Esoteric Theravada

Esoteric Theravada PDF

Author: Kate Crosby

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2020-12-22

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 1611807948

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A groundbreaking exploration of a practice tradition that was nearly lost to history. Theravada Buddhism, often understood as the school that most carefully preserved the practices taught by the Buddha, has undergone tremendous change over time. Prior to Western colonialism in Asia—which brought Western and modernist intellectual concerns, such as the separation of science and religion, to bear on Buddhism—there existed a tradition of embodied, esoteric, and culturally regional Theravada meditation practices. This once-dominant traditional meditation system, known as borān kammatthāna, is related to—yet remarkably distinct from—Vipassana and other Buddhist and secular mindfulness practices that would become the hallmark of Theravada Buddhism in the twentieth century. Drawing on a quarter century of research, scholar Kate Crosby offers the first holistic discussion of borān kammatthāna, illuminating the historical events and cultural processes by which the practice has been marginalized in the modern era.

The Practices of Esoteric Theravada

The Practices of Esoteric Theravada PDF

Author: Kate Crosby

Publisher:

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781611808599

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"Discover the esoteric branch of Theravada meditation in the first English-language exploration of a practice tradition nearly lost to history. In this groundbreaking book, scholar Kate Crosby illuminates the once-dominant traditional Theravada meditation system known as boråan kamahåana. Theravadan Buddhism, though often understood as the school that most carefully preserved the practices originally taught by the Buddha, has in fact undergone tremendous change over time. Prior to Western concerns with the separation of science and religion that influenced Asian Buddhist modernizers, there existed a tradition of embodied, esoteric, and culturally regional Theravadan meditation practices. These meditation systems differ radically from the reformed, text-based meditations that are now taught in Theravada Buddhism, including Vipassana and Insight Meditation, as well as Buddhist and secular mindfulness. Drawing on a quarter century of research, Crosby offers the first holistic discussion of boråan kamahåana in the context of historical events and cultural processes by which the practice has been marginalized in the modern era. Readers of Esoteric Theravada will never see Theravada Buddhism in the same light again"--

Meditations of the Pali Tradition

Meditations of the Pali Tradition PDF

Author: L. S. Cousins

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2022-09-27

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0834844435

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A groundbreaking and detailed presentation of the rich system of meditation traditions that have come to us through the Pali tradition of Buddhism. Meditations of the Pali Tradition, from consummate scholar of Pali Buddhism L. S. Cousins, explores the history of meditation practice in early or Pali Buddhism, which was established in various parts of South and Central Asia from the time of the Buddha and developed until at least the fourteenth century CE. Ranging in discussion of jhana (absorption) meditation in ancient India to the Buddhist practice centers of the Silk Road to the vipassana (insight) practices of our modern world, this rigorous and insightful work of scholarship sheds new light on our understanding of the practices that are today associated with the Theravada school of Buddhism and the insight meditation movement. Cousins demonstrates that there is much more to Buddhist meditation than mindfulness alone—concentration and joy, for example, are equally important.

Mindfulness in Early Buddhism

Mindfulness in Early Buddhism PDF

Author: Tse-fu Kuan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-12-18

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1134074514

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This book identifies what is meant by sati (smrti), usually translated as ‘mindfulness’, 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 comparative study of Buddhist texts in Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit. It also furnishes 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 Agamas - 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) meditation. It elucidates how mindfulness functions in the path to liberation from a psychological perspective, that is, how it helps to achieve an optimal cognitive capability and emotional state, and thereby enables one to attain the ultimate religious goal. Furthermore, the author argues that the well-known formula of ekaayano maggo, which is often interpreted as ‘the only way’, implies that the four satipa.t.thaanas (establishments of mindfulness) constitute a comprehensive path to liberation, and refer to the same as kaayagataa sati, which has long been understood as ‘mindfulness of the body’ by the tradition. The analysis shows that kaayagataa sati and the four satipa.t.thaanas are two different ways of formulating the teaching on mindfulness according to different schemes of classification of phenomena.

Theravāda Meditation

Theravāda Meditation PDF

Author: Winston Lee King

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1992

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788120808423

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The first book in English to relate modern forms of Theravada meditational practice to its Indian roots, Theravada Meditation: The Buddhist Transformation of Yoga rectifies the publishing imbalance toward Mahayana and Zen. The classic Theravada pattern in Buddhaghosa`s Path of Purification (circa A.D. 500) is shown to be relevant to the present Buddhist world. Beginning with a general description of similarities and differences between the Upanisadic-Yogic and early Buddhist viewpoints, the author goes on to analyze Gotama`s rejection-acceptance-modification of the Upanisadic-Yogic method of striving for moksa (salvation) in his search for Buddhahood (enlightenment), as related in the Pali Canon. A second major section analyzes the meditational method of Buddhaghosa, showing the interaction between Upanisadic-Yogic jhanas (modes of concentration) and Buddhist vipassana (insight meditation). Attention is given to the highest attainable state, nirodha-samapatti (cessation of thought and perception), held by Theravada Buddhism to be an actual experience of Nibbana (world-escape) in this life. The final chapter discusses the attraction of Theravada meditation in parts of the contemporary world, notably Burma, drawing upon materials little known in the West. In Burma and, to some degree, in Ceylon and Thailand, emphasis is on a simplified meditational method open to layman as well as monk, yet viewed as fully orthodox. Contents Preface, Yogic Factors in gotama Buddha's Enlightenment, Conditions, Preparations, and Lower Levels of Meditation, The Jhanic and Formless States, The Jhanic Related Buddhist Meditation, Vipassana Meditation, The Attainment of Cessation (Nirodha-Samapatti), Contemporary Theravada Meditation in Burma, Appendix A Buddhist Pilgrim's Progress , Notes, Selected and Annotated Bibliography, Index.

Meditations of the Pali Tradition

Meditations of the Pali Tradition PDF

Author: L. S. Cousins

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2022-09-27

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1611809878

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A groundbreaking and detailed presentation of the rich system of meditation traditions that have come to us through the Pali tradition of Buddhism. Meditations of the Pali Tradition, from consummate scholar of Pali Buddhism L. S. Cousins, explores the history of meditation practice in early or Pali Buddhism, which was established in various parts of South and Central Asia from the time of the Buddha and developed until at least the fourteenth century CE. Ranging in discussion of jhana (absorption) meditation in ancient India to the Buddhist practice centers of the Silk Road to the vipassana (insight) practices of our modern world, this rigorous and insightful work of scholarship sheds new light on our understanding of the practices that are today associated with the Theravada school of Buddhism and the insight meditation movement. Cousins demonstrates that there is much more to Buddhist meditation than mindfulness alone—concentration and joy, for example, are equally important.

Meditations of the pali tradition

Meditations of the pali tradition PDF

Author: L. S. Cousins

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A groundbreaking and detailed presentation of the rich system of meditation traditions that have come to us through the Pali tradition of Buddhism. Meditations of the Pali Tradition , from consummate scholar of Pali Buddhism L. S. Cousins, explores the history of meditation practice in early or Pali Buddhism, which was established in various parts of South and Central Asia from the time of the Buddha and developed until at least the fourteenth century CE. Ranging in discussion of jhana (absorption) meditation in ancient India to the Buddhist practice centers of the Silk Road to the vipassana (insight) practices of our modern world, this rigorous and insightful work of scholarship sheds new light on our understanding of the practices that are today associated with the Theravada school of Buddhism and the insight meditation movement. Cousins demonstrates that there is much more to Buddhist meditation than mindfulness alone-concentration and joy, for example, are equally important.

Esoteric Theravada

Esoteric Theravada PDF

Author: Kate Crosby

Publisher: Shambhala Publications

Published: 2020-12-22

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 0834843072

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A groundbreaking exploration of a practice tradition that was nearly lost to history. Theravada Buddhism, often understood as the school that most carefully preserved the practices taught by the Buddha, has undergone tremendous change over time. Prior to Western colonialism in Asia—which brought Western and modernist intellectual concerns, such as the separation of science and religion, to bear on Buddhism—there existed a tradition of embodied, esoteric, and culturally regional Theravada meditation practices. This once-dominant traditional meditation system, known as borān kammatthāna, is related to—yet remarkably distinct from—Vipassana and other Buddhist and secular mindfulness practices that would become the hallmark of Theravada Buddhism in the twentieth century. Drawing on a quarter century of research, scholar Kate Crosby offers the first holistic discussion of borān kammatthāna, illuminating the historical events and cultural processes by which the practice has been marginalized in the modern era.

The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice

The Oxford Handbook of Buddhist Practice PDF

Author: Kevin Trainor

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 689

ISBN-13: 0190632925

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"This Handbook provides a state-of-the-art exploration of several key dynamics in current studies of the Buddhist tradition with a focus on practice. Embodiment, materiality, emotion, and gender shape the way most Buddhists engage with their traditions, in contrast to popular representations of Buddhism as spiritual, disembodied, and largely devoid of ritual. This volume highlights how practice often represents a fluid, dynamic, and strategic means of defining identity and negotiating the challenges of everyday life. Essays explore the transformational aims of practices that require practitioners to move, gesture, and emote in prescribed ways, including the ways that scholars' own embodied practices are integral to their research methodology. The chapters are written by acknowledged experts in their respective subject areas and taken together offer an overview of current thinking in the field. The volume is of particular value to scholars who seek an orientation to current perspectives on important conceptual, theoretical, and methodological concerns that are shaping the field in areas outside their primary expertise. The inclusion of substantial, up-to-date bibliographies also makes the volume an important guide to current scholarship"--