Anapanasati

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Buddha statue doing anapanasati
Buddha statue doing anāpānasati

Template:Sidebar with collapsible lists Template:Mindfulness Template:Lang (Pali; Sanskrit: Template:Lang), meaning "mindfulness of breathing" (Template:Lang means mindfulness;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Template:Lang refers to inhalation and exhalation<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>), is the act of paying attention to the breath. It is the quintessential form of Buddhist meditation, attributed to Gautama Buddha, and described in several suttas, most notably the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118).Template:Refn

Derivations of anāpānasati are common to Tibetan, Zen, Tiantai, and Theravada Buddhism as well as Western-based mindfulness programs.

Contemplation of bodily phenomena

The Ānāpānasati Sutta prescribes mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation as an element of mindfulness of the body, and recommends the practice of mindfulness of breathing as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening, which is an alternative formulation or description of the process of dhyana: sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (analysis), viriya (persistence), pīti (rapture), passaddhi (serenity), samadhi (unification of mind), and upekkhā (equanimity). According to this and other sutras, the development of these factors leads to release (Pali: Template:Lang; Sanskrit: Template:Lang) from dukkha (suffering) and the attainment of nirvana.

Derivations of anāpānasati are a core meditation practice in Theravada, Tiantai, and Chan traditions of Buddhism as well as a part of Western-based mindfulness programs. According to Anālayo, in both ancient and modern times anāpānasati by itself is likely the most widely used Buddhist method for contemplating bodily phenomena.Template:Sfnp

The practice

Ānāpānasati sutta

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The mindfulness practice described in the Ānāpānasati Sutra is to go into the forest and sit beneath a tree and then to simply watch the breath:<ref>Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta No. 118, Section No. 2; Satipatthana Sutta</ref> Template:Blockquote

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.

If this practice is pursued and well developed, it is said by the Buddha to bring great benefit,<ref name="Bhikku"/> aiding the development of mindfulness as one of the factors of awakening: Template:Blockquote

Post-canonical development

Template:Main A popular post-canonical method still used today, follows four stages:

  1. repeatedly counting exhalations in cycles of 10
  2. repeatedly counting inhalations in cycles of 10
  3. focusing on the breath without counting
  4. focusing only on the spot where the breath enters and leaves the nostrils (i.e., the nostril and upper lip area)<ref name="Kamalashila">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Refn

Counting the breath is attributed by the Theravada tradition to Buddhaghosa's commentary the Visuddhimagga,<ref name="Kamalashila" /> but Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośakārikā also teaches the counting of breaths to ten. The dhyāna sutras, based on Sarvastivada practices and translated into Chinese by An Shigao, also recommends counting the breath, and forms the basis of Zen practices.<ref name="ahandfulofleaves.files.wordpress.com">Template:Cite journal</ref> In the dhyana sutras this is organized into a teaching called "the six aspects" or "the six means":

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Modern sources

Traditional anāpānasati teaches to observe inhalation and exhalation by focusing on the air coming in and out the nostrils, but followers of the Burmese Vipassana movement instead recommend focusing on the abdomen's movement during the act of breathing.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Other Buddhist schools also teach that as an alternative point of focus.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to John Dunne, for the practice to be successful, one should dedicate to the practice, and set out the goal of the meditation session.<ref>John Dunne talks on Buddhist phenomenology from the Indo-Tibetan textual point of view at Template:Cite web</ref> According to Philip Kapleau, in Zen practice one may decide to either practice anāpānasati while seated or standing or lying down or walking, or while alternating seated, standing, lying down, and walking meditation.<ref name="The Three Pillars of Zen">Template:Cite book</ref> 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.<ref name="The Three Pillars of Zen"/> 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.<ref name="The Three Pillars of Zen"/> 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 also count the exhalation: "1, 2, 3,...", on both the inhalation and exhalation.<ref name="The Three Pillars of Zen"/> 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.<ref name="Zen training">Template:Cite book</ref> 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 one’s 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.<ref>Philippe Goldin in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf6Q0G1iHBI Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation, 11:00 mark</ref>

Active breathing, passive breathing

Template:See also Ānāpānasati is most commonly practiced with attention centered on the breath, without any effort to change the breathing.

In the throat singing prevalent amongst the Buddhist monks of Tibet and Mongolia,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> (Chinese: Template:Lang; Japanese: Template:Lang) 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.<ref name="Zen training" />

Pranayama, or Yogic breath control, is very popular in traditional and modern forms of Yoga.

Scientifically demonstrated benefits

Template:See also 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.<ref name="fa and open">Template:Cite journal</ref> 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 (of which ānāpānasati is one type) showed a decrease in habitual responding in a 20-minute Stroop test, which, as suggested by Richard Davidson and colleagues, may illustrate a lessening of emotionally reactive and automatic responding behavior.<ref name="fa and open" /> It has been scientifically demonstrated that ānāpānasati enhances connectivity in the brain.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In the Theravada tradition

Abhidhamma

The Abhidhamma literature discerns sixteen stages – or contemplations – of ānāpānasati. These are divided into four tetrads (i.e., four groups of four). The first four steps involve focusing the mind on breathing, which is the 'body-conditioner' (Template:Langx). The second tetrad involves focusing on the feelings (Template:Lang), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (Template:Lang). The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself (Template:Lang), and the fourth on 'mental qualities' (Template:Lang). (Compare right mindfulness and satipatthana.)

Any anapanasati 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.Template:Citation needed

Satipaṭṭhāna Ānāpānasati Tetrads
1. Contemplation of the body 1. Breathing long (Knowing Breath) First Tetrad
  2. Breathing short (Knowing Breath)
  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

Contemporary interpretations

According to several teachers in Theravada Buddhism, anapanasati alone will lead to the removal of all one's defilements (kilesa) and eventually to enlightenment. According to Roger Bischof, the Ven. Webu Sayadaw said of anapanasati: "This is a shortcut to Nibbana, anyone can use it. It stands up to investigation and is in accordance with the teachings of the Buddha as conserved in the scriptures. It is the straight path to Nibbana."

Anapanasati can also be practised with other traditional meditation subjects including the four frames of referenceTemplate:Refn and mettā bhāvanā,Template:Refn as is done in modern Theravadan Buddhism.

In the Chinese tradition

Buddhacinga, a monk who came to China and widely propagated ānāpānasmṛti methods.

In the second century, 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 and 170 CE. Though once believed to have been lost,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the original translation was rediscovered at Amanosan Kongō-ji, Osaka, Japan, by Professor Ochiai Toshinori in 1999.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Its commentary, on the other hand, is a significantly longer text than what appears in the Ekottara Āgama, 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 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.Template:Sfnp 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.Template:Sfnp 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."Template:Sfnp

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 sixth century, the Tiantai school was formed, teaching the One Vehicle (Template:Langx), 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.Template:Sfnp The Tiantai school places emphasis on ānāpānasmṛti in accordance with the principles of Template:Lang and Template:Lang. In China, the Tiantai understanding of meditation has had the reputation of being the most systematic and comprehensive of all.Template:Sfnp The founder of the Tiantai school, Zhiyi, wrote many commentaries and treatises on meditation. Of these texts, Zhiyi's Concise Śamatha-vipaśyanā (Template:Lang-zh), his Mahāśamatha Vipaśyanā (Template:Lang-zh), and his Six Subtle Dharma Gates (Template:Lang-zh) are the most widely read in China.Template:Sfnp Zhiyi classifies breathing into four main categories: panting (Template:Lang-zh), unhurried breathing (Template:Lang-zh), deep and quiet breathing (Template:Lang-zh), and stillness or rest (Template:Lang-zh). 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.Template:Sfnp Venerable Hsuan Hua, who taught Chan and Pure Land Buddhism, also taught that the external breathing reaches a state of stillness in correct meditation: Template:Blockquote

In the Indo-Tibetan tradition

In the Tibetan Buddhist lineage, ānāpānasmṛti 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 chapters 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 Sutta Piṭaka).Template:Sfnp 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."Template:Sfnp Asaṅga correlates the sixteen stages of 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.Template:Sfnp

As a result, the largest Tibetan lineage, the Gelug, came to view ānāpānasmṛti as a mere preparatory practice useful for settling the mind but nothing more.Template:Sfnp Zahler writes: Template:Blockquote

Zahler continues, Template:Blockquote

Stephen Batchelor, who for years was a 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'."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

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.Template:Sfnp 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."<ref>The Path is the Goal, in The Collected Works of Chogyam Trungpa, Vol Two. Shambhala Publications. pgs 49, 51.</ref> 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."Template:Sfnp

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").Template:SfnpTemplate:Sfnp

See also

Notes

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References

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Bibliography

Primary sources

Further reading

  • Mindfulness with Breathing by Buddhadāsa Bhikkhu. Wisdom Publications, Boston, 1996. Template:ISBN.
  • Breath by Breath by Larry Rosenberg. Shambhala Classics, Boston, 1998. Template:ISBN.
  • Tranquillity and Insight by Amadeo Sole-Leris. Shambhala, 1986. Template:ISBN.
  • "The Anapanasati Sutta / A Practical Guide to Mindfulness of Breathing and Tranquil Wisdom Meditation" by Bhante Vimalaramsi. Yin Shun Foundation, January 1999; First edition (1999). ASIN: B00183T9XW
  • Breathing Like a Buddha by Ajahn Sucitto. Amaravati Publications, 2022. Template:ISBN.

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