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Ānāpānasati Sutta

Buddhist scripture in Pali Canon

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The sutta includes sixteen steps of practice, and groups them into four tetrads, associating them with the four satipatthanas (placings of mindfulness). According to American scholar monk, Thanissaro Bhikkhu, this sutta contains the most detailed meditation instructions in the Pali Canon.

Versions of the text

Theravāda Pāli Canon

The Theravada Pali Canon version of the Ānāpānasati Sutta lists sixteen steps to compose the mind and body and cultivate insight. The Ānāpānasati Sutta is a celebrated text among Theravada Buddhists. In the Theravada Pāli Canon, this discourse is the 118th discourse in the Majjhima Nikāya (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".

Summary of the Pāli Canon version

Benefits

The Buddha states that mindfulness of the breath, "developed and repeatedly practiced, is of great fruit, great benefit." It fulfills the Four Foundations of Mindfulness (satipatthana). When these are developed and cultivated, they fulfill the Seven Factors of Enlightenment (bojjhanga). And when these are developed and cultivated, they fulfill "knowledge and freedom" (Bhikkhu Sujato), "true knowledge and deliverance" (Bhikkhu Bodhi), or "clear vision and deliverance" (Nanamoli).

Establishing mindfulness

To develop and cultivate mindfulness of breathing, a monk goes to the wilderness or forest, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, sits down with crossed legs and the body erect, and establishes mindfulness in front or right there (parimukham), and mindfully breathes in and out.

Four tetrads

The Ānāpānasati Sutta then describes the monitoring of the breath, and relates this to various experiences and practices. Following the classification of the four satipatthanas, these experiences and practices are grouped into a list of sixteen objects or steps of instructions, generally broken into four tetrads. These core sixteen steps appear in various Pali suttas collected in the Ānāpāna-saṃyutta. They also appear in various Chinese translations of the Agamas (such as in a parallel version of the Ananada sutta in the Samyukta-Āgama, SA 8.10) with minor differences as well as in the Vinayas of different schools. They are as follows:

  1. First Tetrad: Contemplation of the Body (kāya)
    1. Breathing in long he knows (pajanati) 'I am breathing in long.'
      Breathing in short he knows 'I am breathing in short.'
    2. Breathing out long he knows 'I am breathing out long.'
      Breathing out short he knows 'I am breathing out short.'
    3. He trains himself 'breathing in, I experience the whole body' (sabbakāya).
      'breathing out, I experience the whole body.'
    4. He trains himself, 'breathing in, I calm the bodily formation.'
      'breathing out, I calm the bodily formation.' (kāya-saṃskāra)
  2. Second Tetrad: Contemplation of the Feeling (vedanā)
    1. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing joy.'(pīti, also translated as "rapture")
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing joy.'
    2. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing pleasure.' (sukha).
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing pleasure.'
    3. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing mental formation.' (citta-saṃskāra)
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing mental formation.'
    4. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming the mental formation.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming the mental formation.'
  3. Third Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mind (citta)
    1. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in experiencing the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out experiencing the mind.'
    2. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in pleasing the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out pleasing the mind.'
    3. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in concentrating (samādhi) the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out concentrating the mind.'
    4. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.'
      He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.'
  4. Fourth Tetrad: Contemplation of the Mental Objects (dhammā)
    1. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing (anupassi) impermanence.' (anicca)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing impermanence.'
    2. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing dispassion.' (virāga)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing dispassion.
    3. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing cessation.' (nirodha)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing cessation.'
    4. He trains himself, 'I will breathe in observing relinquishment.' (paṭinissaggā)
      He trains himself, 'I will breath out observing relinquishment.'

Seven factors of awakening

The sutra then explains how the four tetrads are correlated to the four satipatthanas. Next, the sutra explicates how contemplation of the four satipatthanas sets in the seven factors of awakening, which bring "clear knowing" and release.

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 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 and Bhikkhu Anālayo.

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