When you sit on your own, you may like to think of the Buddha as sitting with you. You can say, "Dear Buddha, I invite you to sit with me. Please make good use of my back. My back is still good enough. And I know that when you sit, you will make my back upright and relaxed. When you breathe, I know your quality of breathing is very good. Use my lungs to breathe and my back to sit." The Buddha isn't someone outside of you. Inside each one of us there are seeds of mindfulness, peace, and enlightenment. When you sit, you give these seeds a chance to manifest. When you invite the Buddha in you to sit, he will sit beautifully right away. You don't have to do anything, just enjoy his sitting and his breathing. You can say these words to yourself as you follow your breath:
I invite the Buddha to breathe. I invite the Buddha to sit.
I don’t have to breathe. I don’t have to sit.
When you find yourself in a difficult situation or you are feeling too upset or restless to sit, ask the Buddha to do it for you. Then it becomes easy. The next exercise is:
Buddha is breathing. Buddha is sitting.
I enjoy the breathing. I enjoy the sitting.
The next verse is:
Buddha is the breathing. Buddha is the sitting.
I am the breathing. I am the sitting.
In the beginning, you and the Buddha are separate. Then you come closer. The next verse is:
There is only the breathing. There is only the sitting.
There is no-one breathing. There is no-one sitting.
When the Buddha breathes, the quality of breathing is light and easy. When the Buddha sits, the quality of sitting is perfect.
The Buddha doesn't exist outside of the breathing and the sitting. There is only the breathing and the sitting. There is no breather. There is no sitter. When there is a high quality of breathing or sitting, when thoughts, speech, and action are full of mindfulness and compassion, you know the Buddha is there. There is no Buddha outside of these things. I am breathing. I am sitting. There is the breathing. There is sitting. There is no one breathing. There is no one sitting.
Joy in the breathing. Peace in the sitting.
Joy is the sitting. Peace is the breathing.