Notice how breath practice builds the factors of awakening
Recognise mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquillity, concentration and equanimity as they develop out of the practice.
Perché funziona
The second half of MN 118 explains that mindfulness of breathing fulfils the four foundations of mindfulness, and that these in turn fulfil the seven awakening factors, which “fulfill knowledge and freedom.” The discourse describes them as a chain: established mindfulness leads to investigation, investigation rouses energy, energy brings rapture, rapture makes body and mind tranquil, tranquillity and happiness lead to concentration, and the concentrated mind is watched over with equanimity. Recognising the factors as they arise turns the practice into a way of understanding what supports a clear mind.
Come farlo
- At the end of a sitting, look back and ask which awakening factors were present: mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquillity, concentration, equanimity.
- Notice which one seemed to lead to the next, and where the chain broke.
- If mindfulness was present but investigation was not, take more interest in the details of the breath next time.
- If energy was low, recall the discourse’s link between investigation and energy rather than forcing effort.
Prove scientifiche
The chain from the four foundations to the seven awakening factors to knowledge and freedom is set out in MN 118, and the awakening factors are treated at length in their own collection of discourses (Saṃyutta Nikāya 46, which opens with the same refrain that they rely on seclusion, fading away and cessation and ripen as letting go), and breath meditation has its own collection too (Saṃyutta Nikāya 54, which opens by calling mindfulness of breathing the “one thing” that is very fruitful when developed). The support is textual and practitioner-based. (anecdotal)
Textual and practitioner support only; the claim that the factors lead to awakening is the tradition’s, not something research has tested.
Fonti
- Sujato, B. (trans.). Mindfulness of Breathing (Ānāpānassatisutta, Majjhima Nikāya 118). SuttaCentral.
- Sujato, B. (trans.). The Himalaya (Linked Discourses 46.1, Bojjhaṅgasaṃyutta). SuttaCentral.
- Sujato, B. (trans.). One Thing (Linked Discourses 54.1, Ānāpānasaṃyutta). SuttaCentral.
Errore comune
Treating the awakening factors as states to produce on command — the discourse describes them arising from one another as practice deepens, so the work is to recognise and support them rather than manufacture them.
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Altre pratiche per Ānāpānasati: The Sixteen Steps of Mindfulness of Breathing
- Know each breath as long or short
Begin by simply knowing whether this in-breath and this out-breath are long or short, without making them any particular way.
- Experience the whole body and let the breath calm it
Widen attention from the breath alone to the whole body breathing, and let the bodily activity of breathing settle on its own.
- Breathe experiencing joy and happiness
Let the pleasant feelings that arise in a settled sitting become part of what you know with each breath, rather than a distraction from it.
- Know and calm the mental formations
Notice how feeling and perception are colouring this moment, and let that activity settle while you breathe.
- Experience, gladden, steady and free the mind
With the breath still present, know the state of the mind, brighten it when it is dull, steady it when it scatters, and release it when it is caught.
- Breathe contemplating impermanence and letting go
Let each breath show you that experience is changing, and let that seeing turn into fading interest, ending and release.
- Move through the sixteen steps as one practice
Let a single sitting travel through body, feeling, mind and letting go, taking each group of four only as far as it is actually alive.
- Know what to do when focusing on the breath feels wrong
Recognise that breath attention can make some people more tense or uneasy — and adjust the practice rather than forcing it.
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