Even though the breath has many benefits, the methods presented in the Ten Stages can also be used with a visualized object, a mantra, or in loving-kindness practices. All the same principles can be employed in conjunction with the noting technique of the Mahasi-style vipassanā method, the breath concentration and body-scanning techniques of the U Ba Khin/Goenka vipassanā method, or the uniquely systematic vipassanā of Shinzen Young. In each of these, you face the same problems of mind-wandering, distraction, and dullness, which the techniques here are designed to address. That said, not every
...more
