Breathing Mindfulness

“Sarah Shaw brings meditation alive in her well-researched book on Buddhist breath meditation. In describing the depth and breadth of her subject, her writing provides a feel for the wonderous experiences of breathing mindfulness.” —Gil Fronsdal, author of The Buddha before Buddhism and founding teacher at the Insight Meditation Center   “Drawing on Buddhist texts, field research, and interviews, this is a fascinating overview of the numerous interlocking ways in which the practice of mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati) has developed and thrived. The image of an ancient, life-rich forest is used to illustrate this richness of ways of working with the breath, from ancient India to Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka of recent centuries and, more recently, in the West. Key ancient texts are explored on the understanding of the 16 stages of ānāpānasati and on how they are used to support both samatha and vipassanā: deep calm and incisive insight. The use of ānāpānasati in Southeast Asia is shown to vary from the “dry” insight practices first championed in Myanmar in the nineteenth century—Shaw explores, for example, older traditions drawing on yantras and related chants, as well the Thai forest tradition, where breath meditation is drawn on alongside a strong adherence to Vinaya (Buddhist monastic training). The book helps practitioners of one style of ānāpānasati to locate their practice within a wider tradition, and scholars to see the potent variety of this practice.” —Peter Harvey, author of An Introduction to Buddhism and Professor Emeritus of Buddhist Studies at the University of Sunderland