Early Buddhist Meditation: The Four Jhanas as the Actualization of Insight (Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism)

This book addresses a key problem in the study of Buddhist meditation: The relationship between ‘insight practice’ (vipassana) and the attainment of the four jhanas (i.e., right samàdhi). It offers a fresh look at an important element in Buddhist meditation theory and provides a novel map of the theoretical progress of meditation according to the early Buddhist texts. The book demonstrates that the four jhanas have been misunderstood by inaccurate interpretations of key terms in Buddhist psychology and philosophy as well as oversights of important aspects of the meditation process. By carefully analyzing the descriptions of the four jhanas in the early Buddhist texts in Pali, 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 academics in the field of Buddhist studies, including Buddhist philosophy and practise, Indian philosophy and religions, Asian religions, South Asian studies, contemplative studies and researchers of mindfulness meditation. 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. The relationship between insight practice (vipassana) and the attainment of the four jhanas (i.e. right samadhi) is a key problem in the study of Buddhist meditation. The four jhanas have been misunderstood by inaccurate interpretations of key terms in Buddhist psychology and philosophy and there have been oversights of important aspects of the meditation process. This book offers a fresh look at this important element of Buddhist meditation theory and provides a novel map of the theoretical progress of meditation according to the early Buddhist texts in Pali. By carefully analyzing the descriptions of the four jhanas in the early Buddhist texts, 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. Current literature on the phenomenology of the four jhanas and their relationship with the 'practice of insight' has mostly recapitulated traditional Theravada interpretations. No one to date has offered a comprehensive analysis of the fourfold jhana model independently from traditional explications Current literature on the phenomenology of the four jhānas and their relation-ship with the 'practice of insight' has mostly repeated traditional Theravāda inter-pretations. No one to date has offered a comprehensive analysis of the fourfold jhāna model independently from traditional interpretations. This book offers such an analysis. It presents a model which speaks in the Nikāyas' distinct voice. It demonstrates that the distinction between the 'practice of serenity' (samatha-bhāvanā) and the 'practice of insight' (vipassanā-bhāvanā) - a funda-mental distinction in Buddhist meditation theory - is not applicable to early Bud-dhist understanding of the meditative path. It seeks to show that the common interpretation of the jhānas as 'altered states of consciousness', absorptions that do not reveal anything about the nature of phenomena, is incompatible with the teachings of the Pāli Nikāyas This book offers a new interpretation of the relationship between 'insight practice' (satipaṭṭhāna) and the attainment of the four jhānas (i.e., right samādhi), a key problem in the study of Buddhist meditation. The author challenges the traditional Buddhist understanding of the four jhānas as states of absorption, and shows how these states are the actualization and embodiment of insight (vipassanā). It pro-poses that the four jhānas and what we call 'vipassanā'are integral dimensions of a single process that leads to awakening By carefully analyzing the descriptions of the four jhānas in the early Buddhist texts in Pāli, 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 and Asian philosophies and religions, as well as Buddhist practitioners with a serious interest in the process of insight meditation