Mindfulness) and the Structure of the Mind in Early Buddhism

Sat; (Mindfulness) and the Structure of the Mind in Early Buddhism by Madawala Seelawimala and Arnold McKinley INTRODUCTION editationaJ practice. of one sort or an control over his own development. Sati shares M other, plays an essential role in the daily this distinction with four other faculties.' In life of Buddhists. Indeed, the meditational Early Buddhist thought, one's further pro practices available are as varied as the Asian gress toward nibbiina sprang from sali cultures from which they sprang. Unfor development and upon it one's future practice tunately, most of them appear rather odd depended. when seen from a non-Buddhist, American point of view. Americans wonder, for exam· So if Americans are to understand Bud pie, what Buddhists do when they sit still for dhist forms of meditation and if Buddhism is countless hours or what they intend to gain by to be transferred successfully to America, moving ever so slowly, as those of the Americans must understand sali development Theravadan tradition do while walking in correctly. Unfortunately, such understanding vipassanii meditation. The answers to ques is difficult to attain because of the great dif tions like these lie in the Buddhist scriptures, ferences in language, philosophy and the suI/as-the discourses of the Buddha. "worldview" which exist between the There the original methods of sati (mind American and Asian cultures in which Bud fulness), from which all later Buddhist dhism developed. In fact, the task is difficult meditational practices developed, are describ even for Indian, Sri Lankan, Thai, Burmese ed. and Tibetan Buddhists who share their cultural roots with the Buddha. Subtleties of "There is this one way, monks, for the the teachings have been lost over the cen purification of beings, for the overcoming turies, tending to separate them from the Bud of sorrow and grief, for the ending of suf dha. fering and misery, for winning the right path, for realising nibbiina, that is to say, Indian monks arrived in China in the first the four practices of sati (mindfulness).''' century A.D. and translated some of the In dian sullas and commentaries by the second The development of sati, therefore, is century, but definitive translations, which considered to be absolutely essential for the successfully overcame the cultural differences realization of nibbiina, ultimate peace of and thus prepared the foundation for a critical mind. Indeed, the Buddha placed sammii-sati analysis of Buddha's teaching from a Chinese (right mindfulness) among the practices of the perspective, did not appear for another 300 Noble Eightfold Path. In essence, sali years. The American experience of Buddhism development forms one cornerstone of Bud is just beginning. dha's method. He calls sali an 'indriya', a faculty which gives the aspirant of nibbiJna One of the significant barriers to the 3 transfer of Buddhism presently is the lack of sati and the structure of the mind. proper English words which carry the subtle meanings intended by Buddhist technical Our goal is to find a clear interpretation terms. The problems are usually avoided by of the word sati so that the English word translators; English words are used as if they 'mindfulness' , which has become the standard captured the full meaning of the technical translation, will carry significantly more terms. A continued practice of this sort, meaning for the average American student of without adjacent textual explanations of the Buddhism than it does now.' To do so we will nuances, confuses rather than clarifies. Some examine some textual material in the canon, terms such as 'mental objects' (for sankhiira) identify key concepts, describe the processes or 'emptiness' (for sunyatii) are utterly foreign which sati, as an indriya, controls, and pre and vacuous in meaning to most Americans, sent a graphical model of these processes. The since commensurate notions do not exist in model in conjunction with our knowledge of Western culture. vipassanii practice will suggest an interpreta tion of sati. We expect this paper to do no more, therefore, than to continue the scholarly discussion on the proper interpretation of sati SA TIiN THE PALl CANON for Americans using metaphors and models which Americans can understand. We are in The canon, itself, consists of three parts: ferring our interpretations of sati and of the the Sutta Pi/aka (The Basket of Teachings) by structure of the mind from the Pali Text the Buddha; the Vinaya Pi/aka (The Basket of Society's translations, except where we believe Rules) by which the followers were to live; and the translations are better rendered elsewhere. the Abhidhamma Pi/aka (The Basket of The massive work of retranslating all of the Philosophical Treatments of the Suttas). The pertinent passages with matured interpreta major discourse on sali occurs twice, once as tions has yet to be done; for now, we are mak the tenth discourse in the Majjhima Nikiiya ing a first attempt at organizing these passages (The Medium Length Sayings) where it is call and forming a usable model which can be ed Satipallhiina Sutta, and once as the twenty tested against future translations and inter second discourse of the Dfgha Nikiiya (The pretations. Long Sayings) where it is called Mahii Satipalfhiina Sutta.· We are guided by two principles in our endeavor: first, that the Buddha seems to have The word sati (or smrti, in Sanskrit) chosen his words very carefully, inasmuch as originally carried the meaning 'memory' or he strove for clarity in the presentation of his 'remembrance', but in Buddhist usage in the teachings; and second, that much of modern canon it refers to the present, perhaps a vipassanii meditation practice reasonably 'remembrance of the present' and therefore, reflects the ancient practice itself. Under the carries a meaning closer to 'attention' or first principle, for example, we would not ex 'awareness'. It refers particularly to an pect a regular appearance in the canon of two awareness which is well-placed, good, right, different Pali words to refer to the same con 'skillful' (kusa/a). Palfhiina, from fhii, means cept. We feel that the use of the English word 'placing right next to, or right in front of'. It 'mind' to translate both citta and mano, as is is sometimes translated 'arousing' or often done today, is not admissible. Under the 'establishment'. The complete title of the sut second, we would expect modern practice to ta may, therefore, be rendered "The suggest insights into the more subtle aspects of Discourse on the Immediate Presence or the translations and thus of the teaching on Establishment of Sali".' 4 Satipaflhana Sutta gives four Paflhanas which may help clarify them. of sati: "A person lives contemplating the kaya in the kaya ... he lives contemplating vedanii in the vedanl1 . he lives con THE SALA YATANA templating citta in the citta . he lives con (THE SIX 'FIELDS' OR 'SPHERES') templating dhamma in the dhamma".· "Lives contemplating .. 'x' .. in the ,. 'x' .," translates The concepts kaya, vedana, citta, and ... anupassT viharati which refers to a very dhamma are defined more clearly in several conscious, present abiding and observing suttas elsewhere in the pi/aka, particularly in awareness or consciousness. The phrase is Majjhima Nikaya and in SalTlyutta nikaya:' repeated over and over again as if to em phasize its importance with respect to sati. The Lord spoke thus: 'Six internal The sutta follows with a large number of ex ayalana are to be understood, six exter amples as if to explain what "lives con nal ayalana, six of viflflarra, six of templating .. 'x' .. in the .. 'x' .. means in ac phassQ, six of vedand, ... ' .• tual practice. These provide some meaning to the terms kaya, vedanl1, citta, and dhamma. Ayalana is used to refer to a 'realm', The examples provide the basis of vipassana 'field' or 'sphere' of activity. The internal meditational practice, as well as describing the l1yalanas include: first, the 'five senses', awareness of the one who has developed sati namely chakkhu (the visual sense), sola (the perfectly. aural sense), ghana (the smelling sense), and jivha (the tasting sense) and kaya (the feeling In these examples, kaya seems to rerer to sense), the last of which is usually translated the body, but in a special way: no reference to 'body' but now is seen to be narrower in an individual is implied anywhere. Rather, meaning than that; and second, mana, an kaya is referred to as a kind of agglomeration ayalana for which Westerners do not have a of parts. Vedana, in the examples, seems to 'sense' counterpart. The external ayalanas refer to 'feelings' or 'sensations'; pleasure, refer to the objects sensed: riipa (visible ob pain, and neither-pleasure-nor-pain are men ject), sadda (sound), gandha (odor), tioned. Although 'reelings' is its usual transla phoflhabba (touched object), and dhamma tion, we find difficulty with it and will amend (the additional sense object related to mana). it later. Citta and dhamma are more difficult With each of the six ayalanas come related to determine from the readings. viflilarra, phassa, and vedanl1 in that order (see Figures I and 2). With regard to the last two words, the ex amples use terms referring to psychological The text of Majjhima III. 281 indicates "states", maybe thoughts, and perhaps pro that a vifllll1rra related to a particular sense cesses, such as lust, hate, distraction, anger, (Jet's call it a 'sensory'-vedanii) arises from a sloth, and their opposites, but details are miss dependence on the internal and external ing. Usual translations equate citta with sensory-iiyatanas, that the 'meeting' of these 'mind' and dhamma with 'elements three is sensory-phassa and that from sensory of-reality', but 'mind' in English has a specific phassa arises sensory-vedana.

Load more