mikenz66 wrote:Manapa wrote:Good to know but that does leave the question as to why Ajahn used it?
Perhaps, in part, being a student of Ajahn Brahm, he takes the opportunity to argue against the "dry insight" (without Jhana) approach discussed in the Commentaries and championed by the Burmese schools (and by some of Ajahn Chah's other students), who quote the Satipatthana Sutta as evidence for the importance the Buddha ascribed to this approach.
His book/PDF is, after all, entitled: "A History of Mindfulness: How
Insight Worsted Tranquillity in the Satipatthana Sutta" and as I recall he argues that if you only keep what is common to all versions of the Sutta from various sects you are left with more "Tranquillity" (Jhana-inducing) practises (e.g. mindfulness of breathing) than "Insight" practises (such as contemplation of the khandhas), whereas in the Theravada tradition it is the other way around.
Mike
I wonder if the "dry insight" approach may not actually be just ONE monolithic approach, as expounded by some of the contemporary Vipassana schools.
Would it be correct to say that the locus classicus of the "dry insight" method expounded by the Commentaries would be to use "upacara samadhi" as the basis for the insight practices? I recall that Ajahn Brahm mentions that the basis for the work in the Satipatthana Sutta would be that the meditator "Vineyya Loke Abhijjha-Domanassam". Apparently, the Commentaries interpret this to mean abandoning the 5 Hindrances (or just the 2 main ones?). The states where this holds is upacara samadhi and Jhana.
Contrast this to the methods that have dispensed with the traditional requirement for upacara samadhi and are happy to work with "khanika samadhi" as the basis for the satipatthanas. Would that fulfill the pre-requisite of "Vineyya Loke Abhijjha-Domanassam"?
Another related issue would be whether the satipatthanas are supposed to be the basis for insight, or do they do something else? The Culavedalla Sutta says this -
""Lady, what is concentration? What is the basis of concentration? What is the equipment of concentration? What is the development of concentration?
"Unification of mind, friend Visakha, is concentration; the four foundations of mindfulness are the basis of concentration; the four right kinds of striving are the equipment of concentration; the repetition, development and cultivation of these same states is the development of concentration therein."
- Bhikkhu Bodhi's translation, but do note that Ajahn Thanissaro translates a little differently. The latter has "theme" in place of "basis".
This creates a sort of chicken-&-egg situation. If satipatthana requires "Vineyya Loke Abhijjha-Domanassam" as per the Satipatthana Sutta, how will satipatthana be the basis for samadhi as per the Culavedalla Sutta? Or might this suggest that there are 2 aspects of satipatthana - one for the development of samadhi, and the other for the development of vipassana after the 5 Hindrances are abandoned?