Upāsaka Cattasallā (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cattasalla) wrote2019-02-06 05:21 pm
cattasalla) wrote2019-02-06 05:21 pm
Entry tags:
purification of skillful qualities and mindfulness
I decided to give my next Dhamma Talk on satipaṭṭhāna, a word usually translated as "foundation of mindfulness" or "establishing of mindfulness". I think Bhikkhu Anālayo makes a very good argument that these are not great translations, and it probably means something more like "staying near awareness", which is why I titled the talk "Satipaṭṭhāna: The Practice of Staying Near Our Experience." But that translation is not what this post is going to be about.
The most common place to go for instructions on satipaṭṭhāna are, quite naturally, the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta from the Majjhima Nikāya (collection of middle-length discourses, or suttas) or a few related suttas. But there's a whole collection of short suttas on the topic in the Saṃyutta Nikāya, which is a collection of very brief suttas organized by topic. Bhikkhu Sujato argues that these represent an earlier strata than the popular sutta in the MN, that indeed the more well-known sutta is actually pretty late in composition. So I've decided to mine that for my talk. And man, there's some gold in there.
Starting with something I touched on in a previous post, that ethical practice is meant to be preliminary to formal meditation practice, which is the reverse of the way it's generally taught in the West (outside of the Asian diaspora, of course). I think this is generally because people coming to Buddhism are fleeing the moralizing of Western religion, with its Thou Shalt Nots and so forth, and are interested in meditation for whatever reason, and in order to win converts Dharma teachers set aside Buddhist morality and teach the meditation part first. But, in fact, the set of practices grouped together as "mindfulness meditation" relies on a solid foundation of ethical living, so doing this does a disservice to what the Buddha taught. Instead, I think it's good to underline it, as well as the fact that the Buddhist approach to ethics is radically different from approaches in which morality is about adhering to absolute rules delivered by a deity in order to avoid eternal punishment.
So, in a few of the suttas, someone comes and asks the Buddha for a quick cliff's notes version of the Dhamma so they can go off and practice on their own, "dwelling alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent and resolute." And the Buddha responds with, "Purify the starting point of good qualities. What is the starting point of good qualities? Well-cleansed ethics and correct view. When your ethics are well-cleansed and your view is correct, then you should practice the four satipaṭṭhāna established on ethics and dependent on ethics." And in the suttas in which the person does this, they reach arahantship, the state of complete cessation of all dukkha.
First, a quick note, "correct view", which could also be translated in this passage as "straight", "straightforward", or "direct", does not mean adopting a particular doctrine so much as seeing things clearly, as they are. Of course, that's a touch disingenuous, since there are something like doctrines in Buddhism which are intended to guide practice, and that practice will eventually bring about the direct knowledge of things as they are, but at the same time they're only "something like doctrines" because they are in accordance with things as they are to begin with...
Now, this phrase: "good qualities". The actual term is kusala dhamma. The second word, dhamma, is extremely multivalent, but in this case I think "qualities" is a good translation (and it's what Bhikkhu Sujato uses). Bhikkhu Bodhi uses "states". Then, the word kusala. It means wholesome, in the sense of something that's healthy and, well, good. But it also means skillful. What the Buddha taught is not a philosophical system, but a method (or set of methods) to reach a particular goal: The cessation of dukkha. In order to do this, one needs to develop a skill set. These skills include things like meditation, but they also include ethics. So the distinction between good and bad, here, is not just the ethical value, but the practical value for bringing about the goal. Indeed, in SN 47.21, the Buddha explicitly says that the purpose of developing ethics is to contribute to developing satipaṭṭhāna.
Just a few words on the Buddhist view of ethics before I go to the store to buy some cheese: First and foremost, they are rules to follow in order to minimize the amount of harm you cause. The entire point of Buddhism is to reduce dukkha, and that means acting in ways that don't cause harm to yourself or others. No killing or injuring living beings, no taking what is not freely giving, do not cause harm when seeking out sensual or sexual pleasure, no dishonesty, no intoxication to the point of becoming heedless and thus causing harm. Second, they are supports to meditation practice. The purpose of meditation is to still the mind enough that your awareness becomes clear and you can see things as they are. Unless, I suppose, you're a sociopath, anything you've done to cause harm to another will come up during meditation in the form of regret, and will stir up the mental mud. By refraining from causing harm, this won't happen. And, finally, they are exercises in awareness in and of themselves. By setting their observance as a goal, you bring attention to your actions, and in cases where you violate one, you can become aware of what intentions were operating, and what conditions were present when the violation occured. Breaking the precepts mindfully is better than doing so mindlessly! And finally, for someone who has reached a certain level of awakening, these are things they just don't want to do.
I think that's enough for now. Be well!
The most common place to go for instructions on satipaṭṭhāna are, quite naturally, the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta from the Majjhima Nikāya (collection of middle-length discourses, or suttas) or a few related suttas. But there's a whole collection of short suttas on the topic in the Saṃyutta Nikāya, which is a collection of very brief suttas organized by topic. Bhikkhu Sujato argues that these represent an earlier strata than the popular sutta in the MN, that indeed the more well-known sutta is actually pretty late in composition. So I've decided to mine that for my talk. And man, there's some gold in there.
Starting with something I touched on in a previous post, that ethical practice is meant to be preliminary to formal meditation practice, which is the reverse of the way it's generally taught in the West (outside of the Asian diaspora, of course). I think this is generally because people coming to Buddhism are fleeing the moralizing of Western religion, with its Thou Shalt Nots and so forth, and are interested in meditation for whatever reason, and in order to win converts Dharma teachers set aside Buddhist morality and teach the meditation part first. But, in fact, the set of practices grouped together as "mindfulness meditation" relies on a solid foundation of ethical living, so doing this does a disservice to what the Buddha taught. Instead, I think it's good to underline it, as well as the fact that the Buddhist approach to ethics is radically different from approaches in which morality is about adhering to absolute rules delivered by a deity in order to avoid eternal punishment.
So, in a few of the suttas, someone comes and asks the Buddha for a quick cliff's notes version of the Dhamma so they can go off and practice on their own, "dwelling alone, withdrawn, diligent, ardent and resolute." And the Buddha responds with, "Purify the starting point of good qualities. What is the starting point of good qualities? Well-cleansed ethics and correct view. When your ethics are well-cleansed and your view is correct, then you should practice the four satipaṭṭhāna established on ethics and dependent on ethics." And in the suttas in which the person does this, they reach arahantship, the state of complete cessation of all dukkha.
First, a quick note, "correct view", which could also be translated in this passage as "straight", "straightforward", or "direct", does not mean adopting a particular doctrine so much as seeing things clearly, as they are. Of course, that's a touch disingenuous, since there are something like doctrines in Buddhism which are intended to guide practice, and that practice will eventually bring about the direct knowledge of things as they are, but at the same time they're only "something like doctrines" because they are in accordance with things as they are to begin with...
Now, this phrase: "good qualities". The actual term is kusala dhamma. The second word, dhamma, is extremely multivalent, but in this case I think "qualities" is a good translation (and it's what Bhikkhu Sujato uses). Bhikkhu Bodhi uses "states". Then, the word kusala. It means wholesome, in the sense of something that's healthy and, well, good. But it also means skillful. What the Buddha taught is not a philosophical system, but a method (or set of methods) to reach a particular goal: The cessation of dukkha. In order to do this, one needs to develop a skill set. These skills include things like meditation, but they also include ethics. So the distinction between good and bad, here, is not just the ethical value, but the practical value for bringing about the goal. Indeed, in SN 47.21, the Buddha explicitly says that the purpose of developing ethics is to contribute to developing satipaṭṭhāna.
Just a few words on the Buddhist view of ethics before I go to the store to buy some cheese: First and foremost, they are rules to follow in order to minimize the amount of harm you cause. The entire point of Buddhism is to reduce dukkha, and that means acting in ways that don't cause harm to yourself or others. No killing or injuring living beings, no taking what is not freely giving, do not cause harm when seeking out sensual or sexual pleasure, no dishonesty, no intoxication to the point of becoming heedless and thus causing harm. Second, they are supports to meditation practice. The purpose of meditation is to still the mind enough that your awareness becomes clear and you can see things as they are. Unless, I suppose, you're a sociopath, anything you've done to cause harm to another will come up during meditation in the form of regret, and will stir up the mental mud. By refraining from causing harm, this won't happen. And, finally, they are exercises in awareness in and of themselves. By setting their observance as a goal, you bring attention to your actions, and in cases where you violate one, you can become aware of what intentions were operating, and what conditions were present when the violation occured. Breaking the precepts mindfully is better than doing so mindlessly! And finally, for someone who has reached a certain level of awakening, these are things they just don't want to do.
I think that's enough for now. Be well!