Saṃyutta Nikāya
5. Mahā-Vagga
54. Ānāpāna Saṃyutta
1. Eka-Dhamma Vagga
The Book of the Kindred Sayings
5. The Great Chapter
54. Kindred Sayings about
In-Breathing and Out-Breathing
1. The One Condition
Sutta 1
Eka-Dhamma Suttaṃ
The One Condition
Translated by F. L. Woodward
Edited by Mrs. Rhys Davids
Copyright The Pali Text Society
Commercial Rights Reserved
For details see Terms of Use.
[1][bodh][thani][olds] THUS have I heard:
Once the Exalted One was staying near Sāvatthī
at Jeta Grove,
in Anāthapiṇḍika's Park.
[2][bodh][thani][olds] Then the Exalted One said:
[3][bodh][thani][olds] "Monks, there is one condition which,
if cultivated and made much of,
is of great fruit,
of great profit.
What is that one condition?
It is concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing.
And how cultivated, monks,
how made much of,
is concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing
of great fruit, of great profit?[1]
[4][bodh][thani][olds] Monks, under this rule,
a monk who goes to a forest
or the foot of a tree
or a lonely place,
sits down cross-legged,
holding the body straight.
Setting mindfulness in front of him,[2]
he breathes in mindfully
and mindfully breathes out.
[5][bodh][thani][olds] As he draws in a long breath he knows:
'A long breath I draw in.'
As he breathes out a long breath he knows:
'I breathe out a long breath'.
As he draws in a short breath he knows:
'A short breath I draw in.'
As he breathes out a short breath he knows:
'I breathe out a short breath.'
[6][bodh][thani][olds] Thus he makes up his mind[3] (repeating):
'I shall breathe in,
feeling it go through the whole body.[4]
Feeling it go through the whole body
I shall breathe out.
Calming down the bodily aggregate
I shall breathe in.
Calming down the bodily aggregate
I shall breathe out.'
[276] [7][bodh][than][olds] Thus he makes up his mind (repeating):
'Feeling the thrill of zest
I shall breathe in.
Feeling the thrill of zest
I shall breathe out.
Feeling the sense of ease[5]
I shall breathe in.
Feeling the sense of ease
I shall breathe out.'
[8][bodh][thani][olds] He makes up his mind (repeating):
'Aware of all mental factors[6]
I shall breathe in.
Aware of all mental factors
I shall breathe out.
Calming down the mental factors
I shall breathe in.
Calming down the mental factors
I shall breathe out.
Aware of mind I shall breathe in.
Aware of mind I shall breathe out.'
[9][bodh][thani][olds] He makes up his mind (repeating):
'Gladdening[7] my mind I shall breathe in.
Gladdening my mind I shall breathe out.
Composing my mind I shall breathe in.
Composing my mind I shall breathe out.
Detaching my mind I shall breathe in.
Detaching my mind I shall breathe out.'
[10][bodh][thani][olds] He makes up his mind (repeating):
'Contemplating impermanence[8] I shall breathe in.
Contemplating impermanence I shall breathe out.
Contemplating dispassion I shall breathe in.
Contemplating dispassion I shall breathe out.
Contemplating cessation I shall breathe in.
Contemplating cessation I shall breathe out.
Contemplating renunciation I shall breathe in.
Contemplating renunciation I shall breathe out.'
[11][bodh][thani][olds] Thus cultivated, monks,
thus made much of,
the concentration on in-breathing and out-breathing
is of great fruit,
of great profit."[9]
[1] Comy. refers to the section on ānāpāna-sati at VM. 267 ff. Cf Yogavacara (Manual of A Mystic) i; D. ii, 291 = Dialog. ii, 317; M. i, 56; MA. i. 247 ff.; Paṭisambh. i, 184-6.
[2] Between the eyebrows, where the Hindus place the brow-cakram.
[3] Sikkhati = ghaṭati, vāyamati. [VM. Pāliṇ vatvā.]
[4] Paṭisaṇvedi. [VM. pākaṭaṇ karonto.] He visualizes the breath as passing in and through the whole frame and out again.
[5] 'Sukhaṇ is bodily and mental.' VM.
[6] Citta-saṇkārā = vedanādayo dve khandhā. VM.
[7] Abhippamodayaṇ = pamodento, hāsento (by way of concentration and introspection). VM.
[8] 'Freeing it from the hindrances by the first jhāna; from thought generated and sustained by the second jhāna; from zest by the third, from pleasure and pain by the fourth jhāna.' VM.
[9] He does these repeatedly by calling up (their opposites) permanence, well-being, self, passionate delight, passion, arising (of things), stinginess.' VM.
