Step-by-Step : How to Make an Animated Movie
Length:MediumLanguages:
How to Tread the Path of Superconscious Mahabodhi Meditation
The Way of Mindfulness -The Satipatthana Sutta
DN 22 - (D ii 290)
Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta
— Attendance on awareness —
[ mahā satipaṭṭhāna ]in 29) Clasical Engish, Romanian
This sutta is widely considered as a the main reference for meditation practice.
Introduction
I. Observation of Kāya
A. Section on ānāpāna
B. Section on postures
C. Section on sampajañña
D. Section on repulsiveness
E. Section on the Elements
F. Section on the nine charnel grounds
Thus have I heard:
On
one occasion, the Bhagavā was staying among the Kurus at Kammāsadhamma,
a market town of the Kurus. There, he addressed the bhikkhus:
– Bhikkhus.
– Bhaddante answered the bhikkhus. The Bhagavā said:
– This,
bhikkhus, is the path that leads to nothing but the purification of
beings, the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the disappearance of
dukkha-domanassa, the attainment of the right way, the realization of
Nibbāna, that is to say the four satipaṭṭhānas.
Which four?
Here, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya, ātāpī
sampajāno, satimā, having given up abhijjhā-domanassa towards the world.
He dwells observing vedanā in vedanā, ātāpī sampajāno, satimā, having
given up abhijjhā-domanassa towards the world. He dwells observing citta
in citta, ātāpī sampajāno, satimā, having given up abhijjhā-domanassa
towards the world. He dwells observing dhamma·s in dhamma·s, ātāpī
sampajāno, satimā, having given up abhijjhā-domanassa towards the world.
I. Kāyānupassanā
A. Section on ānāpāna
And
how, bhikkhus, does a bhikkhu dwell observing kāya in kāya? Here,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, having gone to the forest or having gone at the
root of a tree or having gone to an empty room, sits down folding the
legs crosswise, setting kāya upright, and setting sati parimukhaṃ. Being
thus sato he breathes in, being thus sato he breathes out. Breathing in
long he understands: ‘I am breathing in long’; breathing out long he
understands: ‘I am breathing out long’; breathing in short he
understands: ‘I am breathing in short’; breathing out short he
understands: ‘I am breathing out short’; he trains himself: ‘feeling the
whole kāya, I will breathe in’; he trains himself: ‘feeling the whole
kāya, I will breathe out’; he trains himself: ‘calming down the
kāya-saṅkhāras, I will breathe in’; he trains himself: ‘calming down the
kāya-saṅkhāras, I will breathe out’.
Just
as, bhikkhus, a skillful turner or a turner’s apprentice, making a long
turn, understands: ‘I am making a long turn’; making a short turn, he
understands: ‘I am making a short turn’; in the same way, bhikkhus, a
bhikkhu, breathing in long, understands: ‘I am breathing in long’;
breathing out long he understands: ‘I am breathing out long’; breathing
in short he understands: ‘I am breathing in short’; breathing out short
he understands: ‘I am breathing out short’; he trains himself: ‘feeling
the whole kāya, I will breathe in’; he trains himself: ‘feeling the
whole kāya, I will breathe out’; he trains himself: ‘calming down the
kāya-saṅkhāras, I will breathe in’; he trains himself: ‘calming down the
kāya-saṅkhāras, I will breathe out’.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya internally,
or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells observing
kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing the samudaya
of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing away of
phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and passing away
of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!” sati is
present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere paṭissati, he
dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the world. Thus,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
Furthermore,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, while walking, understands: ‘I am walking’, or
while standing he understands: ‘I am standing’, or while sitting he
understands: ‘I am sitting’, or while lying down he understands: ‘I am
lying down’. Or else, in whichever position his kāya is disposed, he
understands it accordingly.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
Render correct translation to this Google translation using https://translate.google.com
Furthermore,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu considers this very body, from the soles of the
feet up and from the hair on the head down, which is delimited by its
skJust as if,
bhikkhus, there was a bag having two openings and filled with various
kinds of grain, such as hill-paddy, paddy, mung beans, cow-peas, sesame
seeds and husked rice. A man with good eyesight, having unfastened it,
would consider [its contents]: “This is hill-paddy, this is paddy, those
are mung beans, those are cow-peas, those are sesame seeds and this is
husked rice;” in the same way, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu considers this very
body, from the soles of the feet up and from the hair on the head down,
which is delimited by its skin and full of various kinds of impurities:
“In this kāya, there are the hairs of the head, hairs of the body,
nails, teeth, skin, flesh, tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart,
liver, pleura, spleen, lungs, intestines, mesentery, stomach with its
contents, feces, bile, phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease,
saliva, nasal mucus, synovial fluid and urine.”
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya internally, or he
dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells observing kāya
in
in and full of various kinds of impurities: “In this kāya, there are
the hairs of the head, hairs of the body, nails, teeth, skin, flesh,
tendons, bones, bone marrow, kidneys, heart, liver, pleura, spleen,
lungs, intestines, mesentery, stomach with its contents, feces, bile,
phlegm, pus, blood, sweat, fat, tears, grease, saliva, nasal mucus,
synovial fluid and urine.”
Furthermore,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reflects on this very kāya, however it is placed,
however it is disposed: “In this kāya, there is the earth element, the
water element, the fire element and the air element.”
āya internally and externally; he dwells observing the samudaya of
phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing away of phenomena
in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and passing away of
phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!” sati is present
in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere paṭissati, he dwells
detached, and does not cling to anything in the world. Thus, bhikkhus, a
bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
Just as, bhikkhus, a skillful butcher or a
butcher’s apprentice, having killed a cow, would sit at a crossroads
cutting it into pieces; in the same way, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu reflects on
this very kāya, however it is placed, however it is disposed: “In this
kāya, there is the earth element, the water element, the fire element
and the air element.”
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
(4)
Furthermore,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, just as if he was seeing a dead body, cast away in a
charnel ground, a squeleton without flesh and smeared with blood, held
together by tendons, he considers this very kāya: “This kāya also is of
such a nature, it is going to become like this, and is not free from
such a condition.”
Iti ajjhattaṃ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati,
bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhatta-bahiddhā vā kāye
kāyānupassī viharati; samudaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati,
vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati, samudaya-vaya-dhamm·ānupassī
vā kāyasmiṃ viharati; ‘atthi kāyo’ ti vā pan·assa sati paccupaṭṭhitā
hoti, yāvadeva ñāṇa·mattāya paṭissati·mattāya,{1} a·nissito ca viharati,
na ca kiñci loke upādiyati. Evam·pi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye
kāyānupassī viharati.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
(5)
Furthermore, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, just as
if he was seeing a dead body, cast away in a charnel ground, a
squeleton without flesh nor blood, held together by tendons, he
considers this very kāya: “This kāya also is of such a nature, it is
going to become like this, and is not free from such a condition.”Iti
ajjhattaṃ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī
viharati, ajjhatta-bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati;
samudaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati, vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā
kāyasmiṃ viharati, samudaya-vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati;
‘atthi kāyo’ ti vā pan·assa sati paccupaṭṭhitā hoti, yāvadeva
ñāṇa·mattāya paṭissati·mattāya,{1} a·nissito ca viharati, na ca kiñci
loke upādiyati. Evam·pi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī
viharati.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya internally, or he
dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells observing kāya
in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing the samudaya of
phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing away of phenomena
in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and passing away of
phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!” sati is present
in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere paṭissati, he dwells
detached, and does not cling to anything in the world. Thus, bhikkhus, a
bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
(6)
Furthermore,
bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, just as if he was seeing a dead body, cast away in a
charnel ground, disconnected bones scattered here and there, here a
hand bone, there a foot bone, here an ankle bone, there a shin bone,
here a thigh bone, there a hip bone, here a rib, there a back bone, here
a spine bone, there a neck bone, here a jaw bone, there a tooth bone,
or there the skull, he considers this very kāya: “This kāya also is of
such a nature, it is going to become like this, and is not free from
such a condition.”
Iti ajjhattaṃ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati,
bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhatta-bahiddhā vā kāye
kāyānupassī viharati; samudaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati,
vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati, samudaya-vaya-dhamm·ānupassī
vā kāyasmiṃ viharati; ‘atthi kāyo’ ti vā pan·assa sati paccupaṭṭhitā
hoti, yāvadeva ñāṇa·mattāya paṭissati·mattāya,{1} a·nissito ca viharati,
na ca kiñci loke upādiyati. Evam·pi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye
kāyānupassī viharati.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
(7)
Puna
ca·paraṃ, bhikkhave, bhikkhu seyyathāpi passeyya sarīraṃ sivathikāya
chaḍḍitaṃ aṭṭhikāni setāni saṅkha·vaṇṇa·paṭibhāgāni, so imam·eva kāyaṃ
upasaṃharati: ‘ayaṃ pi kho kāyo evaṃ·dhammo evaṃ·bhāvī evaṃ·an·atīto’
ti.
(7)
Furthermore, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, just as if he was
seeing a dead body, cast away in a charnel ground, the bones whitened
like a seashell, he considers this very kāya: “This kāya also is of such
a nature, it is going to become like this, and is not free from such a
condition.”
Iti ajjhattaṃ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā
kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhatta-bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī
viharati; samudaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati,
vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati, samudaya-vaya-dhamm·ānupassī
vā kāyasmiṃ viharati; ‘atthi kāyo’ ti vā pan·assa sati paccupaṭṭhitā
hoti, yāvadeva ñāṇa·mattāya paṭissati·mattāya, a·nissito ca viharati, na
ca kiñci loke upādiyati. Evam·pi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye
kāyānupassī viharati.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
(8)
Furthermore, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, just as if he was
seeing a dead body, cast away in a charnel ground, heaped up bones over a
year old, he considers this very kāya: “This kāya also is of such a
nature, it is going to become like this, and is not free from such a
condition.”
Iti ajjhattaṃ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā
kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhatta-bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī
viharati; samudaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati,
vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati, samudaya-vaya-dhamm·ānupassī
vā kāyasmiṃ viharati; ‘atthi kāyo’ ti vā pan·assa sati paccupaṭṭhitā
hoti, yāvadeva ñāṇa·mattāya paṭissati·mattāya, a·nissito ca viharati, na
ca kiñci loke upādiyati. Evam·pi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye
kāyānupassī viharati.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya.
(9)
Furthermore, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu, just as if he was
seeing a dead body, cast away in a charnel ground, rotten bones reduced
to powder, he considers this very kāya: “This kāya also is of such a
nature, it is going to become like this, and is not free from such a
condition.”
Iti ajjhattaṃ vā kāye kāyānupassī viharati, bahiddhā vā
kāye kāyānupassī viharati, ajjhatta-bahiddhā vā kāye kāyānupassī
viharati; samudaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati,
vaya-dhamm·ānupassī vā kāyasmiṃ viharati, samudaya-vaya-dhamm·ānupassī
vā kāyasmiṃ viharati; ‘atthi kāyo’ ti vā pan·assa sati paccupaṭṭhitā
hoti, yāvadeva ñāṇa·mattāya paṭissati·mattāya, a·nissito ca viharati, na
ca kiñci loke upādiyati. Evam·pi kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kāye
kāyānupassī viharati.
Thus he dwells observing kāya in kāya
internally, or he dwells observing kāya in kāya externally, or he dwells
observing kāya in kāya internally and externally; he dwells observing
the samudaya of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the passing
away of phenomena in kāya, or he dwells observing the samudaya and
passing away of phenomena in kāya; or else, [realizing:] “this is kāya!”
sati is present in him, just to the extent of mere ñāṇa and mere
paṭissati, he dwells detached, and does not cling to anything in the
world. Thus, bhikkhus, a bhikkhu dwells observing kāya in kāya
https://xemtop.com/post/how-
youtube.com
The Way of Mindfulness -The Satipatthana Sutta
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta[1] (MN 10) (Sanskrit: Smṛtyupasthāna Sūtra स्मृत्युपस्थान सूत्र, Chinese:…
I met German-born Analayo some years ago when he was
living a life of intensive meditation and study in a small retreat
centre in Sri Lanka. He told me how his study of the Buddha’s original
meditation teaching had led him to question established approaches to
practice.
Since then, he has published an acclaimed work on the
Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s main teaching on mindfulness, taken
full Bhikkhu ordination, published many groundbreaking essays on Pali
Buddhism, especially comparisons between the Pali Suttas and the Chinese
versions, the Agamas and become a widely respected scholar and
academic. As this interview shows, he is above all a deeply devoted
Dharma practitioner
Vishvapani: How do you come to be living as a Buddhist monk here in Sri Lanka?
Analayo: I studied martial arts in Berlin and I found that the
discipline offered a way to express and contain my anger, but it didn’t
address the root of the problem. Along with martial arts I also learned
Soto Zen meditation, and when I found that through practising that some
of my anger no longer arose I became very interested in meditation. I
travelled to Asia and ended up in Thailand where I did a course in
mindfulness of breathing with Ajahn Buddhadasa. With Zen you are told to
just sit, but no more, and through Buddhadasa’s teaching I now received
some instruction in meditation.
Then came the start of the rainy season and the custom in Thailand is
for many people to become monks for the three months of the rains. So
that’s what I did, and I stayed in a cave on a hilltop, surrounded on
three sides by the sea, and there I had the opportunity to live a very
meditative life.
Once I was in robes I found that the monastic lifestyle supported
meditation so I decided to continue with it. Later I came to Sri Lanka
and stayed with Godwin Samaratane, who was an excellent meditation
teacher, and in 1995 he sent me to develop the Lewelle Meditation
Centre. Here we have a main house with a small community, and we’ve
built several kutis on the hill where I stay and other visitors can come
to meditate.
Godwin brought out aspects of meditation that are in the suttas [the
records of the Buddha’s discourses recorded in the Pali language] but
which have been neglected in Theravada tradition. He had a very
open-minded approach that emphasised emptiness, working constructively
with emotions, and developing metta (loving-kindness). He
wanted me to provide scholarly back-up for what he was doing, so he
introduced me to a university professor and the people at the university
just told me that I would be doing a PhD!
V: As a dedicated meditator, what was your motivation for engaging with academic study?
A: I wanted a better understanding of the Buddha’s teaching, and I
hoped to approach Buddhism both from the inside perspective of a
Buddhist monk and meditator, and also to look at it scientifically.
Being a meditating monk the most obvious topic was satipatthana, the development of mindfulness, and I found that there is almost no research on satipatthana or the Satipatthana Sutta, the principal canonical text concerning it.
The book I have eventually written is not only a vindication of
Godwin’s teaching, but also an attempt to go back to the roots and ask,
what were the Buddha’s basic ideas? What did he mean by insight
meditation? What is written in the Satipatthana Sutta, and how can other
suttas illuminate it?
The book reflects my particular perspective as both a scholar and a
practitioner. Academics sometimes go off at tangents because without
experience of practice they can get caught up in ideas that are a long
way from the original meanings. On the other hand meditation teachers
tend either to express their ideas and experience without going back to
the sources, or else to be steeped in the Theravada tradition. For
traditional Theravadins the suttas, which recount the Buddhas
discourses, and the commentaries, which were written later, are one
block. They see everything through the eyes of Buddhaghosha, the author
of the Visuddhimagga [the most important commentary] unaware
that there was an historical gap of 800 years between the Buddha and
Buddhaghosha. So I wanted to separate these out. The ideas and
techniques in the commentaries may well be good, but it’s important to
know that some weren’t taught by the Buddha.
V: How would you characterise the Buddha’s approach to meditation as it emerges from the discourses?
A: In the discourses when a monk comes to the Buddha and says he
wants to meditate, the Buddha usually just gives him a theme like,
‘don’t cling to anything.’ The monk goes off and when he returns he is
an arahant! [one with a high level of realisation]. In other
words, the Buddha gives the general pattern, not a precise technique
such as you find in the Visuddhimagga, whose approach we have
inherited. When the Buddha discusses concentration he talks about what
happens with the mind. He says that when pamojja (delight)
arises the mind naturally becomes joyful, and from that come happiness,
calm, tranquillity and concentration. So you should enjoy meditating,
and in enjoying itself the mind becomes unified.
At the same time the Buddha has a very clear, analytical approach,
and when he speaks of ‘the five hindrances’, for example, he is pointing
to specific experiences that imply specific antidotes. But that’s
different from issuing technical instructions. You could say that the
Buddha didn’t teach meditation so much as the skill of meditating or the
ability to meditate. He was concerned with stirring the natural
potential of individuals to awaken the mind on the basis of a very clear
distinction that never gets lost between what is wholesome in the mind
and what is unwholesome.
V: What difference does the distinction between commentarial
and sutta approaches to meditation make for what you do when you
meditate?
A: Being an ‘anger-type’ I thought it was important to develop metta. (loving-kindness). In Thailand I followed the Visuddhimagga approach of sending metta
to oneself, a friend, a neutral person and an enemy, and verbalising
good wishes. I found I got stuck in ideas, and when I turned to the
suttas I saw that the Buddha just says that, ‘with a mind full of metta’ (that is an attitude or feeling of loving-kindness) ‘he radiates metta
in all directions’. There’s no verbalisation, no particular people,
just this radiation. That made an incredible change in my practice and
from then on it evolved very strongly.
Another example is the counting methods in the commentarial approach
to the mindfulness of breathing, which are also not found in the suttas.
The Anapanasati Sutta
describes how in sixteen steps you can be aware of the breath, the
body, feelings, and what is happening in the mind. This extends to
seeing the impermanence of the breath.
This is an excellent approach to practice. Firstly, you calm the mind
by staying predominantly with bodily phenomena. Then you become aware
of your whole self as it sits in meditation, and then you notice how the
breath and the body become calmer. As soon as that happens thinking
activity also calms down, and joy arises. You’re aware of these changes
and encourage them, and that takes you away from the thinking activity
of the mind.
The commentarial approach implies narrowing the focus of attention
onto one point and only prescribes contemplating the most prominent
characteristics of the physical breath – not the many other dimensions
that are described in the sutta. Because you have so little material to
work on, the practice can become boring, so your mind wanders, and you
need counting as food for the mind. But counting can take you away from
the bodily experience of the breath to conceptual ideas about it.
However, if the mind has something it likes it will stay with it, and
that’s the way to get into deep concentration.
V: What about the importance of one-pointed concentration (ekagata), which is usually taught as the way to become fully absorbed?
A: Ekagata can also be translated as ‘unification of the
mind.’ So in developing meditative absorption it’s not so much that you
narrow everything down to a fine point. It’s more that everything
becomes ‘one’. If I take a large object and move it around you have no
trouble following it; but if you try to stay with a pin-point it’s very
difficult and that can create tension.
As you go deeper into meditation (in developing the higher states of meditative absorption known as jhana/dhyana) you need a reference point. But to enter jhana you have to let go of the five physical senses. So the experience of the breath becomes a mental equivalent of it (a nimitta)
not a felt experience. Sometimes meditators experience a light that is
an equivalent of the breath, which may envelop you entirely. Or the nimitta could be an experience of happiness or metta, or just mentally knowing the breath, and the mind becomes one with that.
An important term for meditative absorption is samadhi. We
often translate that as ‘concentration’, but that can suggest a certain
stiffness. Perhaps ‘unification’ is a better rendition, as samadhi means ‘to bring together’. Deep samadhi isn’t at all stiff. It’s a process of letting go of other things and coming to a unified experience.
V: I practice the five stages of the mettabhavana and I find that there’s a definite psychological value in that approach.
A: I’m not saying that the commentarial approach is wrong, only that
if it doesn’t work for you then there is an alternative. And whatever
practice you follow be aware if it comes from the Buddha or someone
else.
I know people who say the five-stage mettabhavana or the mindfulness
of breathing with counting works for them. That’s completely OK. I’m
trying to add to the commentarial view, and to broaden perspectives, not
to ask people to throw out the commentaries or their teacher’s
approach, and only listen to me. I have been practising the Goenka
technique for ten years and I got very good results with it. But I
wouldn’t say that it’s the only correct technique.
In the discourses the Buddha didn’t say that there’s one way for
everybody. In the Theravada tradition there have been many debates
about the relationship between samatha (absorption) and vipassana (insight) as goals of meditation. But the discourses say that you can practice samatha first, and then vipassana, or the other way around, or both together. Both samatha and vipassana develop the mind and the two co-operate, but how you engage with them depends on the individual.
V: The breadth of this approach implies knowing yourself sufficiently so that you can plot a course.
A: The process of developing insight is a matter of gaining
self-knowledge and learning to act accordingly. If you sit down to
meditate you need to feel the tendency of the mind – what it needs and
what it wants to do. More broadly, I know that my tendency is towards
anger and that means that I need to develop tranquillity to balance my
personality.
V: You place great emphasis on mindfulness, and also to have a very broad view of its implications.
A: The presentation of mindfulness in the discourses suggests an
open, receptive state of mind in which you let things come to you. It’s
different from concentration (samatha) in that concentration
means focus and mindfulness means breadth, but without mindfulness you
can’t develop concentration. It’s also an important basis for insight
meditation (vipassana). Mindfulness has many facets. Many
teachers speak of mindfulness of the body, but people don’t talk much
about the contemplations of feelings, mind and dhammas that are
also in the Satipatthana Sutta. But if you take any experience – like
sitting here now – you can be aware of the bodily aspect, how you feel
about what we are discussing; the state of mind that we are each in; and
you can see it in the light of the Buddha’s teachings. Each situation
has these four aspects and mindfulness can focus on one or all of these
as appropriate
V: How has studying these suttas affected your own meditation?
A: It’s the ground of my practice. Before I started my academic work I
decided that however many hours I studied I would spend more hours
meditating. That’s why it took me six years to complete my work. I would
never lose touch with my meditation practice for the sake of
theoretical study. On the other hand, though, a good knowledge of
Buddha’s teachings ‘clears the path’ as it enables you to know what
you’re doing and then you don’t experience doubt. Now I can learn from
various meditation teachers without getting confused because I know what
lines I am pursuing in my own practice.
The Buddha gave the talks that are recorded in the suttas because he
thought people should know what they are doing. Meditation is like
eating and the knowledge you have gained from the suttas is like the
digestive juice that makes it possible for your body to digest the
nutrients. The two belong together, but meditation has to have the
priority. Doing PhD research is perhaps going to an extreme. But
studying informed sources can be helpful for everyone. They can shine a
beam of light onto your practice and that can inspire it.
Ven. Analayo’s book on the Saitpatthana Sutta is Satipatthana: The Direct Path to Realization, Windhorse Publications, 2003.
The following excellent works are available as free online downloads.
They deserve to be much better known and make excellent study material
From Craving to Liberation, Excursions into the Thought-world of the Pali Discourses (1), Buddhist Association of the United States, 2009.Download PDF
From Grasping to Emptiness, Excursions into the Thought-world of the Pali Discourses (2), Buddhist Association of the United States, 2010.Download PDF
The Genesis of the Bodhisattva Ideal, Hamburg University Press, 2010.Download PDF
Bhikkhu Anālayo is a Privatdozent of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Hamburg and works as a researcher at Dharma Drum Buddhist College, Taiwan. He is also a professor at the Sri Lanka International Buddhist Academy, Kandy.
An interview with Bhikkhu Anālayo, author of Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization.Bhikkhu Anālayo’s latest book, Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna,
uses a comparison of three different versions of the Satipatthana Sutta
to reveal what the original core teachings are likely to have been.
Hannah Atkinson: Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna is a companion volume to your earlier publication, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization. How are the two books distinct and how do they work together?
Bhikkhu Anālayo: My first book, Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization, came out of a PhD I did in Sri Lanka. It was the product of my academic study of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta,
the practical experience I had gained in meditation, and what I had
read about the experience of other meditators and teachers – I tried to
bring all that together to come to a better understanding of the text
itself.
At that time I was working on the Pali sources of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
because the Buddha’s teachings were transmitted orally from India to
Sri Lanka and then eventually written down in Pali, which is fairly
similar to the original language or languages that the Buddha would have
spoken. However, the transmission of the Buddha’s teachings also went
in other directions, and we have versions of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta in
Chinese and Tibetan. So after completing my PhD I learnt Chinese and
Tibetan so that I could engage in a comparative study of parallel
textual lineages, and this is the focus of my new book, Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna.
Although this was, at the outset, mainly an academic enterprise, what
I discovered really changed the focus of my practice. When I took out
the exercises that were not common to all three versions of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta,
I was left with a vision of mindfulness meditation that was very
different to anything I would have expected. Contemplation of the body,
which is the first of the four satipaṭṭhānas, for example, is
usually practised in the form of the mindfulness of breathing and being
mindful of bodily postures, but these exercises are not found in all
versions. What I found in all three versions were the exercises that
most of us do not like to do: seeing the body as made out of anatomical
parts and thus as something that it is not beautiful, as something that
is made up of elements and thus does not belong to me, and the cemetery
contemplations – looking at a corpse that is decaying.
So then I understood: body contemplation is not so much about using
the body to be mindful. It is rather predominantly about using
mindfulness to understand the nature of the body. As a result of these
practices one will become more mindful of the body, but the main thrust
is much more challenging. The focus is on insight – understanding the
body in a completely different way from how it is normally perceived.
Normally we look at the body and see it as ‘me’, but these texts are
asking us to take that apart and see that actually we are made up of
earth, water, fire and wind, of hardness, fluidity and wetness,
temperature and motion. They are asking us to directly confront our own
mortality – to contemplate the most threatening thing for us: death.
Bhikkhu
Anālayo is a Buddhist monk (bhikkhu), scholar and meditation teacher.
He was born in Germany in 1962, and ‘went forth’ in 1995 in Sri Lanka.
He is best known for his comparative studies of early Buddhist texts as
preserved by the various early Buddhist traditions.
I found a similar pattern when I looked at the last satipaṭṭhāna, which is contemplation of dharmas.
The practices that were common to all three versions were those that
focused on overcoming the hindrances and cultivating the awakening
factors. The emphasis is not so much on reflecting on the teachings, the
Dharma, but really on putting them into practice, really going for
awakening. As a result of this discovery I have developed a new approach
to the practice of satipaṭṭhāna which I have found to be very powerful, and this would never have happened if I had not done the academic groundwork first.
HA: Your books are a combined outcome of scholarly study and
practical experience of meditating. Do you find that these two
approaches are generally compatible with each other, or do they ever
come into conflict?
BA: It is not easy to be a scholar and a practitioner at the same
time. If you look throughout Buddhist history, it is more usual to find
Buddhists who are either practitioners or scholars than Buddhists who
are both. However, for a while I have been trying to achieve a balance
between these two sides of me, and I have found a point of concurrence:
the main task of meditation is to achieve ‘knowledge and vision of
things as they really are’ and actually this is the main task of
academics as well. We use a different methodology, but the aim of both
is to understand things as they really happen. If I take that as my
converging point, then I am able to be both a scholar and a meditating
monk, and this has been a very fruitful combination for me.
Both of my books are aimed at people who, like me, are interested in
academic study and meditation. They are academic books where the final
aim is to help people develop their meditation practice. They are not
books for beginners, and the second book builds on the first book, so
one would need a basic familiarity with what I covered in Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization in order to fully engage with Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna.
HA: Both of your books mention the idea of satipaṭṭhāna as a form of balance, and the title of your new book suggests that there are many different perspectives on satipaṭṭhāna that could be taken into account. Is the very essence of satipaṭṭhāna practice a balance of perspectives or is there one particular perspective on satipaṭṭhāna that has been most useful in the context of your practice?
BA: I think that balance is an absolutely central aspect of
mindfulness practice. If you look at the Awakening Factors, the first
one is mindfulness and the last one is usually translated as
‘equanimity’, but in my opinion it would be better to understand it as
balance or equipoise. To be balanced means to be mindful and open to the
present moment, to be free from desire and aversion, and this is what
the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta continually comes back to.
I believe that balance is also an essential element of academic
study. If, through my mindfulness practice, I am cultivating openness
and reception then how can I say that one approach to a topic is totally
right and another one is completely wrong? If I do that, I have to
exclude all of the other approaches from my vision. Often, when we get
into very strong opinions, we have tunnel vision – we see only one part
of reality, one side of it, but that is not how things really are. So,
in my academic work, if I find one approach that seems more reasonable
to me, I keep it in the foreground, but I have to keep the other
approaches in the background, I cannot just cut them out.
HA: Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to Realization and Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna both mention the importance of combining self-development with concern for others. Does satipaṭṭhāna practice
lead naturally to a person becoming more compassionate or is it
necessary to engage in other practices to achieve this? Is satipaṭṭhāna practice a solitary activity or is it important that it is undertaken in the context of a Sangha?
Buy Perspectives on Satipaṭṭhāna for Kindle or iBooks.
BA: I think that compassion is a natural outcome of Satipaṭṭhāna practice, but it is also good to encourage it in other ways as well. There is a simile from the Satipaṭṭhāna Samyutta of
two acrobats performing together on a pole – we need to establish our
own balance in order to be in balance with other people and the outside
world, but other people and the outside world are also the point at
which we find out about our own balance. I can be practising alone,
sitting in my room, feeling that I am so incredibly balanced and
equanimous, but let me get out into the world and have some contact with
people, come into some problems, and see how balanced I am then! Of
course, time in seclusion and intensive meditation is essential, but
there must always be a wider context to our practice.
Republished with permission from Windhorse Publications.