The Breath of Love
Author
Most Venerable Bhante Vimalaramsi Mahàthera
1
The Anàpànasati Sutta
A Practical Guide to
Mindfulness of Breathing and
Tranquil Wisdom Meditation
Please Note
Some additional materials appear in this version of this book. As usual, the
Anàpànasati Sutta explains in full the sutta with regard to your meditation
instructions. All parts of the Anàpànasati Sutta are printed in bold upright
letters. All other supporting sutta references used are printed in bold italics.
In this edition, three other primary practices are explained. They are Loving-
kindness Meditation, Forgiveness Meditation and the specific instructions
for Walking Meditation which should accompany all practices. A glossary of
terms is added in the order you would study the meditation.
We hope this will be good support for your TWIM practice.
An Open Invitation
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Sammà Sambuddhasa
Many people are now on a search for a spiritual path that leads
their mind to peace and happiness. They discovered that the
norms of the world which emphasize material happiness, do not
actually bring real peace and security.
Instead, those norms lead to more pain and dissatisfaction. For
these people, the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path exemplifies
a simple and contented life; a life that is open and free. The
Buddha taught the method to free our minds of lust, hatred and
delusion. He started by showing his disciples how to have an
open mind that expands beyond its present limitations so that
you can examine with understanding how everything works.
In the Kàlàma Sutta, the Buddha explicitly stated that you should
not follow any beliefs blindly, but rather, you should always
examine and investigate for yourself. These admonishments
were put forth for the purpose of opening and expanding your
experience so that you will not be attached to any particular
doctrine without thorough investigation.
This kind of honest inquiry into any particular doctrine opens
on your mind and expands your consciousness. Then, you will
see what leads to a close or tight mind and what leads to a mind
that is open and clear.
One of the many lessons the Buddha teaches is to first, expand
your consciousness by the practice of generosity (dàna). When a
person is miserly, they have a tendency to have a tight and limited
mind full of craving. Their mind holds onto material things and
easily becomes attached to them. Attachment of any form makes
mind uncomfortable and tense.
This tension is the cause of immeasurable pain and suffering
(dukkha). Thus, by encouraging the practice of generosity, it
teaches us how to have a joyful, open, and clear mind which is
never closed or tight.
Another form of generosity is the giving of time and energy to
help those who are having problems, i.e. to become real friends.
This includes helping others to be happy! When we say or
perform actions which cause people to smile, it opens our mind
and then joy arises. This doesn’t only happen to the other person
but in our own mind as well. This type of practice helps us to
expand our mind and let go of the tension.
Precepts
The Buddha also emphasizes the importance of keeping our
moral discipline (sãla). The precepts are not commandments but
rather they are suggestions to follow. Keeping them leads to a
mind that easily becomes calm and composed. These five moral
precepts release mind from remorse, anxiety, and guilty feelings
if they are continually kept and observed.
These precepts are:
1.Abstaining from killing or harming living beings on
purpose;
2.Abstaining from taking what is not given;
3.Abstaining from wrong sexual activities;
4.Abstaining from telling lies, using harsh language,
slandering, and gossip;
5.Abstaining from taking drugs and alcohol that dull our
mind (this does not mean a doctor’s prescriptions; just
drugs or alcohol for the purpose of taking the edge off of
daily living).
Keeping these precepts closely means that our mind will be
tension and guilt-free.
Subsequently, the Buddha taught the methods of meditation or
mental development (bhàvanà), to free mind from tension and
confusion. The essence of meditation is to open and calm your
mind and accept whatever arises without any tightening at all.
This book of instructions is written for those who are on this
noble quest. To a beginner, these instructions may appear
confusing and difficult to understand. However, you will
gradually discover the many benefits when these instructions
are followed closely.
In actual fact, within the texts, meditation, as taught by the
Buddha, is never broken into different kinds of meditation. It
is never taken to be deep concentration in any of its forms, that
is, fixed or absorption concentration (appanà samàdhi), access or
neighborhood concentration (upacàra samàdhi) or moment-to-
moment concentration (khanika samàdhi), which actually brings
tightness to mind and suppresses the hindrances.
The ‘concentration’ meditation is a form of suppression, a kind of
cutting off of your experience which causes a kind of resistance
to arise in your mind. As a result, there is a conflict with reality.
On the other hand, “Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation”
(TWIM), as found within the texts, opens mind and is continually
expanding it. It does not ever exclude or resist anything. A
‘concentrated’ mind does not meditate in the “Buddha’s Way”.
It doesn’t matter whether you are talking about full or fixed
absorption concentration, or access concentration. These still
cause the same difficulties in practice.
The important rule of the meditation is, no matter what distracts
your mind away from the breath and tranquilizing your mind,
you simply open, expand, let it go without thinking about the
distraction, relax mind and tightness in the head. As you feel
mind open and relax away the tension, you lightly smile, and
softly redirect your attention back to the object of meditation i.e.
the breath and relaxing on the in-breath and relaxing on the out-
breath.
Next is the Pàli word samatha. The more accurate meanings
of samatha are peacefulness, calmness, tranquility, serenity or
stillness and not as the commonly translated terms of absorption
or fixed concentration. Thus, the author prefers to use the word
tranquility.
The Pàli word samàdhi is equally important as it has many
different meanings such as calmness, unified mind, tranquility,
peacefulness, stillness, composure of mind, quiet mind, serenity,
and one of the lesser meanings, “concentration”. Thus, the true
meaning is not merely fixed absorption concentration or access
concentration, but calmness or stillness in different degrees.
Interestingly, Rhys Davids found through his studies, that the
word ‘samàdhi’ was never used before the time of the Buddha.
[2]
Even though, as a Bodhisatta, he practiced ‘absorption
meditation’, the word samàdhi has a different meaning other
than concentration. The Buddha “popularized” the word
samàdhi to express collectedness, calm wisdom, tranquility,
openness, awareness, along with developing a mind which has
clarity and wisdom in it. Later, the Hindus changed the meaning
to ‘concentration’. Hence, the author will use collectedness,
stillness, composure of mind, or unified mind for the meaning
here.
If one chooses to use the word ‘concentration’, they must
understand that it means ‘collectedness of mind’, ‘composure
of mind’, or ‘a unified mind’. It does not mean absorption, fixed
(appanà), or access (upacàra) concentration or even momentary
(khanika) concentration.
This book is written with a deep conviction that serenity and
insight were yoked together in the Buddha’s practice. It is
committed to the understanding that the systematic cultivation
of ‘Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation’ (TWIM) brings both
serenity of mind AND the insights needed to realize the true
nature of this psycho/physical (mind/body) process together at
the same time!
Furthermore, there is the seeing and realizing the cause and effect
relationships of all dependent conditions. This means seeing
the impersonal process of Dependent Origination and the Four
Noble Truths, which, in fact, is the development of penetrative
wisdom that leads to dispassion, emancipation and awakening.
As a matter of fact, the Buddha discovered that ‘concentration
practices’ of any kind did not lead him to Nibbàna.
After becoming a homeless one, the Bodhisatta went to two
different teachers of “absorption concentration meditation”.
His first teacher was Aëàra Kàlàma. After learning the Dhamma
and discipline, he practiced until he attained a very high
and distinguished stage of meditation called the “realm of
nothingness”. The Bodhisatta then went to his teacher and asked
whether he could proceed any further with that meditation.
Aëàra Kàlàma replied that it was the highest stage that anyone
could attain.
The Bodhisatta was dissatisfied and went to another teacher by
the name of Uddaka Ràmaputta. He learned that Dhamma
and discipline and then practiced it and attained the “realm of
neither perception nor non-perception”. The Bodhisatta again
went to his teacher and asked a similar question about there
being more to attain. Again, the Bodhisatta was told that this
was absolutely the highest attainment anyone could achieve in
their lifetime.
The future Buddha was disappointed because he saw that there
were still many more things to let go of in his mind. He observed
that these “absorption concentration techniques”, which focused
intensely on the object of meditation, caused tightening in
mind.
The Buddha reasoned that there was still attachment whenever
there was tension in mind. He also noticed that if any part of
the experiences were suppressed or not allowed to arise, there
was still some kind of holding on or attachment to an ego belief.
This occurs with every form of ‘concentration’, that is, fixed
absorption concentration, or access concentration,
Thus, after six long years of trying all of the various spiritual and
ascetic practices from body mortifications like starving the body,
to holding the breath, he realized that these practices did not
lead him to a calm and open mind which was free from craving
and suffering.
On the night of the Bodhisatta’s realization of supreme Nibbàna,
he recalled an incident at a plowing festival while he was just
a young boy of one or two years old. When his attendants left
him alone under a rose-apple tree, he sat in “Tranquil Wisdom
Insight Meditation” (TWIM) and experienced a mind that was
expanded and opened! He saw that this form of meditation
would lead him to the experience of “tranquility Jhànas”, as
opposed to ‘concentration Jhànas’.[3]
As a result of the gentle “Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation”
(TWIM), his mind was filled with joy, his body became light and
happy. When the joy faded away, he then experienced strong
calmness and peacefulness. His mind and body became very
comfortable. His mind was very still, very composed, and his
body was exceptionally at ease, with sharp mindfulness and full
awareness of what was happening around him . He could still
hear sounds and feel sensations with his body at that time.
When the Bodhisatta sat under the Bodhi tree to meditate on
the full moon night of May and made his great effort to attain
supreme Nibbàna, he recalled that not all forms of pleasure
are unwholesome. He realized that there could be pleasurable
feelings arising in mind and body although there was not an
attachment to anything. [refer to MN-36]
That very night, the Bodhisatta practiced “Tranquil Wisdom
Insight Meditation” (TWIM) through the method of opening,
relaxing, and expanding mind. In short, he practiced the
“Anàpànasati” or “Mindfulness of Breathing” and the 6R’s
which are the steps of Right Effort. As we all know, he became
the Buddha or the Supremely Awakened One.
The Anàpànasati Sutta, as taught by the Buddha 2600 years ago,
still provides the most simple, direct, thorough, and effective
method for training and developing the 6R’s and smiling
through our daily tasks and any problems as well as for our
highest aim—mind’s own unshakable deliverance from greed,
hatred and delusion, which, is another way of saying craving).
The simple steps that are the 6R’s and the practice of smiling
into our daily tasks are what this sutta is really communicating
to us. The method described here is taken directly from the sutta
itself and the results can be seen clearly and easily when you
practice according to the instructions in this sutta.
The author would like to emphasize that the instructions in this
book are not his “own opinion”. Actually, these are the Buddha’s
own instructions given in a clear and precise way. This can be
called the “Undiluted Dhamma” because it comes directly from
the suttas themselves, without a lot of additions or free-lance
ideas.
The Anàpànasati Sutta gives the most profound meditation
instructions available today. It includes the “Four Foundations
of Mindfulness” and the “Seven Awakening Factors” and shows
how they are fulfilled through the practice of “Mindfulness of
Breathing”. This is done through attaining all of the meditation
stages of understanding (Jhànas).[4] This sutta shows the direct
way to practice “Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation” (TWIM)
and does not mix in any other meditation practices.
Strangely, the current separation into various types of meditation
like “fixed absorption concentration”, or “access concentration”
and “momentary concentration” seems to appear only in the
commentaries and never in the suttas. Thus, you must notice
this and compare these commentaries with the suttas for their
accuracy.
Upon the attainment of the fourth Jhàna, three alternative lines
of further development become possible. This sutta deals with
only one of those lines, namely the attainment of all the material
and immaterial Jhànas (meditation stages of understanding),
followed by the experience of the cessation of perception, feeling.
and consciousness (nirodha samapatti in Pàli), and finally the
experience of seeing clearly the links of Dependent Origination
(Pañicca-Samuppàda) and the Four Noble Truths (Ariyasacca).
In these attainments, the Buddha mentions four meditative stages
that continue the mental unification established by the Jhànas,
meditation stages of understanding. These states are described
as “the liberations that are peaceful and material”, (råpa), and
they are still mundane states.
These mundane states are distinguished from the immaterial
(aråpa) Jhànas, meditation stages of understanding, which
then deepen the subtle mental observations, and are named
after their own exalted stages: “the base of infinite space,
the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness,
and the base of neither perception nor non-perception.”
These states of consciousness are very attainable if one ardently
and continually keeps their daily meditation practice going. As
this is a gradual training, you first must learn to walk before you
run. Thus, the beginning of the meditation practice is the basis
for further development.
This is a straight and direct path towards liberation and the
supramundane Nibbàna. It does, however, require sustained
meditative effort, applied to a simple object of meditation to the
breath and relaxing. This allows the mind to become calm and
clear without distractions.
When you practice the Anàpànasati Sutta as a “Tranquil Wisdom
Insight Meditation” (TWIM), you will find that your creativity
and intuition increase as your practice develops.
This approach forms the timeless and universal appeal of a
true ‘Doctrine of Awakening’, that is, realizing Dependent
Origination and the Four Noble Truths, which has the depth
and breadth, the simplicity and intelligence for providing the
foundation of a living Dhamma for all. You will sense the urgency
of the fundamental “non-materialistic” problems and search for
solutions that neither science nor “religions of faith” provide.
More important is the final realization which comes through
the method of “Tranquil Wisdom Insight Meditation” (TWIM).
This practice invites you to experience the various meditation
stages of understanding (Jhànas) and allows you to see through
direct knowledge, all twelve impersonal links of “Dependent
Arising”.
This means you will see and realize directly the first, second,
third and fourth Noble Truths in each of the links. When these
Four Noble Truths have been seen and realized directly, you
will truly understand the Buddha’s Teachings. This is because
one cannot see the “Origin of Suffering” without first seeing
the “Suffering” itself and suffering would not cease without
practicing the way leading to the cessation of suffering (the
8-Fold Path which includes the 6R’s). Thus, seeing and realizing
Dependent Origination, means that you see and realize all of the
Four Noble Truths, which is actually the true essence of Buddhist
meditation.
The true aim of the Anàpànasati Sutta is nothing less than
final liberation from suffering which is the highest goal of the
Buddha’s Teachings—Nibbàna. The practice of the Buddhist Path
evolves in two distinct stages, a mundane (lokiya) or preparatory
stage, and a supramundane (lokuttara) or accomplished stage.
The mundane path is developed when the disciples undertake
the gradual training to develop their virtues (continually keeping
the precepts), collectedness, or deep composure of mind, and
wisdom. This reaches its peak in the practice of “Tranquil Wisdom
Insight Meditation” (TWIM), which deepens direct experience,
and at the same time, shows you the Three Characteristics of
all Existence that are: impermanence (anicca), suffering (dukkha)
and the impersonal nature of existence (anattà).
In short, there are two kinds of Nibbàna. One is the worldly or
mundane type of Nibbàna and the other is the supramundane
or unworldly type of Nibbàna. The mundane or worldly type of
Nibbàna is attained every time the meditator lets go of craving and
relief arises along with a kind of happiness. This type of Nibbàna
will occur many times when one is seriously practicing “Tranquil
Wisdom Insight Meditation” (TWIM). The supramundane type
of Nibbàna only occurs after the meditator sees and realizes
‘Dependent Origination’ (Pañicca-Samuppàda) and the four Noble
Truths. This supramundane Nibbàna takes patience and effort to
achieve.
It is not impossible for laymen and laywomen to attain the
supermundane state of Nibbàna. With persistent daily practice
and by taking an occasional meditation retreat with a competent
guide who understands how the “Tranquil Wisdom Insight
Meditation” works, even those who live active lives in the world
can still achieve this highest goal.
It was mentioned in the Parinibbàna Sutta, that during the time
of the Buddha, many more laymen and laywomen became
saints than the monks and bhikkhunis when they practiced on
a regular basis. The common belief that one must be a ‘monk’ or
‘nun’ in order to reach this goal is just not true. The exhortation
of the Buddha was for all people who were interested in the
correct path. He encouraged them to … ‘Ehipassiko’ (a Pàli word
meaning ‘come and see’). This is very good advice because it
helps those who are interested to get out of their judgmental,
critical mind and honestly practice to see if this is, in fact, the right
way. (See sutta number 73 The Greater Discourse to Vacchagotta
in the Majjhima Nikàya for confirmation of lay people attaining
Nibbàna).
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