Thank you TripleGemStudent, Waisaka, Skywander and Lal for sharing. I agree with your posts thus far, and they are very helpful for me.
TripleGemStudent: In the sutta’s the formula for any dhatu meditation is always Etaṁ mama, esohamasmi, eso me attā’ti in the end.
This is interesting and it makes sense to me. could you share a sutta reference?
—-
I notice that we have somewhat different opinions regarding breath meditation. Instead of focusing on that, I hope I can point you towards the following issues instead, and see if they are valid.
The issue I want to clarify is about the Ānāpānapabbaṃ section within kayanupassana section in Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta.
- Ānāpānapabbaṃ
- Iriyāpathapabbaṃ
- Sampajānapabbaṃ
- Paṭikūlamanasikārapabbaṃ
- Dhātumanasikārapabbaṃ
- Navasivathikapabbaṃ
I am taking the meaning of anapana from this post: 7. What is Ānāpāna?
Issue 1: Dual meanings of Kaya
Let’s say a basketball coach is writing a book. He says
“Players, this is a guaranteed way to be a good basketball player.”
The outline of the book is as follows:
Chapter 1: Form
Chapter 2: Mindset
Chapter 3: Strategy
Chapter 4: Basketball philosophy
In chapter 1 he talks about the different forms: shooting form, running form, dribbling form. In this case form refers to something like posture. Then in the same chapter 1, he talks about how to form a strategy. Would the coach write the book like that?
Saying that kaya means PUK (pancauppadanakhanda) in one part of kayanupassana section, and kaya means the body in the other part of the section, is similar to the simile I gave above. I am not saying the same word cannot have 2 diff meanings together. Eg “The cook will season the dish this season” However, if you have a chapter about something, eg basketball form chapter, kaya chapter, I find it strange that “form” or “kaya” will have 2 diff meanings in the same chapter.
Issue 2: Structure of sutta.
Using the simile of the basketball book:
Chapter 1: Form
Chapter 2: Mindset
Chapter 3: Strategy
Chapter 4: Basketball philosophy
In Chapter 1 (Form) he says: You need to practice the good basketball habits, and discard the bad basketball habits. These habits refer to everything, eg habits for mindset, form and strategy. In the same chapter he talks about shooting form, running form and dribbling form. Why does he give this large overview of good and bad habits in chapter 1? It is understandable if he says it before chapter 1, as an overview, but saying within chapter 1 is strange.
Likewise, if you look at the sutta, Ānāpānapabbaṃ is within kayanupassana. If we take the meaning of anapana to be what is explained here (7. What is Ānāpāna?), then we have a problem – why does one part of the kaya section talk about keeping good and discarding bad, which is relatively broad based, and the other part talks about the body, which is more specific? It is like the coach in his form chapter talking about keeping good habits and discarding bad habits, and then talking about dribbling, shooting forms, within the same chapter about forms!
For now, I am not suggesting that we take anapana as breath/ respiration, but I would like to point out the above issues first if we take anapana to be what is mentioned here 7. What is Ānāpāna?.