Boran kammatthana

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
Saengnapha
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by Saengnapha »

grigoris wrote: Fri Apr 13, 2018 10:26 am I decided to revive this thread than start a new one.

I am heading to Thailand at the end of May for the Vesak conference organised by the UN and wondered if anybody knows of any English speaking teachers of boran kamatthana in Bangkok that I can come into contact with.

I have sent some emails to the Wat Ratchasittharam in Thonburi where it is apparently being taught but did not receive a reply.

Is it mainly a Dhammakaya Foundation thing?
I live in this area and I would assume it is a Dhammakaya Foundation thing.
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Dhammanando
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by Dhammanando »

A recently published paper by Phibul Choompolpaisal:

"Nimitta and visual methods in Siamese and Lao meditation traditions from the 17th century to the present day"

Link


ABSTRACT

This article focuses on a range of meditation practices in Siam and Laos from the early sixteenth century to the present, using primarily published materials from the early twentieth century, especially a survey of traditional or boran meditation published in 1936 by the Thammayut monk Phramahachoti Jai Yasothararat (1897–1963). The works he compiled stem from high-ranking Lao and Siamese clerics including three Supreme Patriarchs: Sivisuddhisom (Laos; sixteenth century), Suk (Siam; 1733–1822) and Don (Siam; 1771–1852). All are examples of what might be called the boran kammatthan, i.e. a traditional and somewhat technical form of meditation that had flourished widely prior to the encroachment of monastic and social reforms, eventually losing out to Burmese Vipassana and Thai Forest tradition meditation techniques. To facilitate the comparison, the study focuses on nimitta and other visual aspects of meditation in the systems, revealing considerable diversity even within boran kammatthan. Continuities with contemporary meditation systems amongst three living traditions are then explored. These include meditation lineages at Wat Ratchasittharam, Wat Pradusongtham and the network of temples that adopt Sodh Candasaro’s (1884–1959) Dhammakaya meditation method.

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Notes on Contributor

Phibul Choompolpaisal is currently a research fellow at King’s College, London. His research interests include early modern Thai Buddhism, the dynamic interactions between political Buddhism and colonisation, Ayutthaya and Thonburi period manuscripts including of meditation texts, the roles of meditation monks, the history of monastic education and the role of early Western monks, especially the Irish monk U Dhammaloka. He received his BSc in engineering from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand, before taking an MA in the study of religions at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, where he also completed his PhD in Buddhist studies on early modern political Buddhism in Thailand. In 2012 he was a post-doctoral research fellow at University College Cork (Ireland) where he carried out research on early modern international Buddhist networks, and did an in-depth study of the history of Wat Ban Thawai in Bangkok, where the first Irish monk Dhammaloka was based and opened an international school in 1903. From August 2011 until August 2015 he worked as a researcher specialising in Thai/Tai literature for the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.
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In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
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char101
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by char101 »

Dhammanando wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 2:39 am A recently published paper by Phibul Choompolpaisal:

"Nimitta and visual methods in Siamese and Lao meditation traditions from the 17th century to the present day"

Link
I see piti repeatedly mentioned as being a kammatthana in the text. But how do one practice meditation taking the 5 types of piti as an object?

1. Khuddaka-piti - Minor rapture
2. Khanika-piti - Momentary or instantaneous joy
3. Okkantika-piti - Showering joy or flow of joy
4. Ubbenga-piti - Uplifting joy or transporting rapture
5. Pharana-piti - Suffusing joy or all-pervading rapture
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Dhammanando
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by Dhammanando »

char101 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:15 am I see piti repeatedly mentioned as being a kammatthana in the text. But how do one practice meditation taking the 5 types of piti as an object?
This is covered in Choompolpaisal's earlier article:

The Ancient Theravāda Meditation System, Borān Kammaṭṭhāna: Ānāpānasati or ‘Mindfulness of The Breath’ in Kammatthan Majjima Baeb Lamdub

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HX7aN ... 84HegS43SX
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
char101
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by char101 »

From the author(s) previous article:
The pīti section of this meditation cycle requires the practitioner to perform a
sequence of distinctive mental exercises in which the ‘form signs’ (nimitta) of the
five types of pīti are moved around the body in specified patterns and sequences.
So piti is visualized as colors (?) and then moved around positions in the body (?).
char101
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by char101 »

Dhammanando wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 6:23 am
char101 wrote: Mon Nov 04, 2019 5:15 am I see piti repeatedly mentioned as being a kammatthana in the text. But how do one practice meditation taking the 5 types of piti as an object?
This is covered in Choompolpaisal's earlier article:

The Ancient Theravāda Meditation System, Borān Kammaṭṭhāna: Ānāpānasati or ‘Mindfulness of The Breath’ in Kammatthan Majjima Baeb Lamdub
Thank you. The paper reference another article:

Skilton, A. and P. Choompolpaisal. 2015. ‘The Practice of pre-reform Theravāda meditation,
borān kammaṭṭhāna, from Wat Ratchasittharam: the pīti section of the kammatthana
majjima baeb lamdub’, Aséanie 33 (pagination unavailable).

But I can't find it in Buddhist Studies Review.
Caodemarte
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by Caodemarte »

Historically speaking, isn't boran kammatthana regarded as a survival of Hindu tantracism which flourished id SE Asia before Buddhist tantracism replaced it to be replaced in turn by Theravada as politics, dynasties and royal support shifted ?
cittaanurakkho
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Re: Boran kammatthana

Post by cittaanurakkho »

More articles on Boran Kammaṭṭhana.

1.
Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha yantras: An Ayutthaya Period Meditation Manual from Wat Pradusongtham
Potprecha Cholvijarn
The Journal of Siam Society
Vol. 109 No. 1 (2021)

https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/p ... view/17003

2.
The Old Meditation (boran kammatthan), a Pre-Reform Theravāda Meditation System from Wat Ratchasittharam. The pīti section of the Kammatthan Matchima …
Andrew Skilton, Phibul Choompolpaisal
Aséanie, Sciences humaines en Asie du Sud-Est Année 2014 33 pp. 83-116

https://www.persee.fr/doc/asean_0859-90 ... _33_1_2320

3.
The Origins and Development of Sammā Arahaṃ Meditation: From Phra Mongkhon Thepmuni (Sot Candasaro) to Phra Thep Yan Mongkhon
Potprecha Cholvijarn - 2020 - academia.edu

https://www.academia.edu/download/62095 ... y8fqx0.pdf
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