Anapanasati Sutta

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

In Theravada Buddhism
The Theravadin version of the Anapanasati Sutta lists sixteen steps to concentrate the mind. According to Ajahn Sujato, the ultimate goal of Anapanasati is to bear insight and understanding into the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (Satipatthana), the Seven Factors of Awakening (Bojjhangas), 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 (MN) 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 (M)'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 (T602) in the second 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.

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:
 * Breath mindfulness (Pali: anapanasati) development leads to the perfection of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana).
 * The Four Foundations of Mindfulness development leads to the perfection of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga).
 * The Seven Factors of Enlightenment development leads to clear vision and deliverance.

Preparatory instructions
Prior to enumerating the 16 steps, the Buddha provides the following preparatory advice (which the Chinese version of this sutta includes as part of the first object):


 * 1) seek a secluded space (in a forest or at the foot of a tree or in an empty place)
 * 2) sit down
 * 3) cross your legs
 * 4) keep your body erect
 * 5) establish mindfulness in front (parimukham)

Core instructions
Next, the 16 objects or instructions are listed, generally broken into four tetrads, as follows:


 * 1) First Tetrad: Contemplation of the Body (kaya)
 * 2) Discerning long breaths
 * 3) Discerning short breaths
 * 4) Experiencing the whole body (sabbakaya)
 * 5) Calming bodily formations
 * 6) Second Tetrad: Contemplation of the Feeling (vedana)
 * 7) Being sensitive to rapture (pīti)
 * 8) Being sensitive to pleasure (sukha)
 * 9) Being sensitive to mental fabrication (citta-Sankhara)
 * 10) Calming mental fabrication
 * 11) Third Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mind (citta)
 * 12) Being sensitive to the mind
 * 13) Satisfying the mind
 * 14) Steadying the mind
 * 15) Releasing the mind
 * 16) Fourth Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mental Objects (dhamma)
 * 17) Focusing on impermanence
 * 18) Focusing on dispassion
 * 19) Focusing on cessation
 * 20) Focusing on relinquishment

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) 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.

Discourses 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 "Greater Exhortation to Rahula Discourse" (Maha-Rahulovada Sutta, MN 62);
 * sixteen discourses of the Samyutta Nikaya 's (SN) chapter 54 (Anapana-samyutta): SN 54.1, SN 54.3–SN 54.16, SN 54.20;
 * the "To Girimananda Discourse" (Girimananda Sutta, AN 10.60); and,
 * the Khuddaka Nikaya 's Patisambhidamagga 's section on the breath, Anapanakatha.

The first tetrad identified above (relating to bodily mindfulness) can also be found in the following discourses:
 * the "Great Mindfulness Arousing Discourse" (Mahasatipatthana Sutta, DN 22) and, similarly, the "Mindfulness Arousing Discourse" (Satipatthana Sutta, MN 10), in the section on Body Contemplation; and,
 * the "Mindfulness concerning the Body Discourse" (Kayagata Sutta, MN 119) as the first type of body-centered meditation described.

Hot-season rain cloud
In a discourse variously entitled "At Vesali Discourse" and "Foulness Discourse" (SN 54.9), the Buddha describes "concentration by mindfulness of breathing" (ānāpānas sati samādhi) 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...."

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 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."

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:
 * unlike with other meditation subjects, with the breath ones body and eyes do not tire and ones mind, through non-clinging, becomes free of taints
 * householder memories and aspirations are abandoned
 * one dwells with equanimity towards repulsive and unrepulsive objects
 * one enters and dwells in the four material absorptions (rupajhana) and the four immaterial absorptions (arupajhana)
 * all feelings (vedana) are seen as impermanent, are detached from and, upon the death of the body, "will become cool right here."

Pali commentaries
In traditional Pali literature, the 5th c. CE commentary (atthakatha) for this discourse can be found in two works, both attributed to Ven. Buddhaghosa:
 * the Visuddhimagga provides commentary on the four tetrads.
 * the Papañcasūdanī provides commentary on the remainder of this discourse.

Interpretations
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:


 * Are the 16 core instructions to be followed sequentially or concurrently (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1516; Brahm, 2006, pp. 83–101; Rosenberg, 2004)?
 * Must one have reached the first jhana before (or in tandem with) pursuing the second tetrad (Rosenberg, 2004)?
 * In the preparatory instructions, does the word "parimukham" mean: around the mouth (as favored by Goenka, 1998, p. 28), in the chest area (as supported by a use of the word in the Vinaya), in the forefront of one's mind (as favored at times by Thanissaro) or simply "sets up mindfulness before him" (per Bodhi in Wallace & Bodhi, 2006, p. 5) or "to the fore" (Thanissaro, 2006d) or "mindfulness alive" (Piyadassi, 1999) ?
 * In the first tetrad's third instruction, does the word "sabbakaya" mean: the whole "breath body" (as indicated in the sutta itself [Nanamoli, 1998, p. 7: "I say that this, bhikkhus, is a certain body among the bodies, namely, respiration."], as perhaps supported by the Patisambhidamagga [Nanamoli, 1998, p. 75], the Visuddhimagga [1991, pp. 266–267], Nyanaponika [1965, pp. 109–110], and Brahm [2006, p. 84]) or the whole "flesh body" (as supported by Bhikkhu Bodhi's revised second translation of the sutta [in Nanamoli & Bodhi, 2001, see relevant footnote to MN 118], Buddhadasa [1988, p. 57], Goenka [1988, pp. 29–30], Nhat Hanh [1988, p. 26] and Rosenberg [1998, pp. 40, 43]), and the commentary, which explains that the "body among bodies" refers to the wind element as opposed to other ways of relating to the body?

Online translations

 * "Anapanasatisuttam (MN 118): The Discourse about Mindfulness while Breathing," ed. & trans. by Anandajoti Bhikkhu (Sept. 2008) - includes both Pali (with notes on discrepancies between redactions) and English
 * "Mindfulness of Breathing (Anapanasati): Buddhist texts from the Pali Canon and Commentaries," trans. by Nanamoli Bhikkhu [& Bhikkhu Bodhi ed.?] (1952; 2007) - includes translation of relevant Pali commentaries.
 * "Ekottara Āgama 17.1: The Ānāpānasmṛti Sūtra"

Contemporary instruction

 * "Anapanasati: Meditation on the Breath," by Ajahn Pasanno (May 26, 2005).
 * "Basic Breath Meditation Instructions," by Tan Geoff (Thanissaro Bhikkhu) (1993).

Anapanasati sutta 安般守意經