• Branislav Kovačević deposited Sabbakāyapaṭisaṃvedī: A Breathing Meditation Puzzle in the group Group logo of Buddhist StudiesBuddhist Studies on Humanities Commons 6 years, 5 months ago

    Mindfulness of breathing or ānāpānasati has a prominent place among the meditation methods taught by the Buddha. This doesn’t come as a surprise, if we know this is exactly the method the Teacher used to attain his own enlightenment, but also to “generally dwell during rains residence”. Therefore, he qualified this type of mental training as a noble abode (ariya-vihāra), divine abode (brahma-vihāra) and Tathāgatha abode. Instructions for this meditation are given in a number of suttas, most elaborately in the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118), but also in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (MN 10), Mahārāhulovada Sutta (MN 62) and the others. The drawback of all these instructions is that they come as an unchanged, fixed formula, which pose a problem in making sure their intended meaning is completely understood. This problem is reflected in a number of different old and modern interpretations of the Pāli text. One among several points of contention is Pāli compound “sabbakāyapaṭisaṃvedī”, which appears in the Canon 17 times.