Anapanasati

• 1. Origins And Scriptural Roots

  ›

  A Buddha statue sits in quiet meditation, hands resting gently on its lap. This image represents the practice known as anāpānasati, meaning mindfulness of breathing. The act involves paying attention to the breath itself. Gautama Buddha attributed this form of meditation to himself. He described it in several suttas, most notably the Anapanasati Sutta found in the Majjhima Nikaya. This text is numbered 118 within that collection. The sutta prescribes going into a forest and sitting beneath a tree to watch the breath. It recommends using mindfulness of breathing to cultivate seven factors of awakening. These factors include sati, dhamma vicaya, viriya, piti, passaddhi, samadhi, and upekkha. Developing these factors leads to release from suffering and the attainment of nirvana.

• 2. The Sixteen Contemplation Stages

  ›

  Abhidhamma literature discerns sixteen stages or contemplations of anapana-sati. These are divided into four tetrads or groups of four steps. The first four steps involve focusing the mind on breathing, which acts as the body-conditioner. The second tetrad focuses on feelings, serving as the mind-conditioner. The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself. The fourth tetrad concentrates on mental qualities. Any session should progress through these stages in order. Beginning students often keep a brief daily practice of around 10 or 15 minutes. Counting exhalations in cycles of 10 is a popular post-canonical method used today. This counting technique is attributed by the Theravada tradition to Buddhaghosa's commentary called the Visuddhimagga. Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośakārikā also teaches counting breaths to ten. The dhyana sutras recommend counting the breath and form the basis of Zen practices.

• 3. Transmission To East Asia

  ›

  In the second century, the Buddhist monk An Shigao came from Northwest India to China. He became one of the first translators of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese. An Shigao translated a version of the Anapanasmi Sutra between 148 and 170 CE. Though once believed lost, the original translation was rediscovered at Amanosan Kongō-ji in Osaka, Japan, by Professor Ochiai Toshinori in 1999. At a later date, Fotudeng arrived from Central Asia to China in 310. He propagated Buddhism widely and demonstrated many spiritual powers. Fotudeng converted warlords in this region of China over to Buddhism. He taught methods of meditation, especially anapana-smi through methods of counting breaths. By teaching meditation methods as well as doctrine, Fotudeng popularized Buddhism quickly. As more monks such as Kumaraiva and Dharmanandi came to the East, translations of meditation texts followed. These became integrated in various Buddhist traditions as well as non-Buddhist traditions like Daoism.

• 4. Divergent Lineage Interpretations

  ›

  The largest Tibetan lineage, the Gelug, came to view anapana-smi as a mere preparatory practice useful for settling the mind but nothing more. Scholar Leah Zahler has demonstrated that the practice traditions related to Vasubandhu's or Asanga's presentations were probably not transmitted to Tibet. Stephen Batchelor, who spent years as a monk in the Gelukpa lineage, experienced this firsthand. He writes that systematic practice of mindfulness was not preserved in the Tibetan traditions. The Gelugpa lamas know about such methods but the living application has largely been lost. In other traditions, particularly the Kagyu and Nyingma, mindfulness based on anapana-smi is considered quite profound. For the Kagyupa, in the context of mahamudra, it is thought to be the ideal way for the meditator to transition into taking the mind itself as the object of meditation. Chogyam Trungpa wrote that your breathing is the closest you can come to a picture of your mind. The traditional recommendation in the lineage of meditators that developed in the Kagyu-Ningma tradition is based on mixing mind and breath.

• 5. Modern Scientific Validation

  ›

  Meditators experienced in focused attention meditation showed a decrease in habitual responding in a 20-minute Stroop test. Richard Davidson and colleagues suggest this illustrates lessening of emotionally reactive and automatic responding behavior. It has been scientifically demonstrated that anapana-sati enhances connectivity in the brain. The practice 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 piano. Philippe Goldin states that important learning occurs at the moment when practitioners turn their attention back to the object of focus. This happens whether one is distracted by a thought or something else. Active breathing involves attention centered on the breath without effort to change it. Passive breathing allows the body to regulate its own rhythm naturally.

• 6. Contemporary Global Adaptations

  ›

  Western-based mindfulness programs have adapted traditional techniques for secular audiences. Followers of the Burmese Vipassana movement recommend focusing on the abdomen's movement during the act of breathing instead of just the nostrils. In some Japanese Zen meditation, emphasis falls upon maintaining strength in the abdominal area. Slow deep breathing assists attainment of a mental state of one-pointed concentration. A bamboo method exists where one inhales and exhales in punctuated bits. Pranayama or Yogic breath control remains very popular in traditional and modern forms of Yoga. Philip Kapleau notes that in Zen practice one may decide to practice while seated, standing, lying down, or walking. Practitioners may choose to count each inhalation up to 10 then begin from 1 again. If the count is lost, one should start again from the beginning. Teachers often consider a guide essential for Buddhist practice alongside the sangha community.