MEDITATION

INTRODUCTION

We are living in a world community where people think they can find happiness, inner peace and harmony through wealth, power and social status. They also seek happiness through family relationships, jobs, partners, friends and sensual pleasure.

They try to change the external conditions of their physical, social and political environment in various ways, because they believe that when these conditions are developed, they can become happy and peaceful, but they forget that at no time will conditions stop changing.

Even before the fulfillment of their dreams, things will change and the promise of happiness fades away like the morning mist at daybreak. The harder they try to reach out for happiness, the more elusive it becomes, like catching a fluttering butterfly which is so enticingly near.

LOOK WITHIN YOURSELF

In this realization, most people adopt the wrong methods to find peace and happiness. They seek them from outside of themselves, instead of looking within themselves. People foolishly try to overcome their miseries by seeking to please their sense: they drink, gamble and dance under the illusion that they are enjoying happiness.

Sense stimulation does not really bring peace and relaxation. The more we try to please the senses through sensual pleasures, the more will we become slaves to the senses. There will be no end to our craving for satisfaction in this way. In this connection, we are able to experience clearly in the MahŒ SatipaÊÊhŒn a Sutta ‘how to look within ourselves, instead of outside of ourselves’.

THE VALUE OF MEDITATION

According to Albert Einstein, even atomic energy, which has shaken the whole world, cannot train a man’s mind. Such is the nature of the mind, without religious guidance; it is difficult to train the mind. Man had turned the whole world into a time bomb because of his ego, hatred, selfishness and cunningness the life of every living being is in danger, by the various inventions clever people have made but which are misused by those in power.

To make clear it philosophically, as body needs washing, feeding and medicating, we must understand that mind also needs the same things. Wash the mind through calm meditation. Feed the mind with Dhamma. Medicate the mind; rid the sickness of anger, greed and ignorance with the supreme medicine of the Dhamma. The body needs clothing to cover nakedness; in the same manner, mind also needs discipline to prevent mental nakedness.

Medical science and therapy are not so effective in helping a person to eradicate mental disturbances such as frustration and worries because they arise not as a result of organic disorders, but are mind created. The remedy for these problems is meditation. For those who want to embrace essential value, MahŒ SatipaÊÊhŒn a Sutta is ready to provide it, get real with irrespective of original religious beliefs.

THE MOST DYNAMIC FORCE

The most dynamic force in the world is the mind. A singe thought appearing in this invisible mind cans either save or destroy the world. This mind is a gold mine but people pollute it. Therefore, it is important that the mind must be properly guided by discipline and reason to avoid mental pollution.

The Buddha has said, no enemy can harm one so much as one’s thought of cravings, thoughts of hatred, thoughts, which can make life a nuisance to ourselves as well as to others. These internal enemies harm us more than external enemies. We suffer more due to worries, enmity and irritability arising from our mind. Therefore, we have to strive to overcome them by harnessing the mental forces of concentration and understanding.

To practice meditation, one must have strong determination, effort and patience. Immediate results should not be expected. We must remember that it takes many years for a person to be qualified as a doctor, lawyer, mathematician, historian or a scientist.

Similarly to be a good Meditator, a person will take some time to control the elusive mind and calm the senses. Practicing meditation is like swimming against the current in a river. One must not lose patience in one is not able to obtain rapid results during the initial stages.

MISINTERPRETATIONS OF MEDITATION

Numerous people have misinterpreted concerning with the word meditation; “Meditation means making the mind a blank-making the mind empty. ‘Others seem to think that meditation simply means sitting and doing nothing. Sitting and doing may be a fine thing to do or not to do, but it is not meditation.

Again, sometimes you hear people say, or you even read, that meditation means sitting and gazing at your navel, possibly squinting as you do so, or that it means going into some kind of trance. (Some others use) this word trance as a synonym for meditation.

Other people think that meditation means just sitting quietly and thinking about things, turning thins over in one’s mind. Others again think that meditation means getting yourself into a sort of self-induced hypnotic state. These are just a few of the more popular and more widespread misunderstandings about meditation. Reading this Sutta would be clear enough to obtain the right understanding on meditation.

MISUSE OF MEDITATION

In the Buddhist meditation, one must develop VipassanŒ (insight) to realize the real nature of existence and discard selfish or egoistic desires. Insight meditation is the only solution to purify man’s mind, to rid him of his evil ways or selfish desires. There are some people who practice meditation, not for spiritual progress, but for material gain. They want to get better jobs. They want to earn more money. They want their business to be more successful.

Perhaps they fail to understand that the aim of Buddhist meditation is not to increase but to decrease desires, Materialistic motives are hardly suitable for one wishing to practice meditation, the goal of which lies beyond worldly affairs.  One should meditate to experience some spiritual benefits that even money cannot buy or bring.  MahŒ SatipaÊÊhŒn a Sutta is expecting to provide a better solution to this problem.

THE BUDDHIST WAY

Nowadays, there are many kinds of meditation, several methods, and a lot of concentration techniques, which used majority of people.  Even though there are many , to put it in a nutshell, according to the MahŒsatipaÊÊhŒn a Sutta, found in the Theravada Buddhist Pali canon, here in the  Buddhist way to meditation is only fours kinds to identify exactly as follows.

1.                           KŒyŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒnŒ-foundation of the mindfulness on the body.

2.                           VedanŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒnŒ-foundation of the mindfulness on the feeling.

3.                           CittŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒnŒ-foundation of the mindfulness on the mind.

4.                           DhammŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒnŒ-foundation of the mindfulness on the mind-object.

     According to the Theravada Pali texts, the meditative techniques are one of these four kinds only. So the study of MahŒ SatipaÊÊhŒn a Sutta is essential and meditative techniques are so significant, for those who want to practice meditation, according to the Theravada tradition. Talking about Buddhist meditation, it is not completed without MahŒ SatipaÊÊhŒna Sutta, it is a must. So I’d like to present four kinds of SatipaÊÊhŒn in dividing four kinds of chapter systematically and thoroughly in my thesis.

     Currently, what I really fancy to present here in this thesis, are not only to be able to seek real peace and harmony from within ourselves instead of outside of ourselves, but also to be able to get rid of misinterpretation and misuse of meditation, according to the KŒyŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒnŒ and VedanŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒn of this Sutta.

Additionally, what I plan to give an explanation, is the word EkŒyana, being in an argument quite a lot of scholars “What is the meaning of EkŒyana, how is EkŒyana” as the major point of this Sutta.

     As a final point, the main thing what I actually want to present, is to point up the value of meditation in this Sutta, which cannot be bought no amount of money or property. So I make a decision to choose this Sutta to put in writing toward the people who are appreciated Buddhist meditation deeply. This is the main point of MahŒ SatipaÊÊhŒn a Sutta, which I fell like to inscribe, in accordance with the CittŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒna and DhammŒnupassanŒ SatipaÊÊhŒna of this Sutta