Breakdown of the Ken Wheeler video, explaining what Buddhist text meant by breath meditation.

A breakdown that I agree with…

“According to Ken Wheeler, original Buddhism does not include "breath meditation" in the common modern sense of following or focusing on the physical breath itself. He argues that this is a mistranslation and misinterpretation of the Anapanasati Sutta, and that such practices are not advocated in the Pali scriptures. Instead, he describes anapanasati as a practice of "antecedent recollective disembodiment," where the breath serves merely as a metronome or reference point for being mentally prior to the breathing cycle and the body, in order to distinguish the animating Buddhic light (immortal spirit) from the physical, sensory process. Wheeler emphasizes that following the breath would make one dependent on the body, which contradicts the Buddha's detachment from corporeal form, and he labels breath-following as a non-Buddhist or sectarian deviation.”

“Buddhists and non-Buddhists who engage in 'breath following' are following other than a Buddhist practice."

“For example, in his translation and explanation of the Anapanasati Sutta, Wheeler renders key passages without any instructions to follow the breath, such as:

‘Breathing in long in-breaths he so discerns, 'These are but only long in-breaths.' Breathing long out-breaths he so discerns, 'These are but only long out-breaths.' [...] He wisely trains thusly, 'I shall breathe in supremely beholding the entire body in recollective antecedentness to it.'"

He explicitly states, "The object here is to conquer the sensory body by recollecting that which is prior to its workings and sufferings. In the case of the above, the thorough antecedentness is the target of the exercise, not the breath.

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This is saying the long breath in and out are the breath of the field and this is what you are to surrender to. (My paraphrase)…recollective antecedentness is: that which came before you. AKA: the field.

Cont…

“Nowhere in the Sutta is 'breath following' indicated.

“He further clarifies in his writings: ‘Nowhere within the teachings of Buddhism is the following of the breath advocated, anything else is a mistranslation of the Pali scripture. One cannot disembody from the breath (i.e. the body) by following it."

“Wheeler views this as part of a broader critique of how sectarian influences have distorted original Buddhism, turning it away from penetrative insight into disembodiment and toward embodied, sensory-focused techniques.”