Stop the mind by tying it to the nose-tip or the navel

Fix attention on one point: the tip of the nose when the mind sinks into dullness, the navel when it floats off into restlessness.

Why it works

Zhiyi treats stopping (zhǐ) as the remedy for two opposite faults. Sinking is dullness: the mind is dark, forgetful, and the head droops. Floating is restlessness: the mind drifts to other objects and the body will not settle. The shorter manual prescribes a different anchor for each: tie mindfulness to the tip of the nose as the remedy for sinking, which it describes as a dark, forgetful mind, and tie the object to the navel for floating, after which the mind settles and grows calm. The point of the anchor is not the place itself but that the mind is held there until it stops scattering.

How to do it

1. Once the body and breath are settled, notice whether the mind is sinking (dull, drowsy, drooping) or floating (scattered, restless, drifting).
2. If sinking, attend to the tip of the nose, where the breath meets it, and hold attention there lightly.
3. If floating, let the mind drop down toward the navel, and attend to a sense of settling there.
4. When the mind wanders off the anchor, return it without scolding; the manual treats each return as the practice itself.
5. Notice whether the anchor needs changing as the state changes, and keep sessions short enough that the effort stays light.

Evidence

The sinking and floating diagnosis and the nose-tip and navel anchors are given in the shorter manual’s section on the mind, and the Mo-ho chih-kuan treats stopping as the basis for contemplation. The method is textual; it has not been separately tested against other anchors. (mechanistic)

Attention training on the breath is well studied in other contemplative traditions, but no trial has compared the nose-tip and navel anchors specifically. The shamatha page covers the related modern attention research.

Sources

• Zhiyi. Xiuxi zhiguan zuo chan fayao (修習止觀坐禪法要), Chinese text transcribed on Chinese Wikisource. Sections 具緣第一, 訶欲第二, 棄蓋第三, 調和第四, 方便行第五, 正修行第六, 覺知魔事第八.
• Zhiyi (Shramana Zhiyi). The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation, trans. Bhikshu Dharmamitra. Kalavinka Press, ISBN 978-1-935413-00-4. Zhiyi’s shorter manual, Xiuxi zhiguan zuo chan fayao.
• Zhiyi. Mo-ho chih-kuan (摩訶止觀, T1911), vol. 1, Chinese text on Chinese Wikisource. Vol. 2 gives the four samādhis and the ninety-day forms; vol. 1 gives the three truths in the “perfect” teaching.

Common mistake

Staring hard at the nose-tip or pressing on the navel in an effort to get it right. The manual asks for a light, steady holding; effort that tightens the body brings back the rough breath and the scattered mind.

Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0: cite or embed this practice · more practices graded Plausible mechanism