Ānāpānasati Sutta Explained

The Ānāpānasati Sutta (Pāli) or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra (Sanskrit), "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," Majjhima Nikaya 118, is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using awareness of the breath (anapana) as an initial focus for meditation.

The sutta includes sixteen steps of practice, and groups them into four tetrads, associating them with the four satipatthanas (placings of mindfulness). According to American scholar monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, this sutta contains the most detailed meditation instructions in the Pali Canon.[1]

Versions of the text

Theravada Pali Canon

The Theravada Pali Canon version of the Anapanasati Sutta lists sixteen steps to relax and compose the mind and body. The Anapanasati Sutta is a celebrated text among Theravada Buddhists.[2] In the Theravada Pali Canon, this discourse is the 118th discourse in the Majjhima Nikaya (MN) and is thus frequently represented as "MN 118".[3] 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".

Summary of the Pali Canon version

Benefits

The Buddha states that mindfulness of the breath, "developed and repeatedly practiced, is of great fruit, great benefit."[4] It fulfills the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana).[5] When these are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga). And when these are developed and cultivated, they fulfill "knowledge and freedom" (Bhikkhu Sujato), "true knowledge and deliverance" (Bhikkhu Bodhi), or "clear vision and deliverance" (Nanamoli).[6]

Establishing mindfulness

To develop and cultivate mindfulness of breathing, a monk goes to the wilderness or forest, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, sits down with crossed legs and the body erect, and establishes mindfulness in front or right there (parimukham), and mindfully breathes in and out.

Four tetrads

The Ānāpānasati Sutta then describes the monitoring of the breath, and relates this to various experiences and practices. Following the classification of the four satipatthanas, these experiences and practices are grouped into a list of sixteen objects or steps of instructions, generally broken into four tetrads. These core sixteen steps are one of the most widely taught meditation instructions in the early Buddhist texts. They appear in various Pali suttas like the Ananada sutta, not just the Anapanasati sutta. They also appear in various Chinese translations of the Agamas (such as in a parallel version of the Ananada sutta in the Samyukta-Agama, SA 8.10) with minor differences as well as in the Vinayas of different schools. They are as follows:

  1. First Tetrad: Contemplation of the Body (kāya)
    1. Breathing in long he knows (pajanati) 'I am breathing in long.'
      Breathing in short he knows 'I am breathing in short.'
    2. Breathing out long he knows 'I am breathing out long.'
      Breathing out short he knows 'I am breathing out short.'
    3. He trains himself 'breathing in, I experience the whole body' (sabbakāya).
      'breathing out, I experience the whole body.'
    4. He trains himself, 'breathing in, I calm the bodily formation.'
      'breathing out, I calm the bodily formation.' (kāya-)
  2. Second Tetrad: Contemplation of the Feeling (vedanā)
    1. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing joy.'(pīti, also translated as "rapture")
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing joy.'
    2. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing pleasure.' (sukha).
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing pleasure.'
    3. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing mental formation.' (citta-)
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing mental formation.'
    4. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming the mental formation.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming the mental formation.'
  3. Third Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mind (citta)
    1. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing the mind.'
    2. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in pleasing the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out pleasing the mind.'
    3. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in concentrating (samādhi) the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out concentrating the mind.'
    4. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.'
  4. Fourth Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mental Objects (dhammā)
    1. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing (anupassi) impermanence.' (anicca)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing impermanence.'
    2. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing dispassion.' (virāga)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing dispassion.
    3. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing cessation.' (nirodha)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing cessation.'
    4. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing relinquishment.' (paṭinissaggā)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing relinquishment.'

Seven factors of awakening

The sutra then explains how the four tetrads are correlated to the four satipatthanas. Next, the sutra explicates how contemplation of the four satipatthanas sets in the seven factors of awakening, which bring "clear knowing" and release.

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.[7] 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.[8]

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)[9] 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. These can also be found throughout the Chinese Agamas.

Pali suttas 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:

Chinese sutras with the core steps

The Saṃyukta Āgama contains a section titled Ānāpānasmṛti Saṃyukta (安那般那念相應) which contains various sutras on the theme of anapanasati including the sixteen steps.[17]

Metaphors

Hot-season rain cloud

In a discourse variously entitled "At Vesali Discourse"[18] and "Foulness Discourse"[19] (SN 54.9), the Buddha describes "concentration by mindfulness of breathing" (ānāpānassatisamādhi)[20] 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..."[21] 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[22] 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."[23]

Expanded contexts

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:

Commentaries and interpretations

Traditional commentaries

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:

The earlier Vimuttimagga also provides a commentary on Anapanasati, as does the late canonical Pali Paṭisambhidāmagga (ca. 2nd c. BCE).

Likewise, the sub-commentary to the Visuddhimagga, Paramatthamañjusā (ca. 12th c. BCE), provides additional elaborations related to Buddhaghosa's treatment of this discourse. For instance, the Paramatthamañjusā maintains that a distinction between Buddhists and non-Buddhists is that Buddhists alone practice the latter twelve instructions (or "modes") described in this sutta: "When outsiders know mindfulness of breathing, they only know the first four modes [instructions]" (Pm. 257, trans. Ñāṇamoli).[29]

Sanskrit commentaries

The Śrāvakabhūmi chapter of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra and Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośa both contain expositions on the practice outlined in the Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra.

Chinese commentaries

The Chinese Buddhist monk An Shigao translated a version of the Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra into Chinese (148-170 CE) known as the Anban shouyi jing (安般守意經, Scripture on the ānāpānasmŗti) as well as other works dealing with Anapanasati. The practice was a central feature of his teaching and that of his students who wrote various commentaries on the sutra.[30]

One work which survives from the tradition of An Shigao is the Da anban shouyi jing (佛說大安般守意經, Taishō Tripitaka No.602) which seems to include the translated sutra of anapanasmrti as well as original added commentary amalgamated within the translation.

Modern interpretations

According to Ajahn Sujato, the ultimate goal of Anapanasati is to bear insight and understanding into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (), the Seven Factors of Awakening (Bojjhangas), and ultimately Nibbana.

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:

Modern expositions available in English

. Thích Nhất Hạnh. Breathe, You Are Alive: The Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing. Parallax Press. 2008. 978-1888375848.

. Larry Rosenberg. Breath by Breath: The Liberating Practice of Insight Meditation. Shambhala Publications. 2004. 978-1590301364.

. Nanamoli Bhikkhu. Mindfulness of Breathing (Ánápánasati). Buddhist Publication Society. 2000. 9789552401671.

See also

Sources

External links

Root texts
Online translations
Contemporary instruction

Notes and References

  1. Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The Steps of Breath Meditation. November, 2002
  2. For instance, in Southeast Asian countries, "Anapanasati Day" is the full-moon sabbath (uposatha) day in the eighth lunar month of Kattika (usually in November) (e.g., see Bullitt, 2005).
  3. A Romanized Pali version of this sutta can be found at http://www.metta.lk (SLTP, n.d.). Examples of English translations are Nanamoli (1998), Nanamoli & Bodhi (2001), Nhat Hanh (1988) and Thanissaro (2006a).
  4. Nanamoli (1998), p. 5, translation. See also Thanissaro (2006a) for similar wording.
  5. The Pali is: . SN 54.13 states: (underscore added). That is, the latter discourse identifies that it is the samādhi associated with anapanasati practice that leads to fulfillment of the four satipatthana.
  6. Nanamoli (1998), p. 5, translation. The Pali phrase being translated here as "clear vision and deliverance" is: . Vijja is the literal Pali antonym for avijja, traditionally translated as "ignorance" or "delusion" and canonically identified as the root of suffering (dukkha, cf. "Twelve Nidānas").
  7. "The Relationships Between Traditional And Imported Thought And Culture In China: From The Standpoint of The Importation Of Buddhism" by Tang Yijie. Journal of Chinese Philosophy 15 (1988) pp.415-424
  8. Nhat Hanh, Awakening of the Heart: Essential Buddhist Sutras and Commentaries.
  9. Vin.iii,70 (e.g., see Buddhaghosa, 1999, p. 259, VIII.145).
  10. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.062.than.html Thanissaro (2006d)
  11. For this entire chapter (SN 54), see Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1765-1787. For a few of this chapter's individual discourses, see SN 54.6 (Thanissaro, 2006b), SN 54.8 (Thanissaro, 2006c) and SN 54.13 (Thanissaro, 1995).
  12. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.060.piya.html Piyadassi (1999).
  13. See, for instance, Nanamoli (1998), Part III.
  14. See, e.g., Thanissaro (2000).
  15. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.010.nysa.html Nyanasatta (1994).
  16. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.119.than.html Thanissaro (1997).
  17. Ānāpānasmṛti in the Chinese Āgamas, https://lapislazulitexts.com/articles/anapanasmrti_in_the_agamas
  18. , in the Burmese edition of the Pali Canon (see http://www.tipitaka.org/romn/cscd/s0305m.mul9.xml). This edition is the basis for Bodhi (2000), pp. 1773-74.
  19. , in the Sinhala Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project (SLTP) edition of the Pali Canon (see http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/3Samyutta-Nikaya/Samyutta5/53-Anapana-Samyutta/01-Ekadhammavaggo-p.html). The basis for this SLTP title is that it starts with the Buddha providing a talk about meditating on "foulness" (asubha, e.g., see Patikulamanasikara). (Traditionally, the intent of such a meditation is primarily to diminish one's attachment to their own or another's body.)
  20. In the Samyutta Nikaya (SN) chapter on breath-mindfulness, over half the discourses (SN 54.7 to 54.20) emphasize the concentration (samādhi) resulting from breath-mindfulness over breath-mindfulness per se. This is consistent with several enumeratons of Enlightenment factors (i.e., Five Faculties, Five Powers, Seven Factors of Enlightenment and Noble Eightfold Path) where the factor of mindfulness precedes that of concentration (Bodhi, 2000, pp. 1516-17).
  21. Bodhi (2000), p. 1774.
  22. The Pali word translated as "turner" here is bhamakāro, literally, "one who makes spin," usually referring to the spinning of a wheel (see, e.g., Rhys Davids & Stede, 1921-25, p. 498, entry for "Bhamati" at https://archive.today/20120709085027/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:3491.pali, retrieved 2007-11-08). In addition, the Pali word translated here as "turn" is añchanto, whose definition includes "to turn on a lathe" (see, e.g., Rhys Davids & Stede, 1921-25, p. 13, entry for "Añchati" at https://archive.today/20120707113136/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:285.pali, retrieved 2007-11-08).
  23. Satipatthana Sutta (MN 10) (Nyanasatta, 1994).
  24. According to the Samyutta Nikaya post-canonical commentary, other meditation subjects such as the four elements fatigue the body, while still others, such as kasina objects, strain the eyes (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1950, n. 296).
  25. This benefit, the abandoning of householder memories and aspirations, is identified as common to each type of body-centered-mindfulness meditation identified in the Kayagata-sati Sutta (MN 119) (Thanissaro, 1997).
  26. Bodhi (2000), pp. 1770-73.
  27. Ñāṇamoli (1999 ed.), pp. 259-285; Vsm. VIII, 145-244. In order to address ānāpānassati in terms of samādhi, Buddhaghosa quotes material from SN 54.9 and Vin. iii, 70.
  28. Nanamoli (1998), p. 13.
  29. Ñāṇamoli (1999 ed.), p. 783, n. 39.
  30. Stefano Zacchetti. Translation or commentary? On the Nature of the Da anban shouyi jing(大安般守意經) T 602, Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Dipartimento di studi sull’Asia Orientale

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