Originally published 1997 | ||
Similar Anguttara Nikaya, Sandhinirmocana Sutra, Awakening of Faith in the Maha, Lankavatara sutra, Majjhima Nikaya |
Ajahn brahm teaches the anapanasati sutta mindfulness of breathing 2004
The Ānāpānasati Sutta (Pāli) or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra (Sanskrit), "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using awareness of the breath (anapana) as an initial focus for meditation.
Contents
- Ajahn brahm teaches the anapanasati sutta mindfulness of breathing 2004
- Mn 118 mindfulness of breathing n p nasati sutta anapanasati sutta
- In Theravada Buddhism
- In East Asian Buddhism
- Benefits
- Preparatory instructions
- Core instructions
- Related canonical discourses
- Discourses including the core instructions
- Hot season rain cloud
- The skillful turner
- Great fruit great benefit
- Pali commentaries
- English commentaries
- Interpretations
- References
Mn 118 mindfulness of breathing n p nasati sutta anapanasati sutta
In Theravada Buddhism
The Theravadin version of the Anapanasati Sutta lists sixteen steps to relax and compose the mind. According to Ajahn Sujato, the ultimate goal of Anapanasati is to bear insight and understanding into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipaṭṭhāna), the Seven Factors of Awakening (Bojjhangas), and ultimately Nibbana.
The Anapanasati Sutta is a celebrated text among Theravada Buddhists. In the Theravada Pali Canon, this discourse is the 118th discourse in the Majjhima Nikaya (MN) and is thus frequently represented as "MN 118". In addition, in the Pali Text Society edition of the Pali Canon, this discourse is in the Majjhima Nikaya (M)'s third volume, starting on the 78th page and is thus sometimes referenced as "M iii 78".
In East Asian Buddhism
The Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra, as the text was known to Sanskritic early Buddhist schools in India, exists in several forms. There is a version of the Ānāpānasmṛti Sutra in the Ekottara Āgama preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon. This version also teaches about the Four Dhyānas, recalling past lives, and the Divine Eye. The earliest translation of Ānāpānasmṛti instructions, however, was by An Shigao as a separate sutra (T602) in the 2nd century CE. It is not part of the Sarvastivada Madhyama Āgama, but is instead an isolated text, although the sixteen steps are found elsewhere in the Madhyama and Samyukta Āgamas. The versions preserved in the Samyukta Agama are SA 815, SA 803, SA 810–812 and these three sutras have been translated into English by Thich Nhat Hanh.
Benefits
The Buddha states that mindfulness of the breath, "developed and repeatedly practiced, is of great fruit, great benefit." Ultimately, it can lead to "clear vision and deliverance." The path by which this occurs is that:
Preparatory instructions
Prior to enumerating the 16 steps, the Buddha provides the following preparatory advice (which the Chinese version of this sutta includes as part of the first object):
- seek a secluded space (in a forest or at the foot of a tree or in an empty place)
- sit down
- cross your legs
- keep your body erect
- establish mindfulness in front (parimukham)
Core instructions
Next, the 16 objects or instructions are listed, generally broken into four tetrads, as follows:
- First Tetrad: Contemplation of the Body (kāya)
- Discerning the in and out breathing
- Discerning long or short breaths
- Experiencing the whole body (sabbakāaya)
- Calming bodily formations
- Second Tetrad: Contemplation of the Feeling (vedanā)
- Being sensitive to rapture (pīti)
- Being sensitive to pleasure (sukha)
- Being sensitive to mental fabrication (citta-saṃskāra)
- Calming mental fabrication
- Third Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mind (citta)
- Being sensitive to the mind
- Satisfying the mind
- Steadying the mind
- Releasing the mind
- Fourth Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mental Objects (dhammā)
- Dwelling on impermanence
- Dwelling on dispassion
- Dwelling on cessation
- Dwelling on relinquishment
Related canonical discourses
Breath mindfulness, in general, and this discourse's core instructions, in particular, can be found throughout the Pali Canon, including in the "Code of Ethics" (that is, in the Vinaya Pitaka's Parajika) as well as in each of the "Discourse Basket" (Sutta Pitaka) collections (nikaya). From these other texts, clarifying metaphors, instructional elaborations and contextual information can be gleaned.
Discourses including the core instructions
In addition to being in the Anapanasati Sutta, all four of the aforementioned core instructional tetrads can also be found in the following canonical discourses:
The first tetrad identified above (relating to bodily mindfulness) can also be found in the following discourses:
Hot-season rain cloud
In a discourse variously entitled "At Vesali Discourse" and "Foulness Discourse" (SN 54.9), the Buddha describes "concentration by mindfulness of breathing" (ānāpānassatisamādhi) in the following manner:
"Just as, bhikkhus, in the last month of the hot season, when a mass of dust and dirt has swirled up, a great rain cloud out of season disperses it and quells it on the spot, so too concentration by mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, is peaceful and sublime, an ambrosial pleasant dwelling, and it disperses and quells on the spot evil unwholesome states whenever they arise...."After stating this, the Buddha states that such an "ambrosial pleasant dwelling" is achieved by pursuing the sixteen core instructions identified famously in the Anapanasati Sutta.
The skillful turner
In the "Great Mindfulness Arousing Discourse" (Mahasatipatthana Sutta, DN 22) and the "Mindfulness Arousing Discourse" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10), the Buddha uses the following metaphor for elaborating upon the first two core instructions:
Just as a skillful turner or turner's apprentice, making a long turn, knows, "I am making a long turn," or making a short turn, knows, "I am making a short turn," just so the monk, breathing in a long breath, knows, "I am breathing in a long breath"; breathing out a long breath, he knows, "I am breathing out a long breath"; breathing in a short breath, he knows, "I am breathing in a short breath"; breathing out a short breath, he knows, "I am breathing out a short breath."Great fruit, great benefit
The Anapanasati Sutta refers to sixteenfold breath-mindfulness as being of "great fruit" (mahapphalo) and "great benefit" (mahānisaṃso). "The Simile of the Lamp Discourse" (SN 54.8) states this as well and expands on the various fruits and benefits, including:
Pali commentaries
In traditional Pali literature, the 5th-century CE commentary (atthakatha) for this discourse can be found in two works, both attributed to Ven. Buddhaghosa:
English commentaries
Interpretations
Different traditions (such as Sri Lankan practitioners who follow the Visuddhimagga versus Thai forest monks) interpret a number of aspects of this sutta in different ways. Below are some of the matters that have multiple interpretations: