The Sixteen Steps of ‘Ānāpānasati"Are A Perfect Buddhism

      

Lotus four

     Upon consideration, we will come to realise that when all the sixteen steps of ‘Ānāpānasati’ are being successfully practised to the end, the meditation only helps to reveal Buddhism in its perfect form. lt shows clearly the various steps of practise and the fruit of the practise. To reveal and to have the involvement of moral codes (sila), mental concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (patñña) is not sufficient to achieve perfection for it is only the practice or the cause. It is only through the implementation of ‘Ānāpānasati’ that both the practice and the fruit are being revealed.

     Even if Buddhism is revealed through the Noble Eightfold Path, it is still not perfect because it has not revealed the fruit even in the least. It merely shows the cause or the practice : sammādiṭṭhi (Right View), sammāsaṅkappa (Right Thought), sammāvācā (Right Speech), sammā—kammanta (Right Action), sammā-ajiva (Right Livelihood), sammā-vāyāma (Right Effort), sammāsati (Right Mindfulness) and sammā-samādhi (Right Concentration). The Eightfold Path ends here. lt does not reveal about the fruit of the practice. It is only through the Ten Sammatta or the Ten Right States that perfection is achieved. Here two more factors are being added to the existing Eightfold Path. They are ‘sammāñāna’ or the Right Insight and ‘sammā-vimutti’ the Right Liberation or the Right Deliverance. The whole of ‘Ānāpānasati’ reveals the Ten Sammatta or the Ten Right States which lead to true liberation. It is Buddhism in its perfection, in both causes or practice and fruit or result.


Lotus four

     When the Buddha talked about the whole system of the Buddhist religion as a device for the extinguishing of suffering, he would talk about the Ten Sammatta or the Ten Right States.

     Cornparatively speaking, it can be said that the first of the Noble Eightfold Path or the first state of the Ten Right States is the most significant of all the factors. To have ‘Right View’ is to have its effect covering all of the ‘Ānāpānasati’ practice. Though ‘sammā—diṭṭhi’ is only the first of the Eightfold Path, it has much to do with the practice of ‘Ānāpānasati’ throughout the whole process. If the practice is not perfect, it only shows that ‘sammā—diṭṭhi’ has not yet been fully and perfectly applied.

     Therefore in order to be free from suffering, one needs to practise to perfection all the four parts of ‘Ānāpānasati’ from both the Dhammic point of view and also that of the practical and fruitful aspects of the practice. All the three aspects of Buddhism : the doctrinal study (pariyatti), the practice (paṭipatti) and the attainment (paṭivedha) are to be found in all the sixteen steps of ‘Ānāpānasati’ practice.