Buddhist Meditation: an Anthology from the Pali Canon
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BUDDHIST MEDITATION Meditative practice lies at the heart of the Buddhist tradition. This introductory anthology gives a representative sample of the various kinds of meditations described in the earliest body of Buddhist scripture, the Pali canon. It provides a broad introduction to their traditional context and practice and supplies explanation, context and doctrinal background to the subject of meditation. The main themes of the book are the diversity and flexibility of the way that the Buddha teaches meditation from the evidence of the canon. Covering fundamental features of Buddhist practice such as posture, lay meditation and meditative technique it provides comments both from the principal early commentators on Buddhist practice, Upatissa and Buddhaghosa, as well as from reputable modern meditation teachers in a number of Theravadin traditions. This is the first general book on Pali Buddhism which introduces the reader to the wide range of meditative advice in the canon. It demonstrates that the Buddha’s meditative tradition still offers a path of practice as mysterious, awe-inspiring yet as freshly accessible as it was centuries ago and should be of interest to students and scholars of Buddhism as well as Buddhist practitioners. Sarah Shaw read Greek and English at Manchester University, where she took a doctorate in English. She studied Pali at Oxford and is on the steering committee of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies. She is a mother, teacher and writer. She practises with the Samatha Association of Britain. ROUTLEDGE CRITICAL STUDIES IN BUDDHISM General Editors: Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism is a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives, using a range of different methodologies. The series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies, textual translations and commentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and consid- erations of religious practice as an expression of Buddhism’s integral religiosity. It also presents materials on modern intellectual historical studies, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a contemporary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is receptive to all research works that inform and advance our knowledge and understanding of the Buddhist tradition. A SURVEY OF VINAYA THE RESONANCE OF LITERATURE EMPTINESS Charles S. Prebish Gay Watson THE REFLEXIVE NATURE AMERICAN BUDDHISM OF AWARENESS Edited by Duncan Ryuken Paul Williams Williams and Christopher Queen ALTRUISM AND REALITY Paul Williams IMAGING WISDOM Jacob N. Kinnard BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS Edited by Damien Keown, PAIN AND ITS Charles S. Prebish and Wayne Husted ENDING Carol S. Anderson WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THE BUDDHA EMPTINESS APPRAISED Kathryn R. Blackstone David F. Burton THE SOUND OF LIBERATING RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION TRUTH AND THE ORIGINS OF Edited by Sallie B. King and BUDDHISM Paul O. Ingram Torkel Brekke BUDDHIST THEOLOGY DEVELOPMENTS IN Edited by Roger R. Jackson and AUSTRALIAN BUDDHISM John J. Makransky Michelle Spuler THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF ZEN WAR STORIES PURNA Brian Victoria Joel Tatelman THE BUDDHIST EARLY BUDDHISM – A NEW UNCONSCIOUS APPROACH William S. Waldron Sue Hamilton INDIAN BUDDHIST THEORIES OF PERSONS CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST James Duerlinger ETHICS Edited by Damien Keown ACTION DHARMA Edited by Christopher Queen, INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST Charles S. Prebish and WOMEN Damien Keown Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo TIBETAN AND ZEN TEACHING BUDDHISM IN BUDDHISM IN BRITAIN THE WEST David N. Kay Edited by V.S. Hori, R.P. Hayes and J.M. Shields THE CONCEPT OF THE BUDDHA EMPTY VISION Guang Xing David L. McMahan THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE SELF, REALITY AND IN THE BUDDHIST PALI REASON IN TIBETAN CANON PHILOSOPHY David Webster Thupten Jinpa THE NOTION OF DITTHI IN IN DEFENSE OF DHARMA THERAVADA BUDDHISM Tessa J. Bartholomeusz Paul Fuller BUDDHIST THE BUDDHIST THEORY OF PHENOMENOLOGY SELF-COGNITION Dan Lusthaus Zhihua Yao MORAL THEORY IN BUDDHISM IN CANADA FANTIDEVA’S FIKSASAMUCCAYA Edited by Bruce Matthews Barbra R. Clayton BUDDHISM, CONFLICT AND BUDDHIST STUDIES FROM VIOLENCE IN MODERN INDIA TO AMERICA SRI LANKA Edited by Damien Keown Edited by Mahinda Deegalle DISCOURSE AND IDEOLOGY THERAVADA BUDDHISM IN MEDIEVAL JAPANESE AND THE BRITISH BUDDHISM ENCOUNTER Edited by Richard K. Payne and Religious, missionary and Taigen Dan Leighton colonial experience in nineteenth century BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND Sri Lanka APPLIED PSYCHOLOGICAL Elizabeth Harris RESEARCH Edited by D.K. Nauriyal, BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT Michael S. Drummond and Buddhism, religion, modernity Y.B. Lal Richard Cohen The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies conducts and promotes rigorous teaching and research into all forms of the Buddhist tradition. EARLY BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS Noa Ronkin MIPHAM’S DIALECTICS AND THE DEBATES ON EMPTINESS Karma Phuntsho HOW BUDDHISM BEGAN The conditioned genesis of the early teachings Richard F. Gombrich BUDDHIST MEDITATION An anthology of texts from the Pali canon Sarah Shaw BUDDHIST MEDITATION An anthology of texts from the Pali canon Sarah Shaw First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group © 2006 Sarah Shaw All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Tipiòtaka. English. Selections. Buddhist meditation: an anthology of texts from the Pali Canon / [selected and translated by] Sarah Shaw. p. cm. – (Routledge critical studies in Buddhism) Includes translations from Pali. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Meditation – Buddhism. I. Shaw, Sarah, Dr. II. Title. III. Series. BQ1172.E5S43 2005 294.3'4435–dc22 2005018530 ISBN10: 0–415–35918–X ISBN13: 9–78–0–415–35918–4 FOR CHARLES CONTENTS Preface xii Acknowledgements xiv Translator’s note xv List of abbreviations xvi 1 Introduction 1 What is meditation? 1 The early manuals 4 The classification of meditation objects 6 Different temperaments 8 Finding a teacher or good friend 10 Laypeople and the practice of meditation 12 Sitting posture 15 Samatha and vipassana 18 2 Meditation: introductory texts 21 Enlightenment (1) 21 Enlightenment (2) 21 Enlightenment (3) 22 Seclusion 22 Meditation 23 Starting meditation 24 The good friend 28 The simile of the sun 29 Companionship 30 The mind 31 The skilful mind and body 33 Dispositions 35 Two elephant kings 36 ix CONTENTS 3 The five hindrances 39 Definition of each hindrance 40 The world of the senses 41 Dealing with the hindrances in practice 43 Vijitasena 44 Purification 45 Six hindrances 46 Abandoning the hindrances (nivarajappahana) 48 Asking for help 49 Assessing one’s own mind 51 Particular hindrances 53 4 Longer texts: I. Concentration and the fruits of recluseship – the Samaññaphala-Sutta 59 The background story 59 The fruits of the recluse 61 The hindrances 61 The jhanas 62 5 Longer texts: II. The four foundations of mindfulness – the Satipatthana-Sutta 76 6 1–10. The ten kasija practices 86 Instructions concerning the device 87 Elements 99 7 11–20. The ten foulness (asubha) 101 Ugliness 105 Kulla 106 An emergency 106 8 The recollections: the first six 109 The recollections (Anussati): (21–26) The six recollections 109 21–23. The Triple Gem 110 21. Recollection of the Buddha (Buddhanussati) 113 22. Recollection of the dhamma (dhammanussati) 119 23. Recollection of the saπgha (sakghanussati) 122 24. Recollection of virtue (silanussati) 123 x CONTENTS 25. Recollection of generosity (caganussati) 125 26. Recollection of devas (devatanussati) 127 9 The recollections: the four mindfulnesses 135 27. Mindfulness of death (marajasati) 135 28. Mindfulness of body (kayagatasati) 140 29. Breathing mindfulness (anapanasati) 146 30. Recollection of peace (upasamanussati) 158 10 31–34. The four divine abidings (brahmavihara) 163 Loving-kindness (metta) 163 Compassion 165 Sympathetic joy 165 Equanimity 165 11 35–38. Meditation on the formless (aru¯pasamapatti) 173 Nirodha samapatti 176 Buddhaghosa and Upatissa: the sphere of infinite space 176 The sphere of infinite consciousness 177 The sphere of nothingness 177 The sphere of neither perception nor non-perception 178 The eight jhanas and the cessation of perception and feeling 179 12 The one perception and the one defining 183 39. The perception of loathsomeness in food (ahare patikk˜ulasañña) 183 40. The defining of the four elements (Catudhatuvavatthanam/ekaÇ vavatthanaÇ) 186 Conclusion 194 Glossary 199 Notes 203 Canonical references 222 Bibliography