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The Buddhist path (marga) to liberation, also referred to as awakening, is described in a wide variety of ways. [1] The classical one is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is only one of several summaries presented in the Sutta Pitaka. A number of other paths to liberation exist within various Buddhist traditions and theology.
There are various expositions of the path to liberation in the Early Buddhist texts, the following examples are drawn from the Pali Nikayas.
The Noble Eightfold Path is widely known as the description of the Buddhist path. In the Sutta Pitaka it is summed up as follows:
The Blessed One said, "Now what, monks, is the Noble Eightfold Path? Right view, right resolve, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration [samadhi]. [web 1]
Alternate, and possibly older, sequences of the stages on the Buddhist path to liberation, can be found throughout the Pali Canon.
A standard sequence of developments can be found in the Nikayas, which may predate the more stylised four noble truths. [2] [3] For example the Tevijja Sutta verse 40–75 (Digha Nikaya 13): [web 2]
According to Rod Bucknell, another listing of path stages occurs in various places in the Majjhima Nikaya, and can be illustrated with the following list of stages from the Cula-Hatthipadopama-sutta (Lesser Discourse on the Simile of the Elephant's Footprints). [2]
According to Bucknell, in this sutta the Buddha gives the following list of "things that are to be done by recluses and brahmans": [2]
According to Bucknell, in the Sekha sutta the Buddha prompts Ananda to teach a "learner's course" to a group of disciples, which goes thus: [2]
According to Bhikkhu Sujato, the Chinese Madhyama Agama of the Sarvastivada school includes some exposition of the gradual path not available in the Pali Nikayas of the Theravada school. [4] He outlines three main such expositions of the path, from the following sutras, MA 44, MA 54, and MA 55:
Mindfulness & clear comprehension → protection of sense faculties → protection of precepts → non-remorse → gladness → rapture → bliss → samādhi → knowledge & vision of things as they have become → repulsion → fading of lust → liberation → Nibbana. [4]
Honouring and attending upon → approaching → listening to the good Dhamma → giving ear → consideration of the meaning of the Dhamma → learning the Dhamma by heart → recital → reflective acceptance → faith → right consideration → mindfulness&clear comprehension → protection of the sense faculties → protection of precepts → nonremorse → gladness → rapture → bliss → samādhi → knowledge & vision of things as they have become → repulsion → fading of lust → liberation → Nibbana. [4]
Ignorance → conceptual activities → cognition → name & form → six senses → contact → feeling → craving → grasping → existence → birth → aging & death → suffering → faith → right consideration → mindfulness & clear comprehension → protection of sense faculties → protection of precepts → non-remorse → gladness → rapture → bliss → samādhi → knowledge& vision of things as they have become → repulsion → fading of lust → liberation → Nibbana. [5]
The Noble Eightfold Path is one of the lists in the bodhipakkhiyā dhammā, a term used in the Pali commentaries to refer to seven sets of qualities or aids to awakening regularly ascribed the Buddha throughout the Pali Canon, each summarizing the Buddhist path. [note 1] Within these seven sets of awakening qualities, there is a total of thirty-seven overlapping and repetitive factors or qualities. [note 2]
Four establishments of mindfulness (cattāro satipaṭṭhānā)
Four right exertions/efforts (cattāro sammappadhānā)
Four bases of magical/mental/supernatural power (cattāro iddhipādā)
Five spiritual faculties (pañca indriya)
Five Strengths (pañca bala)
Seven Factors of Awakening (bojjhanga)
According to Rupert Gethin, the Buddhist path to awakening is frequently summarized in the Pali Canon in a short formula as
abandoning the hindrances, practice of the four establishings of mindfulness, and development of the awakening factors. [7]
Various practices lead to the development of the bojjhaṅgā , the seven factors of awakening, which are not only the means to, but also the constituents of awakening. [8] According to Gethin, there is a "definite affinity" between the four jhanas and the bojjhaṅgā, [9] [10] [11] [12] the development of which is aided by a variety of meditation practices. [13] Together with satipatthana (mindfulness) and anapanasati (breath-meditation), this results in a "heightened awareness," "overcoming distracting and disturbing emotions." [14]
Other descriptions of Buddhist essentials can also be found.
Another formula is anupubbikathā, "graduated talk, in which the Buddha talks on generosity ( dāna ), virtue ( sīla ), heaven ( sagga ), danger of sensual pleasure ( kāmānaṃ ādīnava) [note 3] and renunciation ( nekkhamma ). When the listener is prepared by these topics, the Buddha then delivers "the teaching special to the Buddhas," [16] the Four Noble Truths (cattāri ariya-saccāni ), [17] by which arises "the spotless immaculate vision of the Dhamma." [16] In the Tibetan Lamrim teachings, the Bodhisattva-path, with its training of the six perfections, is added to this formula.
The Atthakavagga, one of the oldest books of the Sutta Pitaka, contained in the Sutta Nipata, does not give a clear-cut goal such as Nirvana, but describes the ideal person. [18] This ideal person is especially characterized by suddhi (purity) and santi (calmness). [18]
Commentaries on the Atthakavagga, namely the Mahaniddesa and the commentary by Buddhaghosa, show the development of Buddhist ideas over time. Both commentaries place the Atthakavagga in their frame of reference, giving an elaborated system of thought far more complicated than the Atthakavagga itself. [18]
The classical outline of the Theravada path to liberation are the Seven Purifications, as described by Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga. These purifications are: [19]
The "Purification by Knowledge and Vision" is the culmination of the practice, in four stages leading to liberation.
The emphasis in this system is on understanding the three marks of existence, dukkha, anatta, anicca. This emphasis is recognizable in the value that is given to vipassana over samatha, especially in the contemporary vipassana movement.
The Sarvāstivāda Vaibhāṣika school developed an influential outline of the path to awakening, one which was later adapted and modified by the scholars of the Mahayana tradition. This was called the "five paths" (pañcamārga), and can be seen in their Abhidharma texts as well as Vasubadhu's Abhidharmakośa (AKBh). [20]
Mahāyāna Buddhism is based principally upon the path of a bodhisattva. Mahāyāna Buddhism encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas and to take the bodhisattva vows. With these vows, one makes the promise to work for the complete enlightenment of all sentient beings by following the bodhisattva path. The path can be described in terms of the six perfections or in terms of the five paths and ten bhumis.
The six paramitas are the means by which Mahayana practitioners actualize their aspiration to attain complete enlightenment for the benefit of all. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, the Prajñapāramitā Sūtras, the Lotus Sutra (Skt., Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra), and a large number of other texts, list the six perfections as follows:
The Mahayana commentary the Abhisamayalamkara presents a progressive formula of five paths (pañcamārga, Wylie Tibetan lam lnga) adopted from the Sarvastivada tradition's Abhidharma exposition. The Five Paths as taught in the Mahayana are: [21]
The "bodhisattva bhūmis" ("enlightenment-being grounds/levels") are subcategories of the Five Paths. The Sanskrit term bhūmi literally means "ground" or "foundation", since each stage represents a level of attainment and serves as a basis for the next one. Each level marks a definite advancement in one's training that is accompanied by progressively greater power and wisdom. The Avatamsaka Sutra refers to the following ten bhūmis: [24]
Lam Rim describes the stages of the path. Tsong Khapa mentions three essential elements: [25]
In the highest class of tantra, two stages of practice are distinguished, namely generation and completion. In some Buddhist tantras, both stages can be practiced simultaneously, whereas in others, one first actualizes the generation stage before continuing with the completion stage practices.
In the first stage of generation, one engages in deity yoga. One practices oneself in the identification with the meditational Buddha or deity ( yidam ) by visualisations, until one can meditate single-pointedly on being the deity. [note 4]
In the generation stage of Deity Yoga, the practitioner visualizes the "Four Purities" (Tibetan: yongs su dag pa bzhi; yongs dag bzhi) [web 3] which define the principal Tantric methodology of Deity Yoga that distinguishes it from the rest of Buddhism: [26]
In the next stage of completion, the practitioner can use either the path of method (thabs lam) or the path of liberation ('grol lam). [27]
At the path of method the practitioner engages in Kundalini yoga practices. These involve the subtle energy system of the body of the chakras and the energy channels. The "wind energy" is directed and dissolved into the heart chakra, where-after the Mahamudra remains, [28] and the practitioner is physically and mentally transformed.
At the path of liberation the practitioner applies mindfulness, [29] a preparatory practice for Mahamudra or Dzogchen, to realize the inherent emptiness of every-'thing' that exists. [30]
Mahāmudrā' literally means "great seal" or "great symbol". The name refers to the way one who has realized mahāmudrā. "Mudra" refers to the fact that each phenomenon appears vividly, and "maha" refers to the fact that it is beyond concept, imagination, and projection. [31]
Mahāmudrā is sometimes divided into four distinct phases known as the four yogas of mahāmudrā. They are as follows: [32]
These stages parallel the four yogas of dzogchen semde. The four yogas of Mahāmudrā have also been correlated with the Mahāyāna five Bhumi paths.
Although the Rinzai Zen-tradition emphasises sudden awakening over the study of scripture, in practice several stages can be distinguished. A well-known example are the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures which detail the steps on the Path.
The Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices , attributed to Bodhidharma, refers the entrance of principle (理入 lǐrù) and the entrance of practice (行入 xíngrù). [33] [note 5]
To enter by principle means to realize the essence through instruction and to believe that all living things share the same true nature, which isn't apparent because it's shrouded by sensation and delusion. Those who turn from delusion back to reality, who "meditate on walls," the absence of self and other, the oneness of mortal and sage, and who remain unmoved even by scriptures, are in complete and unspoken agreement with principle. Without moving, without effort, they enter, we say, by principle. [35]
According to John R. McRae, "the "entrance of principle" refers to interior cultivation, mental practice undertaken deep within the individual's psyche, and the "entrance of practice" refers to practice undertaken actively and in interaction with the world." [37] Yet, McRae also notes that it's not clear what exactly the "entrance of principle" entailed. [38] The phrase "wall contemplation," biguan, is not explicated. Later tradition graphically depicted it as practicing dhyana while facing a wall, but it may be a metaphor, referring to the four walls of a room which prevent the winds from entering the room. [39]
In the 8th century the distinction became part of a struggle for influence at the Chinese court by Shenhui, a student of Huineng. Hereafter "sudden enlightenment" became one of the hallmarks of Chan Buddhism, though the sharp distinction was softened by subsequent generations of practitioners. [40] Once the dichotomy between sudden and gradual was in place, it defined its own logic and rhetorics, which are also recognizable in the distinction between Caodong (Soto) and Lin-ji (Rinzai) chán. [41] But it also led to a "sometimes bitter and always prolix sectarian controversy between later Chán and Hua-yen exegetes". [42]
In the Huayan classification of teachings, the sudden approach was regarded inferior to the Perfect Teaching of Hua-yen. Guifeng Zongmi, fifth patriarch of Hua-yen ànd Chán-master, devised his own classification to counter this subordination. [43] Guifeng Zongmi also softened the edge between sudden and gradual. In his analysis, sudden awakening points to seeing into one's true nature, but is to be followed by a gradual cultivation to attain Buddhahood. [43] Chinul, a 12th-century Korean Seon master, followed Zongmi, and also emphasized that insight into our true nature is sudden, but is to be followed by practice to ripen the insight and attain full Buddhahood. To establish the superiority of the Chán-teachings, Chinul explained the sudden approach as not pointing to mere emptiness, but to suchness or the dharmadhatu. [44]
This is also the standpoint of the contemporary Sanbo Kyodan, according to whom kensho is at the start of the path to full enlightenment. [45] This gradual cultivation is described by Chan Master Sheng Yen as follows:
Ch'an expressions refer to enlightenment as "seeing your self-nature". But even this is not enough. After seeing your self-nature, you need to deepen your experience even further and bring it into maturation. You should have enlightenment experience again and again and support them with continuous practice. Even though Ch'an says that at the time of enlightenment, your outlook is the same as of the Buddha, you are not yet a full Buddha. [46]
In Rinzai, insight into true nature is to be followed by gradual cultivation. This is described in teachings such as The Three mysterious Gates of Linji, and the Four Ways of Knowing of Hakuin. [47]
Although Sōtō emphasizes shikan-taza, just-sitting, this tradition too had description of development within the practice. This is described by Tozan, who described the Five ranks of enlightenment. [web 5]
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths are "the truths of the noble one ," a statement of how things really are when they are seen correctly. The four truths are
The Noble Eightfold Path or Eight Right Paths is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana.
Satipatthana is a central practice in the Buddha's teachings, meaning "the establishment of mindfulness" or "presence of mindfulness", or alternatively "foundations of mindfulness", aiding the development of a wholesome state of mind. In Theravada Buddhism, applying mindful attention to four domains, the body, feelings, the mind, and key principles or categories of the Buddha's teaching (dhammās), is thought to aid the elimination of the five hindrances and the development of the seven aspects of wakefulness.
In the Buddhist tradition, the five hindrances are identified as mental factors that hinder progress in meditation and in daily life. In the Theravada tradition, these factors are identified specifically as obstacles to the jhānas within meditation practice. Contemporary Insight Meditation teachers identify the five hindrances as obstacles to mindfulness meditation.
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are bhāvanā and jhāna/dhyāna.
In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Awakening are:
The Visuddhimagga, is the 'great treatise' on Buddhist practice and Theravāda Abhidhamma written by Buddhaghosa approximately in the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a manual condensing and systematizing the 5th century understanding and interpretation of the Buddhist path as maintained by the elders of the Mahavihara Monastery in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
In Buddhism, dhamma vicaya has been variously translated as the "analysis of qualities," "discrimination of dhammas," "discrimination of states," "investigation of doctrine," and "searching the Truth." The meaning is ambivalent; it implies the investigation of the Buddhist teachings (dhamma), but also the application of discernment to body-mind phenomena in order to apply right effort, giving way to entry into the first jhana.
The Vipassanā movement refers to a branch of modern Burmese Theravāda Buddhism that promotes "bare insight" (sukha-Vipassana) meditation practice to develop insight into the three marks of existence and attain stream entry. It gained widespread popularity since the 1950s, including through its western derivatives which have been popularised since the 1970s, giving rise to the more dhyana-oriented mindfulness movement.
Sati, literally "memory" or "retention", commonly translated as mindfulness, "to remember to observe", is an essential part of Buddhist practice. It has the related meanings of calling to mind the wholesome dhammas such as the four establishments of mindfulness, the five faculties, the five powers, the seven awakening-factors, the Noble Eightfold Path, and the attainment of insight, and the actual practice of maintaining a lucid awareness of the dhammas of bodily and mental phenomena, in order to counter the arising of unwholesome states, and to develop wholesome states. It is the first factor of the Seven Factors of Enlightenment. "Correct" or "right" mindfulness is the seventh element of the Noble Eightfold Path.
Anussati means "recollection," "contemplation," "remembrance," "meditation", and "mindfulness". It refers to specific Buddhist meditational or devotional practices, such as recollecting the sublime qualities of the Buddha, which lead to mental tranquillity and abiding joy. In various contexts, the Pali literature and Sanskrit Mahayana sutras emphasise and identify different enumerations of recollections.
The Basic Points Unifying the Theravāda and the Mahāyāna is an important Buddhist ecumenical statement created in 1967 during the First Congress of the World Buddhist Sangha Council (WBSC), where its founder Secretary-General, the late Venerable Pandita Pimbure Sorata Thera, requested the Ven. Walpola Rahula to present a concise formula for the unification of all the different Buddhist traditions. This text was then unanimously approved by the council.
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is a Buddhist scripture that is considered by Buddhists to be a record of the first sermon given by Gautama Buddha, the Sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath. The main topic of this sutta is the Four Noble Truths, which refer to and express the basic orientation of Buddhism in a formulaic expression. This sutta also refers to the Buddhist concepts of the Middle Way, impermanence, and dependent origination.
The Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta, and the subsequently created Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta, are two of the most celebrated and widely studied discourses in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, acting as the foundation for contemporary vipassana meditation practice. The Pāli texts of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta and the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta are largely similar in content; the main difference being a section about the Four Noble Truths in the Observation of Phenomena (Dhammānupassana), which is greatly expanded in the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta. These suttas (discourses) stress the practice of sati (mindfulness) "for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the extinguishing of suffering and grief, for walking on the path of truth, for the realization of nibbāna."
Pre-sectarian Buddhism, also called early Buddhism, the earliest Buddhism, original Buddhism, and primitive Buddhism, is Buddhism as theorized to have existed before the various Early Buddhist schools developed, around 250 BCE.
In Buddhism, the bodhipakkhiyā dhammā are qualities conducive or related to awakening/understanding, i.e. the factors and wholesome qualities which are developed when the mind is trained.
Passaddhi is a Pali noun that has been translated as "calmness", "tranquillity", "repose" and "serenity." The associated verb is passambhati.
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, "the awakened one".
In the oldest texts of Buddhism, dhyāna or jhāna is a component of the training of the mind (bhavana), commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions and "burn up" the defilements, leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness (upekkhā-sati-parisuddhi)." Dhyāna may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian Buddhism, in combination with several related practices which together lead to perfected mindfulness and detachment.
Samatha, "calm," "serenity," "tranquility of awareness," and vipassanā, literally "special, super, seeing ", are two qualities of the mind developed in tandem in Buddhist practice.
Seven Stages of Purification
Lam Rim
Creation and Completion
Mahamudra