[comprar-espana]

Mindfulness of breathing is something I'm studying in the meditation group which I attend.

The sutta states that one thing leads to another, so mindfulness of breathing properly done leads to the culmination of the four frames of reference (body, feelings, mind, mental qualities).

When these four are developed, they lead to the seven factors of awakening (mindfulness, analysis of qualities, persistence, rapture, serenity, concentration, equanimity). These seven, developed and pursued, lead to clear knowing and release.

As I understand it (from what little I truly understand) it is important and crucial to practise mindfulness and concentration on the breath. The sutta tells us "Always mindful, he breathes in; mindful he breathes out". There is emphasis on awareness of the short breath and the long breath.

Being aware that the breath is a function of the body, awareness of the body arises, and this should lead to an awareness of bodily fabrications. From there it's possible to calm such fabrications.

Breathing mindfully, sensitive to rapture and pleasure, leads to awareness of mental fabrications (i.e. feelings), and mental fabrications can be calmed.

Breathing mindfully, the mind itself can be steadied and released, putting aside greed and distress.

It is the fourth of the frames of reference which requires focus on mental qualities. These qualities are named as inconstancy, dispassion, cessation and relinquishment. The sutta does not advise any more than to focus on each. It is not demanding mental effort to understand them, or to make any mental fabrication about them. I suspect they are to be watched but not judged.

In the context of the whole sutta, it's about the breathing as a support, and the falling away of physical and mental constructs. Therefore I think we are not required to consider how to bring to mind and to understand these things.

I would welcome advice from anyone who has a more thorough understanding of this sutta.