SD 33.1b 1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana The Buddha Discovered Dhyana The nature of dhyana as a basis for liberation An essay1 by Piya Tan ©2010 1 Significance of dhyana Dhyana (P jh na; Skt dhy na) is as old as Buddhism itself, probably older. In early Buddhism, however, it developed into a progressive four-stage suprasensory experience of altered consciousness, and has become uniquely Buddhist.2 The importance of dhyana in early Buddhism is attested by the fact that we have numerous discourses where the Buddha describes his experiences of them.3 In such discourses, the Buddha frequently admonishes his disciples to attain dhyana. In the suttas, we also see the word jhna used in both its two basic Buddhist senses: the general sense of “meditation,” and as “dhyana” or “mental absorption,” such as in this discourse: If a monk cultivates the first dhyana (jh na) for even the duration of a mere finger-snap, then, bhikshus, he is called a monk who dwells as one whose meditation is not in vain (aritta-j,jh na): a doer of the Teacher’s teaching, a follower of his advice. He does not eat the country’s alms in vain [for nothing].4 (Eka,dhamma Acchar,saghata Sutta, A 1.20/1:38) The well known meditation monk, Ajahn Brahmavaso, opens his insightful experiential paper on “The Jhnas” (2003) with this important declaration: In the original Buddhist scriptures, there is only one word for any level of meditation. Jhna designates meditation proper, where the meditator’s mind is stilled from all thought, secluded from all five-sense activity and is radiant with other-worldly bliss. Put bluntly, if it isn’t Jhna then it isn’t true Buddhist meditation! Perhaps this is why the culminating factor of the Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path,5 the one that deals with right meditation [ie samm,samdhi or right concentration], is nothing less than the Jhnas. (Brahmavamso 2003:5)6 The four form dhyanas (rūpa jhna) (and the four formless attainments, ruppa) as mundane states of deep calm, even in the preliminary stages in the path to awakening, help to provide us with a basis for wisdom to arise. The four dhyanas, however, emerge again in a later stage in the cultivation of the path, arising in direct connection with wisdom, when they are regarded as supramundane (lok’uttara) dhyanas. These supramundane dhyanas are the levels of concentration pertaining to the four levels of awakening called “the supramundane path” (lokuttara,magga) and the stages of deliverance resulting from them, the four spiritual fruits (fruits). 1 I would like to record my profound gratitude to Prof Edward Crangle (Univ of Sydney, Australia) and Dr Keren Arbel (Tel Aviv Univ, Israel) for their kindness in sending me related materials on my request, and their friendly and helpful suggestions in connection with this essay. 2 See Dhyana, SD 8.4(7). 3 See esp Ariya,pariyesan S (M 26.15-18/1:163-167) = SD 1.11 (details of the 2 teachers); Mah Sīha,n da S (M 12.44-61/1:77-82) = SD 1.13 (details of self-mortification); Mah Saccaka S (M 36.20-31-44/1:242-249) = SD 1.12 (self-mortification); Bhaya Bherava S (M 4/1:16-24) = SD 44.2 (overcoming fear in solitary practice). 4 Acchar,saghta,mattam pi ce bhikkhave bhikkhu pahama jhna bhveti aya vuccati bhikkhave bhikkhu aritta-j,jhno viharati satthu ssana,karo ovda,paikaro amogha raha,pia bhuñjati. This passage is actually the first of a series 191 variations of the formula, each substituting the reading “cultivates the first dhyana,” ie incl the other 3 dhyanas, the 4 brahma,vihr, the 4 satipatthanas, etc. For the full list, see A 1.20; see also Gethin 2001: 269. 5 Right concentration is the one-pointedness of the mind through the four dhyanas. A full def is given in terms of dhyana description and factors in Sacca Vibhaga S (M 141.31/3:252). 6 See The Layman and dhyana (SD 8.5), which shows that Bodhi’s view does not exactly concur with Brahmavamso’s view, highlighted here (underscored) , and yet there are important areas where they concur. http://dharmafarer.org 19 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Even after awakening (bodhi) is achieved, the mundane dhyanas are still useful to the liberated person as a part of his daily meditation experience. Even for the Buddha, throughout his life, he constantly abides in his “divine dwelling” (dibba,vihra), living happily here and now.7 2 The Buddha and dhyana 2.1 BRAHMAVAMSO’S CLAIM. Not only does Brahmavamso regard dhyana as being of key importance in Buddha’s meditation system, he also declares that “the Buddha discovered jh na.”8 We shall here examine this statement in some detail. What is meant by jh na here?9 Does it mean that there was no dhyana before the Buddha’s time? What happens during dhyana? [6.5]. Do we examine our experiences with insight while in dhyana or after emerging from it? [6.2]. To substantiate his claim, Brahmavamso quotes the Pañc la,caṇḍa Sutta (S 2.7). Since it is a very short sutta, it is here translated in full: SD 33.1b(2.1) (G th ) Pañc la,caa Sutta The Pañc la,caa Discourse (Verses)10 | S 2.7/1:48 TraditionalŚ S 1.2.1.7 = Saṁyutta Nik ya 1, Sag th Vagga 2, Devaputta Saṁyutta 1, Paṭhama Vagga 7 Theme: The Buddha discovers dhyana 1 Originating in S vatthī. 2 At one time, the devaputra Pañc la,ca ḍa stood in the presence of [before] the Blessed One and addressed him with this verse: 3 Samb dhe vata ok saṁ avindi bhūri,medhaso, yo jh nam,bujjhi11 buddho patilīna,nisabho munî ti. [The Buddha:] 4 Samb dhe v ’pi vindanti14 (pañc la,caṇḍâ ti bhagav ) dhammaṁ nibb ṇa,pattiy , ye satiṁ paccalatthaṁsu15 samm te susam hitî ti.16 In the midst of the confined, the opening the sage of vast wisdom found— the Buddha who discovered [awakened to] dhyana: the lone lordly bull of a sage is he.12 = A 9.42/4:44913 Even in the midst of the confined, they find it, (O Pañc la,ca ḍa, said the Blessed One) the Dharma for the attaining of nirvana— those who have gained mindfulness, those who are fully well concentrated. — evaṁ — D 3:220; DA 3:1006. On the 4 benefits of dhyana experience, see Saṅgīti S (D 33.1.11(5)/3:222 f), & Sam dhi Bh van S (A 4.41/2:44-46) = SD 24.1, see also SD 33.1a (3.2). 8 See Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, 2006:127-130. 9 On def of jh na, see Dhyana = SD 8.4 (3). 10 Or, “The Discourse to Pañc la,ca ḍa,” in (Pañc la,caṇḍa) Samb dha S (A 9.42/4:449-451) = SD 33.2. 11 So Be WT; Ce jhanam,budh (another MS: jh naṁ buddhâbuddho); Ee jh nam abuddhi; Se jhanam abuddhi. 12 Sambdhe gata oksa, avud bhri.medhaso | yo jhna abujjhi buddho, pailna,nisabho mun ti. For abujjhi here, S (PTS ed) has vl abuddhi (with no change in meaning). SŚB trŚ “The one of broad wisdom has indeed found | The opening in the midst of confinement, | The Buddha who discovered jhna | The chief bull, aloof (from the herd), the sage.” See SŚB 386 n151. 13 S 2.7/1:48 = A 9.42.1/4:449 (SD 33.2). 14 So Be Ce WT; Se samb dhe’pi ca tiṭṭhanti. 15 So Be Se WT; Ce pacalatthuṁsu. 16 So Be Ce WT; Se susam hitâ ti. 7 20 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Notice that the key stanza here that Brahmavamso cites also appears in the A guttara Nik ya, in the (Pañc la.caṇḍa) Samb dha Sutta (A 9.42), whose protagonist is nanda. Also note that in the Saṁyutta account, the same stanza is spoken by a deva named Pacala,caa before the Buddha, and in the (Pañc la.ca ḍa) Samb dha Sutta, it is nanda who gives a full explanation of it to the monk Udy.17 In other words, in both cases, the stanza is not spoken by the Buddha himself. The Sayutta Commentary, explaining the phrase “in the midst of the confined” (samb dhe), says that there are two kinds of confines: the confines of mental hindrances (nīvaraa,samb dha) and the confines of the cords of sense-pleasures (k ma,gua.samb dha), and that the former is meant here (SA 1:106). The Commentary is being somewhat technical, as we can take samb dhe just as well here to mean “in the household life.” After all, we often find samb dha (“crowded”) in the phrase samb dho ghara,v so (“the crowded household life”).18 It is also likely that the Buddha is alluding here to his experience of the first dhyana as a young boy (M 36).19 Bodhi translates jh na abujjhi buddho as “ the Buddha who discovered jh na,” by which he apparently takes “discovered” figuratively, in the sense that the Buddha “has awakened” or understood dhyana. Brahmavamso, on the other hand, takes abujjhi literally as “discovered,” in the sense that the Buddha “found” what no one before him had found in our history.20 Brahmavamso explains: When it is said that the Buddha discovered Jhna, it is not to be understood that no one had ever experienced Jhna before. For instance, in the era of the previous Buddha Kassapa, countless men and women achieved Jhna and subsequently realized Enlightenment. But in the India of twenty six centuries ago, all knowledge of Jhna had disappeared. This was one reason that there is no mention at all of Jhna in any religious text before the time of the Buddha.21 (Brahmavamso 2003:5) 2.2 THE BODHISATTVA AND DHYANA. Brahmavamso goes on to explain that the Bodhisattva’s meditation training under ra Klma (from whom he learns to attain the base of nothingness) and Uddaka Rma,putta (through whom he masters his father Rma’s teaching and attains the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception).22 [3.1] However, these two attainments could not have been connected to Jhna, because the Bodhisatta recalled, just prior to sitting under the Bodhi Tree, that the only time in his life that he had experienced any Jhna was as a young boy, while sitting under a Rose-Apple Tree as his father conducted the first-ploughing ceremony (M 36). One of the reasons why Jhna was not practised before the Buddha’s enlightenment was because people then either indulged in seeking pleasure and comfort of the body or else followed a religion of tormenting the body. Both were caught up with the body and its five senses and knew no release from the five senses. Neither produced the sustained tranquillity of the body necessary as the foundation for Jhna. When the Bodhisatta began the easy practices leading to such tran17 A 9.42/4:449-451. S mañña,phala S (D 2.41/1:63), Subha S (D 10.29/1:1206), Tevijja S (D 31.41/1:250); Ca Hatthipadopama S (M 27.12/1:179), Mah Saccaka S (M 36.12/1:240), Mah Tah ,sakhaya S (M 38.32/1:267), Kandaraka S (M 51.13/1:344), Ghoa,mukha S (M 95.15/2:162), Sag rava S (M 100.9/2:211), Devadaha S (M 101.31/2:226), Cha-b,bisodhana S (M 112.12/3:33), Danta,bhmi S (M 125.14/3:134), Civara S (S 16.11/2:219), Thapati S (S /55.6/5:350); Attantapa S (A 4.198/2:208), Up li S (A 10.98/5:204), Soa S (U 5.6/59). 19 On samb dha, see further Samb dh’ok sa S (A 6.26/3:314-317) & SD 15.6 (2.3.3). 20 On explanation of “discovery” (buddhi etc), see KhpA 15 f = KhpA:Ñ 7 f. 21 Dakkhiṇa Vibhaṅga S (M 142) mentions the “outsider free from lust for sense-pleasures” (bhirak kmesu vitarga) that is, a worldling dhyana-attainer21 (M 142.5/ 3:255). If such a meditator existed before the Buddha’s time in India or exists outside of Buddhism, then Ajahn Brahmavamso’s assertion that “the Buddha discovered Jhna” may need to be re-examined (Brahmavamso 2003:5). See The layman and dhyana = SD 8.5(11c). 22 See Ariya Pariyesan S (M 26.15a-17/1:163-167). 18 http://dharmafarer.org 21 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana quillity of the body, his first five disciples abandoned him in disgust. Such a practice was not regarded as valid. Therefore it was not practised, and so Jhna never occurred. (Brahmavamso 2003:6) In other words, according to Brahmavamso’s argument, if we accept the 7-year-old Bodhisattva’s jambu-tree dhyana experience [4.4.1] as true, we cannot accept his tutelage under the two teachers, ḷ ra K l ma23 and Uddaka R ma,putta [3.1], as true, too. However, I think his argument seems a little forced. In fact, it is easier to understand why the Bodhisattva so easily masters the meditation teachings of the two teachers—because he has mastered dhyana or at least able to attain it at such a tender age! Of course, it is possible that the story of the two teachers might have been a later interpolation, in which case, we would have no problem at all with the jambu-tree dhyana account anyway. But it would give more weight to Brahmavamso’s view that the Buddha “discovered” dhyana. 3 The two teachers 3.1 R MA AND UDDAKA R MA,PUTTA. The Bodhisattva’s visits to ra and to Uddaka are recorded in a pericope preserved in a number of important discourse, namely, the Ariya Pariyesan Sutta (M 29), the Mah Saccaka Sutta (M 36), the Bodhi Rja,kumra Sutta (M 85) and the Sagrava Sutta (M 100).24 We have possible evidence from the Mah ,parinibb na Sutta (D 16), that ḷ ra knows dhyana. It is recorded that Pukkusa, a follower of ḷ ra K l ma’s, relates to the Buddha how, once, his (Pukkusa’s) 500 carts trundling near the meditating ḷ ra K l ma do not trouble him at all. In other words, ḷ ra is not troubled by external sounds.25 Uddaka is very interesting because scholars have sometimes mistaken him for his father, R ma. E J Thomas, in his Life of the Budha as Legend and History, notes that “[t]he visit to Uddaka R ma,putta is then described in almost the same terms [as for  ra K l ma], but here the doctrine was that which had been realized and proclaimed by R ma, the father of Uddaka” (1949:63).26 Bodhi is aware of this, for in The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, his translation of the Majjhima Nikya, he notes in his translation of the Ariya Pariyesan Sutta that Both Horner in [Middle Length Sayings] and Ñ[amoli] in MS err in their translations of the account of Bodhisatta’s meeting with Uddaka Rmaputta by assuming that Uddaka is identical with Rma. However, as his name indicates, Uddaka was the son (putta) of Rma, who must have already passed away before the Bodhisatta arrived on the scene. It should be noted that all references to Rma are in the past tense and the third person, and that Uddaka in the end places the Bodhisatta in the position of teacher. Though the text does not allow for definite conclusions, this suggests that he himself had not yet reached the fourth immaterial attainment. (Bodhi, 2001:1217 n303; 1995, 2nd ed 2001) However, it is clear from the Uddaka Sutta (S 35.103), that Uddaka Rma,putta has no high spiritual attainment at all: ra, one of the Bodhisattva’s early teachers, taught him meditation up to the base of nothingness (kica‘yatana). Buddhaghosa says that ra was also called Dgha,pigala; Klma was his family name (DA 2:569 = MA 2Ś171). The story of the Bodhisattva’s first two teachers is found in Ariya,pariyesan S (M 26.15/1:163-168), Mah Saccaka S (M 36/1:240; Sagarva S (M 100/2:212); Madhyam’gama of the Sarvstivda (T26.776b5777a4; Vinaya of the Dharmaguptakas (T1428.780bt-c19); cf J 1:66; DhA 1:85; ApA 71; BA 6; DhsA 34; Mahvs 66. See Ariyapariyesan S (M 26), SD 1.11(15). 24 M 26.15-17/1:163-166 (SD 1.11) = 36.14-16/1:240 = 85.11-13/2:93 = 100.10-12/2:211 f respectively. 25 D 16.4.27/2:130 = SD 9. On someone in the first dhyana not being able to hear, see Vitakka,vic ra = SD 33.4(1.2). 26 Peter Skilling discusses this point in detail in “Uddaka Rma,putta and Rma,” Pli Buddhist Review 6,2 198182a:99-105. See Saṅgrava S (M 100.11 f) in SD 10.9. See also A Wynne, “How old is the Suttapiaka?” 2003Ś2228 Internet ed; see esp Wynne, The Origin of Buddhist Meditation, 2007: 9-26. 23 22 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Bhikkhus, though Uddaka Rmaputta was not himself a knowledge-master [vedagū], he declared: “I am a knowledge-master.” Though he was not himself a universal conqueror, he declared: “I am a universal conqueror.” Though he had not excised the tumour’s root [craving], he declared: “I have excised the tumour’s root.” (S 35.103/4:83. Bodhi’s tr; notes added)27 It is possible that the ascetic Rma28 was the first (apparently the oldest)29 of the eight wise brahmins who attended the Nativity and performed the “protection rites” (rakkha,kamma, Miln 236) for the child Siddhattha. The Milinda,pañha lists the eight brahmins as follows: Rma, Dhaja, Lakkhaa, Mantī, Yañña, Suyma, Subhoja and Sudatta (Miln 236). The Jtaka Commentary gives the same names with minor variations, that is, Koañña (for Yañña) and Bhoja (for Subhoja) (J 1:56). According to the Jtaka Commentary, seven of the brahmins raised two fingers, prophesizing that the Bodhisattva would either become a universal monarch (cakka,vatti) (if he remains in the world), or the Buddha (if he renounces the world) (J 1:56). Amongst those scholars who think that the tradition of the two teachers’ instructing the Bodhisattva was a fabrication were André Bareau,30 Tilmann Vetter,31 and Johannes Bronkhorst.32 Those who have proven the two-teacher episode to be historical include Ghirgo Zafiropulo33 and Alexander Wynne.34 It is instructive to carefully study the works of these two groups of scholars to have an idea of the depth and insight of their respective researches. 3.2 “THE BUDDHA DISCOVERED DHYANA” (BRAHMAVAMSO). The story of the Buddha and the two early meditation teachers is found in the most ancient Buddha-story we have, that is, the one preserved in the Ariya Pariyesan Sutta (M 29), and repeated in other early suttas.35 Here, it is said that the Bodhisattva learns and masters the two highest formless meditations from the two teachers. He masters the attainment of the base of nothingness ( kiñcaññ’ yatana)36 from ḷ ra K l ma, and the attainment of the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (n’eva,saññ ,nâsaññ’ yatana) using the late R ma’s method taught through his son, Uddaka37 [3.1]. However, the Buddha explains, they do not “lead to revulsion (with the world), to cessation (of suffering), to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to nirvana,” but only to rebirth in that particular realm. Now, the question we need to ask is this: Did the two teachers teach dhyana or had they ever experienced it? We know from the Uddaka Sutta (S 35.103) that Uddaka is not awakened [3.1], but there is no mention of whether he is skilled in dhyana or not. Nor do we have any similar information on ḷ ra, except for a remark by Pukkusa, a pupil of his, recorded in the Mah ,parinibb na Sutta (D 16).38 Technic27 Uddaka S (S 35.103/4:83 f) = SD 94.2. The 8 wise brahmin augurs who, on the 5th day of the Bodhisattva’s birth, visit him to foretell his future, viz, R ma (father of Uddaka R ma,putta), Dhaja, Lakkha a, Mantī, Ko ḍañña (youngest of these eight, but the eldest of the 5 monks), Bhoja, Suy ma, and Sudatta (J 1:55 f). R ma is not listed in DPPN. 29 The youngest is said to be Ko ḍañña (J 1:55 f). 30 Recherches sur la biographie du Buddha dan les Sutrapitaka et les Vinaya anciens I, Paris: École française d’Extrme-Orient, 1963. 31 The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, Leiden: E J Brill, 1988. 32 The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India, Stuttgart: Steiner Verlag, 1986; New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1993. 33 L’illumination du Buddhha: de la qute à l’annonce de l’Éveil: essais de chronologie relative et de stratigraphie textuelle (Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck, 1993. He argues against Bareau’s thesis. 34 A Wynne, “How old is the Suttapiaka?” St John’s College, 2003:22-28 Internet ed. 35 M 26.15-16/1:163-166 (SD 1.11) = 36.14-15/1:240 = 85.11-12/2:93 = 100.10-11/2:211 f respectively. 36 M 26.15/1:163-165 = SD 1.11. 37 M 26.16/1:165 f = SD 1.11. 38 The Sutta records how Pukkusa Malla,putta, ḷ ra’s pupil, claims that l ra is an accomplished meditator, who, in his meditation, is totally undisturbed by the incessant rumblings of 500 carts passing close by (D 16.4.27/2:130 f) = SD 9. 28 http://dharmafarer.org 23 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana ally, it is not possible to attain the formless attainments without first mastering the form dhyanas. So, theoretically speaking, if we accept that the two teacher’s teachings are authentic, it is possible that they have experienced dhyana. Brahmavamso, however, does not think so (to him, the two teachers did not teach dhyana). Although there was dhyana before the Buddha’s time, it was in the remotely distant past, in the times of past Buddhas, such as Kassapa (the Buddha just before our Buddha). Dhyana meditation, however, was forgotten after that, that is, until our Buddha teaches it again. In his book, The Jh nas, Brahmavamso gives the following arguments why the two teachers did not teach dhyana: (1) [The 7-year-old Bodhisattva’s dhyana experience was] spontaneous...untaught, unplanned and since forgotten.39 If that was the only Jh na experienced by the Bodhisattva prior to his experience under the Bodhi Tree, then the two teachers ḷ ra K l ma and Ud[d]aka R maputta could not have taught Jh na at all. (2) ...in the Mah saccaka Sutta (M 36), the Bodhisatta is shown rejecting the experiences under the two teachers as not leading to Enlightenment, and then exhausting just about every form of ascetic practice before concluding that that, too, did not lead to Enlightenment.40 (Then he recalls his first dhyana experience, and turns to the middle way.) (3) One of the reasons why Jh na was not practised before the Buddha’s Enlightenment was because people either indulged in seeking pleasure and comfort of the body or else followed a religion of tormenting the body. Both are caught up with the body and its five senses and knew no release from the five senses. Neither produced the sustained tranquillity of the body necessary as the foundation for Jh na. (4) When the Bodhisatta began the easy practices leading up to such tranquillity of body, his first five disciples abandoned him in disgust. Such a practice was not regarded as valid. Therefore it was not practised, and so Jh na never occurred. (5) After the Buddha’s Enlightenment, the very first teaching that He gave, even before the famous Four Noble Truths, was the exposition of the Middle Way, a way which had not existed before (except long ago in the eras of previous Buddhas), a way which leads automatically to Jh na and then to Enlightenment. (6) It was as if, the Buddha said, that He had discovered a long lost path leading to an ancient city (S 12.65).41 The ancient city was Nibb na (Enlightenment) and the long lost path was the the Eightfold Path culminating in Jh na. Since the Buddha rediscovered the path, it can be said that the Buddha rediscovered Jh na. (2003:5-7) 4 Dhyana before the Buddha’s time 4.1 SOURCE CRITICISM. I think that any informed Buddhist or scholar would find it difficult to fully agree with Brahmavamso’s arguments presented above [3.2]—especially if we are to carefully examine the early texts. It is quite clear from textual evidence that dhyana was known before the Buddha’s time. Here, I have found Israeli Buddhist scholar Keren Arbel’s conference paper, “Buddhist or Not? Thinking anew the role of the jh nas in the path of awakening” (2008), to be very helpful.42 I am confident that we can reconcile the two seemingly contradicting views—that dhyana was known and practised before the Buddha’s time, and that the Buddha discovered dhyana. In her investigation here, she uses the method of Analayo insightfully comments that “[p]ossibly his ability to enter the first jh na so easily at this particular moment during his early youth was related to samatha practice undertaken in a previous life, an ability lost during his adolescence and later sensual indulgence as a young man, so that he had to develop it anew.” (2003Ś76 n42) 40 M 36.14-17/1:240 = Ariya Pariyesan S (M 26.15-16/163-166). 41 Nagara S (S 12.65.19-21/2:105 f) = SD 14.2. 42 2008:4-14. My grateful thanks to Keren Arbel for her generosity in promptly sending me her conference paper. 39 24 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana “source criticism” (which presupposes that an ancient text carries imprints of the historical environment of its origin) to examine Buddhist and related Indian sources.43 Those who have some knowledge of non-Buddhist texts and systems before or around the Buddha’s time, will notice that a significant number of Buddhist terms are also found in other systems (especially the brahminical), that is to say,  terms adopted and used with new senses, such as, aggi (fire), amata (the death-free), brahma,cariya (the holy life), brahma,vih ra (the divine abodes), jh na (dhyana), uposatha (precept day), veda (knowledge);  common terms with Jainism, such as buddha (awakened one), pacceka,buddha (self-awakened individual), jina (conqueror), nibb na (nirvana), tath gata (one thus come), bh van (cultivation), sava (influx), kamma (karma), samaṇa (ascetic), pabbajj (renunciation);  terms referred to but rejected, such as att (abiding self or soul), vaṇṇa (colour, caste, class).44 As Arbel has noted: Although we do not have access to all possible influences on early Buddhism, we do have three valuable sources—the Saṁhitas [the three Vedas], the Older Upani ads,45 and references to practices exercised by other samaṇas and br hmaṇas, recorded in the Nik yas themselves. Other non-Buddhist texts such as Jaina materials,46 the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali47 and some later Upaniads (such as the Maitrī Upani ads), which contain references to similar states, or better say, what looks similar, cannot be dated before the beginning of the Christian era.48 ...we can assume justifiably that they might exhibit influences of Buddhist practice, and not the other way around.49 (Arbel 2008:4 f; Sujato footnotes added) During the Buddha’s time, there were only three Vedas: (1) the g-veda, hymns to Vedic deities; the oldest of which go back to 1500 BCE, (2) the Sma-veda, sacred hymn-book for the Udg t or Vedic cantorś and (3) the Yjur-veda, Vedic mantras and instructions on their proper usage in Vedic rituals. By the Buddha’s time, Vedic literature comprised several different classes: (4) the four collections (sahita) of Vedic verses attributed to ancient seers (is, Skt ), (5) the ritual manuals (brhmaa) on the elaborate Vedic sacrificial rituals, and (6) the “forest books” (rayaka), explaining the esoteric meanings of such rituals. (7) the Upani ads (upaniṣad) teaches universal spirit and individual soul. 43 Source criticism started with western scholars investigating the texts of Classical antiquity (esp Homer's Iliad). In the 18th century, Jean Astruc, a French professor of medicine, adapted this method to his own investigation into the sources of the Book of Genesis, which he anonymously published. As used in biblical criticism, it refers to the attempt to establish the sources used by the author and/or redactor of the final text. The term “literary criticism” is occasionally used as a synonym. Subsequently considerably developed by German scholars, it was known as “the Higher Criticism,” a term no longer widely used. In general, the closer a source is to the event which it purports to describe, the more one can trust it to give an accurate description of what really happened. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_criticism_(Biblical_studies). 44 For further details, see Why the Buddha hesitated = SD 12.1 (6). 45 See Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2005:128-136. 46 See Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2005:147-152. 47 See Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2005:142-147. 48 According to Jain tradition, Mah vīra’s teachings, the “old texts” (Pūrva) were lost. The council which compiled the Jain texts dated from the 5th or 6th cent CE. As for the Yoga Sūtra, most scholars believe that its author, Patañjali, lived around the 2nd or 3rd cent CE. The Maitrī Upani ad, which have echoes of Buddhist practices, dates from around the 1st cent CE. [Arbel’s fn; abridged] 49 For an instructive study on how non-Buddhist sources and early Buddhism influences one another, see Edward Crangle 1994. http://dharmafarer.org 25 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana The Upanishads, the last class of Vedic literature, containing further esoteric commentary on the rituals, were still in the formative stage.50 Edward Crangle, who has explored meditation in the early Indian contemplative texts, observes that none of the Vedas or Saṁhitas give any indication of the doctrine of karma, or offer any clear method for liberation.51 Even in the Upani ads, he notes, terms such as mokṣa and mukti (both denoting spiritual liberation) do not occur often (1994:70). The ra yakas and the Br hma as, too, show only initial recognition of the power of the mind or meditation techniques, even though they show a shift from external sacrifice to internal worship or meditation (up sana).52 4.2 UP SANA. In the older (that is, pre-Buddhist) Upani ads,53 words derived from √DHY (to think)54 (from which we get dhy na, P jh na) occur only 26 times. In the Nik yas, on the other hand, the four dhyanas occur in at least 86 different places.55 In the early Upani ads, we hardly find the word dhy na or its related forms, but words derived from upa + √ S (to sit)—such as up san mentioned earlier— appear at least 188 times.56 Edward Crangle (1994), following Neela Velkar (1967), has studied the term up sana (meaning “sitting, being near or being near at hand; attending to”) in detail, and lists the its frequency.57 In the B had ra yaka, up sana occurs 63 times, dhy na 12 times, and yoga twice. In the Ch ndogya, up sana occurs 115 times, dhy na 12 times, and yoga twice.58 It is difficult to ascertain its meaning or meanings, but has been translated sometimes as “worship” and sometimes as “meditation.”59 Here is a passage from the B had ra yaka, where it occurs: Next, this breath, water is the body, its light-form is that moon. As far as the breath extends so far extends water and that moon. These are all alike, all endless. Verily, he who meditate/worships (up sana) them as finite wins a finite world. But he who meditates/worships them as infinite wins an infinite world. (B U 1.5.14) Crangle explains up sana as “a contemplative process wherein the object of worship is an object of concentration” (1994Ś74). Sujato observes that it “in fact seems to embody the shift from an external worship and ritual towards the inner contemplation.” (2005:131). Crangle interestingly suggests that up sana is related to the Buddhist term satipaṭṭh na (Skt smṛtyupasth na), especially the last element of the compound, that is, upaṭṭh na (Skt upasth na) (1994:198 f). Sujato agrees and adds that This may be supported on a number of grounds. The sound of the words is almost identical, especially in Sanskrit (upasth na and up sana). Though they form from different roots, the construction and basic meanings are similar: upa + as means to “sit near”; upa + sth means to “stand near.” From there they both developed the sense of “wait upon, serve, attend,” and then to “pray, worship.” In a more specifically meditative context they are both used largely in the sense of the These Upani ads are the B had- ra yaka, Ch ndogya, Taittirīya, Aitareya and Kausītaki. See Tevijja S (D 13.13/1:238) = SD 1.8 (2); see also Arthur Macdonell, A History of Sanskrit Literature, 2nd ed Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971:197. 51 Crangle, The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices, 1994:5 f. 52 Crangle 1994:61 f. 53 That is, B had- ra yaka, Ch ndogya, Taittirīya, Aitareya and Kausītaki Upani ads. 54 Martin T Adam 2006Ś75 & Keren Arbel 2008Ś6 give this root as √ DHYAI; but I follow W D Whitney, The Roots, Verb-forms and Primary Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language,1885:85. 55 Paul Griffiths, “Buddhist Jh naŚ A form-critical study,” Religion 13, 1983:57. 56 E Crangle 1994:72. 57 Neela Velkar, Up sana in the Upaniṣads, unpublished PhD thesis, Bombay, 1969. E Crangle, The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices,Wiesbaden, 1994. 58 Crangle 1994:71. 59 But see esp Crangle 1994:59-62, 72-138. 50 26 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana initial grounding on the meditative/contemplative object, rather than the resulting state of absorption. We also note that some of the meditation objects for up sana are also found in satipatthana: the breath, water, fire, space, bliss, mind, etc. So it seems that Crangle’s suggestion can be accepted. The major contemplative practice of the pre-Buddhist period is up sana, and this practice finds its closest Buddhist connection, surprisingly enough, not with jhana or samadhi, but with satipatthana. (2005:131 f; see further pp 132-136) 4.3 FORMATIVE TEACHINGS. Any research into pre-Buddhist meditation terminology is hampered by the fact that the Vedas and the early Upani ads have very little or nothing on meditation. The earliest clear descriptions of meditation outside of Buddhism are in the Upani ads and Jain texts, which are, however, later than the Buddhist suttas. So they are more likely to be cases of Buddhist influences, although there is a possibility that even late texts could preserve some ancient traditions. Recent scholarship has cast doubt on the accepted wisdom that the early Upa isads were pre-Buddhist. We find no mention of the Upani ads in the suttas, except perhaps for the Tevijja Sutta (D 13), which in fact mentions the names of some of the early Upanishads (still in their evolving stages)—Adhvaryu, Taittirīya, Chndogya and Bahvc60 and also the names of early Vedic sages—Aaka, Vmaka, Vma,deva, Viv,mitra, Jamad-agni, Agi,rasa, Bhra,dvja, Vsiha, Kayapa, and Bhagu.61 K N Jayatilleke, in his Early Buddhist Theory of Knowledge, gives the following concordance for the Adhvaryu, Taittirīya, Chndogya and Bahvc brahmins:62 School gveda-bavhrij Brhma (Bahvcas) Sma,veda-chandog Brhmaa (Chandogas) Yajur,veda-tittiriy Brhma (Taittiriyas) Yajur,veda-addhariy Brhmaa (Adhvaryus) Text Bahvvas Brhmaa (lost) but incorporated in the Aitareya and Kauitaki Brhmaas. Chndogya Brhmaa. Taittiriya Brhmaa. atapatha Brhmaa. This suggests that the Upani adic schools existed in the Buddha’s time, but their teachings were still formative. Sujato proposes that Perhaps the Upani ads that we have today derive from the later settled tenets of each of these strands of Brahmanical thought.63 But whether or not the Upani ads in their current form existed at the Buddha’s time, there is no doubt that ideas we can call “Upani adic” were prominent. In the sphere of metaphysics we can cite the Buddha’s critique of such ideas as that the self is infinite (anantav att ), or that the self is identical with the world (so att so loko), or that “I am He” (eso’ham-asmi)ś or indeed the Buddha’s condemnation of the suggestion by a certain brahmin cosmologist that “All is oneness” (sabbam ekattaṁ). It would seem only natural to connect such metaphysics with samatha attainments, as implied by the Brahmaj la Sutta [D 1]. (2005:133) 4.4 EARLY BUDDHIST SOURCES 4.4.1 Dhyana before the Buddha’s time 60 D 2.10/1:237 & SD 1.8 (2). These are the original Sanskrit forms of the Pali: Addhariy, Tittiriy, Chandok, Chandv, Brahmacariy. According to TW Rhys Davids, the first three were skilled in liturgy generally and probably referred to those adept in the Yajur, Sma and g Vedas respectively, and notes that “If we adopt the other reading [ie Brahmacariy] for the last in the list, then those priests who relied on liturgy, sacrifice or chant would be contrasted with those who had ‘gone forth’ as religieux, either as Tpasas or as Bhikshus.” (DŚRD 1Ś303 n2). 61 D 2.13/1:238 & SD 1.8 (2). See also V 1:245; D 1:104, 242; A 3:224, 229; M 2:200. For identification of these seers’ names, see Vinaya Texts (tr Rhys Davids & Oldenberg) 2:130 n3 & V:H 4:337 nn5-9. 62 Jayatilleke 1963:479-481. See further Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2005:132-136. 63 See OH de A Wijesekera, “A Pali reference to Br hma a-cara a,” Adyar Library Bulletin 20 1956. http://dharmafarer.org 27 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana 4.4.1.1 THE BODHISATTVA’S FIRST-DHYANA. Although we are generally familiar with dhyana as being taught by the Buddha and practised by his early disciples (as often detailed in the suttas), there are at least two occasions recorded in the Nik yas where dhyana as a meditation experience is definitively described as the Bodhisattva’s practice. The first is the well known episode of the child Bodhisattva experiencing the first dhyana under the jambu tree during the ploughing festival, as recounted in the Mah Saccaka Sutta (M 36)64 [5.2]. In the first-dhyana episode, the experience is recounted in the language of the first-dhyana stock passage: Then, Aggi,vessana, I thought thus, “I recall that when my father the Sakya was occupied while I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, I entered upon and abided in the first dhyana that is accompanied by initial application and sustained application, zest and joy born of seclusion.” (M 36.31/1:246) = SD 1.12; MA 2:290 f; J 1:57 4.4.1.2 THE BREATHINGLESS MEDITATION. The second account is also found in the same Sutta (M 36), where the Buddha describes his asceticism before his awakening. Several of such self-mortifying practices include what is said to be the “breathingless meditation.”65 In fact, before the Buddha’s time, it is only here, apparently, only in these two places, is the term jh na associated with a specific meditation technique, that is, the Bodhisattva’s first-dhyana experience under the jambu-tree [5.2], and the “stopping of the in-and-out-breath” (ass sa,pass se uparundhiṁ), which uses the significant verb jh yeyyaṁ (“What if I were to meditate on the breathingless meditation? App ṇakaṁ jh naṁ jh yeyyaṁ)—this latter, as a part of the Bodhisattva’s ascetic practice.66 Arbel hypothesizes that, in the context of the “breathingless meditation”—that is, the “stopping of the in-and-out-breath” (ass sa,pass se uparundhiṁ) (as recounted in the Mah Saccaka Sutta, M 36), the verb jh yeyyaṁ could have come from the root √K AI (or √K ) (to burn, be consumed), and not from √DHYAI (or √DHY ) (to think), and therefore the term jh na here, “might point to an ascetic practice, in which the Bodhisatta tried to gain control over the breathś control which ‘burns’ or ‘consumes’ past karma... Yet this exertion, this severe practice, caused him to be exhausted, and did not lead him to awakening.” (2008Ś9). Such an account is also found in the Mah vastu (Mvst 3.149), which relates how a hermit’s son falls in love at his first meeting with a beautiful girl. Preoccupied with thoughts of her, he fails in his daily duties. Noticing this, his father asks, kin67 tuvaṁ dhy naṁ dhy yasi, “what kind of dhyana are you meditating on?” or more simply, “what are you thinking about?”68 The Pali version of this story is the Naḷinik J taka (J 526), which instead reads kiṁ nu mando’va jh yasi (“what are you thinking stupidly about?”).69 4.4.1.3 TWO MEANINGS OF JH NA. We can translate the verb jh yati (Skt dhy yati) either generally to mean “he meditates” or more specifically to mean “he attains dhyana.” But we have another pair of possible meanings, as shown in the Mah vastu story and its J taka counterpart above, that is, jh yati (Skt *dhy yati) can either mean “he meditates (on)” or “be thinks about, broods over.” A further fifth meaning is possible, that is, jh yati (Skt kṣ yati), ” he burns” or figuratively, “he is consumed (by).” All these meanings (except as “dhyana”) can apply to the hermit’s son in the two stories. In other words, the Buddhist Sanskrit form, dhy na has two sensesŚ from √K (to burn) we have the Sanskrit verb kṣ yati, or the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit verb *dhy yati, and Pali jh yati (it burns; it is consumed), and from √DHYAI or √DHY (to think), we have dhy yati, Pali jh yati (he meditates). However, 64 M 36.31/1:246 = SD 29.4. Also MA 2:290; J 1:57. The Sutta recounts him as reflecting, “What is I were to meditate on the breathingless meditation? (app ṇakaṁ jh naṁ jh yeyyaṁ). (M 1:36.21/1:243) = SD 49.4 66 M 36.31/1:243,5 = SD 29.4. 67 Basak reads kiṁ here (2004:92,6). 68 Senart 1897:149,2; Mvst:J 3:144. 69 J 526/5:201. For a detailed study of the different versions of this story, see Heinrich Lüders 1940b. 65 28 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Edgerton’s Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary (BHSD) lists *dhy yati as a starred form, that is, it is a reconstructed word or a back-formation, and does not really exist. Arbel’s hypothesis might well be plausible, but I think there is simpler explanation. The term dhy na existed in pre-Buddhist times, but it refers to some kind of mystical or self-mortifying meditation, and not to the jh na of the Buddha. In fact, what Arbel says further here clearly supports my proposition: It is important to note that only in two contexts the term jh na is associated with this verb, and in both of them the Buddha refers to a type of jh na he does not recommend. In all other places, except from this occurrence, the jh nas are mostly associated with description of awakening, and always as a model of four gradual states, in which a person enters (upasampajja) and abides in (viharati) without any reference to the practice of stopping the breath or other ascetic practices. That is, the jh nas in the fourfold model are never referred to as app ṇakaṁ jh naṁ. They are mostly described by an adjective that indicates their number in this mode—namely, the first jh na, the second jh na, the third jh na or the fourth jh na. Sometimes only the first jh na is described, and then it is also called “the first jh na,” which indicates again, that it is a part of a series of states. (Arbel 2008:9) 4.4.1.4 THE DO A BR HMA A SUTTA. An interesting discourse in the A guttara, called the Doṇa Br hmaṇa Sutta (A 5.192), clearly states that the brahmins before the Buddha’s time practised the four dhyanas. When the brahmin Do a complains to the Buddha that he disrespects the venerable brahmin elders, the Buddha explains to him that there are five kinds of brahmins, everyone of whom lived as a celibate student, that is, under tutelage (kom ra,brahmacariya) for 48 years, thus: (1) the brahma-like brahmin (brahma,sama br hmaṇa), who then renounces the world to practise the four divine abodes, (2) the deva-like celibate brahmin (deva,sama br hmaṇa), who then renounces the world to practise the four dhyanas (which are listed by way of the traditional pericopes), (3) the bounded brahmin (mariy da br hmaṇa), who keeps to the brahminical code, but does not meditate, (4) the bound-breaking brahmin (sambhinna br hmaṇa), who supports himself only through the charity of others, but marries any woman for pleasure as well as for progeny, and (5) the outcaste brahmin (caṇḍ la br hmaṇa), who who engages in any kind of work, marries any woman for pleasure as well as for progeny. (A 5.192/3:223-230) = SD 36.14 It is clear from such internal evidence that meditation, at least from the early Buddhists’ viewpoint, that meditation and dhyana were practised and experienced well before the Buddha’s time. We need, therefore, to discover and define the uniqueness of Buddhist dhyana elsewhere. 4.4.2 Dhyana in the Buddha’s time. As regards the early Buddhist sources, most of the four Nik yas—the Dīgha, the Majjhima, the Saṁyutta and the A guttara—along with much of the Sutta Nip ta form the earliest strata, dated before the rise of the various early Buddhist schools (around 3rd century BCE), for whom these probably form a common scripture.70 These ancient texts have also been preserved in Chinese translation, called gama.71 70 For a detailed study, see Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2005:19-91. The early sutras, called gama Sūtras or simply gama (Chin 阿含經 Ahánjīng; Jap 阿含部 Agon-bu); see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80gama_(Buddhism). They are preserved in vols 1-2 (order 1-151) of the 100volume Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō (大正新脩大藏經)(The Taishō Revised Tripiṭaka). SeeŚ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taisho_Tripitaka. For the Taisho database: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/index_en.html. Today they are a valuable source for source-critical and comparative studies of the Pali suttas. 71 http://dharmafarer.org 29 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana It is interesting, as Arbel notes (2008:8), that in these ancient Buddhist texts, the dhyanas are never associated with Niga ṭha N taputta (most likely Mah vīra, the founder of Jainism),72 or with the jīvikas.73 In fact, in the Nigaṇṭha N ta,putta Sutta (S 41.8), both Niga ṭha N taputta and Acela (naked ascetic) Kassapa are described as not believing that dhyanas are possible.74 And as we have noted [3.2], meditation as an organized system did not exist before the Buddha’s time.75 Whatever hint of meditation we find in pre-Buddhist India (according to the ancient texts) were sporadic and formative. Furthermore, as Arbel has noted (id), the dhyanas always appear in the Nik yas as being attained by the Buddha and his disciples. This is, as a rule, contrary to accounts of asceticism and meditation done by the Bodhisattva (that is, before the Great Awakening), and which are proclaimed by the Buddha to be not conducive to the spiritual quest, such as stated in the Dhamma,cakka Pavattana Sutta (S 56.11) and the Mah Saccaka Sutta (M 36).76 No such declaration is ever made by the Buddha regarding the 4 dhyanas. 4.4.3 Jh na as meaning “meditation.” 4.4.3.1 PRE-BUDDHIST DHYANA. From the external accounts and internal evidence of the use of the term dhy na (P jh na) that we have examined so far, we can safely say that the term and its various forms were known even before the Buddha’s time. As Poussin has proposed in 1917, the Buddha probably borrowed the term (but not the method) from a “common store of mystical devices.”77 In the Aggañña Sutta (D 27), where the Buddha recounts how in ancient times, people were known according to their vocations or professions (in the old senses of the words, meaning “calling” and “occupation,” respectively). The brahmins, for example, “keep away” (b henti) from evil and unwholesome things; hence, they are called br hmaṇa (brahmin).78 The Sutta then adds that there were then two kinds of brahminsŚ those who “meditated” (jh yantîti kho v seṭṭha jh yak ) and those who “could not meditate” (na d n’ime jh yantîti kho v seṭṭha ajjh yak ).79 The point here is that jh yati and its noun, jh na, are used here in the sense of “meditation” in reference to non-Buddhists (here the ancient brahmins). 4.4.3.2 THE 4 DHYANAS. When we closely study the suttas, we will often come across references to the four dhyanas (as taught by the Buddha) either in brief, or fully defined in stock passages, such as these: BRIEF STATEMENT ON DHYANA Bhikshus, if a monk should wish, “May I become one to obtain at will, without trouble, without difficulty, the four dhyanas, the higher minds, dwelling happily here and now,” let him fulfill moral virtue, be inwardly devoted to mental stillness, not neglect meditation, be possessed of insight, and dwell in empty abodes.80 ( kaṅkheyya Sutta, M 6.9/1:33) = SD 59.181 Johannes Bronkhorst, in “The riddle of the Jainas and the jīvikas in early Buddhist literature,” suggests that N taputta and Mah vīra were not the same person (2000Ś517). He refers to the two Jain sectsŚ “The followers of P r va, who wore clothes, and the followers of Mah vīra, who were naked.” The latter might have been included in the category of jīvikas, and not the disciples of Niga ṭha N taputta (2000Ś512). [From Arbel’s fn] 73 A generic name for sectarian naked ascetics, incl Makkhali Gos la and Pūra a Kassapa. The term acela or acelaka prob is a general term for a naked ascetic who does not belong to any particular sect. See AL Basham, History and Doctrines of the jīvikas, 1951:107-109. 74 S 41.8/4:298-302 = SD 40a.7. On Jain beliefs, see Up li S (M 56) = SD 27.1 (2.1). 75 See Arbel 2008:8 f. 76 See, respectively, S 56.11.3/5:420 = SD 1.1 & M 36.20-31/1:242-247 = SD 49.4. 77 Poussin, The Way to Nirvana, 1917:163. 78 See D 27.22/3:94 = SD 2.19 n (br hmaṇa). 79 D 27.22/3:94 = SD 2.19. There is a wordplay here: ajjh yaka (from na jh yaka) means “one who does not meditate,” but it also means “reciter” (from ajjh yati; cf Skt dhy yika, adhy yin, one who studies or is skilled in the Vedas; cf also sajjh yati, to rehearse, repeat, study). 80 kaṅkheyya ce bhyikkhave, catunnaṁ jh n naṁ bhicetasik naṁ diṭṭha,dhamma,sukha,vih r naṁ nik ma,l bhī assa akicch ,l bhī akasīra,l bhî ti, sīlesv’ev’assa paripūra,k rī ajjhattaṁ ceto,samatham anuyutto anir kata,j,jh no vipassan ya samann gato brūhet suññ g r naṁ. 81 See also Paṭisall na S (It 2.2.8/39 f) = SD 41.4. 72 30 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Note here that in the phrase “not neglect meditation” (anir kata-j,jh na), jh na can only mean “meditation,” otherwise it would sound redundant, as the four dhyanas (catunnaṁ jh n naṁ) have already been mentioned earlier. STOCK PASSAGE ON THE 4 DHYANAS (From the S mañña,phala Sutta, D 2) (1) Quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome mental states, he attains and dwells in the first dhyana, accompanied by initial application and sustained application, and with zest and joy born of solitude.82 He permeates and pervades, floods and fills this very body83 with the zest and joy born of solitude.84 (2) And, furthermore, maharajah, with the stilling of initial application and sustained application, by gaining inner tranquillity and oneness of mind, he attains and dwells in the second dhyana, free from initial application and sustained application, with zest and joy born of concentration.85 He permeates and pervades, floods and fills this very body with the zest and joy born of concentration. (3) And furthermore, maharajah, with the fading away of zest, he dwells equanimous, mindful and clearly knowing, and experiences joy with the body. He attains and dwells in the third dhyana, of which the noble ones declare, ‘Happily he dwells in equanimity and mindfulness.’ He permeates and pervades, floods and fills this very body with the joy free from zest. (4) And furthermore, maharajah, with the abandoning of joy and pain86—and with the earlier disappearance of pleasure and displeasure—he attains and dwells in the fourth dhyana, that is neither painful nor pleasant, and with mindfulness fully purified by equanimity. He sits, pervading the body with a pure, bright mind,87 so that there is no part of his entire body that is not pervaded by a pure, bright mind. (D 2.77+79+81+83/1:73-76) = SD 8.1088 4.4.3.3 DHYANA AS MEDITATION AND MEDITATING. Occasionally, we will notice (as in the quote under “Brief Statement on Dhyana” above) that the word jh na means simply “meditation” (that is, not specifically dhyana as an altered state of consciousness). The Eka Nip ta of the A guttara Nik ya has a chapter—the Apara Acchar ,s ṅgh ta Vagga—which lists all the Buddhist meditations and practices (eg the eightfold path),89 beginning with this exhortation: “Born of solitude,” viveka,ja; ie it is the result of abandoning the hindrances: on the 3 kinds of solitude, see The Body in Buddhism, SD 29.6a (1.5). On the omission of “one-pointedness of mind” (cittassa ek’aggat) and “concentration” (samdhi) here, see The Layman and Dhyana = SD 8.5. 83 Here “body” (kya) refers to the “mental body” (nma,kya), ie feeling (vedan), perception (sa), formations (sakhra), and consciousness (via) (Vism 4.175/169). 84 These are the dhyana factors: vitakka vicra pti sukhassa ek’aggat, respectively. 85 The 2nd dhyana is known as “the noble silence” (ariya,tuh,bhva) because within it initial application and sustained thought (thinking and discursion, vitakka,vicra) cease, and with their cessation, speech cannot occur. (S 2:273); cf. S 4:293 where vitakka and vicra are called verbal formation (vac,sakhra), the mental factors responsible for speech. In Ariya,pariyesan S (M 1Ś161), the Buddha exhorts the monks when assembled to “either speak on the Dharma or observe the noble silence” (ie either talk Dharma or meditate). See Dutiya Jh na Pañha S (S 40.2/4:263 f) = SD 24.12. 86 “Joy and pain,” sukha,dukkha, refers to the physical feelings. The next phrase—“pleasure and displeasure,” domanassa-somanassa—refers to mental feelings, which have been transcended earlier. Mental feelings need to be overcome first so that the mind is not distracted by itself, as it were. Then, all the other feelings (arising from physical sense-contacts) are transcended. On the significance of this, see Sall’atthena S (S 36.6/4:207-210) = SD 5.5. 87 See Acchar Vagga (A 1.6.1-2)Ś “Monks, this mind is radiant (pabhassara), but it is defiled by defilements from outside. The ignorant ordinary person does not understand this as it really is. As such, for him there is no personal development.” (A 1Ś10). On reaching the 4th dhyana, the practitioner becomes directly aware of the truly and naturally pure nature of the mind. See also A:B 1999 4. 88 Further, see Dhyana = SD 8.4. 89 The traditional ref (Chaṭṭha Sa gayana & World Tipiṭaka) is A 1.18.1-181 (A guttara Nik ya 1, Ekaka Nip ta 18, Apara Acchar sa ghata Vagga 1-181. 82 http://dharmafarer.org 31 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Bhikshus, if even for just the moment of a finger-snap a monk cultivates (bh veti) the first dhyana, etc, he is called a monk. His meditation is not in vain (aritta-j,jh no). He acts in accordance with the Teacher’s teaching. He follows his advice. He does not eat the country’s alms in vain. How much more so if he were to often cultivate it!90 (A 2.20.2/1:38) The expression aritta-j,jh na (“his meditation is not in vain”) applies to all the meditations that do not lead to dhyana (such as the loathsomeness of food, analysis of the elements, the six recollections, and recollection on peace), and also practices like the individual limbs of the eightfold path, the five spiritual faculties, and so on. Clearly, jh na here generically means “meditation,” and not dhyana (that is, as a profoundly blissful altered state of consciousness). We have already noted above, that in the phrase “not neglect meditation” (anir kata-j,jh na) as a verb, an action. Similarly, in this well known passage, the Buddha exhorts us to meditate, thus: These, bhikshus, are the foot of trees;91 these are empty huts.92 Meditate,93 bhikshus! Be not heedless! Regret not later! This is our instruction to you.”94 4.4.3.4 WRONG DHYANA. In fact, the general rule is that the verbs jh yati (3rd sg indicative), jh yasi (2 sg imperative), jh yatha (2nd pl imperative), jhayeyya (3rd sg optative), and so on, all refer to the act of meditating, not necessarily for the attaining of dhyana or abiding in it. In the Gopaka Moggall na Sutta (M 108), nanda explains to the brahmin Vassa,k ra, chief minister of Magadha, that “the Blessed One does not praise all types of dhyana” (so bhagav sabbaṁ jh naṁ na vaṇṇesi). In this case, a person meditates with his mind troubled by a hindrance (nīvaraṇa)95 but he does not understand it as it really is, nor the escape from such a hindrance. In this misdirected “dhyana,” one “meditates, over-meditates, under-meditates, out-meditates” (jh yati pajjh yati nijjh yati apajjh yati).96 nd Acchar ,saṅgh ta,mattam pi ce, bhikkhave, bhikkhu paṭhamaṁ jh naṁ bh veti, ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave— bhikkhu aritta-j,jh no viharati, satthu,s sana,karo ov da,patikaro, amoghaṁ raṭṭha,piṇḍaṁ bhuñjati. Ko pana v do ye naṁ bahulī,karontî ti (A 2.20/1:38-43). 91 “Those are the foot of trees,” etni rukkha,mūlni. “Foot” here is usually single, like “bottom.” 92 Sometimes rendered as “empty place”. 93 “Meditate!” jhyatha, lit “cultivate jhna” (M 1Ś45, 118ś S 4Ś133, 4Ś359, 361, 362, 368, 373ś A 3Ś87, 89, 4Ś139, 392). Syn bh vetha (2nd pl), “cultivate!” 94 Et ni bhikkhave rukkha,mūl ni, et ni suññ’ g r ni. Jh yatha bhikkhave, m pam dattha, m pacch vippaṭis rino. This is stock: Sallekha S (M 44.18/1:45); Dvedh ,vitakka S (M 19.27/1:118); (Nava Pur na) Kamma S (S 4:133) = SD 4.12; K ya S (S 43.1/4:359) = SD 12.21.1, & all suttas in the same Asakhata Sayutta (S 43.244/4:360-373); Yodh’ jīva S 1 (A 5.73.7/3:87), Yodh’ jīva S 2 (A 5.74.7/89), Vinaya,dhara S (A 7.70.4/4:139), Devat S (A 9.19.4/4:392); cf Mah Palobhana J (J 507). A search for jh yatha in the Sutta Piṭaka reveals about 70 occurrences. 95 The 5 mental hindrances (pañca,nīvaraṇa) are: (1) sensual lust (k ma-c,chanda), (2) ill will (vy p da), (3) restlessness and remorse (uddhacca,kukkucca), (4) sloth and torpor (thīna,middha), and (5) doubt (vicikicch ). For occurrences, see Mah Assa,pura S (M 39.13/1:274); see also Mah Satipahna S (D 22.13); Satipahna S (M 10.36) on how to deal with the hindrances during meditation; S mañña,phala S (D 2.68/1:71) = SD 8.10 (def of dhyana with imageries). For discussions, see: (1) Bh van = SD 15.1 (8.2), (2) Mental Hindrances (SD 32) & (3) Sagrava S (S 46.55 = SD 3.12). 96 M 108.26-27/3:13 f = SD 33.5. In a manner of speaking (pariy yena), we could associate the last 3 terms with the 3 unwholesome roots: pajjh yati is to meditate “consumed” by greed (lobha) or lust (r ga), nijjh yati is weighed “down” by hate, and apajjh yati is led astray and “way out” by delusion. In a negative sense, jh yati here, following the text, is to meditate troubled by the 5 hindrances. I don’t think the suttas use these terms technically, but only in a reiterative and mnemonic sense, simply meaning “to meditate troubled by the 5 mental hindrances,” which the first and key should be understood in this context. 90 32 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Here, we clearly see the word jh na as having the general sense of “meditation,” and the verb jh yati meaning “he meditates.” On the other hand, the four dhyanas that the Buddha approves of are, namely, the first dhyana, the second dhyana, the third dhyana, and the fourth dhyana, are well defined through the Nik yas (as shown in the “Stock Passage on the Four Dhyanas,” above). If jh na is here used in a generic way, it would include “dhyana,” that is, the four stages of Buddhist jh na, too. Its particular sense should be teased out from its context. Thus, Arbel observes, In all other places, except from this occurrence, the jh nas are mostly associated with description of awakening, and always as a model of four gradual states, in which a person enters (upasampajja) and abides in (viharati ) without any reference to the practice of stopping the breath or other ascetic practices. That is, the jh nas in the fourfold model are never referred to as app nakaṁ jh naṁ. (2008:8 f) 4.4.3.5 THE FALSE INDIVIDUAL’S DHYANA. The Sappurisa Sutta (M 113) warns us against spiritual arrogance, that is, priding ourselves in religious learning, practices and attainments. It is interesting that the Sutta states that even a “false person” (asappurisa) may be able to attain dhyanas and the formless attainments, but he would not be able to attain the cessation of perception and feeling.97 This is very significant in our study of dhyana in the Buddha’s time. It shows that almost anyone is capable to attaining dhyana, but not everyone, especially a “false person” (asappurisa), is capable of gaining liberation from it. Indeed, a false person might try to gain dhyana not for the sake of awakening, but for priding himself or for religious one-upmanship. Or, perhaps, the false person could use dhyana for heavenly rebirth, for “eternal life” in heaven, as elaborated in two parallel discourses, the (N n ,karaṇa) Mett Sutta 1 (A 4.152)98 and the (N n ,karaṇ ) Puggala Sutta (A 4.123).99 While the former shows how the four divine abode (brahma,vih ra) can bring about heavenly rebirths, the latter shows how dhyanas can do the same, too. But once the heavenly spell is broken, the being falls into a subhuman plane reborn as a hell-being, an animal or a preta. All this shows that noble as dhyana experience may be, it could be used for baser purposes. Or, perhaps, it might be true that such a person starts off quite rightly with his practice of dhyana, but he lacks right view. That right view is necessary is clear. As such, when in the (Dasaka) Cetan ’karaṇīya Sutta (A 10.2) and the (Ek ,dasaka) Cetan ’karaṇīya Sutta (A 11.2), the Buddha says, “It is the nature of things, bhikshus, that the concentrated will know and see according to reality,” 100 in the context of the nibbid model,101 the “concentration” here is clearly “right concentration” (samm sam dhi), the one with right view.102 As such, it is only when dhyana is attained with right view that it brings about full spiritual benefits. [5] Saññ ,vedayita,nirodha or nirodha,sam patti, M 113/3:37-45 = SD 23.7. It is listed as the 9th or last stage of as the 9 “progressive abidings” (anupubba,vih ra), ie the 4 form dhyanas (rpa jh na), the 4 formless dhyanas (arpa jh na), and the cessation of perception and feeling (D 3:265, 290; A 4:410). See M 43.25/1:296 & Vism 23.51/709; cf S 22.95/3:143*; Dh 41. 98 A 4.125/2:128 f = SD 33.9. 99 A 4.123/2:129 f = SD 23.8a. 97 100 Dhammat es bhikkhave yaṁ sam hito yath ,bhūtaṁ j n ti passati In this case, the nibbid model begins with our being morally virtuous  remorse-free  joyful  zestful minded  calm in body  happy  concentrated  seeing true reality  being revulsed  becoming dispassionate, On the nibbid model or formula, see Nibbid = SD 20.1. 102 A 10.2.7/5:3,10 = SD 41.6 & A 11.2.7/5:313,1 = SD 33.3b. This point was conveyed to me by a Sinhala bhikkhu (who requested anonymity), who, during the vassa of 2012 (Perth, Australia), conferred with Brahmavamso who confirmed that he emphasizes dhyana based on right view and not one lacking it. In his talks, Brahmavamso mentions Christian monks who are said to have attained dhyana-like states when “they surrender their will to the God, which sounds like giving up the doer”—this suggests the possibility of non-Buddhists attaining dhyana, but of 101 http://dharmafarer.org 33 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana In summary, we have the following meanings of jh na and its verbs, as used in the Nik yas: (1) as a general term for meditation (such as the imperative verbs, jh yasi, jh yatha, etc), (2) as a term referring to any non-Buddhist meditation, especially wrong ones, (3) as dhyana meditation or mental absorption, found (as a noun) only amongst the Buddhists, and (4) as dhy na with right view. 5 Dhyana and awakening 5.1 DHYANA AS RIGHT CONCENTRATION. Let us return to our original question: Did the Buddha discover dhyana or not? We will take a closer look at some of the internal evidence and summarize our arguments. Why is the Buddha’s discovery of dhyana unique and different from the other teachings and systems? Firstly, as mentioned, the story of the two teachers and the Bodhisattva’s attaining of the two highest formless attainments are found in the earliest Buddha biography (the Ariya Pariyesan Sutta) and repeated verbatim in a number of other early texts. As such, there is no good reason to reject the authenticity of this story. Secondly, this ancient sutta account does mention the two attainments. l ra himself tells the Bodhisattva that the level he has attained is the base of nothingness ( kiñcaññ’ yatana), while Uddaka declares that his father, R ma, had attained the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (n’eva,saññ ,nâ,saññâyatana). Besides these two statements, we do not seem to have any other evidence showing that these are actually the formless attainments taught by the Buddha himself. Conversely, there is no evidence for denying that they are not the same states as those of the Buddhist system. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, let us accept that the two attainments are similar to those taught by the Buddha. Thirdly, even if we accept that the two formless bases taught by the two teachers are similar to the Buddhist ones, there is an important factor missing from these attainments of the two teachers. The Catt rīsaka Sutta (M 115) tells us that right view (samm diṭṭhi) must be present in the dhyana for it to be right concentration (samm sam dhi).103 It is not just a matter of being able to attain dhyana, no matter how profound, but as stated in the Saṅgaṇik ,r ma Sutta (A 6.68), without purifying view, it is impossible to cultivate right concentration,104 much less to attain nirvana. As such, ḷ ra K l ma and Uddaka R ma,putta (or his late father R ma before him), despite their ability (or claim)105 to attain dhyana, or even the formless attainments, their practices lack right view. If these practices were endowed with right view, the Bodhisattva would have awakened through any of these attainments. As such, it is not just a matter of attaining dhyana, but such an attainment must be attended by right view, too.106 It is useful to reflect on what Sujato has written on this vital point: Elsewhere it is said that ordinary people attain samadhi (here the four jhanas (A 4.123)107 and the four divine abidings108), are reborn in the Brahm realms, and after a long period of bliss fall back into lower realms.109 But noble disciples, after reaching the Brahm realms, attain Nibbana from there. a mundane kind, ie, without right samadhi. On Christian mystic experience (incl dhyana), see Miraculous stories = SD 27.5b (1.3). On the “doer,” see SD 17.6 (8.4). 103 M 117.2-3/3:71 + 35/3:76 = SD 6.10. 104 A 6.68/3:423 = SD 65.12. 105 See Uddaka S (S 35.103), where the Buddha declares that Uddaka is not awakened but claims to be so (S 35.103/4:83 f). 106 See further “Did ḷ ra & R ma teach dhyana?”Ś Ariya Pariyesan S (M 26) (4.1). 107 (N n ,karaṇ ) Puggala S (A 4.123/2:126-128) = SD 23.8a. 108 Eg (Puggal) Mett S 1 (A 4.125/2:128 f). 109 See eg Brahm Nimantanika S (M 49). The Buddha relates to the Brahm Baka how he, from being a 4thdhyana Brahm of Veha-p,phal (Abundant Fruit), passes away from there and is reborn as a 3rd-dhyana Brahm of Subha,ki (Radiant Glory), and then as a 2nd-dhyana Brahm of bhassar (Streaming Radiance). From there he 34 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana The difference is not in the states of samadhi as such—these are just manifestations of the mind at peace. The difference is in the views and interpretations, the conceptual wrapping that the experience in bundled up in. The path must be taken as a whole. If one starts out with wrong view, one’s meditation experiences are likely to simply reinforce one’s preconceptions. If one practises samadhi with the view that one’s soul will become immersed in some exalted state of being, well, one will get what one wishes for. (Sujato, A History of Mindfulness, 2004b: 95 f; 2005b: 137 f; normalized) In conclusion, we can say that Brahmavamso is right is claiming that “the Buddha discovered dhyana,” but we need to qualify this, that is, the Buddha borrowed the term jh na from a common religious vocabulary. Yet it is something new: it is dhyana with right view [5.2]. The two teachers— ḷ ra and R ma (Uddaka’s father)—too, must have experienced dhyana, but it is without right view (that is to say, they still held some self-view or have not really directly seen the nature of non-self). Around the Buddha’s time, there was such a religious fervour, with a significantly large number of people practising meditation. It is not hard to stretch our imagination in saying that there were many others who had experienced dhyana—in the sense of transpersonal concentration or samadhi, but without right view. As such, it is the Buddha who discovers dhyana with right view, which brings about liberation.110 5.2 THE BUDDHA DISCOVERED DHYANA WITH RIGHT VIEW. In his first public discourse, the Dhamma,cakka Pavattana Sutta (S 56.11), the Buddha proclaims that the path to liberation must avoid the two extremes of preoccupation with the body, that is, either indulging in bodily pleasure or in self-mortification. Only in keeping to the middle way (the eightfold path), can liberation be reached.111 The Mah Saccaka Sutta (M 36) records how, after realizing the mortal danger and utter futility of self-mortification, the Bodhisattva seeks a middle way to liberation. He recalls that when he is only 7, against the backdrop of the ploughing festival, sitting under a jambu tree, focussed on his breath, and attaining the first dhyana [4.4.1]. Reflecting on his meditative bliss on that occasion, he realizes that he has nothing to fear regarding a pleasure that is wholesome.112 Thus, directing his mind to his breath, the Bodhisattva attains dhyana, and, through his own effort, gains self-awakening.113 It is important to understand here that dhyana alone would not bring awakening. After all, the child Bodhisattva has attained the first dhyana under the jambu tree, but does not gain spiritual liberation [4.4.1]. Although the two early teachers— ḷ ra K l ma and R ma—are able to reach even the formless attainments (meaning that they have mastered the form dhyanas, but without right view), they have not realized nirvana. Even after mastering the two highest formless attainments from the two teachers, the Bodhisattva does not win liberation. So he decides to practise on his own. Using the breath meditation that he is familiar with, the Bodhisattva quickly lets go of all mental hindrances, and gains the four dhyanas. Emerging from the fourth dhyana, he directs his mind to attain the knowledge of the recollection of his own past lives (pubbe,niv sânussati,ñ ṇa) during the first watch (10.00-2.00 am) of Vesak Day, 2600 years ago. Using this rebirth knowledge, the Buddha is able to recall his most spiritually significant past life, as confirmed by the Ghaṭīk ra Sutta (M 81), that is, as the monk Joti,p la, a disciple of the immediate past is reborn into the present 1st-dhyana world of Mah Brahm. This is in fact a spiritual devolution, a gradual falling from high places! (M 49.10/1:326-1331) = SD 11.7. 110 See eg (N na,karaṇ ) Puggala S 1 (A 4.123/2:126-128) = SD 23.8a cf (N n ,karaṇa) Mett S 1 (A 4.125/2:128 f) = SD 33.9. 111 S 56.11.3/5:420 = SD 1.1. 112 M 36.21-32/1:236 f = SD 1.12. On the 4 dhyanas as sukh’allikânuyoga, “devotion of pleasure,” see P s dika S (D 29.23/3:130) = SD 40a.6. 113 For a description of the Buddha’s awakening, see Ariya Pariyesan S (M 26.18/1:167) = SD 1.11, Mah Sīha,n da S (M 12.56-63/1:81-83) = SD 1.13, & Mah Saccaka S (M 36.31-44/1:246-249) = SD 1.12. http://dharmafarer.org 35 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Buddha, Kassapa,114 under whom he would have surely learned the Dharma, especially the teachings of rebirth, karma and non-self. Then the Buddha attains the knowledge of death and rebirth (cutûpap ta,ñ ṇa) or the “divine eye,” with which he is able to see how beings fare through numerous lives according to their karma. Through recalling his own past lives and those of other beings, he sees a common pattern of how the three unwholesome roots of greed, hate and delusion, condition our sufferings, and how through understanding and accepting the universal characteristics of impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and non-self, suffering is overcome and liberation won. All this is confirmed by his recalling the teachings he has received from Kassapa Buddha. As right view arises in our Buddha, he is finally able to directly see into true reality, and so gains the knowledge of the destruction of the influxes ( sava-k,khaya ñ ṇa), that is, the drying up the floods of sense-desires, views, existence and ignorance. With this, he attains self-awakening and spiritual liberation.115 In other words, it is not dhyana alone that liberates the Bodhisattva, but it is the true Dharma (saddhamma) that makes him Buddha.116 The vital point here is that the dhyana must be right concentration or right samadhi (samm sam dhi), not wrong concentration (micch sam dhi).117 Right-samadhi dhyana, in other words, must be developed along with the other limbs of the noble eightfold path, especially right view. In short, the practitioner must realize for himself the nature of non-self (anatt ), and the calm and clear mind arising out of dhyana will facilitate this realization.118 In other words, the Buddha is the first person to experience dhyana with right view, and so fully self-awaken. In this sense, the Buddha is the first to discover dhyana—just as other Buddhas before him have done, too. 6 Scholarship, practice and dhyana 6.1 TWO VIEWS ON DHYANA. More has been written and read about meditation, I think, than there are those who regularly meditate and experience its wholesome benefits. Most books on meditation available today have been written by non-practitioners, many of whom are not Buddhist, or by those who claim to have meditative experience or have some sort of affinity with Buddhism. Conversely, the writings of avowed practitioners of meditation leading Dharma-centred lives, especially monastics, are assuredly worthwhile reading. It is interesting to see how the theoretical knowledge and understanding of meditation and dhyana are presented to us in clearer ways, especially those based on personal experience and confirmed by the Buddha’s teachings. For the rest of this paper, I would like to compare the key ideas and teachings, regarding meditation and dhyana, of two well known meditation teachers of our time, that is, Henepola Gunaratana Mahathera (a senior Sinhala monk resident in the USA) and Ajahn Brahmavamso (an English monk of Ajahn Chah’s forest tradition resident in Australia).119 M 81.6/2:46 & 81.23/2:54 = SD 49.3. The Buddha,vaṁsa records our Buddha as recalling as the monk Jotip la under the Buddha Kassapa, he “illumined the Conqueror’s teaching” (sobhayiṁ Jina,s sanaṁ, B 25.15). 115 The 3 knowledges (te,vijj ) are listed at M 2.10/1:8, 9.70/1:55; D 33.1.10.58/3:220, 34.1.4.10/3:275; A 3.59/1:166 f, 3.67/1:197-199, 6.63/3:414, 10.102/5:211.; see also Te,vijja S (D 13) = SD 1.8 (2.2). For a list of 6 superknowledges & defs, see S mañña,phala S (D 2.89-100/1:77-100) = SD 8.10. 116 On the Buddha’s respect for the Dharma, see G rava S (S 6.2/1:138-140) = SD 12.3. 117 There are numerous refs to micch ,sam dhi, eg D 3:254; M 1:42, 3:77; S 5:1; A 2:221, 5:212; Nm 1:78; Pm 2:88; Dhs 76; Vbh 373; Kvu 619. 118 See Dhyana, SD 8.4 (3.1) & Paṭhama Jh na Pañha S (S 30.1) = SD 24.11 (1), esp (1.3). See also Analayo 2003: 75 f. 119 These two teachers are well known to me, as in late 1967 I spent a stint as novice (s maṇera) of the Siyam Nikaya under the tutelage of Bhante H Gunaratana; and I have known Ajahn Brahmavamso, since 1974, when we met in Wat Srakes, Bangkok, where I acted as his interpreter just before his ordination there, and from whom I learned the forest meditation of Ajahn Chah’s lineage. 114 36 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana For our present purposes, I will confine our discussion mainly to views on dhyana found in Gunaratana’s paper, “Should we come out of Jh na to practice Vipassan ?” (2007) and Brahmavamso’s teachings.120 What is of special interest here is that their teachings on dhyana seem to contradict each other, and we will here investigate this interesting problem. We shall also look at the views of a few other teachers and scholars who have shown a special interest in meditation and dhyana. We shall examine Gunaratana’s main views, expressed in his paper entitled, “Should we come out of Jh na to practice Vipassan ?” (2007), namely: (1) that in a dhyana state, the meditator “sees and knows what is going on in his mind” (page 1) [6.2]; (2) that “the meditator does not become one with the object” (page 8) [6.3]ś (3) that the mental hindrances return immediately when we are out of dhyana (page 4) [6.4]; (4) that reflecting on the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness and selflessness of these factors (that is, the dhyana-factors) should be done while they are present” (page 10) [6.5]. 6.2 WHILE IN DHYANA CAN WE EXAMINE OUR OWN MIND? 6.2.1 The nature of dhyana. Before we go on, we should have some idea of the nature of the dhyanas. The numerous passages in the early Buddhist texts describe that dhyana arises with the abandoning of all mental hindrances,121 that is, when the five physical sense-doors have been closed, revealing only the mind. In this way, we are experiencing the mind directly: we are the mind. Free from the mental hindrances, the practitioner goes on to attain the first dhyana. A rudimentary thought-process still lingers in the first dhyana, but this is directed to the meditation object and anchored there—this is known respectively as “initial application” (vitakka) and “sustained application” (vic ra). With this mental focus, there arise zest (pīti) and bliss (sukha) “born of solitude” (viveka,ja).122 When the mind is aware of itself, there is no more need of even the subtlest thought (which would be like a speck of dust on the lens of a giant telescope). At this stage, the mind continues to enjoy zest and bliss, free from all thinking (which also means free from all knowing). This is the experience of a full concentrated mind that is “born of concentration” (sam dhi,ja), that is, the second dhyana. In the second dhyana, the meditator is simply blissed out with the sweet duo of zest and joy (pīti,sukha). Their combined effect is that of euphoria, more blissful than anything we have known. In due course, the dhyana attainer feels that there is a coarse or gross (oḷarika) aspect of this bliss, and that is zest.123 When the coarseness of zest is felt, it simply fades away, leaving only joy (sukha), which is much more refined and serene. This is the third dhyana. In the fourth dhyana, feeling that joy (sukha) is coarse, the meditator simply lets it go. The mind is now enjoying a rock-like stillness. There is a complete lack of access to the world of the physical senses and the body itself. The physical body has totally shut down, as it were. The meditator in the fourth dhyana is effectively only a “mental being” so that “there is no part of his entire body that is not pervaded by pure, bright mind.”124 The “entire body” clearly refers to his mental body because his physical body has completely shut down.125 Brahmavamso’s description on the mind in dhyana is helpful hereŚ Even though there is no comprehension within any jh na, one is certainly not in a trance. One’s mindfulness is greatly increased to a level of sharpness that is truly incredible. One is immensely aware. Only mindfulness doesn’t move. It is frozen. And the stillness of the super120 See SD 33.1a biblio for their respective works relevant to our discussion here. The 5 mental hindrances (pañca,nīvaraṇa) are: (1) sensual lust (k ma-c,chanda), (2) ill will (vy p da), (3) restlessness and remorse (uddhacca,kukkucca), (4) sloth and torpor (thīna,middha), and (5) doubt (vicikicch ): see above (3.3.2) n. 122 Ie mental solitude, a mind free from the 5 hindrances. On the 3 kinds of solitude, see The Body in Buddhism, SD 29.6a (1.5). On def of the 4 dhyanas (with images), see S mañña,phala S (D 2.77-84/1:73-76) = SD 8.10. 123 Interestingly, the idea that thinking must go on even during dhyana is an ancient view (a wrong view, that is), one held by the Jain teacher, Nirgrantha N ta,putta: see Nigaṇṭha N ta,putta S (S 41.8/4:298-300) = SD 40a.7. 124 See eg S mañña,phala S (D2.84/1:75) = SD 8.10. 125 See Brahmavamso 2006:153-168. 121 http://dharmafarer.org 37 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana power mindfulness, the perfect one-pointedness of awareness, makes the jh na experience completely different from anything one has known before. This is not unconsciousness. It is non-dual consciousness. All it can know is one thing, and that is timeless bliss that doesn’t move. (2006:153) [6.4.4] In short, we do know, or more correctly, feel, the bliss and clarity of the mind in dhyana, but it is well beyond our everyday knowing of feeling. It might be said to be a kind of transcendental awareness. 6.2.2 Dhyana is beyond words and thought 6.2.2.1 THE PRESENT TENSE IN PALI. Gunaratana holds the view that a meditator in a dhyana state “sees and knows what is going on in his mind” (2007:1). He quotes the Mah S kul’ud yi Sutta (M 77), saying, The Mah sakulud yi Sutta clearly expresses that the meditator, even in very refined states of Jh na, sees and knows what is going on in his mind. The verbs are used in the present tense not in the past tense... If he were to see and know these things after emerging from meditation the Sutta would have used the past tense. (Gunaratana 2007:1) Firstly, let me address the issue of the present tense as used in the Pali suttas, which is entirely different from the way we use it in English (as in many other languages, too). A K Warder, in his Introduction to Pali, is instructive: The present (vattam na) tense (lak ra) is used to express present (paccuppanna) time (k la), the limits of which are somewhat vague, or indefinite time (timeless statements such as “eternal truths”), sometimes the immediate future (which may include a shade of “imperative” sense; cf English “I’m going”) and sometimes the past (“historic present”). It is used to express the duration of an action “until,” a fixed future time (a vivid future visualized at present) “when,” and in certain other constructions. (1963; 2nd ed 1974:12 f) Now, in the light of what Warder has clarified regarding the present tense in the Pali suttas, let us examine the passage that Gunaratana refers to. It is actually a four-dhyana stock passage, and is identical with the four passages quoted above [4.4.3]. We shall look only at the passage on the first dhyana, as it is sufficient for our present purposes: STOCK PASSAGE ON THE 1ST DHYANA (From the Mah Sakulud yi Sutta, M 77) Again, Ud yi, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way my disciples cultivate the four dhyanas. Here, Ud yi, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome mental states, he attains and dwells in the first dhyana, accompanied by initial application and sustained application, and with zest and joy born of solitude. He permeates and pervades, floods and fills this very body with the zest and joy born of solitude. Puna ca’paraṁ, ud yi, akkh t may s vak naṁ paṭipad , yath ,paṭipann me s vak catt ri jh n ni bh venti. Idh’ud yi, bhikkhu vivicc’eva k mehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi sa,vitakkaṁ sa,vic raṁ viveka,jaṁ pīti,sukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jh naṁ upasampajja viharati. So imam eva k yaṁ viveka,jena pīti,sukhena abhisandeti parisandeti paripūreti parippharati, nâssa kiñci sabb vato k yassa viveka,jena pīti,sukhena apphuṭaṁ hoti. (M 77.25/2:15) = SD 49.5 The present-tense verbs found in the above passage (other than the inherent verb, such as hoti,” it is”), are as followsŚ “(they) cultivate” (bh venti), “he attains and dwells” (upasampajja viharati), and “(it) permeate and pervade, floods and fills” (abhisandeti parisandeti paripūreti parippharati). All we can rightly say here is that the Buddha is reporting how his earlier disciples have practised meditation to attain dhyana, and as such what his audience, the present disciples, should do, too. The present tense is simply 38 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana to evoke the historical or narrative present to reflect the timeless efficacy and truth of these teachings. Let us examine a few more related passages. 6.2.2.2 THE FOURTH DHYANA AND THE THREE KNOWLEDGES. Gunaratana further holds that “we have no reason to believe that he came out of Jh na to develop the three kinds of knowledge—knowledge of seeing the past, knowledge of seeing beings dying and taking rebirth, and knowledge of the destruction of defilements. The Buddha used the fourth Jh na for Vipassan ” (2007:1). And he adds: It is virtually impossible to find evidence in the Suttas that one should come out of Jh na to practice Vipassan . There are a number of passages repeated in many Suttas dealing with the four fine material Jh nas [rūpa jh na]. Nowhere in any of these passages is it said that one should come out of Jh na to gain the three kinds of knowledge—knowledge of seeing previous lives, knowledge of beings dying and taking rebirth according to their kammas, and knowledge of the destruction of defilements. (Gunaratana 2007:1 f; emphasis added) Gunaratana refers to the Mah S kul’ud yi Sutta (M 77) but there is no such allusion in those passages relating to dhyana and the three knowledges, as in all such passages the Buddha begins by reporting, “Again, Ud yi, I have proclaimed to my disciples...” [6.2.2.1] followed by the eight kinds of superknowledges that, in the S mañña,phala Sutta (D 2) are designated as the higher fruits of recluseship.126 However, the following stock passage from the Bhaya Bherava Sutta (M 4) and the Mah Saccaka Sutta (M 36) would reflect Gunaratana’s view that “we have no reason to believe that he came out of Jh na to develop the three kinds of knowledge.” STOCK PASSAGE ON THE 1ST SUPERKNOWLEDGE 38 (1) When his [my] concentrated mind was thus purified, bright, unblemished, rid of imperfection, malleable, wieldy, steady and attained to unshakable steadiness, he [I] directed it to the knowledge of the recollection of past lives.127 He recollects his [I recollect my] manifold past lives,... So evaṁ sam hite citte parisuddhe pariyod te anaṅgaṇe vigatēpakkilese mudu,bhūte kammaniye ṭhite neñja-p,patte pubbe,niv sânussati,ñ ṇ ya cittaṁ abhininn mesiṁ. So aneka,vihitaṁ pubbe,niv saṁ anussar mi... (M 4.27/1:22 = SD 44.3) = (M 36.38/1:248 f = SD 49.4) Firstly, note that although the key verb anussar mi (“I recollect”) is in the present tense, it would have just the same sense if it were rendered into the past tense as “I recollected”—as in all the major English translations we have.128 In fact, it makes better sense to use the past sense for at least two important reasons: (1) the Buddha was reporting this past event but as an instruction; and (2) the verb abhininn mesiṁ (“he directed (it)”) is in the past tense.129 The point here is that in the case of Dharma-teaching 126 See, respectively, M 77.29-36/2:17-22 = SD 49.5 & D 2.87-100/1:76-85 = SD 8.10. This knowledge is detailed at Vism 13.13-71/411-423. 128 I B Horner (1954) (M:H 28); Nyanamoli & Bodhi, 1995, 2001 (M:ÑB 105); Thanissaro (2009), online ed: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.004.than.html. Of the modern translations, apparently only Piya Tan has rendered anussar mi (which follows) in the present tense, “I recollect,” following the Pali, to reflect the historical or narrative present or timelessness of a Dharma teaching: see SD 49.4 and elsewhere. We have no good reason to say that, on account of the present tense used in some of the dhyana and abhiññ pericopes, that the Buddha or meditator does not come out of dhyana to cultivate insight. See further below. 129 Pres 3 sg abhi-ninn meti, caus of abhi + nir √NAM (to bend, bow), to bend or stretch out (acc), to direct (towards, dat, gen): CPD sv. Interestingly, the same passage in S mañña,phala S (D 2) uses abhininn meti (“he directs (his mind)”) (D 2.95/1Ś81) = SD 8.10. 127 http://dharmafarer.org 39 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana (especially instructions regarding meditation and practice), no matter what the tenses are, it should be generally understood in the historical or narrative present to reflect the timelessness of the Dharma.130 6.2.3 The Anupada Sutta 6.2.3.1 One of the major discourses that Gunaratana uses to support his notion that “there is no suggestion at all that the meditator should leave the fourth Jh na [or any dhyana] to attain these understandings,” is the Anupada Sutta (M 111).131 He quotes that This is the state of mind the Buddha ascribes to Venerable S riputta in Anupada Sutta. “And the states in the fourth Jh na—the equanimity, the neither-painful-nor pleasant feeling, the mental unconcern due to tranquillity, the purity of mindfulness, and the unification of mind; the contact, feeling, perception, volition, and the mind; zeal, decision, energy, mindfulness, equanimity and attention—known to him those state arose, known they were present, known they disappeared.” [M 111.10/2:26] (2007:12)132 Elsewhere, Gunaratana notes, regarding the above passage, that “significantly, the name of this Sutta, Anupada, means uninterrupted. Ven S riputta not only saw the mental factors in each Jh na by turn, he did it without leaving the Jh nic state. His Jh na was uninterrupted.” (2007:17; highlights added). By “uninterrupted” here, Gunaratana clearly refers to anupada, following the Pali-English Dictionary (PED), where we find the explanation of the phrase, anupada,dhamma,vipassan (Anupada Sutta, M 3:25,11) as “uninterrupted contemplation.” 6.2.3.2 The Anupada Sutta Commentary explains the phrase, anupada,dhamma,vipassan , as “he has insight into these states in succession [“immediately after,” anupaṭip ṭiy ] by virtue of an attainment or by virtue of a dhyana-factorś thus he [S riputta] attained arhathood in a fortnight.”133 The translation “uninterruptedly” hardly fits the context here. Furthermore, the Critical Pali Dictionary (CPD) defines anupaṭip ṭi as “regular order, succession.” So we can take anupaṭip ṭiy as meaning, “in a regular order, successively, immediately after.” In fact, such an interpretation harmonizes with how the contemplative forest monks describe their own experiences of dhyana.134 6.2.3.3 Gunaratana, basing his arguments on the Pali texts and his PhD research, goes on to say of S riputta’s insight into the various progressive abodes (the dhyana and attainments), as follows: Venerable S riputta knew them when they were present, when they arose and when they disappeared. He was fully mindful of it when any mental state was present. He was completely aware while he was going through these Jh nic states, even though he had not yet attained enlightenment. (Gunaratana 2007:12) `This is Gunaratana’s paraphrase of the Anupada Sutta passage which reads: Tyâssa dhamm anupada,vavatthit honti. Tyâssa dhamm vidit uppajjanti, vidit upaṭṭhahanti, vidit abbhatthaṁ gacchanti, which Ñ moli and Bodhi translate as “These states [the dhyana and attainment factors]135 were defined In historical cases, such as the narrative of the two teachers, as given in Ariya Pariyesan S (M 26), the past tense used in reference to the late teacher R ma (father of Uddaka) is very significant, as it states the fact he was already dead, while ḷ ra was still livingŚ see M 26.15-17/1:163-167 & SD 1.11 (4.2). 131 M 111/3:25-29 = SD 56.4. 132 Although Gunaratana rightly mentions Anupada S (M 111) in his text, he miscites this as “MN #52, Aṭṭhakan gara Sutta” in his endnote. 133 Anupada,dhamma,vipassanan ti sam patti,vasena v jh n’aṅga,vasena v anupaṭip ṭiy dhamma,vipassanaṁ vipassati, evaṁ vipassanto addha,m sena arahattaṁ patto (MA 4:86). 134 See eg Brahmavamso 2006:99, 154. 135 That is, “the initial application, sustained application, zest, joy, and oneness of mind; the contact, feeling, perception, volition, and the mind; the zeal, decision, energy, mindfulness, equanimity, and attention” (vitakko ca vi130 40 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana by him one by one (anupada,vavatthit ) as they occurred; known to him those states arose, known they were present, known they disappeared.” (MŚÑB 899; highlights added). This translation seems to support Gunaratana’s view, but the translation is problematic, to say the least, due to the difficulty with the key phrase anupada,vavatthit . CPD defines it as “individually set up or fixed” (alluding to the Commentary). We already have an idea of the meaning of anupada (see above). The word vavatthita means “fixed, arranged, appointed” (Childers’ DPL), or “entered on, arranged, fixed, determined, settled (M 3Ś25ś DhsA 36)” (PED). From this, we can also safely accept the translation “defined,” as Ñ amoli and Bodhi have done. So far so good. 6.2.3.4 There is a problem, however, with the phrase “as they occurred,” which is Ñ amoli and Bodhi’s rendition of anupada in anupada,vavatthit honti. This is reading too much into the Pali word or phrase, and is not attested in any Commentarial gloss or any Pali dictionary. More significantly, it can be safely said that this translation would not be accepted by the dhyana-attainers themselves (or, even serious sutta students). Let me propose a different translation dor this key passage, from a more experiential angle, thus: These states [the factors or nature of each dhyana and attainment] were established in him in succession (after they have occurred) (anupada,vavatthit ): it is known to him that those states arise; it is known to him that these states are present; it is known to him that these states disappear. (M 111.4/3:25) = SD 56.4 ] Notice what is not said here: it is not said that “he knows that those states arise; he knows that these states are present; he knows that these states disappear.” But it is in the present perfect or past participle, reflecting after the fact, outside of dhyana, “it is known to him...” or “having known...” There is a hint of a mystical experience here: the dhyana-attainer knows only through reviewing (paccavekkhaṇa) that these states arise, are present, and pass away. They are profoundly blissful, but they all change, too.136 6.2.3.5 We need to have a proper understanding about how the Anupada Sutta (M 111) describes our “knowing” or “reviewing” of each of the “9 progressive abodes,”137 that is, the 4 dhyanas, the 4 attainments and the cessation. Except for the last two stages—that is, the 4 dhyanas and the first 3 attainments—S riputta says that, having experienced each of them, “these states were analysed by him one after another: those states arose, known to him; they were present, known to him; they disappeared, known to him” (tyâssa dhamm anupada,vavatthit honti;tyâssa dhamm vidit uppajjanti, vidit upaṭṭhahanti, vidit abbhatthaṁ gacchanti).138 Note that vidita, “he has/had known, having known,” is the present/past participle of vindati, “he knows.” The meditator only “knows” (vindati)—not “understands” (paj n ti)139—here he only knows after the fact. That is to say, there is first the arising, the presence (duration), passing away of each of the meditative states; then the meditator “knows,” not intellectually but directly (like watching a sunset). Furthermore, the meditator has no choice but to “know” the truth and beauty of the rise, stay and fall of such blissful mental events. There is no willful act of emerging for the dhyana meditator: if we are determined and skilled enough, we can determine at the start of his meditation how long we are going to stay within dhyana (sort of setting our body-mind clock).140 On such an emerging from the dhyana, we are c ro ca pīti ca sukhañ ca citt’ekaggat ca, phasso vedan saññ cetan cittaṁ chando adhimokkho vīriyaṁ sati upekkh manasik ro). These factors lessen progressively through the dhyanas up to the 3 rd formless base. 136 See Dhyana = SD 8.4 (6.0); Bh van = SD 15.1 (8.5). This special ability is known as “mastering review” (paccavekkhaa,vasī): discerning the dhyana factors after emerging from it: see (Sam dhy-aṅga) Pañc’aṅgika S (A 5.28.10/3:27) & SD 33.13 (3) & Bh van = SD 15.1 (8.6.2). 137 See ( sava-k,khaya) Jh na S (A 9.36/4:422-426) = SD 33.8. 138 See Anupada S (M 111.4+6+8+10+12+14+10/3:25-28) = SD 56.4. 139 On the different words for “knowing,” see SD 17.1b (1.3) & SID: j n ti. 140 Normally, we will emerge from a dhyana only when all the “fuel” of contentment is used up. From the suttas, evidently, the longest period for each dhyanic sitting is a week. See eg the account of the 7 weeks after the awakening: SD 26.1(5). http://dharmafarer.org 41 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana still deeply engrossed in profound dhyanic bliss, except that we are conscious of the immediate mental state. With training, we would then be able to review such states as being impermanent and so on.141 6.2.3.6 On the other hand, in the Anupada Sutta account of the formless attainment of neither-perception-nor-non-perception and of the cessation of perception and feeling, it clearly states that the meditator “emerges mindful (sato) from that attainment” (so t ya sam pattiy sato vuṭṭhahati), and then reflects on its impermanence.142 These two states are so profoundly subtle that only those with great meditative powers and skill can attain them. In the case of cessation, only the Buddha and arhats can attain it.143 The minds of such great meditators are clear and alert, so that they are said to emerge “mindful” (sato). In the previous meditation states, the meditator, especially if they are still unawakened, would need a bit of time to adjust back to the returning sense-processes. Even then, the mind at this stage is so clear that it is inclined to remain so, so that to have any thought at all would be like thundering in a clear blue calm sky. In due course, with proper training in mindfulness and wisdom, the meditator is able to direct his mind to the reflection on impermanence and so on. Once this begins, it only gets easier and more profound with sustained effort, in due course breaking through into some level of awakening.144 6.2.3.7 Being in dhyana is like being in the thick of an existential love affair: we are lost in its bliss. It is like listening to a beautiful piece of symphony or music: we neither think nor speak; we only listen and feel, we simply enjoy. Indeed, we can only really and fully enjoy something when it is uninterrupted or adulterated by words or thoughts. Dhyana, in other words, is a deepening silent stillness that is blissful beyond words and ideas. Only after the fact, do we take stock of what really has happened. We neither count nor define the blissful moments: we simply enjoy them, and celebrate them thereafter. Even on a mundane level of deep inspiration, such as immediately after a profoundly blissfully focussed moment, we feel infused with a great desire and power to express ourselves in music, art, poetry or writing, or simply solve some problem. However, we try to paint or pen this inspiration, to express it, there is quite a lot to do, but it seemed only a mere moment in our inspiration. Dhyana is deeper than this. 6.3 ON A MEDITATOR’S “BECOMING ONE WITH THE OBJECT.” Gunaratana, following the commentarial tradition, especially the Visuddhi,magga, gives some very helpful advice on how to focus on our meditation object.145 He reminds us that “the meditator does not become one with the object,” adding that When we attain any Jh na, we don’t become one with the meditation object. Meditation objects are like launching pads. We use them to train the mind to gain right concentration, which, as we have seen already, is one-pointedness of mind, not one-pointedness of the meditation object. We use an object to start the meditation practice. Then, as the mind gets subtler and the mind becomes sharper, it leaves the meditation object behind and remembers the image of the object. We then focus the mind on the memorized image. As the hindrances are suppressed, the memorized image is replaced with a bright light. The mind shifts its focus to the bright light. From that point onward the object of the mind is this bright light. (Gunaratana 2007:8) This is, in fact, a summary of excerpts from Buddhaghosa’s chapter 4 of his Visuddhi,magga (Vism 119-169). In other words, it is a scholastic note, which is understandable, as Gunaratana is an accomplished scholar of meditation, as attested by his PhD dissertation, A Critical Analysis of the Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation (Washington, DC: American University, 1980). His approach is theoretical, based mostly on the Visuddhi,magga. See eg Aṭṭhaka,n gara S (M 52.4/1:351) = SD 41.2. More detailed version at Mah M luṅky ,putta S (M 64.9/1:435 f. On the importance of reviewing our dhyana experience, see Bh van @ SD 15.1 (8.6.3). 142 M 111.18-20/3:28 = SD 56.4. 143 On the cessation of feeling and perception (saññ ,vedayita,nirodha), see See Mah Vedalla S (M 43.25/1:296) = SD 30.2 (4) & Cūḷa Vedalla S (M 44.16-21/1:301 f) = SD 40a.9 (2.5); also Animitta Ceto,sam dhi Pañha S (S 40.8/4:268 f) = SD 24.19.. 144 On the practice of review, see Anâp na,sati S (M 118.21/3:83) n = SD 7.13. 145 See eg Vism ch 4/119-169, which elaborates on what is quoted here. 141 42 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana On a scholarly level, Gunaratana’s theories are perfectly acceptable, as they are his own interpretations of the texts. However, on an experiential level of meditation, the spiritural texts often take on a new dimension of meaning. It is like reading great poetry: we know syntactically (from the words and grammar) what the text says, but semantically and spiritually, we need some level of meditative stillness and clarity, as it were, to add the living flesh and blood to the dry bones of theory and textuality. Let us return to our examination of the above passage. The expression “to become one with the object” is often used by meditation teachers as a figure for fully focussing on the meditation object, usually the breath. The way I teach breath meditation to beginners is to instruct them to first count their breaths, if it helps.146 Beginners are often taught to start off with some sort of mental verbalization or “subverbalization” (like watching the breath as “in” and “out”). As we progress, we would naturally find the verbalization becoming a “distraction,” that is, it seems to become “gross” (olarika) [6.2.1]. This is when we simply watch the breath directly, knowing that it is coming in, knowing that it is going out, and so on. Often, it is this stage that is meant by the expression, “becoming one with the breath.”147 A rule of thumb in meditation is that we should never to quarrel with our meditation teacher. He is like a cook who has his own way of cooking and specializes in a particular type of dish. At first, depending on our taste, we should faithfully follow the teacher’s meditation instructions, and questioning him as appropriate. If we feel a good sense of inner stillness in our meditation, it means that we are making some progress.148 Then we should keep up our personal practice with this nascent joy. 6.4 DO THE HINDRANCES RETURN IMMEDIATELY AFTER DHYANA? 6.4.1 Coming out of dhyana. Gunaratana often quotes the suttas to support his views and arguments regarding dhyana. These suttas make useful study for anyone interested in teachings related to meditation. However, it is possible that some of his views about dhyana are based on his personal meditation experiences rather than sutta teachings. For example, this is how he describes when we emerge from dhyana: Coming out of Jh na means that we are no longer in Jh na. All the hindrances that we have overcome with great difficulty will rush back to the mind and the mind will once again be cluttered with hindrances. We will lose clarity, purity, concentration, light, and mindfulness. If you want to come out of Jh na to practice Vipassan , then you should not waste your valuable time to attain it at all. You should use that time to practice Vipassan from the beginning. (Gunaratana 2007:4; emphasis added) Gunaratana then quotes the Poṭṭhap da Sutta (D 9) passages on the “nine progressive abodes or abidings” (nava anupubba,vih ra),149 of which I have quoted only the passage on the first dhyana, as it is representative of the rest: “Quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome mental states, the monk enters and dwells in the first dhyana, accompanied by initial application and sustained application, accompanied by zest and joy, born of solitude. And if he has any previous sense-desires, it disappears. At that time there arises a subtle but true perception of zest and joy born of seclusion, and he becomes conscious of this zest and joy. 146 Counting itself is not a meditation, but help to clear away initial distractions. Even then, it might not work for some people. See Vism 8.145-243/266-293. For a comprehensive contemporary exposition by Ven Nauyane Ariyadhamma Mahathera, see http://www.vipassana.com/meditation/anapanasati_meditation_on_breathing.php. 147 See Samadhi (SD 33.1a) on “directed meditation,” SD 33.1a(2.1.2), and “undirected meditation,” SD 33.1a(2.1.3). See also §6.4.2-3. 148 A good meditation teacher is our “spiritual friend” (kaly ṇa mitta). On the qualities desirable in a spiritual friend, see Spiritual friendship = SD 8.1. On the parable of the cook, see Sūda S (S47.8/5:149-152) = SD 28.15. 149 Sometimes loosely called “the 9 dhyanas,” ie the 4 form dhyanas (rpa jh na), the 4 formless dhyanas (arpa jh na), and the cessation of perception and feeling (saññ ,vedayita,nirodha or nirodha,sam patti) (D 3:265, 290; A 9.33/4:410-414). See Tevijja S (D 13) @ SD 1.8 (2.2) (3) n; also Raho,gata S (S 36.11/4:216-218) = SD 33.6. http://dharmafarer.org 43 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Thus it is through training that a state of consciousness150 arises, and through training a state of consciousness passes away. This is the training,” said the Blessed One. (D 9.10c/1:182 = D 2:73) = SD 7.14 What does this passage really say? It defines the first dhyana, adding that all sense-desires have disappeared. We are conscious of the attending joy (a merely passive but profoundly blissful awareness). It also says that our states of consciousness arise and fall dependent on conditions. Implicitly, it is saying that the dhyanas is a great way to purify our consciousness. There is no mention of cultivating insight while we are in dhyana. There is also no mention that the hindrances “flooding” the mind immediately after emerging from dhyana—this is surely not dhyana. The suttas, in fact, speak of dhyana as a profoundly blissful state of calm and clarity, both during and after the state, that is, the mental focus does not disappear so quickly, that the hindrances do not come “flooding” back once we emerge from dhyana. Indeed, the Pabbateyya Gavī Sutta (A 9.35) clearly states thisŚ “Whenever a monk attains to such an attainment [a form dhyana or a formless attainment], or emerges (vuṭṭh ti) from it, his mind is pliable and malleable.”151 So, we can safely say that the mind that has just emerged from dhyana is still very calm and blissfully focussed with a potential for great good. Furthermore, Buddhaghosa, explaining the third dhyana in his Visuddhi,magga, sums it up, thus: Now, regarding (the phrase), “he feels joy with the body”Ś here, although in one who is engrossed in the third dhyana, there is no concern for feeling joy (sukha), nevertheless he would feel the joy associated with his mental body (n ma,k ya). After emerging from the dhyana, he would also feel joy, since his physical body (rūpa,k ya) would have been touched [affected] by the profoundly subtle matter arising from that joy associated with the mental body.152 As such, it is to point this out that the words “he feels joy with the body” are said. (Vism 4.175/163) 6.4.2 Directing the mind to cultivate insight. The Pabbateyya Gavī Sutta (A 9.35) speaks of two kinds of meditation: a “directed” meditation (paṇidh ya bh van ) and an “undirected” meditation (apaṇidh ya bh van ),153 that is, knowing when to direct the mind to a suitable object, or to simply leave it to uninterruptedly build itself up into focus.154 When the mind is badly distracted, we should direct it to some “inspiring sign,” usually one of the six recollections155 or loving kindness meditation.156 When the mind is quite stable, we should leave it as it is to build uninterruptedly into samadhi and dhyana—and it is useful to know when and how to do this.157 The Pabbateyya G vī Sutta (A 9.35) de- “A state of consciousness,” ek sann , lit “one perception.” TW Rhys DavidsŚ “Saññ which is used in a sense covering both ‘idea’ and ‘consciousness.’” (DŚRD 1Ś248). This applies to §§10-16. Comy glosses ek saññ as “a certain perception” (ekacc saññ , DA 2Ś371). SubcomyŚ “This is to show that saññ arises and passes with a cause” (saññ ya sa,hetukaṁ upp da,nirodhaṁ dīpetun ti, DA 1:478). 151 Yato kho bhikkhave bhikkhu taṁ tad eva sam pattiṁ sam pajjati’pi vuṭṭh ti pi. 152 On consciousness-born materiality, see Vism 20.30-34/615 f. 153 A 9.35/4:418-422 = SD 24.3. See also Samadhi = SD 33.1a (2.1). 154 On directed cultivation, see further Bhikkhuṇī V saka S (S 47.10/5:154-157) = SD 24.2 (1.2). On satipatthana with dhyana, see Satipaṭṭh na S (M 10) = SD 13.1 (4.3b). 155 Bhikkhu Vsaka Sutta (S 47.10), advises that when “there arises in him, based on the body, either a fever in the body or sluggishness in the mind, or the mind is distracted outwardly,” is instructed on how to direct the mind to an inspiring meditation, such as one of the 6 recollections (S 47.10/5:154-156) = SD 24.2, also called 6 bases of recollection (cha anussati-ṭ,ṭh na), ie, on (1) the Buddha, (2) the Dharma, (3) the Sangha, (4) moral virtue, (5) charity, and (6) the devas. See Samb dh’ok sa S (A 6.26/3:314 f) = SD 15.6. 156 On the cultivation of lovingkindness (mett bh van ), see Karaṇīya Metta S (Khp 9 = Sn 1.8) = SD 38.3. 157 See Pabbateyya G vī S (A 9.35/4:418-422) = SD 24.3. 150 44 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana scribes an undirected cultivation of dhyana in these wordsŚ “He enjoys158 the sign, cultivates it, continuously works on it, focusses on it, so that it is well focussed.”159 This is a subtle mental effort of non-effort. There are discourses that show how dhyana can lead to liberating insight. The method comprises two stages: first, one gets into dhyana; then, one emerges from it and reflects on the three characteristics—that the state is impermanent, suffering and non-self—or something similar. Of these two stages, the Ahaka,n gara Sutta (M 52) says: Here, householder, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a monk attains to and dwells in the first dhyana that is accompanied by initial application and sustained application, with zest and joy born of solitude. He considers and understands thusŚ “This first dhyana is conditioned and volitionally formed.160 Whatever is conditioned and volitionally formed is impermanent, subject to ending.” If he is steady in that, he reaches the destruction of the influxes.161 If he does not reach the destruction of influxes because of the desire in dharmas [states], the delight in dharmas,162 then with the destruction of the five lower fetters,163 he becomes one who would reappear spontaneously (in the Pure Abodes) and there attain final nirvana without ever returning from that world. (M 52.4/1:351) = SD 41.2164 The phrase, “He considers this and understands it” (so iti paṭisañcikkhati...paj n ti) is crucial and should be properly understood in its context here. These are discursive thoughts (thinking and reasoning), and certainly uncharacteristic of a dhyana. As such, it goes without saying that this is an extra-dhyana process. Such mentation is done outside of dhyana. The Mah Mlukya Sutta (M 64), using almost the same words as the Ahaka,n gara Sutta, shows a slightly different manner of self-liberation (in this case, leading directly to non-return, even arhathood): Whatever exists by way of form, feeling, perception, formations and consciousness, he sees those states as impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumour, as a barb, as a calamity, as an afflictsevati, which has a broad sense of “associating,” thus “to visit, frequentś practiseś follow (eg maggaṁ); repeat, develop; cultivate; enjoy; often used with bhaveti and bahulī,karoti (CPD). I render asevati here as “he enjoys” as it vitally involves joy for the meditation to succeed. 159 So ta nimitta sevati bh veti bahulī,karoti sv dhihita adhih ti. 160 Abhisakhata abhisacetayita. These two terms are stock indicating a conditioned state in which volition (cetan) is the most important conditioning factor. 161 The term sava (lit “inflow, outflow”) comes from -savati “flows towards” (i.e. either “into” or “out” towards the observer). It has been variously translated as “taints” (“deadly taints,” RD), corruptions, intoxicants, biases, depravity, misery, evil (influence), or simply left untranslated. The Abhidhamma lists four sava: the influx of (1) sense-desire (km’sava), (2) (desire for eternal) existence (bhav’sava), (3) wrong views (dih’sava), (4) ignorance (avijjâsava) (D 16.2.4, Pm 1.442, 561, Dhs §§1096-1100, Vbh §937). These four are also known as “floods” (ogha) and “yokes” (yoga). The list of three influxes (omitting the influx of views) is probably older and is found more frequently in the Suttas (D 3:216, 33.1.10(20); M 1:55, 3:41; A 3.59, 67, 6.63). The destruction of these savas is equivalent to arhathood. See BDict: sava. 162 “Desire…delight in dharmas” (dhamma,r ga dhamma,nandī), as at Aṭṭhaka,nagara S (M 52.4/1:350), where Comy explains that these 2 terms refer to the desire and lust (chanda-r ga), here meaning simply “attachment,” with respect to calm and insight. If one is able to let go of all attachment to calm and insight, one becomes an arhat. If one cannot discard them then one becomes a non-returner and is reborn in the Pure Abodes (MA 3:14). Dhamma here clearly does not mean “teaching” or “Teaching,” but meditative statesś as such, it is best rendered as “dharma.” 163 The 10 fetters are: (1) Personality view (sakkya,dihi), (2) persistent doubt (vicikicch), (3) attachment to rules and rites (sla-b,bata,parmsa), (4) sensual lust (kma,rga), (5) repulsion (paigha), (6) greed for form existence (rpa,rga), (7) greed for formless existence (arpa,rga), (8) conceit (mna), (9) restlessness (uddhacca), (10) ignorance (avijj) (S 5:61, A 10.13/5:17; Vbh 377). In some places, no 5 (paigha) is replaced by illwill (vypda). The first 5 are the lower fetters (oram,bhgiya), and the rest, the higher fetters (uddham,bhgiya). They are called “fetters” (sayojana) because they shackle one to the samsaric world of negative habits and suffering. 164 See Bh van = SD 15.1 (10.3), “Applying insight to dhyana.” 158 http://dharmafarer.org 45 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana ion, as alien, as disintegrating, as void, as not self.165 He turns his mind away from those states166 and directs it to the deathless element [nirvana], thus: “This is peaceful, this is sublime, that is, the stilling of all formations, the letting go of all acquisitions [attachments], the destruction of craving, dispassion [letting go of craving], cessation (of suffering), nirvana.”167 (M 64.9/1:435 f) The Dīgha,j nu Sutta (A 8.54) even encourages the laity to practise direct cultivation for the arising of wisdom, thus: What is the accomplishment of wisdom (paññ ,sampad )? Here, Vyagghapajja, the son of family is wise, possesses wisdom directed to [noting] the rising and falling away (of phenomena) that is noble and penetrative, leading to the complete destruction of suffering. This, Vyagghapajja, is called the accomplishment of wisdom. (A 8.54.15/4:285) = SD 5.10 6.4.3 Directing the mind to cultivate superknowledge. Now, the suttas do have passages on how we should direct our minds so that we can cultivate the various superpowers. This passage on the superknowledges taken from the Pabbateyya Gavī Sutta (A 9.35), a key discourse on dhyana training, is instructive: Whenever a monk attains to such an attainment [a form dhyana or formless attainment], or emerges from it, his mind is pliable and malleable. With a mind that is pliable and malleable, boundless samadhi is well developed. With a well-developed boundless samadhi, whatever higher knowledge that should be realized that he directs his mind to, he realizes it.168 —He gains the ability to witness [to personally experience] any aspect therein, whenever the conditions are right [whenever the occasion arises].169 (A 9.35.3/4:421) = SD 24.3 Note that the sutta says that it is “with a well-developed boundless samadhi” (appam ṇo sam dhi hoti subh vito) that we “direct the mind to, realizes” a superknowledge. The phrase, “whenever the conditions are right” (tatra tatr’eva...sati sati yatane) is significant in telling us that we have to be very mindful. Obviously, this refers to our mental state after dhyana rather than within dhyana (when the mind is fully focussed). This whole stock phrase often introduces the attainment of the superknowledges (abhiññ ). 165 Like the prec Ahaka,nagara S passage, this passage shows the cultivation of insight (vipassan) on the basis of calm (samatha), using dhyana on which the insight-practice is based as the object of insight. The terms “impermanent” (aniccato) and “disintegrating” (palokato) here show the characteristic of impermanence; three terms— “alien” (parato), “void” (suato), and “not self” (anattato)—show the characteristic of non-self; the remaining 6 terms—dukkhato, rogato, gaato, sallato, aghato, bdhato—show the characteristic of suffering (MA 3:146). 166 Comy: “He turns his mind away from those states” (so tehi dhammehi citta paivpeti) from the 5 aggregates included in the dhyana, which he has seen to be marked with the 3 characteristics” (MA 3:146). 167 The “deathless element” (nibbna,dhtu) is nirvana. First, “he directs his mind to” it with the insight consciousness, having heard it praised and described as being “peaceful, sublime,” etc. Then, with the supramundane path, “he directs his mind to it” by making it an object and penetrating it as the peaceful, the sublime, etc. (MA 3:146) 168 A 9.35.2bc/4:419-421 = SD 24.3. So appam ṇena sam dhin subh vitena, yassa yassa abhiññ ,sacchikaraṇīyassa, dhammassa cittaṁ abhininn meti, abhiññ ,sacchikiriy ya. 169 Tatra tatr’eva sakkhi,bhabbataṁ p puṇ ti sati sati yatane. This is a common stock phrase that introduces the attainment of the superknowledges (abhiññ ): Mah Vaccha,gotta S (M 73.19/1:494 = SD 27.4); K ya,gata,sati S (M 119.29 f/3:96 f = SD 12.21); Paṁsu,dhovaka S (A 3.100a.4/1:255 = SD 19.11a); Upakkilesa S (A 5.23/3:1619); Dutiya Iddhi,p da S (A 5.68/3:82 f); Sakkhi,bhabba S (A 6.71/3:426 f); G vī Upam S (A 9.35/4:421 f). It refers to the preliminary conditions ( yatana) for the 6 superknowledges (abhiññ ) which follow later. The preliminary condition for the first 5 knowledges (the mundane ones) is the 4th dhyana; for the 5th (the only supramundane one), it is insight. See SD 12.21 (6). 46 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana The above passage (and similar passages elsewhere) clearly show that we emerge from dhyana to cultivate the superknowledges. 6.4.4 Our minds are still clear on emerging from dhyana. Unlike Gunaratana, who says that we can and must work on insight while in dhyana, Brahmavamso explains how we emerge from dhyana in a very different way: Even though there is no comprehension within any jh na, one is certainly not in a trance. One’s mindfulness is greatly increased to a level of sharpness that is truly incredible. One is immensely aware. Only mindfulness doesn’t move. It is frozen. And the stillness of the superpower mindfulness, the perfect one-pointedness of awareness, makes the jh na experience completely different from anything one has known before. This is not unconsciousness. It is non-dual consciousness. All it can know is one thing, and that is timeless bliss that doesn’t move. Afterward, when one has emerged from the jh na, such consummate one-pointedness of consciousness falls apart. With the weakening of one-pointedness, perspective reemerges, and the mind has the ability to move again. The mind has regained the space needed to compare and comprehend. Ordinary consciousness has returned. Having just emerged from a jh na, it is the usual practice to look back at what has happened and review the jh na experience. The jh nas are such powerful events that they leave an indelible record in one’s memory store. In fact, one will never forget them as long as one lives. They are easy to recall with perfect retention. One comprehends the details of what happened in the jh na, and one knows which of the jh nas it was. Moreover, data obtained from reviewing a jh na form the basis of the insight that leads to enlightenment. (2006:153 f)170 It’s hard to imagine how when a dhyana experience ends, as Gunaratana says, we find ourselves falling off a precipice right into the maws of mental fetters. It is difficult to envision how a profoundly focussed mind could immediately, as it were, become unfocussed. Imagine we have just spent some blissful time in samadhi in a beautiful remote mountain retreat. We emerge from it into the natural peace of the cool grass, swaying trees, bubbling stream, calm rocks, living mosses, and nipping breeze. We are still in a profoundly still and blissful state of mind, capable of clear focus. This is the time when we effectively cultivate insight: to know that even the solid rock will crumble, even the lively flower will fade away, the skies will be no more, and our consciousness recycles itself closer to liberation. All this is of course utterly experiential, and discussing an experiential issue such as this is like a leisurely chat amongst regular tea-drinkers. Each of them likes a certain blend of tea, brewed in a certain way. It is difficult to say whose tea tastes better. It is not helpful at all to argue or debate over such preferences. Instead, we should taste the tea for ourselves. When we have taken enough tea over time, we would have a good idea which tea we love best. 6.5 WHAT HAPPENS DURING DHYANA? 6.5.1 The natural progress of the spiritual life. Gunaratana, having stated and reiterated that, in a dhyana state, the meditator “sees and knows what is going on in his mind,” and “it is virtually impossible to find evidence in the Suttas that one should come out of Jh na to practice Vipassan ” (2007Ś1), then quotes the first part of the Cetanâkaraṇīya Sutta (A 11.2) (2007:6 f). The Sutta quoted is abridged here: For the morally virtuous, there is no need of the intention [an act of will], “May freedom from remorse arise in me!” (avippaṭis ro me uppajjatû ti). It is the nature of things that this will happen. For the one free of remorse, there is no need of the intention, “May gladness arise in me!” (p mojjaṁ me uppajjatû ti)... For the one with gladness, there is no need of the intention, 170 See also Richard Shankman, The Experience of Samadhi: An in-depth exploration of Buddhist meditation, Shambhala, 2008. http://dharmafarer.org 47 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana “May zest arise in me!” (pīti me uppajjatû ti)... For the zestful, there is no need of the intention, “May my body be tranquil!” (k yo me passambhatû ti)... For the one tranquil in body, there is no need of the intention, “May I feel joy!” (sukhaṁ vediy mî ti) For the happy, there is no need of the intention, “May my mind concentrate!” (cittaṁ me sam dhiyatû ti) For the concentrated, there is no need of the intention, “May I know and see according to reality!” (yath ,bhūtaṁ j n mi pass mî ti) For the one who knows and sees according to reality, there is no need of the intention, “May I feel revulsion!” (nibbind mî ti) For the revulsed, there is no need of the intention, “May I let go (of defilements) [be free from passions]!” (virajj mî ti) For the one who has let go (of defilements) [the dispassionate], there is no need of the intention, “May I realize the knowledge and vision of liberation!” It is the nature of things that this will happen. (A 11.2/5:312 f) = SD 33.3b (abridged) This teaching is what might be called the “full nibbid (revulsion) formula,” so called because “revulsion” (nibbid ) is the high-point reached by the cultivation of moral virtue, and also the turning-point towards sainthod and awakening. Nibbid is the first term in the better-known shorter “nibbid formula,” which describes the spiritual turning-point to sainthood: nibbid (revulsion), virga (dispassion), vimutti (liberation) and nibbna (nirvana), as in this stock passage: ...it leads to utter revulsion, to dispassion, to ending (of suffering), to peace [stilling], to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to nirvana. eta ekanta,nibbidya virgya nirodhya upasamya abhismya abhiññ ya sambodhya nibbnya savattanti. (D 1:189; S 5:82, 179, 255, 361; A 3:83, 4:143, 5:216)171 Teachings like this remind us that meditation progress cannot be planned or forced. We can only create the right conditions for our practice, such as living a morally virtuous life, and letting the mind naturally focus. It is like archery: we must properly hold the bow and carefully aim the arrow at the target, judging its distance, wind direction and strength, etc, and then let the arrow go. The arrow then finds its own way to the target or bull’s eye.172 6.5.2 The ineffability of dhyana. From a close study of sutta passages on dhyana and the teachings of those familiar with dhyana, we know that dhyana is a state free of any thought-process or word-based activity, a state so profoundly blissful that it would naturally preclude even knowing. In other words, it is not an intellectual process, but an utterly affective state. We cannot know dhyana; we can only feel it. This vital point is highlighted in the Cetan ’karaṇīya Sutta (A 11.2) [6.5.1]. After quoting this Sutta, Gunaratana makes this important note: It is stated here in unambiguous terms that the concentrated mind sees things as they really are without any thinking. It says specifically, “For one who knows and sees things as they really are there is no need for thought.” Thinking is the work of logic, reason, and philosophy with words, ideas and concepts. Long before he attains sam dhi the meditator has already left behind all discursive thought with its logic, reasoning, investigation and philosophizing with words concepts and ideas. 173 (2007:7) 171 This is also known as the 7 criteris of the true Dharma-Vinaya. See Nibbid = SD 20.1. For other connections, see PED: nibbid. 172 See the archer simile which recurs 8 times in ( sava-k,khaya) Jh na S (A 9.36.2/4:423) = SD 33.8. 173 Compare, however, what Gunaratana says above about experiencing “insight” [6.2]. 48 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana Brahmavamso summarizes the characteristics or landmarks of all dhyanas as follows: (1) There is no possibility of thought. (2) No decision-making process is available. (3) There is no perception of time. (4) Consciousness is non-dual, making comprehension inaccessible. (5) Yet one is very, very aware, but only of bliss that doesn’t move. (6) The five senses are fully shut off, and only the sixth sense, mind, is in operation. (2006:155) From all these characteristics, it is clear that a dhyana is utterly affective in nature: we only feel it without knowing it, that is, without thought or words. This is not difficult to imagine even if we have never tasted dhyana before. Recall a time when you were truly happy, such as winning a special prize, or a extraordinarily joyful event. If you were asked, “How do you feel?” you can only perhaps say, “I don’t know... it’s just wonderful!” 7 Significance of dhyana 7.1 THE ROLE OF DHYANA.174 Not all scholars agree on the connection between dhyana and early Buddhism. Some scholars have argued that dhyanas are a brahminical or yogic technique which was adopted by the Buddhists, and therefore, cannot be considered as a practice leading to liberation. Others have argued that even though the Buddha’s own awakening story includes dhyanas—and, as such, they are Buddhist—still, it is possible to reach liberation without attaining them. Either way—whether scholars agree that dhyana is Buddhist or not—they tend to agree that dhyana is not liberative in itself, but is merely a concentration exercise (sam dhi) or a mental absorption in a specific object (samatha), a meditation practice which is diametrically opposed to the practice of vipassan , which is uniquely “Buddhist.” Keren Arbel, in her paper, “Buddhist or Not? Thinking anew the role of the jh nas in the path of awakening” (2008) [4], argues against these assumptions, asserting that dhyana was only a borrowed term, not a borrowed meditation technique that was integrated into Buddhism. She further suggests that dhyana is “a description of a mind in the process of awakening; the fruit and a further foundation for the practice, and not a meditative technique” (2008:1). According to Arbel, dhyanas are uniquely Buddhist, “since they embody a distinct Buddhist view on the path of awakeningś a view that opposed and rejected a common perception in the various rama a traditions that liberation is gained through pain, not pleasure” (id). She points to important passages in the Nik yas that, firstly, emphasize the pivotal role of the first dhyana in the Buddha’s own awakening story, and secondly, debunking the notion that the dhyanas are mere concentration exercises. In fact, Arbel hypothesizes that only by entering the first jh na, one actualizes internally the “middle path.” The first jh na is a mental actualization of a midpoint between asceticism and indulgence, between sensual pleasure and bodily pain. It seems that only when experiencing pleasure and rapture apart from sensual pleasures and unwholesome states, one can abandon internally, the desire for this coarse pleasure. ... However, this is only an initial state; a state where a very coarse attachment is abandoned. For attaining awakening, one has to abandon any attachment, even to these refined and wholesome states. (2008:13) Even though the term jh na (Skt dhy na) has been adopted from a common religious vocabulary, it was, nevertheless, redefined by the Buddha to refer to the Buddhist understanding of the spiritual path and This section is mainly inspired by Keren Arbel’s conference paper, “Buddhist or Not? Thinking Anew the Role of the Jh nas in the Path of Awakening” (2008). 174 http://dharmafarer.org 49 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana the awakening process. In other words, the Buddha is the first person to experience dhyana with right view, and so to awaken himself [5]. In this sense, the Buddha is the first to discover dhyana. Out of the dhyanic calm and clarity, the Buddha is able to directly see the true nature of reality, and confirm this as the same wisdom of past Buddhas. As such, our Buddha is the first to discover dhyana in his own dispensation, in which we are very fortunate to live and is still able to learn from and practice to gain the same liberation as the Buddha himself has done. 7.2 WRITING ABOUT A SUNSET. The subject of meditation can have strange effects on people who do not meditate, or do not meditate enough, or are not Buddhist, but write about it. The more academically qualified they are, especially when they are published, the more people are likely to read and believe them, rightly or wrongly, or at least are inclined to discuss such views. Of course, anyone can write about meditation or Buddhism, but the Buddhists (both as academics and as practitioners) have to industriously and intuitively respond to any wrong notion or misrepresentation about them. Paul Griffiths,175 the Warren professor of Catholic Thought at Duke University, USA, for example, is one of those who work with the notion that samatha and vipassan are actually forms of meditation, rather than regarding them as integral aspects of the same practice. He claims that “samatha meditation” has a different aim from that of “vipassan meditation.”176 He thinks that the attempt to reconcile the two” methods” of meditation and to integrate them into a single process of liberation is especially difficult.177 Edward Crangle, too, mentions that vipassan is “the Buddha’s exclusive and original discovery.” He further asserts that it is what distinguishes the Buddha’s course of practice from those of other meditative schools.178 175 Paul J Griffiths (b 1955) received a doctoral degree in Buddhist Studies in 1983 from the Univ of WisconsinMadison, and his early works established him as one of the most incisive interpreters of Yog c ra Buddhist philosophy. His works on Buddhism incl On Being Mindless (Lasalle, IL: Open Court, 1991) and On Being Buddha (Albany: SUNY Press, 1994). After converting from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism, and accepting the Schmitt Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, he largely gave up his work in Buddhist Studies. Another conversion was that of well known scholar of Mahayana Buddhism, Paul Williams (b 1950), Professor in Indian Religions at the University of Bristol, England, and director for the University’s Centre for Buddhist Studies. He received his DPhil in Buddhist Philosophy at Wadham College, Univ of Oxford, 1978. His main research interests were Madhyamaka Buddhist philosophy, Prasangika Madhyamaka and virtue ethics. Williams was a Buddhist himself for many years but had since converted to Roman Catholicism. In his book, The Unexpected Way: On converting from Buddhism to Catholicism” (London: T & T Clark), Williams challenges Mahayana Buddhism with the question, “Why there is something rather than nothing?” (2002Ś28). Apparently, being a professional scholars of Mahayana could be a factor, even a bridge, in his conversion to Catholicism (unlike if say he were a serious Buddhist meditator, and all this worth investigating. Of course, we cannot rule out one’s apprehension with a not-so-lucrative specialist field (like Buddhist studies) and the pecuniary and social advantages of turning to an affluent and dominant religion with its well-established educational institutions. Then, there is the spectre of family pressure should not be left out, too. All said, one might add that learning Christianity or Catholicism from a Buddhist specialist on the Bible is much rarer than learning Buddhism from a non-Buddhist. Could a Bodhi tree grow on barren ground? 176 Quoted by Keren Arbel 2008:2. 177 Paul Griffiths, On Being Mindless, Albany, NY: State Univ of New York Press, 1994:19. 178 Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, The Origin and Development of Early Indian Contemplative Practices, Wiesbaden, 1994:272ś however, he also notes that “[r]ather than two distinct styles of meditation, the suttas suggest two aspects of a single contemplative practice” (260) & “Nonetheless, the distinction between the practice of calm (samatha) and the practice of insight (vipassan ) is not explicit in the P li Suttas” (264). Crangle, in his email dated 10 June 2010, explains: “...I believe that a rational understanding of the Buddhist metaphysic provides essential programming of one’s dhyana to produce a degree of intuitive insight. Having gained a measure of intuitive insight, the meditator is able to revise his/her rational understanding, to some degree. This revision, in turn, reprogrammes one's subsequent dhyana to produce deeper degrees of intuitive insight... until understanding, intuitive insight and release are all perfected. | In this ‘indirect’ way, insight is applied in dhyana due to earlier programming of the mind. At the same time, discursion is absent in dhyana itself.” See also L Schmithausen, “On some aspects of descriptions or theories of ‘Liberating insight’ and enlightenment in early Buddhism,” Wiesbaden, 1981. 50 http://dharmafarer.org SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana All this becomes more complicated when the Buddhists themselves try to keep up with the academics.179 Two good examples of this are found in the writings of such Sinhalese scholar-monks, representative of the Therav da tradition, that is, Ven Dr Walpola R hula and Ven Dr Henepola Gunaratna.180 R hula, for example, clearly states that “all these mystic states, according to the Buddha have nothing to do with Reality, Truth, Nirvana. This form of meditation existed before the Buddha. Hence it is not purely Buddhist...”!181 Most modern scholars and informed Buddhists would beg to differ as Buddhism did not arise in a social vacuum. [4.1; 4.4.1] One of the real and inherent problems of writing about meditation from an academic viewpoint is that we are trying to describe what is experiential in discursive terms. A safe way to write about meditation would be to do so descriptively with generous imageries. Even then, if we have not tasted the bliss and calm of dhyana, but at least some level of inner stillness (or even an emic182 understanding of Buddhism and meditation), how can its beauty flow from our finger-tips? Or worse, as Griffiths (while still a PhD candidate in Buddhist studies) points out, even a well known Buddhist scholar-monk could contradict himself when writing on meditation.183 8 Conclusion Dhyana entails a profound state of mental concentration, which in turn forms the basis for wisdom. As such, the Buddha exhorts his followers, as recorded in the following texts, all called Samdhi Sutta, thus:184 Cultivate mental concentration, bhikshus. A monk who has mental concentration understands things as they really are.185 (S 22.5/3:13 f; 35.99/4:80; 56.1/5:414; cf A 5.27/3:24) The same Sutta explains the expression “understands things as they really are” (yath,bhta pajnti) as referring to the five aggregates, thus: “Such is form…feeling…perception…formations…consciousness; such is its passing away.”186 Eg Winston L King, Therav da Meditation: the Buddhist transformation of yoga, University Park, 1980:viii. See H Gunaratana, The Jh nas in Therav da Buddhist Meditation, Kandy, 1988:25. 181 Walpola R hula, What the Buddha Taught, Chester Springs, PA, 1967:68 f. See further Alagaddûpama S (M 22) = SD 3.13 (1.3). 182 The terms etic and emic were originally coined by linguist Kenneth Pike (Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Nature, The Hague, 1967), and derived from the terms “phonetic” and “phonemic.” Phonetic accounts of language are based on the observer’s measurement of physical sound differences, while phonemic accounts are those based on speakers’ conscious or unconscious models of sound difference (Macmillan Dictionary of Anthropology, 1986:92). In short, in translation work and academic studies, there should be a good balance between ‘emic’ meaning and ‘etic’ interpretation. Niels Nielsen makes this useful distinction: “The emic (inside) meaning of a religious tradition is a description of that tradition by its adherents using their own language and their own categories and systems of organization.... In practice, most investigators use etic (outside) interpretive categories devised within their scholarly disciplines in addition to emic categories.... Emic and etic approaches can be complementary and mutually corrective.” (With John Y Fenton, in N Nielsen et al (eds), Religions of the World, NY, 1983:6; qu at Hoffman 1987:2) 183 Griffiths, in his article “Concentration or insightŚ The problematic of Therav da Buddhist meditation-theory,” notesŚ “Paravahera Vajirañana Mahathera, in his exposition of the Visuddhimagga, reflects the confusion of his sources when he implicitly contradicts himself, saying at one point that sam dhi-bhavan is a necessary condition for attaining nibb na, and denying this in another place (1962)” (1981Ś617): see P Vajirañ a, Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice, Colombo, 1962:8, 343. 184 S 22.5, 35.99, 56.1. 185 Samdhi bhikkhave bhvetha. Samhito bhikkhave bhikkhu yath,bhta pajnti. See DhsA 162. 186 See Mah Satipahna S (D 22.14/2:301 f), Satipahna S (M 10.38/1:61), (Paca-k,khandha) Samdhi S (S 22.5/3:13f), (Sayatana) Samdhi S (S 35.99/4:80). See also Dasa,bala S 1 (S 12.21/2:27 f), Dasa,bala S 2 (S 12.23/2:29-32), Sha S (S 22.78/3:84-86), Khemaka S (S 22.89/ 3:126-132) and Nva S (S 22.101/3:152-155). The origin and passing away of the aggregates are explained in Paisallna S (S 22.6/3:15) by way of diachronic conditionality, and in Updna Parivaa S (S 22.56/3:58-61 = SD 3.7) & Satta-,hna S (S 22.57/3:61-65) by 179 180 http://dharmafarer.org 51 Piya Tan SD 33.1b The Buddha Discovered Dhyana A clear mind can see forever, as it were. This eternal truth is the essence of our being, and reflects our spiritual potential for liberation. There is nothing we can really talk or write about a sunset or a clear moonless starry night sky: it is more rewarding for us to immerse ourselves in their profoundly blissful presence. Even the best book or encyclopaedia on meditation is merely about meditation, maybe about dhyana; but it is never meditation itself. Meditation is an activity; it is about how we breathe, how we feel, how we are truly free. It is the most spiritual of human activities. It is to be done in the true spirit of being human, whose ability to know suffering spurs him on to seek its stilling. Meditation may be read, but never argued about; above all, it is to be done, and to be felt as the most intimate and revealing experience we can ever have. For, it is about what we really are, and what we can truly be—liberated beings. — — — Bibliography Please see under Samadhi = SD 33.1a Reading (1) Analayo, Satipaṭṭh na: The direct path to realization, 2003: 74 f. (2) Keren Arbel. “Buddhist or Not?” Tel Aviv University, 8 April 2008. [Unpublished.] Conference paper: http://www.tau.ac.il/humanities/eastasia/events.eng.html, http://kerenarbel.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/buddhist-or-not1.pdf. (2) Brahmavamso, The Jhnas, 2003: 53 ff (ch 13). (3) Brahmavamso, “B hiya’s TeachingŚ In the seen is just the seen.” 2005a:5-7. (4) Brahmavamso, Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond, 2006:103 ff (ch 8), 127-130. (5) Rupert Gethin, The Path to Awakening, 2001:180-183. 100421; 100501; 100622; 100726; 111205; 121226 way of synchronic conditionality. See SŚB 743 n58. [“Diachronic” here “across time,” ie over many, usu 3, lives; “synchronic means within one life-time itself.] 52 http://dharmafarer.org