Mindfulness of breathing
The sixteen trainings of MN 118 and their interpretation by named teachers.
Meditation approaches
Breath training, absorption, zazen and deity yoga give different instructions and place practice within different accounts of the path. Explore what each approach asks you to cultivate.
Selected meditation practices in the early discourses
These practices and frameworks appear in the Pāli discourses preserved in Theravāda Buddhism. Their aims overlap, and teachers differ in how they explain and combine them.
How they fit together
Satipaṭṭhāna provides a framework for several practices below. MN 118 connects mindfulness of breathing with all four establishments of mindfulness; MN 10 includes breath, body-parts and elements contemplation. This selection sits within the wider path of ethical conduct, meditation and wisdom.
| Practice or framework | Traditional aims and emphases | Sources & connections |
|---|---|---|
| Mindfulness of breathingĀnāpānasati | Cultivating calm, collectedness and insight through the sixteen breath trainings, including impermanence, fading, cessation and relinquishment. | |
| Four establishments of mindfulnessSatipaṭṭhāna | Contemplating body, feeling tone, mind and dhammas; recognizing hindrances, cultivating awakening factors and releasing clinging. | |
| Goodwill / loving-kindnessMettā-bhāvanā | Cultivating goodwill and countering ill will. | |
| CompassionKaruṇā-bhāvanā | Cultivating compassion and countering harmfulness or cruelty. | |
| Appreciative joyMuditā-bhāvanā | Cultivating joy in others’ good fortune and countering discontent or resentment. | |
| EquanimityUpekkhā-bhāvanā | Cultivating evenness of mind and countering irritation or aversion. | |
| Contemplation of unattractivenessAsubha-bhāvanā | Countering lust and fascination with bodily attractiveness. | |
| Mindfulness of deathMaraṇassati | Cultivating heedfulness and motivation to practice by reflecting on mortality and the uncertainty of our remaining time. | |
| Recollection of the BuddhaBuddhānussati | Recollecting the Buddha’s qualities to support confidence, joy, calm and collectedness. | |
| Contemplation of elementsDhātu-manasikāra | Examining the body in terms of elements and loosening identification with it. | |
| Contemplation of dependent originationPaṭiccasamuppāda | Investigating the conditions through which suffering arises and ceases. |
Follow an approach further
Jhāna
Compare absorption criteria and the instructions of several meditation teachers.
Sōtō Zen
Explore the tradition in which Dōgen’s account of zazen is taught.
Deity yoga
Understand the setting of visualization, awakened qualities and lineage transmission.
Loving-kindness
Explore goodwill and the cultivation of the brahmavihāras across named sources.
The wider path
Connect meditation with understanding, conduct and livelihood.
Related reading & listening
Sources & notes
Texts & teachers
Breath training · MN 118
The breath supports a structured cultivation of body, feeling and mind, alongside contemplation of impermanence and relinquishment.
Absorption · Ajahn Brahm
A deeply absorbed and still mind is central to this presentation of jhāna. His criteria require withdrawal from the five senses.
Zazen · Dōgen’s Fukan Zazengi
Dōgen gives instructions for upright sitting and nonthinking, describing zazen in the language of practice-realization.
Deity yoga · Lama Yeshe
His tantric account uses identification with awakened body, speech and mind within a path of bodhicitta and teacher-guided transmission.
- MN 118 · Mindfulness of BreathingEarly discourse · complete Atlas translation
- Ajahn Brahm · The JhānasThai Forest-derived Theravāda · see “The Five Senses are Fully Shut Off”
- Dōgen · Fukan ZazengiSōtō Zen practice text · SOTOZEN translation
- Lama Yeshe · Introduction to Tantra, second teachingGelug teacher · introductory teaching, 1980
MN 118 connects breath practice with all four establishments of mindfulness.
A broad framework that includes breath, body-parts and elements contemplation. Feeling tone means pleasant, unpleasant or neutral experience.
One of the four immeasurables, alongside compassion, appreciative joy and equanimity.
One of the four immeasurables.
One of the four immeasurables.
Here, equanimity is one of the four immeasurables; the term also appears in other Buddhist frameworks.
Related bodily contemplations, including body parts and stages of decay, appear within satipaṭṭhāna.
AN 6.20 connects this reflection with abandoning unskillful qualities and developing skillful ones.
Part of a wider set of recollections, including Dhamma, Saṅgha, virtue and generosity. Reference numbering varies between editions.
MN 10 includes earth, water, fire and wind within body contemplation. MN 62 also includes space and explicitly applies not-self contemplation.
A teaching and field of investigation with varied approaches to contemplation. Ud 1.1 depicts the Buddha attending to its sequence.
The summaries describe traditional aims. Source links open translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; English terms and reference numbering may differ in other translations.