Mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati)
Meditation / Meditation/Techniques / Mindfulness of breathing
Part of key topic Meditation Practices
Also a subtag of Mindfulness of body and Recollection
121 excerpts, 10:55:02 total duration

Events (2) All excerpts (129) Most relevant (95) Questions about (81) Answers involving (27) Stories (3) Quotes (2) Readings (5) Texts (7)

Metta Retreat, Session 3 – Sep. 11, 2008

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5. “This morning, you spoke about bringing to mind the metta nimitta. I have some understanding of the feeling of metta, but no understanding of the metta nimitta. Could you explain more fully?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Goodwill] [Nimitta] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Emotion]


Metta Retreat, Session 4 – Sep. 12, 2008

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12. “What is the Pali word for letting go or relinquishment? Is this the opposite of upādāna?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pāli] [Relinquishment] [Clinging] // [Release] [Progress of insight] [Ajahn Pasanno]

Sutta: MN 37: Sabbe dhammā nālaṁ abhinivesāya–All dhammas are not to be clung to. [Conditionality]

Sutta: SN 46.1: ...based upon seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, maturing in release.

Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta [Mindfulness of breathing]


Metta Retreat, Session 5 – Sep. 13, 2008

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5. “When you guided meditation in the past two afternoons, I’ve enjoyed slipping past the high energy of rapture/joy. I found these meditations grounding and at the same time streaming with energy. I’m finding it difficult to get past joy without your vocal guidance. Can you offer suggestions?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Rapture] [Energy] [Right Concentration] // [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]


Brightening the Mind, Session 1 – Aug. 19, 2012

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4. “What is the difference between mindfulness, bare attention, and clear comprehension? Can you flesh out the word understanding?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness] [Direct experience] [Clear comprehension] // [Right Effort] [Discernment] [Right Mindfulness] [Ardency] [Investigation of states] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Greed] [Aversion]

Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta [Mindfulness of breathing]


New Year, New Life, Session 1 – Dec. 16, 2013

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5. “You said you have to adjust and think about contemplating. But how can you do that in your working time?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Effort] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Discernment] [Everyday life] // [Mindfulness] [Clear comprehension] [Happiness] [Recollection]

Quote: “In daily life, in contact with the world, do you still breathe?” — Ajahn Chah. [Ajahn Chah] [Mindfulness of breathing]

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Follow-up: “In Bangkok, there is lots of news that makes people crazy and divisive. When you see this news, you feel upset and angry.” [News ] [Conflict] [Aversion] [Right Speech] [Politics and society] [Proliferation]

Quote: “I don’t care. Not in the sense that I don’t think it’s serious or that it’s not a problem. But I don’t care in the sense that I don’t want to be getting involved in whatever side people are working themselves up about, because the problem is much deeper than that. We have to pay attention to the deeper problem, both in the human condition and politically.” [Human]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 41 – Mar. 3, 2014

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6. “Ajahn Chah and other Thai Ajahns emphasize this quality of steady practice. Ajahn Chah showed this was the way to solve the dillema of desire being both the root of all suffering and a necessary ingredient to being able to practice at all....It seems the main obstacle to achieving steady practice is the variability of that part of my awareness that is supervising what is going on....How does one cultivate self-supervision?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Chah] [Desire] [Self-reliance] [Postures] [Continuity of mindfulness ] // [Mindfulness of body ] [Ajahn Pasanno] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Quote: “The body is like a mirror for the different moods and state of the mind as we’re experiencing things.” [Similes] [Mindfulness of mind]

Follow-up: “I try to practice body awareness when my mind is being supervised...” [Long-term practice] [Ajahn Sucitto]

Sutta: MN 10 Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta [Right Mindfulness]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 46 – Mar. 10, 2014

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10. “How can we interest the mind in the recollection of death?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Recollection/Death] [Desire] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Sickness] [Death] [Poo Jum Gom] [Mindfulness of body] [Spiritual urgency]


Abhayagiri 2014 Winter Retreat, Session 48 – Mar. 12, 2104

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10. “What if your problem is restlessness?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Restlessness and worry] // [Tranquility] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Energy]


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 5 – Nov. 26, 2014

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9. “What is the difference between directed thought and verbal fabrication? Thank you for showing us patience.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Directed thought and evaluation] [Volitional formations] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Heart/mind] [Feeling] [Perception]

Sutta: MN 44


2014 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 7 – Nov. 28, 2014

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2. “Thank you for all of your thoughtful and pragmatic meditation tips. Do you have advice regarding the future-oriented mind? Speculation, planning, considering, obsessing really, about scenarios. Normal ideas are not working.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Restlessness and worry] [Proliferation] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Mindfulness of body] [Goodwill]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 5 – Jan. 10, 2015

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3. “Is mindfulness of the body fabricating a wholesome mental image of the body as opposed to an unwholesome image? But how can we know the body in any way other than vedanā?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Mindfulness of body] [Visualization] [Feeling] // [S. N. Goenka] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Postures] [Clear comprehension] [Right Mindfulness] [Calming meditation] [Insight meditation] [Delusion] [Characteristics of existence]

Quote: “The availability of insight is through stepping back from the assumptions that we make, whether it’s around the body or feeling or mind or the sense of self.” [Relinquishment]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 14 – Jan. 23, 2015

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2. “How can one be mindful of the beginning of thought?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno, Ajahn Kaccāna and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Directed thought and evaluation] [Mindfulness] [Right Mindfulness] // [Appropriate attention] [Perception] [Proliferation]

Comments about observing proliferating thoughts. [Conditionality] [Right Effort] [Restlessness and worry] [Mindfulness of mind]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Feeling]

Sutta: MN 118 Ānāpānasati Sutta.


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 19 – Jan. 30, 2015

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3. “What are antidotes to the strained, tired mind?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno and Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Sloth and torpor ] // [Directed thought and evaluation] [Skillful qualities] [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Sutta: MN 19: Dvedhavitakka Sutta, Two Kinds of Thought.


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 22 – Feb. 2, 2015

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4. “What does “know the mind as mind; know feeling as feeling” mean?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Right Mindfulness] [Relinquishment] // [Proliferation]

Comment: Self-view forms around the feeling from sense contact. [Sense bases] [Contact] [Feeling] [Self-identity view]

Sutta: MN 18: Madhupiṇḍika Sutta, The Honeyball.

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Volitional formations] [Perception]

Sutta: MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta. [Mindfulness of breathing]


Abhayagiri 2015 Winter Retreat, Session 25 – Feb. 8, 2015

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2. Comment: Ajahn Ṭhānissaro encourages mindfulness of the body. [Ajahn Ṭhānissaro] [Mindfulness of body] // [Delusion]

Response by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of breathing] [Jhāna]


Desire or Aspiration, Session 1 – Jun. 14, 2015

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6. “How did you get through the 106° heat? Did you have a different schedule?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Abhayagiri] [Culture/Natural environment] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Work]

Story: Ajahn Pasanno attends a very hot ordination at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. [Ajahn Pasanno] [City of Ten Thousand Buddhas] [Ordination]


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8. “What to do when you have a lot of freedom in your mind, but in your body you’re stuck with a bad habit?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Desire] [Liberation] [Heart/mind] [Form] [Habits] [Craving] // [Direct experience] [Meditation/Techniques] [Language] [Mindfulness of breathing]


Jhāna: A Practical Approach, Session 4 – Oct. 10, 2015

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8. “What would you respond to the perspecitve, ‘Those jhānas seem impossible to attain, so I’m going to forget about them.’” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Jhāna] // [Continuity of mindfulness] [Skillful qualities] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Self-identity view] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Goodwill] [Happiness]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 1 – Nov. 21, 2015

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10. “For those of us who need to routinely rest more due to aging, illness, or disability, could you share some suggestions and advice for how to optimize ths time as mediation in a lying down posture?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ageing] [Sickness] [Posture/Lying down ] // [Determination] [Body scanning] [Clear comprehension] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Pain] [Buddha images] [Tranquility] [Perception]

Recollection: Ajahn Pasanno develops lying down meditation after breaking his pelvis. [Ajahn Pasanno]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 4 – Nov. 24, 2015

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7. “Persistent physical pain. Not chronic, just from sitting. How do I work skillfully with it? Right now the meditations feel swamped with it?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Pain] [Meditation/General advice ] // [Posture/Walking] [Excercise] [Chi Gong] [Mindfulness of breathing]


2015 Thanksgiving Monastic Retreat, Session 7 – Nov. 27, 2015

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6. “Can you give me some ideas for antidotes to restlessness? So far the best I have is to give myself a set time and not move one iota from sitting or standing. Another is not to fight it but use it for imaginative contemplation.” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Restlessness and worry ] [Determination] [Recollection] // [Perfections] [Patience] [Directed thought and evaluation] [Happiness] [Mindfulness of body] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Tranquility]

Quote: “It’s the continuity of wholesome mental states that allows the mind to become settled and steady.” [Skillful qualities]


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10. “After forty years of meditating, what do you still find that is interesting?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Ajahn Pasanno ] [Long-term practice] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Gladdening the mind] [Learning]

Quote: “Practicing Dhamma...sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s always interesting.” [Practicing in accordance with Dhamma] [Purpose/meaning]


Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 3 – Nov. 21, 2016

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3. “Thank you for this opportunity to practice and your guidance. Can you explain nirodha?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Cessation ] // [Nibbāna] [Suffering] [Language] [Dependent origination ] [Relinquishment] [Release] [Thai]

Sutta: MN 118 Ānāpānasati Sutta. [Mindfulness of breathing]


Thanksgiving Retreat 2016, Session 6 – Nov. 24, 2016

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3. “How do you apply mindfulness of the body in terms of jhana practice?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of body] [Jhāna ] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Similes] [Rapture] [Happiness]

Sutta: MN 118 Ānāpānasati Sutta.

Sutta: MN 119.18: Similes for jhāna.


Chanting, Session 1 – Jun. 2, 2018

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11. “How can you chant to generate energy?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Energy] [Chanting] // [Postures] [Mindfulness of breathing]


The Path of Practice, Session 1 – Jun. 15, 2019

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4. “Is the fourth foundation of mindfulness as simple as, for example, with the third foundation I identify aversion, and then in the fourth foundation I identify aversion as a hindrance?” Answered by Ajahn Pasanno. [Mindfulness of dhammas] [Mindfulness of mind] // [Āgama] [Sutta] [Hindrances] [Four Noble Truths] [Mindfulness of breathing] [Progress of insight]

Suttas: MN 10: Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta; MN 118: Ānāpānasati Sutta [Right Mindfulness] [Mindfulness of breathing]

Reference: Satipaṭṭhāna Perspectives by Bhante Analayo (commercial)


Abhayagiri 25th Anniversary Retreat, Session 12 – Jun. 12, 2021

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12. “Is the ‘knowing’ awareness, presence, consciousness? Can you say more about this?” Answered by Ajahn Karuṇadhammo. [Knowing itself] [Consciousness] [Nature of mind] // [Mindfulness of breathing] [Knowledge and vision] [Four Noble Truths] [Heart/mind] [Sense bases]