Section outline
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Lesson 3.8.3 Ekadhammasuttaṃ - The Value of Ānāpānassati and the Fruits Gained Thereof
The Buddha explains to his listeners at Sāvatthi that if Ānāpānassati gets applied properly, developed and increased “it bears great fruit and results in great benefit!” He highlights the different increasing steps where a meditator starts from the observation of the different shades of incoming and outgoing breath and proceeds to the training of mental qualities starting from experiencing delight (pītippaṭisaṃvedī) to experiencing a deeply concentrated mind (samādahaṃ cittaṃ). From there, the training proceeds to experiencing a liberated mind (vimocayaṃ cittaṃ) to the understanding of impermanence (aniccānupassī) to the final achievement of relinquishment (paṭinissaggānupassī). During all these training steps, the observation of the respiration (ānāpānassati) is maintained.