As you get more and more grounded in the breath, more absorbed in the breath, you see where the pleasure comes from, and you can see that it causes no harm to anyone.

"As the Buddha pointed out, this is a harmless pleasure — harmless in the sense that it doesn’t place any burdens on anyone else and in the sense that it doesn't obscure your vision. If our pleasure depends on things outside, we get blinded because pleasure that’s based outside has to have its drawbacks, yet we don’t want to see the drawbacks, so we close our eyes to them. But this is a kind of pleasure that doesn’t require that you close your eyes. You may need to close your eyes in the beginning, as you meditate, just to prevent distractions. But as you get more and more grounded in the breath, more absorbed in the breath, you not only keep your physical eyes open, you keep your mental eyes open as well. You see where the pleasure comes from, and you can see that it causes no harm to anyone. That allows the mind to open and be more sensitive to all kinds of areas that it used to desensitize itself to.

So as long as the mind is going to feed and cling, have it feed and cling here. Allow the breath to become absorbing because you need this grounding; you need this foundation. You need to have this space as your space — a space that’s not invaded by things outside — because that’s the only way you can maintain any sense of solidity, any sense of certainty in this very uncertain world."

~ Thanissaro Bhikkhu "Breathaholic"

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