Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: New Approaches through Psychology and Textual Analysis of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Sources

252 Pages·2008·3.11 MB·English

by  Tse-fu Kuan

MINDFULNESS IN EARLY BUDDHISM
This book identifies what is meant by sati (smUti), usually translated as “mind-
fulness,” in early Buddhism, and examines its soteriological functions and
its central role in the early Buddhist practice and philosophy. Using textual
analysis and criticism, it takes new approaches to the subject through a com-
parative study of Buddhist texts in Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit. It also fur-
nishes new perspectives on the ancient teaching by applying the findings in
modern psychology. In contemporary Buddhism, the practice of mindfulness
is zealously advocated by the Theravada tradition, which is the only early
Buddhist school that still exists today. Through detailed analysis of
Theravada’s Pali Canon and the four Chinese Fgamas—which correspond
to the four main NikAyas in Pali and belong to some early schools that no
longer exist—this book shows that mindfulness is not only limited to the role
as a method of insight (vipassanA) meditation, as presented by many
Theravada advocates, but it also has a key role in serenity (samatha) medi-
tation. It elucidates how mindfulness functions in the path to liberation from
a psychological perspective, that is, how it helps to achieve an optimal cog-
nitive capability and emotional state, and thereby enables one to attain the
ultimate religious goal. Furthermore, the author argues that the well-known
formula of ekAyano maggo, which is often interpreted as “the only way,” implies
that the four satipaWWhAnas(establishments of mindfulness) constitute a com-
prehensive path to liberation, and refer to the same as kAyagatA sati, which
has long been understood as “mindfulness of the body” by the tradition.The
study shows that kAyagatA sati and the four satipaWWhAnas are two different
ways of formulating the teaching on mindfulness according to different
schemes of classification of phenomena.
Tse-fu Kuan is an assistant professor at the General Education Centre,
National University of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. He is interested in Indian
Buddhism and is the author of An Introduction to Mamatha and VipaNyanA
of the MahAyAna (co-authored with Ven. Dr Huimin Bhikkhu, Taipei:
Dharma Drum Culture, 1997) and several articles in leading journals
including the Journal of Indian Philosophy.
ROUTLEDGE CRITICAL STUDIES
IN BUDDHISM
Founding Editors:
Charles S. Prebish and Damien Keown
Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhismis a comprehensive study of the Buddhist tradition. The
series explores this complex and extensive tradition from a variety of perspectives, using a range
of different methodologies.
The Series is diverse in its focus, including historical studies, textual translations and com-
mentaries, sociological investigations, bibliographic studies, and considerations of religious prac-
tice as an expression of Buddhism integral religiosity. It also presents materials on modern
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temporary, critical context and in the light of current social issues. The series is expansive and
imaginative in scope, spanning more than two and a half millennia of Buddhist history. It is
receptive to all research works that inform and advance our knowledge and understanding of
the Buddhist tradition.
A SURVEY OF VINAYA LITERATURE THE SOUND OF LIBERATING TRUTH
Charles S. Prebish Edited by Sallie B. King and Paul O. Ingram
THE REFLEXIVE NATURE OF BUDDHIST THEOLOGY
AWARENESS Edited by Roger R. Jackson and
Paul Williams John J. Makransky
ALTRUISM AND REALITY THE GLORIOUS DEEDS OF PURNA
Paul Williams Joel Tatelman
BUDDHISM AND HUMAN RIGHTS EARLY BUDDHISM – A NEW
Edited by Damien Keown, Charles Prebish APPROACH
and Wayne Husted Sue Hamilton
WOMEN IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CONTEMPORARY BUDDHIST ETHICS
THE BUDDHA Edited by Damien Keown
Kathryn R. Blackstone
INNOVATIVE BUDDHIST WOMEN
THE RESONANCE OF EMPTINESS Edited by Karma Lekshe Tsomo
Gay Watson
TEACHING BUDDHISM IN THE WEST
AMERICAN BUDDHISM Edited by V. S. Hori, R. P. Hayes
Edited by Duncan Ryuken Williams and J. M. Shields
and Christopher Queen
EMPTY VISION
IMAGING WISDOM David L. McMahan
Jacob N. Kinnard
SELF, REALITY AND REASON IN
PAIN AND ITS ENDING TIBETAN PHILOSOPHY
Carol S. Anderson Thupten Jinpa
EMPTINESS APPRAISED IN DEFENSE OF DHARMA
David F. Burton Tessa J. Bartholomeusz
BUDDHIST PHENOMENOLOGY BUDDHISM IN CANADA
Dan Lusthaus Edited by Bruce Matthews
RELIGIOUS MOTIVATION AND BUDDHISM, CONFLICT AND
THE ORIGINS OF BUDDHISM VIOLENCE IN MODERN SRI LANKA
Torkel Brekke Edited by Mahinda Deegalle
DEVELOPMENTS IN AUSTRALIAN THERAVfDA BUDDHISM AND
BUDDHISM THE BRITISH ENCOUNTER
Michelle Spuler Religious, missionary and colonial
experience in nineteenth century Sri Lanka
ZEN WAR STORIES Elizabeth Harris
Brian Victoria
BEYOND ENLIGHTENMENT
THE BUDDHIST UNCONSCIOUS Buddhism, religion, modernity
William S. Waldron Richard Cohen
INDIAN BUDDHIST THEORIES BUDDHISM IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE
OF PERSONS Reorienting global interdependence
James Duerlinger Peter D. Hershock
ACTION DHARMA BRITISH BUDDHISM
Edited by Christopher Queen, Teachings, practice and development
Charles Prebish and Damien Keown Robert Bluck
TIBETAN AND ZEN BUDDHISM BUDDHIST NUNS IN TAIWAN
IN BRITAIN AND SRI LANKA
David N. Kay A critique of the feminist perspective
Wei-Yi Cheng
THE CONCEPT OF THE BUDDHA
NEW BUDDHIST MOVEMENTS
Guang Xing
IN THAILAND
THE PHILOSOPHY OF DESIRE IN Toward an understanding of Wat Phra
THE BUDDHIST PALI CANON Dhammakaya and Santi Asoke
David Webster Rory Mackenzie
THE NOTION OF DITTHIIN BUDDHIST RITUALS OF DEATH
THERAVADA BUDDHISM AND REBIRTH
Paul Fuller Contemporary Sri Lankan practice and
its origins
THE BUDDHIST THEORY OF Rita Langer
SELF-COGNITION
Zhihua Yao BUDDHISM, POWER AND
POLITICAL ORDER
MORAL THEORY IN mfNTIDEVA’S Edited by Ian Harris
mIKofSAMUCCAYA
Barbra R. Clayton ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS
IN BUDDHISM
BUDDHIST STUDIES FROM INDIA A virtues approach
TO AMERICA Pragati Sahni
Edited by Damien Keown
THE CULTURAL PRACTICES OF
DISCOURSE AND IDEOLOGY IN MODERN CHINESE BUDDHISM
MEDIEVAL JAPANESE BUDDHISM Attuning the Dharma
Edited by Richard K. Payne and Francesca Tarocco
Taigen Dan Leighton
MINDFULNESS IN EARLY BUDDHISM
BUDDHIST THOUGHT AND APPLIED New approaches through psychology and
PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH textual analysis of Pali, Chinese and
Edited by D. K. Nauriyal, Sanskrit sources
Michael S. Drummond and Y. B. Lal Tse-fu Kuan
The following titles are published in association with the Oxford Centre for
Buddhist Studies
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
a project of The Society for the Wider Understanding of the Buddhist Tradition
The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies conducts and promotes rigorous
teaching and research into all forms of the Buddhist tradition.
EARLY BUDDHIST METAPHYSICS
Noa Ronkin
MIPHAM DIALECTICS AND THE DEBATES ON EMPTINESS
Karma Phuntsho
HOW BUDDHISM BEGAN
The conditioned genesis of the early teachings
Richard F. Gombrich
BUDDHIST MEDITATION
An anthology of texts from the Pali Canon
Sarah Shaw
REMAKING BUDDHISM FOR MEDIEVAL NEPAL
The fifteenth-century reformation of Newar Buddhism
Will Tuladhar-Douglas
METAPHOR AND LITERALISM IN BUDDHISM
The doctrinal history of nirvana
Soonil Hwang
THE BIOGRAPHIES OF RECHUNGPA
The evolution of a Tibetan hagiography
Peter Alan Roberts
THE ORIGIN OF BUDDHIST MEDITATION
Alexander Wynne
MINDFULNESS IN
EARLY BUDDHISM
New approaches through psychology and
textual analysis of Pali, Chinese and
Sanskrit sources
Tse-fu Kuan
First published 2008
by Routledge
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Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
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© 2008 Tse-fu Kuan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Kuan, Tse-fu, 1965–
Mindfulness in early Buddhism : new approaches through psychology and textual
analysis of Pali, Chinese, and Sanskrit sources / Tse-fu Kuan.
p. cm. – (Routledge critical studies in Buddhism series)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-415-43737-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Satipatthana (Buddhism)
2. Buddhism–Doctrines–History. 3. Buddhism–Psychology–History. 4. Buddhist
literature, Pali–History and criticism. 5. Buddhist literature, Chinese–History and criticism.
6. Buddhist literature, Sanskrit–History and criticism. I. Title.
BQ5630.S2K83 2007
294.3′443–dc22
2007021590
ISBN 0-203-93614-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN10: 0-415-43737-7 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0-203-93614-0 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978-0-415-43737-0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-93614-6 (ebk)
TO VEN. HUIMIN AND
MR YUWEN YANG

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
Map xvii
Introduction 1
1 Mindfulness in soteriology: Transformation of
cognition and emotion 13
1. Mindfulness and sañña 13
2. Mindfulness and cognition 17
3. Mindfulness and emotion 24
4. Mindfulness and the Path to Liberation 33
2 Types and functions of mindfulness 41
1. Simple awareness 41
2. Protective awareness 42
3. Introspective awareness 51
4. Deliberately forming conceptions 52
3 Mindfulness in methodical meditation 57
1. Mindfulness and insight (vipassana) meditation 58
2. Mindfulness and serenity (samatha) meditation 59
3. Mindfulness of breathing—an example of samatha
and vipassana yoked together 70
4 KAyagatA sati: Mindfulness directed to the experiencer 81
1. The origins of the Kayagatasati Sutta 81
2. The meaning of kayagata sati 97
ix