Anapanasati Sutta - Interpretations

Interpretations

Different traditions (such as Sri Lankan practitioners who follow the Visuddhimagga versus Thai forest monks) interpret a number of aspects of this sutta in different ways. Below are some of the matters that have multiple interpretations:

• Are the 16 core instructions to be followed sequentially or concurrently (Bodhi, 2000, p. 1516; Brahm, 2006, pp. 83–101; Rosenberg, 2004)?
• Must one have reached the first jhana before (or in tandem with) pursuing the second tetrad (Rosenberg, 2004)?
• In the preparatory instructions, does the word "parimukham" mean: around the mouth (as favored by Goenka, 1998, p. 28), in the chest area (as supported by a use of the word in the Vinaya), in the forefront of one's mind (as favored at times by Thanissaro) or simply "sets up mindfulness before him" (per Bodhi in Wallace & Bodhi, 2006, p. 5) or "to the fore" (Thanissaro, 2006d) or "mindfulness alive" (Piyadassi, 1999) ?
• In the first tetrad's third instruction, does the word "sabbakaya" mean: the whole "breath body" (as indicated in the sutta itself, as perhaps supported by the Patisambhidamagga, the Visuddhimagga, Nyanaponika, and Brahm ) or the whole "flesh body" (as supported by Bhikkhu Bodhi's revised second translation of the sutta, Buddhadasa, Goenka, Nhat Hanh and Rosenberg ), and the commentary, which explains that the "body among bodies" refers to the wind element as opposed to other ways of relating to the body?