The six techniques of breath meditation

The Sanskrit word anapana is translated as breathing out and breathing in. There are six methods involved with this: counting, following, stopping, contemplating, returning, purification. The details are as in the great treatise on cessation and contemplation by the master of Tiantai.¹ Those whose preparation is not sufficient should not fail to be acquainted with this. Guishan's Admonitions says, "If you have not yet embraced the principles of the teachings, you have no basis to attain understanding of the mystic path."

-Wansong, Book of Serenity, commentary to case 3

Have you read Tiantai?

Have you practiced these six techniques?

I have. It's meditation. Specifically, dhyana.

Don't bother getting upset if you don't know what you're talking about.

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Notes:

1. I've checked the Chinese in the past, and this title seems to be a mistranslation. The text these techniques are discussed in is The Six Dharma Gates to the Sublime, which is another one of Tiantai's books on shamata and vipashyana.

Submitted May 26, 2020 at 02:09AM by Temicco https://ift.tt/3d6JU1W