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Meditation on Mindfulness of Breathing (Anapanasati)

Posted on Apr 11th, 2008 by True Eloquence : Spiritual Hunk True Eloquence
Anapanasati is one of the most important methods of Buddhist meditation. The Buddha Himself recommends this meditation as follows: If it is cultivated and developed, it is peaceful and a delightful way of life. It conquers all evil.

  1. Ana means breathing in. apana means breathing out. Sati means mindfulness or awareness or recollection.
  2. So, anapanasati means “Mindfulness of In and Out Breathing”, or just “Mindfulness of Breathing”
  3. We may divide this meditation into four stages, as follows:
  4. In the first two stage, we use counting to help us become mindful
  5. In the first stage, we breath in and out, and then count (one, two… up to seven, repeatedly).
  6. In the second stage, we count first, and then breathe in and out.
  7. After these two stages of counting, our breathing becomes more refined.
  8. Our concentration also becomes better.
  9. In the third stag, we do not count anymore: We simply follow our breathing.
  10. We watch our breath going in and out, becoming long or short, deep or shallow.
  11. In this stage, we develop our mindfulness (sati)
  12. Our Breathing also becomes more and more refined.
  13. As we have stronger and stronger mindfulness of our breathing, our mind becomes more and more concentrated.
  14. Finally, in the fourth stage, we are able to concentrate on one fixed point
  15. – for example at the tip of our nose.
  16. If we go through these stages properly, our body and mind can become increasingly calm.
  17. We also experience more and more mental peace and joy.
  18. According to Buddhaghosha’s Visuddhimagga, anapanasati is a samatha method.
  19. This means that it can only lead to concentration, but not insight.
  20. But, if we understand the method properly, we can see that it should lead to insight too:
  21. First of all, it is a practice of mindfulness using our breathing – it helps us to develop mindfulness.
  22. Like in a vipassana meditation, mindfulness can be used to develop insight.
  23. Secondly, as the Buddha has taught: He who is concentrated sees things truly – that is: concentration leads directly to insight.
  24. The rigid separation of insight from concentration is not found in the Discourses.
  25. In the anapanasati meditation itself, we see that mindfulness leads to concentration (cf. third to fourth stage).
  26. Likewise, concentration can lead directly to mindfulness.
  27. In fact, we can properly practice mindfulness only after we have gained some amount of concentration.
  28. The anapanasati-sutta, and other discourses show clearly that anapanasati practice can also be a method to bring about insight.
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