Dhamma Anusīlana E-Book

Bimalendra Kumar

• Herausgeber: D.K. Printworld
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 649

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

This book is an anthology of seventeen cerebral articles from well-known Buddhist scholars associated with major universities across the globe deliberating many a topic associated with Buddhist religion and its philosophies as part of our constant striving to understand the fundamental nature of what the Buddha wanted us to realize.

Leseprobe

Dhamma-Anusīlana

Emerging Perceptions in Buddhist Studies

(ISSN 0971-9512)

1-2. An Encyclopaedia of Buddhist Deities, Demigods, Godlings, Saints & Demons — with Special Focus on Iconographic Attributes; by Fredrick W. Bunce. 2 Vols. (ISBN 978-81-246-0020-7; set)

3. Buddhism in Karnataka; by R.C. Hiremath; with a foreword by H.H. the Dalai Lama (ISBN 978-81-246-0013-9)

4-5. Pāli Language and Literature: A Systematic Survey and Historical Study; by Kanai Lal Hazra. 2 Vols. (ISBN 978-81-246-0004-7; set)

6. Maṇḍala and Landscape; by A.W. Macdonald (ISBN 978-81-246-0060-3)

7. The Future Buddha Maitreya: An Iconological Study; by Inchang Kim (ISBN 978-81-246-0082-5)

8. Absence of the Buddha Image in Early Buddhist Art; by Kanoko Tanaka (ISBN 978-81-246-0090-0)

9. A Few Facts About Buddhism; by Gunnar Gällmo (ISBN 81-246-0099-6)

10. Buddhist Theory of Meaning and Literary Analysis; by Rajnish K. Mishra (ISBN 978-81-246-0118-3)

11. Buddhism as/in Performance: Analysis of Meditation and Theatrical Practice; by David E.R. George (ISBN 978-81-246-0123-5)

12. Buddhist Tantra and Buddhist Art; by T.N. Mishra (ISBN 978-81-246-0141-9)

13. Buddhist Art in India and Sri Lanka: 3rd Century bc to 6th Century ad : A Critical Study; by Virender Kumar Dabral (ISBN 978-81-246-0162-4)

14. The Tibetan Iconography of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Other Deities: A Unique Pantheon; by Lokesh Chandra & Fredrick W. Bunce (ISBN 978-81-246-0178-5)

15. The Dalai Lamas: The Institution and Its History; by Ardy Verhaegen (ISBN 978-81-246-0202-7)

16. The Tibetan Tāntric Vision; by Krishna Ghosh Della Santina (ISBN 978-81-246-0227-0)

17. The Buddhist Art of Kauśāmbī: From 300 bc to ad 550; by Aruna Tripathi (ISBN 978-81-246-0226-3)

18. Mahāmudrā & Atiyoga; by Giuseppe Baroetto; Translated from Italian into English by Andrew Lukianowicz (ISBN 978-81-246-0322-2)

19. Theravāda Buddhist Devotionalism in Ceylon, Burma and Thailand; by V.V.S. Saibaba (ISBN 978-81-246-0327-7)

20. Faith and Devotion in Theravāda Buddhism; by V.V.S. Saibaba (ISBN 978-81-246-0329-1)

21. Sects in Tibetan Buddhism: Comparison of Practices Between Gelugpa and Nyingmapa Sects; by Vijay Kumar Singh (ISBN 978-81-246-0330-7)

22. Emptiness and Becoming: Integrating Mādhyamika Buddhism and Process Philosophy; by Peter Paul Kakol (ISBN 978-81-246-0519-6)

23. Buddhist Ethics in Impermanence; by M.V. Ram Kumar Ratnam and K. Srinivas (ISBN 978-81-246-0562-2)

24. Deviant Sex and Buddhism; by Wadinagala Pannaloka (978-81-246-1003-9)

25. The Kālacakra Tantra, vol. 1; by Niraj Kumar [ISBN 978-81-246-1069-5 (vol. 1); ISBN 978-81-246-1070-1 (set)]

26. Yogācāra Vasubandhu’s Phenomenological Idealism; by Shruti Kapur (978-81-246-1158-6) (HB)

Emerging Perceptions in Buddhist Studies, no. 27

Dhamma-Anusīlana

Investigating the Buddhist Traditions

Edited by

Bimalendra Kumar

Ujjwal Kumar

Cataloging in Publication Data — DK

[Courtesy: D.K. Agencies (P) Ltd. <[email protected]>]

Dhamma-anusīlana : investigating the Buddhist

traditions / edited by Bimalendra Kumar, Ujjwal Kumar.

pages cm (Emerging perceptions in Buddhist

studies, no. 27).

Includes text in Sanskrit (roman).

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9788124611166

1. Dharma (Buddhism) 2. Meditation – Buddhism.

3. Personality – Religious aspects – Buddhism.

4. Buddhist philosophy. I. Kumar, Bimlendra, editor.

II. Kumar, Ujjwal, 1980- editor. III. Series: Emerging

perceptions in Buddhist studies, no. 27.

LCC B162.D43 2021 | DDC 181.043 23

ISBN: 978-81-246-1116-6 (Hb)

ISBN: 978-81-246-1174-6 (E-Book)

First published in India in 2022

© Individual Contributors

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior written permission of both the copyright owner, indicated above, and the publisher.

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Preface

Inthe history of 2,600 years of Buddhism, there have been various attempts to understand the Buddha and his teachings. As a result of this on the one hand the recitations of the Buddha were collected in Tipiṭaka and on the other hand, in order to comprehend and appreciate the essence of the Buddhavacana,the aṭṭhakathās have been produced by various ācāryas. During this gradual progress of writing, after the compilation of Aṭṭhakathās, there were Anuṭīkās, etc. in the Theravāda tradition. Again, Nikāya traditions also contributed immensely to its growth. The teachings of the Buddha offered such a blissful and perpetual solace to the suffering human race, irrespective of their religious affiliations, that even after the coming up of such a bulk of literature, we are constantly striving to understand the fundamental nature of what the Buddha wanted us to realize. That is why in the history of modern teaching and learning systems the Buddha and his teaching are a major centre of exploration. In order to understand different dimensions of the Buddha’s teaching, efforts are being made by the scholars, practitioners and lovers of Buddhism globally. The current work, Dhamma-Anusīlana: Investigating the Buddhist Traditions, is a compilation of selected articles of scholars associated to the major universities of the world. These articles highlight different dimensions of Buddhism. As such, the compilation of articles of this book has not been concentrated on any particular subject. It is based on the content of the articles received and those articles have been divided into four parts for the convenience of the readers.

Part I is “Meditation” and it discusses the diverse dimensions of meditation, dedicating itself to the kiriyā (action) aspects of Buddhism. The first article of this section is by G.A. Somaratne, “Can One Become an Arahat without Practising Meditation?: A Study of the Wisdom Liberated (Pañña-vimutta) in Early Buddhism”, discusses about the attainment of the Arahathood. Somaratne examines the popular myth among scholars of Buddhist studies that one can become an arahat without the practice of meditation (bhāvanā). His study has rightly shown that the wisdom-liberated arahat has come to experience his wisdom-freedom after the practice of meditation. The second paper of this section by Mahesh A. Deokar elaborates on the “Complementarity of Method and Wisdom”. Deokar articulates that the Buddha was such a liberal teacher that he gave freedom to his followers of choosing their own path. Instead of relying on mere faith he encouraged them to use tools of reasoning, introspection and self-assessment to distinguish the right path from the wrong one. In the third paper “Mind, Meditation and the Deep Structure of Consciousness: An Early Buddhist Perspective.”, Hari Shankar Prasad presents the early Buddhist world view in the light of different theories proposed by the Buddha, such as tilakkhaṇa, pañca-khandha and saṁsāra. Tashi Tsering in his paper “The Practice of Meditation in a Nutshell” presents step by step guidelines to practise Buddhist meditation from the Vajrayāna point of view.

Part II discusses about the different concepts pertaining to “Personality and Positions”. In this section five papers are included covering major branches of Buddhism. The paper by I. Indasara, titled “Brief Explanation of Buddhist Concept of Personality”, discusses in the light of a person’s pattern of thinking, emotions and behaviour. Based on sutta and abhidhamma he explains the personality traits. Wangchuk Dorjee Negi in his paper “Buddhism: Science of Mind” presents the difference between religion and science and shows that the Buddhist approach to the comprehension of the mind and the functions of an individual does not suffer from any friction or resistance of scientific temperament. Buddhism is a wonderful system of ethics which can even inspire a person with the most scientific and secular temperament to work for the betterment of human race and in this manner Buddhism nurtures a culture of worshipping science with virtuous and ethical compulsions. In the paper “The Conceptual Analysis of Pāśa (Bondage) in Vedic and Buddhist Thoughts”,Dipen Barua presents the notion of pāśa in the Indian thought pertaining to Brāhmanism and Buddhism. Barua gives different meanings of pāśa in both the systems. He observes that in Buddhism pāśa is a binding potency of defilement and mental infatuation for the sense bases and their objects but in Vedic thought final liberation is explained through the cutting of pāśa. Hari Shankar Prasad’s “Sailing Against the Current: The Buddha, Buddhism and Methodology” provides a glimpse of an Indian scholar’s own journey to the Buddhist studies, the shortcomings he faced and his approach to teaching, understanding and research related to Buddhist studies. His conclusion that “phenomenological method is the best and most effective way of understanding the Buddha, Buddhism and their various forms of methods” is worth mentioning. In “Subtle-Increasers (Anuśaya), The Root of Existence: An Abhidhamakośakārikā View”Sanjib Kumar Das presents in short, the diverse dimensions of anusaya as have been introduced by the Abhidharmakośakārikā.

Part III has been named as “Dharmakīrti and Persons”. The first two papers in this section discuss on Dharmakīrti and his idea on pramāṇa and the last two papers deliberate on different dimensions of persons. Sachchidanand Mishra’s contribution “Dharmakīrti on Determinate Perception” discusses the nirvikalpaka (indeterminate) and savikalpaka (determinate) and articulates that savikalpaka does not differ from nirvikalpaka perception. What is known by nirvikalpaka perception, the same thing is known by savikalpaka perception. What svalakṣaṇa one wants to attain or leave knowing by nirvikalpaka, the same svalakṣaṇa one wants to attain or leave after savikalpaka perception. Therefore, it is not reasonable to accept both as pramāṇa. Only svalakṣaṇa is the basis of our activities. We can neither attain nor give up sāmānya lakṣaṇa. Therefore, Mishra concludes that “Dharmakīrti and his followers are justified and logically consistent regarding their basic premises in accepting only nirvikalpaka perception as a pramāṇa but not sāmānya lakṣaṇa”. The next paper, is related to Pramāṇavārttika,titled“Contribution of Sāṅkr̥tyāyana to the Study of Pramāṇavārttika”, wherein Madhumita Chattopadhyay discusses Rāhula Sāṅkr̥tyāyana’s discovery of the text, his initial remarks on the Pramāṇavārttika and his role in the study of Pramāṇavārttika across the world. Abhinav Anand’s and Ajit Kumar Behura’s joint paper titled “Induced Abortion as Pāṇātipāta: Revisiting Buddhist Position on the Right to Life of an Unborn” investigates Buddhist position on the issue of abortion. In this paper they have discussed the ideas of the beginning of human life, cases of abortion and the concept of killing a human as pointed out in the Pāli literature. They have rightly observed that the early Buddhist moral precepts are injunction against mānusa-pāṇātipāta, i.e.taking away the life of a foetus is wrong. Wadinagala Pannaloka’s paper on “Analysis, Wisdom and Healthy Life: An Investigation into the Value of Analysis in the Anāthapiṇḍikovādasutta”, discusses how the revelation of reality of human experience by analysis helps a person to achieve wisdom in the light of Majjhima Nikāya Anāthapiṇḍikovādasutta.

Part IV “Principles, History and Grammar” is of pakiṇṇaka (miscellaneous) type. Papers on different issues are grouped here. Dilip Kumar Mohanta’s contribution on “Buddhism and the Principles of Good Governance” highlights good polity on the basis of the Cakkavattisīhanādasutta (The Lion’s Roar of a Universal Monarch) and some other early Buddhist suttas. K.T.S. Sarao’s “The Buddha’s Reluctance to Visit the Gayā Dhammakhetta and Advent of Buddhism in this Region” throws light on this important place at the time of the Buddha and in later centuries when Bodh-Gayā became the holiest site of the Buddhists. In his paper “Elephants in the Maurya Age: Sacred Symbolism and Imperial Tradition”,Anand Singh discusses the role of elephants as a sacred symbolism in day-to-day life. He rightly observes that “Elephants are tough when protecting others and gentle when nurturing them”. In Indian culture, both Śramaṇic as well as Brāhmanical religions teach people to respect the elephants as spiritual beings whose existence is vital for the survival of the universe. A. Ruiz-Falqués deals with a Pāli grammatical rule attho akkharasaññāto as mentioned in the famous Pāli grammar book the Kaccāyanabyākaraṇa. The title of his paper is “The Sword and the Sheath: Three Notes on Kaccāyana 1: Attho Akkharasññāto”. Ruiz-Falqués articulates that Kacc 1 is not exactly a grammatical rule, but rather a philosophical statement. ... In the Kaccāyana tradition, conversely, the Tipiṭaka is the only interesting repository of speech-sounds, and these sounds (or written letters) are important as long as they convey the Buddha’s teaching, which is what ultimately needs to be studied.

We take this opportunity to put on record our sincere thanks to all the contributors for their papers. Finally, we express our thanks to the publisher for his full cooperation in bringing out the present volume in time.

Editors

Contents

Preface

Contributors

Part IMeditation

1. G.A. Somaratne

Can One Become an Arahat without Practising Meditation? A Study of the Wisdom-Liberated (Paññā-Vimutta) in Early Buddhism

Wisdom-freedom

Meditation Practice

Wisdom-liberated and Other Arahats

Conclusion

2. Mahesh A. Deokar

Complementarity of Method and Wisdom

What Is a Path?: How Is It Complementary to the Goal and the Wisdom?

A Path Is Not Right, If It Has No Clear Goal, or If It Does Not Lead to a Desirable Goal

Know What Is Right and Useful; Forget What Is Wrong and Useless

Buddha’s Wisdom: The Four Noble Truths, and Plurality of Path – Multiple Paths, but Singular Goal

Two Causes of Suffering: Unwise Emotions and Erroneous Cognition

Different Medicines for Different Diseases, Different Doses for Different Intensity, Different Treatment for Different Patients

Threefold training (tisso sikkhā)

Fivefold investigation

Sevenfold purity (sattavisuddhayo)

States pertaining to enlightenment (bodhipakkhiyadhammas)

Personality, capacity and attitude: Three key factors for complementarity

Who Decides the Complementarity?: A Teacher, Scripture or Anything Else?

3. Hari Shankar Prasad

The Problematic Mind, Meditation and the Deep Structure of Consciousness A Buddhist Perspective

The Basics of the Buddha’s Life and Teaching

Key Pāli Terms

The Buddhist Conceptual Framework

Buddhist Cosmology

Psycho-Corporeal Interactive Relationship

Citta, Manas and Viññāṇa

Nāma and Its Four Constituents

Twelve-link Formula of Man’s Consciousness Journey

Bhavaṅga-citta: Deep Structure of Consciousness

Meditation: The Dynamics of Liberation

4. Tashi Tsering

The Practice of Meditation in a Nutshell

The Preliminary Practices for Meditation as the Sevenfold Posture of Vairocana

Meaning of the Word Meditation

Classification

Analytical Meditation (dpyad sgom)

Stabilized Meditation (‘jog sgom/‘jug sgom)

Training on Calm Abiding (Skt.: Samatha; Wylie: gshi gnas)

Non-moving the object

Non-moving body

Non-moving eyelash

Non-distracting the mind on others

The Object of Calm Abiding: Internal and External

Faults and Antidotes of Calm Abiding

VI. Training on Insight (Skt: Vipaśyanā,Wylie: lhag mthong)

Proving all appearances are our mind

Proving mind is an illusion

Proving an illusion is natureless/lacking inherent nature

Temporal Antidote (to Overcome Defilements)

Manner of emergence of defilement

Methods of overcoming defilements

Temporal Methods

Method of Reducing Suffering of Having Less Wealth

Permanent Antidote (to Overcome Defilements):

Ultimate Methods

Manner of Meditating on the Emptiness View (lta ba skyong tshul)

Inseparability/unification of appearance and emptiness (snang stong zung ‘jug)

Inseparability/unification of hearing and emptiness (grag stong zung ‘jug)

Inseparability/unification of clarity/luminosity and emptiness (gsal stong zung ‘jug)

Inseparability/unification of

two truths (bden bnyis zung ‘jug)

Inseparability/unification of cyclic existence and liberation (‘khor ‘das dbyer med)

Meditation on Deity

Choosing Deity

Preliminary Stage

Actual Stage

Conclusion Stage

Part IIPersonality and Positions

5. Indasara

Brief Explanation of Buddhist Concept of Personality

Classification of Personality in Buddhist Teaching

6. Wangchuk Dorjee Negi

Buddhism: Science of Mind

Body

Mind

7. Dipen Barua

The Conceptual Analysis of Pāśa (Bondage) in Vedic and Buddhist Thoughts*

Introduction

The Concept of Pāśa in Vedic Thought

The Concept of Pāsain Buddhist Thought

Doctrinal Proximity of Pāsa and Saṁyojana in Saṁyutta Nikāya

Conclusion

8. Hari Shankar Prasad

Sailing against the Current (Paṭisotagāmī) The Buddha, Buddhism and Methodology

Preamble

Background to Buddhism: Dominance of

Substantialist Philosophies

The task of philosophy

Section 1

Academic and Non-academic Perspectives on the Study of Buddhism in Contemporary India

How modern Indian academicians perceive Buddhist philosophy

Dependence on Western and Japanese scholarship

Section 2

European Colonization of Indian Mind and Culture: The Enemy of Indigenous Indian Studies

Europe and India: Mutual Exposures

Colonization: A poisonous gift for India

Europe’s intellectual and cultural movement: An impact on India

European encounters with India

Colonial attitude and aims to kill India’s self, subjectivity and spirituality: A summary

Modernity/Postmodernity as the destroyer of the Indian traditional values

Section 3

The Buddha’s Sailing against the

Current Belief System (Paṭisotagāmī)

The Buddha’s radical paradigm shift

Who is the Buddha?

PratĪtyasamutpāda: The Buddha’s Concept of Truth

Therapeutic Paradigm of the Buddha

The Buddha’s paradox: whether to teach or not to teach

Section 4

The Buddhist Methodology

Buddhist canons and philology

Buddhist hermeneutic principles

Methodical integration of discourses and discipline

The Buddha’s Methodical silence

Miscellaneous Methods Used by the Buddhists

The general conceptual framework of Buddhism

The impersonal nature of man

Method of Mereological Reductionism

Two-truths method

The Mādhyamika Methodology

The Method of Tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi): Transcending the Limits of language

The Prasaṅga Method of Candrakīrti

Vasubandhu’s Hermeneutic and Synthetic Methods

The phenomenological method of Yogācāra–Vijñānavāda

9. Sanjib K. Das

Subtle-Increasers (Anusaya),the Root of Existence. An Abhidharmakośakārikā View

Introduction

Link

Division

Five Views and Five Non-views

Part IIIDharmakīrti and Persons

10. Sachchidanand Mishra

Dharmakīrti on Determinate Perception

11. Madhumita Chattopadhyay

Contribution of Sāṅkr̥tyāyana to the Study of Pramāṇavārttika

12. Abhinav Anand andAjit Kumar Behura

Induced Abortion as Pāṇātipāta* Revisiting Buddhist Position on the Right to Life of an Unborn

Introduction

Pāli Texts and the Origin of the Human Being Life

Recorded Cases of Abortion in the Pāli Texts

Ethical Precepts Injunction against Taking a Human Life (Mānusaṁ-Viggahaṁ)

There is no necessary qualitative difference

PāṇātipātA veramaṇī: Injunction against intentional killing

Abortion Brings bad rebirths and unfavourable consequences

Destroying A developing foetus interrupts the journey toward the Nibbāna

Conclusion

13. Wadinagala Pannaloka

Analysis, Wisdom and Healthy Life. An Investigation into the Value of Analysis in the Anāthapiṇḍikovādasutta

Introduction

Nature of Human Experience

Analysis

Wisdom

Wisdom as Practice

Analytical Wisdom in theAnāthapiṇḍikovādasutta

Internal Senses

Sense-objects

Sense-consciousness

Sense–Contact (phassa)

Sense Feeling (vedanā)

Six Elements and Five Aggregates

Four Immaterial Realms

Existence here and beyond

The range of percepts

Conclusion

Part IVPrinciples, History and Grammar

14. Dilip Kumar Mohanta

Buddhism and the Principles of Good Governance

15. K.T.S. Sarao

The Buddha’s Reluctance to Visit the Gayā Dhammakhetta and Advent of Buddhism in This Region

16. Anand Singh

Elephants in the Maurya Age Sacred Symbolism and Imperial Tradition

Sacred Symbolism

Imperial Tradition

17. A. Ruiz-Falqués

The Sword and the Sheath Three Notes on Kaccāyana 1: Three Notes on Kaccāyana 1: AtthoAkkharasaññāto

Introduction

§1. The Status of Kaccāyana 1 in the Pāli Tradition

§2. The Formulation of Kaccāyana 1 and Its Parallels

§3. Kaccāyana 1 and Legends of Grammatical Revelation

§4. Concluding Remarks

Subject Index

Name Index

Title Index

Contributors

Anand, Abhinav, PhD, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Dhanbad, India, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Barua, Dipen, Lecturer, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, e-mail:<[email protected]>

Behura, Ajit Kumar, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dhanbad, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Chattopadhyay, Madhumita, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Das, Sanjib K., Professor, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visva-Bharti University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Deokar, Mahesh A, Professor, Department of Pali, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharastra,

e-mail: <[email protected]>

Indasara, I, Visiting Professor, Department of Philosophy, Ateneo de Manila University, Manila, The Philippines,

e-mail: <[email protected]>

Mishra, Sachchidanand, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Mohanta, Dilip Kumar, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Negi, Wangchuk Dorjee, Professor, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi, India, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Pannaloka, Wadinagala, Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Buddhist Thought, Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Prasad, Hari Shankar, Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, Delhi, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Ruiz-Falqués, Aleix, Pali Lecturer and Head of the Department of Pali and Languages, Shan State Buddhist University, Phaya Phyu, Taunggyi, Myanmar, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Sarao, K.T.S., Former Head and Professor, Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Singh, Anand, Professor, School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions, Nalanda University, Nalanda, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Somaratne, G.A., Associate Professor, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Tsering, Tashi, Professor in Sakya Buddhist Philosophy, Head of the Sampradaya Department, CIHTS, Sarnath, Varanasi, e-mail: <[email protected]>

Part IMeditation

1

Can One Become an Arahat without Practising Meditation?

A Study of the Wisdom-Liberated

(Paññā-Vimutta) in Early Buddhism

G.A. Somaratne

An attempt is made in this article to unravel an aspect of Buddhist liberation concept by examining a liberated person identified in the early Buddhist discourses as paññā-vimutta, (wisdom-liberated) who has attained to wisdom-freedom (paññā-vimutti). Who is the wisdom-liberated? Is he an arahat? Can there be wisdom-liberated ones at the levels of stream-entry, once-return and non-return? If he is an arahat, how does he differ from other types of arahats such as the fully enlightened one, pacceka-buddha, both-ways-liberated one, one with the three-knowledge and one with the six-knowledge? What does wisdom in the wisdom-freedom mean? Are wisdom and meditative watching (vipassanā) the same? There are many such questions that should be discussed in detail if we intend to know fully the wisdom-liberated and the wisdom-freedom. However, in this article, I will focus on examining the popular myth among Buddhist studies scholars that one can become an arahat without the practice of meditation (bhāvanā). As the scholarly tendency is to identify the wisdom-liberated arahat as someone who has achieved the perfection (arahatta) without any practice of meditation, I will examine the question: Can one attain wisdom-freedom having practised no meditation?

Wisdom-freedom

The canon is clear on the point that the wisdom-liberated (paññā-vimutta) is the one who has attained wisdom-freedom (paññā-vimutti). What then is wisdom-freedom? How can one attain it? Wisdom-freedom is the psychological state of liberation achieved by removing the psychological hindrance of ignorance (avijjā-nīvaraṇa). Ignorance represents the cognitive aspect of human predicament, and it is defined in the canon as having no knowledge of the Buddha’s teaching of the four noble truths: suffering, how and why it arises, cessation of suffering and how could it be achieved (S II.4 (12.2) Vibhaṅgasutta).

As a canonical text has it, wisdom-freedom is achieved by abandoning ignorance (avijjā-virāgā paññā-vimutti) by way of the meditative watching (vipassanā), and this is similar to that concentration-freedom (ceto-vimutti) which is achieved by abandoning craving (taṇhā-virāgā) by way of the meditative appeasing (samatha).

deve me … dhammā vijjābhāgiyā, katame dve? samatho ca vipassanā ca। samatho … bhāvito kamatthaṁ anubhoti? cittaṁ bhāvīyati। cittaṁ bhāvitaṁ kamatthaṁ anubhoti? yo rāgo so pahīyati। vipassanā … bhāvitā kamatthaṁ anubhoti? paññā bhāvīyati। paññā bhāvitā kamatthaṁ anubhoti? yā avijjā sā pahīyati। rāgūpakkiliṭṭhaṁ vā … cittaṁ na vimuccati। avijjūpakkiliṭṭhaṁ vā paññā na bhāvīyati। iti kho … rāgavirāgā cetovimutti avijjāvirāgā paññāvimuttī ti

– A I.61 (2.31)

Monks, these two things pertain to true knowledge (dhammā vijjābhāgiyā). What two? Meditative appeasing (samatha) and meditative watching (vipassanā). When meditative appeasing is practised, what benefit does one experience? Mind (citta) is developed. When mind is developed what benefit does one experience? Lust is abandoned. When meditative watching is practised, what benefit does one experience? Wisdom is developed. When wisdom is developed what benefit does one experience? Ignorance is abandoned. A mind defiled by lust is not liberated, and wisdom defiled by ignorance is not developed. Thus, monks, through the fading away of lust there is concentration-freedom, and through the fading away of ignorance there is wisdom-freedom.

The Pāli compound paññā-vimutti is often rendered as “freedom/emancipation through/by wisdom”. This rendering justifies the method of its attainment. However, it obscures two other important issues about this liberation: liberation “of what” and liberation “from what”. Since it is possible to render ceto-vimutti as concentration-freedom in the sense that it is the liberation of mind or the faculty of concentration from craving to be achieved by practising the meditative appeasing, I will interpret paññā-vimutti as wisdom-freedom, meaning that it is the liberation of the faculty of wisdom (paññindriya) from ignorance achieved by the meditative watching. One may hesitate to accept this rendering of paññā-vimutti as wisdom-freedom or “freedom of wisdom” due to the interchangeable use of the two terms, paññā (wisdom) and vipassanā (meditative watching) in the canon, referring to meditative watching, the meditation by which one develops the faculty of wisdom and reaches the liberating wisdom. For this we could counter-argue that when the canon uses paññā to denote meditation, it often adds the term bhāvanā, to read paññā-bhāvanā which can be rendered as either “development of wisdom” or “development through/by wisdom”. In my view, among the two, the most appropriate rendering of paññā-bhāvanā is “development of wisdom”, and it is the rendering that goes in line with the rendering of paññā-vimutti as wisdom-freedom, in the sense of freedom of the faculty of wisdom from ignorance by meditative watching.

An important synonym of paññā is vijjā (wisdom, knowledge or science). Vijjā is always understood in the canon as the opposite of avijjā (ignorance, non-knowledge or non-wisdom). Avijjā indicates not only the absence of wisdom but also the presence of ignorance or delusion (moha). Understood in this way, vijjā means not only the absence of ignorance but also the presence of wisdom (paññā). Avijjā, as it is explained in the canon, is the non-knowledge (aññāṇa) concerning the four noble truths: suffering, the arising of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering:

katamā ca bhikkhave avijjā? yaṁ kho bhikkhave dukkhe aññāṇaṁ, dukkha-samudaye aññāṇaṁ, dukkha-nirodhe aññāṇaṁ, dukkha-nirodha-gāminiyā paṭipadāya aññāṇaṁa ayaṁ vuccati bhikkhave avijjā। – S II.4 (12.2)

In this sense then, vijjā means the knowledge concerning the four noble truths. Considering these, wisdom-freedom can be taken to mean the freedom or liberation that one experiences due to the absence of ignorance and the presence of wisdom, knowledge concerning the four noble truths.

Wisdom-freedom is a liberation-experience here in this very life. In it, one experiences the absence of ignorance and the presence of the meditative watching by which one now knows and sees things as they really are (yathābhūtaṁ pajānāti). As concentration-freedom is understood to be the liberation from the affective problem of craving – craving for sensuality, craving for continuity as this same “I”, “self”, or “person” and craving for discontinuity as this same “I”, “self”, or “person” – wisdom-freedom can be taken to mean the liberation from the cognitive problem of ignorance, the very act of creating an “I”, “self” or “person”. A text (Sn v. 847) supports this view when it states that the wisdom-liberated (paññā-vimutta) does not have any delusion (moha). Wisdom-freedom, therefore, represents the Buddhist solution to the cognitive problem of perceiving and conceiving an “I”, “self” or “person” in the five clinging-bundles: matter, feeling, perception, psychological determinants and consciousness.

The term paññā of paññā-vimutti signifies the uniqueness of this freedom. In his Zen Action Zen Person, Kasulis (1987: 25) defines the term paññā as follows:

Nāgārjuna’s emphasis on the non-differentiating, non-objectifying insight or wisdom is known as prajñā. Prajñā, a state of consciousness achieved through meditation, is not directly practical in dealing with the ordinary affairs of life, but it is invaluable in reinforcing the awareness that all ideas, their pragmatic usefulness notwithstanding, stand on emptiness (sūnyatā) – a gap that conceptual thinking cannot span. Although the world itself is not illusory, our characterizations of the world are fundamentally self-contradictory, relative, and tentative. Without the insight of prajñā, we run the risk of becoming attached to our characterizations, of thinking them as absolutes, rather than as names convenient for a given purpose.

This definition has some similarity to a definition that we can draw from the Pāli canon. The Pāli canon introduces paññā as wisdom to be developed by the meditative watching founded on the meditative appeasing. The latter meditation generates concentration for it appeases all negative psychological determinants (sabba-saṅkhāra-samatha). The canon says that it is the concentrated person who comprehends things as they really are (samāhito yathā-bhūtaṁ pajānāti). It is also said in the Dhammapada that no wisdom is possible for one who does not meditate or, more literally, for one who does not burn the defilements (paññā natthi ajjhāyato – Dhp v. 372). The indispensability of concentrtion for the development of wisdom is also stated in the canon in its descriptions of the five faculties: faith (saddhā), energy (viriya), mindfulness (sati), concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā). The preceding faculty or faculties always serve as the base for the succeeding ones. For the arising of concentration, for instance, the preceding faculties of faith, energy and mindfulness are the support. In this way, the faculty of wisdom is supported by all of the preceding ones. Therefore, wisdom manifests being supported by faith, energy, mindfulness, and concentration (see S, 5: 225). After introducing concentration (samādhi) as the one-pointedness of mind (citta) and as the faculty of concentration (samādhindriya), the text describes the faculty of wisdom (paññindriya) in terms of wisdom (paññā – S, 5: 225-26). This wisdom is one that has been developed by meditative watching and is supported by the developed faculties of faith, energy, mindfulness and concentration.

saddhassa hi bhante ariya-sāvakassa āraddha-viriyassa upaṭṭhita-satino samāhita-cittassa etaṁ pāṭikaṅkhaṁ yaṁ evaṁ pajānissati – anamataggo kho saṁsāro। pubbakoṭi na paññāyati avijjā-nīvaraṇānaṁ sattānaṁ taṇhā-saṁyojanānaṁ sandhāvataṁ saṁsarataṁ। avijjāya tveva tamo-kāyassa asesa-virāga-nirodho santam etaṁ padaṁ paṇītam etaṁ padaṁ, yad idaṁ sabba-saṅkhāra-samatho sabbūpadhi-paṭinissaggo taṇha-kkhayo virago nirodho nibbānaṁ। yā hissa bhante paññā tad assa paññindriyaṁ।

– S, 5: 226 (48.50 Āpanasutta)

It is indeed to be expected, venerable sir, that a noble disciple who has faith, whose energy is aroused, whose mindfulness is established, and whose mind is concentrated, will understand thus: “This (birth)-cycle is without discoverable beginning. A first point is not discerned of beings roaming and wandering on, hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving. But the complete fading away and cessation of ignorance, the mass of darkness: this is the peaceful state, this is the sublime state, that is, the stilling of all psychological determinants, the relinquishment of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, nibbāna.” That wisdom of him, venerable sir, is his faculty of wisdom.

These faculties enrich each other. For example, the repeated training of the faculties of energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom makes the noble person witness himself the truth of the teaching and thus gain complete faith:

saddho so bhante ariyasāvako evam padahitvā padahitvā evaṁ saritvā saritvā evaṁ samādahitvā samādahitvā evam pajānitvā pajānitvā evam abhisaddahati, im kho te dhammā ye me pubbe sutavā ahesuṁ te dānāham etarahi kāyena ca phusitvā viharāmi, paññāya ca ativijjha passāmi, yā hissa bhante saddhā tad assa saddhindriyan ti

– S, 5: 226 (48.50 Āpanasutta)

And, venerable sir, when the noble disciple who has faith has again and again strived in such a way, again and again recollected in such a way, again and again concentrated his mind in such a way, again and again understood with wisdom in such a way, that noble disciple gains complete faith thus: “As to these things that previously I had only heard about, now I dwell having contacted them with the body and, having pierced them through with wisdom, I see.” That faith of his, venerable sir, is his faculty of faith.

Wisdom is always said to be the leading factor for the realization of enlightenment (bodha-pakkhikkhiyā dhammā – S, 5: 227 (48.51 Sālasutta). It has higher levels of soteriological functions. As Venerable Sāriputta states, wisdom is for direct knowledge or super-knowledge (abhiññatthā), for full understanding (pariññatthā) and for abandoning (pahānatthā)– M I.293 (43 Mahāvedallasutta). Wisdom is also known as the noble knowledge (ariya-ñāṇa). A text states that the other four faculties become established provided the noble knowledge has arisen in the individual. In other words, the establishment of faith, energy, mindfulness and concentration depends on the arising of the noble knowledge and vice versa.

yāva kīvañca bhikkhave ariyasāvakassa ariyañāṇaṁ na uppannaṁ hoti, neva tāva catunnam indriyānam saṇṭhiti hoti, neva tāva catunnaṁ indriyānaṁ avaṭṭhiti hoti, yato ca kho bhikkhave ariyasāvakassa ariyañāṇam uppannaṁ hoti, atha catunnaṁ indriyānaṁ saṇṭhiti hoti, atha catunnaṁ indriyānaṁ avaṭṭhiti hoti. … katamesaṁ catunnaṁ। saddhindriyassa viriyindriyassa satindriyassa samādhindriyassa। paññāvato bhikkhave ariyasāvakassa tadanvayā saddhā saṇṭhāti tadanvayaṁ viriyaṁ saṇṭhāti tadanvayā sati saṇṭhāti tadanvayo samādhi saṇṭhāti

– S, 5: 228-29 (48.52 Mallikāsutta)

Monks, so long as noble knowledge has not arisen in the noble disciple, there is as yet no stability of the other four faculties, no steadiness of the other four faculties. But when noble knowledge has arisen in the noble disciple, then there is stability of the other four faculties, then there is steadiness of the other four faculties. … What four? The faculty of faith, the faculty of energy, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration. In the case of a noble disciple who possesses wisdom, the faith that follows from it becomes stable; the energy that follows from it becomes stable; the mindfulness that follows from it becomes stable; the concentration that follows from it becomes stable.

Perhaps this is what the Dhammapada statement “there is no meditation to him who has no wisdom” (natthi jhānaṁ apaññassa – Dhp v. 372) means. Thus, the canon views wisdom as a faculty which is supported by other faculties and in turn supports those faculties; hence, the function of these faculties comes under the noble theory of dependent co-arising (paṭicca-samuppāda): when A is B, with arising of A, B arises; when A is not, B is not, with the ceasing of A, B also ceases.

This highly valued faculty of wisdom is indispensable for the attainment of perfection (arahatta) or nibbāna. It is by understanding the destruction of one’s impurity currents (āsava) in the psyche that one reaches the perfection (D III.230 (33 Saṅgītisutta)). The elimination of craving is only possible by seeing with wisdom the true reality of existence as “this is not mine”, “this am I not” and “this is not my self” (evam etaṁ yathābhūtaṁ sammappaññāya passato bhavataṇhā pahīyati –Ud 33 (3.10 Lokasutta)). It is only with the elimination of the impurity currents that the experience of nibbāna is possible. Therefore, we could surmise that the term wisdom in wisdom-freedom refers to the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents (āsava-kkhaya-ñāṇa) in the psyche by which knowledge turns one to a perfected sage, an arahat.

Meditation Practice

This will take us to conclude that all types of arahats possess wisdom-freedom in order to be recognized them as arahats. Without attaining wisdom-freedom, the realization of nibbāna is not possible. The canon refers frequently to the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents (āsavakkhaya-ñāṇa) as the key knowledge of any arahat. In my view, as mentioned above, both the wisdom-freedom and the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents refer to the same. If this is the case, the wisdom-liberated and the noble person who has achieved the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents are the same. As this wisdom or knowledge is a meditative realization in a concentrated mind, it implies that all arahats have meditated to reach their perfection (arahatta).

This takes us to reject the idea put forward by Rune Johansson (1969: 89) who says that wisdom-liberated person is someone “who has not meditated and has no super-knowledge but is still an arahant”. It seems that Johansson here makes two misapprehensions. One is the view that the wisdom-liberated has not meditated and the other is the view that the wisdom-liberated possesses no super-knowledge. According to the canon, the wisdom-liberated (paññā-vimutta) in the highest sense of the term is always an arahat, a person who has destroyed the impurity currents seeing them through meditative watching. He now has the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents by which knowledge he understands and professes that he is an arahat. This knowledge of him is the highest and the most prominent super-knowledge or direct knowledge of an arahat. It is the most basic and indispensable knowledge without which the becoming of an arahat is impossible. In the canon, this knowledge appears included in the three-knowledge of the tevijjāarahats and also in the six-knowledge of the chaḷabhiññāarahats. In a context where the Buddha talks about the three-knowledge as those that he claims to possess, the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents is given as one of the three. For these reasons, Johansson’s view that the wisdom-liberated has no super-knowledge is unacceptable if he means by super-knowledge, any of the three-knowledge or six-knowledge. It is stated in the canon that one reaches the destruction of impurity currents by seeing things as they really are. This seeing of things as they really are is a type of knowledge that is also known in the canon as the knowledge of seeing things as they really are (yathā-bhūta-ñāṇa). This exceptional skill or knowledge is the result of the practice of the meditative watching grounded on the faculties and powers of faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration and wisdom. The knowledge of this reality-perception emerges only in a concentrated mind (citta) (samāhito yathā-bhūtaṁ pajānāti). This also means that in order to maintain a proper concentration, one must also engage in the meditative appeasing at least to a certain level.

All thirty-seven factors listed in the canon as those that lead to enlightenment are connected to meditation. Even the analytical investigation or the “analytical study” (dhammavicaya) discussed in the canon as one of the seven factors to enlightenment can be introduced as a form of meditation for the reason that wisdom is defined in a text as the understanding based on thinking, learning and meditation (D III.219 (33 Saṅgītisutta)). As another text has it, it is the right view (sammā-diṭṭhi), the first of the Noble Eightfold Path, assisted by virtue, learning, discussion, meditative appeasing and meditative watching, that produces the fruits and benefits of concentration-freedom and wisdom-freedom.

pañcahi kho āvuso aṅgehi anuggahitā sammā-diṭṭhi cetovimuttiphalā ca hoti cetovimuttiphalānisaṁsā ca, paññāvimuttiphalā ca hoti paññāvimuttiphalānisaṁsā ca। idh ’āvuso sammā-diṭṭhi sīlānuggahitā ca hoti sutānuggahitā ca hoti sākacchānuggahitā ca hoti samathānuggahitā ca hoti, vipassanānuggahitā ca hoti। imehi kho āvuso pañcahaṅgehi anuggahitā sammā-diṭṭhi cetovimuttiphalā ca hoti cetovimuttiphalānisaṁsā ca, paññā-vimuttiphalā ca hoti paññā-vimuttiphalānisaṁsā cā ti। – M I.294 (43 Mahāvedallasutta).

Further, in the canon where it says that the concentration-freedom is gained by the elimination of lust and the wisdom-freedom is gained by the elimination of ignorance, it clearly says that the former results from the meditative appeasing (samatha) and the latter from the meditative watching (vipassanā), the two most important meditation techniques practised conjointly by Buddhist disciples. It seems also that one can become a wisdom-liberated arahat after emerging even from any of the four form absorptions (rūpa-jhāna) of the meditative appeasing. Therefore, the view that the wisdom-liberated arahat has not meditated is unacceptable and unfounded, if we take meditation to be the enrichment of the faculties by way of the meditative appeasing and also by way of the meditative watching.

In discussing the difference between paññā-vimutta and ceto-vimutta, Griffiths (1986: 153-54) says:

The category of paññāvimutto, one who is liberated by means of wisdom, seems to envisage the possibility of the attainment of nibbāna without complete mastery over the enstatic practices, and the category of cetovimutto, one whose mind is liberated, centres especially upon mastery of the enstatic practices.

By the “enstatic practices” Giffiths refers to both the form absorptions (rūpa-jhāna) and the formless attainments (arūpa-samāpatti). As far as the canon is concerned, there are no ceto-vimutta (concentration-liberated) arahats in the first place and as such all arahats are basically a sort of wisdom-liberated ones, though the majority of converts to the Buddha’s teaching as shown in major discourses point to their ability to experience both concentration-freedom and wisdom-freedom here and now. It must also be noted that there are references in the canon to the wisdom-liberated arahats but there are no evidence in it to trace the possible existence of concentration-liberated arahats. Griffiths also fails to recognize that in the canon there are references to the wisdom-liberated arahats who have become so after emerging from even the fourth form absorption and also those arahats who have attained the cessation-state and understood it through wisdom. This shows that some wisdom-liberated arahats had some experience of practising both the form absorptions and the formless attainments, the highest forms of attainments one could experience by way of the meditative appeasing. What makes them as wisdom-liberated is their ability to understand whatever their attainments or experiences as they really are with wisdom. This is because they have mastered the technique of meditative watching well.

The commentary to the Aṅguttara Nikāya discusses five types of wisdom-liberated arahats:

paññāya vimutto ti paññā-vimutto; so sukkha-vipassako catuhi jhānehi vuṭṭhāya arahattaṁ pattā cattāro cā ti imesaṁ vasena pañca-vidho hoti। – Mp IV.3

An analysis of these five types of wisdom-liberated arahat could help us in understanding not only the different ways of attaining the wisdom-freedom but also their practice of meditation. The five wisdom-liberated ones are:

1. one who becomes an arahat by practising dry meditative watching;

2. one who becomes an arahat after emerging from the first form absorption;

3. one who becomes an arahat after emerging from the second form absorption;

4. one who becomes an arahat after emerging from the third form absorption; and

5. one who becomes an arahat after emerging from the fourth form absorption.

The first type of wisdom-liberated arahat has attained his perfection (arahatta) by practising dry meditative watching, meaning without attaining any of the absorptions (jhāna). The next four types have attained perfection after rising from the first, second, third and fourth form absorptions respectively. Prior to the attainment of the first form absorption, the meditator is said to pass through two stages of concentration known as access-concentration (upacāra-samādhi) and absorption-concentration (appaṇā-samādhi). As the canonical expression “wisdom arises in the concentrated mind” confirms, even the dry meditative watcher must have practised concentration to a higher level. Therefore, all of wisdom-liberated arahats are likely to have attained these various levels of concentration by practising meditative appeasing. If it is the case, for the attainment of any type of wisdom-liberated arahat, the development of concentration to a certain effective level is essential. Further, all types of arahats must have practised the meditative watching, for without such meditative watching into the five clinging-bundles one would not be able to know and see things as they really are.

This commentarial view is confirmed in the canon as an early classification, for A IV.452–3 (9.44) it presents nine types of wisdom-liberated persons:

1. one who has attained the first form absorption and understands it through wisdom;

2. one who has attained the second form absorption and understands it through wisdom;

3. one who has attained the third form absorption and understands it through wisdom;

4. one who has attained the fourth form absorption and understands it through wisdom;

5. one who has attained the sphere of space and understands it through wisdom;

6. one who has attained the sphere of consciousness and understands it through wisdom;

7. one who has attained the sphere of nothingness and understands it through wisdom;

8. one who has attained the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception and understands it through wisdom; and

9. one who has attained the cessation of perception and feeling, whose impurity currents are destroyed after seeing by wisdom, and understands it through wisdom.

This list of nine types of wisdom-liberated ones shows that even some wisdom-liberated persons are capable of attaining and abiding all of the form absorptions and the formless attainments and even the cessation-state. Of course, this text states that the first eight types are wisdom-liberated in the provisional sense and the last type in the non-provisional sense, but we could still identify that the practice of meditation has been part of all of their progressive paths.

Furthermore, another text introduces the wisdom-liberated arahat as one who is released by non-clinging after seeing the seven stations of consciousness and the two bases as they really are. What he has seen is their arising, disappearance, enjoyment, perils and giving up. The seven stations of consciousness are also explained in the same discourse as follows:

1. There are beings who are different in body and in perception, such as humans and some heavenly beings, and some beings living in lower worlds;

2. there are beings who are different in body but equal in perception, such as the first-born gods of the Brahmā-world;

3. there are beings who are equal in body but different in perception, such as the radiant gods;

4. there are beings who are equal in body and perception, such as the all-illuminating gods;

5. there are beings reborn in the sphere of boundless space;

6. there are beings reborn in the sphere of boundless consciousness; and

7. there are beings reborn in the sphere of nothingness.

The two bases are:

1. the sphere of the unconscious-beings; and

2. the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception (D II.68-70 (15 Mahānidānasutta)).

As can be seen from this definition, the seven stations and two bases represent the whole of the experiential world that this wisdom-liberated arahat has experienced by way of the meditative appeasing and understood them by way of the meditative watching as places where consciousness could find its establishment by clinging. As this wisdom-liberated one is liberated by non-clinging, we can understand that he is free from all these worldly experiences and is now an arahat.

Wisdom-liberated and Other Arahats

There are six forms of direct knowledge: magical powers, divine ear, penetration of the mind (citta) of others, divine eye, remembrance of former lives and the extinction of impurity currents. The Susīmasutta (S II.121-8 (12.70)) identifies the wisdom-liberated as an arahat who does not have both the first five of the six-knowledge (abhiññā) and the peaceful deliverances. By so identifying the discourse distinguishes the wisdom-liberated arahat from three types of arahats: the both-ways-liberated arahat, the six-knowledge arahat and the three-knowledge arahat. The both-ways-liberated arahat has the peaceful deliverances, but the wisdom-liberated one does not. The wisdom-liberated arahat has just one direct knowledge but the six-knowledge arahat has all of the six and the three-knowledge arahat has only three of them. The wisdom-liberated arahat has only the last knowledge, the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents. The three-knowledge arahat, in addition to the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents, has the divine eye and the remembrance of former lives.

The same Susīmasutta relates the following story: A monk named Susīma sees a group of monks coming to the Buddha and declaring their attainment of the liberating knowledge (aññā). He asks a series of questions to them to know on what basis are they arahats. In answering his questions, the arahat monks tell him that they have no miraculous powers, no divine ear, no ability to read others’ mind, no knowledge of previous lives, no divine eye and even no physical experience of the bliss of the formless deliverances. In spite of all these lacks, they tell him that they are arahats. What they said was that they were wisdom-liberated arahats. As the commentary to the Saṁyutta Nikāya confirms with the following phrase: mayaṃ nijjhānakāsukkhavipassakā, paññāmatten ’eva vimuttā ti (Spk II.126-27). It should be clearly noticed that in this phrase, nijjhānakā means “those with no absorptions”, not “those without the practice of meditation”. With this answer, Susīma, who believes that all arahats possess all those forms of direct knowledge and peaceful experiences, gets confused and goes to the Buddha to ask about the truth of what they have told him. The Buddha gives him an interesting answer, which confused Susīma more. He says that the knowledge of the status of phenomena comes first and then comes the knowledge of nibbāna (atha kho dhamma-ṭṭhiti-ñāṇaṁ pubbe, pacchā nibbāne ñāṇaṁ – (S II.124 (12.70)). This seems to mean that the awakening to impermanence, suffering and not-self comes first, and then the knowledge of liberation experience. The Buddha continues by explaining that the realization of impermanent, suffering and no-self nature of the five clinging-bundles makes one completely detach oneself from them. This detachment brings about emancipation and the knowledge regarding his liberation that emerges in the person who is thus emancipated. It seems that for the person who has understood the real nature of the aggregates and the dependent co-arising and ceasing, the various forms of direct knowledge and the physical experience of deliverances have no significance (de Silva 1978: 139). The most important point that we could notice is how the Buddha trains Susīma in the meditative watching to see the five clinging-bundles belonging to past, present and future and also the workings of each causal link in the chain of the forward and the backward presentations of the dependent co-arising as they really are. This could also have been the type of practice and realization of those who declared that they were arahats in the presence of the Buddha (S II.124-26 (2.70)).

The canon, as seen above, identifies that the wisdom-liberated can be anyone who has attained the form absorptions, the formless attainments, or even the cessation-state and understands them through wisdom. Again, it identifies that the both-ways-liberated is an arahat who is capable of experiencing those form absorptions, formless attainments and the cessation-state. If so, the natural question would be, what is the difference between the both-ways-liberated arahat and the wisdom-liberated arahat? In examining this issue, a text states that the both-ways-liberated arahat is able not only to attain, abide and penetrate these attainments but also to experience them physically.

puna ca param āvuso bhikkhu sabbaso neva-saññā-nāsaññāyatanaṁ samatikkamma saññā-vedayita-nirodhaṁ upasampajja viharati; paññāya c 'assa disvā āsavā parikkhīṇā honti; yathā yathā ca tad āyatanaṁ tathā tathā naṁ kāyena phassitvā [phusitvā?] viharati; paññāya ca nam pajānāti. ettāvatā pi kho āvuso ubhato-bhāga-vimutto vutto bhagavatā nippariyāyenā ti। – A IV.453 (9.45)

The wisdom-liberated arahat, on the other hand, although has attained these states, is not capable of experiencing them physically. This means that the wisdom-liberated arahat has attained those states as a foundation for the achievement of his wisdom-freedom, while the both-ways-liberated arahat may have attained, mastered them and also used them as a foundation for his attainment of perfection. The important distinction between them is that the both-ways-liberated arahat can attain and experience them here and now, again and again, but the wisdom-liberated arahat cannot do so. This means that here the wisdom-liberated arahat is distinguished from the both-ways-liberated arahat on the basis of latter’s mastery over the formless attainments together with the form absorptions. The wisdom-liberated arahat is often identified as a person who does not possess the peaceful deliverances, the formless attainments, but has eradicated the impurity currents through wisdom. Another text introduces the wisdom-liberated as follows:

katamo ca bhikkhave puggalo paññā-vimutto? idha bhikkhave ekacco puggalo ye te santā vimokkhā atikkamma rūpe āruppā te na kāyena phusitvā viharati, paññāya c ’assa disvā āsavā parikkhīṇā honti। ayaṁ vuccati bhikkhave puggalo paññā-vimutto। imassa pi kho ahaṁ bhikkhave bhikkhuno na appamādena karaṇīyan ti vadāmi। taṁ kissa hetu? kataṁ tassa appamādena. abhabbo so pamajjituṁ। – M I.477–78 (70 Kīṭāgirisutta)

Who is the wisdom-liberated person? Here someone has not in his own person reached those peaceful incorporeal deliverances transcending all corporeality. But after wisely understanding all things, have the impurity currents reached extinction. Such a one is called the wisdom-liberated person.

The same text says that the one who has the mastery over these peaceful deliverances is the both-ways-liberated arahat:

katamo ca bhikkhave puggalo ubhatobhāgavimutto? idha bhikkhave ekacco puggalo ye te santā vimokkhā atikkamma rūpe āruppā te kāyena phusitvā viharati paññāya cassa disvā āsavā parikkhīṇā honti। ayaṁ vuccati bhikkhave puggalo ubhatobhāgavimutto। imassa kho ahaṁ bhikkhave bhikkhuno na appamādena karaṇīyan ti vadāmi। taṁ kissa hetu? kataṁ tassa appamādena। abhabbo so pamajjituṁ।

– M I.477 (70 Kīṭāgirisutta)

Thus, among the four types of arahats, the wisdom-liberated one has only the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents and nothing more. He has no physical experiences of his emancipation or any superhuman powers. As such, the wisdom-freedom means the liberation achieved with the knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents. The knowledge in the destruction of impurity currents means that he is an arahat.

How does the wisdom-liberated arahat differ from the Buddha, the fully enlightened one? Since this issue has been treated by several scholars, here the discussion is narrowed down simply to draw a line between them (see Rahula 1978; Weeraratne 1966; Sharma 1983-84). In contrasting the two, the Sambuddhasutta shows that as far as the final liberation is concerned, there is no difference between them:

tathāgato bhikkhave arahaṁ sammā-sambuddho rūpassa nibbidā virāgā nirodhā anupādā vimutto sammāsambuddho ti vuccati। bhikkhu pi bhikkhave paññā-vimutto rūpassa nibbidā virāgā nirodhā anupādā vimutto paññā-vimutto ti vuccati। tathāgato bhikkhave arahaṁ sammā-sambuddho vedanāya nibbidā virāgā nirodhā anupādā vimutto sammāsambuddho ti vuccati। bhikkhu pi bhikkhave paññāvimutto vedanāya nibbidā … pe … paññāvimutto ti vuccati। tathāgato bhikkhave arahaṁ sammā-sambuddho saññāya … saṅkhārānaṁ … viññāṇassa nibbidā virāgā nirodhā anupādā vimutto sammāsambuddho ti vuccati। bhikkhu pi bhikkhave paññā-vimutto viññāṇassa nibbidā virāgā nirodhā anupādā vimutto paññā-vimutto ti vuccati। – S III.65-66 (22.58 Sambuddhasutta)

Monks, the tathāgata, the arahat, the fully enlightened one, liberated by non-clinging through the revulsion towards matter … feeling … perception … psychological determinants … consciousness, through its fading away and cessation, is called a fully enlightened one. A monk who is wisdom-liberated, liberated by non-clinging through the revulsion towards matter … feeling … perception … psychological determinants … consciousness, through its fading away and cessation, is called the wisdom-liberated.

Then in explaining the difference between the two, the text continues:

tathāgato bhikkhave arahaṁ sammā-sambuddho anuppannassa maggassa uppādetā, asañjātassa maggassa sañjanetā, anakkhātassa maggassa akkhātā, maggaññū maggavidū maggakovido; maggānugā ca bhikkhave etarahi sāvakā viharanti pacchā samannāgatā। ayaṁ kho bhikkhave viseso ayaṁ adhippayāso idaṁ nānākaraṇaṁ tathāgatassa arahato sammāsambuddhassa paññā-vimuttena bhikkhunā ti।

– S III.66 (22.58 Sambuddhasutta)

The tathāgata, monks, the arahat, the fully enlightened one, is the originator of the path unarisen before, the producer of the path unproduced before, the declarer of the path undeclared before. He is the knower of the path, the discoverer of the path, the one skilled in the path. And his disciples now dwell following that path and become possessed of it afterwards. This, monks, is the distinction, the disparity, the difference between the tathāgata, the arahat, the fully enlightened one, and a wisdom-liberated monk.

Concerning their attainment of the liberation from the birth-cycle, the text concludes that both the Buddha and the wisdom-liberated are arahats and are identical. Then the most basic difference between them is that the Buddha is the teacher and the wisdom-liberated one is his disciple. Needless to say, the Buddha also possesses forms of direct knowledge and also the ability to experience the eight deliverances as he wishes. As the biography of the Buddha shows all of his attainments are due to the practice of meditation, both the meditative appeasing and the meditative watching. Therefore, we can conclude that the wisdom-liberated has also practised the meditative watching and also the meditative appeasing, though in the case of the meditative appeasing may not be to the highest level, but to a level where meditative watching could be practised.

Conclusion

This study has shown that one can become an arahat without the practice of meditation is a myth popularized by some scholars of Buddhist studies. All canonical sources show that even the wisdom-liberated arahat has come to experience his wisdom-freedom after the practice of meditation. Meditation should be understood as popularly referred and discussed in the canon as consisting of two main techniques: the meditative appeasing and the meditative watching. It is also the case that both of these techniques are to be utilized in order to reach the perfection (arahatta). This means the wisdom-liberated person has also practised both types of meditation techniques.

Abbreviations

A

Aṅguttara Nikāya,ed. Richard Morris and Edmund Hardy, 1885-1910, 6 vols, London/Oxford: The Pali Text Society.

D

Dīgha Nikāya, ed. T.W. Rhys Davids and J. Estlin Carpenter, 1890–1903, 3 vols, London: The Pali Text Society.

Dhp

Dhammapada, ed. O. von Hinüber and K.R. Norman, 1994, Oxford: The Pali Text Society.

M

Majjhima Nikāya, ed. Vilhelm Trenckner and Robert Chalmers, 1888–1925, 4 vols, London: The Pali Text Society.

Mp

Manorathapūraṇī (Aṅguttara Nikāya-aṭṭhakathā), ed.Edmund Hardy Max, Welleser and Harmann Kopp, 1924-56, Manorathapūranī Buddhaghosa’s Commentary on the Aṅguttaranikāya, 5 vols, London: The Pali Text Society.

S

Saṁyutta Nikāya, ed. M. Leon, Feer, 1881-98, 6 vols, London:The Pali Text Society.

Sn

Suttanipāta, ed.D. Andersen and Helmer Smith, 1913/1997, Oxford: The Pali Text Society.

Spk

Sāratthappakāsinī (Saṁyuttanikāya-aṭṭhakathā), ed. F.L. Woodward, 1929-37, Sāratthappakāsinī Buddhaghosa’s Commentary on the Saṁyuttanikāya, 3 vols, London: The Pali Text Society.

Ud

Udāna, ed.Paul Steinthal, 1885, London: The Pali Text Society.

References

de Silva, Lily, 1978, “Cetovimutti, Pannavimutti and Ubhato-bhagavimutti”, Pāli Buddhist Review, 3(3): 118-45.

Griffiths, Paul, 1986, On Being Mindless Buddhist Meditation and the Mind–Body Problem, La Sallza, IL: Open Court.

Johansson, Rune, 1969, The Psychology of Nirvāna, London: George Allen & Unwin.

Kasulis, T.P., 1987, Zen Action Zen Person, Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press.

Rahula, Telwatte, 1978, “The Buddhist Arahant: Is His Attainment of Nirvana as Perfect as the Buddha’s Enlightenment?”, Religious Traditions, 1(1): 33-42.

Sharma, Arvind, 1983-84, “How Is the Buddha Different from an Arahant in the Theravada Buddhism”, Buddhist Studies Review, 1(1): 16-24.

Weeraratne, W. G., 1966, “Arahant”, Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Vol. II Āpa-Bhārhut, pp. 41-46, Colombo: The Government of Ceylon.

2

Complementarity of

Method and Wisdom

Mahesh A. Deokar

For every seeker of wisdom, irrespective of one’s field of search, knowing the correct and the most efficient method to obtain that wisdom is of prime importance. Without knowing the right way, one cannot reach the desired goal. In Buddhism such a method or way is called magga, i.e. a path.

What Is a Path?: How Is It Complementary to the Goal and the Wisdom?

While explaining the word magga from the point of etymology Buddhaghoṣa says:

nibbānaṁ maggati gavesati kilese vā mārento gacchatī ti maggo। – Aṭṭhasālinī, p. 45

It is called path since it looks for, that is, searches for liberation. Or, it goes on killing defilements. Hence it is called a path.

Both these etymological definitions underline the fact that the path and its goal must be in conformity. Otherwise, path cannot be called a path. In other words, a path is always complementary to the wisdom it aims to achieve.

If we analyse the above two definitions, we can point out two aspects of the complementarity of the path. The first is that it is complementary by way of removing obstacles to liberation and the second is that it serves as a condition for liberation or in other words leads a person out of saṁsāra