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Anapanasati Sutra
You say, “sutta,” I say, “sutra,” let’s call the whole thing off. They are different versions of the same word. The word refers to the written versions of what the Buddha said during his lifetime, as recorded by his leading students after he died. It is the authoritative source for what the Buddha taught.
Because, according to the tradition, they are the memories of his students, they start with, “I have heard,” or “Thus have I heard….”
The Anapanasati Sutra is a very important sutra. “Anapanasati” means “mindfulness of in and out breathing.” This is deceptively simple. There is a standard distinction between shamatha and vipassana meditation, with teachers of vipassana often claiming that shamatha is just a preliminary practice to get you ready for vipassana, which they claim is where people on the Buddhist path do the real work of awakening.
But the Buddha himself said, “”This is how mindfulness of in-&-out breathing is developed & pursued so as to bring the four frames of reference to their culmination.”
He then goes on to answer this question: “”And how are the four frames of reference developed & pursued so as to bring the seven factors for awakening to their culmination?” Here he refers to the standard Seven Factors of Awakening. Of those, the Buddha said, in a different sutra, “These seven factors of enlightenment, verily…
