The Ideas and Meditative Practices of Early Buddhism
Author : Tilmann Vetter
Publisher : Brill Archive
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 33,81 MB
Release : 1988
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004089594
Author : Tilmann Vetter
Publisher : Brill Archive
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 33,81 MB
Release : 1988
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9789004089594
Author : Tilmann Vetter
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 31,33 MB
Release : 2023-07-31
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9004644385
Author : Keren Arbel
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 41,61 MB
Release : 2017-03-16
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1317383990
This book offers a new interpretation of the relationship between 'insight practice' (satipatthana) and the attainment of the four jhànas (i.e., right samàdhi), a key problem in the study of Buddhist meditation. The author challenges the traditional Buddhist understanding of the four jhànas as states of absorption, and shows how these states are the actualization and embodiment of insight (vipassanà). It proposes that the four jhànas and what we call 'vipassanà' are integral dimensions of a single process that leads to awakening. Current literature on the phenomenology of the four jhànas and their relationship with the 'practice of insight' has mostly repeated traditional Theravàda interpretations. No one to date has offered a comprehensive analysis of the fourfold jhàna model independently from traditional interpretations. This book offers such an analysis. It presents a model which speaks in the Nikàyas' distinct voice. It demonstrates that the distinction between the 'practice of serenity' (samatha-bhàvanà) and the 'practice of insight' (vipassanà-bhàvanà) – a fundamental distinction in Buddhist meditation theory – is not applicable to early Buddhist understanding of the meditative path. It seeks to show that the common interpretation of the jhànas as 'altered states of consciousness', absorptions that do not reveal anything about the nature of phenomena, is incompatible with the teachings of the Pàli Nikàyas. By carefully analyzing the descriptions of the four jhànas in the early Buddhist texts in Pàli, their contexts, associations and meanings within the conceptual framework of early Buddhism, the relationship between this central element in the Buddhist path and 'insight meditation' becomes revealed in all its power. Early Buddhist Meditation will be of interest to scholars of Buddhist studies, Asian philosophies and religions, as well as Buddhist practitioners with a serious interest in the process of insight meditation.
Author : Analayo
Publisher : Windhorse Publications
Page : 163 pages
File Size : 22,87 MB
Release : 2015-07-27
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1909314625
Analayo investigates the meditative practices of compassion and emptiness by examining and interpreting material from the early Buddhist discourses. Similar to his previous study of satipaa'-a'-hana, he brings a new dimension to our understanding by comparing Pali texts with versions that have survived in Chinese, Sanskrit and Tibetan. The result is a wide-ranging exploration of what these practices meant in early Buddhism.
Author : David L. McMahan
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 24,96 MB
Release : 2023
Category : Meditation
ISBN : 0197661742
"Rethinking Meditation provides a new theoretical and historical approach to Buddhist and Buddhist-derived meditative practices. It shows how, rather than coming down to us unchanged from the time of the Buddha, the standard articulation of mindfulness as bare, non-judgmental attention to the present moment is a distillation of particular strands of classical Buddhist thought that have combined with western ideas to create a unique practice tailored to modern forms of thought and ways of life. Part genealogical study and part philosophical argument, it inquires into some of the widespread assumptions about how meditation works and what it does, presenting a view of meditative practices as technologies of the self embedded in cultural forms of life. It shows that the relationship between meditative practices and cultural context is much more crucial than is suggested in typical contemporary articulations, which often emphasize transcendence of cultural conditioning and achieving "objective" internal access to the contents of consciousness. Meditation, McMahan argues, is always situated in social contexts and draws from repertoires of cultural categories, concepts, and values, sometimes accommodating them and sometimes resisting them. Rethinking Meditation also considers the scientific study of meditation and meditation in relation to modern articulations of secularism, freedom, authenticity, appreciation, and interdependence. It also examines the potential for meditation to enhance autonomy and addresses recent attempts to bring meditative practices to bear on social, political, and environmental issues"--
Author : Damien Keown
Publisher : Oxford Paperbacks
Page : 180 pages
File Size : 43,62 MB
Release : 1996-10-03
Category : Religion
ISBN : 0191606448
This Very Short Introduction introduces the reader to the teachings of the Buddha and to the integration of Buddhism into daily life. What are the distinctive features of Buddhism? Who was the Buddha, and what are his teachings? How has Buddhist thought developed over the centuries, and how can contemporary dilemmas be faced from a Buddhist perspective? Words such as 'karma' and 'nirvana' have entered our vocabulary, but what do they mean? Damien Keown's book provides a lively, informative response to these frequently asked questions about Buddhism.
Author : Eviatar Shulman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 25,39 MB
Release : 2014-06-23
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 110706239X
Shulman traces the development of the four noble truths, which in fact originated as observations to be cultivated during meditation.
Author : Daniel Ingram
Publisher : Aeon Books
Page : 715 pages
File Size : 10,39 MB
Release : 2020-01-20
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 1780498152
The very idea that the teachings can be mastered will arouse controversy within Buddhist circles. Even so, Ingram insists that enlightenment is an attainable goal, once our fanciful notions of it are stripped away, and we have learned to use meditation as a method for examining reality rather than an opportunity to wallow in self-absorbed mind-noise. Ingram sets out concisely the difference between concentration-based and insight (vipassana) meditation; he provides example practices; and most importantly he presents detailed maps of the states of mind we are likely to encounter, and the stages we must negotiate as we move through clearly-defined cycles of insight. Its easy to feel overawed, at first, by Ingram's assurance and ease in the higher levels of consciousness, but consistently he writes as a down-to-earth and compassionate guide, and to the practitioner willing to commit themselves this is a glittering gift of a book.In this new edition of the bestselling book, the author rearranges, revises and expands upon the original material, as well as adding new sections that bring further clarity to his ideas.
Author : Anālayo
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 27,65 MB
Release : 2017-03-10
Category : Buddhist meditations
ISBN : 9781540410504
In this book, Bhikkhu Analayo, scholar and meditation teacher, examines central aspects of Buddhist meditation as reflected in the early discourses of the Buddha, based on revised and reorganized material from previously published articles. The main topics he takes up are mindfulness, the path to awakening, absorption, and the brahmaviharas. He compares parallel versions of the discourses in a variety of languages which offers a window on the earliest stages in the development of these Buddhist teachings.
Author : Bhikkhu Sujato
Publisher : Bhikkhu Sujato
Page : 397 pages
File Size : 29,6 MB
Release : 2011-07-18
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1921842091
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta is the most influential scripture in Buddhist meditation. It is the foundation text for the modern schools of 'vipassanā' or 'insight' meditation. The well-known Pali discourse is, however, only one of many early Buddhist texts that deal with mindfulness. This is the first full-scale study to encompass all extant versions of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, taking into account the dynamic evolution of the Buddhist scriptures and the broader Indian meditative culture. A new vision emerges from this groundbreaking study: mindfulness is not a system of 'dry insight' but is the 'way to convergence' leading the mind to deep states of peace.