Breath Sweeps Mind (Tricycle Book) [Paperback]

Jean Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tricycle Book | Publication Date: February 1, 1998

As a method for reducing stress, meditation has recently become a mainstream phenomenon in American culture. This insightful collection of teachings includes everything from the timeless wisdom of the Buddha to the Zen simplicity of Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh. Perfect for even the novice, this book offers an historical background, as well as practical steps, to applying meditation to one's life Online promo .

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The reasons why we meditate are, paradoxically, both deeply individual and profoundly universal. This is precisely why the collection of essays in Breath Sweeps Mind is such an effective tool for teaching mediation. Each unique voice, from Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh to American poet Gary Snyder, speaks eloquently from personal experience. Yet the collection hangs together by a golden thread of purpose--helping readers obtain their highest spiritual and human capacities. Breath Sweeps Mind is excellently paced and edited, clearly speaking to the nitty-gritty tools and techniques (such as which clothes to wear and what to do with your tongue and hands) as well as the inherent rewards of meditation.

From Library Journal

A nice introduction to the practice and theory of meditation, including posture, breathing, and potential problems. All traditions are represented, with short pieces by a wide variety of teachers and ancient and contemporary textsAfrom the words of the Buddha to contemporary teachers such as Jon Kabat-Zinn and the Dalai Lama.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Trade; 1st Riverhead trade pbk. ed edition (February 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157322653X
• ISBN-13: 978-1573226530
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #141,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For the beginner, give it a try, January 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Breath Sweeps Mind (Tricycle Book) (Paperback)

Think meditation might be for you (a way to clear your mind, to relax, etc) but a little wary of just picking a book off the shelf on the topic? Think you would like to shop around for a mediation guru? This is the book for you. The brief "chapters" have been gleaned from other publications and include selections by notable (and very readable) authors such as Jon Kabat-Zinn and poet Gary Snyder. My meditation practice has been greatly helped by this little book.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific introduction to meditation, July 2, 2001

By 

R. B. Sherman "robsherman" (Arlington, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Breath Sweeps Mind (Tricycle Book) (Paperback)

Some of the previous reviews notwithstanding, this book is a GEM! A someone who is new to meditation practice, I have been looking for a book that is both explanatory and encouraging, and this book is exactly that! Drawing from MANY traditions, not just Zen Buddhism, it gives both practical and motivational reasons for taking up some form of meditation, and simply enough, it all starts with the breath! The bibliography and author biographies are easily worth the price of admission! Own this book!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good beginning, February 5, 2005

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Breath Sweeps Mind (Tricycle Book) (Paperback)

This collection of short essays drawn from larger works is about Buddhist meditative practice, and as such it stresses what Buddhists call "insight meditation." There is a wide range of authors presented here, from the Buddha himself via excerpts from various sutras, to thirteenth-century Zen Master Dogen, to Tenzin Gyatso (the Fourteenth Dalai Lama), to American teachers like Jack Kornfield and Charlotte Joko Beck. The idea is to teach the beginning student how to meditate and to get that instruction from a variety of sources in the Buddhist world, Tibetan, Zen, Mahayana, and Hinayana.

The book is divided into three parts, "What Is Meditation?," "Why Meditate?," and "How to Meditate." In Buddhism one meditates primarily to gain insight into the human condition and to learn how to alleviate the dissatisfaction therein (The Four Noble Truths). Therefore, meditation is a technique that leads to liberation. Also, as Tibetan master Sogyal Rinpoche puts it on page 7: "It is a practice that at once transcends the dogma of religions and is the essence of religions."

I think the considerable value of this book lies mainly in Part III, "How to Meditate." What is presented by the various authorities is a meditative practice that stresses a singular focus on the breath. It should be emphasized that, unlike yoga meditation, which I practice, one does not attempt to control the breath in any way in Buddhist meditation. One simply and dispassionately observes its rise and fall, and realizes that the individual is just part of a larger, universal phenomenon. In Buddhist meditation one becomes part of the process and aware of the illusionary nature of the individual ego.

However I think it is somewhat disingenuous to leave out the fact that meditation leads to bliss and to that peaceful state of mind that passeth all understanding. Buddhists however seldom point to this aspect of meditation since the goal is to go beyond the thrall of the pair of opposites, "beyond all attachment and aversion to this life" as the Buddha in the Anapanasati Sutta has it. However, Zen Master Man-an lets slip this truth on page 152: (when one meditates) "Body and mind will spontaneously produce great joyfulness." In yoga this is called "bliss" (ananda). It is interesting to note (and insightful) that in neither tradition--indeed in no tradition that I know of save the left-handed path of tantra--is the word "pleasure" used.

One can get the pure essence of the Buddhist meditative practice by turning to the above-mentioned Anapanasati Sutta (or "The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing") on page 144, and read and study the Buddha's words. However it helps to have commentary and guidance from other practitioners, which is why this book contains them. A fine example of this guidance can be found in the chapter "Taming a Wild Elephant" by the Venerable Sri Lankan, Henepola Gunaratana.

Here we find an approach more in tune with what is taught in yoga with explanations on why certain techniques are used. For example, Gunaratana explains why there is a singular focus on the breath. In part it serves as a "reference point from which the mind wanders and is drawn back. Distraction cannot be seen as distraction unless there is some central focus to be distracted from." (p. 153) He adds that because the breath can be slowed down or sped up by an act of will as well as left to itself, "there are lessons to be learned here on the nature of will and desire." (p. 155)

Gunaratana likens the process of learning to meditate to taming a wild elephant (from the Pali canon, which reminds me of the ox-herding allegory from Zen in which the ox is one's self that needs taming). Gunaratana notes that the "tamed elephant who emerges from this process is a well-trained, concentrated mind that can then be used for the exceedingly tough job of piercing the layers of illusion that obscure reality." (p. 154)

Ah yes, the dust that obscures the image in the mirror, samsara and the dance of illusion, the muddy lotus pond, etc. But it is true, we are so conditioned by our biological nature, by our socialization, by the constant hum of others and the propaganda of the corporations hawking their wares, that we really cannot see the truth about ourselves and our place in the world. Meditation is a process that lifts this worldly veil, that cleans the mirror, and clears the water in the pond so that the truth can be seen.

Of course this takes time, and of course only the buddhas (tradition has it) have really managed to dispel all illusion and see clear to the bottom of the human condition. Still one can achieve enlightenments and with some practice keep some of them, and one may find liberation from the pair, even if only for short periods of time.

It has been said that books are a good beginning, and this is one of them that will help.