Early Buddhist Meditation
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51 That is, the Bṛhadāranyaka, Chāndogya, Taittirīya, Aitareya and Kausītaki (Crangle 1994, 68). Note that the fourfold jhāna model occurs eighty-six times in the Pāli Nikāyas (Griffiths 1983, 57).
52 Chānd VII.6.1–2 in Radhakrishnan (1994).
53 E.g., Kauṣ III.2, where dhyāna is the faculty of manas, just like a sound (is heard by the ear): ‘… cakṣuṣā rūpam, śrotena śabdam, manasā dhyānam’. See also kauṣ III.6 and Kauṣ III.4. Ibid.
54 E.g. Chānd VII.7.1. There the word dhyāna was translated by Radhakrishnan as ‘contemplation’. In this passage, the exact meaning of the word dhyāna is not clear, but it is surely different from what we see in the Pāli Nikāyas. In Chānd VII.26.1, dhyānam occurs as one of the physical and mental elements that originate from the self (ātmā). It includes prāṇa, smaraḥ (memory), ākāśaḥ (ether), vijñānam (understanding), dhyānam, cittam and so on. In Chānd I.4.12 kāmam dhyāyann is translated as meditation on kāma. Yet, again, it has a vague meaning. Ibid.
55 Chānd VII.2.1ff. The list contains objects such as cittam, vijñānam, balam, āpo, ākāśo etc.
56 Bṛh IV.3.7: ‘katama ātmeti. yo’yam vijñānamayaḥ prāṅeṣu, hṛdyantarjyotiḥ puruṣaḥ, sa samānaḥ sann ubhau lokāu anusañcarati, dhyāyatīva lelāyatīva, sa hi svapno bhūtvā, imam lokam atikarāmati, mṛtyo rūpāṅi’. Here, again, the term from the root dhyai refers to the mental capacity of thinking. In this passage the person who is asleep seems to be thinking and moving (as a usual person), while he is actually in a sleep state.
57 Crangle 1994, 72.
58 Crangle 1994, 73.
59 Brh 1.4.1, 5, 7. See also Chand VIII.14.1, where the meditation is on ‘hope’ (āśā).
60 Crangle 1994, 74–5. Crnagle also cites Neela Velkar, who wrote her PhD dissertation on upāsanā (Neela A. Velkar, Upāsanā in the Upaniṣads [unpublished PhD thesis], University of Bombay, June, 1969). According to Crangle Velkar concluded ‘that upāsanā evolves out of the concept of sacrifice in the pre-Upaniṣadic period where the worshipper invokes and seeks communion with the deity by means of external offerings’ (cited in Crangle 1994, 87). At the Upaniṣadic time the sacrifice became symbolic and shifted to meditative worship.
61 Crangle 1994, 89.
62 Sujato 2005, 92–3.
63 Note Staal’s observation that the Chāndogya Upaniṣad that ‘deals very largely with typically Sāmavedic topics such as the syllable Om, which refers to the udgītha, probably was composed further west from the area in which the Buddha lived’. This might explain the absence of this praxis in the Pāli Nikāyas (Staal 2008, 311).
64 For a full discussion of prāṇa in the Saṃhitās and the early Upaniṣads, see Zysk 1993, 198–206.
65 Crangle 1994, 81.
66 Kauṣ III.2: prāṇena hu evāsmim loke’mṛtatvam āpnoti. See also Chand I.6.3; II.3.5.
67 SN IV.118 and DN I.238.
68 Zysk 1993, 204.
69 MN I.56.
70 E.g., Chānd V.1.1; V.1.12.
71 MN III.85: evaṃ bhāvitā kho, bhikkhave, ānāpānassati evaṃ bahulīkatā cattāro satipaṭṭhāne paripūreti.
72 Zysk 1993, 201.
73 Zysk 1993, 204.
74 Zysk 1993, 205.
75 Bronkhorst 1998.
76 Chānd Upaniṣad V.10.1–2: tad ya itthaṁ viduḥ, ye ceme’raṇye śraddhā tapa ity upāste… sa enān brahma gamayati. See also DN I.235.
77 Bronkhorst 1998, 57.
78 Bronkhorst 1998, 63.
79 The Tevijja Sutta [DN I.235–52] seems to be a good source for the knowledge the Buddha had about the Upaniṣads.
80 Crangle 1994, 89.
81 Crangle 1994, 66, 90.
82 Deussen 1966, 271; Macdonell 1971, 19; Winternitz 1981, 218–20; Crangle 1994, 66. See also the introduction in Radhakrishnan’s translation of the principle Upaniṣads. Radhakrishnan does not consider the Maitrī Upaniṣad to be one of the oldest pre-Buddhist Upaniṣad (Radhakrishnan 1994, 22).
83 See also Śvet 2.15.
84 Radhakrishnan 1994, 855.
85 Note that one of the four types of clinging (upādāna) in the suttas is the ‘clinging to a doctrine of self’ (attāvāda-upādānaṃ) (e.g., SN II.3).
86 Maitrī 7.9–10. Radhakrishnan 1994, 856.
87 Crangle 1994, 270.
88 Johannes Bronkhorst has suggested that Nātaputta and Mahāvīra were not the same person (Bronkhorst 2000, 517).
89 The Nigaṇṭhas are usually depicted as ascetics who hold certain views concerning the consequences of doing evil (pāpa) action/rod (kamma/daṇḍa), while advocating that the bodily rod (kāya-daṇḍaṃ) as the most reprehensible. See, for example, MN I.372– 4; SN IV.318; AN I.220. In MN II.214, the Nigaṇṭhas are depicted as holding the view that ‘by destroying with asceticism (tapasā) past actions, and by not doing fresh actions, there will be no consequences in the future’ (purāṇānaṃ kammānaṃ tapasā byantībhāvā, navānaṃ kammānaṃ acarian, āyatiṃ anavassavo). In MN I.92, the Buddha refers to the Nigaṇṭhas’ practice and describes it as a practice of asceticism that causes pain (opakkamikā dukkha tibbā kharā kaṭukā vedanā vedayanti) – a practice quite far from the experience of the jhānas, which is far from being painful.
90 E.g., MN I.242ff.
91 It should be noted that there are no such declarations with regard to the complete scheme of the jhānas, the arūpa samāpatti and saññāvedayitanirodha, or regarding the ‘eight liberations’ (aṭṭha vimokkha). To the best of my knowledge, these various schemes do not appear in non-Buddhist traditions. The ‘eight liberations’ are described in DN II 111–2; DN III 261; DN III 288; AN IV 306; AN IV 349; MN II 13; MN III 222.
92 Jaini 1990, 251.
93 Bronkhorst 1993, 39.
94 Bronkhorst 1993, 39.
95 The Tattvārtha Sūtra, which means ‘A Manual for Understanding All That Is’, was written by the philosopher-monk Umāsvāti, and on which the great Jain thinkers wrote their commentaries. See Tattvārtha Sūtra (1994, xvii).
96 Dundas 1985, 168.
97 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.31–5.
98 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.36.
99 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.29: ārta-raudra-dharma śuklāni. Bronkhorst has concluded that this division is not reliable and was probably made by early systemizers (Bronkhorst 1993, 44).
100 Jaini 1990, 252.
101 Note that the association of these two types of dhyāna with unwholesome objects makes them quite different from the description of the Buddhist jhānas, which can be attained when one has been detached from akusala dhammas.
102 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.30: pare mokṣahetū.
103 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.37. In medieval times, some Jain authors recommended four types of dhyāna as useful preliminaries to attaining the ‘bright (pure) meditation’ (śukla). These techniques, which involve concentration on an imaginary object, display tantric and even Mahāyāna forms of meditation. They include concentration on chants, on the form of the Jīna, and on that which transcends form – the nature of the siddha. See Jaini 1990, 254–6.
104 E.g., MN I.480.
105 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.39–43.
106 Ibid.
107 Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.44–6. The sūtra explains that vitarka is the pondering over the content of the scripture [Tattvārtha Sūtra 9.45] while vicāra is explained as the movement between various object of meditation: substance/object (dravya), words, which are linguistic symbols that signify the object, and activities of body, speech and mind (for a detailed explanation of substances, see Tattvārtha Sūtra 5.2 and 5.37).
108 Bronkhorst 1993, 40.
109 Jaini 1990, 258.
110 MN I.39; SN IV.312.
111 Interestingly, it became less common in later Theravāda works and works produced by other Buddhist schools; in contrast, these works started to use the term kilesa/kleśa more frequently.
112 Somaratne 1999, 131.
113 Thapar 1960, 49.
1
14 See, for example, the ‘minor rock edict’: ‘Piyadasi, King of Magadha, saluting the Sangha and wishing them good health and happiness, speaks thus: You know, reverend sirs, how great my faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma and Sangha is. Whatever, reverend sirs, has been spoken by Lord Buddha, all that is well-spoken. I consider it proper, reverend sirs, to advise on how the good Dhamma should last long. These Dhamma texts – extracts from the Discipline, the Noble Way of Life, the Fears to Come, the Poem on the Silent Sage, the Discourse on the Pure Life, Upatisa’s Questions, and the Advice to Rahula that was spoken by the Buddha concerning false speech – these Dhamma texts, reverend sirs, I desire that all the monks and nuns may constantly listen to and remember. Likewise, the laymen and laywomen. I have had this written that you may know my intentions’.
115 Thapar 1960, 44.
116 Thapar 1960, 46–7.
117 See Thapar who maintained that ‘it is clear from Aśoka’s edicts that he was a Buddhist’ (Thapar 1960, 44). Also, it is clear from the epigraphic materials, that Aśoka used a collection extracted from the Buddhavacana.
118 Thapar 1960, 45–6.
119 Bechert 1982, 61–8; Tieken 2000, 2.
120 Tieken 2000, 27.
121 Thapar has also observed that the ‘Buddha had greater success among the cities of the monarchical kingdoms. The kṣatriya oligarchies were not so forthcoming in their support and some were more partial to the Nirgranthas’ (Thapar 1960, 71).
122 See also Cousins 1992, 137.
123 Bronkhorst 1993, 70.
124 Bronkhorst 1993, 78.
125 Bronkhorst 1993, 77.
126 Bronkhorst 1993, 111.
127 Bronkhorst 1993, 99–100.
128 E.g., AN III.414: ‘I say, monks, kamma is volition (cetanāhaṃ, bhikkhave, kammaṃ vadāmi)’.
129 E.g., AN II.211 and SN V.26–7. See, for example, the Buddha’s explanation that Brahminhood (brahmaññaṃ) is the eightfold path and the fruit of Brahminhood is the attainment of the states of the four noble persons and the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion. SN V.25–6.
130 E.g., AN II.208; DN III.233; MN I.349; DN III.84.
131 See, for example, the term brāhmacariya: SN V.26; AN IV.13 and the term brāhmaṇa Sn 618–47, 655–6.
2
The First Jhāna
A turning point in the spiritual path
Separated from the desire for sensual pleasures, separated from [other] unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first jhāna, which is [mental] joy and [bodily] pleasure born of viveka, accompanied by thought and reflection.1
This is the formulaic description of the first jhāna. At first glance, this description (as with the descriptions of the other three jhānas) seems straightforward. Due to its apparent simplicity, this description has received little attention from modern Buddhist scholarship; no one has endeavoured to understand the exact nature of this state and its liberating value. As I have observed in the introduction, a common perception in the Theravāda tradition understands this description as referring to one-pointed absorption that is brought about by the practice of concentration. However, I think this state is much more intricate and interesting than it appears to be at first and that it reveals quite a lot about the nature of the Buddhist path to liberation and its psychological and phenomenological aspects.
The attainment of the first jhāna has a momentous place in the Buddha’s own awakening story. The spontaneous attainment of the first jhāna marked a turning point in the Buddha-to-be’s spiritual path:
After the Bodhisatta had practiced severe asceticism, [he thought to himself], ‘Even with this severe and hard practice, I have not attained states beyond [ordinary] human [condition], and any distinction in insight and knowledge which fits the noble ones. Could there be a different path to awakening?’ Then it occurred to me: ‘I realized that when my father the Sakyan was working, while I was sitting under the cool shade of the rose-apple tree, separated from the desire for sensual pleasures, separated from [other] unwholesome states, I entered and abided in the first jhāna, which is [mental] joy and [bodily] pleasure born of viveka, accompanied by thought and reflection. Could that be the path to awakening?’ Then, following that memory, I realized: ‘this is the path to awakening.’2
This record from the Mahāsaccaka Sutta of the MN is well known in the Buddhist tradition. Although it seems to depict an important experience and realization, one that steered the unawakened Bodhisatta into the correct path to awakening, after years of unfruitful meditative and ascetic practices, there are several interesting questions which are unanswered: what was so special in this reflective memory and the following re-attainment of this state that enabled the unawakened Gotama to discover the correct path to awakening? Does this attainment have liberative value to the Buddha’s disciples as well? Since there are no apparent techniques through which the Bodhisatta attained this state, how can one retrace the Buddha’s own path and attain it? If absorption into one object of meditation is not the way to achieve this state, what is? In other words, are there any other prescribed techniques in the Nikāyas for entering the first jhāna?
Other questions are also unclear: is this state really cut off from the five sense stimuli as the Theravāda (and Sarvāstivāda) traditions have claimed? What kind of joy (pīti) and pleasure (sukha) is this attainment referring to (i.e., born of viveka)? How should we understand the term viveka in this context? And lastly, why are vitakka and vicāra present in this state but absent from the rest of the three jhānas?
To find some valid answers to these questions, this chapter will analyze the factors of the first jhāna according to their treatment in various suttas. It will also critically examine diverse descriptions and references that can shed light on the nature of this state, its phenomenology and liberative value.
I Entering the first jhāna
As observed before, there is no support in the Nikāyas for the view that entering the first jhāna is the outcome of one-pointed concentration and absorption into a specific meditation object, and even more so, by an absorption into a certain kaṣina. There is also no textual evidence for arguing that this attainment is not originally Buddhist. Interestingly, although the Nikāyas do not offer specific techniques through which one can enter into the first jhāna, many suttas describe gradual training (sikkha) and development (bhāvanā) that lead to the attainment of the jhānas and consequently to liberation.
These common descriptions depict a unique vision of the spiritual path and a structured model that places the jhānas as the last phase before one attains liberation. This model describes a series of practices that enable the practitioner to possess the qualities that comprise the Buddhist path. These practices are (1) the training in morality (sīla-khandha); (2) the practice of guarding and restraining the impressions brought about by sense experience (indriya-saṃvara); and (3) the practice of full awareness (sampajāna). Numerous suttas state that, after following these practices, a person possesses (samannāgato) three qualities: (1) the aggregate of noble virtue, (2) noble restraint of the faculties and (3) noble mindfulness and full awareness (sati-sampajāna). 3 At this point of the spiritual path, one can advance to the last stage, namely, resorting to a secluded place, where the instruction is very clear: to ‘sit down, folding the legs crosswise, setting the body erect and establishing mindfulness in front’,4 the famous opening practice prescribed by the Buddha in the beginning of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (and other suttas which describe the establishing of sati). When this is achieved, the practitioner abandons the five hindrances (nīvaraṇa) and enters into the first jhāna, after which, one attains the other three jhānas and the three types of knowledge.5 The last type of knowledge is the knowledge of the destruction of the āsavas and the attainment of liberation.
This is a well-known path-structure in the Pāli Nikāyas, and it clearly points to the obvious fact that one can enter into the first jhāna only after one possess qualities such as sīla, sampajāna and sati
and also has abandoned the five hindrances that obstruct wisdom (paññā).6 In other words, the cultivation of these path-factors is a prerequisite for entering the first jhāna. What is more, from this path-structure, it can be inferred that wisdom (paññā) arises when one enters the jhānas, a point I will discuss later on.
The formulaic description of the first jhāna does not, however, specify how exactly the practitioner abandons the hindrances and enters into the first jhāna. For an interesting and illuminating description of the process by which one enters the first jhāna, I turn to SN V.198. This sutta explains that having made relinquishment (or letting go) his basis (vossagga ārammaṇam karitvā), one enters into the first jhāna. 7 The term vossaga (‘relinquishment’ or ‘letting go’)8 appears repeatedly in the Nikāyas as the result (pariṇāmiṃ) of cultivating the seven factors of awakening (bojjhaṅgas); on other occasions, vossaga also occurs in relation to cultivating the five powers (bala).9 The cultivation of these qualities is ‘supported by discernment (viveka), dispassion, and cessation, and resulting in vossagga’.10 In other words, when the seven factors of awakening are developed to a certain extent, the result is relinquishment (vossagga). But what is being relinquished?
A possible answer is the clear and recurrent statement that for entering the first jhāna one must be separated from the hindrances and [other] unwholesome (akusalehi dhammehi). That is, one has to relinquish, or let go of, any unwholesomeness for entering the first jhāna. 11 This is the proximate cause, and it is done by developing the other path-factors. Further, MN III.95 states that Māra (as the personification of unwholesomeness) can find support only in one who does not cultivate (bhāvita) and intensify (bahulīkato) mindfulness referring to the body (kāyagatā-sati), which is developed and intensified by the attainment of the four jhānas. 12 The sutta explains that when one enters the jhānas, one has included within himself whatever wholesome states there are that partake of true knowledge (vijjābhāgiyā).13 In other words, for entering the first jhāna – a completely wholesome state – all other unwholesome states must cease.14