Importance of breath

Suzuki explains that in sitting practice, one focuses on the breath. He describes the inhale as connected to the inner world and the exhale as connected to the outer world. He then says that the in-breath and out-breath are not really different, just as the inner world and outer world are not separate; there is just one world. He describes the throat as the swinging door between the two. He says when one is practicing with a pure mine, there is no sense of “I” or the world or the body; there is just the swinging door (12). When practicing, one is just aware of the movement of the breath without being absent-minded. He describes that one is aware of the movement of the breath and of universal nature, also called Buddha nature.