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Ariyamagga Bhavana III (Eng) 10@17.Indd ARIYAMAGGA BHAVANA Level III - Awakening from the dream of existence (The Sublime Eightfold Way) N RV N by Ven. Dr. Madawela Punnaji Maha Thera BUDDHIST MAHA VIHARA Continuing the spread of Buddhism in Malaysia for over 123 years ………. Millions have benefitted from the selfless dedication of our Sangha, volunteer teachers & friends of the Vihara obtaining Buddhist education, free publications, counselling, blessings, welfare assistance, etc. Publication of the Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society 佛陀教义弘扬协会 Buddhist Maha Vihara, 123, Jalan Berhala, Brickfields, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Tel: 603-2274 1141 Fax: 603-2273 2570 E-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.buddhistmahavihara.org www.ksridhammananda.org www.cabe.org.my www.bisds.org Published for Free Distribution Permission to reprint for free distribution can be obtained upon request. Previous Publication – 2,000 copies December 2017 – 1,000 copies Printed by Ideal Print House (002336965-V) (A member of Uniprints Marketing Sdn Bhd) ISBN: 978-983-3896-88-2 i ii CONTENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR ................................................................ vii FOREWORD ......................................................................................... x INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Why and how of meditation .......................................................... 1 How the Buddha Awoke from the dream of existence ............. 5 An Apology ....................................................................................... 5 Compendium of our method ........................................................ 9 Is this insight meditation (vipassanā bhāvanā)? ...................... 10 A Marvellous Method ................................................................... 11 Enlightenment fi rst or last? .......................................................... 12 Th e three level way is not the path .............................................. 13 Th e Harmonious Perspective ....................................................... 14 Only way to emancipation ........................................................... 14 Prevalent Errors .............................................................................. 15 Mindfulness ..................................................................................... 15 Is satipatthāna the only way? ....................................................... 18 Golf as an analogy .......................................................................... 18 Satipatthāna not the beginning ................................................... 20 Venerable Sariputta’s statement ................................................... 21 Buddha revealed the path ............................................................. 22 Nine Great Knowledges ................................................................ 23 Seeing things as they are ................................................................ 25 iii STAGE III MEDITATION: Seven Steps to Awakening ............................... 28 CHAPTER I Cultivation of the Seven Steps to Awakening (Satta Bojjhanga) .................................................................................... 29 1) Systematic Introspection (Satipatthāna) ................................ 30 2) Investigation of the cognitive experience (Dhammavicaya) ......................................................................... 32 3) Strength of the Cognitive over the Aff ective (Viriya) ........ 35 4) Cognitive satisfaction (Pīti) ..................................................... 36 5) Relaxation of the Body (Passaddhi) ........................................ 37 6) Tranquility of Temperament (Samādhi) ................................ 37 7) Apperception (Upekkhā) ........................................................... 39 Th e paradigm shift (Nirodha Samāpatti) ..................................... 40 CHAPTER II Awakening from the Dream of Existence (Anuttaraŋ Sammā Sambodhiŋ) .......................................................... 45 A gradual reduction of experience .............................................. 45 Apperception is non-perception ................................................. 46 Reduction of the cognitive experience ....................................... 47 Success through self-reliance ........................................................ 48 Th e mind is understood ................................................................ 49 Awakening from the dream of existence .................................... 50 Genesis revealed by the Buddha .................................................. 51 Th e Cognitive and the Aff ective ................................................. 53 Th e ultimate consequence ............................................................ 54 iv CHAPTER III Concurrence of Logical Antecedents (Paticca Samuppāda) ............................................................................. 55 Our regret ........................................................................................ 55 Concurrence of Logical Antecedents ........................................ 57 Concurrence of Antecedents (Paticca Samuppāda) ................... 63 Th e Buddhist Concept of Genesis .............................................. 66 Introduction to Paticca Samuppāda .............................................. 67 Concurrence of Logical Antecedents in more detail .............. 68 Perception develops into Cognition (phasså) ............................ 69 Beginning of the Aff ective Process (citta) .................................. 69 How did the body become my self (sakkāya ditthi)? ................. 71 CHAPTER IV Elucidation of fundamentals ............................................................ 73 Th e Buddha’s elucidation of the Fundamentals ....................... 75 What is truth? ................................................................................. 81 CHAPTER V Th e Fourfold Supernormal Reality (Cattāri Ariya Saccāni) .......................................................................... 84 Th e First Reality – Suff ering, which is to be comprehended ................................... 84 Th e Second Reality – the cause of suff ering, which is to be eliminated ...................... 90 Th e Th ird Reality – realization of the end of suff ering ............................................... 93 Th e Fourth Reality – developing the Supernormal Eight-fold Way ........................... 95 v CHAPTER VI Life is an Unforeseen Accident of Nature ..................................... 99 Beginning of life ............................................................................. 99 Evolution of the human brain .................................................... 101 Th e impersonality of consciousness .......................................... 103 Th e fi ve constituents of personality (pañca upādānakkhanda) ............................................................... 105 What is experience? ..................................................................... 106 Mind, what it is ............................................................................. 107 CHAPTER VII Wonderful Achievement of the Buddha Awakening from the dream of existence ...................................... 111 Th e beginning ............................................................................... 111 Th e Great Renunciation ............................................................. 112 Asceticism ...................................................................................... 113 Entering Ecstasy ............................................................................ 113 How the objective process creates the world .......................... 115 How the aff ective process creates the “self ” ............................ 118 Awakening ..................................................................................... 119 CHAPTER VIII A symbolic presentation of Buddha ............................................. 120 Meaning of Shiva .......................................................................... 123 Nirvāna (nibbāna) ......................................................................... 123 Shiva Lingam ................................................................................. 125 Conclusion .................................................................................... 126 Concept of God ............................................................................ 129 BEATING THE DRUM OF DEATHLESSNESS ............ 137 vi ABOUT THE AUTHOR enerable Mahathera Madawela Punnaji is a Buddhist monk of the Th eravada Order of Sri Lanka. Aft er completing his studies in Western Medicine, he became fully ordained, in Vhis thirties, under the patronage of the most venerable Maha Nayake Th era, Madihe Paññasiha, Head of the Mihiripanne Dhammarakkhita Amarapura Nikaya. He completed his monastic studies at the Bhikkhu Training Cente, Maharagama and his meditative training at the Island Hermitage, Dodanduwa, Sri Lanka. In 1971, venerable Punnaji was sent by his preceptor to the Washington Buddhist Vihara, the fi rst Buddhist monastery in the US established by his preceptor. In 1973, he returned to establish a meditation centre in Padeniya, Sri Lanka. In 1977, he was invited to become the president of the Triple Gem Society of Boston, where he taught yoga and meditation to Americans and conducted research in Buddhist psychology and psychotherapy, in association
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