JustPaste.it

Ānāpānasati and Nibbāna

______

Bhikkhus, if wanderers of other sects ask you: 'In
what dwelling, friends, did the Blessed One generally dwell during the rains residence?' - being asked thus, you should answer those wanderers thus: 'During the rains residence, friends, the Blessed One generally dwelt in the obtention (sati) of the placement (samādhi) [in Citta], through (mindful) breathing (ānāpāna) [viz. Ānāpānasatisamādhi].
Sace kho, bhikkhave, aññatitthiyā paribbājakā evaṃ
puccheyyuṃ: ‘katamenāvuso, vihārena samaṇo gotamo vassāvāsaṃ bahulaṃ vihāsī’ti, evaṃ puṭṭhā tumhe, bhikkhave, tesaṃ aññatitthiyānaṃ paribbājakānaṃ evaṃ byākareyyātha: ‘ānāpānassatisamādhinā kho, āvuso, bhagavā vassāvāsaṃ bahulaṃ vihāsī’ti.
SN 54.11

Let alone the time when the Bhagavān was not in the rain residences; this shows how important Ānāpānasatisamādhi was and still is.

Note:
ānāpānassatisamādhi is usually and quite wrongly translated as: "concentration by mindfulness of breathing".
That I have already covered in my other links.

Now, on top of the fact that ānāpānassatisamādhi was the preferred dwelling of the Buddha, one must look how this ānāpānassati leads to nibbana.

But what is nibbana?
Definitely not a "mystery".
Or at least not for the ones who have unveiled the corruption of the Teaching.

Nibbana means "The knowledge beyond breath" - or more appropriately, "the knowledge beyond [the bliss (ka) of] breath ".

निर्वाण nirvāṇa

निस् nis (var. nir, niś, niṣ, niḥ)
Beyond.

वा √ vā
to blow (RV. )

ण ṇa
knowledge


:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
The question is:
could निर्वाण (निस् - वा - ण) nirvāṇa been wrongly interpreted when written in Sanskrit (as per Upanishadic creed).
Could it be that the वा (of √ vā) in nirvāṇa, be instead the अव् of √ av (निस् - अव् - ण) ?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
nir - ava - ṇa
where ava is the active of √ av
अव् av
- impel , animate
- bliss
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

----

क Ka is Brahma/Prajāpati - Ka is creature - Ka is breath - Ka is bliss, in the Upanishads.

Breathing in and breathing out, is the other body (Ka-ya = what belongs to Ka), made from my existential being (kā-ya-aññata-r-āhaṃ), says Buddha in SN 54.10.


Sa hovāca vijānāmyahaṃ yatprāṇo brahma kaṃ ca tu khaṃ ca na vijānāmīti te hocur yad [b]vāva[/b] kaṃ tad eva khaṃ yad eva khaṃ tad eva kamiti prāṇaṃ ca hāsmai tadākāśaṃ cocuḥ

He replied: "I can understand that brahman is breath.
But I don't understand how it can be bliss (Ka) or space (kha)".
"Bliss is the same as space," they replied, "and space is the same as bliss." And they explained to him both breath and space.
(Chandogya Upanishad 4.10.5)

Here, vāva is just the active of vā.
And "maybe" this is where the conservative (yet revolutionary) Buddha, diverged with the Upanishadic crowd.
It is not about the √ vā , but about the √ av; so to speak.
It is about knowing that it is not about the existential bliss of the existential breath; but about the bliss of citta, attained in passadhi and samadhi sambojjhange, that imports.

The progression is piti > sukha > sukañca kāyena > sukhino citta.

Anyway, let's call it a blow, an exhalation, a puff, a breath (vāva). It won't make much difference.
It won't make a mystery.
The result will be the same: going beyond the bliss of that breath (blow or bliss). For breath brings bliss in Ānāpānasati.
In Ānāpānasati, √ vā becomes √ av; that is to say "bliss" the particular attribute of Ka. That is to say, the possibly "blissful" and continuous existential part, that Buddha denies.
This polluted bliss is still a mano/citta kind of bliss. An impermanent bliss that is not my self.
The permanent bliss is attained only when citta is totally liberated in upekkha. Which occurs in passadhi and samadhi sambojjhange (sukhino citta) of Ānāpānasati, or in the fourth jhana.


So far so good for Nibbāna/nirvāṇa.
Let's see why Ānāpānasati (SN 54.13) leads to nibbāna.

Up to the last 16th steps of Ānāpānasati, which correspond to the second and third jhana (https://justpaste.it/69jp3), we are in the Cattāro Satipaṭṭhānā (the four ways to access the obtention [of Citta]).

However, this is not the end of Ānāpānasati.
There are still all the "given up" to do with the satta sambojjhange; before reaching the total liberation of citta and the liberation by final knowledge (vijjavimutti) - the last phase of Ānāpānasati; that corresponds with the upekkhasatiparisuddhi (purity of the obtention (of citta), due to equanimity) - the last phase of the fourth jhana - where also, dukkha and sukha (bliss), have been given up.

And this is the door to Nibbāna.


For one who has attained the fourth jhana, in-breathing and out-breathing has been restrained (nirudh), and subsided, and been tranquilized).
SN 36.11

Enter the higher jhanas. The knowledge beyond breath (and beyond the existential bliss).

________

*