The last two stages of the killing process is to buy and eat meat and fish. Any sentient being no matter how small, that has eyes and moves, has consciousness. Any sentient being has the right to live. Many studies done by researchers have proven that animals have the same feelings and emotions as human beings, except they cannot talk. They cry when their babies are taking away from them to be slaughtered. Many videos have been posted on YouTube and FB on this.
Thou shall not kill has deeper meaning.
How to practice Anapanasati (the 16 steps, original sutta version, taught by the historical Buddha )
But the Buddha is not a vegetarian!
Hey y’all, we’ve had the vegetarian debate before and it will probably never be fully resolved. Don’t derail the thread over it 
6 Likes
The Buddha is practicing nonviolence (ahimsa) in his alms bowl. Nonviolence provides inner peace.
Yes, but not if you think about it too much. MN 19 shows how harmlessness must be balanced with calmness. Before he became enlightened the Buddha discovered that thinking too much about insight subjects caused fatigue. This is an important lesson for westerners who tend to live too much in the mind:
"And as I remained thus heedful, ardent, & resolute, thinking imbued with harmlessness arose in me. I discerned that ‘Thinking imbued with harmlessness has arisen in me; and that leads neither to my own affliction, nor to the affliction of others, nor to the affliction of both. It fosters discernment, promotes lack of vexation, & leads to Unbinding. If I were to think & ponder in line with that even for a night… even for a day… even for a day & night, I do not envision any danger that would come from it, except that thinking & pondering a long time would tire the body. When the body is tired, the mind is disturbed; and a disturbed mind is far from concentration.’ So I steadied my mind right within, settled, unified, & concentrated it. Why is that? So that my mind would not be disturbed.”—-MN 19
That principle is also in the first tetrad of the Anapanasati sutta where an active exercise, discerning the energy flows in the body (Step 3), is balanced by training in calming (Step 4).
Later the Buddha developed the germinal factors in MN 19 into the noble eightfold path.
1 Like
After reading MN62, a Discourse on ānāpānasati given to Rahula, I came to this understanding that ānāpānasati is a practice to see non-self in the five aggregates. See link below.
Actually Mahasi has something to do with the Anapasati Sutta.
When people has reach the’Breathing The Whole Body’ stage, he or she know. At the beginning stage, he or she just focussing in 1 point, ie. observing the abdomen part. Correct it is not the beginning part. But, it is not the end part, too. It is just a part in the middle of our breathing process. It is just a point of so many parts of the body touched by the air inhale or exhale.
I would suggest not to look for difference. Looking for similarities will give a clear look at the already divided teaching.
I came to a different understand, that there are prerequisites to be trained on before attempting anapanasati, for it to be actually beneficial.
1 Like
The preliminary exercises to Anapanasati in Majhima Nikaya 62 are different remedies to ‘gladden’ or ‘steady’ the mind:
“There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself—ardent, alert, & mindful—subduing greed & distress with reference to the world. As he remains thus focused on the body in & of itself, a fever based on the body arises within his body, or there is sluggishness in his awareness, or his mind becomes scattered externally. He should then direct his mind to any inspiring theme. As his mind is directed to any inspiring theme, gladness is born within him. In one who is gladdened, rapture is born. In one whose heart is enraptured, the body grows calm. His body calm, he feels pleasure. Feeling pleasure, his mind grows concentrated. He reflects, ‘I have attained the aim to which my mind was directed. Let me withdraw (my mind from the inspiring theme).’ He withdraws & engages neither in directed thought nor in evaluation. He discerns that ‘I am not thinking or evaluating. I am inwardly mindful & at ease.’
“And further, he remains focused on feelings… mind… mental qualities in & of themselves—ardent, alert, & mindful—subduing greed & distress with reference to the world. As he remains thus focused on mental qualities in & of themselves, a fever based on mental qualities arises within his body, or there is sluggishness in his awareness, or his mind becomes scattered externally. He should then direct his mind to any inspiring theme. As his mind is directed to any inspiring theme, gladness is born within him. In one who is gladdened, rapture is born. In one whose heart is enraptured, the body grows calm. His body calm, he feels pleasure. Feeling pleasure, his mind grows concentrated. He reflects, ‘I have attained the aim to which my mind was directed. Let me withdraw.’ He withdraws & engages neither in directed thought nor in evaluation. He discerns that ‘I am not thinking or evaluating. I am inwardly mindful & at ease.’—Samyutta Nikaya 47.10
1 Like
Thank you @dxm_dxm foe your guided meditation. I felt much calmed following your words. Interestingly, you were quite familiar with the Mahasi method, but was able to go beyond it.
That is why jhana is required for achieving higher levels such as non-returning. Seeing the 3 charachteristics while is jhana is required for achieving such levels.
I do not know how difficult it is to achieve jhana since I only did this a couple of times and did not even remember all the 16 steps, just the first part of them.
I guess the four jhanas are already present in the sixteen breathing exercises. They simply are stages of a progressing mind. Abandoning the unwholesome, you feel joy (exercise 5) and happiness (ex 6). As the mind unifies, these mental formations continue to grow. Then joy give way to happiness (ex 9-12). Mindful and equanimous, you can now contemplate things truly as they are (Ex 13-16).
There was a time when I sat for like 45 minutes watching my breath. The mind was exceptionally calm and collected. Much joy was born. I was so amazed. But I wasn’t concerned about the stages of jhana, believing that these road signs are more or less artificial, while the mind is organic.
So let’s not be confined to those stages of jhana or the four attainments. The sixteen breathing exercises suffice.
1 Like
Seek nothing, just sit, mindfully breathe in and out.
1 Like
Ok but how do you interpret “fore”?many meditators started to focus on the nostrils because of that
If you read the entire anapanasati sutta and keep in mind that the purpose of practicing anapanasati is to fulfill the four foundations of mindfulness, fulfill the seven factors of awakening and fulfill knowledge and freedom, anapanasati will make mare sense.
The way I see it, being in a secluded place, placing sati to the fore (the area to the front of the body) in the present and observing the breath as the body breathes, one can direct mindfulness to the breath as an aspect of the body, the first satipatthana. Then while still keeping the breath as an active object of meditation, one can move to the second step of anapanasati, directing sati to the body as a whole with the breath still part of the body. It expands the mindfulness to full foundation of mindfulness of the body.
with metta
1 Like
Indeed I read anapanasati sutta several times all along.
As for breathing being an aspect of the body, maybe that the reverse is also true, meaning one conditions the other, i.e. without breathing the body perishes so maybe that the body is also an aspect of breathing.
" (the area to the front of the body) " - interesting - because it takes us to the way of meditating in certain branches of Zen Buddhism.
“the purpose of practicing anapanasati is to fulfill the four foundations of mindfulness, fulfill the seven factors of awakening and fulfill knowledge and freedom” - by focusing on breathing we attain samatha and once there I contemplate (bhavana) the 4 frames, or tilakhanna, or the 7 factors…etc.
And of course all that facilitates the access to Jhana as meditative absorption states which are above discursive conceptualization; yet as far as I experienced, focusing on the passage of air through nostrils ( after having focused on breathing as a whole ) it’s the most effective way (together with other posture details) to get to Jhana.
1 Like
That is very clear, thank you. But my mentor, a longtime monastic with much meditation experience, tells me to just “relax” and focus on abdominal breathing. This still seems rather vague. My mind is still restless with discursive thoughts. I need to get this right. Is there a ‘manual’ that clearly descibes our Buddhist meditative practice?
With gratitude for all in advance.
“Mindfulness of breathing” by Bhikkhu Anālyo, maybe? In my opinion, it’s pretty helpful.
Your restless mind indulging in discursive thinking might be the reaction to (a proper) awareness of the breath as the meditation object - because it is soooo boooooring. You get bored and seek more exciting sensations. Well, at least that seems to be the case in my practice 
1 Like
Yes Tkk, I believe you hit the nail on its head. Clearly,
And this is a defilement built upon years of compulsive, unregulated, undisciplined thought about the self…all of which are the result of a lifetime of causes and conditions. My mind seems untamed…untameable, like a wild horse that resist the yoke. Yet regarding the supreme importance of meditation, I will persevere in an effort to find equilibrium in meditation and life in general. 
1 Like
I don’t find the breath to be boring in the context of the meditation. It’s dynamic. Is a candle flame or a word like Buddho less boring than the breath?
1 Like
I think that in the course of the anapanasati meditation trajectory, the body is experienced, investigated, stilled and pretty much left behind. Then the mental formations of the mind and its concomitant hedonic feeling tones are experienced, investigated, stilled and left behind as well. The hinderances should be (at least temporarily) noticed, restrained and abandoned. The wild horse can settle down!
Ha! Well, thanks for the encouragement. But, I gotta tell ya, my horse seems inexhaustable! I ty to hold my horses, but they have not received proper training. My horses need blinders! 
1 Like