From the first episode of “The Power of Explanations: Records of the Shi’an Nabanna Nenpo” in the novel “Fuuka”
The night was quiet. The sound of the wind had stopped, and the plants had stopped whispering. Touma was reading an old manuscript under a dim light.
“Kitoku Seisyuho”
His fingers stopped at the word. Each and every character engraved on the paper seemed to be breathing.
“Kitoku – something particularly different. Something mysterious. A miracle.”
The moment he saw the explanation of the meaning of the word, a stir ran through his chest. It was not just a breathing technique or a Zen meditation technique. This technique is a “particularly unique meditation” that awakens the power to raise one’s head, that is, the sleeping soul.
“A miracle… huh?” he muttered.
What is enlightenment? To sink into the depths of one’s existence and find light while confronting the darkness. If that is the path to becoming a Buddha, then some kind of power – an extraordinary “supernatural power” – must be necessary.
However, this “supernatural power” does not mean being able to move things, fly in the sky, or have supernatural powers.
“The power of explanation—”
Touma remembered the words of his master.
“What can truly be called a miracle is the power to unravel one’s self, the wisdom to clarify the karma between oneself and others. Explanation is not just talking. It is the light of the Buddha that illuminates the universe.”
Being able to unravel karma and explain one’s own suffering.
That is the key to attaining Buddhahood.
The four methods written in this manuscript–
The method of excellent breathing
The method of special breathing
The method of superior breathing
The method of superior breathing
These were the very source of the “power of explanation” that would realize karmic liberation.
In other words, they are the four doors that give rise to the power of great supernatural power in order to obtain the power of karmic liberation.
A certain intuition flashed in Touma’s mind.
“Could these be nothing other than the ‘kanshinsoku’ of the four divine feet…?”
By sitting deeply and contemplating, one attains divine feet – unrestrained wisdom and power.
It resonated with the teachings of the “Ichijo-do” in the agamas he had received from his teacher.
“Seven subjects and thirty-seven levels of the path are not enough. This must be added.”
Touma took up his brush and inscribed a line of characters in the margin of the copy.
“Eight subjects and forty-one levels of the path – these are the secrets of the method of attaining Buddhahood.”
As he gazed upon the characters, he chuckled softly.
The power to resolve oneself, to unravel karma, and to illuminate the path.
That is the greatest miracle.
He was now standing before the door to that miracle.
Episode 2: “The method of stopping one’s breath – stopping one’s breath and listening to one’s heart”
There were no birds singing in the forest before dawn.
Touma just sat there.
“Victory in the art of breathing to control the mind… this is the first method.”
The master’s words caressed his chest like the wind.
“Victory means excellence. Making your breathing superior. In other words, it is the beginning of ‘aware breathing’.”
Inhale—Watch where the breath comes from.
Exhale—Watch where the breath is going.
Touma slowly inhaled through his nose and let it sink to the bottom of his stomach.
He set aside all thoughts and simply observed his breathing.
But—
“…distracting thoughts are welling up.”
His mind would not stop, hopping from branch to branch like a monkey.
Regrets from yesterday, worries about the future, people’s voices, his own immaturity.
No matter how much he tried to stop it, it would not stop.
“Breath-holding is not about holding your breath. It’s about calming the waves of your mind.”
To “win” over your breath does not mean “dominating” it.
It means “notice” the sound of your breath and “not letting go”.
Touma returned to his breath.
Once, and once again.
Ten times, a hundred times.
It was at that moment.
The wind suddenly stopped.
The sounds disappeared.
Time – sunk into the breath.
The world condenses in the moment of the inhale,
and expands infinitely in the exhale.
A light-like certainty welled up in Touma’s chest.
“I am here, now.”
His mind was neither turned toward the past nor the future.
Here, now.
Is this the state of mind of “Victorious Breath-holding”?
At that moment, a “path” opened up within him.
It was not simple stillness.
Through his breath, his karma spoke to him from afar.
“What you are sitting in now is the fruit of all the past.”
That was the voice of karma.
Even the act of breathing is made possible by the connection of countless lives and actions.
“By observing your breath, you can see your karma…is this the beginning of ‘explanation’…”
A quiet conviction resided within Touma.
The method of victorious breathing is not a way to conquer the mind.
It is a way to become someone who observes the mind, not to conquer it.
And from there, a small bud of great supernatural power began to sprout.
Episode 3: “The Strange Breath-Tightening Method – When Karma Speaks”
It was one morning.
The mountain air was cold, and a white mist was creeping across the floor of the dojo.
Touma was still sitting in the twilight.
The method of victorious breathing had already calmed his breathing.
Inhale. Exhale.
With each deeper breath, the waves of his heart also sink deeper.
And then, at that moment.
–His vision flipped.
He was sitting. He was definitely in his own body.
But that “sensation” was directed at someone other than himself.
“…Whose memory is this…?”
With his eyes still closed, he looked at the girl.
She was still young. But there was deep sadness in her eyes.
Words he couldn’t say to anyone.
Tears that no one noticed.
“Why do I…know this girl?”
At that moment, something inside Touma came undone.
It was as if an invisible web of “bonds” had been stretched around him, connecting his inside and outside.
“Kitoku Seisyuho is miraculous breathing.
It is a passage that breaks the illusions that separate the self and others and touches the depths of bonds.”
The words his master once spoke came back to him.
“When you go deep into your own heart, you begin to see the hearts of others.
It’s not compassion or sympathy.
It’s a supernatural power called contemplation.”
“This girl had met me somewhere…”
Perhaps it was a past life.
Or perhaps it was still in the future.
But what was certain was that the image reflected in Touma’s mind was part of his training.
Breath is life itself.
And when life sees life, miracles happen.
When the mind transcends barriers,
the invisible causal forces begin to speak.
“This method bestows the power of pictorial commentary.”
“Those who can speak of causal forces will illuminate the world with the words of Buddha.”
A definite heat lit up in Touma’s chest.
The special breath-stopping method is the power to speak of causal forces.
It was the first gate to great supernatural powers.
Episode 4: “Upper Breath-holding Technique – Empty Breathing and the Disappearance of Existence”
“What am I?”
The question was no longer a thought.
Breathing in, breathing out – all of those movements were part of the question.
Touma was now in **Upper Breath-holding Technique**.
Katsu-Shuiki-Ho was a method of awakening to the breath.
Kitoku-Shuiki-Ho was a method of communicating with the world of karma through breathing.
But — Upper Breath-holding Technique was different.
Breathing was no longer breathing.
The sensation of “breathing” and even the sensation of “I am breathing” began to disappear.
At first, it was a subtle realization.
The breath that should have been inhaled did not stay anywhere.
The breath that should have been exhaled did not flow anywhere.
It was as if everything was melting and disappearing on the spot.
“…My breath has become emptiness itself…?”
Then, the sensations in his body also disappeared.
The pain in his legs, the weight on his back, the throbbing in his stomach –
all of this vanished like mist,
and the next moment.
He had lost even the sense that he “existed”.
<It> had no name or form.
There was only awareness.
There was no time,
no space,
and no “someone” sitting there.
But there was certainly “something” there.
–Contemplation of Emptiness
Self and other, good and evil, life and death, joy, anger, sorrow and pleasure –
all distinctions emerge as things to be contemplated, and then disappear.
“The method of stopping breathing upward is a method of realizing that one is an empty existence.”
Touma now understood the meaning of those words his teacher had once spoken with **something** that transcended the body.
It was not “nothing.”
Rather, it was “full.”
A voice without a voice.
Light without light.
Nameless awareness.
“I am here and at the same time not.”
Breath-holding is a technique for becoming one with everything in the flow of life,
and Upper Breath-holding was the pinnacle of this.
Suddenly, Touma slowly opened his eyes.
The forest was quiet.
The birds were singing again.
The weight of his body slowly returned.
“…This is ’empty breathing’…”
Nothing had changed.
But everything had changed.
The world was reflected in his eyes as something transparent.
Episode 5: “Unparalleled Breath-holding – Buddha’s Breath”
“Go beyond your breath.”
Those were the last words his master gave him.
Touma was sitting in deep silence.
Breathing was no longer within his consciousness.
After practicing the Upper Breath Stopping Technique, his breath became “empty,”
and even his ego had vanished.
So what is the Upper Breath Stopping Technique —
what lies beyond this?
In the depths of silence,
he heard something from within.
It was not a “sound.”
It wasn’t even a “word.”
But — there was clearly a “meaning” there.
“There is a connection between the birth and the end of a star.”
“Even the blowing of a single wind is a flow of untold causality.”
“I can talk about everything. The power to talk is here, now.”
Touma’s chest grew hot and trembled.
“This is the ability to explain–”
The invisible structure of the universe,
the flow of causality that permeates the world,
the origins of the distant past and the fruits of the yet unseen future
flowed into him as something “readable.”
It was as if the universe itself was “speaking.”
There was a light in the center of the silence.
It was not a burning flame.
It was a light like a white lotus blooming in the depths of the night.
Soon it appeared as the face of the Buddha.
The Buddha was breathing.
His breath moved all the stars,
and his exhaled breath preached the infinite law.
“This breath is not my breath.”
“The breath of the law. The breath of the sky. The pulse of compassion.”
“This breath you have gained is the breath of exposition.”
Touma realized that his tears were overflowing.
With each breath, the world was spoken.
The wind, the light, the words of others, all became teachings of causation,
and flowed into his heart.
He could now “preach.”
The origins of human suffering,
the origins of his own darkness,
and even why the stars die and why Buddhas are born.
His breath had become “the breath of the Buddha.”
At that moment, the air in the forest changed.
The birds began to sing,
the wind caressed his cheek,
the ground breathed softly.
He stood up.
“I must speak.”
As one who had obtained great supernatural powers.
As a storyteller who could resolve karma.
As one who would make the Buddha’s teachings resonate throughout the world.
In Touma’s heart, there was just a quiet resolve.
