---In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Frank Kuan <fcckuan@...> wrote:

>
> 2. one can study all the pali, commentaries, and
> subcommentaries until the end of time, but in the
> final analysis, the only valid proof is the
> confirmation from one's own realization experienced
> directly. To this end, we have to carefully scrutinize
> the canon to identify which parts are the most
> authoritative and significant. For example, in the
> early suttas, you would be hard pressed to find any
> references to kasinas and 40 meditation objects. What
> you do find is sutta passages that indicate that of
> the 4 foundations of mindfulness, mindfulness of body
> is the most important, and of the those, mindfulness
> of breath is given special prominence. What this tells
> me is that the serious cultivator should be spending a
> fair amount of their effort engaged in mindfulness of
> body, especially the breath. The early pali suttas
> also say that if we carefully cultivate mindfulness of
> breath, that it would naturally bring all 4
> foundations of mindfulness to fruition, would lead to
> samatha, vipassana, single pointedness of mind and
> induce jhanic absorption. What a wonderful tool! All
> the study of the canon does not equal one minute of
> peace, joy, tranquillity and insight that is easily
> availabe to us from cultivating the breath. This can
> be verified with one's own experience without even
> obtaining jhanic absorption.

__________
Dear Frank,
If one has the ability and inclination to develop anapanasati that is
great. Still it is good to know that many conditions are needed to
suceed in this: Some meditation subjects need a crosslegged posture,
erect back, a very quiet place, solitude...
This is all well explained in the visuddhimagga. In particular this
applies to anapanasati - breath.
Also we should know that anapanasati is singled out as being the
most difficult of all the 40 objects.Here is a passage from the
Visuddhimagga Viii
211: "Although any meditation subject, no matter what, is
successful
only in one who is mindful and fully aware, yet any meditation
subject other than this one gets more evident as he goes on
giving it
his attention. But this mindfulness of breathing is difficult,
difficult to develop, a field in which only the minds of
Buddhas,
paccekabuddhas and Buddhas sons are at home. It is no trivial
matter,
nor can it be cultivated by trivial persons.." (we discussed this on
pali list last year)
We might be concentrating on the breath with subtle lobha
(attachment) not realising that true samatha comes with alobha,
detachment.

In many suttas the Buddha was speaking to monks who had vast
accumulations of panna and other parami. It is not, I believe, that
the Buddha said that all should take up anapanasati.

There are other types of samatha - such as Maranasati (meditation
on death)- that are suitable for all times.
For example the Anguttara nikaya (Book of the Elevens ii 13 p213
Mahanama) says about Buddhanusati and Dhammanusati and several other
samatha objects:
"` you should develop it as you sit, as you stand, as
you lie, as you apply yourself to business. You should
make it grow as you dwell at home in your lodging
crowded with children"

In the Samyutta nikaya V (Sayings on stream entry p347
The great chapter Dhammadina ) 5oo rich merchants
came to see the Buddha . They asked how they should
live their lives. The Buddha suggested that they train
themselves thus:
"as to those discourses uttered by the Tathagatha,
deep, deep in meaning, transcendental and concerned
with the void (about anatta) from time to time we will
spend our days learning them. That is how you must
spend your days."

In the satipatthana sutta the Buddha explains the four foundations of
mindfulness. These can be cultivated in any position at any time.
____

Frank: Talk about accumulations, or lack

> thereof, is also baffling to me. Certainly some would
> find seclusion and tranquillity easier to cultivate
> than others, but if you don't accumulate now, when are
> you going to accumulate? After you're dead?

____
It is relevant because this is a Buddha sasana - a very rare event.
If one develops samatha bhavana that is wonderful.
Indeed all of us have developed samatha and we must have succeeded in
gaining jhana in countless lives. This is because of the vast time of
samsara.
However only very rarely has there been insight into anatta, into
the lakkhana (characteristic) of elements. That is why some of us
believe that we should give stress to this aspect of the Dhamma. The
Buddha sasana will soon be extinguished and it will be a long time
before another samma-sammbuddha arises.
RobertK

>

>


>
>
> __________________________________
> Do you Yahoo!?
> The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
> http://shopping.yahoo.com