Thank you! It seems that you are gradually beginning to realize the problems with your interpretations.
1. Now you are backing off from what you stated. Now you say, “Ānāpānasati is one highly effective, comprehensive vehicle to fulfill Satipaṭṭhāna. However, the Suttas are filled with individuals attaining the Sotapanna stage simply by hearing the Dhamma (paratoghosa) and applying wise attention (yoniso manasikāra)—for example, Upatiṭṭha (Sāriputta) attaining it just by hearing a single verse from Assaji. “
- That is exactly my point. Then what is the need to give ‘breathing’ such prominence (because you say ‘Anapana‘ means ‘breathing in and out’)?
- As you came to realize, there is not a single instance mentioned in the Tipitaka where a person attained the Sotapanna stage by starting off with ‘breathing in and out.’ Angulimala was determined to take the Buddha’s life. Same as Alawaka yakka, who threatened to toss Buddha’s body across a river. Both attained the Sotapanna stage by simply listening to the Buddha’s words.
- As explained below in #3, while listening to the Buddha, their kāya saṅkhāra were subdued (their minds temporarily relieved of the panca nivarana), thereby enabling them to grasp the deeper meanings of the Buddha’s words.
2. Again, I am glad that you realized the error. I only used your own words in my summary.
- The following verse in the Cūḷavedalla Sutta (MN 44) is correct: “Assāsapassāsā kho, āvuso visākha, kāyasaṅkhāro.”
- The problem is with translating it as: “In-breathing and out-breathing, friend Visākha, are bodily formations.” Assāsapassāsā means something entirely different.
- The root cause of the problem is your interpretation of Kāyānupassanā as ‘contemplation of the body.’ In your comment above, you still say that: “The object of observation is physical, but the contemplation itself is entirely mental,” i.e., contemplation is about the physical body.
- In addition, you further emphasize that: “And to leave no room for creatively redefining ‘kāya’ here as merely an abstract ‘collection’ of mental factors, the Mahā Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta grounds this contemplation explicitly in gross physical anatomy: hair, nails, teeth, skin (kesā, lomā, nakhā, dantā, taco).”
3. I am glad that you realized “Kāya saṅkhāra = In-breathing and out-breathing” will not work, i.e., it does not explain how mental defilements (raga, dosa, moha) can be eliminated by focusing the mind on ‘in and out breathing.’
- However, “Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118)“ explicitly states that in the section starting with at marker 16.1 (where I linked to): “Kathaṁ bhāvitā ca, bhikkhave, ānāpānassati kathaṁ bahulīkatā mahapphalā hoti mahānisaṁsā?” OR “And how is ānāpānassati developed and cultivated leads to great benefits (mahānisaṁsā) via magga phala (mahapphalā)?”
- Then, at marker 18.4: “‘passambhayaṁ kāyasaṅkhāraṁ assasissāmī’ti sikkhati, ‘passambhayaṁ kāyasaṅkhāraṁ passasissāmī’ti sikkhati.” OR “When one trains (sikkhati) that way (as explained in between markers 16.1 and 18.4), kāya saṅkhāra are subdued (passambhayaṁ).”
- So, there is nothing wrong with the context. Kāya saṅkhāra are subdued (mind temporarily relieved of the panca nivarana) when one engages in the correct version of ānāpānasati. Furthermore, note that the word is ānāpānasati and not ānāpāna. Sati is involved here, not breathing.
Since we need to focus on Kāyānupassanā and kāya saṅkhāra in the context of ānāpānasati, I will not critique #4. We can have a separate discussion on ‘anicca‘ and ‘aniccānupassanā.’ First, we need to settle those basics in #1 through #3 above.
- I also note that the English translation of the Ānāpānasati Sutta (MN 118) in the link in #3 follows your interpretation, which is common, but wrong!