BREATH CONTROL
In this chapter I continue to study the ascetic practices of the future Buddha. After having tried to control his mind by sheer force, according to the Mahāsaccaka-sutta and its Sanskrit fragment parallel he engaged in breath control, a practice also reported in an otherwise unrelated discourse in the Ekottarika-āgama. The Sanskrit fragment parallel describes his practice in this way:1
Then I thought: “Suppose I were to meditate on 〈breathless〉 meditation.”2 I stopped inhalations and exhalations through the mouth and nose. Having stopped inhalations and exhalations through the mouth and nose, all the winds struck my head and there was an excessive headache in my head.
It was as if a strong man were to strike the head of a weak man with the tip of a sharp iron sword and there were to be an excessive headache in his head. In the same way, having stopped inhalations and exhalations through the mouth and nose, all the winds struck my head and there was an excessive headache in my head.
Tireless energy was produced in me, the body was calm and not agitated, mindfulness was established without confusion, the mind was concentrated and unified.
Similar to the case of the ascetic practice of forceful mind control, discussed in the previous chapters, here, too, the Mahāsaccakasutta differs in describing that the body was not calm, but overwrought by the painful striving. It agrees with the Sanskrit fragment version that the painful feelings experienced at this time did not remain obsessing the mind of the bodhisattva.
The continuity of the present ascetic practices with the previously undertaken attempt at subduing the mind by sheer force lies not only in the ability to experience even strong painful feelings without being overwhelmed by them. In addition, the attempt to practise “breathless meditation” seems to spring also from the same basic attitude of trying to exert forceful control. Given that even overpowering mind with mind, “with teeth clenched and tongue pressed against the roof of the mouth”, had not led the bodhisattva to the goal of his quest, it is natural that he would try out other means to enforce control. In fact, if one just tries for a moment to clench one’s teeth and press the tongue against the roof of the mouth, one will come to appreciate that the next step taken in the same direction would naturally be to practise retention of the breath.
The Mahāsaccaka-sutta, the Sanskrit fragment version, and a parallel in the Ekottarika-āgama agree in reporting several modes of practising breathless meditation. The simile of the headache caused by being struck with the tip of a sword on the head, which in the passage translated above serves to illustrate the first mode of breath control, occurs in the Mahāsaccaka-sutta in relation to the second such mode.3 The first simile in the Mahāsaccaka-sutta, which describes a smith’s bellows, in turn illustrates the second mode of breath retention in the Sanskrit fragment version. The third mode of this type of practice compares with a strong man who tightens a leather band around the head of a weak man, and the fourth mode of breath retention finds illustration in a butcher carving up a cow’s belly.4 These two images are standard descriptions of painful experiences in the early discourses. The same holds for a fifth mode of breath control, which leads to pain comparable to what a weak man would experience on being roasted over a pit of hot coals by two strong men.
After having described these different modes of breath retention, the Mahāsaccaka-sutta reports that devas witnessing the bodhisattva’s striving commented on his condition, wondering whether he was either already dead or else about to pass away.5 Such a comment is not found in the Sanskrit fragment version, and in the Ekottarika-āgama discourse it rather occurs after the bodhisattva had undertaken fasting.6
The Mahāvastu reports that men sent by the bodhisattva’s father to observe his condition were under the impression that he must be dead, because his breathing had stopped.7 An Udāna collection extant in Chinese translation narrates that, on seeing that he no longer breathed, some devas had come to the conclusion that the bodhisattva was dead.8 In this way, the presentation in the Mahāsaccaka-sutta, according to which the bodhisattva undertook breath retention to such a degree that others thought he might be dead or on the verge of death, receives support from other accounts of the future Buddha’s ascetic practices. In fact, even just the bare description of these modes of “breathless” meditation and the accompanying similes make it clear that he must have engaged in this practice with considerable fervour.
This is of interest not only because it shows the future Buddha’s strong determination to pursue what at that time appeared to him to be a potential pathway to awakening. It also seems to reflect an apparent interest in the process of breathing. In line with the perspective mentioned in the previous chapter, according to which the various ascetic practices described in the Mahāsīhanādasutta and its parallel pertain to a past life of the Buddha, his present-life asceticism comprises only the exercises described in the Mahāsaccaka-sutta and its parallels, which are forceful mind control, breath retention, and fasting. Whereas the first and the last are presented only in one modality, the parallel versions agree in describing several different modes of engaging in breath retention. The Ekottarika-āgama discourse presents three such modes, and the Mahāsaccaka-sutta and its Sanskrit fragment parallel five modes. This gives the impression that the “breathless” meditation should be considered to have had a particularly prominent place in the bodhisattva’s ascetic striving. Thus he tried out different modalities of breath retention before giving it up as not conducive to the goal of his aspiration, realizing that to withhold the breath was as unsuccessful as forceful control of the mind in removing the roots of defilements within.
Such apparent prominence finds a complement in the report that, after having reached awakening, the Buddha appears to have had a predilection for mindfulness of breathing. In fact he spent a solitary retreat entirely dedicated to this practice.
Similar to the case of forceful mind control, which still found a place as a last resort in the set of five ways for overcoming unwholesome thoughts in the Vitakkasaṇṭhāna-sutta and its parallel, meditation related to the breath continued to be of practical relevance to the Buddha after his awakening. However, the mode of practice changes substantially. Instead of breath retention, the task becomes just to be aware of the breath as it naturally flows in and out.
In order to explore this topic further, in what follows I turn to a discourse that describes the Buddha going on retreat and undertaking mindfulness of breathing. In an appendix to my study of Mindfully Facing Disease and Death, I already translated a version of this discourse found in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. By way of complementing this and my other translations of various versions of the instructions on mindfulness of breathing in sixteen steps, here is the first part of the Saṃyukta-āgama discourse on the Buddha’s retreat practice of mindfulness of breathing:9
Thus have I heard. At one time the Buddha was dwelling in the Icchānaṅgala forest. At that time the Blessed One said to the monastics:
“I wish to sit in meditation for two months.10 All monastics should no longer come, except only for the monastic who brings me food and for the time of the observance day.”11
At that time, having said this, the Blessed One sat in meditation for two months. Not a single monastic dared to come, except only for bringing him food and for the time of the observance day.
At that time, having completed the two months of sitting in meditation and coming out of meditation, the Blessed One sat in front of the community of monastics and said to the monastics:
“If outside wanderers come and ask you: ‘In what meditation has the recluse Gotama been sitting during these two months?’, you should reply: ‘The Tathāgata has been dwelling by giving attention to mindfulness of breathing during the two months of sitting in meditation.’ Why is that?
“In these two months I dwelled giving much attention to mindfulness of breathing. When breathing in I was mindfully breathing in, understanding it as it really is;12 when breathing out, I was mindfully breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“When breathing in long I was mindfully breathing in long, understanding it as it really is; when breathing out long I was mindfully breathing out long, understanding it as it really is. When breathing in short I was mindfully breathing in short, understanding it as it really is; when breathing out short I was mindfully breathing out short, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully experiencing the whole body when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully experiencing the whole body when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully calming bodily activity when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully calming bodily activity when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully experiencing joy when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully experiencing joy when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully experiencing happiness when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully experiencing happiness when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully experiencing mental activity when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully experiencing mental activity when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully calming mental activity when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully calming mental activity when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully experiencing the mind when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully experiencing the mind when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully gladdening the mind when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully gladdening the mind when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully concentrating the mind when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully concentrating the mind when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully liberating the mind when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully liberating the mind when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully contemplating impermanence when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully contemplating impermanence when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully contemplating eradication when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully contemplating eradication when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.
“I was mindfully contemplating dispassion when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully contemplating dispassion when breathing out, understanding it as it really is. I was mindfully contemplating cessation when breathing in, understanding it as it really is; I was mindfully contemplating cessation when breathing out, understanding it as it really is.”
The sequence of the three insight contemplations after impermanence in the passage translated above reflects a recurrent difference compared to expositions of the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing in Pāli texts, where the three final steps are rather dispassion, cessation, and letting go.13 The final tetrad thus involves the three topics of impermanence, dispassion, and cessation in all versions. The difference between accounts of mindfulness of breathing in sixteen steps is that in one type of description, found regularly in Pāli texts, dispassion and cessation lead to letting go; in the other type of description, however, dispassion and cessation do not lead on to something else and are instead preceded by eradication.14
After describing the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing, the Saṃyukta-āgama discourse continues with a description that is not found in its Saṃyutta-nikāya parallel. A comparable passage occurs in the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.15 Both state that the Buddha stilled gross activities and entered a still more subtle dwelling, which led devas witnessing his practice to make comments similar to those reported above in relation to the bodhisattva’s period of breathless meditation, thinking that the Buddha was dead or that he was about to pass away.
This passage further supports the close relationship between the Buddha’s undertaking of breathless meditation during the period of his ascetic practices and his cultivation of mindfulness of breathing after his awakening. The decisive difference is that, by progressing through the sixteen steps, a condition of not needing breath to the extent of appearing dead to observers is not reached through forceful control, but through a gradual procedure of calming the body and mind based on mindful observation.
In agreement with its Saṃyutta-nikāya parallel, the Saṃyuktaāgama discourse and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya conclude with the Buddha speaking in praise of mindfulness of breathing as a noble dwelling, a divine dwelling, and a dwelling of the Tathāgata.16 This confirms the overall impression that mindfulness of breathing in sixteen steps was a meditation practice held in special esteem by the Buddha.
EXERCISE
As a practical exercise, I would like to recommend cultivating the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing in the awareness that this is the noble and divine dwelling of the Tathāgata, a meditation practice the Buddha often recommended and regularly undertook himself. By engaging in this practice, we enact for ourselves what reflects a decisive shift of understanding that led the Buddha to realize awakening. This shift of understanding involves the realization that to force our way through to liberation does not work, instead of which the key to freedom lies in mindful observation. Applied to the breath, instead of interfering with, or even trying to stop, the natural flow of breathing, this shift in understanding finds its expression in being just mindful of natural breathing. Such being mindful can rely on the following scheme of sixteen steps, each being undertaken while remaining aware of the continuously changing process of naturally breathing in and breathing out.
• know breaths to be long
• know breaths to be short
• experience the whole body
• calm bodily activity
• experience joy
• experience happiness
• experience mental activity
• calm mental activity
• experience the mind
• gladden the mind
• concentrate the mind
• free the mind
• contemplate dispassion/eradication
• contemplate cessation/dispassion
• contemplate letting go/cessation
One possible way of implementing this scheme could begin by becoming aware of the breath and its length (in terms of either long or short breath). Next we broaden the field of our awareness from the breath to the whole body in the sitting posture, and then relax both breath and body, allowing them to become calm.
Awareness can proceed from the joy that naturally arises due to the calming down of bodily processes to the calmer experience of happiness. Having become aware of any other mental activity that might be taking place can then lead to a calming of any such mental activity.
At this juncture awareness can be turned back to that which knows, the mind itself. The naturally arisen gladness that results from such turning back can lead on to collecting the mind in concentration and allowing it to rest freely in the condition of inner freedom from distraction, clinging, and identification.
Throughout the preceding steps, awareness of the inhalations and exhalations served as a continuous reminder of impermanence. This fact of impermanence could now be brought to the forefront of attention and become the foundation for arousing dispassion, next proceeding to cessation in the sense of attending to the ending of impermanent phenomena, and finally letting go in the most comprehensive manner possible. Alternatively, on following the Saṃyukta-āgama version translated above, insight into impermanence could lead over to eradication and then to dispassion and cessation.17
1 The translated passage is based on fragment 333r2 to 333r6, Liu 2010: 171–3, parallel to MN 36 at MN I 243,4 (translated Ñāṇamoli 1995/2005: 337) and EĀ 31.8 at T II 671a12 (translated Bronkhorst 1993/2000: 13); see also Anālayo 2011: 237.
2 The translation “breathless” is based on emending adhyātmaka, “internal”, to aprāṇaka.
3 MN 36 at MN I 243,37; see also EĀ 31.8 at T II 671a21, which has a related simile.
4 In EĀ 31.8 at T II 671a25 the simile of the butcher illustrates what here is the last of three modes of breathless meditation.
5 MN 36 at MN I 245,1.
6 EĀ 31.8 at T II 671a7. The sequence of events in this account is not without problems, however, as here the practice of breath retention comes only after fasting. Yet, a body weakened due to prolonged fasting would probably not be strong enough to undertake the physically demanding practice of the “breathless” meditations described in the parallel versions.
7 Senart 1890: 208,4 (translated Jones 1952/1976: 198).
8 T 212 at T IV 644b13.
9 The translated discourse is SĀ 807 at T II 207a8 to 207a21, parallel to SN 54.11 at SN V 325,19 (translated Bodhi 2000: 1778) and T 1448 at T XXIV 32c2 (translated Anālayo 2016b: 245). The actual exposition of the sixteen steps is given in abbreviated form in the original, which therefore needs to be supplemented based on the full instructions found previously in the Saṃyukta-āgama collection, namely in SĀ 803 at T II 206a27 (translated Anālayo 2013b: 228f).
10 SN 54.11 at SN V 326,1 speaks instead of a retreat of three months.
11 SN 54.11 does not refer to the uposatha, the fortnightly meeting of monastics to recite the code of rules.
12 The recurrent reference to “understanding as it really is” is without a counterpart in SN 54.11, although the same can safely be assumed to be implicit.
13 See in more detail Anālayo 2013b: 232f and 2016b: 234f.
14 The implications of this step could be fleshed out with the help of the Girimānanda-sutta, which in agreement with its Tibetan counterpart stipulates the removal of thoughts related to sensuality, ill will, and harming, as well as to any other unwholesome quality, as constituting the perception of eradication or abandoning; see in more detail Anālayo 2016b: 102f and 223–6.
15 T 1448 at T XXIV 32c21.
16 SĀ 807 at T II 207a29 and T 1448 at T XXIV 32c28, which have several additional epithets not found in the Pāli version.
17 For more detailed practical suggestions on how to implement the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing see Anālayo 2016b: 229–36 and forthcoming.