Post # 24-Meditation as advocated in Buddhist  Practice -Part 3-- Serenity Meditation

Are you visiting this Blog for the first time? It would be good if you could check out the archives and read the 1^st Post to know about this Blog, and read the rest in sequence.

In Post #22 and Post # 23 we saw some reference made to Meditation by learned practitioners. This was provided as a background for understanding its meaning. They were also presented to motivate the busy householder to engage in a regular practice of Meditation.

Meditation in Buddhism is recognized as the means of developing the wisdom needed to attain enlightenment. The skill and practice you acquire by meditation helps you to be more successful in worldly/daily life, by getting about your chores mindfully and efficiently. On the spiritual side these endeavours will help us to progress in reaching world transcending states (marga pala).

The most often mentioned worldly benefits from meditation are : stress relief or overcoming stress which scientists are finding out is the root cause of almost all the mind-body ailments and dysfunctions; providing deep relaxation and rest resulting in reduction in body and mind overreacting to stressful situations; higher work efficiency such as effectiveness,  job satisfaction, physiological stability and  general health; better school performance such as increases in general intellectual and cognitive performance, reduced school-related stress, anxiety and depression; improved intelligence such as ability to successfully reason in new situations, speed of information processing and balanced use of cognitive and volitional traits such as comprehension, analysis, synthesis, and risk calculations. - These are worthy of note but can only be verified through actual experience from results of meditation.

We also saw that there are basically two types of meditation practices advocated in Buddha Dhamma. They are the samatha bhawana (serenity meditation) and vippasana bhawana (insight meditation).

The golden rule about meditation is that you should have a good teacher who can guide you through the process and clarify doubts and resolve issue as you experience them during meditation practice. You will realize that it is not always possible to get a good teacher, and such opportunities are available usually at meditation retreats. Therefore to make the best of an opportunity at a retreat and the presence of a good teacher, we should do some preliminary work and acquire some skills so that we can optimize the opportunity when it arises. This way as the popular saying goes ‘you hit the road running’ when you attend a meditation retreat and utilize the full period available for gaining the intended benefits.

In context, meditation fits into a pattern of Buddhist Practice. This pattern-the Noble Eightfold Path, is integrated and operates in harmony, and the constituents grouped into Seela, Samadhi and Panna, complement each other. Defilements accumulated by us operate at three layers. These layers are anusaya (latent) state, pariuttana (manifestation/arising) state, and the third layer is veethikkama (transgression into action) state.  To deal with them existing at these separate layers one needs different tools. The three steps in the Buddhist practice designed to counteract these three stages are as follows. Transgression state is counteracted by the seela (moral restraint) skills; Manifestation state is counteracted by samadhi (serenity meditative) skills; and in Latent state defilements are eliminated by insight meditative skills.

The practice of Bhavana (meditation) begins with concentration. This is the wholesome action of learning to take control of the mental processes, to become master of one’s own mind. Meditation related to right concentration (samma samadhi) is developed by resorting to the Bhawana practice referred to as samatha bhawana (serenity meditation). By engaging in the practice of developing the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, the practitioner has properly conditioned his/her mind to engage in serenity meditation advocated in Buddha Dhamma for attaining Samma Samadhi (right concentration).

The state of Samadhi, is a deep state of concentrated mind. This is a state of mind that is unified and free from discursive thoughts.  As concentration develops through samatha bawana, the practitioner reaches a state referred to as Upachara Samadhi (access concentration). Moving ahead in meditation the practitioner attains the next higher level, Arpana Samadhi - the first material jhana or a high state of concentrated and absorbed mind. This is characterized by five jhana factors or factors of absorption.  They are –initial application- Vittakka (applying the factors of the mind to the subject or direct the mind again and again at the subject); sustained application- Vichara (keeping the mind anchored on the subject or keep the mind examining the object); Peethi - happiness; Sukha - rapture; and Ekkaggatha - collected and concentrated mind.  Peethi and  Sukha in this situation have subtle but distinct meaning and  are symbolised in an example in the text as follows. It refers to a very thirsty man nearly dying of  thirst  walking through a jungle and hears the noise of a running stream. He then experiences peethi. Then when he finds the water and start to drink he experiences sukha.

Beyond this first material Jhana, there are three other levels of higher concentration culminating in 4^th material Jhana. The jhana factors experienced at the 4^th level are Uppekka (neutral state of perceptions and feelings in terms of what they really are and not on what they appear to be) and Ekkaggatha (collected and concentrated mind). Those practitioners motivated for still higher levels can target the four immaterial jhanas, characterized by higher levels of absorption, assisted by a focused concentration on an immaterial object.

A practitioner achieving access concentration or any other level of higher jhana, will have the five hindrances suppressed in the mind. The five hindrances - pancha neewarana are, sensual desire; ill will or hatred; dullness and drowsiness; restlessness and worry (remorse or regret); and doubt (inability to accept the Buddha as a teacher and the efficacy of his Dhamma).This is a suitably collected and concentrated mind, to proceed to insight meditation for achieving Yatha Bhutha Nanaya, the wisdom of seeing the true nature of things. The Buddha attained these states of concentration in the first watch of the night in his quest for enlightenment. 

It is said that reaching samadhi (Concentrated Mind) through the 16 prescribed ways of ana pana sathi (one pointed and concentrated mind focused on breathing) to high levels, one  develops some extraordinary abilities or superpowers such as Irdhi Prathihara (some divine like abilities) and  Diyana Abbinna (a divine eye, divine ear etc.). The most often mentioned powers and abilities that can be acquired when meditating are: knowledge of past lives - witnessing forms, personalities and events that one has lived through in past existences; the ability to “read” the minds of other people and know, even across great distances, what they are thinking and feeling; hearing conversations in different languages, and events from this and other worlds; single-pointed and concentrated mind where no pain, hunger or thirst, whether physical or mental, will reach.  Although these powers have been used by the Buddha and other Arahants (Noble Ones) to convince non believers about the ‘Teaching’, they have never been advocated by the Buddha as necessary for the lay follower to reach liberation.

I have thus discussed the Samadhi (Concentrated Mind) Part. In the next post I will touch on how the Vippassana wisdom unfolds when you engage in insight meditation, as some pointers to create sufficient motivation.