ABSTRACT
In his conclusion to his monumental work The Buddhist Path to Awakening , Rupert Gethin points out that a path to awakening is a process of change and development. He observes that this process of transformation involves coming to know the relationship between unawakened mind and the awakened mind. This process postulates that some kinds of ordinary mind actively perpetuate the defi lements; at the same time, it postulates that other kinds of ordinary mind ‘actually approximate rather closely to the waking mind itself’. 2 Following that, Gethin postulates that the task of the Buddhist spiritual path is to maximize these kusala or ‘skilful’ tendencies. He further observes that the Buddhist solution for maximizing these skilful tendencies is to practice calm ( samatha ) and concentration ( samādhi ). Stilling the mind, Gethin explains, allows the natural skilful tendencies to grow and strengthen; at the same time, the mind becomes clearer. In other words, Gethin concludes, one must cultivate the jhānas ; it is in these states that the skilful tendencies – the bodhi-pakkhiyā dhammā – are fully activated. 3
Gethin’s conclusion has echoes in my analysis of the jhānas and in my suggestions regarding their transformative power. But there are differences. Gethin and other interpreters of the Nikāyas emphasize the calming and one-pointed concentration aspects of the jhānas and samādhi and argue as to what degree of concentration one needs for practicing vipassanā for the attainment of liberation. 4 In contrast, I have offered a different perspective on the jhānas , their phenomenology and their relation to the practice of satipaṭṭhāna . I have argued that the common interpretation of the jhānas as one-pointed absorption, a narrow fi eld of awareness, absorbed in a single object of meditation (possibly a synthetic one) seems to be misleading and even erroneous. I have demonstrated in the preceding chapters that the various descriptions of the jhānas and the combination of jhānic factors in each jhāna -state imply that jhānic mind is a broad fi eld of awareness, observant of the changing phenomenal fi eld. This observation was further established when we saw that the Nikāyas clearly correlate the gradual maturity of the practice of satipaṭṭhāna with the attainment of the jhānas and the establishment of samādhi . 5
The premise that the jhānas can be practiced and attained separately from the development of sīla and the practice of satipaṭṭhāna has led to conclusions about the jhānas . Based on this premise, the jhānas are viewed as unnecessary for the attainment of liberation, as they have no real liberative value; as such, one can develop insight and attain nibbāna on the basis of lower levels of concentration (i.e., ‘access concentration’). However, unlike the view that the Nikāyas present two distinct and even contradictory meditative procedures (i.e., samatha meditation and vipassanā meditation), I have attempted to demonstrate in the course of this study that the four jhānas should not be conceived as meditative techniques at all. They are not concentration exercises that one can choose to practice as a basis for insight meditation (and only if one wishes or is able to); rather, the four jhānas are the actualization and embodiment of insight practice. 6 In other words, the jhānas are not separated and distinguished from the practice of satipaṭṭhāna ;
but also insight into the nature of experience. I have argued that the fourfold jhāna model exemplifi es a gradual development of an awakened awareness of reality, showing how the jhānic process designates a gradual spiritual ascent in which each jhāna signifi es a more clarifi ed perception of experience. What I wish to argue further here is that the jhānas – particularly the fourth and fi nal jhāna – exemplify the ideal mind, in the Nikāyas’ theory of spiritual development. It expresses, I believe, what I will call ‘wisdom-awareness’. 7
I Sīla and the attainment of the jhānas Before moving on to offer some refl ections on the nature of wisdom ( paññā ) in the Nikāyas’ vision of spiritual liberation and its relation to the attainment of the fourth jhāna , let me fi rst discuss the interrelation between sīla and the attainment of the jhānas . The Nikāyas’ theory of mental development associates the attainment of the jhānas not only with the practice of satipaṭṭhāna and the deepening of insight ( vipassanā ) but also with the cultivation and embodiment of sīla . That is, the jhānas in the Nikāyas’ path theory are not some meditative states that can be attained independently from other path-factors. More importantly, the jhānas have an important and imperative liberative role in the path itself: by progressing through the jhānas , one gradually de-conditions the unwholesome tendencies, purifi es the mind from unethical demeanour and fulfi ls those qualities that can awaken the mind. In other words, the jhānas actualize the aim of Buddhist practice, which includes both the development of morality and insight.
