Anapanasati Meditaion

Ānāpānasati (Pali), meaning 'mindfulness of breathing' ("sati" means mindfulness; "ānāpāna" refers to inhalation and exhalation), is a fundamental form of meditation taught by the Buddha. According to this teaching, classically presented in the Anāpānasati Sutta,^[1] practicing this form of meditation as a part of the Noble Eightfold Path leads to the removal of all defilements (kilesa) and finally to the attainment of nibbāna (nirvana).

Buddhist origins

The Buddha's teaching in this matter was based on his own experience in using anapanasati as part of his means of achieving his own enlightenment .The Anāpānasati Sutta specifically concerns mindfulness of inhalation and exhalation, and recommends the practice of ānāpānasati meditation as a means of cultivating the seven factors of awakening: sati (mindfulness), dhamma vicaya (analysis), viriya (persistence), which leads to piti (rapture), then to passaddhi (serenity), which in turn leads to samadhi (concentration) and then to upekkhā (equanimity). Finally, the Buddha taught that, with these factors developed in this progression, the practice of ānāpānasati would lead to release (Pali: nibbāna; Sanskrit: nirvana) from suffering (dukkha).

The practice

The practice of anāpānasati varies. Typically, one begins by sitting in a comfortable position, with the back and neck straight, in a comfortable and peaceful environment.

The meditator should breathe naturally, without attempting to change the length or depth of the breath.{Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta No. 118, Section No. 2, translated from the Pali} If the breath is short, the meditator should simply observe that the breath is short. If the breath is long, the meditator should simply observe that the breath is long.

While inhaling and exhaling, the meditator practises:

• training the mind to be sensitive to one or more of: the entire body, rapture, pleasure, the mind itself, and mental processes
• training the mind to be focused on one or more of: inconstancy, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment
• steadying, satisfying, or releasing the mind.

  Tutors will explain that, in an untrained mind, thoughts constantly arise, disturbing the focus. They arise and fall away, like waves in an ocean. If one disregards them, they slowly wither and disappear. On the other hand, if one pays them attention, one is soon lost in a web of thoughts.

  In this tradition there are two types of thoughts: thoughts from the past and thoughts about the future. These may bring happiness or sadness. It is said that, when left unattended, the mind will flit from one thought to another, wandering aimlessly.

  Practitioners are tutored to avoid their practice being disrupted by passing thoughts and to nudge themselves into concentrating on their breathing once again.

  A popular non-canonical method used today, loosely based on the Visuddhimagga, follows four stages:

• counting each breath at the end of exhalation
• counting each breath at the beginning of inhalation
• focusing on the breath without counting
• focusing only on the spot where the breath enters and leaves the nostrils (i.e., the nostril and upper lip area).^[6]

• Stages of Anāpānasati

Formally, there are sixteen stages — or contemplations — of ānāpānasati. These are divided into four tetrads (i.e., sets or groups of four). The first four steps involve focusing the mind on breathing, which is the 'body-conditioner' (Pali: kāya-sankhāra). The second tetrad involves focusing on the feelings (vedanā), which are the 'mind-conditioner' (Pali: citta-sankhāra). The third tetrad involves focusing on the mind itself (Pali: citta), and the fourth on 'the truth' (Pali: dhamma). (Compare right mindfulness and satipatthana .)Any anāpānasati meditation session should progress through the stages in order, beginning at the first, whether the practitioner has performed all stages in a previous session or not.

Link with pranayama

Although anapanasati is a core meditation practice in Buddhism, especially in the Theravada school, and involves merely being a "passive observer of the natural involuntary breathing process," ^[7] rather than being in control of the breathing, yet it also has some similarities to pranayama, which does involve "breathing techniques or breath control," ^[8] as a yogic practice. In any case, anapanasati is not the only breathing-based type of Buddhist meditation. For example, in the Buddhist meditation practices of Tibet, Mongolia and Japanese Zen meditation, control of the breathing is an important element.

In the throat singing so widely prevalent in the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet and Mongolia^[9] the long slow outbreath during chanting is the core of the practice, just as it is in the yogic breathing method of pranayama. The sound of the chant also serves to focus the mind in one-pointed concentration samadhi, while the sense of self dissolves as awareness becomes absorbed into a realm of pure sound. In Zen meditation, the emphasis is upon maintaining "strength in the abdominal area" ^[10] (tanden) and slow deep breathing during the long outbreath, again to assist the attainment of a mental state of one-pointed concentration.

Arguably, therefore, there are many interesting parallels between the overtly yogic methods of the pranayama of Patanjali and those of Buddhist meditation. Whether this apparent convergence is historically traceable is open to question as over two centuries of time lie between Gautama and Patanjali. But it seems likely that elements of yogic breathing have indeed become incorporated into mainstream Buddhist meditation practices. It is also arguable that the connection between the breathing and the mental state has been observed in both traditions, and that breath regulation leads into meditative states; control one and you naturally gain control of the other.