Throw it back

"The last step, the fourth step of the fourth tetrad, the sixteenth step of anapanasati is called patinissagganupassana (contemplating throwing back). Patinissagga is a curious word; it means to throw back or give back. When we arrive at this step, we contemplate our throwing back, our returning, everything to which we were once attached. This is step sixteen.

There is a simple metaphor for explaining this step. Throughout our lives we have been thieves. All along, we have been stealing things that exist naturally, that belong to nature, namely, the sankhara. We have plundered them and taken them to be our selves and our possessions. We are nothing but thieves. For this we are being punished by dukkha. We suffer dukkha because of all our attachment and thieving. As soon as we observe the way things really are through the succession of steps in this tetrad, we let go. We cease being thieves. We return everything to its original owner—nature. It all belongs to nature. Don't claim anything to be "I" or "mine" ever again! Our goal is made clear by this metaphor."

p. 96-7 Mindfulness with breathing by Buddhadasa