It is August already - and hardly seems the time to start a new project.  And yet the next logical teaching in the Buddha’s many teachings is the all important mindfulness of breathing - where it all began for many of us - with the simple in and out of the breath. The process of meditation by paying attention to the in and out of breathing is called in Pali Anapanasati and is found in the Anapansati Sutta (MN118).

In embarking on a journey through this teaching, we are going back to the roots of the basic practice of mindfulness of breathing.  It is a relatively short teaching that describes in 16 steps the path from mindfulness of breathing to enlightenment.  This teaching is appropriate for all personality types with whatever tendencies toward craving or aversion or delusion, in all locations and circumstances.  It is suitable for beginners all the way through the most experienced meditators.  In fact, the Buddha himself was practicing Anapanasati when he died.  And it encompasses the two basic forms of meditation found in early Buddhism - concentration practice including the jhanas and insight practice.

The Anapanasati teaching is composed of 16 steps divided into four tetrads.  Each tetrad is devoted to one of the four foundations of mindfulness as found in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.  So the four foundations of mindfulness of body, mindfulness of feelings, mindfulness of mind, and mindfulness of the way things are will be familiar to many of you.  

This practice and this sutta can be well supported by Venerable Analayo’s series Mindfulness of Breathing as found on Ven. Analayo’s resource page on the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies website.    https://www.buddhistinquiry.org/resources/breathing-audio/ 

One of the beauties of Ven. Analayo’s guided meditation is that he interweaves the seven factors of enlightenment throughout the meditation so the practitioner can experience for themselves how these beautiful qualities of mind manifest in this basic, all encompassing process of meditation by mindfulness of breathing.  These factors which we have spoken of on these pages are as follows:  mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquillity, concentration, and equanimity.  And they develop along with our meditations, each one conditioning the arising of the next as we touched on in the Transcendent Dependent Origination.

So we have arrived at this teaching inevitably - at the very teaching that instructs us how to meditate, how to practice the four foundations of mindfulness, how to meditate with the seven factors of enlightenment, and how to continue our meditations step-by-step out of suffering and to awakening. 

First we begin.  And then we continue.

I have included the heart of the Anapanasati Sutta below for your reference with Thanissaro Bhikku’s translation as found on Access to Insight.

Mindfulness of In-&-Out Breathing

"Now how is mindfulness of in-&-out breathing developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit?

"There is the case where a monk, having gone to the wilderness, to the shade of a tree, or to an empty building, sits down folding his legs crosswise, holding his body erect, and setting mindfulness to the fore.[1] Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out.

"[1] Breathing in long, he discerns, 'I am breathing in long'; or breathing out long, he discerns, 'I am breathing out long.' [2] Or breathing in short, he discerns, 'I am breathing in short'; or breathing out short, he discerns, 'I am breathing out short.' [3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the entire body.'[2] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the entire body.' [4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming bodily fabrication.'[3] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming bodily fabrication.'

"[5] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to rapture.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to rapture.' [6] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to pleasure.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to pleasure.' [7] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to mental fabrication.'[4] He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to mental fabrication.' [8] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in calming mental fabrication.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out calming mental fabrication.'

"[9] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in sensitive to the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out sensitive to the mind.' [10] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in satisfying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out satisfying the mind.' [11] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in steadying the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out steadying the mind.' [12] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in releasing the mind.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out releasing the mind.'[5]

"[13] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on inconstancy.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on inconstancy.' [14] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on dispassion [literally, fading].' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on dispassion.' [15] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on cessation.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on cessation.' [16] He trains himself, 'I will breathe in focusing on relinquishment.' He trains himself, 'I will breathe out focusing on relinquishment.'

"This is how mindfulness of in-&-out breathing is developed & pursued so as to be of great fruit, of great benefit.

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.118.than.html