Talk:Anapanasati

message: *"Practitioners are tutored to avoid being disrupted by passing thoughts and to nudge themselves into concentrating on the breathing once again."
**(a note of dissent) The above might well be consistent with received wisdom but it only reflects the the long held misunderstanding of the technique of anapana-sati. The prime purpose of the technique is to achieve inner silence. Maintaining alertness is the chief difficulty (typically beginners fall asleep). Awareness of the breath is a self monitoring device, when the meditator loses the awareness of their breathing it is because they have instead invested the focus of attention on thoughts and images i.e. they have lost mental alertness and fallen into habits of mind. The first concern for the meditator is to become aware of the fact of fascination he/she has for their own thoughts. Suspending that habitual fascination is the beginning of meditation. If after many years of practice a person can for longish periods of time sit relaxed and alert, with the mind silent, they can then deepen their practice by using a more subtle self monitoring device. This is where vipassana comes in. The key here is not body sensations so much as the fact that these sensations are constantly changing. When awareness of the changing experience of sensations is lost it is an aid to recognising the loss of mental alertness. Anapana-sati will help a person become aware of their stream of consciousness as it is, which will take many years, where-as vipassana tends to open up conscious awareness of the subconscious, Typically the chief difficulty, in vipassana, is falling into the dreamstate even though seemingly awake, hence the value and need for a self monitoring device built in. I hope that is useful. - anon
To explain the above more simply, the stream of consciousness goes by somewhat unnoticed. In just the same way that someone living on a busy road after a while does not hear the traffic, the thoughts we have go by. But if the traffic stops and there is silence instead, suddenly we notice how noisy things are. In just the same way as we develop the skill of sitting in silence (or as it is expressed in Buddhism - calm abiding) the capacity for simply noticing what we do with our minds develops. Inner silence is not as difficult or strange as might first appear. It is something everyone does easily and automatically whenever they pay attention to something. For instance to listen to and hear someone speaking we stop focusing on our own thoughts, in other words we suspend the inner conversation we have with ourselves. Another example is if while watching a television documentary if we start to actively think about something we lose awareness of what we are watching. So typically, when we do watch a documentary we automatically suspend thought. In meditation practice this is all we are trying to achieve as a first result. It is only difficult because there is no external stimulus to focus upon, but the act of suspending thought is simple enough in itself.
The reason I voice my dissent strongly is that anapana (and the related vipassana) is usually taught in such away that the meditator focuses their effort on the breath and to maintaining unbroken constant awareness of it. This is unfortunate because it turns anapana into merely a concentration exercise. It is the suspension of the thoughts which is important and as stated this is not mysterious. The effort needs to be directed towards that end. The awareness of the breathing is a very useful tool but only as a method for maintaining alertness. Habits of mind are the main obstacle and the tendency to drift into the customary state of reverie is very strong. The awareness of the breath has to be something which is incorporated into what one is aware of - not made the focus of the attention in some attempt to subdue the mind. It seems a splitting of hairs but in fact it will make a crucial difference in result.
The breath is usually a subliminal experience, to notice ones own breathing it is necessary to raise one's level of alertness just a little bit. Maintaining that alertness is the key to not drifting into habitual states of reverie. But the task of noticing the breath has to done gently, perhaps in the same way that one might feel the warmth of the sun on your back or the the breeze blowing across your face. Definitely not some kind of strained effort to notice the breath and nothing but the breath.
*(adding to the above) Is it not short-sighted to claim, as the article does, that "practising 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)." Mindfulness (of breathing) meditation is precisely that tool for building the foundation (samadhi) to conduct the subtler practice of Vipassana, that is, the practice of gaining insight into the most subtle defilement, (spiriorance (ajjiva). I think a distinction is needed, that one form of meditation is, strictly speaking, a concentration tool, which removes what we might otherwise call the gross defilements to make room for the much more important practice of pentrating to the absolute root of dukkha: ignorance (in tanha).
:I've titled the comments above because there previously was no title.
:In brief response to the idea that the goal of anapanasati is to, "achieve inner silence," I'd like to say that this point has been raised in several key moments throughout history, notably by proponents of The Northern School, who professed that to sit without thoughts was the goal of Buddhism and equivalent to enlightenment. This position was refuted by Hui-neng, the semi-legendary leader of The Southern School, who was later revered as The Sixth Patriarch by many of the modern schools of Zen as the founder of the lineage. A similar argument occured in Tibet, in an event Tibetans know as the Samye debates, where a member of the Northern School of Ch'an debated with a member of Indic Buddhism, and from these debates the Tibetan tradition sees its origins in Indic Buddhism, the winner of the debates.
:So, the point has some relevance to anapanasati and Buddhism and so on, but it is a complex point at least. Therefore if it is to be mentioned on this page then it needs to have proper references and all significant sides of the debate as it has occured in Buddhist history. Thanks. makeswell (talk) 21:56, 21 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: The prime purpose of the technique is to achieve inner silence.

message: this article shoudn't be merged with breath control. compare the two articles. breath control is that - CONTROLLING the breath. anapana has nothing to do with controlling the breath, but watching the NATURAL in and out breath.
I agree. Anapanasati is different from Pranayama, which is breath control. makeswell (talk) 03:52, 11 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  no merge 

message: Is the word Sanskrit or Pali? AnonMoos 18:27, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Pali, I'll add it.  Obhaso 21:20, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Language?

message: I'm curious if there is a good reason why this article is titled Anapana instead of Anapanasati?  The sati, "mindfulness" is what makes the phrase into a form of meditation.  The Pali Canon never (as far as I know, and I know, never say never...) simply refers to Anapana but always to Anapanasati, Mindfulness of breathing"  May I change the name of the article?  Obhaso 21:23, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Done. ≈ jossi ≈  t • @ 22:02, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

text: I am not sure if the image I recently added is representative. Please feel free to remove if it is not. ≈ jossi ≈  t • @ 22:12, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  What's up with the name? 

message: According to Bhikkhu Thanissaro's translation the 6th stage of Anapanasati is Experiencing Pleasure, rather than Bliss, which is more distinct from rapture. What do you think?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.64.52.199 (talk) 10:09, 16 October 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bliss or Pleasure? 

message: I've removed them because they are not in accordance with policy: Wikipedia is not a manual, guidebook, textbook, or scientific journal: While Wikipedia has descriptions of people, places and things, an article should not read like a "how-to" style owners manual, advice column (legal, medical or otherwise) or suggestion box. This includes tutorials, walk-throughs, instruction manuals, game guides, and recipes. Sylvain1972 (talk) 14:43, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: kk makeswell (talk) 21:56, 21 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Makeswell edits

message: I think it'd be great to add a section on Mindfulness (Buddhism) and how mindfulness of breathing is a part of that. makeswell (talk) 19:45, 14 December 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: add a Mindfulness section

message: apāna (apa-āna) means "fart" in Sanskrit - or as Monier-Williams quaintly puts it "that of the five vital airs which goes downwards and out at the anus; ventris crepitus." 86.159.149.158 (talk) 07:58, 1 June 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  apāna 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: I can't find any online resources confirming that June 20th is the "International Anapanasatti Day". This article does not cite any resource for this claim either (unless I missed it). 89.14.81.154 (talk) 16:52, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: You're right. I'm deleting it for now. JungleEntity (talk) 17:04, 19 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  International Anapanasatti Day