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आश्वासप्रश्वास (AzvAsaprazvAsa)

 
Edgerton Buddhist Hybrid
English
āśvāsa-praśvāsa (Pali assāsa-passāsa), m. dual or pl., breath
usually used without clear indication of difference between the two terms, like ānāpāna, q.v.: LV 〔251.15—16〕 nāsikātaś cāśvāsapraśvāsāv uparuddhāv abhūtāṃ
〔252.3〕 °sā ūrdhvaṃ śiraḥkapālam upanighnanti sma
as separate words, 〔259.7〕 āśvāsaviprahīnaḥ praśvāsavarjitu
Mv 〔ii.124.10 (and ff.)〕 mukhato nāsikāśrotrehi ca āśvāsapraśvāsā uparundhi (1 sg. aor.)
Mv 〔iii.179.19〕 °sehi tathāgataṃ upahanati
Śāl 〔78.3, 17〕 kāyasyāśvāsapraśvāsakṛtyaṃ
Sādh 〔61.19〕 °sādikam
the verb uśvasati, q.v., [Page110-b] corresponds to āśvāsa in Mv 〔ii.208.3—4〕 āśvāsapraśvāsā uparuddhā … no pi uśvasati na praśvasati (the two verbs repeated twice in lines 8, 9), cf. LV 〔189.12〕 ucchvasantaṃ praśvasantam, rendered by Tib. dbugs dbyuṅ zhiṅ rṅub breathing out and in, but in line 15 below praśvasantaḥ is rendered dbugs dbyuṅ, breathing out (implying that ucchvasantaṃ was understood as breathing in)
ucchvāsapraśvāso (sg.) also occurs, seemingly = āśvāsa-pra°, Śikṣ 〔42.5〕
in Sādh 〔146.17 ff.〕 it is entirely certain that praśvāsa is understood as outbreathing and āśvāsa inbreathing, tadanu tan mithunaṃ praśvāsavāyurathārūḍhaṃ nāsikāvivareṇa niḥsṛtya … sattvānāṃ kāyavākcittāni viśodhya gṛhītvā ca punar āśvāsavāyum āruhya tenaiva pathā svahṛtkamalakarṇikāyāṃ praviśet
consistent with this is AMg. ussāsa (and relatives), which BHS usage would clearly have associated with āśvāsa, and which acc. to Ratnach. means breathing in
Pali tradition is indeterminate, see Vism 〔i.272.1〕 which states that Vin. comm. defines assāsa as outgoing, passāsa as incoming breath, but that in Sutta comms. (Suttantaṭṭhakathāsu) the reverse is taught (the passage is misunderstood by PTSD and Pe Maung Tin
uppaṭipāṭiyā = Pkt. upparivāḍi, inverted, transposed). Tib. regularly āśvasati = dbugs brṅubs (or cognate) breathe in Mvy 〔1173, 1175〕, etc., praśvasati = dbugs phyuṅ (or cognate) breathe out Mvy 〔1174, 1176〕, etc.
it therefore supports Sādh 〔146.17 ff.〕, and incidentally the equation of āśvāsa with āna and praśvāsa with apāna (see ānāpāna). How old this interpretation is remains uncertain, esp. in view of the fact that in Pali the comms. differed
Buddhaghosa himself, in the Vism. passage cited, declines to arbitrate between the two opposing views. Whatever may have been the meaning of the two terms, it seems clear that the cpd. (like ānāpāna) was commonly used in the sense of breath, collectively and as a whole.