Dhamma-Anusīlana: Investigating the Buddhist Traditions

By Bimalendra Kumar and Ujjwal Kumar

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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: D.K. Printworld
• Release date: Mar 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9788124611746

Book preview

Front.jpg

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. ]

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

In

the

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 I

Meditation

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 II

Personality 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 Pāsa in 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 III

Dharmakīrti and Persons

10. Sachchidanand Mishra

Dharmakīrti on Determinate Perception

11. Madhumita Chattopadhyay

Contribution of Sāṅkr̥tyāyana to the Study of Pramāṇavārttika

12. Abhinav Anand and Ajit 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 the Anāthapiṇḍikovādasutta

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 IV

Principles, 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. A

nand 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: Attho Akkharasaññāto

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:

Barua, Dipen, Lecturer, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, e-mail:

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

Chattopadhyay, Madhumita, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, e-mail:

Das, Sanjib K., Professor, Department of Indo-Tibetan Studies, Visva-Bharti University, Santiniketan, West Bengal, e-mail:

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

e-mail:

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

e-mail:

Mishra, Sachchidanand, Professor, Department of Philosophy, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India, e-mail:

Mohanta, Dilip Kumar, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, e-mail:

Negi, Wangchuk Dorjee, Professor, Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, Varanasi, India, e-mail:

Pannaloka, Wadinagala, Head and Senior Lecturer, Department of Buddhist Thought, Postgraduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, e-mail:

Prasad, Hari Shankar, Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Delhi, Delhi, e-mail:

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

Sarao, K.T.S., Former Head and Professor, Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi, e-mail:

Singh, Anand, Professor, School of Buddhist Studies, Philosophy and Comparative Religions, Nalanda University, Nalanda, e-mail:

Somaratne, G.A., Associate Professor, Centre of Buddhist Studies, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, e-mail:

Tsering, Tashi, Professor in Sakya Buddhist Philosophy, Head of the Sampradaya Department, CIHTS, Sarnath, Varanasi, e-mail:

Part I

Meditation

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.

T

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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 tevijjā arahats and also in the six-knowledge of the chaḷabhiññā arahats. 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