Comparison of meditation systems

As regards both methods and goals, in the context of the total meditation systems of which they form part, compare and contrast Theravāda Samatha meditation and the Chih meditation in Chih-i's Tien-t'ai system

From the relatively early history of Buddhism, two different strands of meditation was categorized; meditations to cultivate calm (samatha), and meditations to cultivate insight (vipassana). The practice of samatha was directed at developing the mind so as to overcome craving, and the practice of vipassana was aimed at developing wisdom in order to overcome ignorance. Instructions for the practice of each of the two forms are found in the Pali Canon and in both early and later commentaries - and new instructions are derived from the old sources even today.

Most Mahayana sutras and commentaries give only very few meditation-instructions if any at all, and offer nothing like the thorough descriptions found in some of the suttas and commentaries of the Pāli Canon. Mahāyāna writings are more concerned with extolling the virtues of the Bodhisattva Path, the vastness of the Mahāyanā wisdom and its supreme goal than with concise meditation-instructions. Sāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra, A Guide to the Buddhist Path to Awakening, does give instructions for practice, but not for sitting practice or meditation as such. Also, some of the Mahāyanā sūtras and commentaries are probably indented, at least partly, as parts in the dispute between the followers of the Sravakayanā and the followers of the new Mahāyanā movement. Sūtras like the Mahāparinirvāna Sūtra or the Vimalikirti Sūtra both refute concepts and ideas of earlier Buddhism and proclaim the supremacy of the 'Great Vehicle', and are less concerned with guidelines for the practice of the individual.

Chih-i's writings take a special place with their clear and concise advice on how - and why - to cultivate both calm and concentration. When comparing Chih-i's writings to the Theravada writings, the goals and methods of calm meditation seem to remain very much the same. However, especially in Chih-i's later works, the theoretical background of the Mahāyanā must be taken into consideration. Ideas about non-duality, emptiness and tathāgatha-garbha - concepts that are all derived from the teachings of the Pali Canon, but re-worked and elaborated in the Mahayana doctrinal framework - have effects on both the practice of calm and the theories supporting it.

Practical remarks

The word 'samādhi' is often translated as 'concentration' or 'one-pointedness', derived from 'saṃ-ā-dhā' which means to bring together or collect. It can be used however to denote both 'states' or 'ways' or methods to cultivate such states. In Chih-i's writings, he even uses the word samādhi in referring to Buddhist practice of more devotional than meditative nature (Swanson 2004a pp. 144, 157-8, 169-72). In the following, I use the word to denote practice-forms, 'ways'.

When dealing with the Theravāda system, I have used the Pāli words samatha for concentration meditation, vipassanā for insight meditation and jhāna for meditative absorptions, while dealing with the T'ien-t'ai system I have used chih for concentration meditation, kuan for insight meditation and dhyāna for meditative absorptions. When quoting a text I have of course maintained the words used in the text.

Theravāda

The place of samatha practice in Theravāda

Deducted from the Tipiṭaka and thoroughly described in Buddhaghosa's later commentarial work the Visuddhimagga (?āṇamoli I, 3.6) are two meditation systems sometimes referred to as the Samatha-yāna and the Vipassanā-yāna (Cousins 1984). At first glance, these two appear as two very different ways, resulting in two different goals (Griffiths, p. 618), but on further investigation it actually seems that what really differs is nothing more than the way to the noble path. Following the Samatha-yanā one reaches the noble path via first calm, then insight, while following the Vipassanā-yanā it happens via insight alone, or insight together with moments of calm, born from insight (Gunaratana 1988, chapter on 'The Two Vehicles'). Both ways are designed to eventually lead to complete awakening which is reached through insight into the real nature of phenomena as suffering, impermanent and not-Self, and always arises in what is referred to as transcendent or supramundane jhāna; the 'concentration' component of the Noble Eightfold Path (Gunaratana 1980, p. 191-2). Thus the difference between the two systems could really be said to be mostly about emphasis, the levels of calm aimed for, and the order of the achievements - and specifically about the development of the mundane jhānas or not (Cousins 1973, p. 116 & ?āṇamoli I.3, 6-8).

Practitioners of the Samatha-yāna are working towards states of deep concentration and unification of mind; the jhānas. The practice of samatha is common to both Buddhist and non-Buddhist systems, whereas direct insight into the real nature of phenomena is unique to Buddhist meditation, because it builds on the Buddhas realisation. Even so, the jhānas are first described in Indian Buddhist texts, and they appear not to have been among the spiritual practices available from the Buddha's contemporary teachers (M I 160).

The jhānas are a very important part of the meditation practice described in the sūttas of the Pāli Canon. The Buddha equated right concentration of the Eightfold Path with the jhānas (SN 45.8), thus showing their importance in relation to attaining awakening. Generally, in the sūttas the jhānas are explained to be an integral part of the way leading to liberation from suffering as seen in the Cū?ahatthipadopama (M I 176) and Sāmaňňaphala (D I 47) Sūtta's descriptions of "a householder or a householder's son" who hears the dhamma, abandons home, family and fortune, perfects his virtue, guards his sensedoors, establishes mindfulness, overcomes the five hindrances, enters the four jhanas, and directs his concentrated and purified mind to attaining enlightenment. There is no mentioning here of the jhānas being dispensable, but it is noteworthy how mindfulness is established before working with the hindrances to enter the jhānas. At M I 301 it also says that '..the four foundations of mindfulness are the basis of concentration'.

Some of the main events in the life of the Buddha involved the jhānas; his awakening built on his attainment of the jhānas, followed by insight, (M I 246-7); he attained parinibbāna from the fourth jhāna (D II 156), and he practiced the jhānas throughout his life because he saw them as leading to happiness here and now (D III 223), but whether or not attainment of the jhānas are necessary in order to attain enlightenment or not remains open to discussion. The jhānas clearly cannot lead all the way to enlightenment on their own since they only work to suppress the hindrances, rather than permanently cutting off the fetters (Gunaratana, p. 76-80). The purpose of jhāna practice is to calm and clear the mind, to prepare it for insight practice - and also to allow the practitioner to experience the radiant, brightly shining mind described at AN I.10; the one that will reveal itself, when the surface of the mind is quiet.

There is canonical support for both positions. In the Satipaṭṭāna Sūtta (M I 56) the satipaṭṭānas are said to constitute a direct way to awakening without mentioning the need for any previous calming of the mind, but at M I 33-6 it says that the jhānas must not be rejected, and in the Jhāna Sūtta (AN 9.36) the Buddha says; "I tell you, the ending of the mental fermentations depends on the first jhāna" (this is then repeated for the rest of the jhānas and the four formless states).

Dhammapada v.372 holds that both samatha and vipassanā are necessary: "There is no jhāna for him who lacks wisdom, and no wisdom for him who lacks jhāna. He in whom are found both jhāna and wisdom, indeed, is close to Nibbāna" (BUDM03, session 8,3), whereas S.IV.362 actually says that both forms in themselves are ways to awakening: "And what, bhikkhus, is the path leading to the unconditioned? Serenity: this is called the path leading to the unconditioned" and then; "[...] Insight: this is called the path leading to the unconditioned".

In the Susima Sūtta (SN 12.70) newly released arahats tell Susima that they don't have either supranormal powers or attainment of the formless states, and they further tell him; "We're released through discernment, friend Susima". This is sometimes taken to mean that they have attained awakening without the jhānas, but that isn't necessarily the case. In the Paňňavimutti Sūtta (AN 9.44), 'released through discernment' is explained as "a monk, withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskilful qualities, enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. And he knows it through discernment. It is to this extent that one is described in a sequential way by the Blessed One as released through discernment". This sequence is then repeated with the remaining 3 jhānas, the formless attainments and finally the cessation of perception and feeling, showing nine different ways of release through discernment, all going through jhānic states.

The dispensability of mundane jhāna on the Buddhist path towards nirvāna is open for questioning. Nirodha (total cessation beyond nibbāna), on the other hand, is definitely only attainable for those Non-returners and Arahats who have mastered all eight jhānas (?āṇamoli 23.18). This total cessation is distinguishable from death only in that life force and heat haven't ended and the faculties are 'bright and clear' (SN 41.6). It is attainable from the formless states, but this state, like the jhānas, does not work to cut off the fetters, and will thus not necessarily lead the practitioner further along the spiritual path.

Theravāda methods of practicing samatha

Samatha meditation aims to develop a focussed and concentrated mind to the point where normal consciousness changes into states of lucid trances; the jhānas. The jhānas are only preliminary goals, seen as aiding the mind in the practice of vipassanā meditation.

Traditionally, the samatha meditator will work with one or more of the classic forty meditation subjects (kammaṭṭhānas) described by Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga chapters 4 - 11 ; the ten kasiṇas, the ten uglinesses, the ten recollections, the four divine abidings, the four immaterial states, the perception of repulsiveness of food and the definition of the four elements. The kammaṭṭhānas are categorized by their suitability to different character types and their capability of leading to different levels of calm. Some of these meditation subjects can be used in vipassanā meditations as well - what Buddhaghosa is describing are meditation subjects, and these can then be used to develop calm or insight, depending on how they are used.

The Visuddhimagga mentions three different forms of concentration used in meditation, two of which are described below; access concentration and absorption (jhāna), and a third which pertains to the Vipassanā-yāna (Ñāṇamoli I.3, 6-8). It is called 'momentary concentration', and is described as a dynamic concentration, moving between the objects of insight meditation, and by some equated with 'right concentration' of the Eightfold Path (http://www.mail-archive.com/dharmajala@yahoogroups.com/msg02233.html). This is not an unstable, flickering concentration; 'momentary' refers to the objects of the concentration, not the concentration itself.

In samatha practice, full concentration is applied to the chosen subject until the mind is completely focussed, without any distraction or wandering thoughts. Once a certain level of calm has been achieved, a mental image or sign called a nimitta will appear, and this should then become the new focus of attention. Working with the image will gradually deepen the concentration, and the five hindrances that obstruct further progress are now suspended; desire, anger, restlessness and worry, sloth and torpor, and doubt. When the hindrances are suppressed, the mental image will develop into a brighter, purified sign; the paṭibhāga-nimitta and a level of calm called 'access concentration' is reached. It is from here the full absorption of the jhānas pertaining to the realm of pure form can be entered once the jhāna factors; applied thought (vitakka), examination (vicara), joy (piti), happiness (sukha) and one-pointedness of mind, are fully developed (Harvey pp. 246-50)

The first jhāna is characterized by applied thought, examination, joy, happiness and one-pointedness of mind. In the second jhāna, applied thought and examination are dropped, and in the third jhāna joy is substituted for a deep sense of equanimity, an equanimity that, together with the original one-pointedness of mind, is all that is left in the fourth jhāna where happiness falls away (AN IV 35).

Following these four jhānas, further levels of calm, referred to as the four formless attainments or immaterial jhānas, can be developed. These are achieved by abandoning all aspects of material form, even the subtle paṭibhāga-nimitta, and they relate to planes of immaterial rebirth. They are named after their respective spheres; infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither-cognition-nor-non-cognition (Harvey pp. 251-2).

Chih-i's T'ien-t'ai system

When trying to determine the place and method of chih meditation within Chih-i's T'ien-t'ai system, it becomes clear that Chih-i treated meditation different in his earlier writings compared to his major work on meditation, the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, dating from 594 AD.

In the earlier works The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation and The Six Gates to the Sublime, his approach to meditation is very close to one of the Theravāda systems; the samatha-yāna - the system that recommends developing samatha and vipassanā in tandem. This method corresponds to what Chih-i later, in the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, calls the "gradual" method, described as a progressive method, whereby one's practice in steps gradually leads one "from the shallow to the profound" (Swanson 2004a, p. 354). The method extolled in the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation is what he calls the "perfect-and-sudden" method; the method that builds on the "Perfect Teaching" (i.e. the Threefold Lotus Sūtra), leading to the "sudden [attainment of] completeness and the sudden [attainment of the] ultimate" (ibid). It seems that Chih-i's turning away from the traditional term "ch'an", which he used in the early works and then replaced by the compound "chih-kuan", is significant in relation to his later understanding of Buddhist meditation as a fully integrated practice that is more holistic and less structured in progressive stages than expressed in the early works (Swanson 2004c).

Samatha in 'The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation' and 'The Six Gates to the Sublime'.

In these works it is described how chih works to suppress the hindrances, thereby leading to the dhyānas, and how kuan then finally cuts off the fetters, thereby leading to enlightenment. Chih-i follows the traditional thought that chih alone cannot lead to enlightenment, because impurities are not cut off permanently, but rather suppressed (Dharmamitra 2001-4b, p. 119), and emphasises the importance of the two being developed together: "Were it not for wisdom, one would not develop dhyana absorption. Were it not for dhyana absorption, one would not develop wisdom" (Dharmamitra 2001-4b, p. 103).

The directions given in The Essentials of Buddhist Meditation are rather detailed, starting with the casting off of the hindrances in chapter three, instructions regarding clothing, posture, breath and mind in sitting meditation, and the necessity of regularly adjusting the mind to prevent sinking (the mind becoming dull or blurred), floating (the mind drifting away, becoming distracted), urgency (attention moving upwards, causing pain in the chest) and laxity (lack of determination and bodily energy) is dealt with in chapter four, and finally chapter four also teaches how to emerge from meditation without risking headaches, stiffness of the body or problems in subsequent meditation sessions.

Chih-i recommends that chih and kuan are used and developed together to supplement and support each other. When the practitioner experiences sinking, he is advised to use kuan to brighten the mind, but if that doesn't help, he should shift to chih, and in a similar fashion, when experiencing floating, he should apply chih and / or kuan in accordance to what is appropriate (Dharmamitra 2001-4b, p. 15). He also describes three ways of calming the mind; to fix the attention at one specific point in the body or to exercise control over the mind, not allowing it to waver, or, if none of these sufficiently calms the stream of thoughts, to do kuan meditation in order to calm the mind (Ibid, p. 109)

In The Six Gates to the Sublime, Chih-i describes six gates - or six steps in practice - to enlightenment. These six gates consist of counting, following, stabilization, contemplation, turning and purification, and are to be engaged in sequentially.

"Counting" is plainly counting the breath, and is said to lead to the four dhyānas, the immeasurable states and the four formless attainments (Dharmamitra 2001-4a, 19), while "following" means following the breath as it moves through the body, see it entering and exiting the body, distinguish long and short breaths (Ibid), and "stabilization" is the generating of dhyānas, or the "Five-Wheel" samadhis (Ibid, pp. 20-21). "Contemplation" is described as kuan-practice, cultivating insight into various phenomena (Ibid, p. 23), and "turning" denotes a skilful return to the source in a reductive analysis, attaining the Thirty-seven Factors, the Four Truths, the Twelve-linked Chain and the Middleway (Ibid, pp. 23-5). "Purification" is then the realization of the fundamental purity of all phenomena, this leading to nine levels of dhyāna, and from these to the realization of the ultimate awakening (Ibid, p. 25).

A similar scheme of eight steps or stages are found in the Visudhimagga (Ñāṇamoli VIII 189): counting, which is "just counting", connexion, which is "carrying on", touching, which is "the place touched [by the breath]", fixing which is absorption, observing which is "insight", turning away which is "the path", purification which is "fruition" and looking back on these which is "reviewing". Of these eight elements, only the last, "looking back" is really different from Chih-i's list, because connexion and touching together make up the element "following".

Chih in the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation

In the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, Chih-i teaches a more holistic, all-encompassing approach to meditation which clearly builds on his understanding of non-duality, but he still insists on the simultaneous development of chih and kuan:

"There is a type of meditation master who exclusively utilizes cessation-type practice and does not allow for the practice of contemplation. [...]There is also a type of meditation master who exclusively utilizes the practice of contemplation and does not allow for the practice of cessation. [...] If people rely exclusively [on either cessation or contemplation, or on only one teaching or practice] to attain understanding, then what was the reason for the Buddha to offer such a variety of teachings?" (The Great Cessation-and-Contemplation as quoted in Swanson 2004c, p. 8)

In this system chih is the method to stopping discursive thought and emptying the mind of passions and delusion. Kuan is then the direct insight into reality; a thorough understanding of the ever-changing stream of impermanent phenomena that make up conventional reality, which is meant to inspire a compassionate response to the suffering of others. Together chih and kuan make up a harmonious whole despite of the apparent tension between them, and from the unity of the two, the practitioner is able to perceive the world correctly, and engage in it compassionately.

In the Great Cessation-and-contemplation Chih-i distinguishes three types of chih-kuan meditation; "gradual and progressive" (succeeding through stages), "variable" (to be determined by the relevant circumstances) and finally "perfect and sudden", and teaches that "the perfect and sudden calming-and-contemplation from the very beginning takes ultimate reality as its object" (Stevenson's translation of The Great Cessation-and-Contemplation, as quoted in Swanson 2004b, p. 345). This is a contemplation of realty as seen from the point of the Threefold Truth; the truths of conventionality (impermanent, evanescent existence), emptiness (phenomena being empty of any intrinsic existence) and the middleway (the wisdom to relate compassionately to empty phenomena in their conventional existence).

Even if the methods described in the Great Cessation-and-contemplation are very different from those in the sūttas of the Pāli Canon, they share both the preliminary goal; the dhyānas, and the ultimate goal; awakening. Chih meditation is still considered necessary to calm the mind sufficiently to properly engage in the kuan practice that permanently cuts off the fetters, and the four dhyānas are explicitly mentioned (Swanson 2004a, p. 140). Also the idea of virtue, in the form of the Six Paramitas, is considered the foundation of meditation in both the Great Cessation-and-Contemplation's part six; 'Clarification of [Twenty-five preparatory] Means', and in the Chüeh-i san-mei hsing-fa (as quoted in Stevenson p. 83).

Conclusion

In his early works, Chih-i's thought is very similar to the Samatha-yāna of Theravāda, and in the later Great Cessation-and-Contemplation he uses the compound chih-kuan to describe meditation. Chih-kuan is Chinese for samatha-vipassanā, but Chih-i imbeds further meaning into it, and uses the words in an untraditional way. He refers to both practice and goal; method and achievement, when he uses these terms, so chih is both the calming of thoughts and emotions through concentration AND the peace and calm that results from such calming, while kuan is both the contemplation of phenomena AND the insight born of right contemplation. So chih is the stopping of the mind's chatter and resulting wrong views (Swanson 2004a, p. 260) that leads to the recognition that all phenomena are empty (Ibid, p. 261), while kuan is the cutting off of delusions (Ibid, p. 262) and the recognition that empty phenomena does exist as temporary manifestations of the thusness that one self is "thoroughly merged with" (Ibid, p. 263). And he also applies these concepts to phenomena; "For things in themselves to be quiescent is called 'cessation'; to be quiescent yet ever luminous is called 'contemplation'" (Ibid, p. 22).

When comparing and contrasting the two systems; Theravāda and T'ien-t'ai, it is important to answer one question; did the Buddha of the Pāli Canon in fact teach that samatha and vipassanā are two distinct paths, with only one of them leading the way to enlightenment, or did he teach that they are two inseparable parts of a single unified path of practice? The latter is very close to T'ien-t'ai thinking, with Chih-i's integration of the two supplementary forms of meditation. This is of course not surprising, as Chih-i based his entire system on the teachings of the Buddha - however, these teachings were at the time of Chih-i pouring into China in no specific order, often with contradictory sutras following each other, to much bewilderment of the Chinese Buddhist scholars. Even under such challenging circumstances, the meditation-system that Chih-i taught is very close to what the Buddha taught in the Pāli Canon. The language at A.II.157 (as quoted in Cousins 1984, p. 60) suggests the image of a cart yoked by a pair of oxen; "As he [a bhikkhu] is bringing into being peace and insight yoked as a pair, the path is born to him", an image similar to the one Chih-i uses: "One must realize that these two dharmas [chih and kuan] are like the two wheels of a cart and like the two wings of a bird" (Dharmamitra 2001-4b, p. 11)

Another passage, at AN 4.94 warns that if only samatha is developed, at the expense of vipassanā - or only vipassanā developed at the expense of samatha - one's practice needs to be balanced. In much the same way Chih-i says that the one-sided development of either of the two leads to delusion or derangement (Dharmamitra 2001-4b, p. 11).

Judging from this, and from M I 289 that says that in one of right view, where the seven enlightenment factors come to fulfilment, samatha and vipassana "occur in him yoked evenly together", I conclude that both the Buddha of the Pāli Canon and Chih-i agreed that the proper Buddhist path is one with samatha and vipassanā, chih and kuan, developed together to support and balance each other. Insight is needed in samatha practice, to help counteract any tendency for the meditation to become stagnant and for the meditator to become attached to the pleasantness of the jhānas, and calm is needed in vipassanā practice to focus and deepen concentration in order to prepare the mind for insights that may appear frightening at first. When the two work together, they will mutually strengthen and support each other, thus leading the way to the ultimate goal; the attainment of the unconditioned - the enlightenment of the Buddha.