--- ai_generation_date: '2026-10-21' ai_model: gemini-3.1-pro-preview ai_prompt_hash: 2d625dd6 audiodharma: talks: - date: '2021-03-11' is_meditation: false mp3_url: https://audiodharma.us-east-1.linodeobjects.com/talks/13119/20210311-Gil_Fronsdal-IMC-mindfulness_of_breathing_52_wholesome_nourishment_for_sam_dhi.mp3 section_slug: mindfulness-of-breathing-52-wholesome-nourishment-for-samdhi speakers: - speaker_name: Gil Fronsdal speaker_url: https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1 talk_start_time_seconds: 0 title: "Mindfulness of Breathing (52) Wholesome Nourishment for Sam\u0101dhi" url: https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/13119 video_unavailable: false collapsed_sections: [] location_city: Redwood City, CA video_unavailable: false youtube: id: AsgS6osD3N4 imprecise_upload_date: '2021-05-04' title: 'Dharmette: Mindfulness of Breathing (52) Wholesome Nourishment for Samadhi' upload_date: null uploader_str: Insight Meditation Center uploader_url: https://www.youtube.com/@InsightMeditationCenter youtube_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsgS6osD3N4 --- # Mindfulness of Breathing (52) Wholesome Nourishment for Samādhi - [Gil Fronsdal](https://www.audiodharma.org/speakers/1) _This is an AI-generated transcript from auto-generated subtitles for the video above. It likely contains inaccuracies, especially with speaker attribution if there are multiple speakers._ ## Announcements Before I begin this talk, I want to mention that next Monday will be the one-year anniversary of having done these early morning, daily weekday sittings, meditations, and teachings in California. It is kind of remarkable that it has lasted a year, and remarkable for many of us how wonderful it has been to do this. I thought that next Monday we could do a community meeting to acknowledge and celebrate this one-year mark. We haven't done it for a long time. My own personal life has meant that it has been hard to add more things like that, but I can do it next Monday. There will be a Zoom meeting. After we finish here at about 7:45, you'll be given access to a Zoom link, and then we'll switch over to Zoom to meet, hang out, and talk. We might break into little groups so you can chat a little bit with this YouTube community and maybe meet some of the people whose names appear in the chat. We can also talk a little bit about some of the questions and issues around our little community, these meetings, and the continuation of it. We are planning to continue. So, that will be next Monday, the 15th. ## [Mindfulness of Breathing (52) Wholesome Nourishment for Samādhi](https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/13119) One of the foundational, cornerstone teachings of the Buddha that intimately connects to both meditation and daily life is the idea of the wholesome and unwholesome. Sometimes it is translated as skillful and unskillful. More informally, I like to translate it as helpful and unhelpful. It has to do with our actions—what we do. In English, we might not think of some of these actions as actions, but more like states: wholesome states. But they still are an activity of the mind in the background somehow. These are states of mind, actions of the mind, activities of the mind, and ways of being that feel as if they are nourishing. The word "nourishing" is a word that the Buddha used. Different mental states and mental activities operate as food, as nourishment for ourselves. So it isn't just simply that generosity is generosity; generosity is a wholesome, healthy state that is nourishing and has a good influence on us. Loving-kindness is like that. Mindfulness is considered a wholesome state that is nourishing and has a good influence on us. Tranquility is a wholesome state and a wholesome way of being that is nourishing. It nourishes us and nourishes more tranquility. This idea of both nourishment and wholesomeness comes into play now in the third tetrad of the sixteen steps of Ānāpānasati[^1] in a number of ways. The tenth step is gladdening the mind. "Gladdening the mind" is sometimes translated as satisfying the mind or enjoying the mind. This comes with the ability to feel the goodness, the delight, and the enjoyment not just of pleasure, but of this nourishment and wholesomeness that can happen. This comes as we no longer fixate or focus on the details of our inner life, but begin looking at the big picture. That's what experiencing the mind as a whole is. We're not preoccupied with the past, preoccupied by the future, our desires, or focusing on particular emotions that are really troublesome for us. These are all reasonable things to do at times, but as we go deeper and deeper into meditation, we're relaxing and letting go and not fixating on things. There's a softening, a deepening, and an opening that begins happening as we become aware of the general quality of our inner life. Another way I like to translate _citta_[^2]—the mind or the heart—is the holistic, whole quality of the inner life. As we let go a lot and go through these deeper states of meditation, we tap into a sense of wholesomeness, a goodness, and some nourishment. It feels very satisfying just to be here and now. This becomes a valuable thing to experience. This becomes something to imbibe, to feel, and to allow oneself to be influenced by. It is important to understand that the Buddhist teachings are based on this movement towards the wholesome. To the degree to which we do what's wholesome, do skillful things in our life, do things which are ethically wholesome and psychologically wholesome, this leads to a sense of being whole rather than being fragmented. It leads to a sense of being inclusive rather than holding things at bay and in check. This becomes very important as we start moving into developing samādhi[^3], or unification. The eleventh step of Ānāpānasati is: "Breathing in, one unifies the mind; breathing out, one unifies the mind." Another translator says: "Breathing in, one steadies the mind; breathing out, one steadies the mind." Another translator says: "Breathing in, one concentrates the mind; breathing out, one concentrates the mind." These words—unify, steady, concentrate—are all in the domain of this third tetrad. One experiences the mind, one gladdens or satisfies the mind, and then one concentrates or unifies the mind. This sequence points to the fact that it's a lot easier for the mind to get unified, to gather together, to get organized, to get settled, and to be steady when the mind feels like a satisfying and enjoyable place to be. The heart is wholesome and good. We're not recoiling from inner pain, struggle, or angst. We're not afraid of ourselves or trying to avoid parts of ourselves. We've come to the place where we're now inclusive. We associate more with the inclusivity of the "big mind" rather than the particular details. We might still have particular details that are difficult, for sure, but it's not what we're locked into or preoccupied with. We respect it, but now the mind holds it all in a more expansive, open way. That expansive, open mind allows for something wholesome, satisfying, and deep to happen. Rather than huffing and puffing to get concentrated, it's more like, "Ah, this is good." The mind wants to settle. The mind wants to be more subtle. It doesn't want to be scattered. In fact, to be scattered, to go into the past and the future, to be caught up in thoughts, to become narrow again, or locked into something again, just doesn't feel interesting. It's like, why would you? There's not much juice, not much energy to be distracted because it feels so good to be right here. Maybe the way I'm talking is kind of grand and grandiose. It might seem a little bit beyond what's possible for you. But what I want to emphasize is that we are moving in the direction of an inner goodness, an inner wholesomeness, a way where the inner life feels satisfying. I like to use the phrase, "we feel at home in ourselves." "Oh, I'm home. It's so good to be here. Of course I want to be here." It is with this mind and this way of being that when we connect to our breathing, we do it in a way that feels satisfying, tender, and caring. We appreciate the opportunity to start again, rather than it being a burden, and rather than being dejected or dismayed that we wandered off in thought. We feel, "Ah yes, I come home. This is good." And then, when we sustain the attention, it's not because we're struggling to do it or holding things at bay. It's because we feel, "Ah, this is good. I'm home, and it feels nice to be here in the present moment." There is what is called the initial application of attention—this connecting—and the sustained application of attention, which is sustaining attention.[^4] Ideally, it's all nourishing. Each of you can have a different reference point or example that supports you in this. I used in the meditation the idea of doing tai chi—tai chi of the mind. Coming back to your breathing, hanging in there with the breathing, like those gentle, flowing movements of tai chi where the point isn't to get to the end of the movements as quickly as you can. The point is the action we're doing. Each moment is complete in itself, and we're really into that part of the movement. For some of you, it might be gardening. Maybe you love gardening, weeding, and planting—just doing it. You're not in a hurry to do it. It's tender and nourishing. Maybe it's a parental feeling for your plants, just tending and caring for them. Maybe it's a craft, or maybe it's caring for someone who's sick in a loving way. You might think about what example you have in your life of doing something that has qualities of wholesomeness, nourishment, satisfaction, and inner goodness. That represents for you the movement we're going, the downhill slope, the pull of gravity of meditation. This is where we're going. And with that, we cultivate unification. We cultivate a steadiness, a deep subtleness, and what some people call concentration. So enjoy yourself, enjoy your mind, and provide your mind with a way of being that the mind enjoys. Let your inner actions, attitudes, thoughts, and feelings be something the mind really appreciates, so that the mind feels, "Ah, this is good." The mind says, "Oh, I like being with this person. I like being here. I don't feel like I need to run off anymore, because the way this is operating for this person is really good." Maybe your mind will stick around for your breathing and for your meditation in the present moment. Thank you all very much, and I look forward to tomorrow. --- [^1]: **Ānāpānasati**: A Pali word meaning "mindfulness of breathing." It is a core meditation practice taught by the Buddha. [^2]: **Citta**: A Pali word often translated as "mind," "heart," or "state of consciousness." [^3]: **Samādhi**: A Pali word meaning concentration, stillness, or unification of the mind. [^4]: **Initial and Sustained Application of Attention**: Referring to the Pali terms _vitakka_ (directing the mind towards an object) and _vicāra_ (sustaining the mind on that object).