Anapanasati: 8 Stages of Meditation

What is Meditation?

Meditation is the Art of Living an Intelligent Life. But it has to be practiced in such a way that it leads to Absorption.

Absorption means, to become one with the process of meditation, where one loses the sense of separation, separation from the surrounding things. Mindfulness in meditation is a specific attribute of Meditation. It leads to the dissolution of Individuality, which ends separation.

What is Anapanasati?

In the practice of Anapanasati, A Powerful Buddhist practice, the attainment of the Noble paths is achieved through eight steps. The Eight-fold path consists of eight practices, namely Right View, Right Resolve, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Samadhi, or Attainment of Equanimity.

The Eight Steps of Anapanasati includes, Counting, Connecting, Contact, Fixing, Observing, Turning Away, Purifying, and Looking Back. These are eight steps to perfection, perfection in this very life. We shall discuss these 8 steps in brief, as a means to perfection, in the practice of Anapanasati.

Counting in Anapanasati

The fundamental aspect of mindful meditation begins with the practice of watching the breath. As one begins peacefully, observing and counting the breath, he becomes conscious of the very breathing process.

The breath is observed at the very beginning of the nostril, in the middle, when the breath enters the stomach area, in the end when the breath is thrown out, where it is felt near the nostril area once again. If one keeps a count of every outgoing breath, near the nostril area, one shall develop one’s concentration power. He shall be able to observe, the coarseness, and the irregularity of the breathing process as a whole. As one continues to count the breath from 1 to 10 and then reverse from 10 to 1, the breath shall become finer and finer.

Connecting in Anapanasati

The attribute of Connecting happens when awareness is instilled in the breathing process without interruption. As one becomes intensely aware of the counting, the practice is dropped to graduate to the stage of Connecting. The marking of the in-breath near the nostril, the breath entering the stomach, the out-breath at the nostril is dropped. At this stage, one goes deeper towards sensing the breath.

Contact in Anapanasati

At this stage, mindfulness is applied to a single point where the breath contacts the skin surface. Although there is no tracking of the breath, the sensitive area of the skin, near the nostrils, where the breath makes contact, is noted.

Fixing in Anapanasati

This is an advanced stage, reached automatically as one practices mindfulness for a long time with commitment and discipline. After a few months of regular practice, one graduates to the stage of fixing, where the mind gets fixed to a sensitized area of the body or face. This sensitization is observable only after high concentration. Fixing is a mature stage that is reached at the peak of absorption. Other counterpart signals can be observed, such as intensification of sensory perceptions, like developing an acute sense of hearing, etc.

Observing

When Absorption due to Fixing further deepens, insight into the nature of things develops. One shall be able to perceive unsatisfactoriness in nature, impermanence in everything around, and a lack of substance in the dealings of the world. This experience will not be a mere intellectual understanding but will be at a deep experiential level of realization.

The covering of falsity of the Nature around, will slowly start peeling with continued practice. Truth shall become evident as the practice carries on. This shall not be imagination or a psychological experience, but shall be a genuine unraveling of what the Hindus call Self or what the Buddhists call Emptiness or Non-Self, Anatta.

Turning Away

As a result of committed practice, there shall be a turning away of the mindful meditator, from the defilement predominant in Nature. The good qualities of dispassion, detachment, abstinence from Lusty affairs, etc. shall flower in the heart of the practitioner.

Purifying

The mindful meditator shall, with sustained practice, become capable of destroying the impurities in his heart, that had been lying unattended for many prior lifetimes. This is commonly known, from the Buddhist standpoint, as Deliverance. This is the fruit-bearing stage of the practice of Anapanasati.

Looking Back in Anapanasati

This is the fruit of the practice of Anapanasati. The Mindful meditator can look back at all the defilement, that has been destroyed from its very root. The Meditator is unchained, from the bonds of materialistic forces, and becomes free.

Mindful Breathing becomes an integral part of the meditator. After reaching this state, the meditator becomes, eternally wedded to the practice of mindful breathing irrespective of whatever he is doing. Whether he is eating, walking, talking, sitting, standing or whatever his activity, he shall continue to mindfully breathe.

In conclusion, it is worthwhile to note that the goal of all spiritual discipline, is to get to the Truth, that will eventually weed out the very source of human suffering.