Hi Piya Tan,
I tend to agree with your view. Meditation is ESSENTIAL for the
Buddhist path but there are too many rigid attitudes and views
adopted about the various methods to be used. Maybe because it is
the most distinctive aspect of buddhist practice that sets apart from
other religious teachings, and also the most difficult to make
progress in. But the Buddha actually taught the Noble Eightfold Path
in his first sermon and meditation is only one aspect, although a
very important one, of this path. It is in fact the Noble Eightfold
Path that, correctly and properly followed, leads to liberation. The
Buddha also said that where there is the Noble Eightfold Path, there
will be arahants, non-reutrners, once-returners and stream enterers.
People often forget that without right view, or right livelihood, or
right conduct (precepts) or any of the other seven factors, the
meditator will not make much gains, under whatever method he uses.
Khaik-Cheang Oo
--- In Pali@..., Piya Tan <libris@...> wrote:
> 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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