they rest awareness at the nose tip alone. The breath should not be forced; he compares learning this to pedalling a sewing machine freely before sewing any cloth. Doubts and moods, fond thoughts of home, love and hate alike, should be recognised as changeful and not believed.
When breath, mindfulness and the knowing mind converge at one point, the five hindrances fall away and the mind enters samādhi. The breath may grow so fine it seems to vanish; he says not to be alarmed but to keep mindfulness steady. Emerging from calm, wisdom can arise as vipassanā, a continuation of samatha. Afterwards one should review how the mind became peaceful and remain mindful in every posture.