VIPASSANAA
Meditation is a very vital practice in Buddhism, especially for those who lack
the good fortune of past karma (vaasanaa) or inclination (nissaya) towards spiritual
attainment like the early disciples of the Buddha (especially during the first 10
years). They only needed some kind of oral admonition from the Buddha (like the
famous case of the acrobat Uggasena -- see DhA bk 24 story 6).
So meditation is said (especially by Vipassanaa practitioners and followers) to
be the "only way" (ekaayana,maggo; often misspelt as ekayaana) based on the Buddha's
statement in the Satipa.t.thaana Sutta (M no. 10, 1:55, 63) and the Satipa.t.thaana
Sa.myutta (S 5:167). Even more so, this "only way" or "direct way" is claimed to be
sati,pa.t.thaana, the stations of mindfulness. This is well and good for those who
love meditation.
In his note of the term "ekaayana...maggo" in his translation of the Majjhima,
Maurice Walshe (note 135) makes some important remarks. I shall only point out two:
(1) ~Naanamoli "however, points out that ekaayana magga at MN12.37-42 has an
ambiguous contextual meaning of 'a path that goes in one way only".
(2) "Though there is neither canonical nor commentarial basis for this view, it
might be maintained that satipa.t.thaana is called ekaayana magga, the direct path,
to distinguish it from the approach to meditative attainment that proceeds through
the jhaanas or brahmavihaaras. While the latter can lead to Nibbaana, they do not
necessarily do so but can lead tto sidetracks, whereas satipa.t.thaana leads
invariably to the final goal."
While Walshe translates ekaayana as "the direct path" (M:W 145, 155), Bhikkhu
Bodhi renders it as "the one-way path" (S:B 1647, 2 refs). The dictionaries give the
following definitions:
PED: leading to one goal, direct way or leading to "leading to the goal as the one
and only way".
CPD:
1. (m) a single (=unique) road; a road for one person (=narrow, lonely,
solitary); a road going to one place only (J 4:349,22*, 24').
2. (mfn) sole, unique; for one person (=narrow; in religious sense = for the
Buddha = noble); going to one place (=direct; in religious sense = going to
nibbaana).
CPD also gives a list of Commentarial references to glosses on the term.
Having said all that, my own analysis is that sati,pa.t.thaana is ekaayana in the
sense that it leads to "only one goal", "leading directly" to the Stations of
Mindfulness. Vipassanaa followers are right insofar as they equate the "One Way" with
the sati,pa.t.thaana, but they err when they claim that "Vipassana meditation" (there
is such canonical term) is the "only way" to Nibbaana.
If that were the case, how do we explain the "oral awakenings" the Buddha
apparently initiated in hsi early converts (like Uggasena; for that matter, the first
60 Arhats). He only orally taught them the Doctrine, and they became enlightened.
Yes, their past good seeds made them like lotus buds only waiting for the sunshine of
the Buddha to cause them to open.
Vipassanaa, canonically, is "insight" or "wisdom". The trend of taking Vipassana
as a "meditation practice", as the "only way" to enlightenment started around the
late colonial times in South and Southeast Asia, which saw a resurgence of Buddhism
there. The trend reached its height and strength especially through the teachings of
a truly saintly Burmese monk, Mahasi Sayadaw.
My point is that there are many other ways to spiritual reralization and
Nibbaana.
For further reading:
"The Origin of Insight Meditation" (Lance Cousins) in The Buddha Forum vol 4 (1996:
35-58).
P.
Derek Cameron wrote:
> Nowadays there are many books, teachers and centers teaching
> vipassanaa. Of course, they use the word to designate a certain way
> of practicing. But how is the word vipassanaa used in the original
> sutta-s?
>
> It's actually a relatively rare word in the sutta-s. The most often-
> mentioned meditation practices there are sammaa-sati and sammaa-
> samaadhi.
>
> And when the word vipassanaa does appear, it's generally in the pair
> samatho ca vipassanaa ca (e.g. DN 33).
>
> The DN commentary glosses these as samatho = samaadhi, and vipassanaa
> = pañña.
>
> But in SN 43.12, samatha, vipassanaa, samaadhi and sati are all
> treated separately -- as though they were distinct.
>
> In SN 35.245 samatha and vipassanaa are compared to a "swift pair
> of messengers."
>
> So, in the sutta-s themselves, what exactly does vipassanaa mean? And
> why the samatha-vipassanaa pairing as well as samaadhi-sati?
>
> Derek.
>
>
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