Bhikkhu Pesala wrote: ↑Tue Apr 27, 2021 6:11 amMindfulness of breathing tends towards tranquillity. However, it may also be used for insight. The Venerable Ledi Sayādaw explains How to proceed to insight when developing mindfulness of respiration.SilaSamadhi8 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 26, 2021 11:52 pmSo we observe Vāyo Dhātu (the element of motion) for the Satipatthana practice in order not to confuse it with Anapanasati which is a Samatha practice.
Which brings me to a question I mentioned in the beginning: then why did the Buddha put Anapanasati at the beginning section of "Kaya" in the Satipatthana sutta? Is the Satipatthana sutta simply a collection of Samatha practices? When doing Satipatthana practice is observing the element of motion or just "sitting...sitting" enough to fulfill that foundation (body)?
The Mahāsi method emphasises attaining insight in the shortest possible time. It is well-suited for lay people who have only a limited period that they can devote to intensive meditation practice.
When the Buddha taught the Satipaṭthāna Sutta there were monks in the audience who had been practising mindfulness of breathing, others who had been practising recollection of the repulsive aspects of the body, etc. The discourse is a comprehensive one that covers all suitable meditation objects.The defining of the four elements is suitable for one of intelligent temperament.Visuddhimagga wrote:He should then approach the good friend, the giver of a meditation subject, and he should apprehend from among the forty meditation subjects one that suits his own temperament.Visuddhimagga wrote:As to suitability to temperament: here the exposition should be understood according to what is suitable to the temperaments. That is to say: first, the ten kinds of foulness and mindfulness occupied with the body are eleven meditation subjects suitable for one of greedy temperament. The four divine abidings and four colour kasiṇas are eight suitable for one of hating temperament. Mindfulness of breathing is the one [recollection as a] meditation subject suitable for one of deluded temperament and for one of speculative temperament. The first six recollections are suitable for one of faithful temperament. Mindfulness of death, the recollection of peace, the defining of the four elements, and the perception of repulsiveness in nutriment, are four suitable for one of intelligent temperament. The remaining kasiṇas and the immaterial states are suitable for all kinds of temperament. And any one of the kasiṇas should be limited for one of speculative temperament and measureless for one of deluded temperament. This is how the exposition should be understood here “as to suitability to temperament.”
I have either the intelligent or deluded/speculative temperament so it makes sense.