SP-FLUENT translation of 16 steps of breath meditation, with tricky terms like 'body', 'bodily/mental fabrication' spelled out

(updated 2022-10-11): I'm working on adding a little explanation for each of the 16 steps. Since step 3 is one you use all time whenever doing breath meditation, and is the key to entering the genuine 4 jhānas as defined by the Buddha in EBT, it's worth studying carefully.

16 – Ānā-pāna-s-sati: breath meditation

STED 16🌬️😤 instructions

(2022 SP-FLUENT translation by frankk‍ )Here, a monk

[0.1] 🏞️ arañña-gato vā	[0.1] 🏞️ has gone to the wilderness, or
🌲 rukkha-mūla-gato vā	🌲 to a root of a tree, or
🏕️ suññā-(a)gāra-gato vā	🏕️ to an empty dwelling.
[0.2] nisīdati	[0.2] They sit down,
[0.3] 🧘 pallaṅkaṃ ābhujitvā	[0.3] 🧘 bending into a cross leg posture,
[0.4] 🏃📐 ujuṃ kāyaṃ paṇidhāya	[0.4] 🏃📐 straightening the body.
[0.5] 🌬️😤 pari-mukhaṃ satiṃ upaṭṭhapetvā.	[0.5] 🌬️😤 They establish remembrance [of ☸Dharma] in front [, making Dharma their main focus].
[0.6] 🐘 So sato-va assasati,	[0.6] 🐘 Always remembering [and applying ☸Dharma], he breathes in.
Sato-va passasati	Always “mindful” of [and applying ☸Dharma], he breathes out.

(4sp🐘 #1 🏃 kāyā-(a)nu-passī)

Dīghaṃ vā assasanto ‘dīghaṃ assasāmī’ti pajānāti,	(1a) When breathing in long, he discerns that: 'I am breathing in long.'
dīghaṃ vā passasanto ‘dīghaṃ passasāmī’ti pajānāti;	(1b) When breathing out long, he discerns that: 'I am breathing out long.'
rassaṃ vā assasanto ‘rassaṃ assasāmī’ti pajānāti,	(2a) When breathing in short, he discerns that: 'I am breathing in short.'
rassaṃ vā passasanto ‘rassaṃ passasāmī’ti pajānāti;	(2b) When breathing out short, he discerns that: 'I am breathing out short.'
🏃 ‘sabba-kāya-p-paṭisaṃvedī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(3a) 🏃 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire [physical] body.’
🏃 ‘sabba-kāya-p-paṭisaṃvedī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(3b) 🏃 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire [physical] body.’
🌊🏃 ‘passambhayaṃ kāya-saṅkhāraṃ assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(4a) 🌊🏃 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in pacifying bodily co-activities [which underlie what we experience as a physical body].
🌊🏃 ‘passambhayaṃ kāya-saṅkhāraṃ passasissāmī’ti sikkhati.	(4b) 🌊🏃 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out pacifying bodily co-activities [which underlie what we experience as a physical body].

(4sp🐘 #2 vedanā-(a)nu-passī )

😁 ‘Pīti-p-paṭisaṃvedī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(5a) 😁 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in sensitive to [mental] joy.’
😁 ‘pīti-p-paṭisaṃvedī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(5b) 😁 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out sensitive to [mental] joy.’
🙂 ‘sukhap-paṭisaṃvedī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(6a) 🙂 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in sensitive to [physical] pleasure.’
🙂 ‘sukhap-paṭisaṃvedī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(6b) 🙂 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out sensitive to [physical] pleasure.’
💭 ‘citta-saṅkhārap-paṭisaṃvedī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(7a) 💭 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in sensitive to mental co-activities [which underlie what we experience as the “mind”].’
💭 ‘citta-saṅkhārap-paṭisaṃvedī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(7b) 💭 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out sensitive to mental co-activities [which underlie what we experience as the “mind”].’
🌊💭 ‘passambhayaṃ citta-saṅkhāraṃ assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(8a) 🌊💭 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in pacifying mental co-activities [which underlie what we experience as the “mind”].’
🌊💭 ‘passambhayaṃ citta-saṅkhāraṃ passasissāmī’ti sikkhati.	(8b) 🌊💭 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out pacifying mental co-activities [which underlie what we experience as the “mind”].’

(4sp🐘 #3 cittā-(a)nu-passī)

‘Citta-p-paṭisaṃvedī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(9a) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.’
‘citta-p-paṭisaṃvedī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(9b) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.’
😁 ‘abhip-pa-modayaṃ cittaṃ assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(10a) 😁 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in producing joy in the mind.’
😁 ‘abhip-pa-modayaṃ cittaṃ passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(10b) 😁 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out producing joy in the mind.’
🌄 ‘samādahaṃ cittaṃ assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(11a) 🌄 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in making the mind undistractible-and-lucid.’
🌄 ‘samādahaṃ cittaṃ passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(11b) 🌄 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out making the mind undistractible-and-lucid.’
‘vimocayaṃ cittaṃ assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(12a) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in liberating the mind.’
‘vimocayaṃ cittaṃ passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(12b) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out liberating the mind.’

(4sp🐘 #4 ☸Dhammā-(a)nu-passī)

‘a-niccā-(a)nu-passī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati.	(13a) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in continuously-seeing impermanence.’
‘A-niccā-(a)nu-passī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(13b) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out continuously-seeing impermanence.’
‘vi-rāgā-(a)nu-passī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(14a) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in continuously-seeing dispassion.’
‘vi-rāgā-(a)nu-passī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(14b) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out continuously-seeing dispassion.’
‘nirodhā-(a)nu-passī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(15a) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in continuously-seeing cessation.’
‘nirodhā-(a)nu-passī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(15b) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out continuously-seeing cessation.’
‘paṭinissaggā-(a)nu-passī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(16a) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in continuously-seeing relinquishment [leading to nirvana].’
‘paṭinissaggā-(a)nu-passī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati.	(16b) They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out continuously-seeing relinquishment [leading to nirvana].’

clarification of some terms

un·der·lie = verb: underlie; 1. be a significant cause or basis of (something) even if not necessarily manifest or obvious.

'thinking’: Quoted text in the EBT suttas marked by ending with ‘ti’, can be either vitakka and vicāra verbal thoughts that can occur in first jhāna , or subverbal mental processing that can occur in second jhāna and beyond.
In an oral tradition , you hear, memorize, recollect with sati (“mindfulness”), and then ‘think’ about that recollection.
The ‘thinking’ that occurs in the 16 steps, show the role of sati and vitakka, and how vitakka gradually fades into subverbal mental processing done with sampajāno and upekkha of third and fourth jhāna.
Clearly the oral tradition wouldn’t work if you had ‘vitakka’ redefined into ‘placing the mind’.
The ‘thinking’ in those 16 steps clearly can be verbal, linguistic mental talk, the ‘Dharma’ that sati remembers and thinks about.
The Buddha would not be giving coherent Dharma instructions on how those 16 steps lead to jhāna if vitakka suddenly meant ‘placing the mind’.

16.1 – 🔬step 1: breathing long

Dīghaṃ vā assasanto ‘dīghaṃ assasāmī’ti pajānāti,	(1a) When breathing in long, he discerns that: 'I am breathing in long.'
dīghaṃ vā passasanto ‘dīghaṃ passasāmī’ti pajānāti;	(1b) When breathing out long, he discerns that: 'I am breathing out long.'

* The main point of the first two steps, is to make sure you are aware of the physical process of breathing with enough care and attention such that you can discern whether the breath is relatively long or short, as opposed to the mind wandering in distracted thoughts and completely losing track of the breath.* You need not worry about the exact meaning of breath being ‘long’ or ‘short’, whether it means ‘heavy’, or ‘shallow’ breath. The point of breath meditation is to cut off unwanted distracted thoughts and deeply relax the body and mind and easily enter jhāna samādhi, not to disect the characteristics of the breath into fine nuances, stressing yourself out and tensing up body and mind.* The formulation of the first two steps is slightly different than the latter 14. The intent here, is to say that you aren’t forced to breathe in long, then forced to breathe out short to fulfill the purpose of the first two steps. The purpose of the first two steps is a sanity check to make sure your mind is on the breath, not wandering off in distracted thoughts.* You CAN intentionally breathe long/strong/heavy or short/shallow/light if you want, especially if the intention is to fulfill the seven awakening factors 5🌊 pacification/relaxation factor. The conditions of the body are always changing, sometimes it feels more comfortable to get long or short breaths. Intentional long breaths can also help with mild drowsiness.

16.2 – 🔬step 2: breathing short

rassaṃ vā assasanto ‘rassaṃ assasāmī’ti pajānāti,	(2a) When breathing in short, he discerns that: 'I am breathing in short.'
rassaṃ vā passasanto ‘rassaṃ passasāmī’ti pajānāti;	(2b) When breathing out short, he discerns that: 'I am breathing out short.'

See step 1.

16.3 – 🔬step 3: sensitive to entire body

🏃 ‘sabba-kāya-p-paṭisaṃvedī assasissāmī’ti sikkhati,	(3a) 🏃 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire [physical] body.’
🏃 ‘sabba-kāya-p-paṭisaṃvedī passasissāmī’ti sikkhati;	(3b) 🏃 They train themselves, [thinking]: 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire [physical] body.’

* “sensitive to” = sense the physical tactile sensations in every part of the body, from top of head to toes, on the skin, under the skin.* step 3, step 4, and seven awakening factor of pacification 5🌊 all work together closely. You can’t pacify the body, unless you develop a subtle sensitivity to the entire body. It takes a lot of training to be able to become aware you carry way more tension than necessary. Examples: tight neck, furrowing of brows, lots of wrinkles permanently etched in to your face, etc.Q: but how can you feel the ‘breath’ in all parts of the body, aside from wind on your nostrils and lungs inflating?A: As a beginner, you can’t. But when you’ve put in enough hours, years usually, the body transforms, you accumulate enough 🌟PIE , intrinsic subtle energy, the jhāna force, and equation‍ gets strong enough, you can clearly feel currents of energy traveling around interconnected loops overlaying the physical body, inside, and eventually the radius grows outside the body. The energy is felt as heat, electricity, hydraulic sense, vibrations.Q: but the suttas don’t describe it that way.A: No? See MN 62, four jhāna similes DN 2^4.3.2.5.Q: but that energy is not ‘breath’.A: perhaps from a science or materialist view, but subjectively these currents of energy feel like correlates or an extension of the inhale and exhale of the breath. MN 62 seems to support this, if you accept breath is vāta wind/force, part of the 4 properties of rūpa material form.Q: I still don’t buy this invisible energy business.A: It’s not a matter of belief. If you keep the 8 precepts (or better), spend enough meditating (as opposed to squandering precious internal energy talking, thinking too much, etc.), you will directly sense these currents of energy. They’re tangible, just as real and tangible as a fart, a burp, hiccup, an orgasm that permeates the entire physical body, that can last hours.Q: I can feel tactile sensation, currents of energy and vibrations in some parts of the body, but not the entire body. Why?A: Everybody starts at a different age, with different health conditions. Parts of the body that you can’t feel, have blocked energy channels that take time to fix. Keep 8 precepts and put enough time in, it will get to the point where you can feel the entire body, the entire volume of the body, simultaneously.Prior to first jhāna, step 3 may feel like you’re shining a flashlight that shows a spotlight with one to three inch radius on a particular part of the body, but when you shine the light elsewhere, the tactile sensation fades and sensation appears on the new location where you focus your flashlight/attention. In other words, you can only feel tactile sensation in some small area/volume of the body at one time.With first jhāna, step 3 may feel like you have a much larger area, or several disconnected areas at any one time, and occasionally the tactile sensation suffuses the entire body. But it waxes and wanes.With second jhāna, step 3 feels like suddenly all the loops of energy currents in the body connect, switch comes on and you feel tactile sensation in the whole body, simultaneously, and continuously without waxing and waning like first jhāna.That’s my experience, and the experience of many meditators. But you shouldn’t cling to that description as gospel, it’s just to give you a general idea of how things may progress. 4 jhānas is not an exact science.Q: I also feel a full body orgasm, that lasts a long time, but my body disappeared. My mind is disconnected from the body, I can’t feel where my body is.A: If your mind has separated from your physical body, then you’re not in four jhāna territory anymore, you’re in a formless attainment.See 8 vimokkha and 8 abhi-bh-āyatana to see which formless state it fits in.If you can’t feel your body, then you can’t feel a breath, and if you can’t feel you’re breath you’re not doing breath meditation anymore.LBT and their VRJ👻🥶 redefined “jhāna” is incoherent and incompatible with EBT suttas and the Buddha’s original lexicon. This will be examined in detail in Goldcraft volume 2.

16.3.3 – 409 CE Dhyāna Samādhi Sutra

This is not from the EBT period, but is fully EBT compliant in describing step 3 of 16aps and capturing what is so peaceful, sublime, ambrosia, a brahma dwelling, and the Buddha’s preferred meditation of choice on his retreats.

Dhyāna Samādhi Sutra (corresponds with Ānāpānā step 3, sabba kāya patisamvedi)	Dhyāna Samādhi Sutra (chinese to english trans. By Dr. William Chu)
T15n0614_p0275b25(08)║念諸息遍身。亦念息出入。	“One is mindfully aware of various breaths suffusing the whole body, as one attends to the exhalation and inhalation of the breath.
T15n0614_p0275b26(05)║悉觀身中諸出息入息。	As one pervasively observes the various kinds of inhalation and exhalation inside the body,
T15n0614_p0275b27(14)║覺知遍至身中乃至足指遍諸毛孔如水入沙。	one becomes aware and comprehends what is happening throughout the body, up to and including one’s toes and pores—[awareness] pervades as if water seeps into sands.
T15n0614_p0275b28(13)║息出覺知從足至髮遍諸毛孔亦如水入沙。譬如[夢-夕+棐]囊入出皆滿。	In the same way, with [each] out-breath, awareness and understanding pervade—from the toes to the hairs, permeating all the pores—as if water seeps into sands. Just like a sack that is completely filled from its bottom to its opening,
T15n0614_p0275b29(05)║口鼻風入出亦爾。觀身周遍見風行處。	so too should one experience the body being saturated this way with [each] in-breath coming in from mouth [and/or] nose.
T15n0614_p0275c01(07)║如藕根孔亦如魚網。復心非獨口鼻觀息入出。	One should perceive that throughout the body, where ‘wind’ traverses, it is as if it traverses through the holes of a lotus root; it is as if it traverses through the eyes of a fish net.
T15n0614_p0275c02(06)║一切毛孔及九孔中。亦見息入息出。	Furthermore, one should not just perceive the breath as going in and out of one’s mouth [and/or] nose; one should also see that the breath comes in and out from all the pores and from the nine orifices of the body.
T15n0614_p0275c03(09)║是故知息遍諸身	For this reason, one should understand that the breath pervades throughout the body."