Tantra - 9 Techniques - 4

Be aware when breathing stops (4/112)

You are driving a car and suddenly you feel there is going to be an accident. Breathing will stop. If it is out, it will remain out. If it is in, it will remain in. You cannot breathe in such an emergency; you cannot afford it. Everything stops, departs. O48

Your small self is only a daily utility. In emergencies you cannot remember it. Who you are – the name, the bank balance, the prestige, everything just evaporates. Your car is just heading toward another car; another moment and there will be death. In this moment there will be a pause. Even for the impure there will be a pause. Suddenly breathing stops. If you can be aware in that moment, you can reach the goal.

Zen monks have tried this method very much in Japan. That is why their methods seem very weird, absurd, strange. They have done many inconceivable things. A master will throw someone out of the house. Suddenly the master will begin slapping the disciple without any rhyme or reason, without any cause.

You were sitting with your master and everything was okay. You were just chitchatting, and he will begin to beat you in order to create the pause. If there is any cause the pause cannot be created. If you had abused the master and he starts beating you there is a causality, your mind understands: “I abused him, and he is beating me.”

Really, your mind was expecting it already, so there is no gap. But remember, a Zen master will not beat you if you abuse him, he will laugh, because then laughter can create a pause. O 49

There are many stories that someone attained buddhahood because the teacher suddenly started beating him. You cannot understand it – what nonsense! How can one attain buddhahood by being beaten by someone, or by being thrown out of the window by someone? O 49

The whole Zen technique is based on the fourth technique of Shiva. O 49

Any sudden, unexpected, unbelievable thing can create the pause for the impure. But for the pure there is no need of such things. For the pure the pause is always there. Many times, for pure minds, breathing stops. If your mind is pure – pure means you are not desiring, hankering, seeking anything – silently pure, innocently pure, you can be sitting and suddenly your breath will stop.

Remember this: mind movement needs breath movement. Mind moving fast needs fast movement in breath. That is why when you are in anger, breath will move fast. CONT’D … In the sex act, the breath will move very fast. That is why in Ayurveda – a system of herbal medicine in India – it is said that your life will be shortened if too much sex is allowed. Your life will be shortened according to Ayurveda, because Ayurveda measures your life in breaths. If your breathing is too fast, your life will be shortened.