Tradition
Anapanasati
Overview
Ānāpānasati (Pali; Sanskrit: ānāpānasmṛti), meaning "mindfulness of breathing" (sati means mindfulness; ānāpāna refers to inhalation and exhalation), is the act of paying attention to the breath. It is the quintessential form of Buddhist meditation, attributed to Gautama Buddha, and described in several suttas, most notably the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118).
Derivations of anāpānasati are common to Tibetan, Zen, Tiantai, and Theravada Buddhism as well as Western-based mindfulness programs.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
But in the sense of common people, not all the Universe is called Body, but only such parts thereof as they can discern by the sense of Feeling, to resist their force, or by the sense of their Eyes, to hinder them from a farther prospect. Therefore in the common language of men, Aire, and Aeriall Substances, use not to be taken for Bodies, but (as often as men are sensible of their effects) are called Wind, or…
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
States what Anapanasati is.
Again, what reaches unto its Perfector and attaches itself to Him is safe against corruption, all the more so if even during disconnection from Him it has not undergone corruption. Wherefore the soul after death shall ever remain and continue unwavering [and undying] and attached to this noble essence, which is called generic universal mind, and in the language of the lawgivers the Divine Knowledge. As to the other…
Avicenna, A Compendium on the Soul
States what Anapanasati is.
40. Plurima autem in illa tertia philosophiae parte mutavit. In qua primum de sensibus ipsis quaedam dixit nova, quos iunctos esse censuit e quadam quasi impulsione oblata extrinsecus, quam ille φαντασιαν, nos visum appellemus licet, et teneamus hoc verbum quidem: erit enim utendum in reliquo sermone saepius. Sed ad haec, quae visa sunt et quasi accepta sensibus, adsensionem adiungit animorum, quam esse volt in…
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Academica
Close in meaning to Anapanasati; the term itself is not named.
Philosophers who discussed Anapanasati
Related ideas
- Abhidharmakośa-bhāsya
- Samadhi
- Nyingma
- Buddhist meditation
- Sarvastivada
- Buddhahood
- Visuddhimagga
- Majjhima Nikāya
- Mongolia
- Myanmar
- Dzogchen
- Gelug
- Kagyu
- Pure Land Buddhism
- Kumārajīva
- Nirvana
- Noble Eightfold Path
- Nagarjuna
- Mahamudra
- Sanskrit
- Pali Canon
- Buddhaghosa
- Tiantai
- Dhyana in Buddhism
Place in the tradition
Part of Yoga.