Dear Bryan,
The specific traits of "Manual of a Mystic" and related literature can provide valuable insights about the evolution of meaning of Pali terms.
"Manual of a Mystic" and related texts are interesting in what they don't contain, - there's no abstract methodology, - just the specific actions to be performed step-by-step.
In their specificity such texts are quite similar to late Byzantine Hesychast instructions like:
(see the pictures of those flowers at http://dhamma.ru/lib/colours.htm )The specific traits of "Manual of a Mystic" and related literature can provide valuable insights about the evolution of meaning of Pali terms.
"Manual of a Mystic" and related texts are interesting in what they don't contain, - there's no abstract methodology, - just the specific actions to be performed step-by-step.
"Once the practitioner has achieved the nimitta (eidetic image) of each subject of meditation in turn, they mentally draw it through the nostrils into their own body, locating it at various energy centres in turn, and then deposit it in the womb (garbha). The various nimittas are then combined in complex permutations which are understood as constructing an internal Buddha as well as enabling the ability to affect external reality.
...
In borān kammaṭṭhāna obstetrics becomes a “practical technology applied to a new, religious end”: an embryonic Buddha is developed in the practitioner’s “womb,” and medicine is applied nasally in order to manipulate the various factors conducing to (spiritual) health."
http://www.globalbuddhism.org/15/cox14.pdf
In their specificity such texts are quite similar to late Byzantine Hesychast instructions like:
"Then sit down in a quiet cell, in a comer by yourself, and do what I tell you. Close the door, and withdraw your intellect from everything worthless and transient. Rest your beard on your chest, and focus your physical gaze, together with the whole of your intellect, upon the centre of your belly or your navel. Restrain the drawing-in of breath through your nostrils, so as not to breathe easily, and search inside yourself with your intellect so as to find the place of the heart, where all the powers of the soul reside. To start with you will find there darkness and an impenetrable density. Later, when you persist and practice this task day and night, you will find, as though miraculously, an unceasing joy. For as soon as the intellect attains the place of the heart, at once it sees things of which it previously knew nothing. It sees the open space within the heart and it beholds itself entirely luminous and full of discrimination."
St Symeon the New Theologian The Three Methods of Prayer
https://archive.org/stream/Philokalia-TheCompleteText/Philokalia-Complete-Text#page/n919/mode/2up
In the course of centuries, religious abstract notions and elaborate methodologies tend to be transformed for use in tangible step-by-step techniques. And then, since rigid techniques turn out to be dangerous without expert supervision, they tend to be replaced by safe and easy rituals and text readings.
This transformation of practice leads to semantic shift of terms, - from abstract and flexible to specific and tangible. God gets transformed from incomprehensible omnipresent entity to a nice guy on the picture, whom you just have to accept, Buddha becomes a statue to pay homage, etc.
In case of nimitta and kasiṇa, they did have tangential connection with natural objects, - flowers and stars, - as described in Aṭṭha abhibhāyatanāni section of Mahaparinibbana sutta
5) Without perceiving forms internally, someone sees forms externally, blue, blue-coloured, of blue appearance, shiny blue, just as the flower called Ummā is blue, ...
6) Without perceiving forms internally, someone sees forms externally, yellow, yellow-coloured, of yellow appearance, shiny yellow, just as the flower called Kaṇikāra is yellow, ...
7) Without perceiving forms internally, someone sees forms externally, red, red-coloured, of red appearance, shiny red, just as the flower called Bandhujīvaka is red, ...
8) Without perceiving forms internally, someone sees forms externally, white, white-coloured, of white appearance, shiny white, just as the Osadhī star, is white, ...
https://suttacentral.net/en/dn16
"... the learning sign has the appearance of moving. If the water has bubbles of froth mixed with it, the learning sign has the same appearance, and it is evident as a fault in the kasina. But the counterpart sign appears inactive, like a crystal fan set in space, like the disk of a looking-glass made of crystal."
Visuddhimagga V, 4(here representation of a particular object gets purified and transformed into a representation of water as an element)
His example for ānāpānasati nimitta is partly tactile:
"... some say that when it appears it does so to certain people producing a light touch like cotton or silk-cotton or draught. ..."
Visuddhimagga VIII, 214
And then, in the course of centuries, the meanings of the terms shift to common and specific terms. 'Nimitta' becomes "an arbitrary vision seen in meditation", and 'kasiṇa' transforms from 'total coloration of perception' to "circular disc used in ancient times for meditation".
So it's no wonder that when Ajān Lee Dhammadharo uses the term 'nimitta', he applies it to visions. For the tactile representation of air which he extends all over the body, he uses the term "refined breath":
Keep careful watch over the mind. Keep it one. Keep it intent on a single preoccupation, the refined breath, letting this refined breath suffuse the entire body.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/inmind.html
while Ven. Upatissa in Vimuttimagga would call this the extension of nimitta:
"To the yogin who attends to the incoming breath with mind that is cleansed of the nine lesser defilements the image [nimitta] arises with a pleasant feeling similar to that which is produced in the action of spinning cotton or silk cotton. Also, it is likened to the pleasant feeling produced by a breeze. Thus in breathing in and out, air touches the nose or the lip and causes the setting-up of air perception mindfulness. This does not depend on colour or form. This is called the image. If the yogin develops the image [nimitta] and increases it at the nose-tip, between the eyebrows, on the forehead or establishes it in several places, he feels as if his head were filled with air. Through increasing in this way his whole body is charged with bliss. This is called perfection."
(Vimuttimagga, Mindfulness of Respiration. Procedure, pp.158-159)
https://archive.org/stream/ArahantUpatossa-Vimuttimagga-PathOfFreedom.pdf/ArahantUpatissaEharaN.r.tr-PathOfFreedomvimuttimagga#page/n221/mode/2up
Mettā, Dmytro
2016-09-21 21:43 GMT+03:00 Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>:
Dear Dmytro, Ven. NayanatusitaThanks for the reference to the story of Suvannakara. That looks like a plausible origin story for kasiṇas, looking at natural objects. As Ven. Nayanatusita mentions in his email, the white kasina seems to have originated from the meditation on the body parts (the skeleton) and the kasina instructions from the Knowing and Seeing book (http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/know-see.pdf , page 51ff), don't talk about making kasinas at all, but just observing the skeleton and other body parts, flowers (for the coloured kasinas, etc). So the white kasiṇa would be an offshoot of the paṭikulamanasikāra section of the kayānupassanā, in this interpretation and the coloured kasinas would be looking at flowers, etc., as in this story and also see page 55 of Knowing and Seeing.The white kasiṇa also seems to be related to ānāpanasati. Ven. Dhammadharo (in the work you referred me to) talks about the white light which occurs in his method 1, which I have experienced myself.Re: Nimitta, when you define it as "a representation of object-support" would that make it the same as the paṭibhāga (counterpart sign) which eventually appears in kasina practice?Or is the nimitta just the internal representation by which something is recognized or identified? (Cone).When Ven. Dhammadharo talks about nimittas appearing ("various signs, such as seeing or feeling hot, cold or tingling sensations in the head; you may see a pale, murky vapour, or your own skull"), that would be a different meaning, I assume?Thanks for your help,Mettā,Bryan
From: "Dmytro Ivakhnenko aavuso@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2016 10:10 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta
In my experience, when one understands that nimitta isn't some vision, but a representation of object-support, when one learns to deal with hindrances (as described in Vimuttimagga) instead of just staring at the object or looking for visions, and understands that kasina is a total, spacious, colouring of perception by object-support, things get much easier and safer.For any kasina in this tradition, nimitta must be a visual light.My friend monk, who has practiced for several years in well-known tradition, told that some of his fellow monks went insane.Dear Bryan,Sorry for misunderstanding you question. I have read Manual of a Mystic. It's interesting historically, but I won't recommend to apply it in practice. Vimuttimagga is much better in this regard.In my view, kasina practice has to be started with good knowledge of Pali.)Anapanasati jhana, as an air kasina, is IMHO the safest, since it requires to keep track of the state of body and mind. If, in practice of other kasinas, one keeps track of the body and mind with proper criteria, they are quite safe to practice as well (with sound basis in virtue).Are all the kasinas to be worked through? There's a story in Dhammapada-Atthakatha about Suvannakara Thera:
http://www.tipitaka.net/tipitaka/dhp/verseload.php? verse=285 One kasina may be enough.Mettā, DmytroDear Steve, Eugen and Dmytro,I have the article by Mahinda Deegalle which I've read and it was valuable; I meant the book Manual of a Mystic which Mahinda refers to. But Eugen has answered that question, at least in part. Thanks for all the references Dmytro and Steve.I'm wondering that when/if kasina meditation is practiced, are all the 10 kasinas to be worked through? or does one choose one kasina (or have one chosen for him by his meditation teacher) that is relevant to his/her particular issues? Does anyone know if that is discussed anywhere in kasina practice?Best wishes,Bryan
From: "Steven Collins scollins951@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: "palistudy@yahoogroups.com" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2016 5:49 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta
In Michael Carrithers' article 'They shall be Lords Upon the Island,' in Gombrich and Bechert (eds.) The World of Buddhism' there is a picture of a blue kasiṇa, presumably in use at the time he wrote (late 1970s).Steve Collins
From: "Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: "palistudy@yahoogroups.com" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2016 9:25 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta
Dear Dmytro,Thanks very much for these quotes and translations re: nimitta which clarifies its meaning.I did not realize that ānāpāna jhāna was part of the air kasiṇa, nor that the kāyagatāsati was included in the colour kasiṇas. I have just assumed that the kasiṇas were no longer used in meditation practice, despite Buddhaghosa's long exposition of them in the Vsm.Do you or anyone know of an existing Theravādin tradition which uses the kasiṇas as outlined in the Vsm? They are certainly a canonical practice, as there are references to the kasiṇas throughout the suttas. I had assumed that they had fallen out of practice, but didn't realize that ānāpāna and kāyagatāsati were offshoots of this practice. Is the "orthodox" practice of making a kasiṇa, meditating on it, the paṭibimba, etc., used anywhere?Mettā,BryanBryan
From: "Dmytro Ivakhnenko aavuso@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 7:22 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta
Dear Bryan,Thank you for interesting etymology.
Visuddhimagga instructions for jhana 'on the bloated' clarify the meaning of 'nimitta' in the context of samādhi.sarīrato nātidūre nāccāsanne padese ṭhitena vā nisinnena vā cakkhuṃ ummīletvā oloketvā nimittaṃ gaṇhitabbaṃ.
Standing in a place not too far from and not too near to the body, he should open his eyes, look and apprehend the nimitta.
“uddhumātakapaṭikkūlaṃ uddhumātakapaṭikkūlan”ti satakkhattuṃ sahassakkhattuṃ ummīletvā oloketabbaṃ, nimmīletvā āvajjitabbaṃ.
He should open his eyes and look a hundred times, a thousand times, [thinking], 'Repulsiveness of the bloated, repulsiveness of the bloated', and he should close his eyes and advert to it.
evaṃ punappunaṃ karontassa uggahanimittaṃ suggahitaṃ hoti. kadā suggahitaṃ hoti? yadā ummīletvā olokentassa nimmīletvā āvajjentassa ca ekasadisaṃ hutvā āpāthamāgacchati, tadā suggahitaṃ nāma hoti.
51. As he does so again and again, the learning nimitta becomes properly apprehended by him. When it is properly apprehended? When it comes into focus alike whether he opens his eyes and looks or closes his eyes and adverts, then it called properly apprehended.
Visuddhimagga VI, 50-51
Here nimitta is an inner representation of the bloated corpse, which is properly apprehended (suggahita) so that it is seen well with closed eyes.
If one gets representation (nimitta) of the visual object through visual contact, one gets visual nimitta.
If one gets representation through touch (e.g. nimitta of air in Anapanasati), one gets tactile nimitta (however, visual components may also be present).
Being a representation of air, nimitta in Anapanasati has a quality of airiness, and when expanded, makes the body feel as if filled with air, as described in Vimuttimagga:https://archive.org/stream/ ArahantUpatossa-Vimuttimagga- PathOfFreedom.pdf/ ArahantUpatissaEharaN.r.tr- PathOfFreedomvimuttimagga# page/n221/mode/2up/"To the yogin who attends to the incoming breath with mind that is cleansed of the nine lesser defilements the image [nimitta] arises with a pleasant feeling similar to that which is produced in the action of spinning cotton or silk cotton. Also, it is likened to the pleasant feeling produced by a breeze. Thus in breathing in and out, air touches the nose or the lip and causes the setting-up of air perception mindfulness. This does not depend on colour or form. This is called the image. If the yogin develops the image [nimitta] and increases it at the nose-tip, between the eyebrows, on the forehead or establishes it in several places, he feels as if his head were filled with air. Through increasing in this way his whole body is charged with bliss. This is called perfection."
(Vimuttimagga, Mindfulness of Respiration. Procedure, pp.158-159)since in Anapanasati practice, jhana is a subtype of air kasina jhana:Kiṃ pana pathavīkasiṇaṃ ādiṃ katvā aṭṭhikasaññāpariyosānāvesā rūpāvacarappanā, udāhu aññāpi atthīti? Atthi; ānāpānajjhānañhi kāyagatāsatibhāvanā ca idha na kathitā. Kiñcāpi na kathitā vāyokasiṇe pana gahite ānāpānajjhānaṃ gahitameva; vaṇṇakasiṇesu ca gahitesu kesādīsu catukkapañcakajjhānavasena uppannā kāyagatāsati, dasasu asubhesu gahitesu dvattiṃsākāre paṭikūlamanasikārajjhānavasena ceva navasivathikāvaṇṇajjhānavasena ca pavattā kāyagatāsati gahitāvāti. Sabbāpi rūpāvacarappanā idha kathitāva hotīti.
"But is this all the absorption belonging to the consciousness of the sphere of refined form, beginning with the earth kasiṇa and ending in the perception of the skeleton? Or is there anything else?"
"Yes, there is. There is ānāpāna jhāna and the development of kāyagatāsati, which have not been spoken of here."
"Why not?"
"Because ānāpāna jhāna is included in the air kasiṇa; the development of kāyagatāsati arisen by virtue of the fourfold and fivefold jhānas with reference to the hair etc., is included in the colour kasiṇas; the kāyagatāsati produced by virtue of the jhānas attending to the unattractiveness in the thirty-two parts of the body, and that of the jhāna attending to the colours of the nine kinds of corpses in the charnel grounds is included in the ten repulsive things. Thus all the absorptions of consciousness connected with the sphere of refined form have been included here."
Dhammasangani-Atthakatha 200Mettā, Dmytro2016-09-06 0:30 GMT+03:00 Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>:Dear Dmytro,Thanks for this discussion on nimitta. It is one of those problematic words that has all sorts of meanings, and one can never seem to get it exactly right. I like your idea of "comparison" and matching against an inner representation, which as you say goes beyond simply "sign", which is the usual translation.Looking into the root of the noun, if (as MW suggests) it comes from ni + mā which means "to measure" and mā which means "to compare with, to correspond in measure" then that fits exactly with your suggestion. One compares the external sign with an internal representation and that points to the referent. So it is a form of recognition.The other possibility is that it comes from nir + mā which has a similar meaning (to measure, fabricate, create, produce)Mettā, Bryan
From: "Dmytro Ivakhnenko aavuso@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, September 5, 2016 6:53 AM
Subject: [palistudy] Nimitta
DmytroHello Pāli friends,
Visuddhimagga (XIV 130) explains the recognition (saññā) in such a way:"sabbāva sañjānanalakkhaṇā, tadevetanti puna sañjānanapaccayanimittakaraṇar asā dāruādīsu tacchakādayo viya, yathāgahitanimittavasena abhinivesakaraṇapaccupaṭṭhānā hatthidassakāndhā (udā. 54) viya, yathāupaṭṭhitavisayapadaṭṭhānā tiṇapurisakesu migapotakānaṃ purisāti uppannasaññā viyāti."
"All (saññā) has the characteristic of recognition (sañjānana); its property is the making of representation (nimitta) that is a condition of recognizing again, 'this is the very same thing' - as carpenters and so on do with the wood, etc.; its manifestation is the producing of conviction by virtue of a representation (nimitta) that has been accordingly learnt - like the blind perceiving the elephant ( http://www.accesstoinsight. org/tipitaka ... .than.html ); its basis is whatever object that has come near - like the recognition (saññā) 'people' that arises for young animals in respect of scarecrows."
Ven. Analayo writes in his book "Compassion and Emptiness in Early Buddhist Meditation":The term “sign” renders the Pāli word nimitta. A nimitta is a sign in the sense that it can refer to the outward characteristic mark of things. These characteristics are the signs, the sign-als, that make it possible to recognize things.
...
In relation to the process of perception in general, the nimitta is what causes one to recognize something. An illustrative example for this function of the nimitta can be gathered from a situation depicted in the Raṭṭhapāla-sutta. Raṭṭhapāla had gone forth against the wish of his parents. After a long time had passed, he decided to visit his home town. Having arrived there, he approached his parental house while begging for alms. Seeing him from afar, his father did not recognize him and started abusing him, expressing his resentment towards these shaven-headed recluses who he felt had lured his only son away from him. Raṭṭhapāla turned around and left.
Here the father had not been able to recognize the characteristic marks, nimitta, of his own son, probably because he had never seen him dressed as a monk and with shaven head. In addition to the different outer attire, Raṭṭhapāla would also have been walking in a more self-restrained manner than earlier, when he was still living at home. All these differences, combined with the fact that the father only saw the monk from afar, would have made recognition difficult.
The story does not end here. A female servant left the house to throw away some stale food. Raṭṭhapāla approached her and asked that she give the food to him, instead of throwing it away. On coming close to Raṭṭhapāla to do that, the female servant recognized that this monk was the son of the head of her household. The Raṭṭhapāla-sutta and one of its parallels preserved in the Madhyama-āgama agree in using the term nimitta (and its Chinese equivalent) in this context, specifying that she recognized Raṭṭhapāla by the nimitta of his hands and feet, as well as by the nimitta of his voice.34
This shows the functioning of a nimitta as a central factor in the operational mechanics of memory and recognition. It is with the help of the nimitta that the perception aggregate is able to match information received through the senses with concepts, ideas, and memories.
The term "nimitta" can indeed mean "sign", but in this context the usage of "sign" is strained, and seems to result from current tendency to find one translation of the term for all contexts.
Let's examine the sentence from Ratthapala sutta mentioned by Analayo:"Atha kho āyasmato raṭṭhapālassa ñātidāsī taṃ ābhidosikaṃ kummāsaṃ āyasmato raṭṭhapālassa patte ākirantī hatthānañca pādānañca sarassa ca nimittaṃ aggahesi."
First, "nimitta" here is singular, and not plural 'sign-als', 'characteristic marks', or "characteristic features" in Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation:... While she was doing so, she recognised the characteristic features of his hands, his feet, and his voice.
https://suttacentral.net/en/ mn82
Secondly, what causes one to recognize something is not some features of the object, but rather an inner representation of the object that one has acquired previously (as explained in Visuddhimagga passage above). When this inner representation turns out to be congruent with what one perceives, then one recognises the object.
So the literal translation of this sentence would be:"While a slavewoman belonging to one of venerable Raṭṭhapāla's relatives was pouring some old porridge into venerable Raṭṭhapāla's bowl, she apprehended (gaṇhāti) her inner representation (nimitta) of his hands, his feet, and his voice."
This apprehension is a controllable mental act, as described in instructions on guarding sense doors:'ehi tvaṃ bhikkhu, indriyesu guttadvāro hohi, cakkhunā rūpaṃ disvā mā nimittaggāhī hohi mānubyañjanaggāhī..."
(MN 107 and other suttas)
and this apprehension (gaṇhāti) differs somewhat from recognition (saññā), since it describes a part of recognition when one attends to inner representation, without part of using sense faculties, or of making a representation.Metta,
What would you say?
