| Sumario: | Taking the example of the 'six aspects of mindfulness of breathing' (anban liushi, ānāpānasmṛti), the present study traces the history of its translation, circulation and transformation from the second to the sixth century in China. It shows that the six headings in the list, after being variously translated, lost stable reference to a set of definite meditation practices. Benefitting from the linguistic potential of the six Chinese terms, they were used as an exegetical grid to freely guide the development of new practices as well as to interpret other transmitted teachings. The content thus elaborated far exceeded the boundaries of ānāpānasmṛti. The analysis of this process of elaboration shows that the composition of texts on the subject of meditation is not always primarily concerned with elaborating an ideologically or phenomenologically coherent experience. Instead, the development of new teachings can be merely a by-product of the demonstration of a method of intellectual reflection. The act of elaboration itself, which is primarily concerned with philological and linguistic coherence, may rightly prevail over the content elaborated. Finally, I call attention to the importance of the use of mātṛkā in Chinese Buddhist exegesis, as well as the formative role that language, in this case Chinese, can play during this process.
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