Ānāpānasati Sutta


The Ānāpānasati Sutta or Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra, "Breath-Mindfulness Discourse," Majjhima Nikaya 118, is a discourse that details the Buddha's instruction on using awareness of the breath 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. According to American scholar monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, this sutta contains the most detailed meditation instructions in the Pali Canon.

Versions of the text

In Theravada Buddhism

The Theravada version of the Anapanasati Sutta lists sixteen steps to relax and compose the mind and body. 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, 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 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 '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 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.

Discourse summary

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:
Prior to enumerating the 16 steps, the Buddha provides the following preparatory advice :
  1. seek a secluded space
  2. sit down
  3. cross your legs
  4. keep your body erect
  5. establish mindfulness in front

    Core instructions

Next, the 16 objects or instructions are listed, 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 with minor differences as well as in the Vinayas of different schools. They are as follows:
  1. First Tetrad: Contemplation of the Body
  2. # Discerning the in and out breathing
  3. # Discerning long or short breaths
  4. # Experiencing the whole body. Pali versions add "he trains" in this step. Some Samyukta-Agama sutras meanwhile have "bodily-formations" in this step.
  5. # Calming bodily formations
  6. Second Tetrad: Contemplation of the Feeling
  7. # Experiencing rapture
  8. # Experiencing pleasure
  9. # Experiencing mental fabrication
  10. # Calming mental fabrication
  11. Third Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mind
  12. # Experiencing the mind
  13. # Satisfying the mind
  14. # Steadying the mind
  15. # Releasing the mind
  16. Fourth Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mental Objects
  17. # Dwelling on impermanence
  18. # Dwelling on dispassion. SA 8.10 instead has 'eradication'.
  19. # Dwelling on cessation. SA 8.10 instead has 'dispassion'.
  20. # Dwelling on relinquishment. SA 8.10 instead has 'cessation'.

    Seven factors of awakening

The rest of the sutra explains how the four tetrads fulfill the four satipatthanas and then explains how the practice of the four tetrads of anapanasati fulfill the seven factors of awakening which themselves bring "clear knowing" and release.

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" as well as in each of the "Discourse Basket" collections. 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 can also be found in the following discourses:
The Saṃyukta Āgama contains a section titled Ānāpānasmṛti Saṃyukta which contains various sutras on the theme of anapanasati including the sixteen steps.

Metaphors

Hot-season rain cloud

In a discourse variously entitled "At Vesali Discourse" and "Foulness Discourse", the Buddha describes "concentration by mindfulness of breathing" in the following manner:
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" and the "Mindfulness Arousing Discourse", the Buddha uses the following metaphor for elaborating upon the first two core instructions:

Expanded contexts

Great fruit, great benefit

The Anapanasati Sutta refers to sixteenfold breath-mindfulness as being of "great fruit" and "great benefit". "The Simile of the Lamp Discourse" states this as well and expands on the various fruits and benefits, including:

Pali commentaries

In traditional Pali literature, the 5th-century CE commentary 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.
Likewise, the sub-commentary to the Visuddhimagga, Paramatthamañjusā, 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 described in this sutta: "When outsiders know mindfulness of breathing, they only know the first four modes ".

Sanskrit commentaries

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

Chinese commentaries

The Chinese Buddhist monk An Shigao translated a version of the Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra into Chinese known as the Anban shouyi jing 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.
One work which survives from the tradition of An Shigao is the Da anban shouyi jing which seems to include the translated sutra of anapanasmrti as well as original added commentary amalgamated within the translation.

Modern expositions available in English

Different traditions interpret a number of aspects of this sutta in different ways. Below are some of the matters that have multiple interpretations: