Wisdom and Samadhi - a two way process

Wisdom and Samadhi - a two way process

Ven. Acariya Nanasampanna Thera

Daily News

A person, who wants to train his heart to become skilful and to know what is behind the deluded tricks of the defilements (kilesas), must not be attached to study and learning in Buddhism to such an extent that it gives rise to the defilements.

But also he must not abandon study and learning, for to do this goes beyond the teaching of the Buddha. Both these ways are contrary to the purpose which the Buddha desired that one should aim at.

Meditation **************************

In other words, when one is practising meditation for the purpose of developing Samadhi, do not let the Citta (mind) grasp at what it has learnt by study, for it will be led into thoughts of the past and future.

Samadhi

One must instead make the Citta keep to the present, which means that just that aspect of Dhamma which one is developing must be one's only concern.

When there is some question or point of doubt in connection with one's Citta which one is unable to resolve, one may then check it by study and learning after one has finished one's meditation practice.

But it is wrong to check one's practice all the time with what one has learnt by study, for this will be mere intellectual knowledge, and not knowledge which comes from development in meditation and it is not the right way.

Summarising the above: If the Citta attains calm with an object of calm (Samatha), that is, with a preparatory repetition that comes from an aspect of Dhamma that one is developing, one should continue with that method.

But if it attains calm only by the use of wisdom, using various expedient methods to overcome difficulties, then one should always use wisdom to help in the attainment of calm.

The results which come from training in both these ways (i.e. Samadhi develops wisdom, and wisdom develops Samadhi), are the development of Calm and Wisdom, which will have a hidden radiance coming from the calm. Samadhi is by name and nature "calmness".

It is of three kinds as follows: **********

1. Khanika Samadhi - in which the heart becomes unwaveringly fixed and calm for a short time after which it withdraws.

2. Upacara Samadhi - of which the Buddha said, that it is almost the same, but it lasts longer than Khanika Samadhi. Then the Citta withdraws from this state.

3. Appana Samadhi - is Samadhi that is subtle, firm, and unwavering, and in which one can remain concentrated for a long time. One may also remain concentrated in this state, or withdraw from it as one wishes.

In Upacara Samadhi, when the Citta has dropped into a calm state it does not remaining that state, but partially withdraws from it to follow and get to know about various things which have come into contact with the heart.

Sometimes something arises concerning oneself and one sees a vision (Nimitta) which is sometimes good and sometimes bad, but in the first stage the nimitta will generally be something about oneself.

If one is not careful this can lead to trouble, because Nimittas which arise from this kind of Samadhi are of innumerable varieties.

Decayed **************************

Sometimes in front of one there appears an image of oneself lying down dead, the body decayed and swollen, or it may be the dead body of someone else.

Sometimes it is a skeleton, or bones scattered about, or may be one sees it as a corpse being carried past.

When such a nimitta appears, a clever person will take it as his Uggaha Nimitta; in order that it may become the Patibhaga Nimitta, because this will steadily lead to Samadhi becoming firm and to wisdom becoming penetrating and strong.

For a person, who has a strong ability in maintaining a detached rational attitude, to be successful in gaining value from such a nimitta he will always tend to develop mindfulness and wisdom (Sati-panna) when faced with it.

But there are a lot of people whose natures are timid and easily frightened, and Upacara Samadhi may do harm to the Citta of a person of this type because this class of Samadhi is of many different kinds and many frightening experiences can occur.

For example, the image of a man may appear, whose bodily shape, colour and social position are all frightening, and he may appear as though about to slash at one with a sword, or to eat one.

If however, one has little fear and is not timid, one can suffer no harm in such circumstances and one will learn more and more methods of curing one's Citta from these kinds of nimittas, or Samadhi.

But with a timid person - who usually tends to look for fearful things - the more he sees a frightening nimitta the larger it becomes, and at such a time he may unfortunately be driven mad.

As for external nimittas which come and go, one may or may not know whether a nimitta is external or whether it arises from oneself. But when one has become skilled with internal nimittas which arise from oneself, one will be able to know which are external nimittas.

External nimittas are associated with many different happenings of people, animals, pretas, bhutas (ghosts of the dead), the son of a Deva, a Devata, Indra, or Brhama, any of which may at that time be associated with one's Samadhi, even as one talks to a guest who comes on a visit.

When such incidents occur they may last for a long or short time depending on how long the necessary conditions last that are required for such happenings.

Conditions **************************

Sometimes however, the first set of conditions dies away and another set of conditions arises continuing from the first set, which is not easily brought to a close for the theme may be of short or long duration. When it dies away and the Citta withdraws, it may have spent several hours in this state.

For however long the Citta remains concentrated in this kind of Samadhi, when it withdraws one will find that it has not increased one's strength of Samadhi, nor made it more firm and durable, nor will it have helped to develop and strengthen one's wisdom.

It is like going to sleep and dreaming, when one wakes one's mind and body will not have gained their full strength.

But when one withdraws from the type of Samadhi in which one became concentrated and remained in this one state, one will find that the strength of one's samadhi has increased and it has become more firm and durable. Like someone who sleeps soundly without dreaming, when he wakes his body and mind will feel strong.

In Upacara Samadhi, if one is still not skilled and does not use wisdom to be careful and watchful on all sides, it may cause much trouble and can drive one mad. Those people who practice meditation generally call this state "Broken Dhamma", and it comes about because of this type of Samadhi. But if it is done with due care it can be of value in connection with some things.

As for the Uggaha Nimitta which arises from the citta, as was explained at the beginning of this chapter, this nimitta is the most suitable basis for the development of the Patibhaga Nimitta, which accords with the principles of mediation of those who want a method which is both skilful and truly wise, because this is the nimitta that is associated with the Ariya Sacca (Noble Truths). One must absorb the impression of the Patibhaga Nimitta into one's heart, then it may be considered to be the Ariya Sacca.

Both Nimittas which arise from oneself and those which come from external sources may lead to trouble if one is a timid person, and it is important to have wisdom and courage when things happen.

But one who has wisdom is not one-sidedly biased against Upacara Samadhi. It is like a poisonous snake, which although dangerous, is sometimes kept by people who can benefit from it.

Three hours with Kassapa - Sundayobserver

Three hours with Kassapa

by Aditha Dissanayake

View of Sigiriya from Pidurangala



No sooner had I landed at the Katunayake airport after almost fourteen hours of traversing through the clouds between New York and paradise i.e home, did I find myself on yet another journey, this time by road, in a seven seater van, to Inamaluwa Korale, in the Matale District. Destination; the rock citadel of King Kassapa, built to vie with Kuvera's Alakamanda and its sister rock Pidurangala.

Having left Colombo long after day-break amidst much teasing whenever we talked about our adventures abroad (eheth ehemada meheth ehemai) and constantly being called (rata giya aththo) the trip otherwise faultless, was slightly spoilt when we started to search for a place to have lunch.

With the buffet closed at Giman Hala, and most other restaurants saying we will have to wait at least thirty minutes till they prepared a meal for us, even though this was Saturday and only two in the afternoon, when the Manager at Hotel Thilanka said yes, they have lunch we sighed with relief. A relief which lasted only for a mere forty-minutes.

That's when the bill came. Seven hundred rupees each, for a meal of murunga, mukunuwenna, pumpkin and fried fish heads followed by a pot of watery curd and a few thin slices of water melon. Here is a place thou weary traveller thee should avoid no matter how parched thy lips are and how empty thy stomach is.

Upon arriving at Sigiriya, as always, I found myself gazing with despair at the flat arid nothingness, the seemingly inhospitable wasteland that met my eye. Then, yes, I found this first impression as it almost always does, is false and misleading. It is true, that this is a harsh bleak land, but one that is neither hostile nor dead.

A land that is not lifeless as the land in Yala or in some areas of Chilaw or to draw from my experiences in the USA, the land seen in Arizona. For, there is water here; in lakes and marshes often frequented by a dozen or so villagers knee deep in water, fishing, not for commercial purposes but for their midday meal.

There is water too in small pits nourished by gentle streams adding colour to the surroundings. Colour! Yes, there is colour here from the ever changing blues and greys of the wind rippled waters to the fresh light green grass striving towards a sky speckled with patches of white. And above all there is life here, birds in great number, groups of brown cattle, mischivous monkeys and elephants.

Elephants, but luckily not on a Saturday evening, and not in the vicinity of Pidurangala.

Though the sun was about to call it a day and return home by the time we reached Pidurangala, we took a chance and started the steep climb to the summit from hence it is believed one could see the best view of Sigiriya. With dusk rapidly enveloping the rock stairways and an eerie silence falling among us it was all too easy to imagine how lonely and secluded the lives of the cave-dwelling monks would have been more than 1,500 years ago.

Dawn on Sunday morning saw us at the foot of Sigiriya. Finally here I was in Kassapa's royal abode. Flinging all the historical details painstakingly unearthed by archeologists across the years, to the four winds I let my imagination reign supreme.

In my minds eye at first, I saw Kassapa as John Abraham in the movie, 'Water', then, he changed into a brave warrier with the same contuours as those of Mel Gibson in 'Braveheart', and finally in his old age I pictured him looking like Clint Eastwood, silent, strong, solitary.

I day dreamt of how he would have received me in his royal meeting room, equivalent in importance to the Oval room in the White House, if I had gone to interview him for the Sunday Observer.

Instead of pen and paper I would probably have had a puskola and panhinda in my hands and I would have been served with wine imported from Egypt in the kind of goblet you see in dramas of Shakespeare.

I wonder if I would have had the courage to ask him why on earth he chose such a massive rock rising more than 180 meters above the surrounding plains, to build his castle. Was this escapism at its best?...would he have answered...er...in English? I stopped dreaming. Even day dreams can be stretched only to a limit.

Yet, even without dreaming, it was easy to picture how beautiful the palace would have been thanks to the paintings on the pockets of the rock on the west side. Visible 1,500 years later in the form of beautiful damsels whose looks had inspired many a traveller to pen his thoughts on the mirror wall.

"This lady was from Nigeria" explained one tour guide to his group of fair skinned middle aged travellers pointing his finger at a painting of a lady whose lips were unusually large. "In those days too there were foreigners at Sigiriya". He added further, exulting in the looks of amazement on the faces of his attentive audience.

Back at home, going through my father's extensive collection of books on Sigiriya I came across the picture of the so called African Lady in the massive publication issued by the Archaeological Survey of Sri Lanka. She was described as an aged lady, the eldest among the maidens who had functioned as the duenna in the harem of King Kassapa.

Upon reaching the summit, at nine in the morning last Sunday, I wondered if Kassapa too would have stood exactly where I was standing and stared at the breathtaking view before him. He would have seen more trees, more dagabas and more tanks than me.

But the sky and the wind would not have changed. He too would have seen the same blue sky. The same wind that ruffled my hair would surely have run her fingers through his as well...Tsk...tsk..the tour guide again. It is hard not to listen to him. "You and I have only one wife.

But King Kassapa had five hundred wives". "Lucky fellow" muttered one listener. "Poor bugger" said another.

The descend down from the summit was easier than the climb up the steep iron stairway, perhaps because familiarity makes distance grow shorter. As I walked through the water garden to the exit I kept bumping into foreigners, old ladies, teenagers, school children in uncountable numbers making a mad dash towards the top of Sigiriya and making an equally mad dash down again to the waiting buses. "You'll see more crowds on Poya Days", said the security guard at the gate.

I think I heard King Kassapa laugh.

P.S Dear Reader, now that I have concluded this series of travel articles, I think the time has come to say thank you for being with me during these past two months. It was good to have shared my experiences with you, good to have received emails and phone calls from you, good to have listened to you when you walked up to me and talked about my articles...good to have had you in my life.

aditha@sundayobserver.lk