The Footpath of Contemplation
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Mahasi Sayadaw's Revolution
Deep Dive into Vipassana Copyright © 2020 Lion’s Roar Foundation, except where noted. All rights reserved. Lion’s Roar is an independent non-profit whose mission is to communicate Buddhist wisdom and practices in order to benefit people’s lives, and to support the development of Buddhism in the modern world. Projects of Lion’s Roar include Lion’s Roar magazine, Buddhadharma: The Practitioner’s Quarterly, lionsroar.com, and Lion’s Roar Special Editions and Online Learning. Theravada, which means “Way of the Elders,” is the earliest form of institutionalized Buddhism. It’s a style based primarily on talks the Buddha gave during his forty-six years of teaching. These talks were memorized and recited (before the internet, people could still do that) until they were finally written down a few hundred years later in Sri Lanka, where Theravada still dominates – and where there is also superb surf. In the US, Theravada mostly man- ifests through the teaching of Vipassana, particularly its popular meditation technique, mindfulness, the awareness of what is hap- pening now—thoughts, feelings, sensations—without judgment or attachment. Just as surfing is larger than, say, Kelly Slater, Theravada is larger than mindfulness. It’s a vast system of ethics and philoso- phies. That said, the essence of Theravada is using mindfulness to explore the Buddha’s first teaching, the Four Noble Truths, which go something like this: 1. Life is stressful. 2. Our constant desires make it stressful. 3. Freedom is possible. 4. Living compassionately and mindfully is the way to attain this freedom. 3 DEEP DIVE INTO VIPASSANA LIONSROAR.COM INTRODUCTION About those “constant desires”: Theravada practitioners don’t try to stop desire cold turkey. -
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. -
Chapter II DEFINITION of the TERM SATI and SAMMĀSATI
Chapter II DEFINITION OF THE TERM SATI AND SAMMĀSATI The word “Sati” has been used in Buddhist psychology in the sense of “mindfulness" for over 2500 years. Sati is the most important for cultivation of mind, and Vipassanā (insight meditation). There are different ways to explain the term Sati, it may be so useful to take a fresh look at mindfulness to clarify its meaning. The approach in this chapter is to seek the nature of mindfulness by studying the Suttas in which the Buddha and his students have used the term. In these Suttas we find a number of themes associated with mindfulness. It consists of the concept of the word Sati and also of the word Sammāsati, which is used to give the sense of correct (right) mindfulness. The definition and the meaning of Sati and Sammāsati, the types of the Sammāsati and different functions of Sati are also discussed in this chapter. Now we should go in detail in order to understand the Term Sammāsati clearly. II.1. Concept of Sati (mindfulness) The psychological concept of mindfulness involves the non- judgmental acceptance of thoughts, feelings and body sensations. 16 Mindfulness and a practicing of mindfulness can also decrease negative thoughts that intrude upon a leader‟s mind.8 The research has shown that Sati (mindfulness) leads to a better quality of life through feeling better and having less emotional distress. Sati plays a central role in the teachings of Buddhist meditation where it is affirmed that "correct" or "right" mindfulness is the critical factor in the path to liberation and subsequent enlightenment. -
Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation: a Practice Guide
Praise for Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation: A Practice Guide This is a pearl of a book. On reading it, and comparing it to the author’s previous two studies of satipaṭṭhāna, the impression is that of having left the university lecture theatre and entered the meditation hall, where the wise and experienced teacher is offering Dhamma reflections, illuminating the practice of satipaṭṭhāna with a fertile and colourful lucidity, free of footnotes and arcane cross-references. This book is a treasure-house of practical teachings, rendered accessible with a clear and simple eloquence. The author states that his motivation has been to enrich the practice of satipaṭṭhāna rather than to compete with other approaches – he has succeeded admirably in this, I feel, and with praiseworthy skill and grace. – Ajahn Amaro This breathtaking practice guide is brief, and profound! It offers a detailed, engaging, and flexible approach to satipaṭṭhāna meditation that can be easily applied both in meditation and in day-to-day activities. The inspired practice suggestions and joyful enquiry that pervade each chapter will draw students, gradually but surely, towards deep liberating insight. Satipaṭṭhāna Meditation: A Practice Guide is destined to become an invaluable resource for meditators! – Shaila Catherine, author of Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity Once more Bhikkhu Anālayo has written a masterpiece that holds within it an accessible and clear guide to developing and applying the teachings held within the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta. Within this book Anālayo explores the subtle nuances of developing mindfulness and how that dedicated cultivation leads to the awakening pointed to in the discourse. -
Roots and Shoots of Mindfulness
of worldviews and habituatng norms that defne As you begin to read this artcle, pause for a moment our consensus “reality.” to be mindful of your body sitng here… of your eyes To the degree to which we wake up with gazing at this screen… of the natural fow of your mindfulness and learn to open our hearts and breathing as you inhale….and exhale… of the sounds minds, the walls of our conventonal, familiar, arising and passing in the space around you… of the consensus view of reality become more clear, fow of thoughts and mental images in the clear open open, and transparent, revealing a deeper, vaster, space of your awareness… of the miraculous process of by which the meaning of the words you see on the multdimensional, and interrelated view of the screen before you is discerned and comprehended… As actual nature of reality than we have previously you contnue to read, experiment with being mindful imagined. This is why what we call mindfulness of the mental associatons, imagery, commentary, or meditaton is traditonally known as Vipassana, or distractons that arise in your mind…. “Insight Meditaton.” Mindfulness gives us access to insight and the direct, non-conceptual intuitve When we frst began our study, practce, and wisdom that liberates us from our misconceptons research of mindfulness in the early ‘70s we knew regarding the nature of reality and the true nature fewer than a handful of people who were involved of ourselves. While engaging in such pursuits is in this path of practce. As our practce and research likely to expand our consciousness, it may also matured, we began to develop mindfulness-based narrow the circle of people in our lives-work who programs in medicine, higher educaton, and can comprehend what we are searching for. -
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. -
Vipassana As Taught by the Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma
Vipassana as taught by the Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma The Mahasi Sayadaw Its been over two and half thousand years now since the Buddha first expounded the teachings. As time passes, the teaching becomes dulled. But there are always reformation movements throughout the history of Buddhism, some large and some small which revitalise the teachings, the Dhamma. And the Mahasi Sayadaw must be accredited as one of the key teachers in revitalising the practice of vipassana in Theravada Buddhist countries.� U. Sobhana Mahathera was born in 1904 in Upper Burma. So, this year marks the centenary of his birth. He joined the order as a mature boy and went on to complete the traditional studies with distinction. He finally returned to his home town, Seikhum, where he became the abbot of the Monastery, known the Mahasi, The Big Drum. In Burma/Myanmar, monks are often referred to by the place name where they were born or dwell in, hence he became known as the Mahasi Sayadaw. It was after the Second World War that some high-ranking people, including the then prime minister, U Nu, went looking for a teacher to start a meditation centre in Rangoon/Yangon. The centre was not to be just a monastery, but a place where lay people would be able to practise vipassana. This, it seems, was a little revolution since up until then it was generally presumed that only monastics could gain anything from meditation. This has indeed become special quality of a Mahasi centre in that there are lay teachers and lay practitioners and many of the centres are within the city or town boundaries easily accessible to lay people. -
On the Buddhist Roots of Contemporary Non-Religious Mindfulness Practice: Moving Beyond Sectarian and Essentialist Approaches 1
On the Buddhist roots of contemporary non-religious mindfulness practice: Moving beyond sectarian and essentialist approaches 1 VILLE HUSGAFVEL University of Helsinki Abstract Mindfulness-based practice methods are entering the Western cultural mainstream as institutionalised approaches in healthcare, educa- tion, and other public spheres. The Buddhist roots of Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and comparable mindfulness-based programmes are widely acknowledged, together with the view of their religious and ideological neutrality. However, the cultural and historical roots of these contemporary approaches have received relatively little attention in the study of religion, and the discussion has been centred on Theravāda Buddhist viewpoints or essentialist presentations of ‘classical Buddhism’. In the light of historical and textual analysis it seems unfounded to hold Theravāda tradition as the original context or as some authoritative expression of Buddhist mindfulness, and there are no grounds for holding it as the exclusive Buddhist source of the MBSR programme either. Rather, one-sided Theravāda-based presentations give a limited and oversimplified pic- ture of Buddhist doctrine and practice, and also distort comparisons with contemporary non-religious forms of mindfulness practice. To move beyond the sectarian and essentialist approaches closely related to the ‘world religions paradigm’ in the study of religion, the discus- sion would benefit from a lineage-based approach, where possible historical continuities and phenomenological -
66–95. © Tsering Dorji Objectless Loving-Kindness & Compassion
Objectless Loving-Kindness & Compassion: Why anārambaṇā maitrīkaruṇā became unique to bodhisattvas. Tsering Dorji Abstract This paper* analyses why anārambaṇā maitrīkaruṇā became an important and unique concept in early non-tantric Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. Through the study of early Mahāyāna Sūtras and Śāstras, I explore what the early Mahāyāna Sūtras and Śāstras tell us about ‘objectless loving- kindness and compassion’ in the context of threefold maitrī and karuṇā. By examining these early Mahāyāna Sūtras and Śāstras, and also early non-Mahāyāna Pāli nikāyas, abhidhammas and commentaries, I argue that anārambaṇā maitrīkaruṇā became unique to Mahāyāna because of the fundamental shift of goal from mainstream Buddhism; why śrāvakas or Hīnayānists do not practise anārambaṇā maitrīkaruṇā is not originally because of lack of non-conceptual wisdom or lack of understanding of the emptiness of dharma, but because for śrāvakas and mainstream Buddhists maitrī and karuṇā are not essential in attaining their bodhi. Śrāvakas are those who learn and uphold the teachings taught by the Buddha by actualising the true nature of dharma (dharmatāṃ sākṣātkurvanti).1 *When this paper was submitted for publication, we saw that it proposed an interesting argument, but the Sanskrit quotations were riddled with mistakes. Both we and the author were under lockdown and had no access to most of the texts. We decided to make the many corrections which seemed obvious, and to leave the other mistakes as received, given that they rarely if ever affect the argument. Ed. 1 Mitra 1888:4 Aṣṭasāhasrikā: /śrāvakā bhāṣante...tathāgatena dharmo deśitaḥ, tatra dharmadeśanāyāṃ śikṣamāṇās te tāṃ dharmatāṃ sākṣātkurvanti dhārayanti/ . (18): 66–95. -
Mindful Wisdom: the Sati-Paṭṭhāna-Sutta on Mindfulness, Memory, and Liberation
Mindful Wisdom: The Sati-paṭṭhāna-sutta on Mindfulness, Memory, and Liberation Eviatar Shulman History of Religions, Vol. 49, No. 4 (May 2010), pp. 393 - 420 Eviatar Shulman MINDFUL WISDOM: THE SATI-PAˇˇH A NA-SUTTA ON MINDFULNESS, MEMORY, AND LIBERATION The Sati-pa††hana-sutta (The discourse on the establishing of mindfulness)1 is among the most important and well-known early Buddhist texts, a para- digmatic teaching of Buddhist meditative practice.2 In this discourse, the 1 The Sati-pa††hana-sutta (hereafter SPS) appears in the Majjhima Nikaya (hereafter MN) 10; i, 55 (the source of citations to and quoted passages from the Pali canon, here and throughout, is the Vipasanna Research Institute’s virtual edition, http://tipitaka.org; I use the citation system of the Pali Text Society’s critical editions, with sutta number [if cited] fol- lowed by volume number [in roman numerals] and page number; all translations from the Pali are my own, unless noted otherwise). The SPS is also reproduced in the Maha-sati- pa††hana-sutta of the Digha Nikaya (hereafter DN) 22; ii, 290–315. In this second text, the Sacca-vibhanga-sutta (The exposition of the [four] truths) (MN 141; ii, 248) is inserted in the penultimate section of the SPS, in which the Buddha relates the Four Noble Truths. In the discussion below, I will be referring to the SPS as it appears in the MN, although my basic arguments apply to the Maha-sati-pa††hana-sutta just as well. 2 I share with many other scholars the uncomfortable feeling that arises from the use of the term “early” in regard to Buddhist scriptures. -
THE MEANING of Satipatthana the Meaning of Satipatthana
ITHE MEANING OF SaTIPATTHANA The Meaning of Satipatthana Introduction The Ven. SayadawU Panditatalks frequently about the meaning of satipatthana. He uses etymology to explain the proper way to note and observethe arisingphysical and mental objectsin the practice of meditation. This detailed and practical exposition of the term satipatthana goes to the Sayadaw'scredit. It is a formula or recipe for successin meditation. If appliedmeticulously to one's practice,the dhamma will unfold in no time. The sevenbenefits of mindfulness The practiceof satipatthanameditation leads to the purification of the mind, the overcomingof sorrow and lamentation,the complete destructionof physicalpain and mentaldistress, the enteringof the right path and the attainmentof nibbana. The etymo logy of satipatthnna The Pali term satipatthana is generally rendered as the 'Four foundationsof mindfulness'. However, its fulI meaning can be revealedby breaking up the compound word into its parts and examiningthese elements both individuallyand in combination. sati+ patthana or sati+pa+(t)thana The word sali derives from the root meaning 'to temember' (sant sarati), but as a mental factor it signifies 'presence of mind, attentiveness to the present, awareness, wakefulness and heedfulness',rather than the faculty of memoryof the past. Pqtthqna means 'close, firm and steadfast establishment, application,setting up'. Combining these two elements, the meaning of the compound becomes 'close, firm and steadfastestablishment of awarenesson the object of observation'. This kind of awarenessis also called nrppatitthita sati,' steadfastmindfulness'. The four foundationsof mindfulness The four foundationsof mindfulnesshave a single essence- mindful contemplation of raa*ural, phcnom€na. They are differentiated insofar as this mindful contemplationis appliedto four objects: l. -
Ānâpāna,Sati Sutta
SD 7.13 M 118/3:78-88 • nāpānasati Sutta Ānâpāna,sati Sutta 13 The Discourse on the Mindfulness of the In-and-out-breathing | M 118 Theme: The breath meditation locus classicus Translated and annotated by Piya Tan ©2003 1 The Sutta 1.1 BACKGROUND. In the Icchā,nagala Sutta (S 54.11), breath meditation is declared to be ―the noble abode, the perfect abode, the Tathagata‘s abode,‖1 because during the rains-retreat, the Buddha ―most- ly dwells in the concentration by mindfulness of breathing.‖2 The chief text of ―the mindfulness of in-and- out breathing‖ (nâpna,sati) is of course the Ānâpāna,sati Sutta (the discourse on the mindfulness of the in-and-out-breathing) found in the Majjhima Nikya (M 118/3:77-88). There are also four brief versions of the breath meditation (S 54.13-16) [1.2]. The Madhyama Āgama of the Sarvâstivda does not have any such sutta, but there is an isolated text in the Chinese Madhyama Āgama.3 The Pli Ānâpāna,sati Sutta is an exposition of the 16 steps of breath meditation in four tetrads [§§15-22] and the relationship of tetrads to the four focuses of mindfulness [§§23-28], the seven awakening-factors [§§29-40] and spiritual liberation [§§41-43]. The sixteen steps are found as a separate set in the Sarvâstivda Madhyama and Sayukta.4 The inspiring sutta prologue takes up about a quarter of the unabridged sutta. The Buddha has just completed the three-month rains retreat with various prominent elder monks who have been exhorting and instructing new monks (§§1-4).