Samatha-vipassana

The Sanskrit word śamatha can be translated as "tranquility";[6][1] "tranquility of the mind";[1] "tranquillity of awareness";[web 1] "serenity";[2] "calm";[1] "meditative calm";[1] or "quietude of the heart."[1]

The Tibetan term for samatha is ཞི་གནས་ (shyiné; Wylie: zhi-gnas).[10] The semantic field of Sanskrit shama and Tibetan shi is "pacification", "the slowing or cooling down", "rest."[10] The semantic field of Tibetan né is "to abide or remain" and this is cognate or equivalent with the final syllable of the Sanskrit, thā.[11] According to Jamgon Kongtrul, the terms refer to "peace" and "pacification" of the mind and the thoughts.[10]

Vipassanā is a Pali word derived from the prefix "vi-" and the verbal root "-passanā":[3]

vi-

"special," "super";[3] "in a special way," "into, through";[7] "clear."[12]

-passanā

"seeing";[3] "seeing," "perceiving";[7] "free from preconception."[12]

The literal meaning is "super-seeing,"[3] but is often translated as "insight" or "clear-seeing." Henepola Gunaratana defines vipassanā as "[l]ooking into something with clarity and precision, seeing each component as distinct and separate, and piercing all the way through so as to perceive the most fundamental reality of that thing."[7] According to Mitchell Ginsberg, vipassanā is "[i]nsight into how things are, not how we thought them to be."[12]

A synonym for vipassanā is paccakkha "perceptible to the senses" (Pāli; Sanskrit: pratyakṣa), literally "before the eyes", which refers to direct experiential perception. Thus, the type of seeing denoted by vipassanā is that of direct perception, as opposed to knowledge derived from reasoning or argument.

In Tibetan, vipassanā is lhaktong (Wylie: lhag mthong). Lhak means "higher", "superior", "greater"; tong is "view, to see". So together, lhaktong may be rendered into English as "superior seeing", "great vision", or "supreme wisdom". This may be interpreted as a "superior manner of seeing", and also as "seeing that which is the essential nature". Its nature is a lucidity—a clarity of mind.[13]

According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "samatha, jhāna, and vipassanā were all part of a single path."[4] According to Keren Arbel, samatha and vipassanā are not specific practices, but qualities of the mind that a practitioner fulfills as they develop the factors of the Noble Eightfold Path, including sati ("mindfulness") and jhāna/dhyāna ("meditation").[5] In the Sutta Piṭaka the term "vipassanā" is hardly mentioned, while those texts frequently mention jhāna as the meditative practice to be undertaken. As Thanissaro Bhikkhu writes,

When [the Pāli suttas] depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go meditate, they never quote him as saying "go do vipassanā," but always "go do jhāna." And they never equate the word "vipassanā" with any mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention vipassanā, they almost always pair it with samatha — not as two alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may "gain" or "be endowed with," and that should be developed together.[web 2]

According to Vetter and Bronkhorst, dhyāna constituted the original "liberating practice" of the Buddha.[14][15][16] Vetter further argues that the Noble Eightfold Path constitutes a body of practices that prepare one, and lead up to, the practice of dhyāna.[17] Vetter and Bronkhorst further note that dhyāna is not limited to single-pointed concentration, which seems to be described in the first jhāna, but develops into equanimity and mindfulness,[18][19][note 2] "born from samādhi."[20] Wynne notes that one is then no longer absorbed in concentration, but is mindfully aware of objects while being indifferent to them,[21] "directing states of meditative absorption towards the mindful awareness of objects."[22]

A number of suttas mention samatha and vipassanā as mental qualities that are to be developed in tandem.[note 3] In SN 43.2, the Buddha states: "And what, bhikkhus, is the path leading to the unconditioned? Serenity and insight..."[23] In SN 35.245, the Kimsuka Tree Sutta, the Buddha provides an elaborate metaphor in which serenity and insight are "the swift pair of messengers" who deliver the message of nibbāna (Pāli; Skt.: nirvāṇa) via the noble eightfold path:[note 4]

These two qualities have a share in clear knowing. Which two? Tranquility (samatha) & insight (vipassanā).

When tranquility is developed, what purpose does it serve? The mind is developed. And when the mind is developed, what purpose does it serve? Passion is abandoned.
When insight is developed, what purpose does it serve? Discernment is developed. And when discernment is developed, what purpose does it serve? Ignorance is abandoned.

Defiled by passion, the mind is not released. Defiled by ignorance, discernment does not develop. Thus from the fading of passion is there awareness-release. From the fading of ignorance is there discernment-release.[web 3]

Ven. Ānanda reports that people attain arahantship in one of four ways:

Friends, whoever — monk or nun — declares the attainment of arahantship in my presence, they all do it by means of one or another of four paths. Which four?
There is the case where a monk has developed insight preceded by tranquility. [...]
Then there is the case where a monk has developed tranquillity preceded by insight. [...]
Then there is the case where a monk has developed tranquillity in tandem with insight. [...]
Then there is the case where a monk's mind has its restlessness concerning the Dhamma [Comm: the corruptions of insight] well under control.

— AN 4.170, the Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta[note 5]

Buddhaghosa, in his influential Theravāda scholastic treatise Visuddhimagga, states that jhāna is induced by samatha, and then jhāna is reflected upon with mindfulness, becoming the object of vipassanā, with the reflector realizing that jhāna is marked by the three characteristics.[24] One who uses this method is referred to as a "tranquility worker" (Pāḷi: samatha yānika).[8] However modern Buddhist teachers such as Henepola Gunaratana state that there is virtually no evidence of this method in the Pāḷi suttas.[25] A few suttas describe a method of "bare insight", or "dry insight" where only vipassanā is practiced, examining ordinary physical and mental phenomena to discern the three marks.[8] Gombrich and Brooks argue that the distinction as two separate paths originates in the earliest interpretations of the Sutta Pitaka,[26] not in the suttas themselves.[note 6]

According to Richard Gombrich, a development took place in early Buddhism resulting in a change in doctrine that considered prajñā to be an alternative means to awakening, alongside the practice of dhyāna.[27] The suttas contain traces of ancient debates between Mahāyāna and Theravāda schools concerning the interpretation of the teachings and the development of insight. Out of these debates developed the idea that bare insight suffices to reach liberation, by discerning the three marks (qualities) of (human) existence (tilakkhaṇa), namely dukkha (suffering), anattā (non-self), and anicca (impermanence).[28] Thanissaro Bikkhu also argues that samatha and vipassanā have a "unified role," whereas "[t]he Abhidhamma and the Commentaries, by contrast, state that samatha and vipassanā are two distinct meditation paths."[note 7]

Gunaratana notes that "[t]he classical source for the distinction between the two vehicles of serenity and insight is the Visuddhimagga."[29] Ajahn Brahm (who, like Bhikkhu Thanissaro, is of the Thai Forest Tradition) writes that

Some traditions speak of two types of meditation, insight meditation (vipassanā) and calm meditation (samatha). In fact the two are indivisible facets of the same process. Calm is the peaceful happiness born of meditation; insight is the clear understanding born of the same meditation. Calm leads to insight and insight leads to calm."[30]

According to the Theravāda tradition, samatha refers to techniques that help to calm the mind. Samatha is thought to be developed by samādhi, interpreted by the Theravāda commentatorial tradition as concentration-meditation, the ability to rest the attention on a single object of perception. One of the principal techniques for this purpose is mindfulness of breathing (Pāḷi: ānāpānasati). Samatha is commonly practiced as a prelude to and in conjunction with wisdom practices.

Some meditation practices, such as contemplation of a kasiṇa object, favor the development of samatha; others, such as contemplation of the aggregates, are conducive to the development of vipassanā; while others, such as mindfulness of breathing, are classically used for developing both mental qualities.[33]

The Visuddhimagga (5th century CE) mentions forty objects of meditation. Mindfulness (sati) of breathing (ānāpāna: ānāpānasati; S. ānāpānasmṛti) is the most common samatha practice (though this term is also used for vipassanā meditation). Samatha can include other samādhi practices as well.

Theravāda Buddhism describes the development of samatha in terms of three successive mental images or 'signs' (nimitta)[note 10] and five stages of joy (Pīti).[note 11] According to the Theravāda-tradition, pīti, a feeling of joy, gladness or rapture, arises from the abandonment of the five hindrances in favor of concentration on a single object.[35] These stages are outlined by the Theravāda exegete Buddhaghosa in his Visuddhimagga (also in Atthasālinī) and the earlier Upatissa (author of the Vimuttimagga). Following the establishment of access concentration (upacāra-samādhi), one can enter the four jhānas, powerful states of joyful absorption in which the entire body is pervaded with pīti.

In the Theravāda tradition various understandings of samatha exist:[note 12]

• In Sri Lanka samatha includes all those meditations that are directed at static objects.[36]
• In Burma, samatha comprises all concentration practices aimed at calming the mind.
• The Thai Forest tradition deriving from Ajahn Mun and popularized by Ajahn Chah stresses the inseparability of samatha and vipassanā, and the essential necessity of both practices.

In modern Theravāda, liberation is thought to be attained by insight into the transitory nature of phenomena. This is accomplished by establishing sati (mindfulness) and samatha through the practice of ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing), using mindfulness for observing the impermanence in the bodily and mental changes, to gain insight (P: vipassanā, S: vipaśyanā; P: paññā, S: prajñā) into the true nature of phenomena.[37][38]

The term vipassanā is often conflated with the Vipassanā Movement, which popularised new vipassanā teachings and practice. It started in the 1950s in Burma, but has gained wide renown mainly through American Buddhist teachers such as Joseph Goldstein, Tara Brach, Gil Fronsdal, Sharon Salzberg, and Jack Kornfield. The movement has a wide appeal due to being inclusive of different Buddhist and non-buddhist wisdom, poetry as well as science. It has together with the modern American Zen tradition served as one of the main inspirations for the "mindfulness movement" as developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn and others. The Vipassanā Movement, also known as the Insight Meditation Movement, is rooted in Theravāda Buddhism and the revival of meditation techniques, especially the "New Burmese Method", the Thai Forest Tradition, and modern influences[9] on the traditions of Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, and Thailand.

In the Vipassanā Movement, the emphasis is on the Satipatthana Sutta and the use of mindfulness to gain insight into the impermanence of the self. It argues that the development of strong samatha can be disadvantageous,[39] a stance for which the Vipassana Movement has been criticised, especially in Sri Lanka.[40][41] The "New Burmese Method" was developed by U Nārada (1868–1955), and popularised by Mahasi Sayadaw (1904–1982) and Nyanaponika Thera (1901–1994). Other influential Burmese proponents include Ledi Sayadaw and Mogok Sayadaw as well as Mother Sayamagyi and S. N. Goenka, who were both students of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.[42] Influential Thai teachers include Ajahn Chah and Buddhadasa. A well-known Indian teacher is Dipa Ma.

Practice begins with the preparatory stage, the practice of śīla (virtue): giving up worldly thoughts and desires.[43][44] Jeff Wilson notes that morality is a quintessential element of Buddhist practice, and is also emphasized by the first generation of post-war western teachers. However, in the contemporary mindfulness movement, morality as an element of practice has been mostly discarded, "mystifying" the origins of mindfulness.[43]

The practitioner then engages in ānāpānasati (mindfulness of breathing), which is described in the Satipatthana Sutta as going into the forest and sitting beneath a tree to simply watch the breath: If the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.[45][46] In the "New Burmese Method", the practitioner attends to any arising mental or physical phenomenon, engaging in vitarka, noting or naming physical and mental phenomena (e.g. "breathing, breathing"), without engaging the phenomenon with further conceptual thinking.[44][47] By noticing the arising of physical and mental phenomena, the meditator becomes aware how sense impressions arise from the contact between the senses and physical and mental phenomena,[44] as described in the five skandhas and paṭiccasamuppāda. According to Sayadaw U Pandita, one's awareness and observation of these sensations is de-coupled from any kind of physical response, which reconditions one's impulsive responses to stimuli, such that one is less likely to physically or emotionally overreact to the happenings of the world.[48]

The practitioner also becomes aware of the incessant changes involved in breathing, and the arising and passing away of mindfulness.[49] This noticing is accompanied by reflections on causation and other Buddhist teachings, leading to insight into dukkha, anattā, and anicca.[44][49] When these three characteristics have been comprehended, reflection subdues, and the process of noticing accelerates, noting phenomena in general, without necessarily naming them.[44][37][38]

According to Thai meditation master Ajahn Lee, the practice of both samatha and vipassanā together allows one to achieve various mental powers and gnosis (Pāḷi: abhiññā), including the attainment of nirvāṇa, whereas the practice of vipassanā alone allows for the achievement of nirvāṇa, but no other mental powers or gnosis.[50]

Vipassanā jhānas are stages that describe the development of samatha in vipassanā meditation practice as described in modern Burmese Vipassanā meditation.[51] Mahasi Sayadaw's student Sayadaw U Pandita described the four vipassanā jhānas as follows:[52]

1. The meditator first explores the body/mind connection as one nonduality, discovering the three characteristics. The first jhāna consists in seeing these points and in the presence of vitarka and vicara. Phenomena reveal themselves as arising and falling away.
2. In the second jhāna, the practice seems effortless. Vitarka and vicara both disappear.
3. In the third jhāna, pīti, the joy, disappears too: there is only happiness (sukha) and concentration.
4. The fourth jhāna arises, characterized by purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. The practice leads to direct knowledge. The comfort disappears because the dissolution of all phenomena is clear. The practice shows every phenomenon as unstable, transient, disenchanting. The desire of freedom takes place.

Samatha meditation and jhāna (dhyāna) are often considered synonymous by modern Theravāda, but the four jhānas involve a heightened awareness, instead of a narrowing of the mind.

Vetter notes that samādhi may refer to the four stages of dhyāna meditation, but that only the first stage refers to strong concentration, from which arise the other stages, which include mindfulness.[note 13]

According to Richard Gombrich, the sequence of the four rūpa-jhānas describes two different cognitive states.[19][note 14][note 15] Gombrich and Wynne note that, while the second jhāna denotes a state of absorption, in the third and fourth jhāna one comes out of this absorption, being mindfully aware of objects while being indifferent to it.[21] According to Gombrich, "the later tradition has falsified the jhāna by classifying them as the quintessence of the concentrated, calming kind of meditation, ignoring the other – and indeed higher – element."[19] Alexander Wynne further explains that the dhyāna-scheme is poorly understood.[53] According to Wynne, words expressing the inculcation of awareness, such as sati, sampajāno, and upekkhā, are mistranslated or understood as particular factors of meditative states,[53] whereas they refer to a particular way of perceiving the sense objects.[note 16]

A number of Mahāyāna sūtras address śamatha, usually in conjunction with vipaśyanā. One of the most prominent, the Cloud of Jewels Sutra (Ārya Ratnamegha Sutra, Tib. phags-pa dkon-mchog sprin-gyi mdo, Chinese 寶雲經 T658, 大乘寶雲經 T659) divides all forms of meditation into either śamatha or vipaśyanā, defining śamatha as "single-pointed consciousness" and vipaśyanā as "seeing into the nature of things."[59]

The Sūtra Unlocking the Mysteries (Samdhinirmocana Sūtra), a yogācāra sūtra, is also often used as a source for teachings on śamatha. The Samādhirāja Sūtra is often cited as an important source for śamatha instructions by the Kagyu tradition, particularly via the commentary of Gampopa,[60] although scholar Andrew Skilton, who has studied the Samādhirāja Sūtra extensively, reports that the sūtra itself "contains no significant exposition of either meditational practices or states of mind."[61]

The Mahayana tradition emphasizes prajñā, insight into śūnyatā, dharmatā, the two truths doctrine, clarity and emptiness, or bliss and emptiness:[62]

[T]he very title of a large corpus of early Mahayana literature, the Prajnaparamita, shows that to some extent the historian may extrapolate the trend to extol insight, prajñā, at the expense of dispassion, virāga, the control of the emotions.[38]

The Mahayana Akṣayamati-nirdeśa refers to vipaśyanā as seeing phenomena as they really are—that is, empty, without self, nonarisen, and without grasping. The Prajnaparamita sūtra in 8,000 lines states that the practice of insight is the non-appropriation of any dharmas, including the five aggregates:

So too, a Bodhisattva coursing in perfect wisdom and developing as such, neither does nor even can stand in form, feeling, perception, impulse, and consciousness... This concentrated insight of a Bodhisattva is called "the non-appropriation of all dharmas".[63]

Although Theravāda and Mahayana are commonly understood as different streams of Buddhism, their emphasis on insight is a common denominator: "In practice and understanding Zen is actually very close to the Theravāda Forest Tradition even though its language and teachings are heavily influenced by Taoism and Confucianism."[64][note 17]

In Chinese Buddhism, the works of Tiantai master Zhiyi (such as the Mohe Zhiguan, "Great śamatha-vipaśyanā") are some of the most influential texts to discuss vipaśyanā meditation from a Mahayana perspective. Zhiyi teaches the contemplation of the skandhas, āyatanas, dhātus, kleshas, false views, and several other elements.[65] Likewise the influential text called the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana has a section on calm and insight meditation. It states:

He who practices "clear observation" should observe that all conditioned phenomena in the world are unstationary and are subject to instantaneous transformation and destruction; that all activities of the mind arise and are extinguished from moment or moment; and that, therefore, all of these induce suffering. He should observe that all that had been conceived in the past was as hazy as a dream, that all that is being conceived in the future will be like clouds that rise up suddenly. He should also observe that the physical existences of all living beings in the world are impure and that among these various filthy things there is not a single one that can be sought after with joy.[66]

The Zen tradition advocates the simultaneous practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā, and this is called the practice of silent illumination.[67] The classic Chan text known as the Platform Sutra states:

Calming is the essence of wisdom. And wisdom is the natural function of calming [i.e., prajñā and samādhi]. At the time of prajñā, samādhi exists in that. At the time of samādhi, prajñā exists in that. How is it that samādhi and prajñā are equivalent? It is like the light of the lamp. When the lamp exists, there is light. When there is no lamp, there is darkness. The lamp is the essence of light. The light is the natural function of the lamp. Although their names are different, in essence, they are fundamentally identical. The teaching of samādhi and prajñā is just like this.[67]

Chan Buddhism emphasizes sudden insight (subitism),[56] though in the Chan tradition, this insight is to be followed by gradual cultivation. This "gradual training" is expressed in teachings as the Five Ranks of enlightenment, the Ten Bulls illustrations that detail the steps on the path, the "three mysterious gates" of Linji, and the "four ways of knowing" of Hakuin Ekaku.

Tibetan writers usually define samatha practice as when one's mind remains fixed on a single object without moving. Dakpo Tashi Namgyal for example, defines samatha as:

by fixing the mind upon any object so as to maintain it without distraction... by focusing the mind on an object and maintaining it in that state until finally it is channeled into one stream of attention and evenness.[71]

According to Geshe Lhundup Sopa, samatha is:

just a one-pointedness of mind (cittaikāgratā) on a meditative object (ālambana). Whatever the object may be... if the mind can remain upon its object one-pointedly, spontaneously and without effort (nābhisaṃskāra), and for as long a period of time as the meditator likes, it is approaching the attainment of meditative stabilization (śamatha).[71]

Śamatha furthers the right concentration aspect of the noble eightfold path. The successful result of śamatha is sometimes characterized as meditative absorption (samādhi, ting nge ’dzin) and meditative equipoise (samāhita, mnyam-bzhag), and as freedom from the five obstructions (āvaraṇa, sgrib-pa). It may also result in the siddhis of clairvoyance (abhijñā, mgon shes) and magical emanation (nirmāṇa, sprul pa).[72]

According to Culadasa, "Samatha has five characteristics: effortlessly stable attention (samādhi), powerful mindfulness (sati), joy (pīti), tranquility (passaddhi), and equanimity (upekkhā). The complete state of samatha results from working with stable attention (samādhi) and mindfulness (sati) until joy emerges. Joy then gradually matures into tranquility, and equanimity arises out of that tranquility. A mind in samatha is the ideal instrument for achieving Insight and Awakening".[73]

Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism employed both deductive investigation (applying ideas to experience) and inductive investigation (drawing conclusions from direct experience) in the practice of vipaśyanā. (These correspond respectively to the "contemplative forms" and "experiential forms" in the Theravāda school described above.)[note 18] According to Leah Zahler, only the tradition of deductive analysis in vipaśyanā was transmitted to Tibet in the sūtrayāna context.[75][note 19] One scholar describes his approach thus: "the overall picture painted by Kamalaśīla is that of a kind of serial alternation between observation and analysis that takes place entirely within the sphere of meditative concentration" in which the analysis portion consists of Madhyamaka reasonings. In Tibet direct examination of moment-to-moment experience as a means of generating insight became exclusively associated with vajrayāna.[note 20][note 21]

Samatha is approached somewhat differently in the mahāmudrā tradition as practiced in the Kagyu lineage. As Traleg Kyabgon Rinpoche explains,

In the practice of Mahamudra tranquility meditation [...] we treat all thoughts as the same in order to gain sufficient distance and detachment from our current mental state, which will allow us to ease naturally into a state of tranquility without effort or contrivance [...] In order for the mind to settle, we need to suspend the value judgments that we impose on our mental activities [...] it is essential that we not try to create a state of tranquility but allow the mind to enter into tranquility naturally. This is an important notion in the Mahamudra tradition, that of nondoing. We do not do tranquility meditation, we allow tranquility to arise of its own accord, and it will do so only if we stop thinking of the meditative state as a thing that we need to do actively [...] In a manner of speaking, catching yourself in the act of distraction is the true test of tranquility meditation, for what counts is not the ability to prevent thoughts or emotions from arising but the ability to catch ourselves in a particular mental or emotional state. This is the very essence of tranquility meditation [in the context of Mahāmudrā] [...] The Mahamudra style of meditation does not encourage us toward the different levels of meditative concentration traditionally described in the exoteric meditation manuals [...] From the Mahamudra point of view, we should not desire meditative equipoise nor have an aversion to discursive thoughts and conflicting emotions but view both of these states with equanimity. Again, the significant point is not whether meditative equipoise is present but whether we are able to maintain awareness of our mental states. If disturbing thoughts do arise, as they certainly will, we should simply recognize these thoughts and emotions as transient phenomena.[78]

For the Kagyupa, in the context of mahāmudrā, śamatha by means of mindfulness of breathing is thought to be the ideal way for the meditator to transition into taking the mind itself as the object of meditation and generating vipaśyanā on that basis.[79]

Quite similar is the approach to śamatha found in dzogchen semde (Sanskrit: mahāsandhi cittavarga). In the semde system, śamatha is the first of the four yogas (Tib. naljor, Wylie: rnal-’byor),[80] the others being vipaśyanā (Wylie: lhag-mthong), nonduality (advaya, Tib. nyime,Wylie: gnyis-med),[81] and spontaneous presence (anābogha or nirābogha, Tib. lhundrub, Wylie: lhun-grub).[82] These parallel the four yogas of mahāmudrā.

Ajahn Amaro, a longtime student in the Thai Forest Theravādin tradition of Ajahn Chah, has also trained in the dzogchen semde śamatha approach under Tsoknyi Rinpoche. He found similarities in the approaches of the two traditions to śamatha.[83]

Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen use vipaśyanā extensively. This includes some methods of the other traditions, but also their own specific approaches. They place a greater emphasis on meditating on symbolic images. Additionally in the Vajrayāna (tantric) path, the true nature of mind is pointed out by the guru, and this serves as a direct form of insight.[note 22]