Excerpted from ‘Manual of Mindfulness of Breathing’
Ānāpāna Dīpani
by Venerable Ledi Sayādaw.
How the Enlightenment Factors are FulfilledI shall now show how a person who fulfils mindfulness of breathing also fulfils the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhaṅga).
Since the work of mindfulness of breathing consists of making mindfulness (sati) firmer and stronger every day, it amounts to practising the enlightenment factor of mindfulness (sati-sambojjhaṅga). Says the sutta: “When, to a yogī practising mindfulness of breathing, mindfulness becomes firm, and there is no moment when he is without mindfulness, then the enlightenment factor of mindfulness is accomplished.”
The progress the person practising mindfulness of breathing makes in developing wisdom, and in discerning the various phenomena associated with that practice, is the enlightenment factor of investigation of phenomena (dhammavicaya-sambojjhaṅga).
The progress of energy in the work of mindfulness of breathing is the development of the enlightenment factor of energy (viriya-sambojjhaṅga). When the stage of “experiencing rapture” (pītipaṭisaṃvedī) is reached, the progressive development of rapture is the development of the
enlightenment factor of rapture (pīti-sambojjhaṅga).
When rapture is attained in the work of mindfulness of breathing, the
disturbing states of indolence and torpor become allayed and calmed; the progressive development of this calming down is the development of the enlightenment factor of calmness (passaddhi-sambojjhaṅga).
When calmness develops, concentration (samādhi) develops: this is the enlightenment factor of concentration (samādhi-sambojjhaṅga).
When concentration develops, there is no longer any occasion for anxiety and concern arising out of an inattentive mind, and thus the enlightenment factor of equanimity is developed (upekkhā- sambojjhaṅga).
The sutta shows in detail how the seven factors of enlightenment become accomplished by accomplishing each of the four foundations of mindfulness.
How Knowledge and Deliverance are AchievedTo show how to proceed from mindfulness of breathing to insight, path knowledge, and fruition knowledge (vipassanā, magga-ñāṇa, phala-ñāṇa), the Buddha said in the Ānāpānasati Sutta:
O bhikkhus, how must the seven factors of enlightenment be developed and much practised in order to accomplish knowledge and deliverance? O bhikkhus, in this Sāsana, a bhikkhu develops and cultivates the enlightenment factor of mindfulness ... the enlightenment factor of equanimity, which is dependent on (or bent on) Nibbāna, which is secluded from the defilements, where the passions are absent, where the defilements cease, where the defilements are relinquished. It is in this way that the seven factors of enlightenment must be developed and cultivated to accomplish knowledge and deliverance.
Kathaṃ bhāvitā ca bhikkhave satta bojjhaṅgā kathaṃ bahulikatā vijjāvimuttiṃ paripūrenti? Idha bhikkhave bhikkhu sati-sambojjhaṅgaṃ ... upekkhā-sambojjhaṅgaṃ bhāveti vivekanissitaṃ virāganissitaṃ nirodhanissitaṃ vossaggaparināmiṃ. Evaṃ bhāvitā kho bhikkhave satta sambojjhaṅgā evaṃ bahulikatā vijjāvimuttiṃ paripūrenti.
Seclusion, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishment (viveka, virāga, nirodha, vossagga) are all names for Nibbāna. “Practising with the aim of achieving Nibbāna in this very life,” is what is meant by vivekanissita (dependent on seclusion), etc. It is also called vivaṭṭanissita., “dependent on the ending of the round.” If effort be made merely to acquire merit, it is vaṭṭanissita, “dependent on the round (of existence).”
If one practises whereby one gains access to jhāna (upacāra-jhāna) and full absorption (appanā-jhāna)), one achieves the four foundations of mindfulness and the seven factors of enlightenment. But if one does so with inclination towards the deva and brahma existences after death, the seven factors of enlightenment become “dependent on the round.” If one stops short with the attainment of access, absorption, and contemplation of impermanence, one is liable to become inclined towards dependence on the round. Hence the words “which is secluded from the defilements, where the passions are absent, where the defilements cease, where the defilements are relinquished (vivekanissitaṃ, virāganissitaṃ, nirodhanissitaṃ, vossaggaparināmiṃ),” emphasise the need to put forth effort with a view to attaining the ending of the round in this very life, and not stopping short with such attainments as access to jhāna and absorption. “The ending of the round” (vivaṭṭa) means Nibbāna.
At the present day, people within the Buddha-sāsana have the opportunity to work towards the attainment of Nibbāna, the ending of the round, and hence they should concentrate with all their might to reach this attainment. It is because they desire this ending of the round that they must strive towards true knowledge and deliverance (vijjā-vimutti). And, in order to achieve knowledge and deliverance, they must set up the seven factors of enlightenment (satta bojjhaṅga). In order to set up the seven factors of enlightenment, they must set up the four foundations of mindfulness (cattāro satipaṭṭhāna). In order to set up the four foundations of mindfulness, they have to undertake the work of mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati). If mindfulness of breathing, the four foundations of mindfulness, the seven factors of enlightenment, and the two states of true knowledge and deliverance are accomplished, the thirty-seven aids to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiyā dhammā) are also accomplished. This is the condensed meaning of the Ānāpānasati Sutta.
If after the seven factors of enlightenment are set up, the knowledge and deliverance of the path and fruit of the stream-winner (sotāpatti-magga-phala) are achieved, one can attain, in this very life, the “ending of the round” of Nibbāna with the groups of existence still remaining (sa-upādisesa-nibbāna), where wrong views (diṭṭhi) and doubts (vicikicchā) cease, and deliverance is obtained from unwholesome conduct (duccarita), evil livelihood (durājīva), and liability to rebirth in the world of misery (apāya loka; i.e., rebirth as an animal, an unhappy spirit, or in hell).