The Anapanasati Sutta is the Buddha’s Discourse on the Mindfulness of Breathing. However, this sutta covers far more than mindfulness of breathing alone. In this style of meditation, we use the breath to maintain concentration and steadiness of mind, as we explore all facets of our experience, from the simplicity of the breath and the body through deep wisdom and insight. Anapanasati practice can help us to learn to balance concentration with mindfulness and investigation. Also, the Anapansati instructions align closely with the path of Transcendent Dependent Arising, which we are exploring this year at Seattle Insight.
In this class, we will cover the four sets of instructions in the Anapansati sutta. We’ll start with awareness of the breath and the body; move to rapture and other feelings; then to the mind; and finally toward wisdom and the recognition of impermanence and cessation. The classes will combine meditation instruction from the Anapanasati Sutta along with practical suggestions for how to incorporate the teachings into our daily practice.
We will follow these four classes with a fifth session where we will regroup and talk about how the practice has been going over the past month and how to continue with it into the future.
The class will meet for four consecutive Thursdays (5/21, 5/28, 6/4, and 6/11) and then will meet for a fifth time on 6/25. We will not meet on 6/18 to accommodate the visit from the guest teacher.
Prerequisites
Basic instruction in insight meditation requested.
Registration & Donation
Please RSVP below to join the class. You will receive a zoom link before the event begins.
Dana is a term for generosity, or freely offered giving. You can read more and offer dana to Seattle Insight and the teachers here.
