I’ve heard some teachers explain to locate the breath at the tip of the nose, others advocate to locate the breath at the point where the temperature changes are felt, and still others that one should locate the breath not on the body at all but just as the feeling of energy going in and out.
My question is: Is there a benefit to doing one way over the other, or should one do whichever ‘feels’ right, or natural to the one meditating. Also, would it be skillful or unskillful to think on oneself meditating in the third-person view?
1 Like
Hi @Letthebananago,
Welcome to the D&D forum!
Enjoy the multiple resources here available: may these be of assistance along the path.
Should you have any questions about the forum, feel free to contact the @moderators.
With Metta,
Ric
On behalf of the moderators
There are two perspectives, the immediate and the long- term, the OP question being concerned mainly with the former, but in fact the latter should constitute the overall direction of the practice. There breath practice is described in the Anapanasati sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 118), which itself is in the context of the Satipatthana sutta and the entire path. There are two aspects to mediatation concentration & insight, and both themes are interwoven in the Anapanasati sutta. Thinking of oneself in the third person is an aspect of insight, however remaining focussed solely on the breath not only disregards the Buddha’s instructions, but leads to going round in a circle of perpetual tranquillity meditation. The first tetrad of the Anapanasati sutta instructs to become familiar with the rhythm of the breath, then quickly moves on to awareness of the breath in context with the whole body. The reason is the second tetrad’s instruction is the development of pleasant feelings in the body in association with the breath. That in turn is necessary for the second foundation of mindfulness, the discrimination between feelings of the flesh and not of the flesh, and in the path’s entirety that is a crucial step, for the reason of replacement as explained in the suttas:
“Even though a disciple of the noble ones has clearly seen as it actually is with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress, much despair, & greater drawbacks, still — if he has not attained a rapture & pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or something more peaceful than that[4] — he can be tempted by sensuality. But when he has clearly seen as it actually is with right discernment that sensuality is of much stress, much despair, & greater drawbacks, and he has attained a rapture & pleasure apart from sensuality, apart from unskillful mental qualities, or something more peaceful than that, he cannot be tempted by sensuality.”
—Majjhima Nikaya 14
For practical instructions see page 39:
The breath is also a variety of ‘banana’. 
Hi there, you’re entering a domain of many many interpretations, so you’re probably not going to get the same answer twice.
In my opinion, Anapanasati should be viewed in the context of Satipatthana as the purpose of Anapanasati is to fulfill Satipatthana.
The context or “background” or “proper attention” of the breath is this
In this way he remains focused internally on the body in & of itself, or externally on the body in & of itself, or both internally & externally on the body in & of itself. Or he remains focused on the phenomenon of origination with regard to the body, on the phenomenon of passing away with regard to the body, or on the phenomenon of origination & passing away with regard to the body. Or his mindfulness that ‘There is a body’ is maintained to the extent of knowledge & remembrance. And he remains independent, unsustained by [not clinging to] anything in the world. This is how a monk remains focused on the body in & of itself.
In other words having a foreground of the breath depends (background) on having a body. Without the body, there is no breath.
So while your attention is generally on the different variations of the breath, that should be used as a reminder that the breath, in all its various forms, cannot exist without having a body there.
Thus one is made aware that it’s not the self that causes the breath to be shallow or deep but the body, which can allow one to let go of trying to control the breath, allowing one to let go of the 5 hindrances in relation to the breath, so they can see how improper attention results in self-view which results in attempting to control something that cannot be controlled because it doesn’t depend on it (i.e. the body causes the breath, not the self), thus seeing how this contradicting view and attitude results in the 5 hindrances which conflicts with things-as-they-really-are thus resulting in dukkha.
Hope that clears it up for you.
if you look at the anapanasati sutta, attention to the breath itself is only the preliminary part of the sutta. don’t get hung up on this, and follow the sutta:
https://suttacentral.net/mn118/en/sujato
the buddha says to become aware of the front of the face first (parimikham), and then become aware of the in breath and out breath for a start. then become aware of the deep or shallow nature of the breath. all this is just the preliminary part - just do what he says in a way that makes sense to you - it’s just preparation for the actual training. experiment and find what works and makes sense - it’s you that’s doing this - deep and shallow mean something to you: find out what it is.
from there, the buddha tells us to train ourselves breathing in, aware of the whole body, and breathing out, aware of the whole body. then to calm and still this awareness of the whole body while breathing in and out.
that’s the first tetrad of the sutta, training in mindfulness of body. the rest goes on to mindfulness of feeling, mind and mental phenomena.
the tip of the nose instruction, in my experience, doesn’t take you very far. follow the buddha’s instruction instead.
people saying not to locate the breath on the body but focus on energy aren’t teaching anapanasati. the extremely accomplished ajahn lee taught this way but it’s not so much anapanasati as mindfulness of the air element - still a valid teaching of mindfulness, as taught by the buddha, but not anapanasati.
hope this helps.