Buddhist meditation: The theoretical framework

by Paul Williams and Anthony Tribe

Calming meditation aims to still the mind. It presupposes that the meditator has faith in the teachings of the Buddha, has adopted the moral perspective required of a good Buddhist, and is otherwise involved in the religious activities expected of a practitioner who is seriously engaged in the path. In order to bring about the desired state of mental calm the meditator starts by learning to focus the mind, narrowing down its attention so that he or she becomes simply aware. In other words, he or she concentrates. Because concentration requires something to concentrate on, works such as the Visuddhimagga list forty different possible objects of concentration. These include concentrating on, for example, a blue disc. This is one of ten objects of concentration known in Pali as kasinas, and taking a coloured disc as an object is said to be particularly suitable for those whose personality is dominated by aversion among the three root poisons. Those who are dominated by craving might take as their object the skeleton. Those by delusion (or whose mind is inclined to instability) might start with mindfulness of breathing. This last has become well known in the modern world through being the very first meditation practice in the Mahasatipatthana Sutta, a discourse particularly favoured by more recent Burmese meditation masters and there used for all meditators, perhaps because everyone’s mind is at first inclined to instability. Indeed the text describes itself as the sole way:

Herein, a monk having gone to the forest, to the foot of a tree, or to an empty place, sits down cross-legged, keeps his body erect and his mindfulness alert. Just mindful he breathes in and mindful he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath, he knows ‘I breath in a long breath’; breathing out a long breath, he knows ‘I breath out a long breath’; breathing in a short breath, he knows ‘I breath in a short breath’; breathing out a short breath, he knows ‘I breath out a short breath’.

(Mahasatipatthana Sutta trans. Nyanaponika Thera: 117–18)

Then there are the so-called ‘divine abodes’ (brahmaviharas), also known as the ‘four immeasurables’, again particularly recommended for those of an aversion disposition, but originally thought of as a sufficient means for attaining enlightenment itself. These entail developing all-pervading loving-kindness (metta), with the universal wish: ‘May all sentient beings be well and happy’. One then develops universal compassion (karuna) with the universal wish, ‘May all sentient beings be free of suffering’. This is followed by universal sympathetic joy (mudita), which is delight at the happiness of others; and finally, universal equanimity (upeksa / upekkha). In such meditations one practises steadily and repeatedly, gently drawing the mind back to the object when it wanders.

The meditator is exhorted to overcome the five hindrances: sensual desire, ill will, tiredness and sleepiness, excitement and depression, and doubt. In abandoning the five hindrances, the Samaññaphala Sutta observes, the meditator “looks upon himself as freed from debt, rid of disease, out of jail, a free man, and secure” (Samaññaphala Sutta, trans. Rhys-Davids 1899:84), and eventually he or she attains the first jhana (Sans. dhyana). As we saw above, the first jhana is characterised by applied thought, examination, joy, happiness, and one-pointedness of mind. The second jhana has just joy, happiness, and one-pointedness of mind, since ability in meditation has here become so refined that consciously applied thought and examination are no longer needed in order to place the mind on the object. The third jhana lacks even joy, which can become a disturbance, and has only happiness and one-pointedness. The fourth jhana similarly lacks happiness, and possesses just one-pointedness and equanimity. From attaining the fourth jhana it becomes possible (it is said) to develop what might be called supernormal powers (Sans. rddhis), or ‘super-knowledges’ (Sans. abhijña). These include the ability to create bodies with the mind, walk through walls, fly through the air, hear distant sounds, know the minds of others, and to know the past lives of oneself and others.

The general view of the Buddhist tradition is that some considerable ability in calming meditation is necessary in order to develop very effectively insight meditation, although it is not necessary actually to attain the fourth dhyana before commencing insight meditation. Insight meditation involves bringing about a state of meditative absorption where the object of meditation is not one of the objects of calming meditation but rather is how things really are, understood in terms of suffering, impermanence, and not-self and their implications and ramifications. In so doing one attains wisdom (Sanskrit: prajña). As can be readily understood from what has gone before, seeing in this manner directly in the deepest way possible is held to cut completely the forces which lead to rebirth and suffering.

The model for the path of insight meditation employed in Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga is that of the ‘seven purifications’. The first two purifications concern (i) engagement in proper moral conduct (sila), and (ii) developing tranquility (samatha – not to be confused with samata or sameness). The third (iii) is ‘purification of perception’, breaking down the sense of a self through awareness that our consciousness of the world takes place entirely within our own mind, and it is created by our mind’s five functions (skandhas). The fourth (iv) purification is the ‘purification by overcoming delusion’. Just as the purification of perception involves an awareness of ways in which we erroneously perceive the existence of the self, this fourth purification involves examining how phenomena arise. Thus one comes to understand karman and to see directly how things are the result of causality and nothing more. Buddhaghosa observes (19:27) that upon overcoming delusion one becomes a ‘lesser stream-enterer’. The fifth purification (v) is that of ‘knowing and seeing what is the Way (magga) and what is not the Way’. This involves taking various groups and classes of phenomena and seeing that they are all impermanent, cause suffering, and are not the Self. One then sees them as arising and falling in their constant change and impermanence. Thus the meditator comes to deconstruct the apparent stability of things and to directly see the world as a process, a flow. Gethin draws attention to the images Buddhaghosa selects for this stage of the meditator’s experience:

[T]he world is no longer experienced as consisting of things that are lasting and solid but rather as something that vanishes almost as soon as it appears—like dew drops at sunrise, like a bubble on water, like a line drawn on water, like a mustard-seed placed on the point of an awl, like a flash of lightning. Things in themselves lack substance and always elude one’s grasp—like a mirage, a conjuring trick, a dream, the circle formed by a whirling firebrand, a fairy city, foam, or the trunk of a banana tree.

(Gethin 1998:190; ref. Visuddhimagga 20:104)

The mind of the meditator at this time is said to be close to absorption (dhyana), and there is a danger that the meditator might become complacent and attached (Visuddhimagga 20: sects 105 ff.). Tearing himself away from this, the meditator attains the sixth (vi) purification, ‘purification through knowing and seeing the path (patipada). At this stage the meditator returns to contemplating with renewed vigour and ever deepening awareness the rising and sinking of phenomena (dharma), and attains a series of eight knowledges with ‘knowledge in conformity to truth as the ninth’ (op. cit.: Ch. 21). Attaining the eight knowledges, in a state of deep equanimity and concentration, the meditator crosses over from worldly meditative absorption to transcendent or supramundane absorption. At this point the meditator ‘changes lineage’. He or she ceases to belong to the lineage (class) of ordinary people (Sans. prthagjana) and joins the lineage of the Noble Ones (Sans. arya). He or she is said now to take nirvana as the meditative object. Nevertheless the complete eradication of hindrances or fetters (samyojana; also anusaya—tendencies) may still take time. One is said to become a ‘stream-enterer’ by abandoning the first three of the ten fetters: the ‘view of individuality’, doubt, and clinging to precepts and vows. In finally and deeply abandoning these one will be reborn at the most seven more times before becoming enlightened. In becoming a stream-enterer one is said to attain the seventh (vii) and final purification, the ‘purification by knowing and seeing’.

On permanently weakening the next two fetters, sensual desire and aversion, one becomes a ‘once-returner’, who will be reborn as a human being no more than one more time. On completely abandoning all five fetters one becomes a ‘never-returner’, and if one still does not attain full enlightenment one is reborn in the higher planes of the form realm.* On completely and irrevocably eradicating all ten fetters one becomes enlightened, an arhat. In one moment the meditator sees and understands the four Noble Truths, and all the factors leading to enlightenment are fulfilled. In subsequent moments the meditator is said to enjoy the ‘resultant’ meditative absorption. These four ‘noble fruits’ may be attained successively, over a long period of time; but there is also a view that their attainment may be in quick succession, or even that one might ‘leap’ directly to one or other of the fruits.

*desire realm, form realm, formless realm: the triple-world
The desire realm consists of worlds of descending orders of density and ascending orders of frequency: Earth has the highest density and the lowest frequency
The form realm consists of worlds in which there are forms but no desire
The formless realm has no forms

Paul Williams with Anthony Tribe (2000). Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. London and New York: Routledge. https://epdf.tips/buddhist-thought-a-complete-introduction-to-the-indian-tradition2d1f51a1d8124d8318514b2d4c44740c51971.html

The Seven Purifications of Buddhaghosa’s Insight Meditation

1. ‘purification through proper moral conduct’ (sila)
2. ‘purification through developing calm’ (samatha)
3. ‘purification of view’, breaking down the sense of self through constant direct awareness (mindfulness) that we are nothing more than skandha
4. ‘purification by overcoming doubt’—examining causal dependence as a continuum in time; understanding karman
5. ‘knowing and seeing what is the way and what is not the way’—taking various groups and classes of phenomena and seeing that they are all impermanent, cause suffering, and are not Self (Anatta-lakkhana Sutta)
6. ‘purification by knowing and seeing the path’
7. ‘purification by knowing and seeing’

The Ten Fetters (Buddhaghosa, Visuddhimagga)

Samyojana: Fetters that bind one to death and birth. These are identification with the self, doubt, clinging to precepts and practices, attachment to the sensuous realm, aversion, attachment to the form realm, attachment to the formless realm, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. (Note: these are very similar to anusaya–tendencies.) The last fetter, ignorance, is simply the condition of not having attained enlightenment. Therefore, it isn’t a fetter so much as a fact.

1. identification with the self (sakkaya-ditthi)
2. doubt (vicikiccha)
3. clinging to precepts and practices (silabbata paramasa; S. upadana)
4. attachment to the sensuous (desire realm) (kama-raga)
5. aversion (vyapada)
6. attachment to the form realm (rupa-raga)
7. attachment to the formless realm (arupa-raga)
8. conceit (mana)
9. restlessness (uddhacca*)
10. ignorance (avijja)

*Uddhacca is the inability to concentrate on any object steadfastly. Being distracted, one’s mind wanders from one object to another.

The first five samyojana are called ‘lower fetters’, as they belong to the desire realm; the last five are called ‘higher fetters’, as they belong to the form and the formless realms.

He who is free from the first three is called a Stream-enterer (Sotapanna).

He who has overcome four and five is called a Once-returner (Sakadagami). He will return once to the desire realm, where he will either attain liberation or pass on to a higher realm after death.

He who is fully freed from all five is called a Non-returner (Anagami). Again, if he does not attain liberation in this life he will pass on to a higher realm after death.

He who is freed from all ten fetters is called an Arahat, a completely enlightened one.

(Wisdom Library: https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/samyojana)