English
in-breaths and out-breaths its object. Therefore it is said: "And that indeed by way of following the beginning, middle, and end." The navel is the beginning because it first arises there. Indeed, here, the consideration of the beginning is by way of first arising, not merely by way of arising. For thus they arise everywhere, from the navel up to the tip of the nose. And wherever they arise, there they cease, because phenomena have no movement. But according to conditions, the reaching of another place is called movement. "The heart is the middle" means the upper part near the heart is the middle. "The tip of the nose is the end" means the nose-place, its end, because it is the limit of the in-breaths and out-breaths by convention. Thus these are said to be mind-originated, and there is no possibility of mind-originated things outside. Therefore it is said: "The tip of the nose is the beginning of the internal entering wind." But the sequence of entering and exiting should be understood as stated in a similar way. "Gone to distraction" means gone to distraction, distracted, unconcentrated, is the meaning. "With agitation" means with a state of agitation. "With wavering" means with the wavering of attention to the meditation object. "With a mind gone to distraction" is an instrumental case indicating cause, or a characteristic of such a state. "Agitated" means with agitation. "Wavering" means wavering, moving, and also trembling. "By way of beginning, middle, and end" means by way of following the beginning, middle, and end. should not be kept in mind. To explain what was said with the intention, "By one who attends to the following, it should be kept in mind by way of touching and by way of placing," he says, "as if by way of counting and following," and so on. There, there is no separate attention. That is, without counting and following, there is no meditation attention by way of mere touching and by way of mere placing, respectively. But is there not attention without touching, just as there is without placing, and also without counting? Although there is not, counting should be taken as primary, as it is the basis of meditation attention. Similarly, following is primary because placing is impossible without it. Therefore, even though touching is not immediate, he shows the absence of that in the others, taking counting and following as primary due to their foundational nature, and says, "Indeed, there is no separate attention by way of touching and placing, as there is by way of counting and following." If so, why were they taken separately in the enumeration? He says, "In the very places touched," and so on. There, "counting in the very places touched" shows that touching is an auxiliary of counting. Therefore, he says, "He attends by counting and by touching." "There itself" means in the very places touched. "They" are the in-breaths and out-breaths. "Following with mindfulness" means following the method of counting and binding with mindfulness, which means continuously observing them in the very places touched. "Placing the mind by way of absorption" means placing the mind on the arisen sign, concentrating it so that absorption occurs. In "by following and so on," the construction is "it is said that one attends by following, by touching, and by placing." This meaning is what was stated as, "counting in the very places touched, withdrawing the counting there, and following them with mindfulness." That which does not measure or determine at all is near to measurement, this is the simile. like an ox, like a wild ox. Lame means crawling on the ground. Swing means a swing. Playing means those who are playing. Of mother and son means of his wife and son. Both ends means the front end of one coming, the back end of one going, both ends. And the middle means the middle of the swing-plank. Like the binding post means the binding post, or the tip of the nose, or the sign of the mouth, standing at its base, near it. How standing? By way of mindfulness. For the yogi, making mindfulness well-established there, is said to be standing there, because the whole is designated by its parts. At the sign means at the sign of the tip of the nose and so on. Seated by mindfulness means sitting by way of mindfulness. "For mindfulness there" and so on, should be said as in the case of standing. There means at the place of contact. They means the people who went inside and outside the city, and their possessions that they held. From the beginning means starting from the perception of the object of comparison. In the verse, sign means the binding sign. Not an object of one mind means not an object of one mind, it means they are not objects. And the three states for one who does not know means these three states, the sign, in-breath, out-breath, for one who does not find them by making them objects. The word "ca" is for exclusion. Development means the development of mindfulness of breathing concentration. Is not obtained means is not obtained, is not accomplished, this is the meaning of the challenging verse. The second verse, however, the refuting verse, is easily understood. How means the question desiring to speak, to explain the meaning of those challenging and refuting verses. In "these three states" and so on, with the word construction, this is the explanation of the meaning: How are these three states, the sign and so on, not objects of one mind? Even when there is no object-ness, how are these three states not unknown? And how are they not unknown? For when they are unknown, how does the mind not go to distraction? And how is the effort, which produces development, perceived? And the hindrances How does the yogi accomplish the practice, which is called the application of development, that knowledge which dispels, and brings about right concentration? And how does he attain higher and higher worldly and transcendent distinction? Now, to explain that meaning with the simile of the saw, it is said, "Just as..." and so on. If the ground is uneven, cutting a shaky tree would not be easy. And in that case, the movement of the saw's teeth would be hard to discern. Therefore, it is said, "on level ground." "With a saw" means with a small, rough blade. Therefore, it is said, "a man." "At the saw's touching teeth" means by way of the saw's teeth that touch again and again. Thereby, it shows that the man's mindfulness is established only at the places touched by the saw's teeth. Therefore, it is said, "he does not pay attention to the saw's teeth that have come or gone." When the saw is pulled, it is said to have "come," moving towards the man. When it is pushed, it is said to have "gone," moving away from him. And the saw's teeth, whether they have come or gone, are not unknown, because mindfulness is established everywhere, and there are no saw's teeth that go or come without touching the place to be cut. "Effort" means the effort of cutting the tree. "Practice" means the act of cutting itself. In the simile, the phrase "attains distinction" is not in the Pāli text, but it should be supplied. Therefore, in the Visuddhimagga (Visuddhi. 1.227), even in the simile, the phrase "attains distinction" is supplied and stated. And in its commentary, the meaning of "distinction" is given as "bringing about many states, and thereby the specific purpose to be accomplished." "Just as a tree," and so on, is the comparison of the simile. That by which one binds the mind to the object is called mindfulness, the "binder." The sign of discerning the in-breaths and out-breaths is the "binder-sign," the tip of the nose or the mouth-sign. Just so, as that man, cutting a tree with a saw, even without paying attention to the saw's teeth that have come and gone, by establishing mindfulness only at the places touched by the saw's teeth, the saw's teeth that have come and gone... he knows, and without deviating from the path of the Suttas, he accomplishes his purpose, just so. "Facial mark on the tip of the nose" means, for one with a long nose, on the tip of the nose; for another, "facial mark" is the upper lip, so named because the mouth is covered by it. "This is exertion" means that the energy by which a yogi, who has aroused energy, has both his body and mind fit for action, capable of meditation, suitable for meditation, this energy is exertion. He shows the cause by the effect. "Defilements are abandoned" means that the defilements of the mind, which are hindrances, are abandoned by suppression. "Thoughts subside" means that the wrong thoughts, such as sensual thoughts, subside from that very cause. Or, having shown the attainment of the first jhāna by the abandonment of hindrances, he speaks of the attainment of the second jhāna and so on by the subsidence of thoughts. "This is the practice" means this application to the meditation subject, which is the cause of the attainment of jhāna, is the practice. "Fetters are abandoned" means that all ten fetters are abandoned by eradication in due course of the path. "Latent tendencies are eliminated" means that similarly, the seven latent tendencies are completely eliminated, leaving not even a trace of breaking up, by being brought to a state of non-arising. Here, the abandonment of fetters occurs only through the cessation of latent tendencies, and it is said, "Fetters are abandoned, latent tendencies are eliminated," to show that when fetters are abandoned, not even a trace of latent tendencies will remain. "This is the distinction" means this abandonment of fetters and so on, which is gradually attained by means of this concentration, is the distinction of this concentration. "By whom" means by which. "Gradually" means in due order. "Practiced" means cultivated. This is the brief meaning here: The mindfulness of breathing, as taught by the Buddha, the Blessed One, which has been gradually practiced and well cultivated by means of knowing long and short breaths and so on,