Anapanasati
Encyclopedia
Ānāpānasati meaning 'mindfulness of breathing' ("sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation), is a form of Buddhist meditation
now common to the Tibetan
, Zen
, Tiantai
, and Theravada
schools of Buddhism, as well as western-based mindfulness programs
.
According to tradition, Anapanasati was originally taught by the Buddha in several sutras including the Ānāpānasati Sutta
. Anapanasati means to feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body, as is practiced in the context of mindfulness.
, Tiantai
, and Chán/Zen
traditions of Buddhism, as well as a part of many modern Western mindfulness-based programs
. In both ancient and modern times, anapanasati by itself is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplating bodily phenomena.
The Anapanasati Sutta
specifically concerns mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, as a part of paying attention to one's body in quietude, and recommends the practice of ānāpānasati meditation as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening: sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya
(analysis), viriya (persistence), which leads to pīti
(rapture), then to passaddhi
(serenity), which in turn leads to samadhi
(concentration) and then to upekkhā
(equanimity). Finally, the Buddha taught that, with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of ānāpānasati would lead to release (Pali: nibbāna; Sanskrit: nirvana) from suffering (dukkha
).
Traditionally, anapanasati has been used as a basis for developing meditative concentration (samadhi
) until reaching the state and practice of full absorption (jhana). It is the same state reached by the Buddha during his quest for Enlightenment.
is to go into the forest and sit beneath a tree and then to simply watch the breath, if the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.
While inhaling and exhaling, the meditator practises:
A popular non-canonical
method used today, loosely based on the Visuddhimagga
, follows four stages:
, or to alternate seated and walking meditation. Then one may concentrate on the breath going through one's nose: the pressure in the nostrils on each inhalation, and the feeling of the breath moving along the upper lip on each exhalation. Other times practitioners are advised to attend to the breath at the tanden, a point slightly below the navel
and beneath the surface of the body. Practitioners may choose to count each inhalation, "1, 2, 3,..." and so on, up to 10, and then begin from 1 again. Alternatively people sometimes count the exhalation, "1, 2, 3,...," on both the inhalation and exhalation. If the count is lost then one should start again from the beginning.
The type of practice recommended in The Three Pillars of Zen is for one to count "1, 2, 3,..." on the inhalation for a while, then to eventually switch to counting on the exhalation, then eventually, once one has more consistent success in keeping track of the count, to begin to pay attention to the breath without counting. There are practitioners who count the breath all their lives as well. Beginning students are often advised to keep a brief daily practice of around 10 or 15 minutes a day. Also, a teacher or guide of some sort is often considered to be essential in Buddhist practice, as well as the sangha, or community of Buddhists, for support.
When one becomes distracted from the breath, which happens to both beginning and adept practitioners, either by a thought or something else, then one simply returns their attention back to the breath. Philippe Goldin has said that important "learning" occurs at the moment when practitioners turn their attention back to the object of focus, the breath.
In the throat singing
prevalent amongst the Buddhist monks of Tibet
and Mongolia
the long and slow outbreath during chanting is the core of the practice. The sound of the chant also serves to focus the mind in one-pointed concentration samadhi
, while the sense of self dissolves as awareness becomes absorbed into a realm of pure sound.
In some Japanese Zen
meditation, the emphasis is upon maintaining "strength in the abdominal area" (dantian
or "tanden") and slow deep breathing during the long outbreath, again to assist the attainment of a mental state of one-pointed concentration. There is also a "bamboo method," during which time one inhales and exhales in punctuated bits, as if running one's hand along the stalk of a bamboo tree.
Pranayama
, or Yogic breath control, is very popular in traditional and modern forms of Yoga.
Meditators experienced in focused attention meditation (anapanasati is a type of focused attention meditation) showed a decrease in habitual responding a 20-minute Stroop test, which, as suggested by Davidson and colleagues, may illustrate a lessening of emotionally reactive and automatic responding behavior. It has been scientifically demonstrated that ānāpānasati slows down the natural aging process of the brain.
: kāya-sankhāra). The second tetrad involves focusing on the feelings (vedanā), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (Pali
: citta-sankhāra). The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself (Pali
: citta), and the fourth on 'mental qualities' (Pali
: dhamma
). (Compare right mindfulness and satipatthana
.)
Any ānāpānasati meditation session should progress through the stages in order, beginning at the first, whether the practitioner has performed all stages in a previous session or not.
) and eventually to enlightenment
.
Anapanasati can also be practised with other traditional meditation subjects including the four frames of reference
and mettā bhāvanā, as is done in modern Theravadan Buddhism.
, and is entitled, "The Great Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra" (Ch. 大安般守意經) (Taishō Tripiṭaka 602).
At a later date, Buddhacinga, more commonly known as Fotudeng (佛圖澄) (231-349 CE), came from Central Asia to China in 310 CE and propagated Buddhism widely. He is said to have demonstrated many spiritual powers, and was able to convert the warlords in this region of China over to Buddhism. He is well known for teaching methods of meditation, and especially ānāpānasmṛti. Fotudeng widely taught ānāpānasmṛti through methods of counting breaths, so as to temper to the breathing, simultaneously focusing the mind into a state of peaceful meditative concentration. By teaching meditation methods as well as doctrine, Fotudeng popularized Buddhism quickly. According to Nan Huaijin, "Besides all its theoretical accounts of emptiness and existence, Buddhism also offered methods for genuine realization of spiritual powers and meditative concentration that could be relied upon. This is the reason that Buddhism began to develop so vigorously in China with Fotudeng."
As more monks such as Kumārajīva
, Dharmanandi, Gautama Saṃghadeva, and Buddhabhadra
came to the East, translations of meditation texts did as well, which often taught various methods of ānāpānasmṛti that were being used in India. These became integrated in various Buddhist traditions, as well as into non-Buddhist traditions such as Daoism
.
In the 6th century CE, the Tiantai
school was formed, teaching the One Vehicle (Skt. Ekayāna
), the vehicle of attaining Buddhahood
, as the main principle, and three forms of śamatha-vipaśyanā
correlated with the meditative perspectives of emptiness, provisional existence, and the mean, as the method of cultivating realization. The Tiantai school places emphasis on ānāpānasmṛti in accordance with the principles of śamatha and vipaśyanā. In China, the Tiantai understanding of meditation has had the reputation of being the most systematic and comprehensive of all. The founder of the Tiantai school, Śramaṇa Zhiyi
, wrote many commentaries and treatises on meditation. Of these texts, Zhiyi's Concise Śamatha-vipaśyanā (小止観 Xiǎo Zhǐguān), his Mahā-śamatha-vipaśyanā (摩訶止観 Móhē Zhǐguān), and his Six Subtle Dharma Gates (六妙法門 Liù Miào Fǎmén) are the most widely read in China. Zhiyi classifies breathing into four main categories: panting (喘 "chuǎn"), unhurried breathing (風 "fēng"), deep and quiet breathing (氣 "qì"), and stillness or rest (息 "xi"). Zhiyi holds that the first three kinds of breathing are incorrect, while the fourth is correct, and that the breathing should reach stillness and rest. Venerable Hsuan Hua
, who taught Chán/Zen
and Pure Land Buddhism
, also taught that the external breathing reaches a state of stillness in correct meditation:
Two of the most important Mahāyāna philosophers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, in the Śrāvakabhūmi chapter of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra
and the Abhidharma-kośa
, respectively, make it clear that they consider ānāpānasmṛti a profound practice leading to vipaśyanā (in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha in the Sutra pitika). However, as scholar Leah Zahler has demonstrated, "the practice traditions related to Vasubandhu's or Asaṅga's presentations of breath meditation were probably not transmitted to Tibet." Asaṅga correlates the sixteen stages ānāpānasmṛti with the four smṛtyupasthānas in the same way that the Ānāpānasmṛti Sutra does, but because he does not make this explicit the point was lost on later Tibetan commentators.
As a result, the largest Tibetan lineage, the Geluk, came to view ānāpānasmṛti as a mere preparatory practice useful for settling the mind but nothing more. Zahler writes:
Zahler continues, "it appears . .that a meditative tradition consisting of analysis based on observation—inductive reasoning within meditation—was not transmitted to Tibet; what Gelukpa writers call analytical meditation is syllogistic reasoning within meditation. Thus, Jamyang Shaypa fails to recognize the possibility of an 'analytical meditation' based on observation, even when he cites passages on breath meditation from Vasubandhu's Treasury of Manifest Knowledge and, especially, Asaṅga's Grounds of Hearers that appear to describe it."
Stephen Batchelor, who for years was monk in the Gelukpa lineage, experienced this firsthand. He writes, "such systematic practice of mindfulness was not preserved in the Tibetan traditions. The Gelugpa lamas know about such methods and can point to long descriptions of mindfulness in their Abhidharma works, but the living application of the practice has largely been lost. (Only in dzog-chen, with the idea of 'awareness' [rig pa] do we find something similar.) For many Tibetans the very term 'mindfulness' (sati in Pali, rendered in Tibetan by dran pa) has come to be understood almost exclusively as 'memory' or 'recollection.'"
As Batchelor noted, however, in other traditions, particularly the Kagyu
and Nyingma
, mindfulness based on ānāpānasmṛti practice is considered to be quite profound means of calming the mind to prepare it for the higher practices of Dzogchen
and Mahamudra
. For the Kagyupa, in the context of mahāmudrā, ānāpānasmṛti is thought to be the ideal way for the meditator to transition into taking the mind itself as the object of meditation and generating vipaśyanā on that basis. The prominent contemporary Kagyu/Nyingma master Chogyam Trungpa
, echoing the Kagyu Mahāmudrā view, wrote, "your breathing is the closest you can come to a picture of your mind. It is the portrait of your mind in some sense. . .The traditional recommendation in the lineage of meditators that developed in the Kagyu-Nyingma tradition is based on the idea of mixing mind and breath." The Gelukpa allow that it is possible to take the mind itself as the object of meditation, however, Zahler reports, the Gelukpa discourage it with "what seems to be thinly disguised sectarian polemics against the Nyingma Great Completeness [Dzogchen] and Kagyu Great Seal [mahāmudrā] meditations."
In the Pañcakrama tantric tradition ascribed to (the Vajrayana) Nagarjuna
, ānāpānasmṛti counting breaths is said to be sufficient to provoke an experience of vipaśyanā (although it occurs in the context of "formal tantric practice of the completion stage in highest yogatantra").
Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of...
now common to the Tibetan
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
, Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
, Tiantai
Tiantai
Tiantai is an important school of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In Japan the school is known as Tendai, and in Korea it is known as Cheontae. Tiantai is also called the "Lotus School", due to its emphasis on the Lotus Sūtra as its doctrinal basis...
, and Theravada
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
schools of Buddhism, as well as western-based mindfulness programs
Mindfulness (psychology)
Modern clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on the concept of mindfulness in Buddhist meditation.-Definitions:...
.
According to tradition, Anapanasati was originally taught by the Buddha in several sutras including the Ānāpānasati Sutta
Anapanasati Sutta
The Ānāpānasati Sutta or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra , "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using the breath as a focus for meditation.-In Theravada Buddhism:...
. Anapanasati means to feel the sensations caused by the movements of the breath in the body, as is practiced in the context of mindfulness.
Origins in Buddhism
Anapanasati is a core meditation practice in TheravadaTheravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
, Tiantai
Tiantai
Tiantai is an important school of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In Japan the school is known as Tendai, and in Korea it is known as Cheontae. Tiantai is also called the "Lotus School", due to its emphasis on the Lotus Sūtra as its doctrinal basis...
, and Chán/Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
traditions of Buddhism, as well as a part of many modern Western mindfulness-based programs
Mindfulness (psychology)
Modern clinical psychology and psychiatry since the 1970s have developed a number of therapeutic applications based on the concept of mindfulness in Buddhist meditation.-Definitions:...
. In both ancient and modern times, anapanasati by itself is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplating bodily phenomena.
The Anapanasati Sutta
Anapanasati Sutta
The Ānāpānasati Sutta or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra , "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using the breath as a focus for meditation.-In Theravada Buddhism:...
specifically concerns mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, as a part of paying attention to one's body in quietude, and recommends the practice of ānāpānasati meditation as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening: sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya
Dhamma Vicaya
In Buddhism, dhamma vicaya has been variously translated as the "analysis of qualities," "discrimination of dhammas," "discrimination of states," "investigation of doctrine,"...
(analysis), viriya (persistence), which leads to pīti
Piti
Pīti in Pali is a mental factor associated with the concentrative absorption of Buddhist meditation. Piti is a very specific joy associated with a state of deep tranquillity...
(rapture), then to passaddhi
Passaddhi
Passaddhi is a Pali noun that has been translated as "calmness," "tranquillity," "repose" and "serenity." The associated verb is passambhati ....
(serenity), which in turn leads to samadhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
(concentration) and then to upekkhā
Upekkha
Upekkhā , is the Buddhist concept of equanimity. As one of the Brahma Vihara , it is a pure mental state cultivated on the Buddhist path to nirvāna.-Pali literary contexts:...
(equanimity). Finally, the Buddha taught that, with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of ānāpānasati would lead to release (Pali: nibbāna; Sanskrit: nirvana) from suffering (dukkha
Dukkha
Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, discontent, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, sorrow, affliction, social alienation, anxiety,...
).
Traditionally, anapanasati has been used as a basis for developing meditative concentration (samadhi
Samadhi (Buddhism)
In Buddhism, samādhi is mental concentration or composing the mind.-In the early Suttas:In the Pāli canon of the Theravada tradition and the related Āgamas of other early Buddhist schools, samādhi is found in the following contexts:* In the noble eightfold path, "right concentration" In Buddhism,...
) until reaching the state and practice of full absorption (jhana). It is the same state reached by the Buddha during his quest for Enlightenment.
Traditional sources
A traditional method given by The Buddha in the Satipatthana SuttaSatipatthana Sutta
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta are two of the most important and widely studied discourses in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism...
is to go into the forest and sit beneath a tree and then to simply watch the breath, if the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.
While inhaling and exhaling, the meditator practises:
- training the mind to be sensitive to one or more of: the entire body, rapture, pleasure, the mind itself, and mental processes
- training the mind to be focused on one or more of: inconstancy, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment
- steadying, satisfying, or releasing the mind.
A popular non-canonical
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...
method used today, loosely based on the Visuddhimagga
Visuddhimagga
The Visuddhimagga , is the 'great treatise' on Theravada Buddhist doctrine written by Buddhaghosa approximately in 430 CE in Sri Lanka. A comprehensive manual condensing the theoretical and practical teaching of the Buddha, it is considered the most important Theravada text outside of the Tipitaka...
, follows four stages:
- repeatedly counting exhalations in cycles of 10
- repeatedly counting inhalations in cycles of 10
- focusing on the breath without counting
- focusing only on the spot where the breath enters and leaves the nostrils (i.e., the nostril and upper lip area).
Modern sources
First, for the practice to be successful, one should dedicate the practice, and set out the goal of the meditation session. One may decide to either practice ānāpānasati while seated or while walkingKinhin
In Zen Buddhism, kinhin , or , is the walking meditation that is practiced between long periods of the sitting meditation known as zazen.Practitioners walk clockwise around a room while holding their hands in shashu , with one hand closed in a fist, while the other hand grasps or covers the fist...
, or to alternate seated and walking meditation. Then one may concentrate on the breath going through one's nose: the pressure in the nostrils on each inhalation, and the feeling of the breath moving along the upper lip on each exhalation. Other times practitioners are advised to attend to the breath at the tanden, a point slightly below the navel
Navel
The navel is a scar on the abdomen caused when the umbilical cord is removed from a newborn baby...
and beneath the surface of the body. Practitioners may choose to count each inhalation, "1, 2, 3,..." and so on, up to 10, and then begin from 1 again. Alternatively people sometimes count the exhalation, "1, 2, 3,...," on both the inhalation and exhalation. If the count is lost then one should start again from the beginning.
The type of practice recommended in The Three Pillars of Zen is for one to count "1, 2, 3,..." on the inhalation for a while, then to eventually switch to counting on the exhalation, then eventually, once one has more consistent success in keeping track of the count, to begin to pay attention to the breath without counting. There are practitioners who count the breath all their lives as well. Beginning students are often advised to keep a brief daily practice of around 10 or 15 minutes a day. Also, a teacher or guide of some sort is often considered to be essential in Buddhist practice, as well as the sangha, or community of Buddhists, for support.
When one becomes distracted from the breath, which happens to both beginning and adept practitioners, either by a thought or something else, then one simply returns their attention back to the breath. Philippe Goldin has said that important "learning" occurs at the moment when practitioners turn their attention back to the object of focus, the breath.
Active breathing, passive breathing
Anapanasati is most commonly practiced with attention centered on the breath, without any effort to change the breathing.In the throat singing
Overtone singing
Overtone singing, also known as overtone chanting, or harmonic singing, is a type of singing in which the singer manipulates the resonances created as air travels from the lungs, past the vocal folds, and out the lips to produce a melody.The partials of a sound wave made by the human voice can be...
prevalent amongst the Buddhist monks of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
the long and slow outbreath during chanting is the core of the practice. The sound of the chant also serves to focus the mind in one-pointed concentration samadhi
Samadhi
Samadhi in Hinduism, Buddhism,Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools is a higher level of concentrated meditation, or dhyāna. In the yoga tradition, it is the eighth and final limb identified in the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali....
, while the sense of self dissolves as awareness becomes absorbed into a realm of pure sound.
In some Japanese Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
meditation, the emphasis is upon maintaining "strength in the abdominal area" (dantian
Dantian
Dantian, dan t'ian, dan tien or tan t'ien is loosely translated as "elixir field". It is described as an important focal point for internal meditative techniques.There are various points of dantian...
or "tanden") and slow deep breathing during the long outbreath, again to assist the attainment of a mental state of one-pointed concentration. There is also a "bamboo method," during which time one inhales and exhales in punctuated bits, as if running one's hand along the stalk of a bamboo tree.
Pranayama
Pranayama
Pranayama is a Sanskrit word meaning "extension of the prana or breath" or more accurately, "extension of the life force". The word is composed of two Sanskrit words, Prāna, life force, or vital energy, particularly, the breath, and "āyāma", to extend, draw out, restrain, or...
, or Yogic breath control, is very popular in traditional and modern forms of Yoga.
Scientifically demonstrated benefits
The practice of focusing one's attention changes the brain in ways to improve that ability over time; the brain grows in response to meditation. Meditation can be thought of as mental training, similar to learning to ride a bike or play a piano.Meditators experienced in focused attention meditation (anapanasati is a type of focused attention meditation) showed a decrease in habitual responding a 20-minute Stroop test, which, as suggested by Davidson and colleagues, may illustrate a lessening of emotionally reactive and automatic responding behavior. It has been scientifically demonstrated that ānāpānasati slows down the natural aging process of the brain.
Stages of Ānāpānasati
Formally, there are sixteen stages – or contemplations – of ānāpānasati. These are divided into four tetrads (i.e., sets or groups of four). The first four steps involve focusing the mind on breathing, which is the 'body-conditioner' (PaliPáli
- External links :* *...
: kāya-sankhāra). The second tetrad involves focusing on the feelings (vedanā), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
: citta-sankhāra). The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself (Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
: citta), and the fourth on 'mental qualities' (Pali
Páli
- External links :* *...
: dhamma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
). (Compare right mindfulness and satipatthana
Satipatthana
In the Buddhist tradition, ' refers to the establishing, foundation or presence of "mindfulness" . The Buddha taught the establishing of mindfulness as the 'direct path' to the realisation of nirvana...
.)
Any ānāpānasati meditation session should progress through the stages in order, beginning at the first, whether the practitioner has performed all stages in a previous session or not.
| Satipaṭṭhāna | Ānāpānasati | Tetrads |
| 1. Contemplation of the body | 1. Breathing long | First Tetrad |
| 2. Breathing short | ||
| 3. Experiencing the whole body | ||
| 4. Tranquillising the bodily activities | ||
| 2. Contemplation of feelings | 5. Experiencing rapture | Second Tetrad |
| 6. Experiencing bliss | ||
| 7. Experiencing mental activities | ||
| 8. Tranquillising mental activities | ||
| 3. Contemplation of the mind | 9. Experiencing the mind | Third Tetrad |
| 10. Gladdening the mind | ||
| 11. Centering the mind in samadhi | ||
| 12. Releasing the mind | ||
| 4. Contemplation of Dhammas | 13. Contemplating impermanence | Fourth Tetrad |
| 14. Contemplating fading of lust | ||
| 15. Contemplating cessation | ||
| 16. Contemplating relinquishment |
In the Theravada tradition
According to several teachers in Theravada Buddhism, anapanasati alone will lead to the removal of all one's defilements (kilesaKilesa
Kleshas , in Buddhism, are mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions. Kleshas include states of mind such as anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, depression, etc...
) and eventually to enlightenment
Enlightenment in Buddhism
The English term enlightenment has commonly been used in the western world to translate several Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and Japanese terms and concepts, especially bodhi, prajna, kensho, satori and buddhahood.-Insight:...
.
Anapanasati can also be practised with other traditional meditation subjects including the four frames of reference
Satipatthana
In the Buddhist tradition, ' refers to the establishing, foundation or presence of "mindfulness" . The Buddha taught the establishing of mindfulness as the 'direct path' to the realisation of nirvana...
and mettā bhāvanā, as is done in modern Theravadan Buddhism.
In the Chinese tradition
In the 2nd century CE, the Buddhist monk An Shigao came from Northwest India to China and became one of the first translators of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. He translated a version of the Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra between 148 CE and 170 CE. This version is a significantly longer text than what appears in the Ekottara ĀgamaEkottara Agama
The Ekottara Āgama is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant . The title Ekottara Āgama literally means "Numbered Discourses," referring to its organizational principle...
, and is entitled, "The Great Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra" (Ch. 大安般守意經) (Taishō Tripiṭaka 602).
At a later date, Buddhacinga, more commonly known as Fotudeng (佛圖澄) (231-349 CE), came from Central Asia to China in 310 CE and propagated Buddhism widely. He is said to have demonstrated many spiritual powers, and was able to convert the warlords in this region of China over to Buddhism. He is well known for teaching methods of meditation, and especially ānāpānasmṛti. Fotudeng widely taught ānāpānasmṛti through methods of counting breaths, so as to temper to the breathing, simultaneously focusing the mind into a state of peaceful meditative concentration. By teaching meditation methods as well as doctrine, Fotudeng popularized Buddhism quickly. According to Nan Huaijin, "Besides all its theoretical accounts of emptiness and existence, Buddhism also offered methods for genuine realization of spiritual powers and meditative concentration that could be relied upon. This is the reason that Buddhism began to develop so vigorously in China with Fotudeng."
As more monks such as Kumārajīva
Kumarajiva
Kumārajīva; was a Kuchean Buddhist monk, scholar, and translator. He first studied teachings of the Sarvastivada schools, later studied under Buddhasvāmin, and finally became a Mahāyāna adherent, studying the Madhyamaka doctrine of Nagarjuna. Kumārajīva settled in Chang'an, which was the imperial...
, Dharmanandi, Gautama Saṃghadeva, and Buddhabhadra
Buddhabhadra (translator)
Buddhabhadra was an Indian Buddhist monk, with the title of śramaṇa. He is most known for his prolific translation efforts of Buddhist texts from Sanskrit into Chinese, and was responsible for the first Chinese translation of the in the 5th century CE.Buddhabhadra and his Chinese disciple...
came to the East, translations of meditation texts did as well, which often taught various methods of ānāpānasmṛti that were being used in India. These became integrated in various Buddhist traditions, as well as into non-Buddhist traditions such as Daoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
.
In the 6th century CE, the Tiantai
Tiantai
Tiantai is an important school of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In Japan the school is known as Tendai, and in Korea it is known as Cheontae. Tiantai is also called the "Lotus School", due to its emphasis on the Lotus Sūtra as its doctrinal basis...
school was formed, teaching the One Vehicle (Skt. Ekayāna
Ekayana
Ekayāna is a Sanskrit word that can mean "one path" or "one vehicle". The word took on special significance as a metaphor for a spriritual journey in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad...
), the vehicle of attaining Buddhahood
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
, as the main principle, and three forms of śamatha-vipaśyanā
Vipassana
Vipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
correlated with the meditative perspectives of emptiness, provisional existence, and the mean, as the method of cultivating realization. The Tiantai school places emphasis on ānāpānasmṛti in accordance with the principles of śamatha and vipaśyanā. In China, the Tiantai understanding of meditation has had the reputation of being the most systematic and comprehensive of all. The founder of the Tiantai school, Śramaṇa Zhiyi
Zhiyi
Zhiyi is traditionally listed as the fourth patriarch, but is generally considered the founder of the Tiantai tradition of Buddhism in China. His standard title was Śramaṇa Zhiyi , linking him to the broad tradition of Indian asceticism...
, wrote many commentaries and treatises on meditation. Of these texts, Zhiyi's Concise Śamatha-vipaśyanā (小止観 Xiǎo Zhǐguān), his Mahā-śamatha-vipaśyanā (摩訶止観 Móhē Zhǐguān), and his Six Subtle Dharma Gates (六妙法門 Liù Miào Fǎmén) are the most widely read in China. Zhiyi classifies breathing into four main categories: panting (喘 "chuǎn"), unhurried breathing (風 "fēng"), deep and quiet breathing (氣 "qì"), and stillness or rest (息 "xi"). Zhiyi holds that the first three kinds of breathing are incorrect, while the fourth is correct, and that the breathing should reach stillness and rest. Venerable Hsuan Hua
Hsuan Hua
Hsuan Hua , also known as An Tzu and Tu Lun, was a Chan Buddhist monk and a contributing figure in bringing Chinese Buddhism to the United States in the 20th century....
, who taught Chán/Zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
and Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...
, also taught that the external breathing reaches a state of stillness in correct meditation:
In the Indo-Tibetan tradition
In the Tibetan Buddhist lineage, anapanasati is done to calm the mind in order to prepare one for various other practices.Two of the most important Mahāyāna philosophers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, in the Śrāvakabhūmi chapter of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra
Yogacarabhumi-sastra
Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, also known as"Discourse on the Stages of Yogic Practice" is the encyclopaedic and definitive text of the Yogācāra school of Buddhism...
and the Abhidharma-kośa
Abhidharma-kosa
Abhidharma-kośa is a key text in verse written in Sanskrit by Vasubandhu. It summarizes Sarvāstivādin tenets in eight chapters with a total of around 600 verses...
, respectively, make it clear that they consider ānāpānasmṛti a profound practice leading to vipaśyanā (in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha in the Sutra pitika). However, as scholar Leah Zahler has demonstrated, "the practice traditions related to Vasubandhu's or Asaṅga's presentations of breath meditation were probably not transmitted to Tibet." Asaṅga correlates the sixteen stages ānāpānasmṛti with the four smṛtyupasthānas in the same way that the Ānāpānasmṛti Sutra does, but because he does not make this explicit the point was lost on later Tibetan commentators.
As a result, the largest Tibetan lineage, the Geluk, came to view ānāpānasmṛti as a mere preparatory practice useful for settling the mind but nothing more. Zahler writes:
The practice tradition suggested by the Treasury itself--and also by Asaṅga's Grounds of Hearers--is one in which mindfulness of breathing becomes a basis for inductive reasoning on such topics as the five aggregates; as a result of such inductive reasoning, the meditator progresses through the Hearer paths of preparation, seeing, and meditation. It seems at least possible that both Vasubandhu and Asaṅga presented their respective versions of such a method, analogous to but different from modern Theravāda insight meditation, and that Gelukpa scholars were unable to reconstruct it in the absence of a practice tradition because of the great difference between this type of inductive meditative reasoning based on observation and the types of meditative reasoning using consequences (thal 'gyur, prasaanga) or syllogisms (sbyor ba, prayoga) with which Gelukpas were familiar. Thus, although Gelukpa scholars give detailed intepretations of the systems of breath meditation set forth in Vasubandu's and Asaṅga's texts, they may not fully account for the higher stages of breath meditation set forth in those texts. . . it appears that neither the Gelukpa textbook writers nor modern scholars such as Lati Rinpoche and Gendun Lodro were in a position to conclude that the first moment of the fifth stage of Vasubandhu's system of breath meditation coincides with the attainment of special insight and that, therefore, the first four stages must be a method for cultivating special insight.
Zahler continues, "it appears . .that a meditative tradition consisting of analysis based on observation—inductive reasoning within meditation—was not transmitted to Tibet; what Gelukpa writers call analytical meditation is syllogistic reasoning within meditation. Thus, Jamyang Shaypa fails to recognize the possibility of an 'analytical meditation' based on observation, even when he cites passages on breath meditation from Vasubandhu's Treasury of Manifest Knowledge and, especially, Asaṅga's Grounds of Hearers that appear to describe it."
Stephen Batchelor, who for years was monk in the Gelukpa lineage, experienced this firsthand. He writes, "such systematic practice of mindfulness was not preserved in the Tibetan traditions. The Gelugpa lamas know about such methods and can point to long descriptions of mindfulness in their Abhidharma works, but the living application of the practice has largely been lost. (Only in dzog-chen, with the idea of 'awareness' [rig pa] do we find something similar.) For many Tibetans the very term 'mindfulness' (sati in Pali, rendered in Tibetan by dran pa) has come to be understood almost exclusively as 'memory' or 'recollection.'"
As Batchelor noted, however, in other traditions, particularly the Kagyu
Kagyu
The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
and Nyingma
Nyingma
The Nyingma tradition is the oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism . "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Nga'gyur or the "old school" because it is founded on the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan, in the eighth century...
, mindfulness based on ānāpānasmṛti practice is considered to be quite profound means of calming the mind to prepare it for the higher practices of Dzogchen
Dzogchen
According to Tibetan Buddhism and Bön, Dzogchen is the natural, primordial state or natural condition of the mind, and a body of teachings and meditation practices aimed at realizing that condition. Dzogchen, or "Great Perfection", is a central teaching of the Nyingma school also practiced by...
and Mahamudra
Mahamudra
Mahāmudrā literally means "great seal" or "great symbol." It "is a multivalent term of great importance in later Indian Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism" which "also occurs occasionally in Hindu and East Asian Buddhist esotericism."The name refers to the way one who...
. For the Kagyupa, in the context of mahāmudrā, ānāpānasmṛti is thought to be the ideal way for the meditator to transition into taking the mind itself as the object of meditation and generating vipaśyanā on that basis. The prominent contemporary Kagyu/Nyingma master Chogyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa
Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche was a Buddhist meditation master and holder of both the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages, the eleventh Trungpa tülku, a tertön, supreme abbot of the Surmang monasteries, scholar, teacher, poet, artist, and originator of a radical re-presentation of Shambhala vision.Recognized...
, echoing the Kagyu Mahāmudrā view, wrote, "your breathing is the closest you can come to a picture of your mind. It is the portrait of your mind in some sense. . .The traditional recommendation in the lineage of meditators that developed in the Kagyu-Nyingma tradition is based on the idea of mixing mind and breath." The Gelukpa allow that it is possible to take the mind itself as the object of meditation, however, Zahler reports, the Gelukpa discourage it with "what seems to be thinly disguised sectarian polemics against the Nyingma Great Completeness [Dzogchen] and Kagyu Great Seal [mahāmudrā] meditations."
In the Pañcakrama tantric tradition ascribed to (the Vajrayana) Nagarjuna
Nagarjuna
Nāgārjuna was an important Buddhist teacher and philosopher. Along with his disciple Āryadeva, he is credited with founding the Mādhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism...
, ānāpānasmṛti counting breaths is said to be sufficient to provoke an experience of vipaśyanā (although it occurs in the context of "formal tantric practice of the completion stage in highest yogatantra").
See also
- Anapanasati SuttaAnapanasati SuttaThe Ānāpānasati Sutta or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra , "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using the breath as a focus for meditation.-In Theravada Buddhism:...
(Buddhist discourse) - Buddhist meditationBuddhist meditationBuddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of...
- MeditationMeditationMeditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
- SamadhiSamadhi (Buddhism)In Buddhism, samādhi is mental concentration or composing the mind.-In the early Suttas:In the Pāli canon of the Theravada tradition and the related Āgamas of other early Buddhist schools, samādhi is found in the following contexts:* In the noble eightfold path, "right concentration" In Buddhism,...
(mental factor) - Satipatthana SuttaSatipatthana SuttaThe Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta are two of the most important and widely studied discourses in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism...
(Buddhist discourse) - SatipatthanaSatipatthanaIn the Buddhist tradition, ' refers to the establishing, foundation or presence of "mindfulness" . The Buddha taught the establishing of mindfulness as the 'direct path' to the realisation of nirvana...
- VipassanaVipassanaVipassanā or vipaśyanā in the Buddhist tradition means insight into the true nature of reality. A regular practitioner of Vipassana is known as a Vipassi . Vipassana is one of the world's most ancient techniques of meditation, the inception of which is attributed to Gautama Buddha...
(mental factor)
Primary sources
- Thanissaro BhikkhuThanissaro BhikkhuṬhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff, is an American Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order , Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a notably skilled and prolific translator of the Pāli Canon...
(trans.) (1995a). Ananda Sutta: To Ananda (On Mindfulness of Breathing) (SNSamyutta NikayaThe Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
54.13). Retrieved on 2007-05-20 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn54/sn54.013.than.html.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1995b). Satipatthana Sutta: Frames of Reference (MNMajjhima NikayaThe Majjhima Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the second of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
10). Retrieved on 2007-05-20 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.than.html.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). Kayagata-sati Sutta: Mindfulness Immersed in the Body (MNMajjhima NikayaThe Majjhima Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the second of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
119). Retrieved on 2007-05-20 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). Maha-satipatthana Sutta: The Great Frames of Reference (DNDigha NikayaThe Digha Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the first of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism...
22). Retrieved on 2007-05-20 from "Access to Insight: Readings in Theravada Buddhism," at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/dn/dn.22.0.than.html.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2006a). Arittha Sutta: To Arittha (On Mindfulness of Breathing) (SNSamyutta NikayaThe Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
54.6). Retrieved on 2007-05-20 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn54/sn54.006.than.html.
- Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2006b). Dipa Sutta: The Lamp (SNSamyutta NikayaThe Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is...
54.8). Retrieved on 2007-05-20 from "Access to Insight" at: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn54/sn54.008.than.html.
Secondary sources
- Anālayo (2006). : The Direct Path to Realization. Birmingham, England: Windhorse Publications. ISBN 1-899579-54-0.
- Kamalashila (1996; 2004 [2nd ed.]). Meditation: The Buddhist Way of Tranquillity and Insight. Birmingham: Windhorse Publications. ISBN 1-899579-05-2. Available on-line at http://kamalashila.co.uk/Meditation_Web/index.htm.
Further reading
- Mindfulness with Breathing by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1996. ISBN 0-86171-111-4.
- Breath by Breath by Larry Rosenberg. Shambhala Classics, Boston, 1998. ISBN 1-59030-136-6.
- Tranquillity and Insight by Amadeo Sole-Leris. Shambhala, 1986. ISBN 0-87773-385-6.
External links
- Majjhima Nikaya 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta
- Ekottara Āgama 17.1: The Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra
- Analysis of the Ānāpānasati Sutta
- Ānāpānasati, a free e-book by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
- Ānāpānasati – Mindfulness with Breathing: Unveiling the Secrets of Life by Buddhadasa Bhikkhu
- Ānāpānasati instructions from Ajahn Pasanno of Abhayagiri Buddhist Monastery
- Ānāpānasati: 35 Talks by Ajahn Pasanno
- Ānāpānasati instructions from Bhante Vimalaramsi
- Ānāpānasati: A concise instruction by Pa Auk Sayadaw
- Basic Breath Meditation Instructions by Thanissaro BhikkhuThanissaro BhikkhuṬhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff, is an American Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order , Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a notably skilled and prolific translator of the Pāli Canon...
- The Basic Method of Meditation by Ajahn BrahmAjahn BrahmAjahn Brahmavamso Mahathera , born Peter Betts in London, United Kingdom on 7 August 1951, is a Theravada Buddhist monk...