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

treatment of the notion of volition (cetan) and its transformation by means of the immeasurables
(appamas), of loving kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity, stressing in
the passages she discusses the close correlation between the arousing of clear comprehension,
the purication of intent and the development of the immeasurables as all contributory and mutually
supportive in different stages on a gradual path to realisation. In terms of the theory of meditation,
a boundless radiation independent from the presence of an object to be aroused and extended in
consciousness is described as particularly effective in rening intentionality towards progressively
higher levels of freedom. Martini argues that the texts she analyses indicate the way that
the immeasurables are recommended not only in specic contexts, with regard to particular beings,
but also in an all pervasive sense as a means of loosening the reifying tendency of the mind with
regard to the notion of ‘objects’ themselves. In this way, she maintains, they are intended to confer
a exibility and stability of mind that allow the unfettered perception of the rise and fall of conceivings,
identications, and the varied manifestations of the operation of kamma. This then renders their role
crucial to nal release from identication and mental impurity.
Venerable Dr. Yuanci provides, A Study of the Meditation Methods in the Discourses on
the Essential Secrets of Meditation (DESM) and Other Early Chinese Texts. He states that this
Yogcra-Drstntika text, from an anonymous meditative author, was rst translated by Zhi Qian,
and deals with many meditation subjects or techniques have never been revealed. The notable
Kumarajiva and other honorable translators have worked on the text. His paper provides curiosity
and interesting insight into the characteristics of these systems of meditation. He discusses
the structure of the secret essential meditations through discussing the various noble disciples, using
more nikaya/agama-literature rather than abhidharma principles. He suggests that the Vimuttimagga
and the Visuddhimagga may provide better material for the understanding of these meditation-ideas.
Brief Conclusion for the Panel on Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation:
The papers in this panel represent an Indra’s net of study of original text, ancient
commentary, exegesis and various perspectives on modern context, ritual and applicability. Reading,
editing, conversing with the panelists themselves (in the case of the editor, Dr. Dion Peoples),
and surveying them in advance (for all the panel-leaders) is at once a privilege and a seemingly
impossible task. Once can never fully digest all the materials within mere weeks of the conference.
Many of the presentations in this volume have matured, since their initial submission before
the massive ooding that affected Thailand.
The papers in this panel resonate between numerous categories, with completely different
arrangements - many, from apparently unrelated schools of Buddhism that deal with comparable
issues, such as: the transmission of the teaching, the historical and modern opportunities provided
by transporting one form of Buddhism to another region or culture, or the difculty in expressing
meditative experience through language. Many of the papers have been composed with passion and
an appreciation of the great challenge in understanding Buddhist meditative practice and theory, and
how they relate to one another. Each represents an attempt to communicate this challenge within
a shared discourse. Indeed with subjects covering such a great range of geographical and historical
contexts, from such a wide diversity of intellectual and scholarly traditions, addressed by contributors, all
at different levels of knowledge and training, who employ a variety of scientic and arts based
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