01 Meditation Panel Preface.indd - United Nations Day of Vesak 2013

‘The Practical approach to the Enlightenment through Buddhist Meditation’, by Venerable
Bhikkhuni Anul (Kyeong-Hee Yoo), makes an extended comparison between the Southern Buddhist
interpretation of enlightenment as described by the eradication of the ten fetters, and the notion of
Malhugu in Korean Sn Buddhism. After comparing a diversity of ancient and modern accounts of
various stages of enlightenment, she argues that the crucial factor for those in the present day who
describe experiences that they regard as enlightening seems to be strong wish to nd a spiritual path.
‘Buddhist Meditation Practices’, by Dr. Wangchuk Dorjee Negi, discusses resonances and
differences in the early ‘eighteen schools’ of Buddhism with regard to meditative teaching and
doctrine. Exploring a number of variations in the way meditative teachings are delivered in a number
of modern descendants of these schools, the author notes features such as a considerable care and
attention devoted to difference of temperament and suitability with regard to meditation objects.
The paper demonstrates the great richness and variety of practices involved, for instance, based
on the insight section of ntideva’s Bodhicaryvatra, the author demonstrates the complex
interrelationship of theory, doctrine and practice in varied meditative schools, showing that their
underlying perception of the four noble truths is articulated in radically different terms, that
nonetheless fulll a pattern of the possibility of liberation for all beings.
Some modern contexts and their roots in Pli canonical and commentarial sources
are explored in Sarah Shaw’s ‘Breathing Mindfulness: Text and Practice’. Taking the rst four
instructions of the npnasati Sutta, the author examines some practical implications of wording
and phraseology, demonstrating that variation in technique and orientation are evident from
the earliest sources. Investigating three modern schools of breathing mindfulness, as described
by Nyanaponika Thera, Boonman Poonyathiro and Ven. Buddhadsa, the author notes that while
a great diversity of technique is applied to the rst four instructions, there is also strong allegiance
to the earliest sources, both canonical and commentarial, in widely differing approaches. The author
suggests that features that characterize this practice from the earliest times, such as an inherent
exibility, the possibility of practical adjustments rooted in canonical and commentarial guidelines
and an emphasis on teacher contact and adaptability to temperament have all perhaps contributed
to its particular and continued centrality within Southern Buddhism.
‘The Training of Satipahna related to 15 Caraas and 8 Vijjs’, by Nuengfa
Nawaboonniyom and Apichai Puntasen, attempts to illustrate that right training is able to lead
the practitioner to the supra-mundane path, through, for example, the experience of the individual or
a group or community that has been similarly trained for an extended period. The paper examines
in great detail the methods through which the ways of behavior and knowledgescan be seen as
tools that can be employed for the elimination of delements (kilesa) at different levels, from
the perspective of the four foundations of mindfulness. It explores the nature of the delements
present at each level of attainment, and the relative efcacy of the caraas and the vijjs as they
work together to purify the mind. It concludes that each level is described as needing to be
carefully differentiated, with attention to the appropriate response to each level of practice. A complex
picture emerges, with each level of purication dealing with the associated delements in slightly
different ways.
In ‘Transcending the Limiting Power of Karma —Early Buddhist Appamas,’ Giuliana
Martini explores versions of two texts found in Mlasarvstavdin, Sarvstavdin and Pli recitative
traditions. Concurring with recent scholarship suggesting their common origin, Martini explores their
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