Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English: An Introductory Guide to

51 Pages·2013·0.38 MB·English

by  Bhante Henepola Gunaratana

EASTERNRELIGION/SELF-HELP
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“A straightforward and pragmatic guide to deepening levels of concentration “Bhante Gunaratana has done it again!”
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and insight. This book is a joy to read and a great gift to us all.” y —Ajahn Amaro, abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery
—Joseph Goldstein, author of AHeartFullofPeace
o Beyond
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ountless people worldwide have made Bhante Gunaratana s first book, d
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Mindfulness in Plain English, a beloved and bestselling classic in almost a
dozen languages. Now after nearly two decades, Bhante helps meditators M
of every variety and level of experience take their mindfulness practice to the
Mindfulness
next level—helping them go, in a word, beyond mindfulness. In the same warm, i
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clear, and friendly voice, Bhante introduces the reader to what have been known
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for centuries as the “jhanas”—deeply calm, joyous, and powerful states of medi-
tation that, when explored with the tools in this book, lead to a life of insight and f
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unshakable peace.
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I N P L A I N E N G L I S H
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“There is a practical logic and an almost startling common sense
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to the explanations that lead the reader smoothly through the N
various stages of meditative concentration.
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This book is likely to become a classic alongside its predecessor.” L
—Ajahn Amaro, abbot of Abhayagiri Monastery A
I
N
“Elegant and profound.”
—Matthew Flickstein, author of TheMeditator’sAtlas and E
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TheMeditator’sWorkbook
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“Thoroughly grounded in the core teachings of the Buddhist path, this is I
a simple and clear introduction that will make these tools an accessible S
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element in every meditator’s practice. A welcome addition!”
—Shaila Catherine, author ofFocusedandFearless
“Straight-forward and valuable.”—Sharon Salzberg, author of Faith
“Excellent and highly recommended.”—Noah Levine, author of DharmaPunx
G
“Bhante Gunaratana writes with such clarity that we are drawn in to u
taste stillness and joy even as we read. An inspiring book!” n
—Guy Armstrong, senior teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center a
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t an introductory guide to
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n deeper states of meditation
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ISBN0-86171-529-2 US$15.95
ISBN13:978-0-8617-1529-9
WISDOMPUBLICATIONS•BOSTON
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
www.wisdompubs.org
PRODUCEDWITHENVIRONMENTALMINDFULNESS author of Mindfulness in Plain English
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BEYOND MINDFULNESS
IN PLAIN ENGLISH
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Publisher’s Acknowledgment
Thepublishergratefullyacknowledgesthegeneroushelpofthe
Hershey Family Foundation in sponsoring the publication of
thisbook.
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Beyond
Mindfulness
I N P L A I N E N G L I S H
an introductory guide to
deeper states of meditation
Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
edited by John Peddicord
WISDOM PUBICATIONS • BOSTON
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WisdomPublications
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©2009BhanteGunaratana
Allrightsreserved.
Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorbyanymeans,elec-
tronicormechanical,includingphotography,recording,orbyanyinforma-
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developed,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublisher.
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Gunaratana,Henepola,1927–
BeyondmindfulnessinplainEnglish:anintroductoryguidetothejhanas/by
BhanteHenepolaGunaratana.
p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0-86171-529-2(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN978-0-86171-995-2(ebook)
1. Meditation—Buddhism. I.Title.
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1312111009
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Contents
Preface vii
1 TheConcentrationPath 1
2 ConcentrationandtheJhanas 11
3 GettingReadyforJhanaMeditation 23
4 WishingtheBestforYourselfandOthers 41
5 BreathMeditation 59
6 WhyCan’tWeConcentrateStronglyRightNow? 69
7 ThePurposeofPractice 85
8 TheJhanaStates 103
9 AccessConcentration 111
10 TheFirstJhana 121
11 TheSecondandThirdJhanas 141
12 TheFourthJhana 153
13 TheImmaterialJhanas 169
14 TheSupramundaneJhanas 179
Glossary 189
FurtherandRecommendedReading 205
Index 207
AbouttheAuthor 219
AboutWisdomPublications 221
v
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Preface
M
any teachers brought insight meditation, vipassana, to the
Westinthe1970s,anditprovedtobecomeverypopular.A
partofvipassanaisthe“mindfulness”practicethathascometosuch
prominence today. In the 1980s, many students wanted to read a
clearintroductiontothepractice,butmostofthebookstheycould
findtendedtobescholarlyandnotveryaccessibletolaypeople.And
thus,IwroteMindfulnessinPlainEnglish,ahow-tobookonmind-
fulnesstechniqueanditsunderlyingprinciples.Thatbook,likethis
one,waswrittenforordinarypeopleinstraightforwardlanguage.
While the words mindfulness and even vipassana have grown
increasingly common and the practice itself has received lots of
attention, deep concentration meditation, shamatha, seems to have
receivedless.Infact,itwaswidelyconsideredakindofmeditators’
Olympics,apursuitsuitedonlytoextraordinarybeingswholivedin
caves or monasteries, far beyond the ken of “normal people,” folks
withbusydailylives.
In the first decade of this century, interest seems to be turning
toward the concentration path.And that is a good thing, because it
is truly a parallel yet complementary path to insight meditation, to
mindfulness.Thetwoareintertwinedandsupportoneanother.Over
the last two millennia, these two path were codified and refined as
parallelpathsforaverygoodreason:theybothwork,andtheywork
vii
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viii beyond mindfulness in plain english
besttogether.Infact,thetwoarereallyone.Intruth,theBuddhadid
notteachshamathaandvipassanaasseparatesystems.TheBuddha
gaveusonemeditationpath,onesetoftoolsforbecomingfreefrom
suffering.
Thisbookisintendedtoserveasaclearlycomprehensiblemedi-
tators’handbook,layingoutthepathofconcentrationmeditationin
afashionasclosetostep-by-stepaspossible.Also,thisbookassumes
youhavereadMindfulnessInPlainEnglishorsomethingsimilar,that
youhavebeguntocultivateamindfulnesspractice,andthatyouare
nowreadytotakethenextstep—beyondmindfulness.
Onenoteaboutthestructureofthisbook:throughoutit(andespe-
cially where talking in detail about the jhanas), I have offered a
numberofquotationsfromthecanonofPalisuttas,ourbestrecord
of what it is the Buddha himself taught. Since this is not an aca-
demic work, we have not used endnotes. Nonetheless, I’d like to
acknowledgethemanyfinetranslatorswhoseworkI’vedrawnonin
this volume: Bhikkhu Bodhi, Nyanaponika Maha Thera, Bhikkhu
Nanamoli,JohnD.Ireland,andGilFronsdal.Additionaltherearea
fewtranslationswhicharemyown,andseveralthatcomefromthe
VisuddhimaggabyBuddhaghosa,translatedbyBhikkhuNanamoli.
And one final note: one of the essential parts of any study is the
meaningofthebasicterms.Thereisanextensiveanddetailedglos-
sary of terms at the back of the book. Please make use of this glos-
sary as you read. Indeed, you can get a very fine review of the
materialinthisbookjustbyreadingtheglossary.
IamprofoundlygratefultoJohnPeddicordforthegenerousgiftsof
histimeandpatience.Thisbook,likeMindfulnessinPlainEnglish,
could not have come into being without his extensive hard work in
itsdevelopment.
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