En los textos más antiguos del budismo , dhyāna ( sánscrito ) o jhāna ( Pāḷi ) es el entrenamiento de la mente, comúnmente traducido como meditación , para retirar la mente de las respuestas automáticas a las impresiones de los sentidos y conducir a un "estado de perfecta ecuanimidad y conciencia ( upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi ) ". [1] Dhyāna puede haber sido la práctica central del budismo pre-sectario , en combinación con varias prácticas relacionadas que juntas conducen a la atención y el desapego perfeccionados, y se realizan plenamente con la práctica de dhyana . [2][3] [4]
Dhyāna | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
nombre chino | ||||||||||
Chino tradicional | 禪 | |||||||||
Chino simplificado | 禅 | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Nombre tibetano | ||||||||||
Tibetano | བསམ་ གཏན | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Nombre vietnamita | ||||||||||
Alfabeto vietnamita | Thiền | |||||||||
Hán-Nôm | 禪 | |||||||||
Nombre coreano | ||||||||||
Hangul | 선 | |||||||||
Hanja | 禪 | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Nombre japonés | ||||||||||
Kanji | 禅 | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Nombre sánscrito | ||||||||||
sánscrito | ध्यान (en Devanagari ) Dhyāna ( Romanizado ) | |||||||||
Nombre Pali | ||||||||||
Pali | झान (en devanagari ) ඣාන (en cingalés ) ញាណ (en jemer ) ဈာန် (en birmano ) ၛာန် (en lunes ) Jhāna ( romanizado ) ฌาน (en tailandés ) |
En la tradición de comentarios posterior, que ha sobrevivido en la actual Theravāda , dhyāna se equipara con "concentración", un estado de absorción en un solo punto en el que hay una conciencia disminuida del entorno. En el movimiento Vipassana contemporáneo basado en Theravāda , este estado mental absorto se considera innecesario e incluso no beneficioso para el despertar, que debe alcanzarse mediante la atención plena del cuerpo y vipassanā (percepción de la impermanencia). Desde la década de 1980, académicos y practicantes han comenzado a cuestionar esta ecuación, defendiendo una comprensión y un enfoque más completos e integrados, basados en las descripciones más antiguas de dhyāna en los sutta s . [5] [6] [7] [8]
En Chán y Zen , cuyos nombres las tradiciones budistas son las pronunciaciones china y japonesa, respectivamente, dhyāna es la práctica central, que en última instancia se basa en las prácticas de meditación Sarvastivāda , y se ha transmitido desde el comienzo de la Era Común.
Etimología
Dhyāna , de la raíz protoindoeuropea * √dheie- , "ver, mirar", "mostrar". [9] [10] Desarrollado en la raíz sánscrita √dhī y n. dhī , [10] que en la primera capa del texto de los Vedas se refiere a la "visión imaginativa" y se asocia con la diosa Saraswati con poderes de conocimiento, sabiduría y elocuencia poética. [11] [12] Este término se convirtió en la variante √dhyā , "contemplar, meditar, pensar", [13] [10] de la cual se deriva dhyāna . [11]
Según Buddhaghosa (exégeta Theravāda del siglo V d. C.), el término jhāna (sct. Dhyāna ) se deriva del verbo jhayati , "pensar o meditar", mientras que el verbo jhapeti , "quemar", explica su función, a saber, quemar. hasta estados opuestos, quemando o destruyendo "las impurezas mentales que impiden [...] el desarrollo de la serenidad y la percepción". [14] [nota 1]
Comúnmente traducido como meditación y, a menudo, se equipara con "concentración", aunque la meditación puede referirse a una escala más amplia de ejercicios para bhāvanā , desarrollo. Dhyāna también puede significar "atención, pensamiento, reflexión". [17]
Los jhānas
El canon Pāḷi describe cuatro estados progresivos de jhāna llamados rūpa jhāna ("forma jhāna "), [nota 2] y cuatro estados meditativos adicionales llamados arūpa ("sin forma").
Prácticas precedentes
La meditación y la contemplación están precedidas por varias prácticas, que se realizan plenamente con la práctica de dhyāna . [2] [4] Como se describe en el Noble Óctuple Sendero , la visión correcta lleva a dejar la vida familiar y convertirse en un monje errante. Sīla (moralidad) comprende las reglas para la conducta correcta. El esfuerzo correcto , o los cuatro esfuerzos correctos , tienen como objetivo prevenir el surgimiento de estados malsanos y generar estados saludables. Esto incluye indriya samvara (restricción de los sentidos), controlando la respuesta a las percepciones sensuales, sin ceder a la lujuria y la aversión, sino simplemente notando los objetos de percepción tal como aparecen. [18] El esfuerzo correcto y la atención plena calman el complejo mente-cuerpo, liberando estados malsanos y patrones habituales, y fomentando el desarrollo de estados saludables y respuestas no automáticas. [7] Al seguir estos pasos y prácticas acumulativos, la mente se prepara, casi naturalmente, para la práctica de dhyāna . [19] [7] [nota 3] La práctica de dhyāna refuerza el desarrollo de estados saludables, lo que lleva a upekkhā (ecuanimidad) y atención plena. [7] [8]
Los rūpa jhānas
Cualidades de los rūpa jhānas
La práctica de jhāna es ayudada por ānāpānasati , la atención plena de la respiración. El Suttapiṭaka y el Agama describen cuatro etapas de rūpa jhāna . Rūpa se refiere al reino material, en una postura neutral, como diferente del reino kāma (lujuria, deseo) y el reino arūpa (reino no material). [20] Cada jhāna se caracteriza por un conjunto de cualidades que están presentes en ese jhāna . [2] [21] [nota 4]
- Primer jhāna :
- ingresado cuando uno está apartado de la sensualidad y los factores mentales malsanos; hay pīti ("rapto") y sukha ("placer") no sensual como resultado de la reclusión y el esfuerzo correcto , mientras que vitarka-vicara ("pensamiento discursivo") continúa. [nota 5]
- Segundo jhāna :
- es pīti ("rapto") y sukha ("placer") no sensual como resultado de la concentración ( samadhi-ji , "nacido de samadhi" [27] ); ekaggata (unificación de la conciencia) libre de vitarka-vicara ("pensamiento discursivo"); sampasadana (tranquilidad interior). [22] [nota 6]
- Tercer jhāna :
- upekkhā [nota 7] (ecuánime; "desapego afectivo" [22] ), atento y alerta, y siente placer con el cuerpo.
- Cuarto jhāna :
- upekkhāsatipārisuddhi [nota 7] (pureza de ecuanimidad y atención plena); ni-placer-ni-dolor; Tradicionalmente, el cuarto jhāna se considera el comienzo de la obtención de poderes psíquicos ( abhijñā ). [ cita requerida ] [nota 8]
Interpretación de las cuatro dhyānas
En la tradición de comentarios, el desarrollo de jhāna se describe como el desarrollo de cinco factores mentales (sánscrito: caitasika ; Pali: cetasika ) que contrarrestan los cinco obstáculos : [nota 9]
- vitakka ("pensamiento aplicado") contrarresta la pereza y el letargo (letargo y somnolencia)
- vicāra ("pensamiento sostenido") contrarresta la duda (incertidumbre)
- pīti (rapto) contrarresta la mala voluntad (malicia)
- sukha (placer no sensual) contrarresta la inquietud-preocupación (excitación y ansiedad)
- ekaggata ( unidireccionalidad ) contrarresta el deseo sensorial
Si bien los jhānas a menudo se entienden como estados de concentración cada vez más profundos, debido a su descripción como tal en el Abhidhamma , [28] y el Visuddhimagga , [22] desde la década de 1980, los eruditos y los Theravādins modernos han comenzado a cuestionar esta comprensión.
Si bien la tradición de los comentarios considera vitarka y vicara como concentración inicial y sostenida en un objeto de meditación, Roderick S. Bucknell señala que vitarka y vicara pueden referirse a "probablemente nada más que el proceso normal del pensamiento discursivo, la corriente familiar pero generalmente desapercibida de imaginería y verbalización ". Bucknell señala además que "[estas] conclusiones entran en conflicto con la concepción generalizada del primer jhāna como un estado de concentración profunda". [22]
Según Stuart-Fox, el Abhidhamma separaba vitarka de vicara , y se añadió ekaggata ( unidireccionalidad ) a la descripción del primer dhyāna para dar un número igual de cinco obstáculos y cinco antídotos. [29] La tradición de comentarios considera que las cualidades del primer dhyāna son antídotos para los cinco obstáculos, y es posible que se haya añadido ekaggata al primer dhyāna para dar exactamente cinco antídotos para los cinco obstáculos. [30] Stuart-Fox señala además que vitarka , al ser un pensamiento discursivo, hará muy poco como antídoto para la pereza y el letargo, reflejando las inconsistencias que fueron introducidas por los escolásticos. [30]
Vetter, Gombrich y Wynne señalan que el primer y segundo jhana representan el inicio de dhyāna debido a la retirada y al esfuerzo correcto c.q. los cuatro esfuerzos correctos , seguidos de concentración, mientras que el tercer y cuarto jhana combinan concentración con atención. [27] [31] Polak, elaborando sobre Vetter, señala que el inicio de la primera dhyāna se describe como un proceso bastante natural, debido a los esfuerzos anteriores para restringir los sentidos y la crianza de estados saludables . [7] [19] Con respecto al samādhi como el octavo paso del Noble Óctuple Sendero , Vetter señala que el samādhi consiste en las cuatro etapas de la meditación dhyāna , pero
... para decirlo con más precisión, el primer dhyana parece proporcionar, después de algún tiempo, un estado de fuerte concentración, del cual surgen las otras etapas; la segunda etapa se llama samadhija " [32] [...]" nacido de samadhi ". [27]
Según Richard Gombrich, la secuencia de los cuatro rūpa jhāna s describe dos estados cognitivos diferentes: "Sé que esto es controvertido, pero me parece que el tercero y el cuarto jhanas son, por lo tanto, bastante diferentes al segundo". [33] [nota 10] Gombrich y Wynne notan que, mientras que el segundo jhāna denota un estado de absorción, en el tercer y cuarto jhāna uno sale de esta absorción, siendo consciente de los objetos mientras es indiferente a ellos. [34] [nota 11] Según Gombrich, "la tradición posterior ha falsificado el jhana al clasificarlos como la quintaesencia del tipo de meditación concentrada y calmante, ignorando el otro elemento, y de hecho superior. [33]
Gethin, seguido de Polak y Arbel, señala además que existe una "afinidad definida" entre los cuatro jhāna sy el bojjhaṅgā , los siete factores del despertar. [35] [36] [37] [8] Según Gethin, los primeros textos budistas tienen "una visión ampliamente coherente" con respecto a la práctica de la meditación. Varias prácticas conducen al desarrollo de los factores del despertar, que no solo son los medios para, sino también los componentes del despertar. [38] Según Gethin, satipaṭṭhāna y ānāpānasati están relacionados con una fórmula que resume el camino budista hacia el despertar como "abandonar los obstáculos, establecer [...] la atención plena y desarrollar los siete factores del despertar". [39] Esto resulta en una "mayor conciencia", "superando las emociones que distraen y perturban", [40] que no son elementos particulares del camino hacia el despertar, sino más bien emociones perturbadoras y perturbadoras comunes. [41] Gethin afirma además que "la literatura exegética es esencialmente fiel a la visión de la meditación presentada en los Nikayas", [42] aplicando la "perfecta atención, quietud y lucidez" de los jhanas a la contemplación de la "realidad", de la forma en que las cosas son realmente, [43] como algo temporal y siempre cambiante. [42] Es en este sentido que "el estado jhana tiene la cualidad trascendente y transformadora del despertar". [44]
Upekkhā , la ecuanimidad, que se perfecciona en el cuarto dhyāna , es uno de los cuatro Brahmā-vihāra . Si bien la tradición de comentarios minimizó la importancia del Brahmā-vihāra , Gombrich señala que el uso budista del término Brahmā-vihāra originalmente se refería a un estado mental despierto y una actitud concreta hacia otros seres que era igual a "vivir con Brahman". aquí y ahora. La tradición posterior tomó esas descripciones demasiado literalmente, vinculándolas con la cosmología y entendiéndolas como "vivir con Brahman" mediante el renacimiento en el mundo de Brahmā. [45] Según Gombrich, "el Buda enseñó que la bondad, lo que los cristianos tienden a llamar amor, era un camino hacia la salvación. [46]
Alexander Wynne afirma que el esquema de dhyāna es poco conocido. [47] Según Wynne, las palabras que expresan la inculcación de la conciencia, como sati , sampajāno y upekkhā , se traducen erróneamente o se entienden como factores particulares de estados meditativos, [47] mientras que se refieren a una forma particular de percibir los objetos de los sentidos: [47] [47]
Así, la expresión sato sampajāno en el tercer jhāna debe denotar un estado de conciencia diferente de la absorción meditativa del segundo jhāna ( cetaso ekodibhāva ). Sugiere que el sujeto está haciendo algo diferente de permanecer en un estado meditativo, es decir, que ha salido de su absorción y ahora es una vez más consciente de los objetos. Lo mismo ocurre con la palabra upek (k) hā : no denota una 'ecuanimidad' abstracta, [pero] significa ser consciente de algo e indiferente a ello [...] El tercer y cuarto jhāna-s , como me parece, describe el proceso de dirigir estados de absorción meditativa hacia la conciencia consciente de los objetos. [48]
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu , un maestro occidental en la tradición forestal tailandesa , sostiene que el Visuddhimagga se desvía del Canon Pāḷi en su descripción de los jhāna s, y advierte contra el desarrollo de fuertes estados de concentración. [49] Arbel describe el cuarto jhāna como "conciencia lúcida y no reactiva", no como un estado de concentración profunda. [8]
Los arūpas
Agrupados en el esquema jhāna hay cuatro estados meditativos a los que se hace referencia en los primeros textos como arūpas . Estos también se conocen en la literatura de comentarios como jhānas inmateriales / sin forma ( arūpajhāna s), también traducidos como Las Dimensiones sin Forma, para distinguirlos de los primeros cuatro jhānas ( rūpa jhāna s). En los textos canónicos budistas, la palabra " jhāna " nunca se usa explícitamente para denotarlos; en cambio, se les conoce como āyatana . Sin embargo, a veces se mencionan en secuencia después de los primeros cuatro jhānas (otros textos, por ejemplo, MN 121, los tratan como un conjunto distinto de logros) y, por lo tanto, los exégetas posteriores los trataron como jhānas . Lo inmaterial está relacionado con la meditación yóguica o se deriva de ella, mientras que el jhāna propiamente dicho está relacionado con el cultivo de la mente. El estado de habitar por completo en la vacuidad se alcanza cuando se trasciende el octavo jhāna .
Los cuatro arūpas son:
- quinto jhāna: espacio infinito (Pāḷi ākāsānañcāyatana , Skt. ākāśānantyāyatana ),
- sexto jhāna: conciencia infinita (Pāḷi viññāṇañcāyatana , sct. vijñānānantyāyatana ),
- séptimo jhāna: la nada infinita (Pāḷi ākiñcaññāyatana , sct. ākiṃcanyāyatana ),
- octavo jhāna: ni percepción ni no percepción (Pāḷi nevasaññānāsaññāyatana , Skt. naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana ).
Aunque la "Dimensión de la Nada" y la "Dimensión de Ni Percepción ni No Percepción" están incluidas en la lista de nueve jhānas enseñadas por el Buda (ver la sección sobre nirodha-samāpatti más abajo), no están incluidas en el Noble Óctuple Sendero. . La Noble Verdad número ocho es sammā samādhi (Concentración Correcta), y solo los primeros cuatro jhāna s se consideran "Concentración Correcta". Si lleva a un discípulo a través de todos los jhana , el énfasis está en el "Cese de los sentimientos y las percepciones" en lugar de detenerse en la "Dimensión de ni percepción ni no percepción".
Nirodha-samāpatti
Más allá de la dimensión de ni percepción ni no percepción se encuentra un estado llamado nirodha samāpatti , el "cese de la percepción, los sentimientos y la conciencia". [50] Sólo en la literatura erudita y de comentarios, esto a veces se llama el "noveno jhāna ". [51] [52]
Orígenes
La época del Buda vio el surgimiento del movimiento śramaṇa , practicantes ascéticos con un cuerpo de enseñanzas y prácticas compartidas. [53] [Se necesita cita completa ] La delineación estricta de este movimiento en el jainismo, el budismo y las tradiciones brahmánicas / upanisádicas es un desarrollo posterior. [53] [ se necesita cita completa ]
Invención o incorporación
Según Bronkhorst, la práctica de los cuatro dhyāna s puede haber sido una contribución original de Gautama Buddha a las prácticas religiosas de la antigua India en respuesta a las prácticas ascéticas de los jainistas. [54] Kalupahana sostiene que el Buda "volvió a las prácticas de meditación" que había aprendido de Ārāḍa Kālāma y Uddaka Rāmaputta . [55] Wynne sostiene que Ārāḍa Kālāma y Uddaka Rāmaputta eran maestros brahmánicos, y que el logro de la absorción meditativa informe se incorporó a las prácticas brahmánicas. [16] [ página necesaria ] Estas prácticas se combinaron con la atención plena y la percepción, y se les dio una nueva interpretación. [16] [ página necesaria ] La estratificación de experiencias samādhi particulares en los cuatro jhāna s parece ser una innovación budista. [16] [ página necesaria ] Luego se tomó prestada y se presentó de forma incompleta en el Mokṣadharma , una parte del Mahābhārata . [56]
Thomas William Rhys Davids y Maurice Walshe estuvieron de acuerdo en que el término samādhi no se encuentra en ningún texto prebudista, pero se menciona por primera vez en el Tipiṭaka . Posteriormente se incorporó a textos posteriores como el Maitrayaniya Upanishad. [57] Pero según Matsumoto, "los términos dhyana y samahita (entrando en samadhi) ya aparecen en los textos Upanishadic que son anteriores a los orígenes del budismo". [58] [nota 12]
Orígenes budistas
El Mahasaccaka Sutta , Majjhima Nikaya 36, narra la historia del despertar del Buda. Según esta historia, aprendió dos tipos de meditación que no lo llevaron a la iluminación. Luego se sometió a duras prácticas ascéticas, con las que finalmente también se desilusionó. El Buda entonces recordó un estado meditativo en el que entró por casualidad cuando era niño: [3] [ página necesaria ]
Pensé: 'Recuerdo una vez, cuando mi padre el Sakyan estaba trabajando, y yo estaba sentado a la fresca sombra de un pomarrosa, entonces, bastante apartado de la sensualidad, apartado de las cualidades mentales torpes, entré y permanecí en el primer jhana: éxtasis y placer nacidos de la reclusión, acompañado de un pensamiento y una evaluación dirigidos. ¿Podría ser ese el camino hacia el Despertar? Luego, siguiendo ese recuerdo, llegó la realización: "Ese es el camino hacia el Despertar". [60]
Originalmente, la práctica de dhyāna en sí misma pudo haber constituido la práctica liberadora central del budismo primitivo, ya que en este estado todo "placer y dolor" había disminuido. [61] Según Vetter,
[P] robablemente, la palabra "inmortalidad" (a-mata) fue utilizada por el Buda para la primera interpretación de esta experiencia y no el término cese del sufrimiento que pertenece a las cuatro nobles verdades [...] que el Buda no logró la experiencia de la salvación al discernir las cuatro nobles verdades y / u otros datos. Pero su experiencia debe haber sido de tal naturaleza que podría soportar la interpretación de "lograr la inmortalidad". [62]
Influencias brahmánicas
Alexander Wynne intentó encontrar paralelos en los textos brahmánicos con los objetivos meditativos que los dos maestros afirmaban haber enseñado, basándose especialmente en algunos de los Upanishads y el capítulo Mokshadharma del Mahabharata. [dieciséis]
Uddaka Ramaputta y Alara Kalama
Los suttas describen cómo el Buda aprendió prácticas meditativas de dos maestros, Uddaka Ramaputta y Alara Kalama. Alex Wynne sostiene que Uddaka Ramaputta pertenecía a la tradición prebudista retratada por las fuentes budistas y brahmánicas, en la que se aceptaban las formulaciones filosóficas de los primeros Upanishads, y el estado meditativo de "ni percepción ni no percepción" se equiparaba con el uno mismo. [63] Wynne sostiene además que el objetivo de Alara Kalama era brahmínico. La evidencia en el Chandogya Upanishad y el Taittiriya Upanishad sugiere que diferentes tradiciones filosóficas brahmánicas tempranas sostenían la opinión de que el estado no manifiesto de Brahman era una forma de no existencia. [64] Según Wynne, parece probable que el Buda aprendiera tanto la meditación de elementos como la sin forma de sus dos maestros y la adaptó a su propio sistema. [65] [nota 13]
Prácticas brahmánicas
Esferas sin forma
Parece que en el yoga brahmínico temprano, las esferas sin forma se alcanzaban después de la meditación de elementos. [67] Esto también se enseña como una opción en los primeros textos budistas. [68] El método principal enseñado para lograr el logro informe en las primeras escrituras budistas, por otro lado, es proceder a la esfera del espacio infinito después del cuarto jhāna . [69]
Reversión de la creación del mundo
Wynne afirmó que los pasajes brahmánicos sobre meditación sugieren que el presupuesto más básico del yoga brahmánico temprano es que la creación del mundo debe ser revertida, a través de una serie de estados meditativos, por el yogui que busca la realización del yo . [70] Estos estados recibieron un trasfondo doctrinal en las primeras cosmologías brahmínicas, que clasificaron el mundo en estratos sucesivamente más burdos. Una de esas estratificaciones se encuentra en TU II.1 y Mbh XII.195, y procede de la siguiente manera: yo , espacio, viento, fuego, agua, tierra. Mbh XII.224 da alternativamente: Brahman , mente, espacio, viento, fuego, agua, tierra. [71]
En el pensamiento brahmánico, se pensaba que los estados meditativos de conciencia eran idénticos a los estratos sutiles del cosmos. [72] [nota 14] No hay un trasfondo teórico similar para la meditación de elementos en los primeros textos budistas, donde los elementos aparecen simplemente como objetos adecuados de meditación. [73] Es probable que las prácticas brahmánicas de meditación de elementos fueran tomadas y adaptadas por los primeros budistas, descartando la ideología brahmánica original de las prácticas en el proceso. [74]
Investigación de uno mismo
Sobre este punto, se piensa que los usos de los elementos en la literatura budista primitiva tienen, en general, muy poca conexión con el pensamiento brahmánico; en la mayoría de los lugares ocurren en enseñanzas donde forman el objeto de una contemplación detallada del ser humano. El objetivo de estas contemplaciones parece haber sido lograr la comprensión correcta de que los diversos aspectos percibidos de un ser humano, cuando se toman en conjunto, no constituyen, sin embargo, un "yo". [75] Además, el yo se conceptualiza en términos similares tanto a la "nada" y "ni a la percepción ni a la no percepción" en diferentes lugares de la literatura Upanishadica temprana. [72] Este último corresponde a la definición del yo de Yajnavalkya en su famoso diálogo con Maitreyi en el Brihadaranyaka Upanishad y a la definición dada en el Mandukya Upanishad post-budista . Esto se menciona como una afirmación de los ascetas y brahmanes no budistas en el Pañcattaya Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 102.2). [76] [77] En el mismo diálogo del Brihadaranyaka Upanishad , Yajnavalkya llega a la conclusión de que el yo que no es ni perceptivo ni no perceptivo es un estado de conciencia sin objeto. La evidencia budista temprana sugiere lo mismo para la octava absorción o jhāna , el estado de "ni percepción ni no percepción". [77] Es un estado sin un objeto de conciencia, que no está desprovisto de conciencia. [78] El noveno jhāna que a veces se dice que está más allá de este estado, el "cese de la percepción y la sensación", carece no solo de objetividad, sino también de subjetividad . [79]
Críticas a Wynne
Los textos brahmánicos citados por Wynne asumieron su forma final mucho después de la vida del Buda. El Mokshadharma lo pospone. [66]
Budismo temprano
The Buddhist tradition has incorporated two traditions regarding the use of jhāna.[3][page needed] There is a tradition that stresses attaining insight (bodhi, prajñā, kenshō) as the means to awakening and liberation.[note 15] But the Buddhist tradition has also incorporated the yogic tradition, as reflected in the use of jhāna, which is rejected in other sūtras as not resulting in the final result of liberation. One solution to this contradiction is the conjunctive use of vipassanā and samatha.[82][note 16]
Five possibilities regarding jhāna and liberation
Schmithausen notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhānas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.[84][3][page needed][2][page needed] Schmithausen discerns three possible roads to liberation as described in the suttas, to which Vetter adds a fourth possibility, while the attainment of Nirodha-Samapatti may constitute a fifth possibility:[85]
- Mastering the four jhānas, whereafter "liberating insight" is attained;
- Mastering the four jhānas and the four arupas, whereafter "liberating insight" is attained;
- Liberating insight itself suffices;
- The four jhānas themselves constituted the core liberating practice of early Buddhism, c.q. the Buddha;[86]
- Liberation is attained in Nirodha-Samapatti.[87]
Rupa Jhāna followed by liberating insight
According to the Theravada-tradition, the meditator uses the jhāna state to bring the mind to rest, and to strengthen and sharpen the mind, in order to investigate the true nature of phenomena (dhamma) and to gain insight into impermanence, suffering and not-self. According to the Theravada-tradition, the arahant is aware that the jhānas are ultimately unsatisfactory, realizing that the meditative attainments are also anicca, impermanent.[88]
In the Mahasaccaka Sutta (Majjhima Nikaya 36), which narrates the story of the Buddha's awakening, dhyana is followed by insight into the four noble truths. The mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight" is probably a later addition.[84][62][3][page needed] Vetter notes that such insight is not possible in a state of dhyana, when interpreted as concentration, since discursive thinking is eliminated in such a state.[89] He also notes that the emphasis on "liberating insight" developed only after the four noble truths were introduced as an expression of what this "liberating insight" constituted.[90] In time, other expressions took over this function, such as pratītyasamutpāda and the emptiness of the self.[91]
Rupa Jhāna and the arupas, followed by liberating insight
This scheme is rejected by scholars as a later development, since the arupas are akin to non-Buddhist practices, and rejected elsewhere in the canon.
Insight alone suffices
The emphasis on "liberating insight" alone seems to be a later development, in response to developments in Indian religious thought, which saw "liberating insight" as essential to liberation.[92][93] This may also have been due to an over-literal interpretation by later scholastics of the terminology used by the Buddha,[94] and to the problems involved with the practice of dhyana, and the need to develop an easier method.[95]
Contemporary scholars have discerned a broader application of jhāna in historical Buddhist practice. According to Alexander Wynne, the ultimate aim of dhyana was the attainment of insight,[96] and the application of the meditative state to the practice of mindfulness.[96] According to Frauwallner, mindfulness was a means to prevent the arising of craving, which resulted simply from contact between the senses and their objects. According to Frauwallner, this may have been the Buddha's original idea.[97] According to Wynne, this stress on mindfulness may have led to the intellectualism which favoured insight over the practice of dhyana.[47]
Jhana itself is liberating
Both Schmithausen and Bronkhorst note that the attainment of insight, which is a cognitive activity, cannot be possible in a state wherein all cognitive activity has ceased.[3] According to Vetter, the practice of Rupa Jhāna itself may have constituted the core practice of early Buddhism, with practices such as sila and mindfulness aiding its development.[93] It is the "middle way" between self-mortification, ascribed by Bronkhorst to Jainism,[3] and indulgence in sensual pleasure.[98] Vetter emphasizes that dhyana is a form of non-sensual happiness.[99] The eightfold path can be seen as a path of preparation which leads to the practice of samadhi.[100]
Liberation in Nirodha-Samapatti
According to some texts, after progressing through the eight jhānas and the stage of Nirodha-Samapatti, a person is liberated.[50] According to some traditions someone attaining the state of Nirodha-Samapatti is an anagami or an arahant.[87] In the Anupadda sutra, the Buddha narrates that Sariputta became an arahant upon reaching it.[101]
Theravada
Dhyana as concentration
Buddhagosa's Visuddhimagga considers jhana to be an exercise in concentration-meditation. His views, together with the Satipatthana Sutta, inspired the development, in the 19th and 20th century, of new meditation techniques which gained a great popularity among lay audiences in the second half of the 20th century.[102]
Samadhi
According to Henepola Gunaratana, the term "jhana" is closely connected with "samadhi", which is generally rendered as "concentration". The word "samadhi" is almost interchangeable with the word "samatha", serenity.[14] According to Gunaratana, in the widest sense the word samadhi is being used for the practices which lead to the development of serenity. In this sense, samadhi and jhana are close in meaning.[note 17] Nevertheless, they are not exactly identical, since "certain differences in their suggested and contextual meanings prevent unqualified identification of the two terms." Samadhi signifies only one mental factor, namely one-pointedness, while the word "jhana" encompasses the whole state of consciousness, "or at least the whole group of mental factors individuating that meditative state as a jhana."[14] Furthermore, according to Gunaratana, samadhi involves "a wider range of reference than jhana," noting that "the Pali exegetical tradition recognizes three levels of samadhi: preliminary concentration (parikammasamadhi) [...] access concentration (upacarasamadhi) [...] and absorption concentration (appanasamadhi)."[14]
Development and application of concentration
According to the Pāli canon commentary, access/neighbourhood concentration (upacāra-samādhi) is a stage of meditation that the meditator reaches before entering into jhāna. The overcoming of the five hindrances[note 18] mark the entry into access concentration.[citation needed] Access concentration is not mentioned in the discourses of the Buddha, but there are several suttas where a person gains insight into the Dhamma on hearing a teaching from the Buddha.[note 19][note 20]
According to Tse-fu Kuan, at the state of access concentration, some meditators may experience vivid mental imagery,[note 21] which is similar to a vivid dream. They are as vivid as if seen by the eye, but in this case the meditator is fully aware and conscious that they are seeing mental images. According to Tse-fu Kuan, this is discussed in the early texts, and expanded upon in Theravāda commentaries.[104]
According to Venerable Sujivo, as the concentration becomes stronger, the feelings of breathing and of having a physical body will completely disappear, leaving only pure awareness. At this stage inexperienced meditators may become afraid, thinking that they are going to die if they continue the concentration, because the feeling of breathing and the feeling of having a physical body has completely disappeared. They should not be so afraid and should continue their concentration in order to reach "full concentration" (jhāna).[105]
A meditator should first master the lower jhānas, before they can go into the higher jhānas. According to Nathan Katz, the early suttas state that "the most exquisite of recluses" is able to attain any of the jhānas and abide in them without difficulty.[88][note 22]
According to the contemporary Vipassana-movement, the jhāna state cannot by itself lead to enlightenment as it only suppresses the defilements. Meditators must use the jhāna state as an instrument for developing wisdom by cultivating insight, and use it to penetrate the true nature of phenomena through direct cognition, which will lead to cutting off the defilements and nibbana.[citation needed]
According to the later Theravāda commentorial tradition as outlined by Buddhagoṣa in his Visuddhimagga, after coming out of the state of jhāna the meditator will be in the state of post-jhāna access concentration. In this state the investigation and analysis of the true nature of phenomena begins, which leads to insight into the characteristics of impermanence, suffering and not-self arises.[citation needed]
Contemporary reassessment - the "Jhana wars"
While Theravada-meditation was introduced to the west as vipassana-meditation, which rejected the usefulness of jhana, there is a growing interest among western vipassana-practitioners in jhana.[49][107] The nature and practice of jhana is a topic of debate and contention among western convert Theravadins, to the extent that the disputes have even been called "the Jhana wars."[5][note 23] Both academic scholars and contemporary practitioners have raised questions about the interpretation of the jhanas as being states of absorption which are not necessary for the attainment of liberation. While groundbreaking research on this topic has been done by Bareau, Schmithausen, Stuart-Fox, Bucknell, Vetter, Bronkhorst, and Wynne, Theravada practitioners have also scrutinized and criticised the samatha-vipassana distinction.[109] Reassessments of the description of jhana in the suttas consider jhana and vipassana to be an integrated practice, leading to a "tranquil and equanimous awareness of whatever arises in the field of experience."[5][6][7][8]
Criticism of Visudhimagga
The Visuddhimagga, and the "pioneering popularizing work of Daniel Goleman,"[107][note 24] has been influential in the (mis)understanding of dhyana being a form of concentration-meditation. The Visuddhimagga is centered around kasina-meditation, a form of concentration-meditation in which the mind is focused on a (mental) object.[110] According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "[t]he text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the mold."[110] According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "the Visuddhimagga uses a very different paradigm for concentration from what you find in the Canon."[111] In its emphasis on kasina-meditation, the Visuddhimagga departs from the Pali Canon, in which dhyana is the central meditative practice, indicating that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon."[110]
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana also notes that what "the suttas say is not the same as what the Visuddhimagga says [...] they are actually different," leading to a divergence between a [traditional] scholarly understanding and a practical understanding based on meditative experience.[112] Gunaratana further notes that Buddhaghosa invented several key meditation terms which are not to be found in the suttas, such as "parikamma samadhi (preparatory concentration), upacara samadhi (access concentration), appanasamadhi (absorption concentration)."[113] Gunaratana also notes that Buddhaghosa's emphasis on kasina-meditation is not to be found in the suttas, where dhyana is always combined with mindfulness.[114][note 25]
According to Vetter, dhyana as a preparation of discriminating insight must have been different from the dhyana-practice introduced by the Buddha, using kasina-exercises to produce a "more artificially produced dhyana", resulting in the cessation of apperceptions and feelings.[115] Kasina-exercises are propagated in Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga, which is considered the authoritative commentary on meditation practice in the Theravada tradition, but differs from the Pali canon in its description of jhana. While the suttas connect samadhi to mindfulness and awareness of the body, for Buddhaghosa jhana is a purely mental exercise, in which one-pointed concentration leads to a narrowing of attention.[116]
Jhana as integrated practice
Several western teachers (Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Leigh Brasington, Richard Shankman) make a distinction between "sutta-oriented" jhana and "Visuddhimagga-oriented" jhana,[49][117] dubbed "minimalists" and "maximalists" by Kenneth Rose.[117]
Thanissaro Bhikkhu has repeatedly argued that the Pali Canon and the Visuddhimagga give different descriptions of the jhanas, regarding the Visuddhimagga-description to be incorrect.[49]
According to Richard Shankman, the sutta descriptions of jhāna practice explain that the meditator does not emerge from jhāna to practice vipassana but rather the work of insight is done whilst in jhāna itself. In particular the meditator is instructed to "enter and remain in the fourth jhāna" before commencing the work of insight in order to uproot the mental defilements.[118][note 26]
Keren Arbel has conducted extensive research on the jhanas and the contemporary criticisms of the commentarial interpretation. Based on this research, and her own experience as a senior meditation-teacher, she gives a reconstructed account of the original meaning of the dhyanas. She argues that jhana is an integrated practice, describing the fourth jhana as "non-reactive and lucid awareness," not as a state of deep concentration.[8] According to Arbel, it develops "a mind which is not conditioned by habitual reaction-patterns of likes and dislikes [...] a profoundly wise relation to experience, not tainted by any kind of wrong perception and mental reactivity rooted in craving (tanha).[120]
According to Kenneth Rose, the Visuddhimagga-oriented "maximalist" approach is a return to ancient Indian "mainstream practices," in which physical and mental immobility was thought to lead to liberation from samsara and rebirth. This approach was rejected by the Buddha, turning to a gentler approach which results in upekkha and sati, equanimous awareness of experience.[5]
En las tradiciones Mahāyāna
Mahāyāna Buddhism includes numerous schools of practice. Each draw upon various Buddhist sūtras, philosophical treatises, and commentaries, and each has its own emphasis, mode of expression, and philosophical outlook. Accordingly, each school has its own meditation methods for the purpose of developing samādhi and prajñā, with the goal of ultimately attaining enlightenment.
Chan Buddhism
Dhyāna is a central aspect of Buddhist practice in Chan, necessary for progress on the path and "true entry into the Dharma."[note 27]
Origins
In China, the word dhyāna was originally transliterated with Chinese: 禪那; pinyin: chánnà and shortened to just pinyin: chán in common usage. The word and the practice of meditation entered into Chinese through the translations of An Shigao (fl. c. 148–180 CE), and Kumārajīva (334–413 CE), who translated Dhyāna sutras, which were influential early meditation texts mostly based on the Yogacara meditation teachings of the Sarvāstivāda school of Kashmir circa 1st-4th centuries CE.[123] The word chán became the designation for Chan Buddhism (Korean Seon, Vietnamese Thiền, Japanese Zen).
While dhyana in a strict sense refers to the four dhyanas, in Chinese Buddhism dhyāna may refer to various kinds of meditation techniques and their preparatory practices, which are necessary to practice dhyana.[124] The five main types of meditation in the Dhyana sutras are anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing); paṭikūlamanasikāra meditation, mindfulness of the impurities of the body; loving-kindness maitrī meditation; the contemplation on the twelve links of pratītyasamutpāda; and the contemplation on the Buddha's thirty-two Characteristics.[125]
Mindfulness
Observing the breath
During sitting meditation, practitioners usually assume a position such as the lotus position, half-lotus, Burmese, or yoga postures, using the dhyāna mudrā. To regulate the mind, awareness is directed towards counting or watching the breath or by bringing that awareness to the energy center below the navel (see also ānāpānasati).[126] Often, a square or round cushion placed on a padded mat is used to sit on; in some other cases, a chair may be used. This practice may simply be called sitting dhyāna, which is zuòchán (坐禅) in Chinese, zazen (坐禅) in Japanese, jwaseon (坐禅) in Korean, and tọa thiền in Vietnamese .
Observing the mind
In the Sōtō school of Zen, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content, is the primary form of practice. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. Considerable textual, philosophical, and phenomenological justification of this practice can be found throughout Dōgen's Shōbōgenzō, as for example in the "Principles of Zazen"[127] and the "Universally Recommended Instructions for Zazen".[128] In the Japanese language, this practice is called Shikantaza.
Insight
Pointing to the nature of the mind
According to Charles Luk, in the earliest traditions of Chán, there was no fixed method or formula for teaching meditation, and all instructions were simply heuristic methods, to point to the true nature of the mind, also known as Buddha-nature.[129] According to Luk, this method is referred to as the "Mind Dharma", and exemplified in the story of Śākyamuni Buddha holding up a flower silently, and Mahākāśyapa smiling as he understood.[note 28][129] A traditional formula of this is, "Chán points directly to the human mind, to enable people to see their true nature and become buddhas."[130]
Kōan practice
At the beginning of the Sòng dynasty, practice with the kōan method became popular, whereas others practiced "silent illumination."[131] This became the source of some differences in practice between the Línjì and Cáodòng schools.
A kōan, literally "public case", is a story or dialogue, describing an interaction between a Zen master and a student. These anecdotes give a demonstration of the master's insight. Koans emphasize the non-conceptional insight that the Buddhist teachings are pointing to. Koans can be used to provoke the "great doubt", and test a student's progress in Zen practice.
Kōan-inquiry may be practiced during zazen (sitting meditation), kinhin (walking meditation), and throughout all the activities of daily life. Kōan practice is particularly emphasized by the Japanese Rinzai school, but it also occurs in other schools or branches of Zen depending on the teaching line.[132]
The Zen student's mastery of a given kōan is presented to the teacher in a private interview (referred to in Japanese as dokusan (独参), daisan (代参), or sanzen (参禅)). While there is no unique answer to a kōan, practitioners are expected to demonstrate their understanding of the kōan and of Zen through their responses. The teacher may approve or disapprove of the answer and guide the student in the right direction. The interaction with a Zen teacher is central in Zen, but makes Zen practice also vulnerable to misunderstanding and exploitation.[133]
Vajrayāna
B. Alan Wallace holds that modern Tibetan Buddhism lacks emphasis on achieving levels of concentration higher than access concentration.[134][135] According to Wallace, one possible explanation for this situation is that virtually all Tibetan Buddhist meditators seek to become enlightened through the use of tantric practices. These require the presence of sense desire and passion in one's consciousness, but jhāna effectively inhibits these phenomena.[134]
While few Tibetan Buddhists, either inside or outside Tibet, devote themselves to the practice of concentration, Tibetan Buddhist literature does provide extensive instructions on it, and great Tibetan meditators of earlier times stressed its importance.[136]
Conceptos relacionados en las religiones indias
Dhyana is an important ancient practice mentioned in the Vedic and post-Vedic literature of Hinduism, as well as early texts of Jainism.[137][138][139] Dhyana in Buddhism influenced these practices as well as was influenced by them, likely in its origins and its later development.[137]
Parallels with Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga
There are parallels with the fourth to eighth stages of Patanjali's Ashtanga Yoga, as mentioned in his classical work, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which were compiled around 400 CE by, taking materials about yoga from older traditions.[140][141][142]
Patanjali discerns bahiranga (external) aspects of yoga namely, yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, and the antaranga (internal) yoga. Having actualized the pratyahara stage, a practitioner is able to effectively engage into the practice of Samyama. At the stage of pratyahara, the consciousness of the individual is internalized in order that the sensations from the senses of taste, touch, sight, hearing and smell don't reach their respective centers in the brain and takes the sadhaka (practitioner) to next stages of Yoga, namely Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (mystical absorption), being the aim of all Yogic practices.[143]
The Eight Limbs of the yoga sutras show Samadhi as one of its limbs. The Eight limbs of the Yoga Sutra was influenced by Buddhism.[144][145] Vyasa's Yogabhashya, the commentary to the Yogasutras, and Vacaspati Misra's subcommentary state directly that the samadhi techniques are directly borrowed from the Buddhists' Jhana, with the addition of the mystical and divine interpretations of mental absorption.[146][failed verification] The Yoga Sutra, especially the fourth segment of Kaivalya Pada, contains several polemical verses critical of Buddhism, particularly the Vijñānavāda school of Vasubandhu.[147]
The suttas show that during the time of the Buddha, Nigantha Nataputta, the Jain leader, did not even believe that it is possible to enter a state where the thoughts and examination stop.[148]
Ver también
- Research on meditation
- Neuroplasticity
- Altered state of consciousness
- Jñāna
Notas
- ^ Bronkhorst and Wynne, among others, have discussed the influence of Vedic and Jain thought and practices on Buddhism. The "burning up" of defilements by means of austerities is a typical Jain practice, which was rejected by the Buddha.[15][16]
- ^ Though rūpa may also refer to the body. Arbel (2017) refers to the jhana as psycho-somatic experiences.
- ^ Polak refers to Vetter, who noted that in the suttas right effort leads to a calm state of mind. When this calm and self-restraint had been reached, the Buddha is described as sitting down and attaining the first jhana, in an almost natural way.[7]
- ^ See also, among others:
* Majjhima Nikaya 26, Ariyapariyesana Sutta, The Noble Search
* Majjhima Nikaya 111, Anuppada Sutta
* AN 05.028, Samadhanga Sutta: The Factors of Concentration - ^ According to Bucknell, while the commentarial tradition explains vitarka and vicara as the concentration on an object of meditation, the terms may simply refer to "the normal process of discursive thought."[22] Bucknell refers to:
* Martin Stuart-Fox, "Jhana and Buddhist Scholasticism," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 12.2 (1989): 79-110
* Paul Griffiths, "Buddhist Jhana: A form-critical study," Religion 13 (1983): 55-68
According to Stuart-Fox, referring to Rhys Davids and Stede, when vitarka-vicara are mentioned in tandem, they are one expression, "to cover all varieties of thinking, including sustained and focused thought. It is thinking in this inclusive sense that the meditator suppresses through concentration when he attains one-ness of mind and thus moves from first to second jhana."[23]
According to Polak, in the Pali Canon vitarka-vicara mostly refers to thinking about the sense-impressions, which gives rise to further egoistical thinking and action.[7] The process of sense-withdrawal, right effort, and dhyana, stops the "fueling" of this process of sense-impressions-thoughts-egoistic thinking.[24][7][8]
Compare the Yogacara term manas, meaning both "intentionality"[25] or 'self-centered thinking',[26] and "discriminative thinking" (vikalpa). The provess of meditation aims at "non-thinking," stopping both these cognitive processes.[25] - ^ The common translation, based on the commentarial interpretation of dhyana as expanding states of absorption, translates sampasadana as "internal assurance." Yet, as Bucknell explains, it also means "tranquilizing," which is more apt in this context.[22] See also Passaddhi
- ^ a b Upekkhā is one of the Brahmaviharas.
- ^ For instance in AN 5.28, the Buddha states (Thanissaro, 1997.):
"When a monk has developed and pursued the five-factored noble right concentration in this way, then whichever of the six higher knowledges he turns his mind to know and realize, he can witness them for himself whenever there is an opening...."
"If he wants, he wields manifold supranormal powers. Having been one he becomes many; having been many he becomes one. He appears. He vanishes. He goes unimpeded through walls, ramparts, and mountains as if through space. He dives in and out of the earth as if it were water. He walks on water without sinking as if it were dry land. Sitting crosslegged he flies through the air like a winged bird. With his hand he touches and strokes even the sun and moon, so mighty and powerful. He exercises influence with his body even as far as the Brahma worlds. He can witness this for himself whenever there is an opening ..." - ^ See, for instance, Samādhaṅga Sutta (a/k/a, Pañcaṅgikasamādhi Sutta, AN 5.28) (Thanissaro, 1997b).
- ^ Original publication: Gombrich, Richard (2007), Religious Experience in Early Buddhism, OCHS Library
- ^ Original publication: Gombrich, Richard (2007), Religious Experience in Early Buddhism, OCHS Library
- ^ It is important to note that of the 200 or so Upanishads, only the first 10 or 12 are considered the oldest and principal Upanishads. Among these 10 or 12 principal Upanishads, the Taittiriya, Aitareya and Kausitaki show Buddhist influence.[59] The Brihadaranyaka, Jaiminiya-Upanisad-Brahmana and the Chandogya Upanishads were composed during the pre-Buddhist era while the rest of these 12 oldest Upanishads are dated to the last few centuries BCE.
- ^ According to Bronkhorst, the account of the Buddha practicing under Uddaka Ramaputta and Alara Kalama is entirely fictitious, and meant to flesh out the mentioning of those names in the post-enlightenment narrative in Majjhima Nikaya 36.[3][66] According to Bronkhorst, the Buddha's teachings developed primarily in response to Jain teachings, not Brahmanical teachings.[3]
- ^ See also Pratītyasamutpāda#Commentary on Vedic cosmogeny.
- ^ According to the Theravada tradition dhyana must be combined with vipassana,[80] which gives insight into the three marks of existence and leads to detachment and "the manifestation of the path".[81]
- ^ In Zen Buddhism, this problem has appeared over the centuries in the disputes over sudden versus gradual enlightenment.[83][page needed]
- ^ Gunarathana refers to Buddhaghosa, who explains samadhi etymologically as "the centering of consciousness and consciousness concomitants evenly and rightly on a single object [...] the state in virtue of which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered (Vism.84–85; PP.85)."[14]
- ^ Sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry and doubt
- ^ According to Peter Harvey, access concentration is described at Digha Nikaya I, 110, among other places: "The situation at D I, 110, then, can be seen as one where the hearer of a discourse enters a state which, while not an actual jhana, could be bordering on it. As it is free from hindrances, it could be seen as 'access' concentration with a degree of wisdom." Peter Harvey, Consciousness Mysticism in the Discourses of the Buddha. In Karel Werner, ed., The Yogi and the Mystic. Curzon Press 1989, page 95. See also: Peter Harvey, The Selfless Mind, page 170.
- ^ The equivalent of upacāra-samādhi used in Tibetan commentaries is nyer-bsdogs.[103]
- ^ Pāli: nimitta
- ^ According to Sujiva, there are five aspects of jhāna mastery:[106]
- Mastery in adverting: the ability to advert[clarification needed] to the jhāna factors one by one after emerging from the jhāna, wherever desired, whenever she/ he wants, and for as long as one wants.
- Mastery in attaining: the ability to enter upon jhāna quickly.
- Mastery in resolving: the ability to remain in the jhāna for exactly the pre-determined length of time.
- Mastery in emerging: the ability to emerge from jhāna quickly without difficulty.
- Mastery in reviewing: the ability to review the jhāna and its factors with retrospective knowledge immediately after adverting to them.
- ^ See also:
* Leigh Brasington, Interpretations of the Jhanas
* Simple|Sutta, Jhana Wars!
* Dhamma Wheel, The great Jhana debate[108] - ^ See Golman's The Varieties of Meditative Experience, published early 1970s, which praises the Visuddhimagga as a masterguide for the practice of meditation.
- ^ See also Bronkhorst (1993), Two Traditions of Meditation in ancient India; Wynne (2007), The Origin of Buddhist Meditation; and Polak (2011), Reexaming Jhana.
- ^ Samaññaphala Sutta: "With the abandoning of pleasure and pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure nor pain...With his mind thus concentrated, purified, and bright, unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to imperturbability, the monk directs and inclines it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations. He discerns, as it has come to be, that 'This is suffering... This is the origination of suffering... This is the cessation of suffering... This is the way leading to the cessation of suffering... These are mental fermentations... This is the origination of fermentations... This is the cessation of fermentations... This is the way leading to the cessation of fermentations."[119]
- ^ Dhyāna is a central aspect of Buddhist practice in Chan:
* Nan Huai-Chin: "Intellectual reasoning is just another spinning of the sixth consciousness, whereas the practice of meditation is the true entry into the Dharma."[121]
* According to Sheng Yen, meditative concentration is necessary, calling samādhi one of the requisite factors for progress on the path toward enlightenment.[122] - ^ See Flower Sermon
Referencias
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. 5.
- ^ a b c d Vetter 1988.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Bronkhorst 1993.
- ^ a b Gethin 1992.
- ^ a b c d Rose 2016, p. 60.
- ^ a b Shankman 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Polak 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Arbel 2017.
- ^ Online Etymology Dictionary, Zen (n.)
- ^ a b c Jayarava, Nāmapada: a guide to names in the Triratna Buddhist Order
- ^ a b William Mahony (1997), The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination, State University of New York Press, ISBN 978-0791435809, pages 171-177, 222
- ^ Jan Gonda (1963), The Vision of Vedic Poets, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 978-3110153156, pages 289-301
- ^ George Feuerstein, Yoga and Meditation (Dhyana)
- ^ a b c d e Henepola Gunaratana, The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation
- ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 62.
- ^ a b c d e Wynne 2007.
- ^ Sanskrit Dictionary for Spoken Sanskrit, dhyana
- ^ Analayo, Early Buddhist Meditation Studies, p.69-70, 80
- ^ a b Vetter 1988, p. XXV.
- ^ Ruth Fuller-Sasaki, The Record of Lin-Ji
- ^ Bucknell 1993.
- ^ a b c d e f Bucknell 1993, p. 375-376.
- ^ Stuart-Fox 1989, p. 82.
- ^ Gethin 2002.
- ^ a b Zhu 2005.
- ^ Kalupahana 1992, p. 138-140.
- ^ a b c Vetter 1988, p. XXVI, note 9.
- ^ Fox 1989, p. 83-87.
- ^ Fox 1989, p. 85-87.
- ^ a b Fox 1989.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 106; 140, note 58.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. 13.
- ^ a b Wynne 2007, p. 140, note 58.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 106-107; 140, note 58.
- ^ Gethin 1992, p. 162-182.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 217, note 26.
- ^ Polak 2011, p. 25.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 217-218.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 203-204.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 204.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 208.
- ^ a b Gethin 2004, p. 216.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 215.
- ^ Gethin 2004, p. 217.
- ^ Gombrich 1997, p. 84-85.
- ^ Gombrich 1997, p. 62.
- ^ a b c d Wynne 2007, p. 106.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 106-107.
- ^ a b c d Quli 2008.
- ^ a b Majjhima NIkaya 111, Anuppada Sutta
- ^ Steven Sutcliffe, Religion: Empirical Studies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004, page 135.
- ^ Chandima Wijebandara, Early Buddhism, Its Religious and Intellectual Milieu. Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, 1993, page 22..
- ^ a b Samuel 2008.
- ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 95;122–123.
- ^ Kalupahana 1994, p. 24.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 29.
- ^ Walshe, Maurice (trans.) (1995). The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-103-3.
- ^ Matsumoto 1997, p. 242.
- ^ King 1995, p. 52.
- ^ Nanamoli 1995.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. 6-7.
- ^ a b Vetter 1988, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 44, see also 45–49.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 196.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 50.
- ^ a b Vishvapani (rev.) (1997). Review: Origin of Buddhist Meditation. Retrieved 2011-2-17 from "Western Buddhist Review" at http://www.westernbuddhistreview.com/vol5/the-origin-of-buddhist-meditation.html.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 56.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 29-31.
- ^ Henepola Gunaratana, The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation. [1].
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 41, 56.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 49.
- ^ a b Wynne 2007, p. 42.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 39.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 41.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 35.
- ^ M II.228.16 ff according to the PTS numbering.
- ^ a b Wynne 2007, p. 43.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 44.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 99.
- ^ Wynne 2007, p. 73.
- ^ King 1992, p. 90.
- ^ Thanissaro Bhikkhu, One Tool Among Many. The Place of Vipassana in Buddhist Practice
- ^ Gregory 1991.
- ^ a b Schmithausen 1981.
- ^ Vetter 1988, pp. xxi–xxii.
- ^ Vetter 1988, pp. xxi-xxxvii.
- ^ a b Peter Harvey, An Introduction to Buddhism. Cambridge University Press, 1990, page 252.
- ^ a b Nathan Katz, Buddhist Images of Human Perfection: The Arahant of the Sutta Piṭaka Compared with the Bodhisattva and the Mahāsiddha. Motilal Banarsidass, 1990, page 78.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxvii.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxxi.
- ^ Bronkhorst 1993, pp. 100–101.
- ^ Bronkhorst 1993, p. 131.
- ^ a b Vetter 1988, pp. xxi–xxxvii.
- ^ Gombrich 1997, p. 96-134.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxxv.
- ^ a b Wynne 2007, p. 105.
- ^ Williams 2000, p. 45.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxviii.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxix.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxx.
- ^ Thanissaro Bhikkhu's commentary on the Anuppada Sutta, MN#111
- ^ Rose 2016, p. 60-61.
- ^ B. Alan Wallace, The bridge of quiescence: experiencing Tibetan Buddhist meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, page 92. Wallace translates both as "the first proximate meditative stabilization".
- ^ Tse-fu Kuan, Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: New Approaches Through Psychology and Textual Analysis of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Sources. Routledge, 2008, pages 65–67.
- ^ Venerable Sujivo, Access and Fixed Concentration. Vipassana Tribune, Vol 4 No 2, July 1996, Buddhist Wisdom Centre, Malaysia. Available here.
- ^ Sujiva, Mastering an Absorption , Buddhanet
- ^ a b Rose 2016, p. 61.
- ^ The great Jhana debate
- ^ Buddhadasa; Bhikkhu Tanissaro; Arbel 2017
- ^ a b c Bhikkhu Thanissaro, Concentration and Discernment
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 117.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 136.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 137.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 137-138.
- ^ Vetter 1988, p. xxxvi.
- ^ Shankman 2008, p. 80.
- ^ a b Rose 2016, p. 59.
- ^ Richard Shankman, The Experience of Samadhi – an in depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, Shambala publications 2008
- ^ "Samaññaphala Sutta".
- ^ Arbel 2017, p. 16.
- ^ Nan, Huai-Chin. To Realize Enlightenment: Practice of the Cultivation Path. 1994. p. 1
- ^ Sheng Yen. Orthodox Chinese Buddhism. North Atlantic Books. 2007. p. 122
- ^ Deleanu, Florin (1992); Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras. Transactions of the International Conference of Orientalists in Japan (TICOJ) 37, 42-57.
- ^ Fischer-Schreiber, Ehrhard & Diener 2008, p. 103.
- ^ Ven. Dr. Yuanci, A Study of the Meditation Methods in the DESM and Other Early Chinese Texts Archived 2013-05-08 at the Wayback Machine, The Buddhist Academy of China.
- ^ Sheng, Yen. "Fundamentals of Meditation".
- ^ Sōtō Zen Text Project. "Zazengi translation". Stanford University. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Sōtō Zen Text Project. "Fukan Zazengi". Stanford University. Archived from the original on 2008-04-29. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
- ^ a b Luk, Charles. The Secrets of Chinese Meditation. 1964. p. 44
- ^ Nan, Huai-Chin. Basic Buddhism: Exploring Buddhism and Zen. 1997. p. 92
- ^ Blyth 1966.
- ^ Loori 2006.
- ^ Lachs 2006.
- ^ a b B. Alan Wallace, The Bridge of Quiescence: Experiencing Tibetan Buddhist Meditation. Carus Publishing Company, 1998, pages 215–216.
- ^ Study and Practice of Meditation: Tibetan Interpretations of the Concentrations and Formless Absorptions by Leah Zahler. Snow Lion Publications: 2009 pg 264-5
- ^ B. Alan Wallace, The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind. Wisdom Publications, 2006, page xii.
- ^ a b Johannes Bronkhorst (1993). The Two Traditions of Meditation in Ancient India. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 45–49, 68–70, 78–81, 96–98, 112–119. ISBN 978-81-208-1114-0.
- ^ Constance Jones; James D. Ryan (2006). Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Infobase. pp. 283–284. ISBN 978-0-8160-7564-5.
- ^ James G. Lochtefeld, Ph.D. (2001). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Volume 1. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-8239-3179-8.
- ^ Wujastyk 2011, p. 33.
- ^ Feuerstein 1978, p. 108.
- ^ Tola, Dragonetti & Prithipaul 1987, p. x.
- ^ Moving Inward: The Journey from Asana to Pratyahara Archived July 19, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy.
- ^ Karel Werner, The Yogi and the Mystic. Routledge 1994, page 27.
- ^ Robert Thurman, The Central Philosophy of Tibet. Princeton University Press, 1984, page 34.
- ^ Woods, James Haughton, trans. (1914). The Yoga System of Patanjali with commentary Yogabhashya attributed to Veda Vyasa and Tattva Vaicharadi by Vacaspati Misra. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.[page needed]
- ^ An Outline of the Religious Literature of India, By John Nicol Farquhar p.132
- ^ Bodhi, Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN 0-86171-331-1.[page needed]
Fuentes
- Arbel, Keren (2017), Early Buddhist Meditation: The Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight, Routledge
- Blyth, R. H. (1966), Zen and Zen Classics, Volume 4, Tokyo: Hokuseido Press
- Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993), The Two Traditions Of Meditation In Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
- Bucknell, Robert S. (1993), "Reinterpreting the Jhanas", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 16 (2)
- Cousins, L. S. (1996), "The origins of insight meditation" (PDF), in Skorupski, T. (ed.), The Buddhist Forum IV, seminar papers 1994–1996 (pp. 35–58), London, UK: School of Oriental and African Studies
- Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 1: India and China, World Wisdom Books, ISBN 978-0-941532-89-1
- Feuerstein, George (1978), Handboek voor Yoga (Dutch translation; English title "Textbook of Yoga"), Ankh-Hermes
- Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid; Ehrhard, Franz-Karl; Diener, Michael S. (2008), Lexicon Boeddhisme. Wijsbegeerte, religie, psychologie, mystiek, cultuur en literatuur, Asoka
- Fox, Martin Stuart (1989), "Jhana and Buddhist Scholasticism", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 12 (2)
- Gethin, Rupert (1992), The Buddhist Path to Awakening, OneWorld Publications
- Gethin, Rupert (2004), "On the Practice of Buddhist Meditation According to the Pali Nikayas and Exegetical Sources", Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart, 9: 201–21
- Gombrich, Richard F. (1997), How Buddhism Began, Munshiram Manoharlal
- Gregory, Peter N. (1991), Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
- Kalupahana, David J. (1992), The Principles of Buddhist Psychology, Delhi: ri Satguru Publications
- Kalupahana, David J. (1994), A history of Buddhist philosophy, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
- King, Richard (1995), Early Advaita Vedānta and Buddhism: The Mahāyāna Context of the Gauḍapādīya-kārikā, SUNY Press
- King, Winston L. (1992), Theravada Meditation. The Buddhist Transformation of Yoga, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
- Lachs, Stuart (2006), The Zen Master in America: Dressing the Donkey with Bells and Scarves
- Loori, John Daido (2006), Sitting with Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-369-9
- Matsumoto, Shirõ (1997) (1997), The Meaning of "Zen". In Jamie Hubbard (ed.), Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm Over Critical Buddhism (PDF), Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, pp. 242–250, ISBN 082481908X
- Nanamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1995), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A New Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, Wisdom Publications, ISBN 0-86171-072-X
- Polak, Grzegorz (2011), Reexamining Jhana: Towards a Critical Reconstruction of Early Buddhist Soteriology, UMCS
- Quli, Natalie (2008), "Multiple Buddhist Modernisms: Jhana in Convert Theravada" (PDF), Pacific World, 10: 225–249
- Rose, Kenneth (2016), Yoga, Meditation, and Mysticism: Contemplative Universals and Meditative Landmarks, Bloomsbury
- Samuel, Geoffrey (2008). The Origins of Yoga and Tantra: Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-139-47021-6.
- Schmithausen, Lambert (1981), On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism". In: Studien zum Jainismus und Buddhismus (Gedenkschrift für Ludwig Alsdorf), hrsg. von Klaus Bruhn und Albrecht Wezler, Wiesbaden 1981, 199–250
- Shankman, Richard (2008), The Experience of Samadhi: An In-depth Exploration of Buddhist Meditation, Shambhala
- Tola, Fernando; Dragonetti, Carmen; Prithipaul, K. Dad (1987), The Yogasūtras of Patañjali on concentration of mind, Motilal Banarsidass
- Vetter, Tilmann (1988), The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism, BRILL
- Williams, Paul (2000), Buddhist Thought. A complete introduction to the Indian tradition, Routledge
- Wujastyk, Dominik (2011), The Path to Liberation through Yogic Mindfulness in Early Ayurveda. In: David Gordon White (ed.), "Yoga in practice", Princeton University Press
- Wynne, Alexander (2007), The Origin of Buddhist Meditation, Routledge
- Zhu, Rui (2005), "Distinguishing Sōtō and Rinzai Zen: Manas and the Mental Mechanics of Meditation" (PDF), East and West, 55 (3): 426–446
Otras lecturas
- Scholarly (philological/historical)
- Analayo (2017), Early Buddhist Meditation Studies (defence of traditional Theravada position)
- Bronkhorst, Johannes (1993), The Two Traditions Of Meditation In Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidass Publ.
- Bucknell, Robert S. (1993), "Reinterpreting the Jhanas", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 16 (2)
- Polak (2011), Reexamining Jhana
- Stuart-Fox, Martin (1989), "Jhana and Buddhist Scholasticism", Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, 12 (2)
- Wynne, Alexander (2007), The Origin of Buddhist Meditation, Routledge
- Re-assessment of jhana in Theravada
- Arbel, Keren (2017), Early Buddhist Meditation, Taylor & Francis
- Quli, Natalie (2008), "Multiple Buddhist Modernisms: Jhana in Convert Theravada" (PDF), Pacific World, 10: 225–249
- Shankman, Richard (2008), The Experience of Samadhi
enlaces externos
- Sutras
- "Jhana" (2005), descriptions and similes from the Pali Canon's Anguttara Nikaya and Dhammapada, by John T. Bullitt.
- "Jhana wars"
- Leigh Breighton, Interpretations of the Jhanas
- Jhana Wars!, Simple|Suttas
- Sutta-style jhanas: a western phenomenon?, Dhamma Wheel
- O'Brien, Barbara. “Jhanas or Dhyanas: A Progression of Buddhist Meditation.” Learn Religions, 28 Sept. 2018, www.learnreligions.com/the-jhanas-or-dhyanas-449552.
- Western Theravada (Pali Based Interpretation)
- Ajahn Brahmavamso, Travelogue to the four Jhanas
- Ajahn Brahmavamso, The Jhanas
- Western Theravada (English Based Interpretation)
- Thanissaro Bhikkhuhttps, Jhana not by the numbers
- Bhante Vimalaramsi Mahāthera, MN 111 One by One as They Occurred – Anupada Sutta. Dhamma-Talks on the Anupada-Sutta. This provides a highly detailed account of the progression through the jhānas.