Skandha from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Skandha from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Log in / create account Article Talk Read Edit View history Search Skandha From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about a term in Buddhist phenomenology. For the bodhisattva by a similar name, see Main page Skanda (Buddhism). Contents In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the Featured content Translations of skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pāli, aggregates in Current events English) are any of five types of phenomena that serve as skandha Random article objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self.[1] The Donate to Wikipedia English: aggregate, mass, heap Buddha teaches that nothing among them is really "I" or Interaction "mine". Pali: khandha Help In the Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one Sanskrit: कध (skandha) About Wikipedia identifies with or otherwise clings to an aggregate; hence, Community portal Burmese: suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to (IPA: [[WP:IPA for Burmese|[[kʰàɴdà]]]]) Recent changes aggregates. The Mahayana tradition further puts forth that 五蘊(T) / 五蕴(S) Contact Wikipedia ultimate freedom is realized by deeply penetrating the Chinese: (pinyin: w ǔyùn) Toolbox nature of all aggregates as intrinsically empty of independent existence. Japanese: 五蘊 Print/export Consciousness contacts form and reproduces a greater 오온 Korean: Languages reality, but in general the uninstructed reproduction of (RR: o-on) sensations, conceptions, and mental models becomes اﻟﻌﺮﺑﯿﺔ Shan: Česky painfully inadequate for the worldling. Outside of Buddhist ([khan2 thaa2]) Deutsch didactic contexts, "skandha" can mean mass, heap, pile, ཕང་པོ་་ open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com Español [2] Tibetan: ཕང་པོ་་ bundle or tree trunk. The five aggregates are fully defined (phung po lnga) Français below. 한국어 Thai: ขันธ Contents [hide] Bahasa Indonesia Vietnamese: Ngũ uẩn Italiano 1 Definition Parts of a chariot Glossary of Buddhism 1.1 עברית view · talk · edit · Lietuvių 2 Theravada perspectives Nederlands 2.1 Suffering's ultimate referent 日本語 2.2 Future suffering's cause 2.3 Release through aggregate-contemplation Polski 3 Mahayanist perspectives Português 3.1 The intrinsic emptiness of all things Русский 3.2 Tangibility and transcendence Slovenčina 4 Vajrayana perspectives Српски / Srpski 4.1 The truth of our insubstantiality ไทย 4.2 Bardo deity manifestations Türkçe 5 Relation to other Buddhist concepts Tiếng Việt 6 References in Buddhist literature 中文 7 See also 8 Notes 9 Bibliography 10 External links 10.1 Theravada 10.2 Mahayana 10.3 Vajrayana Definition [edit] [3] Buddhist doctrine describes five aggregates: The Five Aggregates (pañca khandha) 1. "form" or "matter"[4] (Skt., Pāli rūpa; Tib. gzugs): according to the Pali Canon. open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world. Internally, rupa includes the material mental f actors (cetasika) [5] body and the physical sense organs. form (rūpa) 2. "sensation" or "feeling" (Skt., Pāli vedanā; Tib. feeling tshor-ba): 4 elements (vedanā) [6] sensing an object as either pleasant or unpleasant (mahābhūta) [7][8] or neutral. 3. "perception", "conception", "apperception", "cognition", or "discrimination" (Skt. samjñā, Pāli ↓ contact perception saññā, Tib. 'du-shes): → (phassa) (sañña) registers whether an object is recognized or not (for ← instance, the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree). ↓ ↑ 4. "mental formations", "impulses", "volition", or "compositional factors" (Skt. samskāra, Pāli consciousness ← formation saṅkhāra, Tib. 'du-byed) : (viññāna) (saṅkhāra) all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, prejudices, compulsions, and decisions triggered by [9] an object. [10] 5. "consciousness" or "discernment" (Skt. vijñāna, Pāli viññāṇa[11], Tib. rnam-par-shes-pa): Form is derived from the Four Great Elements. [12][13] 1. In the Nikayas/Āgamas: cognizance, Consciousness arises from other aggregates. [14] that which discerns Mental Factors arise from the Contact of 2. In the Abhidhamma: a series of rapidly Consciousness and other aggregates. changing interconnected discrete acts of Source: MN 109 (Thanissaro, 2001) | diagram details cognizance.[15] 3. In some Mahayana sources: the base that supports all experience.[16] See Table 1 for examples of definitional references to the aggregates in Buddhist primary sources. In the Pāli Canon and the Āgamas, the majority of discourses focusing on the five aggregates discusses open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com them as a basis for understanding and achieving liberation from suffering, without describing relationships between the aggregates themselves.[17] Nonetheless, from some canonical discourses, a causal relationship between the five aggregates can be derived.[18] The following (illustrated in the figure to the right) exemplify such relational attributes:[19] Form (rūpa) arises from experientially irreducible physical/physiological phenomena.[20] Form—in terms of an external object (such as a sound) and its associated internal sense organ (such as the ear)—gives rise to consciousness (viññāṇa • vijñāṇa).[21] The concurrence of an object, its sense organ and the related consciousness (viññāṇa • vijñāṇa) is called "contact" (phassa • sparśa).[22][23][24] From the contact of form and consciousness arise the three mental (nāma) aggregates of feeling (vedanā), perception (saññā• saṃjñā) and mental formation (saṅkhāra • saṃskāra).[25][26] The mental aggregates can then in turn give rise to additional consciousness that leads to the arising of additional mental aggregates.[27] In this scheme, form, the mental aggregates,[28] and consciousness are mutually dependent.[29] Other Buddhist literature has described the aggregates as arising in a linear or progressive fashion, from form to feeling to perception to mental formations to consciousness.[30] Parts of a chariot [edit] In the Samyutta Nikaya, the Buddha is recorded as saying "A 'chariot' exists on the basis of the aggregation of parts, even so the concept of 'being' exists when the five aggregates are available."[31] Thus just as the concept of "chariot" is a reification, so too is the concept of "being." The same analysis is applicable to the parts of the chariot; they too are unsubstantial in that they are causally produced, just like the chariot as a whole.[32] The most explicit denial of the substantiality of the components of the being in the early texts is one that was quoted by later prominent Mahayana thinkers: All form is comparable to foam; all feelings to bubbles; all sensations are mirage-like; dispositions are like the plantain trunk; consciousness is but an illusion: so did the Buddha illustrate [the nature of the aggregates].[33] open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com Nagarjuna used ideas of this kind in the agamas to refute the Sarvastivada conception of reality.[32] The simultaneous non-reification of the self and reification of the skandhas has been viewed by some Buddhist thinkers as highly problematic.[34] In the early texts, the scheme of the five aggregates is not meant to be an exhaustive classification of the human being: rather it describes various aspects of the way an individual manifests.[35] The chariot metaphor is not an exercise in ontology, but rather a caution against ontological theorizing and conceptual realism.[36] Part of the Buddha's general approach to language was to point towards its conventional nature, and to undermine the misleading character of nouns as substance-words.[37] The skandha analysis of the early texts is not applicable to arahants. A tathāgata has abandoned that clinging to the personality factors that render the mind a bounded, measurable entity, and is instead "freed from being reckoned by" all or any of them, even in life. The skandhas have been seen to be a burden, and an enlightened individual is one with "burden dropped".[38] See also: Tathagata#Inscrutable Theravada perspectives [edit] Bhikkhu Bodhi (2000b, p. 840) states that an examination of the aggregates has Part of a series on a "critical role" in the Buddha's teaching for multiple reasons, including: Buddhism 1. Understanding the Four Noble Truths: The five aggregates are the "ultimate referent" in the Buddha's elaboration on suffering (dukkha) in his First Noble Truth (see excerpted quote below) and "since all four truths revolve around suffering, understanding the aggregates is essential for understanding the Four Noble Truths as a whole." 2. Future Suffering's Cause: The five aggregates are the substrata for Outline · Portal clinging and thus "contribute to the causal origination of future suffering." History 3. Release: Clinging to the five aggregates must be removed in order to Timeline · Councils achieve release. Gautama Buddha Below, excerpts from the Pāli literature will bear out Bhikkhu Bodhi's Later Buddhists open in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API pdfcrowd.com [39] assessment. Dharma or concepts Suffering's ultimate referent [edit] Four Noble Truths Five Aggregates In the Buddha's first discourse, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, he provides Impermanence a classic elaboration on the first of his Four Noble Truths, "The Truth of Suffering" Suffering · Non-self (Dukkhasacca):[40] Dependent Origination Middle Way · Emptiness The Noble Truth of Suffering [dukkha], monks, is this: Birth is suffering,
Recommended publications
  • \(Cont'd-020310-Heart Sutra Transcribing\)
    The Heart of Perfect Wisdom— Lecture on The Heart of Prajñā Pāramitā Sutra (part 2) Transcribed and edited from a talk given by Ven. Jian-Hu on March 10, 2002 at Buddha Gate Monastery ©2002 Buddha Gate Monastery•For Free Distribution Only Translation of Sanskrit Words When Buddhism came to China about two thousand years ago, the Indian Buddhist masters cooperated with the Chinese masters and set up some rules on translation. They were meticulous about the translation process. One of the rules is that if the word has multiple meanings then it should not be translated because if we translate it one way we lose its other meanings. Another rule is that if the Sanskrit word doesn’t have a corresponding concept in Chinese, then it is not translated. Prajñā, nirvana, and skandha are Sanskrit words. Skandha has multiple meanings. There is no corresponding word to explain prajñā or nirvana either in Chinese, or in English. Does anyone know what nirvana is? Well, some 6th grader knows! Last week when I was invited to an intermediate school to introduce Buddhism, I asked, “What is nirvana?” One child said, “I know, it’s a rock band!” Another child raised his hand and said, “nirvana is ultimate peace.” I was really surprised. That is a really good way to describe nirvana – ultimate peace. The Five Skandhas Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, while deeply immersed in prajñā pāramitā, clearly perceived the empty nature of the five skandhas, and transcended all suffering. Skandha is a Sanskrit word and it means aggregate. Aggregate is an assembly of things.
    [Show full text]
  • Mindfulness and the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path
    Chapter 3 Mindfulness and the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path Malcolm Huxter 3.1 Introduction In the late 1970s, Kabat-Zinn, an immunologist, was on a Buddhist meditation retreat practicing mindfulness meditation. Inspired by the personal benefits, he de- veloped a strong intention to share these skills with those who would not normally attend retreats or wish to practice meditation. Kabat-Zinn developed and began con- ducting mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) in 1979. He defined mindful- ness as, “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment” (Kabat-Zinn 2003, p. 145). Since the establishment of MBSR, thousands of individuals have reduced psychological and physical suffering by attending these programs (see www.unmassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr/). Furthermore, the research into and popularity of mindfulness and mindfulness-based programs in medical and psychological settings has grown exponentially (Kabat-Zinn 2009). Kabat-Zinn (1990) deliberately detached the language and practice of mind- fulness from its Buddhist origins so that it would be more readily acceptable in Western health settings (Kabat-Zinn 1990). Despite a lack of consensus about the finer details (Singh et al. 2008), Kabat-Zinn’s operational definition of mindfulness remains possibly the most referred to in the field. Dozens of empirically validated mindfulness-based programs have emerged in the past three decades. However, the most acknowledged approaches include: MBSR (Kabat-Zinn 1990), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT; Linehan 1993), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT; Hayes et al. 1999), and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT; Segal et al.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Psychology
    CHAPTER 1 Buddhist Psychology Andrew Olendzki THEORY AND PRACTICE ince the subject of Buddhist psychology is largely an artificial construction, Smixing as it does a product of ancient India with a Western movement hardly a century and a half old, it might be helpful to say how these terms are being used here. If we were to take the term psychology literally as referring to “the study of the psyche,” and if “psyche” is understood in its earliest sense of “soul,” then it would seem strange indeed to unite this enterprise with a tradition that is per- haps best known for its challenge to the very notion of a soul. But most dictio- naries offer a parallel definition of psychology, “the science of mind and behavior,” and this is a subject to which Buddhist thought can make a significant contribution. It is, after all, a universal subject, and I think many of the methods employed by the introspective traditions of ancient India for the investigation of mind and behavior would qualify as scientific. So my intention in using the label Buddhist Psychology is to bring some of the insights, observations, and experi- ence from the Buddhist tradition to bear on the human body, mind, emotions, and behavior patterns as we tend to view them today. In doing so we are going to find a fair amount of convergence with modern psychology, but also some intriguing diversity. The Buddhist tradition itself, of course, is vast and has many layers to it. Al- though there are some doctrines that can be considered universal to all Buddhist schools,1 there are such significant shifts in the use of language and in back- ground assumptions that it is usually helpful to speak from one particular per- spective at a time.
    [Show full text]
  • Satipatthana Sutta
    Satipatthana Sutta Four Foundations of Mindfulness Original Instructions for Training in Mindfulness Meditation Compiled by Stephen Procter “Bhikkhus, this is the direct way; for the purification of beings, the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the dissolving of pain and grief, the fulfilment of the Noble Path & realisation of Nibbana, namely, these Four Foundations of Mindfulness”. The Buddha Mindfulness of Body within Body 1) Some Notes on Interpretation Page 1 2) The Satipatthana Sutta Page 2 3) Mindfulness of Body Section Page 3 4) Mindfulness of Posture Section Page 6 5) Relationship to Body Section Page 8 Mindfulness of Feeling within Feelings 1) Mindfulness of Feeling Section Page 11 Mindfulness of Mind within Mind 1) Mindfulness of Mind Section Page 13 Mindfulness of Dhamma within Dhammas 1) The Five Hindrances Page 15 2) The Five Clung-to Aggregates Page 18 3) Six Internal & External Sense Bases Page 19 4) Seven Factors of Awakening Page 21 5) Four Noble Truths Page 24 6) Noble Eightfold Path (see note on inclusion) Page 25 7) The Buddha’s Assurance Page 28 Satipatthana Sutta Lists 1) Lists from the Satipatthana Sutta Page 29 Satipatthana Sutta: Four Foundations of Mindfulness Original Instructions for Training in Mindfulness Meditation Compiled by Stephen Procter Stephen Procter Meditation in The Shire NSW, Sydney Australia, 2232 Email: [email protected] Phone: 0466 531 023 Website: http://www.meditationintheshire.com.au 1st Edition Published (Jan 2019) For free distribution only Notes on this compilation. This guide has been published in order to offer students of MIDL a clear and non-gender specific version of the Satipatthana Sutta so that they can be informed and inspired in training Satipatthana Vipassana Bhavana.
    [Show full text]
  • Pain and Flourishing in Mahayana Buddhist Moral Thought
    SOPHIA DOI 10.1007/s11841-017-0619-4 A Nirvana that Is Burning in Hell: Pain and Flourishing in Mahayana Buddhist Moral Thought Stephen E. Harris1 # The Author(s) 2017. This article is an open access publication Abstract This essay analyzes the provocative image of the bodhisattva, the saint of the Indian Mahayana Buddhist tradition, descending into the hell realms to work for the benefit of its denizens. Inspired in part by recent attempts to naturalize Buddhist ethics, I argue that taking this ‘mythological’ image seriously, as expressing philosophical insights, helps us better understand the shape of Mahayana value theory. In particular, it expresses a controversial philosophical thesis: the claim that no amount of physical pain can disrupt the flourishing of a fully virtuous person. I reconstruct two related elements of early Buddhist psychology that help us understand this Mahayana position: the distinction between hedonic sensation (vedanā) and virtuous or nonvirtous mental states (kuśala/akuśala-dharma); and the claim that humans are massively deluded as to what constitutes well-being. Doing so also lets me emphasize the continuity between early Buddhist and Mahayana traditions in their views on well-being and flourishing. Keywords Mahayana Buddhism . Buddhist ethics . Buddhism . Ethics . Hell Julia Annas has shown that taking seriously Stoic and Epicurean claims that the sage is happy even while being tortured on the rack helps articulate the structure of their ethics, and in particular the relationship between virtue (arête) and happiness (eudaimonia).1 In this essay, I apply this strategy to Mahayana Buddhist moral philosophy by taking seriously the image of the bodhisattva joyfully diving into the hell realms.
    [Show full text]
  • The Buddhist Perspective on Human Fulfillment: the Pure Land by Alfred Bloom, Emeritus Professor, University of Hawaii
    The Buddhist Perspective on Human Fulfillment: The Pure Land by Alfred Bloom, Emeritus Professor, University of Hawaii Every major religion of salvation has a vision of paradise, the destination of the faithful. In the early tradition of Buddhism the goal was inconceivable Nirvana. Nirvana as a term meant to blow out, that is, blowing out or extinction of the winds of passions, delusion and greed; transcendence of karma. It was not a place to go, but more a state of being or condition beyond description or conception. The Buddha, upon his enlightenment, attained partial Nirvana because he willed to stay in the world to share his teaching. However, he was beyond karma and transmigration based on good deeds. Though the Buddha voluntarily remained in the world, he was not of the world, stained by its impurities. When he died, Buddha attained perfect or complete Nirvana and was beyond conceptions such as being or non-being. He was totally released from all the passions, discriminations and attachments that mark life in this world. Yet he was not in a “place.” This understanding also goes back to the Buddhist view that there is no abiding essence in things or what we would call a soul. Rather, beings are temporary configurations of elements called skandha. The skandha which are bound by karma disperse when the karmic bonds are broken, and in the case of the Buddha, purified of all karmic taint. In early Buddhist art, the Buddha was represented by an empty chair, indicating that he is indefinable in the nirvanic state. This conception of Buddha’s destiny is naturally difficult to understand and has been a problem to convey to the general public through the centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Tantric Exposition of the Dependent Origination According to the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra, Chapter XVI: Pratītyasamutpāda-Paṭala
    ROCZNIK ORIENTALISTYCZNY, T. LXV, Z. 1, 2012, (s. 140–148) MAREK MEJOR Tantric Exposition of the Dependent Origination according to the Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra, Chapter XVI: pratītyasamutpāda-paṭala Abstract The Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra, or “Tantra of Fierce and Greatly Wrathful One”, belongs to the class of Highest Tantras (anuttarayoga, rnal ’byor chen po bla med). The text which has been preserved in the Sanskrit original and in Tibetan translation consists of twenty five chapters (paṭala). The 16th chapter entitled pratītyasamutpāda-paṭala is an exposition of the doctrine of dependent origination. The present author is preparing a critical edition of this chapter from Sanskrit and Tibetan, provided with an annotated translation. In this paper is offered a working translation alone with occasional references the readings of the oldest Sanskrit palm leaf manuscripts, compared with the Tibetan translation (Wanli edition). Keywords: Buddhism, Tantra, doctrine of causality, Sanskrit manuscripts, Tibetan Kanjur 1. The Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇatantra (henceforth abbreviated CMT), or “Tantra of Fierce and Greatly Wrathful One”, belongs to the class of Highest Tantras (anuttarayoga, rnal ’byor chen po bla med).1 According to the fourfold classification in Bu ston’s Catalogue of Tantras (Rgyud ʼbum gyi dkar chag), CMT is farther classified as belonging to the Vairocana cycle (Vairocana-kula).2 CMT has been preserved in the Sanskrit original3 and 1 George 1974: xxxvi: “According to formal Tibetan classification, this work is a Vyākhyātantra, or ‘Explanatory’ Tantra, belonging to the school of the Guhyasamāja Tantra, which in turn is one of the five Mūlatantras, or ‘Basic’ Tantras in the class of Anuttarayogatantras”. See also Skorupski 1996. 2 Eimer 1989: 32: “2.3.
    [Show full text]
  • The Relation of Akasa to Pratityasamutpada in Nagarjuna's
    The relation of akasa to pratityasamutpada in Nagarjuna’s writings Garth Mason To Juliet, my wife, whose love, acceptance and graceful realism made this thesis possible. To Sinead and Kieran who teach me everyday I would like to thank Professor Deirdre Byrne for her intellectual support and editing the thesis The relation of akasa to pratityasamutpada in Nagarjuna’s writings By Garth Mason Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY In the subject of RELIGIOUS STUDIES at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA PROMOTER: PROF. M. CLASQUIN AUGUST 2012 i Summary of thesis: While much of Nāgārjuna’s writings are aimed at deconstructing fixed views and views that hold to some form of substantialist thought (where certain qualities are held to be inherent in phenomena), he does not make many assertive propositions regarding his philosophical position. He focuses most of his writing to applying the prasaṅga method of argumentation to prove the importance of recognizing that all phenomena are śūnya by deconstructing views of phenomena based on substance. Nāgārjuna does, however, assert that all phenomena are empty and that phenomena are meaningful because śūnyatā makes logical sense.1 Based on his deconstruction of prevailing views of substance, he maintains that holding to any view of substance is absurd, that phenomena can only make sense if viewed from the standpoint of śūnyatā. This thesis grapples with the problem that Nāgārjuna does not provide adequate supporting arguments to prove that phenomena are meaningful due to their śūnyatā. It is clear that if saṃvṛti is indiscernible due to its emptiness, saṃvṛtisatya cannot be corroborated on its own terms due to its insubstantiality.
    [Show full text]
  • The Buddhist Educational Psychological Concept of Anattā in Pāli Nikayas Qing MING Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, China [email protected]
    2017 International Conference on Education Science and Education Management (ESEM 2017) ISBN: 978-1-60595-486-8 The Buddhist Educational Psychological Concept of Anattā in Pāli Nikayas Qing MING Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, China [email protected] Keywords: Buddhist Psychology, Anattā, Pāli Nikayas, Ǡlayavijnāna. Abstract. “Anattā” is a key concept of Buddhist educational psychology, it has exerted a tremendous, profound and far-reaching influence upon the history of Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhist psychology. In this paper, the author will use Buddhist hermeneutics as research method to explain the philosophical and psychological concept of anattā, address the different interpretive strands, classical and modern, of this concept, and to interpret some of the widely identified problematiques of this concept. Finally, there will be a summary of the basic characteristics of the “anattā” as the nature of human being. Introduction Robert H. Thouless, a renowned Cambridge University western psychologist, is known for his scholarship on the Theravada Buddhist psychology and western psychology. After made a comprehensive survey of Theravada Buddhist Pāli Nikayas, he said: “anybody with a good knowledge of psychology and its history who reads the Pāli Nikayas must be the fact that the psychological terminology is richer in this than any other ancient literature and that more space is devoted to psychological analysis and explanations in this than in any other religious literature.”[1] The concept of anattā is the foundation of Buddhist educational psychology that has been discussed in Pāli Nikayas, thus, this paper took this concept as its objects of research. Description of Anattā in Classical Pāli Texts The Buddhist educational psychological and philosophical Pāli term “anattā” (it is known as “anātman” in Sanskrit) is often translated as “no-self,” “not-self,” “no-soul,” or “no-ego” by western researches.
    [Show full text]
  • The Buddhist Psychological Concepts of Samatha and Vipassana Qing MING Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, China
    2017 3rd International Conference on Humanity and Social Science (ICHSS 2017) ISBN: 978-1-60595-529-2 The Buddhist Psychological Concepts of Samatha and Vipassana Qing MING Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, China Keywords: Samatha, Vipassana, Buddhist psychology, Meditation, Agguttara Nikaya. Abstract. The key concepts of Buddhism’s traditional psychology are samatha and vipassana, which incorporates, in some form and to some degree, all Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism and Tantric Buddhism’s philosophical and psychological major ideas. Therefore, this paper will use hermeneutics as its research method, take the study of the concept of samatha and vipassana in classical Pali texts and Chinese traditional Mahayana Buddhist texts as its objects of research, and the study will be conducted from three aspects: 1) the suttic and commentarial sources of samatha and vipassana; 2) the meaning of samatha and vippasana, and 3) the relationship between samatha and vippasana. Introduction Buddhist psychology has aroused great interest in western academic circles in recent decades, it is developing rapidly in Europe and the United States. In the history of Buddhist psychology, samatha and vipassana are the two complementary aspects of Buddhist psychological meditation, and they have become an inseparable part of the indigenous of Buddhist psychology. According to hermeneutical research methods, a comprehensive survey of the concepts of samatha and vipassana should begin with the Pali and Chinese Buddhist texts. The Sources A number of sources address samatha and vipassana, which include both suttic and commentarial sources: Table 1. The concept of Samatha and Vipassana in suttic and commentarial sources. Title Nikaya Subject Matte Samadhi Sutta:Concentration Agguttara Nikaya Discusses the meditative path of (Tranquility and Insight)[1] tranquility and insight into the true nation of things.
    [Show full text]
  • Buddhist Rebirth: a Survey of Pre-Modern Asian Thought Tiffany L
    Southern Illinois University Carbondale OpenSIUC Honors Theses University Honors Program 5-1991 Buddhist Rebirth: A Survey of Pre-Modern Asian Thought Tiffany L. Severns Southern Illinois University Carbondale Follow this and additional works at: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/uhp_theses Recommended Citation Severns, Tiffany L., "Buddhist Rebirth: A Survey of Pre-Modern Asian Thought" (1991). Honors Theses. Paper 301. This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the University Honors Program at OpenSIUC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of OpenSIUC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. During, and most especially after the death of the Buddha, there existed much confusion and speculation regarding Buddhist doctrines of rebirth. The theoretical and philosophical aspects of the concepts of rebirth were among the concerns of these Buddhists. How could one be reborn if one ~id not have a self? How did one's karma affect the circumstances of one's rebirth? On another level, there was much debate over the mechanics of rebirth. How does one's karma trigger rebirth if there is no transmigration? Is there an intermediate state of being between death and life, and if so, what form did this state take? Some schools did not approach the philosophical problems of rebirth. Taking the teachings of karma and rebirth as true based on accounts of extra-sensory verification by Gautama Buddha and others (Hick 349), these chose to concentrate on the practical aspects of practice in the here-and-now rather than to tie up valuable time and energy in intellectual nit-picking.
    [Show full text]
  • The Way of Mindfulness: the Satipatthana Sutta
    The Way of Mindfulness: The Satipatthana Sutta The Satipatthana Sutta, the Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, is generally regarded as the canonical Buddhist text with the fullest instructions on the system of meditation unique to the Buddha's own dispensation. The practice of Satipatthana meditation centers on the methodical cultivation of one simple mental faculty readily available to all of us at any moment. This is the faculty of mindfulness, the capacity for attending to the content of our experience as it becomes manifest in the immediate present. What the Buddha shows in the sutta is the tremendous, but generally hidden, power inherent in this simple mental function, a power that can unfold all the mind's potentials culminating in final deliverance from suffering. To exercise this power, however, mindfulness must be systematically cultivated, and the sutta shows exactly how this is to be done. The key to the practice is to combine energy, mindfulness, and clear comprehension in attending to the phenomena of mind and body summed up in the "four arousings of mindfulness": body, feelings, consciousness, and mental objects. Most contemporary meditation teachers explain Satipatthana meditation as a means for generating insight (vipassana). While this is certainly a valid claim, we should also recognize that satipatthana meditation also generates concentration (samadhi). Unlike the forms of meditation which cultivate concentration and insight sequentially, Satipatthana brings both these faculties into being together. Though naturally, in the actual process of development, concentration will have to gain a certain degree of stability before insight can exercise its penetrating function. In Satipatthana, the act of attending to each occasion of experience as it occurs in the moment fixes the mind firmly on the object.
    [Show full text]