Two weeks ago we listened to a guided meditation on mindfulness of breathing given by Venerable Analayo, renowned meditation teacher and scholar of early Buddhism. In this meditation, Ven. Analayo interwove mindferulness of breathing progressing through the 16 steps of the teaching on mindfulness of breathing known as the Anapanasati Sutta ( see below) with the seven factors of enlightenment - mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration and equanimity. You can listen to this meditation by connecting through this link and choosing Meditation 5. https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/breathing-audio/
Last week we listened to the first half of an interview Venerable Analayo gave with Wisdom Academy on the Satipatthāna Sutta or Four Foundations of Mindfulness - the same teaching we have been exploring these many months.
This except from the Wisdom Academy’s website reviews in part what we heard last week:
... Bhikkhu Anālayo discusses the role of mindfulness in early Buddhist texts, specifically the Satipatthana Sutta, and then explains some important etymological points regarding the word satipatthana. He talks about how Pali became one of the early languages of Buddhism and provides some pointers for doing comparative study of the Satipatthana Sutta. He also reflects on how it is important to not reject certain Buddhist teachings just because they were not originally taught by the Buddha himself. Bhikkhu Anālayo then explains what the true meaning of the “direct path” to awakening means and how to understand the various types of mindfulness.
Tonight we’ll hear the second half of Ven. Analayo’s interview. The Wisdom Academy overview concludes below:
He also discusses the role that mindfulness plays in the path to liberation, the relationship between mindfulness practice and breathing practice, the continuity between the four satipatthanas, the importance of body contemplation practice, and much more.
A couple points to clarify. We have been studying what is commonly referred to as the Four Foundations of Mindfulness. Ven. Analayo concludes that a more accurate translation would be The Four Establishments of Mindfulness - so that mindfulness is established in the body, established in feeling tones, established in the mind, established in the Dharmas through the practices in the teaching.
He also points out that the Buddha states rather empathically that the Four Establishments of Mindfulness are "the direct path for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of dukkha (suffering) and discontent, for the acquiring of the true method, for the realization of Nibbāna (enlightenment), namely the four satipatthānas.” (Analayo, Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization, p.3)
So this a pretty big deal teaching.
Many of you, especially those of you who have been practicing a while, have grown into the practice through mindfulness of breathing. This practice which is contained in full in the Anapanasati Sutta, 16 steps of Mindfulness of Breathing (see below), also leads to full awakening, realization, enlightenment, Nibbana…
Ven. Analayo talks in this interview how he realized that the two teachings overlap as the sixteen steps divide into four tetrads each of which corresponds to one of the four establishments of mindfulness - body, feeling, mind, and dharmas or insights.
The final tetrad of the Mindfulness of Breathing teaching is about the realization of insights - the insights of impermanence, dispassion, cessation, and letting go. These are found in the Fourth Establishment of Mindfulness, Mindfulness of Dharmas, in the teachings on the five hindrances, the five aggregates of clinging, the six sense doors, the seven factors of awakening, and the Four Noble Truths in an expanded and more comprehensive way. The brilliance of Analayo is that he has incorporated this wider understanding of both teachings into his guided meditations on his resource page on the BCBS website making these powerful teachings available at the experiential level for the lay practitioner.
This entire investigation may seem a bit esoteric and even technical. And it is.
But since the main two meditation buzz words/buzz phrases in western culture are “mindfulness" and "breath awareness", I thought it might be useful to delve into the relationship between the two in their historical context and to know that these two overlapping practices have deep roots as Buddhist practices leading to full awakening, realization, the deathless, full enlightenment, the island...
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MN 118 - Anapanasati Sutta: Mindfulness of Breathing (An Excerpt0
"Now how is mindfulness of in-&-out breathing developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit?
"There is the case where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore.[1] Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.
"[1] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.' [3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.'[2] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' [4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.'[3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'
"[5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.' [6] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.' [7] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication.'[4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to mental fabrication.' [8] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming mental fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming mental fabrication.'
"[9] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.' [10] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in satisfying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out satisfying the mind.' [11] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in steadying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out steadying the mind.' [12] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.'[5]
"[13] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy [Ed. note: impermanence].' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on inconstancy.' [14] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading].' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on dispassion.' [15] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on cessation.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on cessation.' [16] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on relinquishment.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on relinquishment.'
"This is how mindfulness of in-&-out breathing is developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit.