Re: Nimitta

Dear Balaji,

Sanskrit seems to have two words nimitta and nirmita, whose meanings may have been conflated in Pali. nirmita means "built, fashioned, formed, created" (< nir + mā), which is perhaps where its meaning as "topic" or "theme" would trace back to. Cone gives "what one notes or marks; an object of thought or meditation or concentration" as her third meaning for nimitta, which seems close to this meaning.

It is unclear where nimitta in Skt. (or in Pāli) comes from. MW says "possibly connected with ni + mā, which means "to measure, to adjust" (past participle, nimita, "measured" or "caused") and which may be another form of nir + mā ("form, fabricate, produce, create" and also "to measure", past participle nirmita, "built, fashioned, formed"). For the meaning of "topic" or "theme" it seems to come from the latter verb, as a topic is something created.

In the "normal" meaning of nimitta (Cone, meaning #1: a sign or mark by which something or someone is recognised or identified or

known or defined; a distinguishing mark or appearance; a perceived (enduring) attribute, predicate (especially that of permanence); an attribution"), it would seem to come from ni + mā, as one "measures" the object-perception against one's previous perceptions in order to recognize it. In the meaning of an image that appears as a sign of one's samādhi, it could derive from either root. In the meaning of "reason, cause" it seems to derive from nir + mā (something produced or created).

There is also the verb ni + mi with meaning "to erect, to raise; to perceive, notice, understand" which may play a role.

My point is that the various meanings of nimitta in Pāli are sometimes difficult to figure out because they may be derived from different verbs in Vedic with different meanings. Or at least that's a possibility,

Mettā,

Bryan

From: "Balaji balaji.ramasubramanian@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2016 5:25 PM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta

Hi all,

I realize that this is an academic discussion how nimitta is understood in Visuddhimagga etc., but if you wouldn't mind, I'd add my thoughts on something outside that just as a slight diversion. I tend to focus on conversational Pali and Sanskrit and so I ask myself how the word could be used.

I thought of adding a small piece of information to this discussion on nimitta. In Sanskrit, the word nimitta is used in the sense of "topic", or "theme". For example, if I have to request a monk to speak on the topic of buddhānussati, (for example), I'd say in Pali:

bhante, atra vijjamānānaṃ janānaṃ dīgharattaṃ hitāya sukhāya ca, buddhānussatinimittaṃ dhammaṃ desetu.

Now in this setence, I don't mean to say that he should give us a sign related to recollection of the Buddha, but simply "talk to us on the topic of recollection of the Buddha".

Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu seems to use this meaning for nimitta in his book "With Each and Every Breath". You'd also see the same usage by Ajahn Mahāboowa, in "Wisdom Develops Samādhi" (read the Thai version to see how he uses the word nimitta).

Hope this adds some value to your interesting discussion.

Thanks,
Balaji

On Sun, Sep 25, 2016, 11:05 AM Nyanatusita nyanatusita@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Dear Bryan,

There is not one standard method of 'tantric Theravada' (or 'Boran Kammatthana' as Crosby calls it since 'tantric can have different connotations). Each Thai meditation teacher has his own take on how to practise and uses his own idioms. Ajahn Lee was no doubt influenced by various practices in Thailand and would have adapted them as he saw fit.
To focus on the tip of the nose when doing mindfulness of breathing is described in the Patisambhidamagga and Visuddhimagga, etc.   The other points not. The Visuddhimagga discourages following the breath into the body.
However, in works connected to the Sarvastivada school, yogacaras are to follow the breath into the body, and even out of it.
So perhaps the meditation practices in Thailand and Burma were influenced by the Sarvastivada, which had some influence in the north as shown in a work by Ray on Sanskrit Buddhism in Burma and by John Strong on the cult of Upagupta, a Sarvastivada teacher, in northern Thailand. And there was a strong Vajrayana presence in Cambodia .
In the Vimuttimagga, Upatissa says that the nimitta of the breath can be extended from the tip of the nose, from it being established at the glabella, forehead, head, until the whole body is pervaded. However, this is the nimitta, not the physical breath.
Ajahn Lee mentions in the book Keeping the Breath in Mind that males should follow the breath through the right side, while females through the left side. This has not to do with different nervous systems as Ajahn Geoff notes, but with the energy channels or nadi of yogic and tantric traditions, and also the Chi of Chinese medicine and Taoism.

Best,
            Nyanatusita

On 9/25/2016 10:34 PM, Bryan Levman bryan.levman@... [palistudy] wrote:

Dear Ven. and Dmytro,

Now that you mention the "tantric Theravada" practices of focusing on the chakras, I'm wondering about Ajaan Lee Dhammadharo's meditation instructions (Keeping the Breath in Mind and Lessons in Samādhi) where he talks about focusing on the Five Bases: tip of the nose, centre of the forehead (ūrṇā?), top of the head (uṣṇīṣa?), centre of the brain and heart area. Is any of this canonical? as I'm not familiar with it, or even from Buddhaghosa? or is it "tantric"?

Mettā,

Bryan

From: "Dmytro Ivakhnenko aavuso@... [palistudy]" <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2016 11:30 AM
Subject: Re: [palistudy] Nimitta

Dear Bhante,

Thank you very much!

Such mantric invocations allow to reconstruct gradual transformation of Dhamma practice.

If we'd imagine a slow degradation of medicine as a body of knowledge, it will gradually dissipate into various medicine-men practices, with techniques being transmitted without any theoretical explanations or methodological context.

Medicine-man would don a white mask and shout: "Give me a lancet, assistant! Give me a lancet!" And he may do something useful like pulling a tooth with handmade tools, holding them in fire beforehand for some mystical reasons.

After a long period of time, with techniques often becoming dangerous due to incorrect transmission, they would have been lost or banned.

I can easily imagine a slow transfromation of abstract, heuristic factor-based methodology, with diagnostics, to more embodied, specific (and hence commonly understandable) methodology, focusing on body centers, and then to mantric invocations.

As for SOAS manuscripts digitization, Erich Kesse currently makes the funding case. He'd appreciate testimonials on usage of this manuscript, so that he would be able to include them in funding case.
https://www.soas.ac.uk/staff/staff91157.php

Best wishes,

                       Dmytro

2016-09-25 8:16 GMT+03:00 Nyanatusita nyanatusita@... [palistudy] <palistudy@yahoogroups.com>:

Dear Dmytro,

Giving some more thought to the odd contents of kammatthana manuals such as the one translated as Manual of a Mystic, it seems to me that they are not to be taken as instruction treatises that are to be read and studied like the Visuddhimagga, but rather as mantric invocation treatises that are to be recited.
In Thailand, where these works originated from, there is a strong belief in the power of mantras. The sound of the syllables in words such as araha.m, and the way they are arranged and rearranged, are believed to have a special power. In the Manual of a Mystic one finds this when the yogavacara is to recite the word 'araham' as preparation. It seems to me that the passages starting with Okaasa and 'May perception of these things arise in me' (medhammasaññaapaaturahotu as translated in the Manual of a Mystic) and "Thus aspiring, let him produce ... Thus aspiring ... will appear to him' are magic mantric invocations that lead to immediate results.
I have personal experience with some of these teachings. One teacher in northern Thailand, a monk with yantra tatoos, whose disciples I met, is teaching the entering of 'spheres' by way of focussing on chakras on the forehead, throat and heart while araham and buddho are to be recited, depending on the chakra.
Because of these magic and esoteric elements, these kind of practices are sometimes called Khmer Tantric Theravada.
Best,
             Nyanatusita

On 9/24/2016 9:12 PM, Dmytro Ivakhnenko aavuso@... [palistudy] wrote:

Dear Pali friends,

Having found a description of Kasiṇa-bhāvanā manuscript in the University of London SOAS library, with all my self-assuredness, I straightforwardly wrote to SOAS.

And, surprise, Mr. Erich Kesse, Digital Library Project Officer, digitized the manuscript in half an hour:

http://digital.soas.ac.uk/AA00 000305

And, surprise, it's not written in Cyrillic alphabet.

I would very much appreciate being surprised once again by generous help of someone who knows Sinhala well enough to tell me an abstract of precious knowledge this manuscript contains.

More amazing surpises coming up, - Mr. Kesse wrote me that the Internet Archive has launched a project in the United Kingdom to digitize all of the palm leaf manuscripts in British collections, with emphasis on Pali manuscripts. It is currently digitising the holdings of the British Library, with SOAS holdings hopefully following in the future.

Best wishes,

                    Dmytro