解脫道論 念安般總說與取相

“An” means in; “ban” means out. The source teaches that mindfulness is tethered at the nose-tip or lips and observes and knows the place touched by the breath. A long breath is known as long; a short breath is known as short. The saw simile explicitly says not to attend to the saw’s going and coming, and likewise not to attend to the perception of in-and-out breath. No further operating detail is supplied.

The treatise describes wrong practice in greater detail than right practice: attending to the breath inwardly and outwardly is a fault; attending to the very longest or shortest breath is a fault; becoming attached to diverse signs gives rise to boundless faults; sluggish exertion results in weariness and sleep, while swift exertion produces agitation. As a person touches wood with a saw, the source takes only the correspondence “does not attend to the saw’s going and coming.” The meditator likewise does not attend to the perception of in-and-out breath but observes and knows the contact at the nose-tip or lips with mindfulness. The confirmed scope of the simile stops there; saw, wood, force of the saw, and point of contact receive no additional correspondence.

The sign is constituted by contact, not by shape or color: as drawing out cotton or kapok and a cool breeze touch the body, so the wind of in-and-out breathing touches the nose and lips, and mindfulness forms a perception of wind. Smoke, mist, dust, broken gold, a needle’s prick, and an ant’s bite are separately listed as different signs. If one does not form a different intention or perception but brings in-breath and out-breath to mind, those different signs cease. The source then lists mastery of the sign, desire, rapture, and equanimity, and concludes by reversing the order as equanimity, desire, and rapture. The order is preserved without turning the three into psychological stages.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Mindfulness of Breathing: Overview and Acquiring the Sign · Doorway · Summer 2026

Questions and Definition

Question: What is mindfulness of breathing? What is its cultivation? What is its characteristic? What is its function? What is its proximate cause? What are its virtues? How is it cultivated?

Answer: “An” means in; “ban” means out. With regard to the sign of out-and-in breathing, that mindfulness, recollection, and right mindfulness is called mindfulness of breathing.

For the mind to remain without distraction is called cultivation. Arousing the perception of mindfulness of breathing is its characteristic; the phrase “contact-contemplation” is its function; and the phrase “cutting off 覺” is its proximate cause. Neither of the latter two expressions is separately explained here.

Virtues

What are its virtues? When a person cultivates mindfulness of breathing, it becomes quiet, excellent, and adorned, lovable and a source of delight.

When repeatedly arisen bad and unwholesome qualities are made to cease, the body becomes unwearied, the eyes too become unwearied, the body becomes unmoving and unshaken, and the mind becomes unmoving and unshaken. It fulfills the four establishments of mindfulness, fulfills the seven awakening-members called 七覺意 here, and fulfills liberation.

It is praised by the Blessed One; it is the dwelling of the noble ones, the dwelling of Brahmā, and the dwelling of a Tathāgata.

Method of Cultivation

What is the method of cultivation? A beginning meditator goes to a wilderness, beneath a tree, or to a secluded place, sits cross-legged, and holds the body upright before oneself.

The meditator is mindful of in-breath and mindful of out-breath.

When breathing out long: “My breath goes out long”—one knows it thus. When breathing in long: “My breath comes in long”—one knows it thus. When breathing in short: “My breath comes in short”—one knows it thus. When breathing out short: “My breath goes out short”—one knows it thus.

“I am aware thus while breathing in; I am aware thus while breathing out”: knowing rapture, knowing pleasure, knowing the mental activity; causing the mental activity to cease, gladdening the mind, training the mind, liberating the mind; seeing impermanence, seeing dispassion, seeing cessation, seeing emergence—thus being aware and seeing emergence. “I am aware and see emergence thus while breathing out; my out-and-in breath is thus.”

Where Mindfulness Is Tethered

The syntax of “here, one who trains in an is made present” is not clear. What the following passage establishes is that mindfulness is tethered at the tip of the nose or at the lips. This is the object where the in-breath and out-breath make contact.

The meditator settles mindfulness at this place and observes with mindfulness the contact of in-breath and out-breath at the nose-tip or lips. The source twice says either “mindfulness is present, 令 the breath enter; mindfulness is present, 令 the breath leave” or “mindfulness is present, 令 it enter; mindfulness is present with the out-breath.” What can be established is present mindfulness and knowing of in-breath and out-breath. The relation of 令 to the breath’s entering and leaving is not explained and therefore is not taken to mean control of breathing. The source also says not to attend to the inward movement when the breath enters or to the outward movement when it leaves, but at the nose-tip or lips to observe and know with mindfulness the place touched by the breath.

The Saw Simile

The source uses the simile “as a person touches wood through the force of a saw.” When sawing wood, the person does not attend to the perception of the saw’s going and coming. Likewise, the meditator does not attend to the perception of in-breath and out-breath coming and going, but observes and knows with mindfulness the point of contact at the nose-tip or lips. Four witnesses read 解材, “cutting wood,” for 觸材, while the syntax of “through the force of the saw” remains unclear. The final sentence again says that mindfulness is present, 令 the breath enter and 令 the breath leave. The attachment of 令 remains unresolved and is not interpreted as making the breath enter or leave.

Faults

If a meditator attends inwardly and outwardly to the in-and-out breath, the mind becomes confused. If the mind becomes confused, body and mind become weary and shaken. This is a fault.

One should not attend to the very longest or the very shortest breath. The following phrase, “if one makes a place of the very longest or shortest breath,” is syntactically awkward. What is clear is that doing so makes body and mind weary and shaken; this is a fault.

Because the in-and-out breath has diverse signs, one should not become attached to them. If one forms the mind in this way, other objects become confused. If the mind is confused, body and mind become weary and shaken; faults in this way are boundless. The source then says: “The in-and-out breath arises; because of boundless 懈, one should form a perception so that the mind is not confused.” The attachment of this sentence is unclear, and four witnesses read 觸 for 懈. Only the sentence and its conclusion “the mind is not confused” are preserved; neither reading is defined and “boundless” is not assigned to a particular phrase.

When the mind is sluggish or too swift, the source says “one should not exert,” but does not further explain how this attaches to the following two sentences. What is clear is that sluggish exertion results in weariness and sleep, while swift exertion produces agitation. If the meditator arises together with weariness and sleep or together with agitation, body and mind become weary and shaken. This is a fault.

The Sign Arises

With a mind purified from the nine minor defilements, the meditator brings the in-breath to mind, and the sign arises. The nine minor defilements are not listed here.

What is called the sign is like the pleasant bodily contact of drawing out cotton or drawing out kapok, and like the pleasant bodily contact of a cool breeze. In this way the wind of the in-and-out breath touches the nose and lips; mindfulness forms a perception of wind, not through shape or color. This is called the sign.

Growth and Fulfillment

When the meditator cultivates the sign repeatedly, it grows. The source then names the nose-tip, the space between the eyebrows, the forehead, abiding in many places, and “wind filling the head.” The detailed attachment of “when it grows at the nose-tip, it abides in many places at the space between the eyebrows and at the forehead” is not entirely clear. It then says that from this growth, tranquillity and pleasure fill the whole body. This is called fulfillment.

Different Signs

Another meditator sees different signs from the beginning: like smoke or mist, like dust or broken gold, like a needle’s prick, or like the bite of ants, seeing diverse colors.

If the meditator’s mind is not clear, it forms a different perception regarding those different signs, becomes inverted, and does not establish the perception of in-and-out breathing. A clear meditator does not form a different intention or perception, but brings the in-breath and out-breath to mind and leaves aside other perceptions. When attending in this way, the different signs cease.

Mastery of the Sign and the Four Jhānas

The meditator gains a subtle sign, remains heedful, and brings the in-breath and out-breath to mind. The sign is mastered.

After mastery of the sign, the source says, “desire arises for cultivation.” It then says that through mastery of desire, rapture arises while the in-breath and out-breath are brought to mind. When rapture and desire have been mastered, equanimity arises while the in-breath and out-breath are brought to mind. At the end it reverses the order, listing equanimity, desire, and rapture as mastered, while the in-breath and out-breath are still brought to mind; the mind is then undistracted. What desire, rapture, and equanimity designate here, and the finer relation among the sentences, are not explained. Only the order is retained.

When the mind is undistracted, the hindrances cease and the jhāna factors arise. The meditator has attained the excellent quiet concentration of the four jhānas, as explained fully at the beginning.

Four Ways of Cultivating Mindfulness of Breathing

Furthermore, the former teachers taught four ways to cultivate mindfulness of breathing: counting, following, placing, and contemplation.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Mindfulness of Breathing: Overview and Acquiring the Sign · Vernacular · Summer 2026

Fascicle seven opens with the seventh of the ten recollections, mindfulness of breathing. The fascicle number changes from six to seven while the chapter remains “The Practice Chapter.” This unit gives the overview and the acquisition of the sign. The source explicitly tethers mindfulness at the nose-tip or lips and says to observe and know with mindfulness the place touched by the breath 〔T32 430a07–16〕. It then separately lists the faults of attending inwardly and outwardly to the breath, attending to the very longest and shortest breaths, becoming attached to diverse signs, and applying sluggish or swift exertion 〔T32 430a16–27〕. These are the specific instructions stated here; they do not establish the universal rule that every departure of attention from the point of contact is necessarily faulty. The sign passage further says that the wind of in-and-out breathing touches the nose and lips and that mindfulness forms a perception of wind “not through shape or color; this is called the sign” 〔T32 430b01–02〕. This is the unit’s direct limitation on the sign.

The currently adopted wording at 430b01 is: “In this way the wind of the in-and-out breath touches the nose and lips; mindfulness forms a perception of wind, not through shape or color. This is called the sign.”

Opening the Door: “An” Means In, “Ban” Means Out

The passage asks what mindfulness of breathing is, together with its cultivation, characteristic, function, proximate cause, virtues, and method. It answers: “An means in; ban means out” 〔T32 429c17–18〕. The name is thus explained by assigning one direction to each graph; the following passage uses “in-breath” and “out-breath” rather than the two graphs alone. It continues: “With regard to the sign of out-and-in breathing, that mindfulness, recollection, and right mindfulness is called mindfulness of breathing. The mind remains without distraction: this is cultivation. Arousing the perception of mindfulness of breathing is its characteristic; contact-contemplation is its function; cutting off 覺 is its proximate cause” 〔T32 429c18–21〕. Mindfulness of breathing, cultivation, characteristic, function, and proximate cause each receive a sentence. Contact-contemplation and cutting off 覺 are not otherwise defined in this unit and therefore remain unexplained.

The virtues have no stated count: “When a person cultivates mindfulness of breathing, it becomes quiet, excellent, and adorned, lovable and a source of delight. Repeatedly arisen bad and unwholesome qualities are made to cease; body and eyes become unwearied; body and mind become unmoving and unshaken; it fulfills the four establishments of mindfulness, 七覺意, and liberation” 〔T32 429c21–25〕. The source first gives quietness, excellence, and related terms, then the removal of bad and unwholesome qualities, unwearied body and eyes, unmoving body and mind, and finally the four establishments, 七覺意, and liberation. 七覺意 differs in wording from 七覺分 in the recollection-of-Dhamma doorway 〔T32 428b03〕 and remains unregularized. It then adds: “praised by the Blessed One; dwelling of the noble ones; dwelling of Brahmā; dwelling of a Tathāgata” 〔T32 429c25–26〕. The source does not explain the distinction among one praise and three dwellings, so the list remains as given.

Set against the seven questions, the answer does not introduce seven separate headings. It first explains the name through “An means in; ban means out,” immediately defines mindfulness and cultivation, then gives characteristic, function, and proximate cause through three short formulas; the virtues become a long list, and only afterward does “what is the method?” introduce place, posture, and practice. This order is visible on the face of the text. The source does not state a causal relation, hierarchy, or comprehensive relation among the items. In particular, the virtues from quietness through fulfillment of liberation remain a list rather than a necessary sequence of attainment.

Direct Cultivation: Fourfold Knowing and Mindfulness Tethered in One Place

The long sequence may first be laid out by its wording. Long out-breath, long in-breath, short in-breath, and short out-breath each conclude “one knows it thus.” Two further clauses state, “I am aware thus while breathing in” and “I am aware thus while breathing out.” Then come three knowings—rapture, pleasure, mental activity—four causatives—causing mental activity to cease, gladdening, training, and liberating the mind—and four seeings—impermanence, dispassion, cessation, and emergence. The end again joins “aware and see emergence” to out-breath and to in-and-out breath. This order is certain. The treatise gives neither an overall number nor an account of what “know,” “cause,” and “see” do, so the items may be compared but their function and level are not supplied. In particular, whether the two clauses “I am aware thus” count as separate items is left open rather than decided by a familiar number.

The method begins: “A beginning meditator goes to a wilderness, beneath a tree, or to a secluded place, sits cross-legged, and holds the body upright before oneself. The meditator is mindful of in-breath and out-breath” 〔T32 429c26–28〕. Three places are listed first, then posture, then mindfulness of in-breath and out-breath. Four clauses of knowing length follow: long out, long in, short in, short out, each ending “one knows it thus” 〔T32 429c29–430a03〕. Their in-out order is uneven and is not regularized. Three witnesses omit “mindful of out-breath” at the junction, and the reading 短息 belongs to a repeated critical note; both are recorded. A later sentence says not to attend to the very longest or shortest breath 〔T32 430a18–19〕. How “knowing” and “attending” differ here is not explained. Beneath the four clauses stand two separate complete sentences: “I am aware thus while breathing in; I am aware thus while breathing out.”

The following sequence reads: “I am aware thus while breathing in; I am aware thus while breathing out: knowing rapture, knowing pleasure, knowing mental activity; causing mental activity to cease, gladdening the mind, training the mind, liberating the mind; seeing impermanence, dispassion, cessation, and emergence; thus being aware and seeing emergence” 〔T32 430a03–06〕. Three items follow “knowing,” four follow “causing,” and four follow “seeing.” The two awareness sentences remain complete sentences before those items. The source does not say that the verbs describe distinct psychological operations or levels, nor does it recast the sequence as a route through four establishments of mindfulness. The final wording—“thus aware and seeing emergence; I am aware and see emergence thus while breathing out; my in-and-out breath is thus” 〔T32 430a06–07〕—is also retained. Four witnesses read 息出 at both places where the base has 出息 and 出入息.

Three irregularities cannot be silently normalized. First, the four long-and-short clauses run long out, long in, short in, short out rather than two orderly in-out pairs. Second, the two awareness sentences precede the knowing, causing, and seeing items and are not moved into them to obtain a familiar count. Third, the base’s 出息 and 出入息 are both 息出 in four witnesses. The possible work is to preserve the sentences, count the explicit items, and record the variants. The overall number, levels, and relations of practice are not answered here.

The passage then says: “Here, one who trains in an is made present. Mindfulness is tethered at the nose-tip or lips; this is the object where the in-and-out breath makes contact. The meditator settles mindfulness there and observes with mindfulness the contact of in-breath and out-breath at the nose-tip or lips” 〔T32 430a07–10〕. The source clearly calls the nose-tip or lips the object of in-and-out breathing and says that contact is observed there with mindfulness. The statements “mindfulness is present, 令 the breath enter; mindfulness is present, 令 the breath leave” and “when the breath enters one does not attend to the inward movement, and when it leaves one does not attend to the outward movement” stand beside one another 〔T32 430a10–11〕. Neither the attachment of 令 nor the exact sense of “does not attend” is explained. They cannot be allocated to mechanisms of control, release, or another operation. The text next says to observe and know with mindfulness the contact at the nose-tip or lips; the remaining wording stays unresolved.

The saw simile follows: “As a person touches wood through the force of a saw and does not attend to the perception of the saw’s going and coming, so the meditator does not attend to the perception of in-and-out breath but observes and knows with mindfulness the nose-tip or lips that are touched; mindfulness is present, 令 the breath enter and 令 the breath leave” 〔T32 430a13–16〕. The two statements “does not attend” correspond directly: not attending to the saw’s going and coming in the simile, and not attending to the perception of in-and-out breath in the application. The source also identifies the nose-tip or lips as the place touched and says to observe and know there, but does not assign saw, wood, force of the saw, and contact point one by one. Four witnesses read 解 for 觸 in 觸材. Beyond the stated non-attendance to coming and going, no mechanism of looking, effort, or engagement is supplied.

Within this passage, “observe contact with mindfulness” and “observe and know what is touched with mindfulness” both explicitly point to the contact place. “Mindfulness is present, 令 the breath enter; mindfulness is present, 令 the breath leave” also recurs. The former wording can be located directly at nose-tip or lips; the latter leaves the government of 令 unresolved. The saw simile provides only two explicit negative correspondences: not attending to the saw’s coming and going and not attending to the perception of the in-and-out breath. It says nothing about a point along the saw’s path or a prescribed force, so no additional operational detail follows from it.

Threefold Faults: Each Item as the Source States It

The treatise writes the wrong practices in sequence: attending inwardly and outwardly to the in-and-out breath makes the mind confused; when the mind is confused, body and mind become weary and shaken; “this is a fault” 〔T32 430a16–18〕. It next says not to attend to the very longest or shortest breath; making a place of them causes body and mind to become weary and shaken, again ending “this is a fault” 〔T32 430a18–20〕. Third, because in-and-out breathing has diverse signs, one should not become attached; forming the mind in this way makes other objects confused 〔T32 430a20–21〕. These three passages establish only their own attention or attachment and their stated results. No common psychological mechanism is provided, so none is supplied.

The third passage continues: “If the mind is confused, body and mind become weary and shaken; faults in this way are boundless. The in-and-out breath arises; because of boundless 懈, one should form a perception so that the mind is not confused” 〔T32 430a21–23〕. The first sentence has a clear order: confused mind, weary and shaken body and mind, boundless faults. The attachment of the next sentence is unclear. How “the in-and-out breath arises” joins “because of boundless 懈,” and whether “boundless” continues from the previous sentence, cannot be decided through punctuation alone. Four witnesses moreover read 觸 for 懈. Only the directly legible conclusion—“one should form a perception so that the mind is not confused”—is retained, without deriving its reason from the doubtful wording or collapsing 懈 and 觸 into one sense. This keeps both the explicit cautions and the unresolved syntax visible.

A fourth matter concerns sluggishness and swiftness: “When the mind is sluggish or swift, one should not exert. Sluggish exertion produces weariness and sleep; swift exertion produces 調” 〔T32 430a23–25〕. It continues: “If the meditator arises together with weariness and sleep or with 調, body and mind become weary and shaken; this is a fault” 〔T32 430a25–27〕. Each kind of exertion and its consequence can be established, concluding in weariness and shaking. The source does not add a middle degree of effort or say that the nose-tip and lips are the unique answer to every case; no prescription of intensity is supplied.

The four fault passages have different syntax. Attending inwardly and outwardly first produces confused mind and then weariness and shaking; attending to longest and shortest breaths proceeds directly to weary and shaken body and mind; attachment to diverse signs first produces confusion among other objects and then confused mind and boundless faults; sluggish and swift exertion first produce sleep or 調 and only then weary and shaken body and mind. A repeated result does not mean that the text has stated one psychological cause for all four. Nor can the unresolved phrase about boundless 懈, with its 觸 variant, serve as a general principle for them.

Acquiring the Sign: The Named Sign and Different Signs

The sign arises when the meditator, with a mind purified from the nine minor defilements, brings the in-breath to mind 〔T32 430a27–28〕. The nine defilements are not listed, so the absence remains. The named sign is described “like the pleasant bodily contact of drawing cotton or kapok, and like the pleasant bodily contact of a cool breeze. In this way the wind of in-and-out breathing touches the nose and lips; mindfulness forms a perception of wind, not through shape or color. This is called the sign” 〔T32 430a28–430b02〕. The source first gives the pleasant contact of cotton, kapok, and cool wind, then the wind of breathing touching the nose and lips, a perception of wind, and the exclusion of shape or color. The adopted wording at 430b01 is “In this way the wind of in-and-out breathing touches the nose and lips; mindfulness forms a perception of wind, not through shape or color. This is called the sign.” The growth passage then states that repeated cultivation makes the sign grow; it names growth at the nose-tip, the space between the eyebrows, the forehead, abiding in many places, “wind filling the head,” and tranquillity and pleasure filling the whole body, which is called fulfillment 〔T32 430b02–04〕. The listed locations are certain; no mechanism connecting them is supplied.

The named-sign passage first uses cotton, kapok, and cool breeze to describe pleasant contact and then locates the wind of breathing at the nose and lips. “Mindfulness forms a perception of wind” and “not through shape or color” are explicit. The growth passage shifts to growth at the nose-tip, many places around the eyebrows and forehead, a head full of wind, and a body full of tranquillity and pleasure. The terms can be kept in order, but the source does not repeat a subject in every clause; it remains unclear whether sign, wind-contact, location, or tranquillity and pleasure are growing at each point. The sequence and final judgment “this is called fulfillment” are therefore preserved without turning “wind filling the head” into modern physiology or the places into a necessary visualization route.

One question remains: Why does the source call smoke, mist, dust, broken gold, a needle’s prick, and an ant’s bite “different signs”? It gives no reason, only the list: “Another meditator sees different signs from the beginning: like smoke, mist, dust, broken gold, a needle’s prick, or an ant’s bite, seeing diverse colors” 〔T32 430b04–06〕. The preceding named sign is the wind of breathing touching the nose and lips, explicitly “not through shape or color” 〔T32 430b02〕; this passage separately calls the listed appearances different signs. It then distinguishes a mind that forms a different perception, becomes inverted, and fails to establish the perception of breathing from a clear mind that does not form a different intention, brings the in-breath and out-breath to mind, leaves aside other perceptions, and causes different signs to cease 〔T32 430b06–10〕. Four witnesses read 雖 for 離. The source neither joins these different signs to the earlier inward-and-outward attention as one pathology nor explains their arising; no mechanism is supplied.

Three Masteries and Conclusion

The source says: “The meditator gains a subtle sign, remains heedful, brings the in-breath and out-breath to mind, and masters the sign. Through mastery of the sign, desire for cultivation arises. Through mastery of desire, rapture arises as the in-breath and out-breath are brought to mind. When rapture and desire have been mastered, equanimity arises as they are brought to mind. When equanimity, desire, and rapture have been mastered, the in-breath and out-breath are brought to mind and the mind remains undistracted” 〔T32 430b10–15〕. The source presents mastery of sign, arising of desire, rapture, and equanimity; the order of arising is desire, rapture, equanimity, while the concluding order is equanimity, desire, rapture. The different orders are retained. Every stage repeats bringing in-breath and out-breath to mind. What desire, rapture, and equanimity mean here, why they are successive, and whether they form psychological stages are not explained; only their order is preserved. “When the mind is undistracted, the hindrances cease and the jhāna factors arise; the meditator has attained the excellent quiet concentration of the four jhānas, as explained fully at the beginning” 〔T32 430b15–17〕. Hindrance-cessation, arising of factors, and four-jhāna concentration remain in source order. The earlier “cutting off 覺 is its proximate cause” is not explained by this later passage.

At every stage of the three-masteries passage, “brings the in-breath and out-breath to mind” recurs. After mastery of the sign, desire arises for cultivation; mastery of desire is followed by rapture; mastery of rapture and desire is followed by equanimity; mastery of equanimity, desire, and rapture is followed by an undistracted mind. This verbal recurrence is certain. The source does not say that desire, rapture, and equanimity are three necessary stages or define how each is cultivated. Nor can the following extinguishing of hindrances and attainment of four-jhāna concentration be used backward to assign them unstated causal functions.

The last sentence opens the next unit: “Furthermore, the former teachers taught four ways to cultivate mindfulness of breathing: counting, following, placing, and contemplation” 〔T32 430b17–18〕. This unit names the four and attributes them to former teachers; their explanations follow in the next unit. No authorial intention is inferred from the arrangement.

Across the whole passage, the wording “brings the in-breath and out-breath to mind” recurs from the tethering section to the end of the masteries. Its recurrence is recorded without turning it into an additional hierarchy.

Three things remain: a finding—mindfulness of breathing stays at the contact of nose-tip or lips, while inward-outward attention, longest-shortest attention, attachment to signs, and sluggish-swift exertion retain their separately stated faults; a method of reading—the named sign is explicitly “not through shape or color,” while different signs remain as listed without added correspondences; and a saw—the explicit correspondence extends only to not attending to the saw’s going and coming and not attending to the perception of in-and-out breathing. The next unit explains the four ways beginning with the question “What is called counting?” in 08-44 〔T32 430b18〕.

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Shi Huijing · Waken · The Path of Freedom · Mindfulness of Breathing: Overview and Acquiring the Sign · Exposition · Summer 2026