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Mindfulness in Early Buddhism MINDFULNESS IN EARLY BUDDHISM This book identifies what is meant by sati (smUti), usually translated as “mind- fulness,” in early Buddhism, and examines its soteriological functions and its central role in the early Buddhist practice and philosophy. Using textual analysis and criticism, it takes new approaches to the subject through a com- parative study of Buddhist texts in Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit. It also fur- nishes new perspectives on the ancient teaching by applying the findings in modern psychology. In contemporary Buddhism, the practice of mindfulness is zealously advocated by the Theravada tradition, which is the only early Buddhist school that still exists today. Through detailed analysis of Theravada’s Pali Canon and the four Chinese Fgamas—which correspond to the four main NikAyas in Pali and belong to some early schools that no longer exist—this book shows that mindfulness is not only limited to the role as a method of insight (vipassanA) meditation, as presented by many Theravada advocates, but it also has a key role in serenity (samatha) medi- tation. It elucidates how mindfulness functions in the path to liberation from a psychological perspective, that is, how it helps to achieve an optimal cog- nitive capability and emotional state, and thereby enables one to attain the ultimate religious goal. Furthermore, the author argues that the well-known formula of ekAyano maggo, which is often interpreted as “the only way,” implies that the four satipaWWhAnas (establishments of mindfulness) constitute a com- prehensive path to liberation, and refer to the same as kAyagatA sati, which has long been understood as “mindfulness of the body” by the tradition. The study shows that kAyagatA sati and the four satipaWWhAnas are two different ways of formulating the teaching on mindfulness according to different schemes of classification of phenomena. Tse-fu Kuan is an assistant professor at the General Education Centre, National University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He is interested in Indian Buddhism and is the author of An Introduction to Mamatha and VipaNyanA of the MahAyAna (co-authored with Ven. Dr Huimin Bhikkhu, Taipei: Dharma Drum Culture, 1997) and several articles in leading journals including the Journal of Indian Philosophy. ROUTLEDGE CRITICAL STUDIES IN BUDDHISM Founding 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 com- mentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and considerations of religious prac- tice as an expression of Buddhism integral religiosity. It also presents materials on modern intellectual historical studies, including the role of Buddhist thought and scholarship in a con- temporary, 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 LITERATURE THE SOUND OF LIBERATING TRUTH Charles S. Prebish Edited by Sallie B. King and Paul O. Ingram THE REFLEXIVE NATURE OF BUDDHIST THEOLOGY AWARENESS Edited by Roger R. Jackson and Paul Williams John J. Makransky ALTRUISM AND REALITY THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF PURNA Paul Williams Joel Tatelman BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS EARLY BUDDHISM – A NEW Edited by Damien Keown, Charles Prebish APPROACH and Wayne Husted Sue Hamilton WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST ETHICS THE BUDDHA Edited by Damien Keown Kathryn R. Blackstone INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST WOMEN THE RESONANCE OF EMPTINESS Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo Gay Watson TEACHING BUDDHISM IN THE WEST AMERICAN BUDDHISM Edited by V. S. Hori, R. P. Hayes Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams and J. M. Shields and Christopher Queen EMPTY VISION IMAGING WISDOM David L. McMahan Jacob N. Kinnard SELF, REALITY AND REASON IN PAIN AND ITS ENDING TIBETAN PHILOSOPHY Carol S. Anderson Thupten Jinpa EMPTINESS APPRAISED IN DEFENSE OF DHARMA David F. Burton Tessa J. Bartholomeusz BUDDHIST PHENOMENOLOGY BUDDHISM IN CANADA Dan Lusthaus Edited by Bruce Matthews RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION AND BUDDHISM, CONFLICT AND THE ORIGINS OF BUDDHISM VIOLENCE IN MODERN SRI LANKA Torkel Brekke Edited by Mahinda Deegalle DEVELOPMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN THERAVfDA BUDDHISM AND BUDDHISM THE BRITISH ENCOUNTER Michelle Spuler Religious, missionary and colonial experience in nineteenth century Sri Lanka ZEN WAR STORIES Elizabeth Harris Brian Victoria BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT THE BUDDHIST UNCONSCIOUS Buddhism, religion, modernity William S. Waldron Richard Cohen INDIAN BUDDHIST THEORIES BUDDHISM IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE OF PERSONS Reorienting global interdependence James Duerlinger Peter D. Hershock ACTION DHARMA BRITISH BUDDHISM Edited by Christopher Queen, Teachings, practice and development Charles Prebish and Damien Keown Robert Bluck TIBETAN AND ZEN BUDDHISM BUDDHIST NUNS IN TAIWAN IN BRITAIN AND SRI LANKA David N. Kay A critique of the feminist perspective Wei-Yi Cheng THE CONCEPT OF THE BUDDHA Guang Xing NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENTS IN THAILAND THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE IN Toward an understanding of Wat Phra THE BUDDHIST PALI CANON Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke David Webster Rory Mackenzie THE NOTION OF DITTHI IN BUDDHIST RITUALS OF DEATH THERAVADA BUDDHISM AND REBIRTH Paul Fuller Contemporary Sri Lankan practice and its origins THE BUDDHIST THEORY OF Rita Langer SELF-COGNITION Zhihua Yao BUDDHISM, POWER AND POLITICAL ORDER MORAL THEORY IN mfNTIDEVA’S Edited by Ian Harris mIKofSAMUCCAYA Barbra R. Clayton ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS IN BUDDHISM BUDDHIST STUDIES FROM INDIA A virtues approach TO AMERICA Pragati Sahni Edited by Damien Keown THE CULTURAL PRACTICES OF DISCOURSE AND IDEOLOGY IN MODERN CHINESE BUDDHISM MEDIEVAL JAPANESE BUDDHISM Attuning the Dharma Edited by Richard K. Payne and Francesca Tarocco Taigen Dan Leighton MINDFULNESS IN EARLY BUDDHISM BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND APPLIED New approaches through psychology and PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH textual analysis of Pali, Chinese and Edited by D. K. Nauriyal, Sanskrit sources Michael S. Drummond and Y. B. Lal Tse-fu Kuan The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies a project of The Society for the Wider Understanding of the Buddhist Tradition 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 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 REMAKING BUDDHISM FOR MEDIEVAL NEPAL The fifteenth-century reformation of Newar Buddhism Will Tuladhar-Douglas METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM The doctrinal history of nirvana Soonil Hwang THE BIOGRAPHIES OF RECHUNGPA The evolution of a Tibetan hagiography Peter Alan Roberts THE ORIGIN OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION Alexander Wynne MINDFULNESS IN EARLY BUDDHISM New approaches through psychology and textual analysis of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit sources Tse-fu Kuan First published 2008 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, 2007. “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, an informa business © 2008 Tse-fu Kuan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized 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 Kuan, Tse-fu, 1965– Mindfulness in early Buddhism : new approaches through psychology and textual analysis of Pali, Chinese, and Sanskrit sources / Tse-fu Kuan. p. cm. – (Routledge critical studies in Buddhism series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-415-43737-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Satipatthana (Buddhism) 2. Buddhism–Doctrines–History. 3. Buddhism–Psychology–History. 4. Buddhist literature, Pali–History and criticism. 5. Buddhist literature, Chinese–History and criticism. 6. Buddhist literature, Sanskrit–History and criticism. I. Title. BQ5630.S2K83 2007 294.3′443–dc22 2007021590 ISBN 0-203-93614-0 Master e-book ISBN ISBN10: 0-415-43737-7 (hbk) ISBN10: 0-203-93614-0 (ebk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-43737-0 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-203-93614-6 (ebk) TO VEN. HUIMIN AND MR YUWEN YANG CONTENTS Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xiii Map xvii Introduction 1 1 Mindfulness in soteriology: Transformation of cognition and emotion 13 1. Mindfulness and sañña 13 2. Mindfulness and cognition 17 3. Mindfulness and emotion 24 4. Mindfulness and the Path to Liberation 33 2 Types and functions of mindfulness 41 1. Simple awareness 41
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