Robin Fauskanger🔸

• Robin Fauskanger🔸 23 Mar 2026 2:17 UTC

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  in reply to: Kat Woods 🔶 ⏸️’s comment on: Med­i­ta­tion course claims 65% en­light­en­ment rate: my review

  Thank you for the kind comments!
  
  I ended up writing a melody for this mantra as well, btw. Maybe you would like it :)
  

• Robin Fauskanger🔸 15 Mar 2024 8:03 UTC

  8 points

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  in reply to: Robin Fauskanger🔸’s comment on: Med­i­ta­tion course claims 65% en­light­en­ment rate: my review

  
  I wrote another version of the mantra, for those times when no smiles are present.

  Breathing with stillness
  Embracing all that comes and goes
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing with impermanence
  Unfolding waves of appearances
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing with emptiness
  Seeing clearly all that is
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing with non-self
  Resting as awareness breathing
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment

• Robin Fauskanger🔸 25 Nov 2023 23:20 UTC

  8 points

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  on: Med­i­ta­tion course claims 65% en­light­en­ment rate: my review

  I wrote some alternative versions of that mantra meditation by Thich Nhat Hanh, removing all the references to the self. I was struggling to fully immerse myself into the original mantra, probably because those references conflict with my beliefs of what true meditation is; in which there is no doer, and there is no doing. But these modified versions has been of great use in my practice, so I thought I’d share them.
  
  Internal mantra, spoken with the inner voice. One line with the inbreath, one with the outbreath.

  Breathing in with stillness
  Breathing out with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing in with impermanence
  Breathing out with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing in with emptiness
  Breathing out with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing in with non-self
  Breathing out with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment

  
  Mantra chant, spoken out loud. One line with each outbreath.^[1]

  Breathing with stillness
  Breathing with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing with impermanence
  Breathing with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing with emptiness
  Breathing with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment
  
  Breathing with non-self
  Breathing with a smile
  Dwelling in this present moment
  Knowing it’s the only moment

  
  You can play along with repeating only one verse, or saying all in succession. You can also use the Sanskrit terms if you prefer^[2]:
  Anitya for impermanence.
  Sunyata for emptiness.
  Anatman for non-self.
  
  When trying out mantra meditations like these for the first time, I recommend doing some long sessions as well, at least half an hour or more. I find that after a while, the mantra starts speaking itself, needing less and less willful effort to sustain. That is when the conditions are ideal for true meditation; when it’s happening all on its own – at which point you can let go of all effort, and just relax in the present moment. Simply resting as awareness.

  1. ^

     I prefer to do it this way. I find that when I chant the mantra out loud I’m less likely to get distracted or lost in thought, compared to if I use the inner voice. I use a very soft and effortless voice while chanting it, basically whispering, and I speak slowly so that the words fill the whole outbreath except for a small release at the end.

  2. ^

     I’m not sure what the Sanskrit term for ‘stillness’ would be. When I wrote that part, I was thinking about the boundless stillness that underpins all mental phenomena. Like the stillness – or silence – from which all sounds emerge, and into which all sounds dissipate. I was also thinking about the inherent stillness of awareness; while mental phenomena are in ever constant motion, the space of awareness itself is unmoving. Like clouds moving across the still sky.