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Meditation Practice in Early Buddhism

Reading:
Bhikkhu Bodhi (1995). Introduction The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society. (p.38-43) Bhikkhu Bodhi (2012). Introdoction. The numerical discourses of the Buddha : a translation of the Aguttara Nikya. Wisdom. Pp. 47-49.

The Buddha
Before enlightened, the Buddha had practiced meditation (samatha) with the two teachers: rda Klma and Udraka Rmaputra (MN 26.15-16). Later the Buddha entered the four dhyna (jhna), obtained the tevijj (threefold knowledge, Numerical Discourses 3:58-59): knowing the past lives, the sasra , and karma. Finally, he discovered the four noble truths ( dukkha, prattyasamutpda, nirvna , the path). Also, meditation brings attainment of the six kinds of superior knowledge later known as the abhis (Numerical Discourses 3:1012, 5:23, 6:2). Five of these involve psychic powers, while the sixth is the world-transcending knowledge of the destruction of the savas .

Early Buddhism
In Early Buddhism, there is no such a classification as samatha and vipassan meditation. But, there are two aspects mentioned in many Early Buddhist discourses as cetovimutti (liberation of mind) and pavimutti (liberation of wisdom). In fact, the former refers to samatha and the letter to vipassan . With concentration of the mind, we can oppress defilements or calming them down; This is called cetovimutti. We cannot uproot defilements without knowledge or understanding. Through wisdom we can completely destroy them. This is called pavimutti .

These two aspects (cetovimutti and pavimutti) of the Early Buddhism have developed in the Abhidhamma as samatha and vipassan meditations. (Prof. Sumanapala Galmangoda lecture on Theravada Abhidha mma). In Early Buddhism, there are threefold training ( tisikkh ) given by the Buddha: sla (morality), samdhi (concentration), and pa (wisdom). They are the three main stages of spiritual development recommended in Early Buddhism. But, the bhidhammikas are concerned with wisdom. It does not pay attention to morality. We can say that morality ( sla) is concerned more in the Vinaya-piaka ; concentration (samdhi) is concerned more in the Sutta-piaka ; and wisdom ( pa ) in the Abhidhamma . Even though we have only samatha and vipassan here, we have to understand that without morality we can come to the second stage because morality is the basis of meditation. In Early Buddhism, samatha and vipassan are involved together. For example, in the Satipahna (establishment of mindfulness) sutta, meditation explained as:

(1) kynupassan : contemplating on every aspect of our body. (2) vedannupassan : contemplating on the arising feelings in our mind such as happy, unhappy, and indifferent feelings. (3) cittnupassan : contemplating on different types of consciousness (related to greed, hatred, delusion, non-greed, non-hatred, and non-delusion) arising in our mind. (4) dhammnupassan : contemplating on the four noble truths, the five aggregates, twelve bases, eighteen elements, and four great elements, etc. If we take account of vipassan (insight meditation) which includes understanding of three characteristics ( anicca, dukkha, anatta ), we can consider dhammnupassan as the insight meditation. As the cittnupassan is a meditation to concentrate on the different aspects of mind, it also can be regarded as insight meditation. The vedannupassan (concentrating on feelings) can also be an insight meditation. But, kynupassan like in-and-out- breathing is under the samatha (concentration meditation). The four establishments of mindfulness is also called bare insightthe direct contemplation of mental and bodily phenomena without a prior foundation of jhna (Bhikkhu Bodhi, 1995, p.38) Bhikkhu Bodhi: Whereas in serenity meditation the meditator attempts to focus upon a single uniform object abstracted from actual experience, in insight meditation the endeavour is made to contemplate, from a position of detached observation, the ever-shifting flux of experience itself in order to penetrate through to the essential nature of bodily and mental phenomena. To see things as they really are means to see them in terms of the three characteristicsas impermanent, as painful or suffering, and as not self. Since the three characteristics are closely interlinked, any one of them can be made the main portal for entering the domain of insight, but the Buddhas usual approach is to show all three togetherimpermanence implying suffering and the two in conjunction implying the absence of self. When the noble disciple sees all the factors of being as stamped with these three marks, he no longer identifies with them, no longer appropriates them by taking them to be mine, I, or self. Seeing thus, he becomes disenchanted with all formations. When he becomes disenchanted, his lust and attachment fade away and his mind is liberated from the taints. (Bhikkhu Bodhi 1995, p.38-43)

Bhikkhu Bodhi (2012, Pp. 47-49)

The disciple nanda states that all those who attain arahantship do so in one of four ways: either by developing serenity first and then insight (the standard sequence), by developing insight first and then serenity, by developing the two in conjunction, and by emerging from restlessness about the Dhamma and achieving a unified mind (AN 4:170). Another sutta advises one who gains either serenity or insight (but not the other) to seek out a teacher who can give instructions on obtaining the missing factor; one who gains neither should seek instructions on gaining both; while one who gains both should develop them to capacity to reach the destruction of the savas (AN 4:94). 1. 2. 3. 4.

Suttas in AN describe many meditation subjects. Mindfulness of breathing (10:60 10), the six devotional recollections ( 6:10, 6:25), loving-kindness ( 8:1, 11:15) along with all four immeasurables or divine abodes (3:65, 8:63), mindfulness of death ( 6:1920, 8:7374). Walking meditation is praised for bringing five benefits ( 5:29). Of particular interest is the emphasis AN places on the perceptions ( sa), meditation subjects that initially involve a fair amount of reflection rather than bare mindful observation. AN 7:49, for instance, mentions seven perceptions, which are said to culminate in the deathless, to have the deathless as their consummation. The seven are 1. the perception of unattractiveness desire for sexual intercourse 2. the perception of death attachment to life 3. the perception of the repulsiveness of food craving for tastes 4. the perception of non-delight in the entire world, 5. the perception of impermanence, 6. the perception of suffering in the impermanent, and 7. the perception of non-self in what is suffering. Each of these perceptions is then connected to a specific distorted perception or inclination that it counteracts. The popular Girimnanda Sutta describes ten perceptions, which the Buddha instructs nanda to recite in order to restore the health of the bhikkhu Girimnanda, who was afflicted with a grave illness ( 10:60). Some of the meditation subjects mentioned in AN pertain, in traditional Theravda exegesis, to the development of serenity, others to the development of insight. What is interesting in AN, however, is that while serenity and insight are treated as distinct domains of meditation with their own points of emphasis and fruits, a hard and fast line is not drawn between meditation subjects as pertaining to the one or the other. It is quite conceivable that in the Buddhas own view of meditation, serenity and insight represent not two separate categories of meditation objects but two complementary subjective orientations that can be developed on the basis of the same set of meditation objects. (Bhikkhu Bodhi 2012, Pp. 47-49)