Mindfulness, Bliss, and Beyond: A Meditator's Handbook

Even today, some meditators mistakenly believe that something as intensely pleasurable as jhāna cannot be conducive to the end of all suffering, and they remain afraid of jhāna.

The experience that tells you what the breath is doing, that is what you focus on. Let go of the concern about where this experience is located. Just focus on the experience itself.

You should realize that you are much closer to truth when you observe without commentary, when you experience just the silent awareness of the present moment.

Here we discover that the diversity of consciousness is another heavy burden.

So if you seek truth, you should value silent awareness and, when meditating, consider it more important than any thought.

When you know the breath is going in or going out for about one hundred breaths in a row, not missing one, then you have achieved what I call the third stage of this meditation, which involves sustained attention on the breath.

An effective way to overcome the inner commentary is to develop a refined present-moment awareness. You watch every moment so closely that you simply don’t have the time to comment about what has just happened.

During meditation you become someone who has no history.

And as you become accustomed to it, the silence lasts longer. You begin to enjoy the silence, once you have found it at last, and that is why it grows. But remember, silence is shy. If silence hears you talking about her, she vanishes immediately!