The fifth and longest of the carita-viśodhana practices, corresponding to the vitarka-carita (discursive-thinking-temperament) practitioner. Covers the definition (mindfulness with the in-breath and out-breath as object), the anatomy of the breath (āśvāsa and praśvāsa), two faults to avoid in practice, and the five paricayas — five progressive investigative frames applied to the breath: counting (gaṇanā), aggregates (skandha), dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), the four noble truths (satya), and the breath-practice sixteenfold sequence (ṣoḍaśākāra). This last item is parallel to the sixteenfold ānāpāna pattern rather than the four-truth sixteen-aspect framework used elsewhere. The chapter closes with the arhatship-claim through breath-mindfulness and the temperament-match rationale.
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Sanskrit
English
āśvāsapraśvāsālambanā smṛtiriyamucyate ānāpānasmṛtiḥ |
Mindfulness having in-and-out-breaths as its object — this is called ānāpānasmṛti.
dvau praśvāso 'ntaraḥpraśvāsaśca |
Out-breath (praśvāsa) and inner-out-breath (antaraḥ-praśvāsa).
tatra śvāsaḥ yaḥ praśvāsasamanantaraṁ antarmukho vāyuḥ pravartate yāvannābhīpradeśāt |
The in-breath is the air that, immediately after the out-breath, moves inward as far as the navel region.
tatrāntarāśvāso ya uparate 'sminnāśvāse na tāvatpraśvāsa utpadyate yadantarālaviśrāmasthānasahagata itvarakālīnastadanusadṛśo vāyurutpadyate |
The inner-in-breath is, when the in-breath has ceased and the out-breath has not yet arisen, the brief intervening air at the resting-place that arises in a similar manner.
The four-phase analysis (in-breath, pause-after-in, out-breath, pause-after-out) is more granular than what the Pali suttas give. MN 118 has just assāsa and passāsa. The Yogācāra refinement explicitly carves out the two pauses as part of the practice object — they are not 'gaps' between breaths but legitimate phases the practitioner attends to.
yathāśvāso 'ntarāśvāsaścaivaṁ praśvāso 'ntaraḥpraśvāsaśca veditavyaḥ |
The out-breath and inner-out-breath should be understood likewise.
bahirmukho vāyuḥ pravartate bahiḥ nābhīdeśamupādāya yāvanmukhāgrānnāsikāgrāttato vā punarbahiḥ |
the air moves outward from the navel region as far as the tip of the mouth or nose, and from there outside.
tattādṛśakaṁ ca karma, nābhīpradeśasauṣiryaṁ ca |
The relevant kind of karma, and the cavity of the navel region;
tato vā punarutpannaṁ yatkāyasauṣiryaṁ |
or alternatively, the cavity of the body that arises from this.
dvāvāśvāsapraśvāsayoḥ saṁniśrayau katamau |
What are the two supports of in-and-out-breathing?
kāyasanniśritāścittasanniśritāścāśvāsapraśvāsāḥ pravartante |
In-and-out-breaths are body-supported and mind-supported,
te ca yathāyogaṁ sa cetkāyasanniśritā eva pravarteran |
and proceed accordingly. If they were body-supported only,
asañjñisamāpannānāṁ, nirodhasamāpannānāṁ asañjñisattveṣu deveṣūpapannānāṁ sattvānāṁ pravarteran |
they would proceed in beings attained to the unconscious attainment, the cessation attainment, and in beings born among the unconscious gods.
tenārūpyasamāpannopapannānāṁ sattvānāṁ pravarteran |
they would proceed in beings attained to or born in the formless attainments.
sa cet kāyasanniśritāścittasanniśritāḥ pravarteran |
If they were body-and-mind-supported in the simple sense,
te ca na yathāyogaṁ tena caturthadhyānasamāpannopapannānāṁ, kalalagatānāṁ ca arbudagatānāṁ, peśīgatānāṁ sattvānāṁ pravarteran |
they would proceed in beings attained to the fourth absorption and in beings in the kalala (zygote), arbuda (early embryo), and peśī (fleshy mass) stages of gestation.
An empirically grounded fact disguised as scholastic argument: the breath ceases in the fourth jhāna, in the cessation attainment, and does not begin until the embryo has developed past the peśī (fleshy-mass) stage. The takeaway: in deep concentration the breath stops — Asanga validates this canonically.
tasmādāśvāsapraśvāsāḥ kāyasanniśritāścittasanniśritāśca pravartante tena yathāyogaṁ |
Therefore in-and-out-breaths are body-supported and mind-supported in a specifically conditioned sense, and proceed accordingly.
tatraudārikaṁ sauṣiryaṁ nābhīpradeśamupādāya yāvanmukhanāsikādvāraṁ |
The gross cavity is from the navel region as far as the door of mouth-and-nose,
mukhanāsikādvāramupādāya yāvannābhīpradeśasauṣiryaṁ |
and from the door of mouth-and-nose as far as the navel cavity.
sarvakāyagatāni romakūpāni pāḥ |
All the pores of the body — [text corrupt: pāḥ].
The source ends this clause with a stray pāḥ — most plausibly an eroded fragment of the expected closing formula iyamucyate sūkṣmasauṣiryam ('this is called the subtle cavity'), with only the final visarga preserved. The Sanskrit is kept as found per [the emendation policy](../notes/sanskrit-emendation-policy.md); the English flags the corruption.
vāyavaḥ, ānāpānāḥ, āśvāsapraśvāsāḥ, kāyasaṁskārāśceti |
Airs, in-and-out, in-breath-and-out-breath, and body-conditioners.
The fourth name, kāya-saṁskāra (body-conditioner), is the term used in MN 118's third tetrad ('calming the body-conditioner, I breathe in'). Asanga signals the canonical anchor here.
tatrānyairvāyubhiḥ sādhāraṇaṁ paryāyanāmaikaṁ |
Of these, one synonym is shared with other airs —
aśithilaprayogatā ca, atyabhyavaṣṭabdhaprayogatā ca |
[Damaged/Conjectural: slack] engagement, and over-tight engagement.
The root prints aśithila-prayogatā ('non-slack engagement'), but the explanation at 6.4 describes laziness, sloth-and-torpor, and outward distraction; the fault required by the paired contrast with over-tight engagement is slack engagement. The English marks this repair rather than silently reversing the printed form.
tatrāśithilaprayogatayā kausīdyaprāptasya styānamiddhaṁ vā cittaṁ paryavanahyati, bahirdhā vā vikṣipyate |
In [Damaged/Conjectural: slack] engagement, falling into laziness, the mind is overcome by sloth-and-torpor or distracted outwardly.
atyabhyavaṣṭabdhaprayuktasya kāyavaiṣamyaṁ cotpadyate |
In over-tight engagement, bodily disturbance arises,
balābhinigraheṇāśvāsapraśvāsānabhiniṣpīḍayataḥ kāye viṣamā vāyavaḥ pravartante |
When one applies force to the breath through forceful restraint — pressing the in-and-out-breaths — irregular airs proceed in the body.
yeṣya tatprathamatasteṣu teṣvaṅgapratyaṅgeṣu sphuranti |
They first stir in such-and-such limbs and minor limbs;
te punaḥ sphurakā vāyavo vivardhamānā rujakā bhavanti |
When these throbbing airs grow, they become rujakas (paining airs);
A clinical observation. Forceful breath-control produces actual physical disturbances — beginning as palpitations or tics (sphuraka — 'throbber') and progressing to pain (rujaka — 'pain-maker'). The remedy isn't a separate technique — it's avoiding both extremes from the start.
prāgasau na vā daurmanasyopāyāsenābhibhūyate |
or before long is overcome by dejection and distress.
asyā ānāpānasmṛteḥ pañcavidhaḥ paricayo veditavyaḥ |
Five familiarities of this ānāpānasmṛti should be known:
tadyathā gaṇanāparicayaḥ, skandhāvatāraparicayaḥ, pratītyasamutpādāvatāraparicayaḥ, satyāvatāraparicayaḥ, ṣoḍaśākāraparicayaśca |
counting-familiarity, aggregate-entry-familiarity, dependent-origination-entry-familiarity, truth-entry-familiarity, and sixteen-aspect-familiarity.
The spine of the Yogācāra breath practice: five progressive depths, each complete in itself, cumulative. Counting establishes stability. Aggregate-entry pivots breath into insight by analyzing the breath into the five aggregates. Dependent-origination-entry traces the conditional chain. Truth-entry generates the four noble truths. Sixteen-aspect-familiarity is the breath-practice sixteenfold sequence parallel to MN 118, not the four-truth ṣoḍaśākāra framework used elsewhere.
tadā āśvāsapraśvāsopanibaddhayā smṛtyā ekamiti gaṇayati |
with mindfulness bound to the in-and-out-breath, he counts 'one.'
yadā āśvāse niruddhe praśvāsa utpadya nirgato bhavati |
When the in-breath has ceased and the out-breath arises and goes out,
eṣā hi gaṇanā saṅkhyā nātisaṁkṣiptā nātivistarā iyamucyate ekaikagaṇanā |
This counting is neither too compressed nor too extended. This is called one-by-one counting.
āśvāsaṁ ca praśvāsaṁ cedaṁ dvayamekatyamabhisaṁkṣipya ekamiti gaṇayati tenocyate dvayaikagaṇanā |
He combines in-and-out into a single unit and counts it as one — thus called two-as-one counting.
anayaivaikaikagaṇanayā, dvayaikagaṇanayā vā, anulomaṁ yāvaddaśa gaṇayati |
By either one-by-one counting or two-as-one counting, he counts forward up to ten.
pratilomaṁ daśa upādāya, navāṣṭau, sapta, ṣaṭ, pañca, yāvadekaṁ gaṇayati |
Starting from ten in reverse — nine, eight, seven, six, five — down to one.
yadā sa ekaikagaṇanāṁ niśritya, dvayaikagaṇanāṁ vā, anulomagaṇanāyāṁ, pratilomagaṇanāyāṁ ca kṛtaparicayo bhavati |
When, relying on one-by-one counting or two-as-one counting, he has made familiarity with forward and reverse counting,
na cāsyāntarāccittaṁ vikṣipyate |
and the mind does not become distracted in the meantime,
tadāsyottaragaṇanāviśeṣo vyapadiśyate |
then his subsequent superior counting is described.
ekaikagaṇanayā vā, dvayaikagaṇanayā vā, dvayamekaṁ kṛtvā gaṇayati |
By either one-by-one or two-as-one counting, he makes two-as-one and counts.
tatra dvayaikagaṇanayā catvāra āśvāsapraśvāsā ekaṁ bhavati |
By two-as-one counting, four in-and-out-breaths are one unit.
ekaikagaṇanayā punarāśvāsapraśvāsaścaikaṁ bhavatyevaṁ yāvaddaśa gaṇayati |
By one-by-one counting, an in-and-out pair is one. Thus he counts up to ten.
evamuttarottaravṛddhyā yāvaccchatamapyekaṁ kṛtvā gaṇayati |
By such progressive enlargement, he eventually makes a hundred breaths one unit and counts.
A precise scaling protocol: one-per-breath (ekaika), then two-per-count, then four, then ten, eventually a hundred. Each scale-up permitted only when the mind doesn't drift in between — a graduated extension of the duration of attention.
tadā śataikagaṇanayānupūrveṇa yāvaddaśa gaṇayati |
Then by hundred-as-one counting in sequence he counts up to ten.
evamasya gaṇanāprayuktasya yāvaddaśaikaṁ kṛtvā gaṇayati |
When this counting-engaged practitioner makes ten-as-one and counts up to ten —
tayā daśaikagaṇanayā na cāsyottarāccittam vikṣipyate |
by this ten-as-one counting the mind does not become distracted afterward.
iyatā tena gaṇanāparicayaḥ kṛto bhavati |
By this much, his counting-familiarity is accomplished.
tasya ca gaṇanāprayuktasya sa ced antarāc cittaṁ vikṣipyate tadā punaḥ pratinivartyādito gaṇayitumārabhate |
Of this counting-engaged practitioner, if the mind becomes distracted in the meantime, he turns back and starts counting again from the beginning,
yadā cāsya gadhayāccittaṁ svarasenaiva svarasavāhimārgeṇaiva samārūḍhamāśvāsapraśvāsālambanopanibaddhamavyavacchinnaṁ nirantaraṁ, pravartamāne āśvāse pravṛttigrāhakaṁ, niruddhe āśvāse praśvāsaśūnyāvasthāgrāhakaṁ, pravṛtte praśvāse pravṛttigrāhakaṁ, nivṛtte punarnivṛttigrāhakam, avikampyamavicalamavikṣepākāraṁ, sābhirāmaṁ ca pravartate |
When his mind, by its own nature (svarasa), goes along the inner path of natural movement — having mounted onto the in-and-out-breath object — uninterrupted, without gap, taking the in-breath as it proceeds, taking the empty-of-out-breath state when the in-breath has ceased, taking the out-breath as it proceeds, taking the cessation when it ceases — unwavering, unmoving, without aspect of distraction, and accompanied by delight —
svarasa-vāhin — 'carried by its own essence.' Echoes stage 9 of the nine mental abidings (svarasa-vāhana). The practitioner has reached the point where the mind goes naturally on the breath — counting becomes unnecessary because attention is self-sustaining.
nānyatrāśvāsapraśvāsālambanaṁ cittamupanibadhyate |
Mind is no longer bound to any object other than the in-and-out-breaths.
āśvāsapraśvāsā anugantavyāścābhilakṣayitavyāśca sāntarāśvāsapraśvāsāḥ sapravṛttinivṛttyavasthāḥ |
The in-and-out-breaths — together with the inner pauses, and with their states of arising and ceasing — are to be followed and characterized.
sa khalveṣa gaṇanāparicayo mṛdvindriyāṇāṁ vyapadiśyate |
This counting-familiarity is prescribed for those of dull faculties.
teṣāmetadvyākṣepasthānaṁ bhavati |
For them, [the breath alone] is a place of distraction.
cittasthitaye cittaniratiye |
For mental abiding, for mental enjoyment, [counting is needed];
anyathā gaṇanāmantareṇa teṣāṁ styānamiddhaṁ vā cittaṁ paryavahet, bahirdhā vā cittaṁ vikṣipyeta, gaṇanāprayuktena tu teṣāmetanna bhavati |
without counting, sloth-and-torpor would overcome them, or the mind would be distracted outwardly — counting-engagement prevents this.
ye tu tīkṣṇendriyāḥ paṭubuddhayaḥ teṣāṁ punargaṇanāprayogeṇa priyārohatā bhavati |
But for those of sharp faculties, with quick understanding, counting-practice is easy to take up.
Asanga explicitly says counting is the training-wheel for those who need it. For sharp-faculty practitioners, priyārohatā is treated here as easy uptake: they can quickly grasp the counting protocol and then move directly to attentive characterization of the breath. The modern question of whether counting is necessary gets a direct answer: only if the mind would otherwise drift.
tatropadiṣṭā evaṁ gaṇanāprayogaṁ laghu laghveva pratividhyanti |
Once instructed, they penetrate the counting-engagement very quickly,
te punarāśvāsapraśvāsālambanāṁ smṛtimupanibadhya yatra ca pravartante, yāvacca pravartante, yathā ca pravartante, yadā ca pravartante |
They bind mindfulness to the in-and-out-breath object, and concerning where it proceeds, how far it proceeds, in what manner it proceeds, and when it proceeds —
tatsarvamanugacchantyupalakṣayantyupasthitayā smṛtyā |
they investigate and characterize all of it with established mindfulness.
tasya ca prayogasyāsevanānvayād bhāvanānvayād bahulīkārānvayāt kāyapraśrabdhirutpadyate, cittapraśrabdhiśca |
Through familiarization, cultivation, and frequent practice of this engagement, bodily pliancy and mental pliancy arise.
ekāgratāṁ ca spṛśatyālambanābhiratiṁ ca nirgacchati |
He attains one-pointedness and comes to delight in the object.
ya evaṁ kṛtaparicayo grāhyagrāhakavastumanaskāreṇa skandhānavatarati |
He who has thus made counting-familiarity, by attending to the matter of grasper-and-grasped, enters the aggregates.
ye cāśvāsapraśvāsā yaścaiṣāmāśrayakāyastaṁ manasi kurvan rūpaskandhamavatarati |
The in-and-out-breaths, and that body which is their support — attending to these, he enters the form-aggregate.
yā teṣāmāśvāsapraśvāsānāṁ tadgrāhikayā smṛtyā saṁprayuktā anubhāvanā sa vedanāskandha ityavatarati |
The experience-and-undergoing of those in-and-out-breaths, conjoined with the mindfulness that grasps them — this he enters as the feeling-aggregate.
yā saṁjānanā saṁjñāskandha ityavatarati |
The cognizing of them — this he enters as the perception-aggregate.
yā cāsau smṛtiryā ca cetanā, yā ca tatra prajñā |
The mindfulness, the volition, and the discernment present here —
yaccittaṁ, mano, vijñānamayaṁ vijñānaskandha ityavatarati |
The mind, mentation, consciousness — this he enters as the consciousness-aggregate.
This is the pivot from śamatha into vipaśyanā applied to the breath. The breath is rūpa; the felt-tone of attending to it is vedanā; the recognizing 'this is in-breath' is saṁjñā; the mindfulness-intention-discernment present is saṁskāra; the bare cognizing is vijñāna. Breath becomes a fully analyzed phenomenological event.
evaṁ skandheṣvavatīrṇasyāyamucyate skandhāvatāraparicayaḥ |
thus having entered the aggregates — this is called aggregate-entry-familiarity.
parijñātaṁ saṁskāramātraṁ, vastumātraṁ, tadā sa eṣāmeva saṁskārāṇāṁ pratītyasamutpādamavatarati |
fully understood it as mere formation, mere substance, then he enters the dependent origination of these very formations.
sa evaṁ rūpamanveṣate, paryeṣate, itīye āśvāsapraśvāsāḥ kimāśritāḥ, kiṁpratyayāstasyaivaṁ bhavati |
He searches and seeks: 'These in-and-out-breaths — supported by what? Conditioned by what?'
kāyāśritā ete āśvāsapraśvāsāḥ kāyapratyayāścittāśritāścittapratyayāśca |
It occurs to him: 'These in-and-out-breaths are body-supported, body-conditioned; mind-supported, mind-conditioned.
kāyaḥ punaścittaṁ ca kiṁ pratyayaṁ ca |
The body and the mind — what are they conditioned by?'
sa kāyaṁ yaḥ cittaṁ ca jīvitendriyapratyayamityavatarati |
He enters: 'The body and the mind are conditioned by the life-faculty.'
sa pūrvakaṁ saṁskāramavidyāpratyayamityavatarati |
he enters: 'The previous formation is conditioned by ignorance.'
iti hi avidyāpratyayaḥ pūrvakaḥ saṁskāraḥ sarvasaṁskārapratyayaṁ jīvitendriyaṁ, jīvitendriyapratyayaḥ kāyo, vijñānaṁ ca, kāyacittapratyayā āśvāsapraśvāsāḥ |
Thus: the previous formation is conditioned by ignorance; the life-faculty is conditioned by all formations; body and consciousness are conditioned by the life-faculty; the in-and-out-breaths are conditioned by body-and-mind.
tatrāvidyānirodhāt saṁskāranirodhaḥ |
From the cessation of ignorance, cessation of formations.
saṁskāranirodhājjīvitendriyanirodhaḥ |
From the cessation of formations, cessation of the life-faculty.
jīvitendriyanirodhāt kāyacittanirodhaḥ |
From the cessation of the life-faculty, cessation of body-and-mind.
kāyacittanirodhādāśvāsapraśvāsanirodhaḥ |
From the cessation of body-and-mind, cessation of in-and-out-breaths.
sa tadbahulavihārī pratītyasamutpādākāre kṛtaparicaya ityucyate |
Frequently abiding in this, he is said to have made familiarity in the dependent-origination aspect.
A compressed five-link chain (ignorance → previous-formations → life-faculty → body/consciousness → breath), focused on what makes breathing happen. At 11.10, sarva-saṁskāra-pratyayaṁ jīvitendriyam means the life-faculty is conditioned by formations; it should not be read as 'the previous formation conditioning all formations is the life-faculty.' Asanga grounds the abstract twelve-link doctrine in immediate experiential observation: this very breath depends on these conditions.
ayamucyate pratītyasamutpādāvatāraparicayaḥ |
This is called dependent-origination-entry-familiarity.
sa evaṁ pratītyasamutpāde kṛtaparicayo ya ete saṁskārāḥ pratītyasamutpannāḥ |
Having thus made familiarity in dependent origination: 'These formations which are dependently arisen —
anityatvādabhūtvā ca prativigacchanti |
Because of impermanence: not having been, they pass away.
bhūtvā ca prativigacchanti |
having come to be, they pass away.
abhūtvā bhavanti, bhūtvā ca prativigacchanti — 'not having been, they come to be; having come to be, they pass away.' The canonical Pali anicca refrain rendered into Sanskrit, anchoring the later final-tetrad move to 'contemplating impermanence.'
te jātidharmāṇo, jarādharmāṇo, vyādhidharmāṇo, maraṇadharmāṇaḥ |
They are subject to birth, aging, illness, death.
ye jātijarāvyādhimaraṇadharmāṇaste duḥkhā, ye duḥkhāste anātmānaḥ, asvatantrāḥ, svāmivirahitāḥ |
What is subject to birth, aging, illness, death — that is suffering. What is suffering — that is not-self, not autonomous, devoid of master.
evaṁ so 'nityaduḥkhaśūnyānātmākārairduḥkhasatyamavatīrṇo bhavati |
Thus by the aspects of impermanent, suffering, empty, and not-self, he has entered the truth of suffering.
duḥkhabhūtā, rogabhūtā, gaṇḍabhūtā, sarvāsau tṛṣṇāpratyayāḥ |
that is suffering-become, illness-become, ulcer-become; all of it conditioned by craving.
yat punarasyā duḥkhajanikāyāstṛṣṇāyā aśeṣaprahāṇametacchāntametat praṇītametat tamevaṁ ca me jānata, evaṁ bahulavihāriṇastṛṣṇāyā aśeṣaprahāṇaṁ bhaviṣyatīti |
Whatever is the complete abandoning of this craving that gives rise to suffering: 'This is peace, this is excellent. Knowing this thus and abiding frequently thus, the complete abandoning of craving will come to be for me.'
evaṁ hi samudayasatyaṁ, nirodhasatyaṁ, mārgasatyamavatīrṇo bhavati |
Thus he enters the truth of arising, the truth of cessation, and the truth of the path.
sa tadbahulavihārī yadā satyānyabhisamāgacchati |
Frequently abiding in this — when he comprehends the truths —
darśanaprahātavyeṣu dharmeṣu prahīṇeṣu bhāvanāprahātavyā avaśiṣṭā bhavanti |
with the abandoning of dharmas to be abandoned by seeing, the dharmas to be abandoned by cultivation remain.
yeṣāṁ prahāṇāya ṣoḍaśākāraparicayaṁ karoti |
For their abandoning, he makes the sixteen-aspect-familiarity.
smṛta āśvāsaḥ ta āśvasan smṛta āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Mindful while breathing in: he trains 'I breathe in mindful.'
smṛtaḥ praśvasan praśvasimīti śikṣate |
Mindful while breathing out: he trains 'I breathe out mindful.'
āśvasan sarvakāyapratisaṁvedī āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Breathing in experiencing the whole body, he trains 'I breathe in experiencing the whole body.'
sarvakāyapratisaṁvedī praśvasimīti śikṣate |
he trains 'I breathe out experiencing the whole body.'
praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān āśvasan praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Calming the body-conditioner, breathing in, he trains 'I breathe in calming the body-conditioner.'
praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān praśvasan, praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān praśvasimīti śikṣate |
Breathing out, he trains 'I breathe out calming the body-conditioner.'
prītipratisaṁvedī sukhapratisaṁvedī śikṣate |
Experiencing rapture; experiencing happiness — he trains.
cittasaṁskārapratisamvedī praśrabhya cittasaṁskārān āśvasan, praśrabhya cittasaṁskārān āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Experiencing the mental-formation; calming the mental-formation, breathing in: he trains 'I breathe in calming the mental-formation.'
praśrabhya cittasaṁskārān praśvasan, praśrabhya cittasaṁskārān praśvasimīti śikṣate |
Breathing out, he trains 'I breathe out calming the mental-formation.'
abhipramodayaṁścittaṁ, samādadhaccittaṁ, vimocayañcittaṁ āśvasan vimocayan cittaṁ āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Gladdening the mind; concentrating the mind; liberating the mind, breathing in: he trains 'I breathe in liberating the mind.'
vimocayaṁścittaṁ praśvasan vimocayaṁścittaṁ praśvasimīti śikṣate |
Breathing out, he trains 'I breathe out liberating the mind.'
anityānudarśī, prahāṇānudarśī, virāgānudarśī āśvasan nirodhānudarśī āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Contemplating impermanence; contemplating abandoning; contemplating dispassion; breathing in: he trains 'I breathe in contemplating cessation.'
nirodhānudarśī praśvasan nirodhānudarśī praśvasimīti śikṣate |
Breathing out, he trains 'I breathe out contemplating cessation.'
sa śaikṣo dṛṣṭaprapavādo lābhī bhavati |
the trainee who has attained seeing becomes capable
caturṇāṁ smṛtyupasthānānāṁ āśvāsapraśvāsālambanaṁ ca |
of attending to the four foundations of mindfulness with the in-and-out-breath as object;
yadā āśvāsaṁ vā praśvāsaṁ vā ālambate tadā dīrghamāśvasimi praśvasimīti śikṣate |
When he takes the in-breath or out-breath as object, he trains 'I breathe in long, I breathe out long.'
yadā antarāśvāsamantaraḥpraśvāsaṁ vālambanīkaroti |
When he makes the inner-in-breath or inner-out-breath the object,
Asanga's gloss on 'long/short' is unique. The 'long' breath is the standard in/out cycle. The 'short' breath is the inner in-breath and inner out-breath — the brief turnaround pauses. So 'long' and 'short' are not about duration but about which phase of respiration is the object. This resolves a long-standing ambiguity in MN 118.
tadā hrasvamāśvasimi praśvasimīti śikṣate |
he trains 'I breathe in short, I breathe out short.'
tathā hi āśvāsapraśvāsā dīrghāḥ pravartante |
Thus indeed the in-and-out-breaths proceed long;
antarāśvāsā antaraḥpraśvāsāśca hrasvāste tathaiva pravartante |
the inner-in-breaths and inner-out-breaths are short, and proceed accordingly.
yadā sūkṣmasauṣiryagatānāśvāsapraśvāsā vikṣepānupraviṣṭān kāye adhimucyate |
When he resolves upon the in-and-out-breaths as having reached the subtle cavity and entered into diffusion throughout the body,
niruddhe ca praśvāse 'ntaraḥpraśvāse ca |
When the out-breath has ceased and the inner-out-breath is present,
anutpanne āśvāse 'ntarāśvāse ca |
when the in-breath has not yet arisen and the inner-in-breath is present,
praśvāsāśvāsaśūnyāṁ, tadvyupetāṁ, tadvyavahitāṁ sitāmavasthāmālambanī karoti |
[Damaged/Conjectural]: he makes the state empty of out-breath and in-breath — separated from them, interrupted by them, [possibly: the still/resting state] — the object.
The printed/root phrase sitām avasthām is difficult. A literal 'white state' is contextually awkward in this breath-pause analysis, though sitām may be defensible if understood from √sī ('to bind') rather than as 'white.' The English therefore gives the likely functional sense — the still/resting interval-state empty of the moving in-breath and out-breath — while marking the line [Damaged/Conjectural]. Sanskrit JSON is left unchanged.
tasmin samaye praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān āśvasan, praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān āśvasimīti śikṣate |
At that time, calming the body-conditioner, breathing in — he trains 'I breathe in calming the body-conditioner.'
praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān praśvasan, praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān praśvasimīti śikṣate |
Breathing out, he trains 'I breathe out calming the body-conditioner.'
api tu khalu tasyāsevanānvayād bhāvanānvayād bahulīkārānvayāt |
Through familiarization, cultivation, and frequent practice —
ye kharā, duḥsaṁsparśā, āśvāsapraśvāsāḥ pūrva-akṛtaparicayasya pravṛttā bhavanti |
those rough, unpleasant-to-touch in-and-out-breaths that proceeded for one previously not familiar —
kṛtaparicayasya anye ca mṛdavaḥ sukhasaṁsparśāḥ pravartante |
for the familiarized one, other breaths proceed: soft, pleasant-to-touch.
An empirical observation: beginning practice produces breath that is kharā, duḥsaṁsparśā (rough, unpleasant-to-touch). Mature practice produces breath that is mṛdavaḥ, sukha-saṁsparśāḥ (soft, pleasant-to-touch). Every meditator notices this; Asanga grounds the sutta phrase 'calming the body-conditioner' in it.
tenāha praśrabhya kāyasaṁskārān āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Therefore he says, 'calming the body-conditioner, I breathe in' — he trains.
sa caivamānāpānasmṛtiprayogeṇa ca yuktaḥ sa cel lābhī bhavati |
Engaged in ānāpānasmṛti in this manner, if he is one who attains
prathamasya vā dhyānasya, dvitīyasya vā yasmin samaye prītipratisaṁvedī āśvasan, prītipratisaṁvedī āśvasimīti śikṣate |
the first or the second absorption — at that time, 'experiencing rapture, breathing in, he trains: experiencing rapture, I breathe in.'
tṛtīyadhyānādūrdhvaṁ ānāpānasmṛtisaṁprayogo nāsti |
Beyond the third absorption, ānāpānasmṛti is no longer applicable.
Breath practice is viable through the third jhāna; in the fourth, breath ceases (consistent with the earlier statement that fourth-jhāna attainers don't breathe). This bounds the applicability of ānāpānasmṛti by absorption level, without collapsing the sixteenfold breath sequence into the separate four-truth sixteen-aspect framework.
yena yāvattṛtīyadhyānāt parikīrtitaṁ saṁgṛhītaṁ |
'As far as the third absorption' — by this much the practice is comprehended.
tasyaivaṁ prītipratisaṁvedino vā, sukhapratisaṁvedino vā |
Of this practitioner — experiencing rapture, or experiencing happiness —
sa cet kadācitkarhicit smṛtisaṁpramoṣādutpadyate |
if at some time, due to occasional loss of mindfulness, [confusion] arises:
asmīti vā ayamahamasmīti vā bhaviṣyāmīti vā, na bhaviṣyāmīti vā, rūpī bhaviṣyāmyarūpī bhaviṣyāmi |
'I am,' or 'this very I am,' 'I shall be' or 'I shall not be,' 'I shall be with form, I shall be without form,'
naiva saṁjñī, nāsaṁjñī bhaviṣyāmītyevaṁ saṁmohasaṁjñācetanāsahagatamiñjitaṁ manthitaprapañcitamabhisaṁskṛtaṁ tṛṣṇāgatamutpadyate |
'I shall be neither-percipient-nor-non-percipient' — when agitation accompanied by deluded perception and volition, churned into proliferation, formed and craving-bound, arises in this way,
Even in jhāna, the eight standard self-related conceptual moves can intrude — 'I am, I shall be, I shall not be, I shall be with form, without form, percipient, non-percipient, neither.' The practitioner abandons these at first sign. This is the prapañca (proliferation) detection mapped onto the third tetrad's 'calming the mental-formation.'
yat tadutpannaṁ laghu laghveva prajñayā pratividhyati |
that which has arisen, he penetrates quickly with discernment.
evaṁ cittasaṁskārapratisaṁvedī praśrabhya cittasaṁskārān āśvasimīti āśvasan praśrabhya cittasaṁskārān āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Thus, 'experiencing the mental-formation, calming the mental-formation, breathing in, I breathe in calming the mental-formation' — he trains.
sa cet punarlābhī bhavati maulānāṁ prathamadvitīyatṛtīyadhyānānāṁ sa cāvaśyamanāgamyasya prathamadhyānasāmantakasya lābhī bhavati |
If he is one who attains the basic first, second, or third absorptions, and is necessarily an attainer of the access (anāgamya) of the first absorption,
sa taṁ niśrityotpannaṁ svaṁ cittaṁ pratyavekṣate |
taking that as support, he reviews his arisen mind:
sarāgaṁ vā, vigatarāgaṁ vā, sadveṣaṁ vā, vigatadveṣaṁ vā, samohaṁ vā, vigatamohaṁ, saṁkṣiptaṁ, līnaṁ, pragṛhītamuddhatamanuddhataṁ, vyupaśāntamavyupaśāntaṁ, samāhitamasamāhitaṁ, subhāvitamasubhāvitaṁ, vimuktaṁ cittamavimuktaṁ cittamiti yathābhūtaṁ prajānāti |
with passion or without passion; with hatred or without; with delusion or without; contracted, slack, gripped, agitated or not agitated, calmed or not calmed, concentrated or not concentrated, well-cultivated or not well-cultivated, liberated or not liberated — thus he knows the mind as-it-actually-is.
sa yadā styānamiddhanivaraṇe cittaṁ niśritaṁ bhavati |
When the mind is fixed on the hindrance of sloth-and-torpor,
adhyātmaṁ saṁgamayataḥ yadānyatamānyatamena prasādanīyenālambanena saṁdarśayati |
gathering it inwardly, he displays one or another inspiring object,
yadā punarauddhatyanivaraṇena kaukṛtyanivaraṇena nivṛttaṁ paśyati |
When he sees [the mind] checked by the hindrance of agitation or the hindrance of remorse,
abhisaṁpragṛhṇatastadā anyatamamanyatamena prasādanīyenālambanena saṁdarśayatyadhyātmamavasthāpayati |
taking hold of it, he displays one or another inspiring object and establishes it inwardly.
The mind-tetrad operationalized as hindrance-management. Sloth-and-torpor calls for gladdening. Agitation-and-remorse calls for concentrating. When neither is present, the mind is liberated from hindrances. Same instruction as VSM Ch 4's balancing of faculties, applied here as breath-tetrad commentary.
yadā ca taccittamāsevanānvayād bhāvanānvayād bahulīkārānvayānnivaraṇasamudācārāya dūrīkṛtaṁ bhavati |
When through familiarization, cultivation, and frequent practice that mind has become distanced from the active occurrence of hindrances,
tenāha vimocayañcittamāśvasan vimocayañcittamāśvasimīti śikṣate |
therefore 'liberating the mind, breathing in, I breathe in liberating the mind' — he trains.
tasya nivaraṇebhyo vimuktacetaso mārgabhāvanāyā āntarāyikebhyaḥ anuśayā avaśiṣṭā bhavanti |
Of the one whose mind is liberated from the hindrances obstructive to path-cultivation, the latent tendencies remain.
sa teṣāṁ prahāṇāya mārgaṁ saṁmukhīkaroti yaduta saṁskārānityatāmeva sādhu ca, suṣṭhu ca, yoniśaḥ pratyavekṣate |
For their abandoning, he confronts the path — namely, he carefully, properly, and wisely examines the impermanence of formations.
tena ca pūrvaṁ prathamadvitīyatṛtīyadhyānasanniśrayeṇānāgamyasaṁniśrayeṇa vā punaḥ śamathayogaḥ |
Previously, there was śamatha engagement supported by the first, second, or third absorption, or by access.
The transition is temporal: first śamatha-yoga supported by absorption or access, then direct vipaśyanā on impermanence at 19.6. The prior English fragment was not wrong in content, but it did not read as a sentence.
ṛjuṁ etarhi anityānudarśīvipaśyanāyāṁ yogaṁ karotyevaṁ asya taccittaṁ śamathavipaśyanāparibhāvitaṁ dhātuṣu vimucyate |
Now, engaging directly in the contemplation of impermanence, he engages in vipaśyanā. Thus his mind, perfumed by śamatha-vipaśyanā, is liberated in the elements,
yaśca prahāṇadhāturyaśca virāgadhātuḥ, yaśca nirodhadhātuḥ |
The element of abandoning, the element of dispassion, and the element of cessation.
Three 'elements' name the three remaining work-products of the path: prahāṇa-dhātu (abandoning, for seeing-abandonable defilements), virāga-dhātu (dispassion, for cultivation-abandonable defilements), nirodha-dhātu (cessation, for the bases of clinging). Śamatha-vipaśyanā on the breath with these as aim brings the mind to liberation.
tatra sarvasaṁskārāṇāṁ darśanaprahātavyānāṁ prahāṇāt prahāṇadhātuḥ |
The abandoning of all formations to be abandoned by seeing — that is the abandoning-element.
sarvasaṁskārāṇāṁ bhāvanāprahātavyānāṁ prahāṇādvirāgadhātuḥ |
The abandoning of all formations to be abandoned by cultivation — that is the dispassion-element.
sarvopadhinirodhānnirodhadhātuḥ |
The cessation of all bases of clinging — that is the cessation-element.
sa evaṁ trīn dhātūn śāntato manasi kurvan, kṣemataḥ, ārogyataḥ, śamathavipaśyanāṁ bhāvayati |
Thus, attending to the three elements as peace, as security, as health, he cultivates śamatha-vipaśyanā.
yenāsyāsevanānvayād bhāvanānvayād bahulīkārānvayādavaśiṣṭebhyo bhāvanāprahātavyebhyaḥ kleśebhyaścittaṁ vimucyate |
Through familiarization, cultivation, and frequent practice, the mind is liberated from the remaining cultivation-abandonable defilements.
tenāha prahāṇānudarśī, virāgānudarśī, nirodhānudarśī āśvasan nirodhānudarśī āśvasimīti śikṣate |
Therefore 'contemplating abandoning, contemplating dispassion, contemplating cessation, breathing in, I breathe in contemplating cessation' — he trains.
evamayaṁ darśanabhāvanāprahātavyeṣu kleśeṣu |
Thus, when the defilements abandonable by seeing and by cultivation
prahīṇeṣvarhan bhavati |
have been abandoned, he becomes an arhat,
Breath practice, fully matured through the five familiarities, yields arhatship. The same claim MN 118 makes. The sixteen aspects, properly developed, are sufficient for full liberation.
kṣīṇāsravaḥ nāstyasyāta uttarakaraṇīyaṁ bhavati |
one whose outflows are exhausted. There is nothing further to be done by him.
yatra vitarkacaritaḥ pudgalaḥ prayujyamānaḥ priyārohatayā prayujyate |
Where an applied-thought-conduct person is engaged, he engages through easy uptake [of the object].
savyokṣepamadhyātmaṁ pratyātmaṁ āsannāsannaṁ yenāsya tatra prayujyamānasya yo vitarkasaṁkṣobhaḥ sa na bhavati |
[Damaged/Conjectural]: inward, personal, very near — because of this, the applied-thought agitation that would arise for one engaging there does not arise.
The source phrase savyokṣepamadhyātmaṁ pratyātmaṁ āsannāsannaṁ is unstable. The current English keeps the likely functional sense — the breath object is inward, one's own, and very near, so it does not provoke applied-thought agitation in an applied-thought-conduct person — but marks the line [Damaged/Conjectural] rather than presenting the parse as secure.
idaṁ pañcavidhaṁ vitarkacaritasya pudgalasya caritaviśodhanamālambanaṁ |
This is the fivefold conduct-purifying object for the applied-thought-conduct person.