What did the Buddha have to say about Hara Breathing?

The short answer is that it appears, to the best of my knowledge, nothing. Let me unpack this.

My entry point into hara development was Zen training. The tradition I practice places emphasizes hara breathing, which I hope we’ve clarified in this blog.   This emphasis probably makes us unusual in today's Zen world, or, at least, in the West.

Several years ago, a Zen master in a different, non-Japanese lineage asked me what I thought of Anapanasati Sutra. He was surprised when I told him I had never heard of it. He explained that it was the sutra in which the Buddha gave instructions on breathing during meditation and that it had a direct relevance to hara development. This information took me aback. In all the research I had done on hara development, the sutra was off my radar. After that first mention, I came across other references to it.

I'll digress for those needing to learn what a Buddhist sutra is. The word refers to canonical texts. Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical Buddha, didn't leave any written record of his teaching. After he died (sometime between 483 and 400 BCE), his disciples met in what is known as the first Buddhist Council to write down what he had taught. The outcome of this process came to be called the sutras. This collection is known as the Pali Canon because they were written in Pali, the language the Buddha spoke. The Anapansati Sutra is part of the Pali canon.

About four hundred years after Buddha died, a movement arose within Buddhism that called itself "Mahayana," meaning the "Great Vehicle." In many ways, the movement coalesced around newer texts, also called sutras. They were, by and large, written in Sanskrit.[1]   Buddhism in China, Tibet, and Japan is Mahayana. That could be one reason I wasn't exposed to the Pali Canon in my Zen training. This would explain why I was unfamiliar with the Anapanasati Sutra. But I'm still amazed it took so long for me to come across it.

Anapanasati means "mindfulness of breath" (anapana=inhalation and exhalation; sati=mindfulness). So, the Anapanasati Sutra is the Buddha's discourse on the mindfulness of breath. Other less literal translations are variations of the same theme. For example, Thich Nhat Hahn calls it the "Sutra on the Full Awareness of Breathing." 

The Anapanasati is short, as far as sutras go. In it, the Buddha instructs his disciples how to breathe during meditation.    The instructions begin as follows:

"The practitioner goes into the forest or to the foot of a tree, or to any deserted place, sits stably in the lotus position, holding his or her body quite straight, and practices like this: 'Breathing in, I know I am breathing in. Breathing out, I know I am breathing out.'" This is followed by a series of similar instructions, such as: "Breathing in a long breath, I know I am breathing in a long breath. Breathing out a long breath, I know I am breathing out a long breath." And then, "Breathing in a short breath, I know I am breathing in a short breath. Breathing out a short breath, I know I am breathing out a short breath." [2]In all, there are sixteen such instructions of what to be aware of (mindful) when breathing. Commentators have classified these instructions as involving awareness of the body (including breath), feelings, mind awareness, and mental process (dhamma). [3]

The Anapanasati Sutra makes no mention of the lower abdomen. Nor does it instruct the practitioner to change or regulate the breath in any way. The primary instruction is to observe the breath or specific aspects of breathing. That makes it an instruction in mindfulness, not the development of breath. And these instructions are consistent with what I've seen in contemporary mindfulness practices. I've found that students who started studying with me after training in mindfulness-based meditation often have difficulty with the fact that we regulate our breath. I've even had some people say it's not "right" to do that.

This brings up what’s probably the main reason why I wasn't exposed to the Anapanasati Sutra in my training: We don't practice mindfulness. Instead, we work hard to change our breathing to slow, deep respirations in which the lower abdomen is expanded, whether inhaling or exhaling. In other words, we work to develop and then deepen hara breathing. This is not what the Buddha taught.

So, I return to my initial statement: It appears the Buddha had nothing to say about hara development. Why do I say "appears"? I'm not a Buddhist scholar; I can't read either Pali or Sanskrit. There are hundreds of sutras, but I haven't read most of them. There may be hara development instructions in some of them. I'm skeptical, given I haven't seen any hints that they're out there. We'd like to hear from anyone who knows otherwise.  You can contact us here.

This raises the question of how hara breathing became central in some lineages of Zen. I have some ideas about it. I'll be writing about them in the future.

[1] “Sutta” is a Pali word, “Sutra” is its equivalent in Sanskrit. To avoid confusion, I’ve used the former term regardless of the original language of the text.

[2] Quoted from “Breathe, You’re Alive”, by Thich Nhat Hahn.

[3] I learned more recently that there is another sutra in the Pali Canon that also includes instructions on breathing: the Satipatthana Sutra.  However, the  instructions basically repeat those In the Anapanasati Sutra.