Bhaddekaratta

Courtesy: jsarcadia (click image)

In the Middle Length sayings, one of the few parts of the Pali Canon most Western Buddhists actually do get exposed to, there is a very interesting and beautiful triage of suttas which circle around the following stanza uttered by the Buddha:

Atītaṃ nānvāgameyya, nappaṭikaṅkhe anāgataṃ;

Yadatītaṃ pahīnaṃ taṃ, appattañca anāgataṃ.

Paccuppannañca yo dhammaṃ, tattha tattha vipassati;

Asaṃhīraṃ asaṃkuppaṃ, taṃ vidvā manubrūhaye.

Ajjeva kiccamātappaṃ, ko jaññā maraṇaṃ suve;

Na hi no saṅgaraṃ tena, mahāsenena maccunā.

Evaṃ vihāriṃ ātāpiṃ, ahorattamatanditaṃ;

Taṃ ve bhaddekarattoti, santo ācikkhate muni

The name of the sutta is quite odd. There are existing basically two alternative English translations, because, in fact, “bhaddekaratta” could be translated as either “having one beautiful night” or “being rightly delighted alone”. More important than the name though (which sounds like both ideas could be intended 🙂 is the content. Lets have a look at one traditional English translation which runs along the following lines:

You shouldn’t chase after the past
or place expectations on the future.
What is past is left behind.
The future is as yet unreached.
Whatever quality is present
you clearly see right there, right there.
Not taken in, unshaken,
that’s how you develop the heart.
Ardently doing what should be done today,
for — who knows? — tomorrow death.
There is no bargaining
with Mortality & his mighty horde.
Whoever lives thus ardently, relentlessly both day & night,
has truly had an auspicious day: so says the Peaceful Sage.

The crucial lines are obviously 3 & 4. After poetically capturing the fact that neither past nor future are worth chasing after the stanza tries to capture a meditative mind-set which we should try to adopt instead to reap ultimate benefits.

Paccuppannañca yo dhammaṃ, tattha tattha vipassati;

Asaṃhīraṃ asaṃkuppaṃ, taṃ vidvā manubrūhaye.

Several remarks:  “Paccuppannañca yo dhammaṃ”  whatever object exists in this moment, “tattha tattha vipassati” there, there see it clearly.  Now, if we did not know better, this would be a straight forward description of what vipassana meditation is all about. The doubling of a word in pali could mean a generalization, translated as “wherever”. However, if you ever did some vipassana meditation yourself, you might remember the speed of which objects turn up and how, from one moment to the other you note a sound, then a thought, then again a feeling… “physically” (the mind tends to proliferate, remember) it feels (!) like a “there” and then “there” again … each time you try to simply see it, very good, clearly; or, if we look at the prefix “vi-” in its “splitting” characteristic [link] you look at the object in the present, wherever it manifests closer and closer, getting to know it real good.

Now we come to the even more interesting part. Bhikkhu Bodhis seems to follow in his translation Ven. Nyanananda, who interprets this verse to reflect the state of an arahants concentration on nibbana (arahatta-phala-samapatti). Personally, i think this text rather tries to show/teach the right mind set for the training which will lead, eventually, to that particular state. That is why in some translations you will find the term “Asaṃhīraṃ” translated as  “Invincible” (Thanissaros version quoted above seems more valid in this respect). After the above it should be clear that we have to deal here with a very insight related setting. Taking this position, let me guide you through a translation attempt: 

Asaṃhīraṃ consists of a- (un- in English, a negating prefix) and sam- (together) + hiram. Hiram comes from harati, “to collect, to gather up, to take up”. But hiram is not the normal verb form. It is the passive form (see PTS dictionary entry below). So, hiram will mean something like “to be taken up, to be gathered”. You take in/take up to gather and grow. This is what we try not (a-) to do!

Think about it: If a sense impression catches your attention your mind starts spinning around it, trying to heap up even more impressions – however, not by looking at it closely from where and how it originated in a fashion which would be “yoniso manasikaro” (yoniso = origin/source/womb/) but rather with “ayoniso manasikaro” with blind (avijja) thirst. So, the Buddha says, there is a different way of looking at things.

Putting it all together does this make sense then to suspect something along the lines of:

Whatever present object, clearly look at it wherever (it appears)

Not-being-taken-up-by-it, Not-being-shaken-by-it, knowing this practise it persistently.

In two of the three suttas surrounding this verse this important part of the stanza is explained by Ven. Mahakaccayana thus:

‘‘Kathañca, āvuso, paccuppannesu dhammesu saṃhīrati? Yañcāvuso, cakkhu ye ca rūpā – ubhayametaṃ paccuppannaṃ. Tasmiṃ ce paccuppanne chandarāgappaṭibaddhaṃ hoti viññāṇaṃ, chandarāgappaṭibaddhattā viññāṇassa tadabhinandati, tadabhinandanto paccuppannesu dhammesu saṃhīrati.

How, o friends, is one being carried away (taken up) by present objects? The sense of seeing and the forms both are the presence [lit. arisen-against each other]. When in this presence the consciousness is bound by attraction and impulse then, based on the consciousness bound by impulse and attraction one finds delight there. Finding delight in the present objects one “is taken up” (by them).

If the exercise of vipassana would wish for a poetic summary, this little stanza would leave nothing to desire for. But then, the whole Tipitaka is full of such verses 🙂

Recommended further reading:  Ideal Solitude, (Bhikkhu Ñana-nanda)

and

http://bhaddekaratta.org/index.html

These guys definitely show a good taste in naming their sites…after the Bhaddekaratta Hermitage there seems to be some building of a Isipatana hermitage.

 

 

Mu~nca pure mu~nca pacchato
majjhe mu~nca bhavassa paaraguu
Sabbattha vimuttamaanaso
na puna jaatijara.m upehisi
Let go what has gone before
Let go that which comes after
Let go thy hold on the middle as well
And get beyond all existence
Thus with mind released in every way
Thou comest never more to birth and decay.

— Dhp v.348

 

—————-

PTS Definition:

Saŋharati 

Saŋharati [saŋ+harati] 1. to collect, fold up Vin i.46; ii.117, 150; M iii.169; J i.66, 422; Dāvs iv.12; PvA 73. — 2. to draw together Vin ii.217. — 3. to gather up, take up SnA 369 (rūpaŋ). — 4. to heap up Pviv.14 (saŋharimha=sañcinimha PvA 279). — asaŋhāriya (grd.) which cannot be destroyed (see also saŋhīra) S v.219. <-> Caus. II. ˚harāpeti to cause to collect, to make gather or grow Vin iv.259 (lomāni), 260 (id.). — Pass. saŋhīrati (q. v.). — pp. saŋhata. Cp. upa˚.

Anubrūheti   Anubrūheti [brūheti] to do very much or often, to practice, frequent, to be fond of (c. acc.), foster S i.178 (anubrūhaye); M iii.187 (id., so read for manu˚), Th 2, 163 (˚ehi); Cp. iii.12 (saŋvegaŋ anubrūhayiŋ aor.); J iii.191 (suññāgāraŋ). Often in phrase vivekaŋ anubrūheti to devote oneself to detachment or solitude, e.g. J i.9 (inf. ˚brūhetuŋ); iii.31 (˚brūhessāmi), Dh 75 (˚brūhaye = ˚brūheyya vaḍḍheyya DhAii.103). — pp. anubrūhita (q.v.) Cp. also brūhana. [=> The usage of this verb in the sutta above  is another indication (to me at least)  for this verse to highlight the training aspect of vipassana not its end result.]

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Samatha (or ???) Vipassana

The question whether to practise samatha or vipassana comes up again and again. 

 In the early days of the Burmese Vipassana movement long debates were waged on which approach would be the correct one (samatha || vipassana, that is).

 This question seems like a non-question. The Buddhas emphasis on the importance on samatha is clear while his whole teaching revolves around insight or ‘knowing and seeing’ as it was coined in the early days of his teaching.

 So, being a joint vehicle, both the serious Buddhist concentration meditator and the enthusiastic vipassana meditator will meet at the same place in their meditation eventually – albeit from different routes.

 However, while the uniqueness of the vipassana method is based on the simple fact that its discovery and explanation is only found in a Buddha-originating context – the attempt to develop strong insight without necessary groundwork in samatha meditation will simply prolong the journey (let alone what a lack in virtue might do in this regard…)

 Below an excerpt from a recent chat which came across a similar topic and might shed some ideas on this subject:

kalyanamitta: … and these aggregates are still just concepts

 me: exactly…they are

  that is why also the jhana are, in fact, inferior

  to any vipassana insight

  everything else keep syou in the realm of rebirth…which

 kalyanamitta: really?

me: in other words means…it leaves you with nothing

 kalyanamitta: the buddha used jhana to see the three true knowledges, no?

 me: because, even if you were Warren Buffet and owned the planet…in 2 billion years from now, it would be nothing more than adream

 kalyanamitta: how is that different.

  ?

 me: he did not realize nibbana because of the jhanas

  he realized nibbana because of the 4 noble truth..which was his way of doing vipassana

  i wrote a post on that one 🙂 [https://theravadin.wordpress.com/2008/03/31/even-the-4-noble-truths/]

 kalyanamitta: no, i know, but he used them to make his mind workable etc…

 me: but of course he prepared himself using the jhanas

  it is easier with strong concentration…vipassanas view will be sharp and crisp right away

 kalyanamitta: so, if my mind were to get the fourth jhana i could see the same things?

 me: yes….he did

  no

  not necessarily

kalyanamitta: why not?

  he said, jhanas then three true knowledges

 me: if you are in the 4th jhana, your concentration is pretty darn sharp…but you need to archieve a feat of insight

 kalyanamitta: it sounded progressive

 me: yes, and it is

  but not conditioned

  not this causes that

  but this is a support for that

 kalyanamitta: yeah, he directed his mind to the three true knowledges

 me: exactly

  you got it

  that is the critical thing there

 kalyanamitta: so, why can’t we do that?

 me: we do

  actually that is what you do

 kalyanamitta: why do we have to label everything?

 me: in each moment, where you note a thought, or sound

  you direct your direct knowledge to suffering

  to the five groups of grasping

kalyanamitta: i don’t get it.

 me: okay,

  let me try

  you know the 5 groups, right?

 kalyanamitta: cause i don’t see my past lives or kamma or four noble truths

  when i see my leg hurts and note it lol

me: okay, just one sec here

  lets take the leg

 kalyanamitta: yes, form feelings perception mental formations and consciousness

 me: but do you know what they mean

  apply them on the moment when you feel your leg hurts

  where are your 5 groups there?

 kalyanamitta: sure.

  it all happens so fast

i know that there is form, or a mind made form, and that there is feeling, and then it is perceived, and then a thought occurs and then i’m consciouss about all this

  that’s all i got

  lol

 me: okay, let me help you

  and this is just a sample

  to show you that this is suffering we do observe in this little vipassana exercise, which actually is not little but the application of direct knowledge itself

so, there is the leg, which in reality is some tangible object

  we dont know that it is a leg

  there is something tangible

  then a feeling, lets say a painful

  then a perception, a numb, deep rudimentary mental perception of “the leg”

  that is perception.

kalyanamitta: ok

 me: then comes sankhara, which is the “imagination” of it, the “putting it into perspective”

  the next layer (like the OSI model, you know, of communication) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model]

 kalyanamitta: mental proliferation or fabrication

  which layer 1-7?

 me: this adds the relationship to it, like “there is my leg, beneath me, below..”

  🙂

 kalyanamitta: 🙂

 me: we have only layer 1-5

kalyanamitta: lol

  indeed

 me: and all of this is nested in consciousness, which in pali just means “the knowing”

  so these 5 are just categorizations

 kalyanamitta: yeah

 me: the Buddha used for us to capture and better understand what quickly occurs in split seconds in each moment

  that is where he directed his attention to

  and he started simply recognizing it

 kalyanamitta: so, where is rebirth, for example, four noble truths. i don’t get it from the labeling, the connection. i don’t get it

 me: now the Buddha did this based on the jhanas which i entered before

  but thousands of his listeners in his sermons did not

 kalyanamitta: ask me to do by labeling you mean, right?

 me: they attained to all stages of enlightenement by applying this direct knowledge

  while listening to him

  they sure did not have all jhanas developed

  yes, the labeling

because what the labeling does is it stops your minds operations short

  like a grain of sand in a machine

 kalyanamitta: if they didn’t have jhanas, how can the regular mind with all the defilements and hindrances see anything of unbinding?

 me: into prolongs, artificially, the whole perception-proliferation-life creating machin our mind is made of

 kalyanamitta: ok

me: which allows us to break this whirlpool of

  consciousness on the one side and

  name (feeling, perception, imagination) and form (reall physical world) on the other hand

 kalyanamitta: just by paying attention is what your saying?

 me: once they break apart, which will happen in your vipassana the whole world breaks apart

  yes

amazing isnt it

  that is what the Buddha over and over calls

  “to see it as it is” (yathabhuta, nyanadassana, yoniso manasikaro)

  “direct knkowledge”

  etc etc

  so that is what he called in the early days “vipassana”

that term was introduced later in his life… that is my personal believe…so the term appears in the suttas

and the quintessence of this practice is all over the suttas…just the ‘coinage’ is different and of course the practice of adjoining concentration meditation was a given.

 kalyanamitta: i heard the same

 me: anyway…so what you do is quite extraordinary and the Buddhas system

 kalyanamitta: maybe by buddhaghosa

 me: well, there are only a view suttas which use vipassana but there are

  maybe some of his pupils started using that term

no problem…was long as we understand what this is all about

 kalyanamitta: ok

 me: my feeling is, that many people seem to know what vipassana is

  but actually have no clue what this really really is all about

  so, even if the buddha used the rocket lauchpad of jhana

  nobody has to

even listening to his sermons was enough for most to become stream enterers

  because they got to some first intrinsic insight using his direct seeing approach and experienced their “first nibbana”

  if you will

 kalyanamitta: but he always says go practice jhana and not go practice labeling things

 me: that is what i thought too, for many years

  now i do know that it is not the case

did you ever read the Samyutta NIkaya

 kalyanamitta: not the whole thing, no lol

  did you?!

 me: you get that impression if you read Majjhima…because there almost every sutta is about the approach (for monks! mind you)

  the appraoch based on the 3 vijjas, with jhana and then vipassana

kalyanamitta: yes, and that makes sense to me

 me: (oh yes, i did, in fact, read the  sutta pitaka several times – it is not such a marvelous task as it may seem)

  so, but if you go ahead and look at the Samyutta

 kalyanamitta: i don’t believe you

 me: especially

 kalyanamitta: !

 me: Khandha and Salyatana vaggas

  almost every sutta is on vipassana

  no mention of jhanas whatsoever

  hundreds of suttas

  all start like this

  let me find one for you

kalyanamitta: then why would he say in the dhammapada that when one has jhana he is close to unbinding?

 me: ah.too long

  wait

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn35/sn35.101.than.html

 kalyanamitta: yes, i’ve read similar ones before

 me: because, from a pragmatic and just pragmatic standpoint, someone with strong jhana of course has it easier to apply his laser like attention to SEE what is going on

it will only take LONGER for the vipassana meditator to SEE the same things…but then again: a hindu yogi with deep 4th jhana will not see the rising and falling of the 5 groups of grasping just because his mind is so concentrated…

 kalyanamitta: so, someone with my scatter mind is going to struggle lol

 me: sure

  and i am completely honest

  but the jhanas alone and in themselves would never rescue you

  you would still have to do vipassana at one point or the other

 kalyanamitta: so it seems stupid not to get jhana but then i’m back to square one

me: that is why my teachers (and i was myself VERY eager to get to the jhanas first) talked me out of it and said: first vipassana after some initial samatha…make sure you make this life count

 kalyanamitta: yes, but after!

  it seems logical to a, master jhana, b, label things

me: but not necessarily the full blown mastery of the same. it makes sense that if you look at what is happening in your mind in the labelling fashion day in day out though from a samsara-freedom aspiring standpoint 

 kalyanamitta: what does strong vipassana mean?

 me: (in a monastery setting that is 3 months)

kalyanamitta: oh

 me: that you wil lbreak through A LOT of delusions and attachments

  yes

  day and (almost all) night

  like in the time of the Buddha

  so, it is still doable

  now the question is, what do you pragmatically do from here

fight with the stupid hindrances and bad sourroundings to get to some unstable jhana for the next years

 or you try to just train for better concentrationa nd then go for a REAL vipassana hard core retreat in a few years for 3 months

 kalyanamitta: i don’t know.

 me: or you do some “dry” vipassana with whatever concetntration you got for the next couple of years with definitely a lot of insights at the same time.. all viable options

kalyanamitta: is there peace in my mind from labeling things?

 me: no, but from seeing the rising and falling of the six sense objects

  http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn35/sn35.101.than.html

  that peace (eventually) will be final

kalyanamitta: but, what about in the meantime?

 me: and labeling == stopping and seeing == realizing the start and end of sense objects == seeing them breaking down == disgusted == turning away == (eventually) nibbana

 kalyanamitta: i guess

 me: see, i see for your current “life” and time you got two alternative routes

either take it very slowly and do not expect anything big but steadily work on your concentration

 kalyanamitta: ok

me: and then maybe plan ahead for some very serious multi-month vipassana retreat…there are lots of places some with good teachers too, where you can just do that

  OR

use the concentration you have now and you might from time to time archieve (stumble over) using each of your free time for vipassana meditation at home with the intention to leave the jhanas alone, develop more insight, make your precious life count and also plan to do some strong vipassana whenever you life allows for it

kalyanamitta: i guess

 me: OR: if you are really really obsessed with jhana first route, in a couple of years, when you have time for it, find a teacher for jhana practise and do that first but those teachers are rare also and you still have to add the insight job on top of it, which is what got you started in the first place 🙂

Know pali? This link might be for you:

http://220.128.136.40/cgi-bin/accelon3cgi.exe/ksana?db=tipitaka.adb&tofind=vipassana&act=text&dn=$1C000002&t=&excerpt=1

Addon:

At the time of the Buddha, it seems, many of the “recluses” where doing some form of concentration anyways. Now of course instead of focusing on Indra, Agni or Varuna the Buddha pointed them to the development of insight, using what they got, clearing away any mysticism of concentrated states by a logical and rational clear-cut definition of meditative absorptions – the jhanas – and pointing them towards the enlightened trick of clear unwavering self observation, satipatthana:

“Yā kho, āvuso visākha, cittassa ekaggatā ayaṃ samādhi; cattāro satipaṭṭhānā samādhinimittā; cattāro sammappadhānā samādhiparikkhārā. Yā tesaṃyeva dhammānaṃ āsevanā bhāvanā bahulīkammaṃ, ayaṃ ettha samādhibhāvanā”ti. 

The one-pointedness of the mind, Brother Visakha, that is called concentration.

The four foundations/anchorages/pillars of remembering are the objects of concentration.

The four right efforts are the requisites of concentration.

And the repeated and habitual practice and development of these things, this is called “Development of concentration” . MN 44 [pi] [en]

In today’s Buddhist terminology though, the one-pointedness part would be looked at separately and understood as samatha or concentration meditation, whereas the second part, the vipassana-style meditation would be considered an insight meditation approach. In this paragraph above we see that this whole exercise was (yet) perceived as the development of concentration  – calmness, concentration and eventually the witnessing power of unshakeable remembering “atthi kayo” (there is a body), “atthi vedana” (there is a feeling), “atthi citta” (there is a mind), “atthi dhammo” (there is a mind object) – to be the earliest form of insight meditation. The terminology wasn’t yet as frozen as it is today, after 2500 years, but unlike today, the people who spoke about it knew what they meant 🙂

In any case, from here, the next look would be the Salayatana and Khandha Samyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya to see how the early Vipassana instructions further developed and what parts of the instruction are more important than others. 

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Search Highlights 2008

While the number of drafted articles grows 🙂 i just wanted to thank everyone for 2008 and wish all of you a blessed 2009.

Thought i might share with you some of the topics people were looking for in 2008 and, in their search, touched this blog. I hope that at least some of their answers got solved.

May all beings be free from avijja and find the bliss of Nibbana:

theravadin	63
dhammaruwan	51
nibbana	20
jhanas	19
yathabhuta	19
bhanga nyana	11
pali pitaka	11
palikanon	10
buddhaghosa	9
16 gradual knowledge of vipassana	8
kalugala aranya	8
buddhaghosa visuddhimagga authenticity	7
thesixsenseworld	7
the buddhist bible	7
sankharupekkha	7
as a buddhist why meditate site:therav	7
vitakka	7
zen vipassana	6
butea frondosa	6
vipassana instructions	6
jhana	6
phala samapatti	6
chanting in the pali language	5
jhanas y arrupas	5
bhanga vipassana	5
jesus in buddhism	5
path to nibbana	5
theragatha	5
pali tipitaka download	5
s n goenka on sotapanna	5
6 year old chanting buddhist pirith	4
sixteen nyanas	4
ksana	4
cst4 frank snow	4
what are the theravadin practise, believ	4
jhana factors	4
nirodha centre	4
buddhist monks medittion	4
ven. k nyanananda	4
vipassana knowledge	4
the buddha experience	4
the jhanas	4
the path of purification visuddhimagga d	4
arahant stories	4
life story of dhammaruwan	4
yathābhūta	4
sankharupekkha	4
seeing nibbana	3
bahiya sutta cscd pali	3
dhammaruwan foundation	3
bhanga vipassana	3
buddha contemplation piti	2
buddha “desire for nibbana”	2
vipassana brainwave	2
yatha-bhuta	2
beyond anusayas and kilesa	2
arahant and buddha	2
16 stages vipassana	2
progress in vipassana	2
brainwave entrainment vs vipassana	2

…looks like an article on the Bhanga Nyana is long overdue :-). However, when it comes to compare brainwave entertainment and vipassana i am slightly biased.

Health’s the greatest gain,
contentment, best of wealth,
trusting’s best of kin,
Nibbana bliss supreme.

(Dhp 204)

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