A STUDY OF THE DYNAMIC MEDITATION PRACTICE OF LUANGPOR TEEAN JITTASUBHO

By Mrs. Venica Pookgaman

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of The Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts (Buddhist Studies) International Master of Arts Degree Programme Graduate School Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Bangkok, Thailand 2550 BE

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A STUDY OF THE DYNAMIC MEDITATION PRACTICE OF LUANGPOR TEEAN JITTASUBHO

.

By Mrs. Venica Pookgaman

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of The Requirement for the Degree of Master of Arts (Buddhist Studies) International Master of Arts Degree Programme Graduate School Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Bangkok, Thailand 2550 BE (Copyright, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University)

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The Graduate School of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University has approved this thesis, A Study of the Dynamic Meditation Practice of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, as fulfilling the thesis requirement of the Master of Arts Buddhist Studies curriculum.

............................................................ (Phra Srisitthimuni) Dean of the Graduate School

Thesis Examination Committee:

............................................................ (Phra Methiratanadilok) Chairperson

............................................................ (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phra Sudhivorayan)

Member

............................................................ (Asst. Prof. Dr. Phra Suthithammanuwat)

Member

............................................................ (Asst. Prof. Boon Ketutassa)

Member

............................................................ (Asst. Prof. Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Ph.D.)

Member

Thesis Supervisory Committee:

............................................................ (Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phra Sudhivorayan) Chairperson

............................................................ (Asst. Prof. Dr. Phra Suthithammanuwat)

Member

............................................................ (Asst. Prof. Boon Ketutassa)

Member

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Thesis Title:

A Study of the Dynamic Meditation Practice of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho Mrs. Venica Pookgaman Master of Arts (Buddhist Studies) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phra Sudhivorayan, Pali VIII, Ph.D. (Buddhist Studies) Asst. Prof. Dr. Phra Suthithammanuwat, Pali IX, M.A., Ph.D. (Pali) Asst. Prof. Boon Ketutassa, M.A. 3 December 2550 BE

Researcher: Degree: Thesis Supervisory Committee:

Date of Graduation:

Abstract
The present thesis is a study of the meditation technique known as Dynamic Meditation. Originated by Luangpor Teean Jittasubho when he was a layperson, the technique is a unique vipassan practice involving rhythmic hand and arm movements without accompanying recitations. Unable to read or write Thai and without formal knowledge of the Buddhist Canon or the Pali language, Luangpor Teean, born Phan Inthaphieu, achieved the end of suffering with the technique then instructed others. The technique has spread throughout Thailand and abroad. Twenty years after his death, the technique continues to be practiced by many throughout the world. Luangpor Teean maintained that his technique was in accordance with the Satipahnasutta and dared to guarantee results for those who practice rightly and continuously. Everyone, he proclaimed has the innate capability to achieve Nibbna and Dynamic Meditation is a shortcut. This study is an analytical study of Dynamic Meditation elucidating and making explicit the concepts, theory, and practice of Luangpor Teeans teachings, and the results of following his instructions. The hope is to answer the question: to what extent is Luangpor Teeans

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teaching and technique consistent with the teaching of the Buddha, and in particular with satipahna meditation as described in the Nikyas? Satipahna meditation is taken to be the fundamental meditation instruction for going beyond dukkha. That, in turn requires that we develop a good understanding of satipahna meditation, both in method and purpose. I take the Mahsatipahnasutta as the decisive text in developing that understanding. A second, related question is: to what extent can Luangpor Teeans teachings be situated within the Theravda tradition, and to what extent to those teachings diverge? In other words: are these teachings orthodox? It was found in the research that Dynamic Meditation is consistent with satipahna meditation and, indeed, can be considered a variation of that type of meditation, including the four foundations of mindfulness: the contemplation of the body, of feeling, of mind, and of dhammas. That conclusion holds in spite of the fact that the deliberate hand and arm movements at the stage of contemplation of the body seems to be an innovation not found in the Sutta exposition, and the fact that it is not always obvious how the progress of Dynamic Meditation correlates with the four foundations, for example, when contemplation of mind ends and contemplation of dhammas begins. A detailed examination reveals the correlations and finds that the hand and arm movements are entirely within the spirit of the Sutta. The movements accelerate the process of developing and strengthening mindfulness and full comprehension, leading quickly to achievement of sla, samdhi, and pa. Moreover, reports of results of the practice, from both published reports and interviews, indicate that practitioners experience reductions of defilements (kilesas) and increased happiness, while those who pursue the highest goal, practicing properly and continuously come to see Dhamma in due order. Articulating and evaluating Luangpors teachings vis--vis traditional Theravda doctrine is more difficult, as Luangpor concentrated on teaching practice rather than theory, and in that lacking a classical education, he taught from experience without a formal doctrinal framework within which to express that experience. Nevertheless, when allowances are made for the unusual ways in which Luangpor sometimes used technical Pali terms, and when the pedagogical intent of his statements are recognized, he is found to have been remarkably well within the doctrinal tradition as well. Indeed, his innovative teachings may be more a revivification of Theravda Buddhism, and Buddhism in

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general, than a departure from it. His teachings bring this ancient tradition vibrantly to the modern world. A crucial finding here is that Luangpor must be read as a meditation instructor giving oral teachings face-to-face, not as a scholar writing doctrinal treatises. Through the course of the research, it appeared that Luangpors teachings could contribute to a renewed and better understanding of traditional practice and doctrine, and I recommend further research in that direction. The linguistic problems with which I wrestled, both in terms of Luangpors unusual usage of Pali and in terms of expressing his ideas in English move me urgently to recommend extensive linguistic research involving those who knew Luangpor personally. Inasmuch as Luangpors teachings were direct oral instructions to meditators, I recommend publishing his teachings in a format that most closely approximates that situation. Finally, I recommend introducing Dynamic Meditation to schools and the workplace. That would be of benefit to both the individuals and to the institution, inasmuch as Dynamic Meditation enhances the performance of the meditators. In conclusion, Dynamic Meditation is found to be a variety of satipahna practice and should be considered, not an alternative or modified practice, but a sub-set of the methodology of the Sutta. Dynamic Meditation is a valuable and effective meditation technique capable of leading quickly to reduction in suffering and even to full enlightenment.

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Acknowledgements
This thesis has been completed with the kind support of every member of my supervisory committee. I am profoundly grateful to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phra Sudhivorayan, Chairman as well as to Committee Members Asst. Prof. Dr. Phra Suthithammanuwat and Asst. Prof. Boon Ketutassa. Their guidance, ideas, and comments have been essential to the production of this thesis. They introduced me to important texts that I would not otherwise have found and their corrections to the thesis itself were most helpful and welcome. It was their continual encouragement throughout the process of researching and writing the thesis that motivated me to bring it to completion. I should also like to express deep gratitude to Phramaha Somjin Sammpao, Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs, as well as to Phra Srisitthimuni, Dean of the Graduate School, for his concern and guidance. I offer my gratitude also to Phrakhru Baidika Sanan Dayarakkho for his support in lending texts for study and research. I would like to express my gratitude to Stephen Evans for his guidance in academic writing, useful comments, and editing in spite of his heavy workload. I am grateful to all the lecturers of the International Programme at Mahachulalongkornrajavidayalaya University for sharing their knowledge of Buddhist Studies with me and the other students. My thanks go also to Programme Secretaries Khun Sudarat Bantaokul and Mae Chee Amphai Tansomboon for their encouragement and advice on the procedures of producing the thesis. Sincere thanks also extended to my classmates, especially Khun Warrin Rattanamalai and Khun Phassarabha Phaisarnariyasub for their unfailing encouragement and for their advice in handling texts and data. I extend my profound gratitude to Phra Achan Khamkhian Suvao, Abbot, Wat Phukhaothong, Chaiyabhum and to Phra Achan Khammai hittaslo, Head Meditation Master, Samnak Thab Ming Khwan, Loei, who generously gave of their time for interviews and assisted me in locating texts and accessing information in electronic storage. They provided many useful insights into Dynamic Meditation

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Practice. I thank Phra Achan Khammai particularly for his support during meditation retreats both at Samnak Thab Ming Khwan. Many thanks also to the monks and laypersons of Wat Sanam Nai for their kindness in providing texts and for providing for my physical needs during my retreat there. I am profoundly grateful to Phra Achan Charles Nirodho, a close disciple of Luangpor Teean, for his kindness, in spite of illness, in taking time to explain many facets of Dynamic Meditation and recounting experiences of Luangpor Teean. His explanations made important contributions to my understanding and to the thesis. My apologies to him for not including his interview in the body of the text as the recording device failed to function properly. I am grateful to Dr. Vatana Supromajakr, General Surgery, Bumrungrad Hospital, for giving his precious time for an interview and providing much information about Luangpor Teean. Finally, I would like to thank my mother, my husband and my daughter for their patience and encouragement, and for giving me the opportunity of completing my studies. Any merit in the present thesis is due to the assistance, advice, and wisdom of my many mentors. However I am solely responsible for mistakes, misunderstandings, omissions, and other failings of the work. I humbly offer whatever merit that may have accrued to me from the past to the present for the benefit of the Triple Gem, Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, all of my Dhamma and Meditation Teachers, my father, my mother, and all who have assisted in the production of this thesis. Mrs. Venica Pookgaman

17 April 2007/2550 BE

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Abbreviations
Canonical sources A Aguttaranikya D Dghanikya M Majjhimanikya S Sayuttanikya Sv Sumagalavilsin (Dghanikya Commentary) Sn Suttanipta Ud Udna Vibh Vibhaga Vin Vinaya Vism Visuddhimagga Other abbreviations PTS PED Pali Text Society Pali-English Dictionary, Rhys Davids and Stede, PTS

References to Pali sources are to the volume and page number of the PTS edition.

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Table of Contents

Approval Page Abstract Acknowledgements Abbreviations

Page i ii v vii

Chapter I: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7

Introduction Background and Significance of the Problem Objectives of the Research Research Questions and Problems Definitions of the Terms Used in this Thesis Review of Literature and Relevant Research Methodology Advantages Expected from the Research

1 1 5 5 5 6 8 9

Chapter II: Meditation in Theravda Buddhism: Theory and Practice 2.1 Buddhist Meditation 2.1.1 Meditation as Cultivation 2.1.2 Two Types of Meditation: Samatha and Vipassan 2.1.2.1 Samatha Meditation 2.1.2.1.1 Levels of Concentration 2.1.2.2 Vipassan Meditation 2.2 Doctrinal-Theoretical Framework 2.2.1 The Four Noble Truths 2.2.2 Mind: the Driving Force of Dukkha and of Rebirth 2.2.3 The Noble Eightfold Path 2.3 Satipahna (The Foundations of Mindfulness) 2.3.1 One Path

10 10 11 13 13 14 16 17 18 19 22 24 26

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Sati Sampajaa and tpa Rising and VanishingJust to the Extent The Method of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness 2.3.5.1 Contemplation of the Body (Kynupassan) 2.3.5.1.1 Major and Minor Postures/Movements 2.3.5.2 Contemplation of Feeling (Vedannupassan) 2.3.5.3 Contemplation of Mind (Cittnupassan) 2.3.5.4 Contemplation of Dhammas (Dhammnupassan) 2.3.6 Summary 2.4 Results and Benefits

2.3.2 2.3.3 2.3.4 2.3.5

28 29 30 30 30 31 33 34 34 36 37

Chapter III: The Dynamic Meditation of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho 3.1 Background 3.1.1 Sources 3.1.2 Possible Sources of Dynamic Meditation 3.2 Theory 3.2.1 Epistemology and Metaphysics 3.2.2 Broad Framework 3.3 Practice 3.3.1 The Initial Stage 3.3.1.1 Bodily Movement 3.3.1.2 Rpa-Nma 3.3.2 Destroying Unawareness: the First Jhna 3.3.3 Destroying Clinging and Grasping: the Second Jhna 3.3.4 Being Ordinary: the Third Jhna 3.3.5 Completion and Truth: beyond Pua and Ppa: the Fourth Jhna 3.4 Discussion 3.4.1 The Ordinary 3.4.2 The Existence of the Defilements, Avijj, and the Mind

41 41 43 44 45 45 46 49 51 51 53 55 58 59 60 61 61 62

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3.4.3 Sati, Sampajaa, and tpa 3.5 Results and Benefits 3.5.1 Published Reports 3.5.2 Interviews 3.5.2.1 Phra Achan Khamkhian Suvao 3.5.2.2 Phra Achan Khammai hittaslo 3.5.2.3 Dr. Vatana Sopromajakr 3.5.3 Summary

64 64 64 67 68 69 71 76

Chapter IV: A Review of Luangpor Teean Jittasubhos Dynamic Meditation in Light of the Satipahnasutta 4.1 Method and Technique 4.1.1 Rising and VanishingJust to the Extent 4.1.2 The Body in the Body 4.2 The Stages and the Four Foundations 4.2.1 Contemplation of the Body (Kynupassan) 4.2.2 Contemplation of Feeling (Vedannupassan) 4.2.3 Contemplation of Mind (Cittnupassan) 4.2.4 Contemplation of Dhammas (Dhammnupassan) 4.3 Stages of Enlightenment 4.4 Samatha versus Vipassan 4.5 Concept, Theory, and Practice 4.5.1 Rpa and Nma 4.5.2 Dukkha-Anicca-Anatt 4.5.3 The Existence of Defilements, Thoughts, and Avijj 4.5.4 The Objectivity of Thoughts and other Mental Phenomena 4.6 Results 4.6.1 Promised Results 4.6.2 The Attainment of Vipassan

77 77 79 79 80 80 82 83 84 84 86 87 87 89 89 91 93 93 96

Chapter V: Conclusions and Recommendations 5.1 Conclusions 5.1.1 The Technique 5.1.2 The Doctrinal Content of the Teachings 5.2 Recommendations for Further Research 5.2.1 The Role of Samatha

99 99 99 100 101 102

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5.2.2 The Stages of Dynamic Meditation 5.2.2.1 The Jhnas 5.2.2.2 The Sayojanas 5.2.3 Interpreting the Satipahnasutta 5.2.4 Terminology 5.2.5 Translation 5.2.6 Published Presentation of Luangpors Teachings 5.2.7 Results of Dynamic Meditation

102 102 103 103 104 104 105 105

Bibliography Appendix A: Dynamic Meditation Positions Appendix B: Biography of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho Biography of Researcher

107 113 128 134

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Chapter I Introduction

1.1

Background and Significance of the Problem

The researcher has noticed that people practice Buddhist meditation for two reasons. Firstly, they want to follow the Buddhas teaching, which aims for the end of suffering. Secondly, they want to develop their minds in such a way as to gain happiness in daily life. The Buddha offers a great variety of methods of meditation suited to a variety of individual needs, temperaments and capacities. These methods may be classified, according to Nyanaponika Thera, 1 into two categories: the cultivation of tranquillity, samathabhvan and the cultivation of insight, vipassanbhvan. Samathabhvan aims at the full concentration of mind attained in the meditative absorptions, jhna. Samathabhvana may be helpful in the pursuit of the end of suffering, but alone it cannot lead to the highest goal, liberation.2 However, people who practice this kind of meditation gain the benefits of tranquillity and happiness in their lives. Vipassanbhvan aims at the intuitive light revealing the truth of the three characteristics of all corporeal and mental phenomena. That is insight wisdom (vipassanpa) the decisive liberating factor in Buddhism. The cumulative results of Vipassanbhvan lead directly the highest goal, liberation. 3 The Buddhist Nikyas most frequently describe samatha and vipassan meditation as a combined practice. However, a method of meditation leading directly to liberation, apparently without attainment of the jhnas, is described in the Satipahnasutta. The importance of the
Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, (Channel Islands: Guernsey Press, 1987), p. 102. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid.
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satipahna (foundations of mindfulness) method is suggested by the inclusion of the Satipahnasutta in nearly identical form in two Nikyas. 4 The introductory words of the two Suttas, stating the high purpose, claim that this method makes for overcoming of sorrow and misery for the destruction of pain and grief. It may be said that the satipahna method is the fundamental method for cultivating insight leading to the highest goal. However, along the path of practice, and short of that goal, one may also decrease suffering and gain happiness in daily life. In the method, there are four foundations, or categories of contemplation: contemplation of the body, of feelings, of the mind, and of dhammas (fundamental phenomena). In Thailand, most Theravda Buddhist meditation schools employ these four satipahnas in their method. Most of them begin with mindfulness of the body. At least three leading meditation schools represent this teaching: the school of Suan Mokkha Balarama, the Vipassana Centre of Wat Mahadhatu, and Wat Nong Pah Pong. Apart from these, there are a number of meditation schools that employ alternative methods within the frame of Buddhism. These include the school of Achan Porn Rattanasuwan, Achan Dr. Siri Karinchai, and Achan Naeb Mahanirananda. The school of Luangpor Teean may be considered one of the alternative schools. It nevertheless bears strong resemblances to the satipahna method, and is well accepted as an effective form of Buddhist meditation. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho 5 was recognized as one of the great meditation masters in the year 2500 BE. His meditation technique, now known as Dynamic Meditation, is unique among various schools of contemporary Thai Buddhism in that it utilises continual rhythmic bodily movement as a way to cultivate mindfulness. When mindfulness is strong, it can destroy the thought processes that are defiled by the kilesas,

M I 55-63; D I 290-315. I follow here the most common Romanization of his name. Jittasubho is a non-standard Romanization of the Thai spelling of the Pali cittasubho (brilliant mind). The standard Romanization from Thai of his title and name would be Luang Pho Thian Chittasupho, following the Royal Thai General System of Transcription (available at www.royal.go.th/upload/246/FileUpload/416_2157.pdf). Many different Romanizations are to be found in the literature.
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lobha, dosa, and moha, which are the causes of human suffering. 6 According to Luangpor Teean, observing the precepts and practicing samatha cannot bring the end of suffering. The only way to overcome suffering is by cultivating awareness and insight. Luangpor Teean talked about developing insight as follows: Developing the Awareness or Insight is different from practicing concentration, because the method of practice is different from the beginning till the end. You dont close your eyes for developing the awareness; you have to know, to feel the movement of the body and also have to see thought when it arrives. When the body moves, you have to know/to feel the movement continuously; when the thought arrives, you have to know it/to see it every time. This is the meaning of awareness of body and mind. Developing the awareness does not resist any thought, but on the contrary, the mind is wide opened to face everything bravely. Thought is free to arise, but you always have to know it/to see it and to understand it with mindfulness. Thoughts will become shorter and shorter, and you will come to the end of suffering. Developing the awareness of body and mind continuously, you will have the liberation knowledge. Because you clearly see, clearly know and really know. Its the knowledge that comes from a clean, illuminated and calm mind. This kind of knowledge, it knows by itself, it does not have to think or contemplate. People who know and understand Dhamma (The Truth) by own liberating knowledge (pa) will know and understand step by step the same Truth. 7 The meditation method of Luangpor Teean is easy to practice, and limited neither by place nor by time. It can be practiced in daily life. At home one can practice his 15-step method in a sitting position. When one is sitting in a public area one can practice by turning the palm up and down or by running the thumb over the finger tips. Whenever or wherever one sits, eats, drinks, stands, walks or lies down, one can practice. Luangpor said:
Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, in Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Vol. 7, Number 1, 1992, p. 79. 7 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Concentration-Insight, tr. by Anchalee Thaiyanond, (Bangkok: Thammasat University Press, 2532 BE), pp. 20-22.
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Do it as nothing special, do it without hurry, without doubt, without speculation, do it without expectation of result. Be simple, and just move, one moment at a time, and know. When you dont know, let it pass; when you know, let it pass. Sometimes you know, sometimes you dont know: so it goesbut know. When the body moves, know it. When the mind moves, know it. This practice is twenty-four-hours-a-day practice, so relax and just be natural, just be normal 8

Luangpor Teeans determination to reach the end of suffering was indicated by his years of practice, trying many different methods with many different masters. Finally, he left home, informing his wife that he would not return until he had found the way. In time he discovered his own method, Dynamic Meditation. Luangpor Teean claimed that he achieved the end of suffering through this practice and he dared to guarantee the same result to anybody who practiced his method properly and continuously. He said: If you practice continuously and seriously as I have taught, in at most 3 years, suffering will end. It may take one year. It may take only one to ninety days. The result is that suffering will decrease or cannot disturb you any more. 9 Luangpor taught Dhamma and meditation practice from his own actual experience. Dynamic Meditation was a new technique in 2500 BE. Dynamic Meditation centres teaching this unique method, with the ease and effectiveness of practice, were established in many parts of Thailand and abroad. Though Luangpor passed away 16 years ago, those schools, both inside and outside the country, are still functioning and staffed by his followers. Given this background, the researcher has embarked on a study of the details of Dynamic Meditation including the principles, methods and techniques of practice, how it was brought into practice, how this method leads to the end of suffering, to what extent Dynamic Meditation is consistent with the method put forth in the Satipahnasutta, and what the results of this practice are in terms of the highest goal and of decreasing suffering in everyday life.
Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, To One That Feels: The Teaching of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, tr. ed. by Tavivat Puntarigvivat and Bhikkhu Nirodho (Kuala Lumpur: W. A. V. E. reprints, 2000/2543 BE), p. 48. 9 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Manual of Self Awareness, tr. Unknown, (Bangkok: Luangpor Teean Jittasubho Foundation, 1994), p. 11.
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This topic has not been studied before. The researcher expects that one outcome of this research will be accurate information for those seeking a method of ending or decreasing suffering, whether their goals are mundane or supramundane.

1.2

Objectives of the Research

1.2.1 To study meditation in Theravda Buddhism, especially as presented in the Satipahnasutta. 1.2.2 To conduct a study of Dynamic Meditation practice and its results and benefits for Luangpor Teean and his followers. 1.2.3 To conduct a study of Dynamic Meditation in light of the methods of the Satipahnasutta and the Noble Eightfold Path.

1.3

Research Questions and Problems

1.3.1 What is Buddhist meditation and what is its purpose? 1.3.2 What is the meaning of mindfulness meditation and what is its significance in achieving the Buddhist highest goal? 1.3.3 What are the, theories, methods and results of mindfulness meditation practice as described in the Satipahnasutta? 1.3.4 What is Dynamic Meditation as taught by Luangpor Teean Jittasubho? What are its concepts, theories, methods, and techniques? How is it brought into practice? 1.3.5 What significant results and benefits have Luangpor Teean and his followers received from practicing Dynamic Meditation? 1.3.6 Is Dynamic Meditation consistent with the Eightfold Path and the Satipahnasutta in concept, theory, method, and technique of practice?

1.4

Definitions of the Terms Used in this Thesis

Dynamic Meditation: The meditation method taught by Luangpor Teean Jittasubho. The method is characterised by rhythmic bodily movements as a means of cultivating self-awareness, leading thereby to insight and wisdom. See Chapter III.

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Samatha/Tranquillity Meditation: Meditation methods that conduce to states in which consciousness and its concomitants remain evenly and rightly on a single object, undistracted and unscattered. Samatha aims at the full concentration of mind attained in the meditative absorptions (jhnas). Vipassan/Insight Meditation: Methods conducing to the intuition of the truth of the impermanency, suffering, and impersonal and unsubstantial nature of all corporeal and mental phenomena, that is, to the insight and wisdom that is the decisive liberating factor of Buddhism. Vipassan practice leads directly to enlightenment.

1.5

Review of Literature and Relevant Research

There has been no completed research work on this topic. The following provide material resources for the present study. 1.5.1 Variya Chinnavanno et al, Samadhi as appears in the Tipitaka. 10 Chinnavanno et al found that there are several methods of meditation taught and practiced in Thailand. They classified these into five categories: (1) npnasati consisting of reciting Bud-dho in coordination with inhalation and exhalation. This is a traditional method and appears among the teachings of Achan Mun, Luangpor Cha and Buddhadsa Bhikkhu. (2) Dutaga Kammahna is also based on npnasati and is typically practiced by wandering monks of the Northeast region. (3) The School of Wat Mahadhatu received its method from the Burmese. This is a method of cultivating the mind through awareness of the rising and falling of the abdomen when breathing in and breathing out. This method has been spread through the line of Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University and is considered one of the major methods practiced in Thailand. (4) The School of the Dhammakaya, following Luangpor Sod of Wat Paknambhasijaroen. This method includes concentration on a crystal image appearing about the centre of the body. (5) Alternative methods. These are methods that are
Variya Chinnavanno et al, Samadhi as appears in the Tipitaka: The Development on Hermeneutic of the Teaching of Samadhi in Theravada Buddhism in Thailand, (Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, 2543 BE), pp. 83-84, p. 77.
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based on the Buddhas teachings, but which appeared to be modified in different ways. Examples include the methods of Santi Asoke, of Achan Porn Ratanasuwan, and of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho. In spite of the alternative or modified nature of these methods, the ultimate objective of all of them is the elimination of kilesa from ones mind. This book describes Luangpor Teean as almost illiterate but exhibiting very clear wisdom in responding to every question. His answers were simple, deeply meaningful, precise and clearly understandable to his followers at every level, and for this reason he was respected by all, whether from Thailand or abroad. His teaching, according to this study, relied on his own experience and the practice was effective. It was a short cut to the realisation of Dhamma. 1.5.2 Phramaha Narong Cherdsungnoen, A Study of Sati (Mindfulness) in Buddhism: Theory and Practice in Thai Tradition.11 Phramaha Narong Cherdsungnoen concluded that sati (mindfulness) is necessary for all activities but that only right mindfulness generates beneficial results. Satipahna, in his view, is the main meditation method for both samatha and vipassan. Achieving the highest goal requires that the practice be carried out with right effort, clear comprehension, and without covetousness and grief. Regarding meditation practice in the Thai tradition, the thesis points out that meditation practice and the application of sati to both samatha and vipassan meditation is common among well known Theravda schools in Thailand. 1.5.3 Phramaha Nibhon Mahadhammarakkhito, A Comparative Study of Teaching on Meditation Practices Between Luangpor Tian Cittasubho and Buddhadsa Bhikkhu. 12 Phramaha Nibhon has produced a comparative study of the principles and methods of the Tipiaka, of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, and of Buddhadsa Bhikkhu. The thesis found that Luangpor Teean
Phramaha Narong Cherdsungnoen, A Study of Sati (Mindfulness) in Buddhism: Theory and Practice in Thai Tradition, Doctoral Thesis, University of Delhi, 1993. 12 Phramaha Nibhon Mahadhammarakkhito, A Comparative Study of Teaching on Meditation Practices Between Luangpor Tian Cittasubho and Buddhadsa Bhikkhu, Masters Thesis, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, 2546 BE.
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Jittasubho taught that thoughts without awareness brought on suffering, and that full self-awareness would cut off the chain of thoughts. In order to eliminate suffering, he introduced a process of cultivating awareness through Dynamic Meditation. Both Luangpor Teean Jittasubho and Buddhadsa Bhikkhu maintained that the mind is fundamentally of pure nature and only secondarily defiled by the kilesas. It is ones duty, they taught, to clean the mind by practicing meditation, thus ridding it of defilements. They held that awareness is the only important thing in the meditation. Although Buddhadsa Bhikkhu employed npnasati as the means to access the path, both of them pointed out that the benefit received from practicing is useful for purifying the mind and reducing or eliminating suffering in daily life. 1.5.4 Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master. 13 According to Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teeans teaching and his way of cultivating awareness by rhythmic motion is a new satipahna method. It is a new method not only for Thais, both monks and laity, but also for Buddhism throughout the world. It is not connected with any religion, with any tradition, or with the beliefs of any nation. Dynamic Meditation, he writes, is a direct way to cultivate awareness. When the practice is done continuously, the trained awareness will confront thoughts. Once thoughts are firmly seized by awareness, other thoughts are incapable of presenting themselves. This will cut off the stream of thoughts which are infected by the kilesas: desire, anger, and delusion. When sammsati governs thoughts, genuine sla is present. Luangpor Teean repeats again and again that it is sla that protects the person, not the person who protects sla. Whenever sati rules the thoughts, genuine samdhi and pa appear.

1.6
follows:

Methodology
This is a textual research by way of investigation and analysis as

1.6.1 Primary sources include the Pali Canon and Commentaries, especially the Majjhimanikya, the Dghanikya, the
Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, pp. 69-89.
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commentary on the Satipahnasutta, and the Visuddhimagga. Both Thai and English translations are consulted, as well as the Pali texts themselves in consultation with available Pali scholars. Many of Luangpor Teeans Dhamma talks and teachings were recorded, transcribed and edited in book form. I have consulted these books, both in Thai and in English translation; I have also utilized the audio and visual recordings themselves. 1.6.2 Secondary sources: research works, books, journals, articles in a variety of media, including print, electronic storage, and the Internet are utilized. Further information was collected in interviews of Dynamic Meditation practitioners and teachers, including some who knew Luangpor Teean personally. 1.6.3 The Satipahnasutta is analysed and systematised in order to construct a clear picture of the concepts, theories, methods, techniques, results and benefits of satipahna meditation. Such analysis and systematisation are performed with the Eightfold Path and with Dynamic Meditation in such a way as to facilitate an analytical study of Dynamic Meditation using the Sutta and the Noble Eightfold Path as the standard. 1.6.4 Conclusions, suggestions for further study. identifying significant results and

1.7

Advantages Expected from the Research

1.7.1 A better understanding of meditation in the Theravda tradition, especially as described in the Satipahnasutta. 1.7.2 A better understanding of Dynamic Meditation and the results and benefits of the meditation practice of Luangpor Teean and his followers. 1.7.3 Understanding to what extent Dynamic Meditation is consistent with the meditation described in the Satipahnasutta and with the Eightfold Path.

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Chapter II Meditation in Theravda Buddhism: Theory and Practice

Meditation is a central and essential feature of Theravda Buddhism. In the present chapter, I discuss the doctrinal context and the theory and practice of meditation, as presented in the Canon and its accepted traditional commentaries. I present a sketch of accepted doctrine and of accepted practice as a standard for the analytical evaluation of the teaching and practice of Luangpor Teean. Accordingly, I do not review the entire field of either doctrine or practice, but only those portions most relevant to the task at hand.

2.1

Buddhist Meditation

In the Nikyas, meditation is presented as a central component in the pursuit of enlightenment, or the achievement of Nibbna. While it may be that a few individuals are said to have achieved full enlightenment without meditation (for example, Yasa et al 1 ), such achievements are rare, and when the Buddha discourses on the path to enlightenment, meditation is always included (for example Smaaphalasutta 2 ). In any case, the primary purpose of meditation in the Nikyas is the pursuit of Nibbna. There are other benefits to be derived from meditation, however, and thus other possible purposes for practising it, such as peace of mind and enhanced self-control. Traditionally, the benefits of meditation are classified as: 1. Benefits in the present lifetime (dihadhammikattha) that include freedom from anxiety over worldly concerns, thereby leading to social harmony.

1 2

Vin I 14ff. D I 47ff.

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2. Benefits in a future lifetime (samparyikattha) that include spiritual advancement from lifetime to lifetime, as the mind is trained and developed, gaining higher qualities. 3. The supramundane benefit (paramattha) of the attainment of Nibbna, that is, the annihilation of suffering and consequent attainment of perfect bliss. It is the end of the otherwise endless repetition of birth and subsequent death. 3

2.1.1

Meditation as Cultivation

In a Buddhist context, the Pali term, bhvan is generally translated as meditation. As a general term, bhvan may, according to the Pali-English Dictionary, be rendered into English as producing, acquiring, mastering, developing, cultivating and the like. It is nearly always used to refer to some form of mental cultivation, as, for example in asubhya citta bhvehi 4 (cultivate the mind via the revolting 5 ), or kusala citta bhveti (one cultivates a good mind 6 ). Bhvan is often qualified by a term indicating the type of practice, for example jhnabhvan, samdhibhvan, and mettbhvan (the cultivation of absorption, concentration, and friendliness, respectively), each of these being clearly described as a form of mental cultivation. Buddhaghosa derives bhveti from the root bh, to be or to become, quoting the Canon to support his claim that bhveti indicates producing (uppdana) and increasing (vahana). 7 Bhvan also refers to mental activity that edifies the good in oneself. 8 Bhvan is a mental activity that produces within oneself the essential quality or the reality of the object of that activity. When one practises mettbhvan, for example, the purpose is not simply to meditate upon friendliness, but to make friendliness come into being and to grow increasingly strong so as
Ven. Phra Tepvisuddhikavi, Mind Development, (Bangkok: Mahamakuta Rajavidyalaya Foundation, 1999), p. 4. 4 Sn 341. 5 My translation. For the sake of consistency, unless otherwise stated, the translations of Pali terms and short phrases are my own, made in consultation with Stephen Evans. 6 Paravahera Vajiranana Mahathera, Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice, (Colombo: M. D. Gunasena Co. Ltd., 1962), p. 26. 7 Ibid, p. 27. 8 Ibid.
3

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to eradicate enmity, malice, aversion, and so on from the mind, ultimately to become friendly towards all beings. 9 Bhvan, then, produces mental phenomena or states. In a word, bhvan is mental cultivation, in particular the production and accumulation of good mental qualities making one apt for enlightenment. Walpola Rahula accordingly defines bhvan as: mental culture in the full sense of the termcleansing the mind of impurities and disturbancesand cultivating such qualities as concentration, awarenessleading finally to the attainment of highest wisdom which sees things as they are, and realizes the Ultimate Truth Nirva. 10 A word closely associated with bhvan in the commentaries is kammahna, which might be translated as working ground and is used to refer both to the subject of meditation and to the meditation method. According to the entry in the Encyclopedia of Buddhism 11 kammahna means meditation as mental and bodily discipline associated with systematic methods of self-cultivation while the entry in the Thai Buddhist Encyclopedia 12 holds that kammahna is expedient dhamma for purifying the mind of the nvaraa, or hindrances. Buddhaghosa, however, uses the term to refer to the classical list of forty subjects of meditation. 13 In the Abhidhammatthasagaha, the word signifies both subjects and methods. Finally, P. A. Payutto, in his Dictionary of Buddhism, 14 defines the word as station for mental exercise. To summarize, Buddhist meditation is mental cultivation and development, aiming beyond temporary tranquillity to the purification of
Ibid. Walpola Sri Rahula, What The Buddha Taught, (New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1987), p. 68. 11 Robert E. Buswell, Jr. (ed), Encyclopedia of Buddhism, (New York: The Gale Group Inc., 2004). 12 HRH the Late Supreme Patriarch Prince Vajiraavarorasa, Thai Buddhist Encylopedia, (Bangkok: Mahamakuta Rajavidyalaya Foundation, 1986/2529 BE). 13 Vism I 89. 14 P. A. Payutto, Dictionary of Buddhism, (Bangkok: Suetawan Co Ltd, 2002/2545 BE).
10 9

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the mind of defilements and negative influences, such as sensual desire, hatred, envy, and ignorance. Meditation aims at perfecting such positive qualities as faith, compassion, mindfulness and wisdom. Dhamma and Nibbna can be realized through meditation, but it also yields fruit at the level of ordinary daily life.

2.1.2

Two Types of Meditation: Samatha and Vipassan

There are many methods of meditation taught and practised in Buddhism. Within the Theravda tradition, it is customary to classify these under the broad headings of samatha, or tranquillity meditation, and vipassan, or insight meditation. Samatha meditation cultivates a narrow mental focus on a single object, leading potentially to states of trance and, traditionally, to paranormal powers. Vipassan meditation cultivates mindfulness and a broader awareness leading potentially to the direct experience of things as they really are. Although many meditation masters today sharply distinguish the two, relegating samatha as, at best, a preliminary practice, the Nikyas and commentaries tend to treat them as different aspects of the same practice. For example, when asked how to develop samdhi (mental concentration, a synonym for samatha), or cittassa ekaggat (one-pointedness of mind) Bhikkhun Dhammadinn responds that samdhi is to be cultivated through the foundations of mindfulness, or satipahna.15 The foundations of mindfulness practice, however, is today almost universally identified with vipassan rather than with samatha meditation. Nevertheless, and especially since we are concerned here with a modern school of meditation, it will be useful to treat samatha and vipassan separately.

2.1.2.1 Samatha Meditation

Samatha 16 is identified in Buddhist doctrine with samdhi, cittekaggat, and avikkhepa, concentration, one-pointedness of mind, and non-distraction, respectively. The Dhammasagai defines onepointedness of mind, in turn, as, stability, solidity, absorbed steadfastness of thought which on that occasion is the absence of distraction, balance, unperturbed mental
M I 301. See Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1980), sv.
16 15

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procedure, quiet, the faculty and the poser of concentration, right concentration. 17 Samdhi is a positive state rather than a passive or unconscious trance, or a hypnotic state of mind. 18 It is characterized by the absence of mental wandering and agitation, its function being to unify the mind and its manifestation tranquillity and knowledge. In the state of samdhi, passion is displaced by clarity of insight. 19 .

Samatha meditation, then, aims at a unified, tranquil, and onepointed state of mind. The technique is one of concentrating the attention on a particular object. Traditionally there are forty such objects, with one being selected for the meditator to suit his temperament and stage of progress. The most common object of meditation, and one repeatedly referred to by the Buddha himself, is the breath. When concentration has become sufficiently strong, the physical object is replaced by a mental image and a state called jhna, or absorption, is attained. The quality of the concentration on the object is first refined, and then the mental image is manipulated and consciousness is turned back on itself in such a way so as to lift the consciousness into higher and higher states. 20

2.1.2.1.1 Levels of Concentration

The commentaries identify three levels of concentration. The first is parikamma samdhi (momentary concentration). This is the ordinary level of concentration necessary for everyday tasks. The second level is upacra samdhi (proximate concentration) the level of concentration that has nearly entered the state of jhna (absorption) and at which the mental image replaces the physical thing as object of

C. A. F. Rhys Davids, tr., A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics (Dhammasagai), (London: Pali Text Society, 1974), 11. 18 Paravahera Vajiranana Mahathera, op cit, p. 19. 19 Ibid, p. 18f. 20 Cp Bhikkhu Bodhi, A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of chariya Anuruddha, (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1993, pp. 333-342; see also Bhikkhu amoli, The Path of Purification, 2nd ed., (Colombo: A. Semage, 1964), pp. 105ff.

17

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consciousness. Third is appan samdhi (attainment concentration) the level of concentration in the state of absorption. 21 While in the state of jhna, the mind is free of the five nvaraa (hindrances) and thus able to advance to higher states. These higher states are grouped into, first, the rpajjhna (form absorptions) in which the quality of the concentration is refined, and, second, the arpajjhna (formless absorptions) in which the mental image is manipulated and the consciousness turned back on itself. Because Luangpor Teean refers in his teachings to the form absorptions, we list them here. The Abhidhamma and the Nikyas list the form absorptions in slightly different ways. Consciousness in the first form absorption is characterized by five qualities: vitakka, vicra, pti, sukha, and ekaggat. Bhikkhu Bodhis translation of these is: initial application, sustained application, zest, happiness, and one-pointedness. 22 The list of qualities is simplified at each higher stage. At the highest stage, sukha is replaced by upekkh (equanimity or neutral feeling). In the system found in the Nikyas, both vitakka and vicra are stripped off in advancing to the second stage, while in the Abhidhamma system those two are stripped off in separate stages, giving the Abhidhamma a system of five stages rather than the four stages of the Nikyas. They may be listed as follows:

Stage Nikyas Abhidhamma Qualities 1 1 vitakka, vicra, pti, sukha, ekaggat 2 vicra, pti, sukha, ekaggat 2 3 pti, sukha, ekaggat 3 4 sukha, ekaggat 4 5 upekkh, ekaggat

It is generally accepted that the Buddhas enlightenment came while he was in the state of form absorption, and the path and fruition
21 22

Vism III. Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit, p. 53.

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moments on attainment of enlightenment are generally considered as jhna moments, although there is no necessary correlation to the four/five jhna stages. 23 The formless absorptions may be pursued from the fourth (fifth) fifth form absorption, but these need not detain us here.

2.1.2.2 Vipassan Meditation

Vipassan meditation aims directly at vipassan. The word vipassan is derived from passati, to see or to realize, and the prefix vi is used in its intensifying sense (PED) and is thus usually translated as insight, though PED also has inward vision and intuition. According to Paravahera Vajiranana, the Nikyas and Abhidhamma associate vipassan closely with pa (wisdom) and with adassana (knowledge and vision) especially the direct apprehension of anicca (impermanence), dukkha, (suffering), and anatt (non-self). According to Paravahera Vajiranana Mahathera, vipassan meditation leads to such insight with or without the practice of the Samadhi method. 24 Again, it is not entirely clear that the Buddha and the commentators treated these as wholly distinct methods. It is clear, nevertheless, that vipassan includes direct intuition of dukkha, anicca, and anatt and, hence, in Nyanatilokas words, leads to entrance into the supramundane statesand to final liberation. 25 The Visuddhimagga also associates vipassan with pa, holding that it surpasses sa (perception/memory/recognition) and via (consciousness/awareness), and approaches final liberation. The development of pa is said to destroy the savas (mental impurities), and to bring about enjoyment of the noble path, and final release from all suffering, 26 in a word, to Nibbna. The Visuddhimagga holds, in turn, that pa is cultivated through understanding the dhammas or fundamental aspects of existence. These include, for example, nma (roughly, mind: consciousness of something), rpa (roughly, physicality: the material objects of consciousness), the five aggregates (pacakkhandha), the sense objects, the senses, and processes such as the
23 24

Ibid, p. 73. Paravahera Vajiranana Mahathera, op cit, p. 22. 25 Nyanatiloka, op cit, sv vipassan. 26 Paravahera Vajiranana Mahathera, op cit, p. 345.

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Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination. 27 As we shall see, these are included as objects of contemplation in the satipahna method discussed in detail below. Vipassan meditation, as taught today, typically aims at cultivating awareness of some or all of these dhammas. Vipassan meditation is typically associated, or identified, with the satipahna method of the Nikyas and it is with that method that I am concerned here. I therefore reserve a more detailed discussion of vipassan meditation for later. 28

2.2

Doctrinal-Theoretical Framework

Buddhist meditation is taught and practised within a doctrinal and theoretical context outside of which it cannot be fully understood, and perhaps not correctly practised. 29 In this section, I sketch out a minimum of Theravda doctrine and theory necessary for any thorough discussion of satipahna meditation. Like other Indian religions originating in the same era, Buddhism assumes the framework of rebirth and kamma, or sasra. That is, individual beings are born, live, and die but then are reborn, each as perhaps quite a different sort of creature. They live and die repeatedly, perhaps without end and perhaps without beginning. Individual identity is preserved from lifetime to lifetime, and what sort of creature one is born as, and under what circumstances, is deeply influenced, perhaps determined, by that individuals actions (kamma) in previous lives. Certain kinds of action contribute to pleasant rebirths, and those kinds of action are considered good. Other kinds of action, considered bad, contribute to painful rebirths. The potentially infinite cycle of rebirth is considered to be undesirable, and while people typically strive to perform the kinds of actions that will lead to a pleasant rebirth, the ultimate goal is exit the cycle: not to be reborn. Indian religions differ, among other things, in the mechanics of sasra and of escape from it. Precisely
Ibid. Section 2.3, Satipahna (The Foundations of Mindfulness) below. 29 I do not mean that non-Buddhists cannot practice Buddhist meditation, but only that the doctrine cannot be discarded without further ado, without profoundly altering the meaning and goals of the practice.
28 27

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which actions lead to pleasant rebirths, and which to painful? What is the driving force of rebirth itself? How is escape effected?

2.2.1

The Four Noble Truths

The Buddhas answers to these questions, as is well known, are outlined in the Four Noble Truths, the central teaching of all sects of Buddhism. The following is from the formulation in the Dhammaccakkapavattanasutta. 30 The First Noble Truth, the truth of suffering, or dukkha, affirms the essential suffering of existence, significantly, even pleasure and happiness are suffering in that they are temporary. Because dukkha is suffering in a special sense, I shall continue to use the Pali dukkha. The Second Noble Truth, the truth of arising, or samudaya, names tah as the cause of dukkha. Tah means thirst but is clearly a metaphor for desire: Thirst for sensual experience, for being, and for non-being all cause dukkha to arise. The implication here is important: it is desire, not the results of actions, kamma, as such, that is the driving force of rebirth. This is reflected as well in the central doctrine of the paiccasamuppda, or Dependent Origination, where tah is the critical link driving grasping, becoming, and birth. In other words, whether one is reborn is determined by the presence or absence of tah. If one is reborn, then the conditions of that rebirth are determined by past kamma. Thirst, here, is shorthand for what is elsewhere in the Nikyas and commentaries termed kilesas, defilements, or generally, the three unwholesome roots: lobha, dosa, and moha, typically translated into English as greed, hatred, and delusion. To help preserve the special sense of desire meant here, I shall continue to use the Pali tah. I should like to emphasize here that in the Buddhist understanding, it is strictly mental attitudes that give rise to dukkha and to rebirth: the mind of the individual fully determines that individuals ultimate fate. The Third Noble Truth, cessation, or nirodha, is that if tah can be made to cease, then dukkha will cease as well. If tah is eliminated, there will be no more rebirth. This escape from rebirth is variously
30

S V 420.

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referred to as vimutti, emancipation, or Nibbna, extinction (of dukkha, of rebirth, or of the three unwholesome roots etc.). Nibbna can be achieved at four different levels. At the lowest level, that of sotpanna, one may be reborn as many as seven more times before fully escaping rebirth. At the highest level, that of the arahant, the individual will not be reborn. The Fourth Noble Truth, path, or magga, is the way, or the programme, for eliminating tah. As there are eight parts to the path, it is referred to as the Noble Eightfold Path. Because of its importance to the understanding of meditation, I shall treat it in detail in a separate section below. First, however, given the importance of the mind both in causing dukkha and in achieving Nibbna, I discuss the Buddhist concept of mind.

2.2.2

Mind: the Driving Force of dukkha and of Rebirth

The first two verses of the Dhammapada begin with the words:

Manopubbagam dhamm manoseh manomay Manas ce paduhena bhsati v karoti v Nrada 31 translates: Mind is the forerunner ofstates. Mind is chief; mind-made are they. Similarly, in the commentarial literature the mind is characterized as forerunner indicating that the mind determines the state of being, or: the being, orients itself about the mind. 32 The Dhammapada verses continue to note that actions, i.e. kamma, originate in the mind, and that hence the future of an individual, inasmuch as it is influenced by kamma, is, in fact determined by the present state of mind. Similarly the Buddha said famously that intention is action. 33 In other words, though actions have future results, it is the mental act of volition, or intention, that is decisive: an accidental movement is not kammically effective. Similarly, as we have seen, it is a mental state, and not overt
Dhp 1, 2. All translations of Dhp are from, Narada Thera, The Dhammapada, (Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist Missionary Society, 1978). 32 Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit, p. 29. 33 A III 415: Cetanha, bhikkhave, kamma vadmi. Cetayitv kamma karotikyena vcya manas.
31

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actions that drive rebirth or that bring about escape from it. This is, of course, why Buddhist meditation is specifically mental cultivation. It will be well, therefore to explore the Buddhist concept of mind. The term translated as mind from the Dhammapada was mano, whereas the Abhidhamma literature tends to use citta. These, along with via are taken by the commentators to be more or less synonymous. 34 The concept is not of an enduring entity, or as something that exists in itself, but rather as a process (santna) of consciousness of something or thought about something (vijnana). Mind, moreover, depends for its existence on name and form (nmarpa). 35 It is momentary arising and falling moment to moment along with cetasika, or mental qualities, 36 and contingent, depending upon senses, sense objects, and prior consciousness. The term citta also means heart, thus the emotional and intellectual focus of human existence. 37 The Vibhaga defines citta as experiencing through the sense organs, or doors: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind-door. What are experienced are the corresponding objects (rammaa): visual forms, sounds, odours, tastes, tactile sensations, and mental objects such as ideas and images. 38 But not only are sense organs and their objects necessary for the arising of citta, citta itself is required. This can only be understood as saying that the prior moment of citta comes to the conjunction of sense organ and object, to give rise to a new moment of citta. Or, that attention is turned to the conjunction of sense organ and object, thus producing a conscious sense impression. 39 This three-way conjunction is termed phassa (contact). Without phassa there is no citta, no consciousness, no mind. This means that citta always
Nyanatiloka, op cit, sv citta. Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit. What nmarpa means in this context has, in my opinion, not been adequately explored by scholars. To translate it as mind-andmatter as Bhikkhu Bodhi does (op cit, p. 29), is inadequate, since nma is thereby treated as another synonym for mind, and mind is then made to depend on mind. Nevertheless, whatever nmarpa signifies, we can understand that mind is contingent, not an absolute, self-contained entity. 36 Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit, p. 76. 37 PED, sv. 38 Vibh 70; the idea of a mind-door may seem strange, but the concept is that ideas and images are not in the mind but in front of it in a manner analogous to the objects of the physical senses. Since the idea/image is not in the mind there must be some door or medium of access to it. 39 M I 111.
35 34

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grows out of its own past, it is a series, a continuity: though momentary, citta has a history. That interpretation accords fully with the Abhidhamma tradition. 40 Mind, again, is not an enduring entity, but a contingent process of awareness of things outside itself. It should not be surprising, then, that the Buddha characterized the mind as restless, vacillating, difficult to control and advised straightening it, as a fletcher straightens an arrow. 41 He repeatedly stressed the possibility of straightening and controlling the mind, and the value of doing so: Those who subdue [the mind] are freed from the bond of Mra. 42 But only the mind itself could subdue or straighten the mind. Buddhist practice, then, appears to be based on the capacity of the mind to rectify itself. That, in turn implies that the mind is free. Such a conclusion is clearly supported by the Abhidhamma inclusion of cetan, (intention), as a universal feature of citta. 43 Consciousness, mind, always and at every moment intends, or chooses, its response to the objects presented to it. Mind, we may say then, is a continually renewed response to the objects it encounters. That response is free, yet profoundly influenced by its past responses, and each response profoundly influences its future. With this understanding of mind, we can see how mind reproduces its own dukkha through tah, contaminated, as it were by own past responses grounded in greed, hatred and delusion. Moreover, because it is free, the mind could at any moment relinquish greed, hatred, and delusion, respond without tah, and thus break the cycle of dukkha. Mind in other words is the key, or, again, the forerunner of all states of being. Why does it not do so then? The answer is ignorance (avijj). In its ignorance, the mind thirsts for what is not dukkha, is permanent, and is self-existent. In particular it thirsts after (tah) these qualities in itself. If it could be made to see things, including itself, as they really are, dukkha,
40 41

See, for example, Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit, p. 149. Dhp 33. 42 Dhp 37. 43 Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit, p. 77.

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impermanent (anicca) and non-self (anatt), then it might cease to thirst, and achieve emancipation, Nibbna. It does not see things as they really are, however, although they are perpetually in front of it, because it continually engages in thoughts that reinforce its delusions and its thirsts. Rather than simply looking at things, it looks at its thoughts about them.

2.2.3

The Noble Eightfold Path

But then how can the mind train itself? How can the mind gain the knowledge that all things are dukkha, impermanent, and non-self, and cease to respond to things with tah? The answer is the Fourth Noble Truth: the Noble Eightfold Path. This is also known as the middle path (majjhimpaipad) a balanced path, between the extremes of sensual pleasure and self-mortification. Traditionally, the eight parts of the path are grouped into three categories of development: 44 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. sammditthi sammsakappa sammvc sammkammanta sammjva sammvyama Sammsati sammsamdhi right view pa right thought right speech sla right action right livelihood right effort right mindfulness samdhi rightconcentration Wisdom Morality

concentration

The eight items of the Path are explicated in many places in the Nikyas. 45 Right view is view in accordance with the Four Noble Truths. Right view is said to lead the way, as through right view one may understand the other elements of the path. 46 Right thought is thoughts of renunciation of sensuality, hatred and violence. Right speech is refraining from lies, slander, abusive speech, and frivolous speech. Right action is the avoidance of taking life, of stealing, and of sexual misconduct. Right livelihood is avoiding wrong ways of making a living. Right effort is to endeavour to resist the arising of unwholesome qualities of mind, to eliminate existing unwholesome qualities, to cause to arise wholesome qualities of mind, and to sustain and further develop existing wholesome qualities. Right mindfulness is
44 45

See Nyanatiloka, op cit, sv magga. See, D II 311ff; A II 76ff; etc. 46 M III 71, 76.

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equated with contemplation of the body, feeling, mind, and dhammas. That is, the four satipahnas, discussed below. Right Concentration, is the practise of the rpajjhnas, the form absorptions discussed above. In spite of the statement in the Nikyas that the first item in the path leads the way, these are not traditionally thought of as steps to be taken one after the other, but as mutually reinforcing and mutually dependent qualities to be developed simultaneously. 47 Thus, for example, perfected right view is not possible without perfected right mindfulness, and perfected right thought would not be possible without perfected right effort. In practice, if any of the items should be done first it would seem to be those concerned with morality: we teach children not to steal before we teach them that all is dukkha. The three categories, wisdom, morality, and concentration, are said to contain the whole of the Buddhas teachings. 48 Morality is the foundation without which no progress along the path to emancipation is possible. Wisdom and concentration are mutually supporting. A passage in the Dghanikya has it that: This is morality, this is concentration, this is wisdom. Concentration, when imbued with morality brings great fruit and profit. Wisdom, when imbued with concentration, brings great fruit and profit. The mind imbued with wisdom becomes completely free from the corruptions, that is, from the corruption of sensuality, of becoming, of false views and of ignorance. 49 In keeping with the centrality of mind in the Buddhist project, and without in any way denying the ethical significance of overt actions, the Abhidhamma tradition interprets the eightfold path as a set of mental qualities that, when perfected, constitutes the enlightened mind. That is, a mind in which these qualities are perfected is pure of defilements, no longer responds with tah, and is able to see Nibbna. In this sense the enlightened mind is defined as one with the qualities of perfect:

Nyanatiloka, op cit, sv magga. Nyanatiloka Mahathera, Fundamentals of Buddhism: Four Lectures, (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1994), p. 58. 49 Maurice Walshe, tr., The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dghanikya), (London: Wisdom Publications, 1987), p. 254f.
48

47

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

pa cetan sammvc sammkammanto samm-jvo viriya sati ekaggat

wisdom intention right speech right action right livelihood energy mindfulness one-pointedness

where right speech, action, and livelihood refer to the mental attitudes of restraint (virati) from the respective wrong behaviour. 50 The Noble Eightfold Path remains rather abstract. There are throughout the Nikyas and in the tradition many concrete instructions, or techniques, for pursuing the path and perfecting its elements. Because we are concerned with evaluating a vipassan meditation technique, we shall explore only one such technique, that of the foundations of mindfulness, or satipahna.

2.3

Satipahna (the Foundations of Mindfulness)

Most, perhaps all, teachers of vipassan meditation within the Theravda tradition today claim to teach satipahna practice. This is a practice referred to many times in the Nikyas and indeed the seventh element of the noble path sammsati refers explicitly to the four satipahna. These are given a full and detailed exposition in the Satipahnasutta of the Majjhimanikya and the Mahsatipahnasutta of the Dghanikya. These Suttas are the same except that the Mahsatipahnasutta includes an extended a discussion of the Four Noble Truths. The npnasatisutta and the Kyagatasatisutta of the Majjhimanikya give very similar expositions in the context of instructions for breathing meditation. In the compound satipahna, sati, of course means mindfulness. Pahna may be upahna, placing near, thus keeping present, remaining aware.51 The commentaries suggest that it may be from padhnahna, principal place, the domain (gocara) of
50 51

Bhikkhu Bodhi, op cit, pp. 76-90, 272. Nyanaponika Thera, The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, p. 10.

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mindfulness. 52 In any case, hna is a place, a site, often upon which items are set 53 and it is generally accepted that a satipahna is a base on which mindfulness may be established. Foundations of mindfulness has become the generally accepted translation. The four foundations of mindfulness are kya, vedan, citta, and dhamma: body, feeling, mind, and dhamma. 54 The wording of the Sutta is interesting, and open to significantly different interpretations and variant translations. The initial list of the foundations is, in Pali: 55 Katame cattro? Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu kye kynupass viharati tp sampajno satim vineyya loke abhijjhdomanassa, vedansu vedannupass viharati tp sampajno satim, vineyya loke abhijjhdomanassa, citte cittnupass viharati tp sampajno satim vineyya loke abhijjhdomanassa, dhammesu dhammnupass viharati tp sampajno satim vineyya loke abhijjhdomanassa. Soma Thera translates kye kynupass as: contemplating the body in the body 56 with the same construction repeated for feeling, mind and dhamma. Walshe has: contemplating body as body 57 We may note first that the word translated as contemplation, anupass, is more like looking at seeing deeply than it is like thinking about. Keeping that in mind, I shall continue to use contemplation.

Ibid. Cp PED sv. 54 There simply is no short English translation for dhamma used in this way. The typical translation here of mental objects is misleading. The term refers rather to the fundamental aspects/qualities/constituents/phenomena of being. I shall continue to use the term dhamma and revisit the meaning of the term under the respective foundation of mindfulness. 55 D II 290. 56 Soma Thera, tr., The Way of Mindfulness (Satipahnasutta and Commentary), Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1981), p. 1. 57 Maurice Walshe, op cit, p. 335.
53

52

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Somas may be the more literal translation. Walshe, citing the commentaries and amoli, argues that the wording, body in the body, indicates that the meditator is to meditate on the body as such, and clearly distinguishing body, feeling, mind, and dhammas from each other. 58 We may say: the actual body rather than an idea or image of the body. This interpretation is supported by the short instruction given in the Udna to Bhiya: in the seen there must be just the seen, in the heard, just the heard, and so forth. 59

The commentary has more, indicating that in the body indicates also an analytical gaze upon the constituent parts of the body. 60 This, rather strengthens than diminishes the sense that one should contemplate the body as such rather than an idea or image of it, i.e. rather than to think about it. 61

2.3.1

One Path

Early in the Sutta, the Buddha says that the four foundations of mindfulness constitute ekyano aya bhikkhave maggo: 62 monks, this is the one [or only] path for the destruction of suffering and the attainment of Nibbna. It may be debated whether or not the Buddha meant that the method is the only path to Nibbna, but clearly the four foundations are here presented as an effective method. The commentary gives several possible interpretations, for example that one here signifies that the way itself is singular, or that the way is traversed by one individual, one without a companion, 63 or that it is the way of the one, the Buddha, or that its goal, Nibbna, is unitary. The sub-commentary adds that while sati constitutes only one of eight elements of the noble path, the other seven are implied by sati; indeed, it holds that the other seven are analytically derived from sati, which is therefore in itself the one whole path. 64

Ibid, p. 590. Ud 8. 60 Soma Thera, op cit, p. 32. 61 Pali scholar Peter Masefield has noted in private conversation that the locative case (kye) does not necessarily imply inside, and that the phrase could just as literally be translated as regards the body. 62 D II 290. 63 Soma Thera, op cit, p. 18. 64 Ibid, pp. 18-19.
59

58

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We may take it that the methods of this Sutta are central to the Buddhist pursuit of Nibbna, and that practised fully and properly these methods will lead to enlightenment. This one path is presented as the way to: the purification of beings, the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, the destruction of suffering and grief, reaching the right path, the attainment of Nibbana (Somas translations), which the commentary interprets as clearing the mind of greed, hatred, and delusion, overcoming sorrow, eliminating physical and mental pain, perfecting the Noble Eightfold Path, and the extinction of suffering. 65 The centrality and presumed effectiveness of the method is moreover indicated by the Buddhas promise at the end of the Sutta that any one who practises the satipahna method will achieve enlightenment either as an arahant or as an angm. He begins by saying that the result will be obtained within seven years, but progressively reduces the requisite time down to seven days. But why is the cultivation of mindfulness so central and why is it said to be effective? We have seen that it is the activity of the mind that generates suffering and bondage to the cycle of rebirths. In particular, intention is the essence of kamma, and tah, thirst, or more precisely, greed, hatred, and delusion, is the cause of dukkha and the driving force in rebirth. The mind, however, does not easily cease these self-destructive activities, but needs a course of discipline, of purification, of straightening. The mind is hard to check, swift, flits wherever it listeth. 66 Through constant flitting, the mind avoids seeing things as they really are: dukkha, impermanent, non-self. Through thinking about things rather than observing them it sustains the delusion of pleasure, permanence, and self. As the Buddha advised in the Dantabymisutta, Fare along contemplating the body in the body, but do not apply yourself to a train of thought connected with the body; [and so on for feelings, mind, and dhamma] 67

Ibid, pp. 21-27. Dhp 35. 67 M III 136; I. B. Horner, tr., The Middle Length Sayings (MajjhimaNikya) Vol. III, (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1990), p. 182.
66

65

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Again, in the Udna story, Bhiya became fully enlightened, an arahant, immediately the Buddha advised him that in the seen is only what is seen etc. The full instruction, in Masefields translation, 68 is: Therefore, Bhiya, you should so train yourself that with respect to the seen there will be merely the seen, that with respect to the heard there will be merely the heard, that with respect to the sensed there will be merely the sensed, that with respect to the cognised there will be merely the cognisedso should you, Bhiya, train yourself. When for you, Bhiya, with respect to the seen there will be merely the seen, with respect to the heard there will be merely the heard, with respect to the sensed there will be merely the sensed, with respect to the cognised there will be merely the cognised, then you, Bhiya, will not be therewith. When you, Bhiya, are not therewith, then you, Bhiya, will not be therein. When you, Bhiya, are not therein, then you, Bhiya, will be neither here nor there nor, additionally, in boththis alone is the end of dukkha.

2.3.2

Sati

Sati (mindfulness) is just this sort of direct awareness of the object that does not distort its vision with discursive thought about the object: it looks at the object itself, rather than its ideas about the object. But it also has an element of self-awareness, a regulative function over the mind, such that sati has sometimes been translated conscience. 69 That is to say, mindfulness is just the faculty of mind wherein it disciplines itself. Or rather, with the strengthening of mindfulness, the mind sees more and more clearly and directly as it becomes more and more self-disciplined, approaching the stage at which it abolishes delusion and relinquishes greed and hatred, letting go its hold on sasra. To quote Nyanaponika Thera, 70 mindfulness is: the unfailing master key for knowing the mind, and is thus the starting point; the perfect tool for shaping the mind, and is thus the focal point;

68 69

P. Masefield, tr., The Udna, (Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1994), p. 8. C. A. F. Rhys Davids, op cit, p. 14, note 1. 70 Nyanaponika Thera, op cit, p. 24.

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the lofty manifestation of the achieved freedom of the mind and is thus the culminating point. The method of the four foundations of mindfulness is a systematic and deliberate program for generating and strengthening mindfulness.

2.3.3

Sampajaa and tpa

I should like to highlight two factors in addition to sati that are emphasized in the Sutta, and elsewhere in the Nikyas, and which supplement sati. 71 Sampajaa is variously translated clear comprehension 72 , clearly knowing 73 etc. Walshe, in the translation I am using has clearly aware. Anlayo Bhikkhu argues for clearly knowing, by which he means clear awareness of the objects of consciousness with also a clear understanding of what those objects are and of what is happening. 74 One of Anlayos examples of sampajaa is the meditators knowing that a long breath is a long breath. 75 He also cites the Mahsatipahnasutta at D II 313, in support of saying that sati and sampajaa are required to overcome pti in advancing from the second to the third jhna. He further cites Vism 163 where it comments that sati and sampajaa eliminate desire for pti, presumably, because with sampajaa one sees the pti clearly for what it is, 76 an intense happiness, but not the goal. The Nikyas repeatedly call for tpa on the part of those pursuing enlightenment. Anlayo argues convincingly for a translation of diligence. Walshe has ardent, which is convenient as an adjective in its usage in the Sutta. I shall use diligent and diligence largely because the convenience of the adjective and noun forms. After a long discussion of etymology and differing cultural connotations of the term, Anlayo concludes that tpa, indicates a strong and unwavering

Bhikkhu Anlayo, Satipahnathe Direct Path to Nibbna, (Doctoral Thesis, University of Peradeniya, 2001), p. 11. 72 Nyanaponika Thera, op cit. 73 Anlayo, op cit. 74 Ibid, p. 17. 75 Ibid. 76 Cp Vism IV 152.

71

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commitment, and a balanced effort, 77 keeping up contemplation, 78 that is perseverance. In a word: diligence.

ones

2.3.4

Rising and VanishingJust to the Extent

Before getting into the details of the Sutta, it may be valuable here to discuss an instruction that is repeated at the end of each foundation of mindfulness. At the end of the first it reads:

So he abides contemplating body as body internally externallyHe abides contemplating arising phenomena in the bodyvanishing phenomena in the bodyOr else, mindfulness that there is body is present to him just the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. 79 The same is repeated at the end of the other foundations, substituting the respective foundation for body. One is therefore not simply to observe the objects themselves, but also their arising and falling, their coming to be and their ceasing to be. The repetition of the phrase emphasises its importance. Second, the awareness is not to lock in on any object, but to focus only as much as necessary for knowing it. Followed by not clinging to anything in the world, it seems clear that the meditator is also not to cling to the objects of awareness. At the citta and dhamma levels (see below) that would suggest that the meditator allows thoughts to arise and pass away as objects, as it were in front of him, to which he does not become attached and with which he does not identify.

2.3.5

The Method of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness

2.3.5.1 Contemplation of the body (kynupassan)

This section begins with a description of breathing meditation. Sitting cross-legged and erect in a solitary place:
77 78

Anlayo, op cit, p. 15. Ibid p. 16. 79 Maurice Walshe, op cit, p. 339.

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having established mindfulness before him. Mindfully he breathes in, mindfully he breathes out. Breathing in a long breath, he knows that he breathes in a long breath, and breathing out a long breath, he knows that he breathes out a long breath. Breathing in a short breath, he knows that he breathes in a short breath, and breathing out a long breath, he knows that he breathes out a long breath. 80 The commentary indicates that establishing mindfulness before him simply means being mindful of the object of meditation, in this case the breath. The meditator is then instructed to be conscious of the whole body (sabbakyapaisaved) while inhaling and while exhaling, and to calm the bodily activities (passambhaya kyasakhra) while inhaling and while exhaling, as a skilled artisan, in executing his craft, knows exactly what he is doing at every moment. The meditator is then instructed to contemplate the body both internally and externally. The commentary takes internally to mean ones own breathing body (asssapasssakye) and externally to mean the breathing body of others. 81 The meditator is to be aware of: arising and vanishing phenomena [dhamma] in the body. Or else, mindfulness that there is body is present to him just to the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world. 82

2.3.5.1.1 Major and Minor Postures/Movements

Although this section of the Sutta began with a description of formal sitting meditation, it now extends the method to apply much more broadly. First it addresses the four major postures/movements. When the monk is walking, standing, sitting, or lying down, he must know that he is walking, standing, sitting, or lying down. In whatever way his body is disposed, he knows that that is how it is. 83 These postures have, accordingly, been incorporated in the formal practise of meditation.
80 81

Ibid, p. 336. Sv 765. 82 Maurice Walshe, op cit, p. 336. 83 Ibid.

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The Sutta then extends its methods to the minor postures/movements: going and coming, looking ahead and looking away, bending, stretching. The Sutta clearly extends its methods also beyond formal meditation to all activities whatsoever. In the section on clearly knowing, sampajaa, the monk is instructed to clearly know what he is doing when going about his daily activities: carrying his robes and bowl, eating, urinating, defecating, falling asleep, speaking etc. So he abides contemplating body as body internally, externally 84 What we see here, then, is that the one way is a matter of simple, detailed, and steady awareness, first of the processes and activities of ones own body and then of the processes and activities of the bodies of others. That the practice begins with a formal meditation, sitting still with awareness of the breath, then expands to include movement and ordinary activities, suggests that the formal practice is a preparation, a training and a support, for a more general and sustained exercise of mindfulness and clear knowing. The importance of clearly knowing bodily movements is suggested by the fact that many pages of the commentary are devoted to elaborating it. The section on contemplation of the body continues by listing additional subjects of meditation. There is first the repulsiveness (paikkulyat) of the physical body. The meditator is encouraged to see the body as a bag of hairy skin filled with such things as bowels, excrement, bile, phlegm and pus. The meditator is encouraged to see in the body the four elements (dhtu): earth, water, fire, and air. As a butcher slaughters a cow and carves it into portions for sale, the meditator, via analytic mindfulness, is to dissect his own body. The commentary notes that once the cow has been butchered, it is no longer seen as a cow: the butcher sells meat, not cow. Just so, the meditator having seen, the separate elements in his own body no longer sees that body as an entity, but as an aggregation. Next in the Sutta are the Nine Charnel-Ground Contemplations, 85 (kynupassan navasvathikapabba) 86 in which the meditator goes to a charnel ground and observes human corpses in
84 85

Ibid, p. 337. Ibid, p. 338. 86 D II 294.

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various stages of decomposition, from bloated and festering after a few days to the scattered bones of a skeleton. He is to compare the corpses to his own body, and realize that his own body is of the same nature, will become like that, is not exempt from that fate. 87 The commentary indicates that this contemplation gives rise to mindfulness of suffering, the First Noble Truth, but then to mindfulness of the cause of that suffering, the Second Noble Truth, thence both the cause and the suffering may cease, this being the Third Noble Truth: cessation.

The section closes with a repetition of the phrases: So he abides contemplating body as body [the body in the body] internallyexternallyHe abides contemplating arising phenomena in the bodyvanishing phenomena in the bodyOr else, mindfulness that there is body is present to him just the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. And he abides independent, not clinging to anything in the world 88 suggesting the realization that while there is a body, it is neither mine nor is it me.

2.3.5.2 Contemplation of feeling (Vedannupassan)

The instruction on the foundation of mindfulness contemplation of feeling, vedan, is quite short. It runs: of

Here, a monk feeling a pleasant feeling knows that he feels a pleasant feeling; feeling a painful feeling he knows that he feels a painful feeling; feeling a feeling that is neither-painful-nor-pleasant he knows that he feels a feeling that is neither-painful-norpleasant 89 Similar phrasing is employed as in the previous foundation and one is said to contemplating feelings in the feelings. The same reasoning suggests that what is meant is the actual feelings of the moment, and their constituent parts rather than any idea of them. The only other difficulty here is what vedan, here translated as feeling, means. Vedan, when
87 88

Maurice Walshe, op cit, p. 339. Ibid. 89 Ibid.

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used in a technical sense, is always presented in terms of pleasantunpleasant-neutral, often distinguishing mental from physical. It should go without saying that vedan does not mean emotion, which seems to be described under the mind heading. What is to be done here, then, is to be mindful of the pleasantness or unpleasantness that arises in the course of contemplation of the body.

As before, the meditator contemplates feelings both internally and externally, the arising and vanishing phenomena of feelings, or is aware that there is feelingjust to the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. 90

2.3.5.3 Contemplation of Mind (Cittnupassan)

Like the section on feelings, the one on mind (citta) is quite short. The same considerations apply to the usage of in: the meditator is to contemplate the mind in the mind. Our previous discussion of the Buddhist understanding of mind applies here and need not be repeated. The meditator is instructed to know a lustful mind as lustful, a mind free from lust as free from lust 91 and similarly for hate, delusion, shrunken, distracted, developed, surpassed, concentrated, and liberated. The mind, in other words, is to be aware of its own state, but in a non-grasping way, observing the arising and vanishing of its own states, aware that there is mind just to the extent necessary for knowledge and awareness. Citta can sometimes also mean thinking, and so the contemplation here would include mindful awareness of lustful thoughts, hateful thoughts, deluded thoughts and so on.

2.3.5.4 Contemplation of Dhammas (Dhammnupassan)

Much has been written and no consensus has been reached on how dhammas in the sense used here should be interpreted in Western languages. The expedient mental objects, typical in translations of the present Sutta seem misleading. Walshe himself elsewhere in the same Sutta translates it phenomena. Aside from meanings connected with doctrine or law, Nyanatiloka includes: quality, thing, object of
90 91

Ibid, p. 340. Ibid.

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mindphenomenon. 92 Dhammas are fundamental facets of being, mental and physical. We need not here decide their metaphysical status whether or not and in what sense they exist, whether they are or have essences, whether or not they are irreducible. Citta and vedan are themselves dhammas. Perhaps listing the dhammas offered here for contemplation will yield a sufficient understanding for our purposes. Again the diction, dhammas in the dhammas is used. They are: 1. The five hindrances (nvaraa): qualities of mind that interfere with meditation and impede progress along the path: sensual desire (kmacchanda), hatred (vypda), laziness-sluggishness (thnamiddha), restless anxiety (uddhaccakukkucca), and indecisiveness (vicikicch). 2. The five aggregates (pacakkhandha): the constituents of human existence: physical form (rpa), feeling (vedan), memory/recollection (sa), mental-formations/intentions (sakhra), consciousness/mind (via). The proper interpretation of these is by no means clear, and there is no scholarly consensus. 3. The spheres (yatana): these are the six sense organs and their respective objects, including mind and mind-objects as the sixth. For each, the meditator is to know the organ, its object, and the fetter that arises dependent upon it; how that fetter arises, how it is abandoned, and how the non-arising of the abandoned fetter in the future will come about. 93 4. The factors of enlightenment (bojjhaga): seven mental qualities that facilitate progress toward enlightenment: mindfulness (sati), investigation of dhamma (dhammavicaya), 94 energy (viriya), enthusiastic joy, (pti), tranquillity (passaddhi), concentration (samdhi), and
Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines, sv Dhamma. 93 Maurice Walshe, op cit, p. 342. 94 It is not clear here whether dhamma here should be understood as doctrine, law, or as fundamental phenomena. In the Buddhist Dictionary, Nyanatiloka (op cit, sv bojjhaga) has investigation of law, but Walshe translates this as states (op cit, 343), Soma as mental objects (op cit, 12). The commentary would seem to support Walshe and Soma (Soma, op cit, 135ff). Indeed, in the next paragraph of the Buddhist Dictionary, Nyanatiloka seems to change his mind, writing that it probably refers to bodily and mental phenomena.
92

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equanimity (upekkh). In similarity to the hindrances, the meditator is to know whether or not each factor is present, how to bring it about, and how to develop it. 5. The Four Noble Truths: see above. For each, the meditator is to know as it really is, dukkha and the rest. The implication is that he is to know or see them directly rather than merely to learn them. In this context, the Noble Eightfold Path is enumerated, with right mindfulness defined in terms of the four foundations of mindfulness, and right concentration defined as the form jhnas with the successive elimination of factors as discussed above. 95 For each of the five sets of dhammas the refrain is repeated that the meditator is to contemplate dhammas both internally and externally, the arising and vanishing of dhammas, or to be aware that there are dhammas just to the extent necessary. 96 It would appear that, having firmly established the contemplation of body, feeling, and mind, the meditator is able to open up the entire field of possible experience with a mindful awareness of breadth, depth, and detail. Nothing is suppressed: rather everything is known and, being known, is clarified, controlled, straightened. Anyone, according to the Sutta who maintains this awareness will attain either the stage of enlightenment of the arahant or that of the angm within a period of seven days to seven years. The implication here is that practise and awareness are maintained continuously for the period.

2.3.6

Summary

The satipahna method is a progressive development of the mind that includes, but is clearly not restricted to, a formal meditation setting. Through diligence, mindfulness and clearly knowing are cultivated a high degree. The implication is that just as one maintains mindfulness and clear knowledge of the body while, for example, walking about or eating, one cultivates mindfulness and clear knowledge of feelings, mind, and dhammas while walking about or eating as well.
95 96

D II 300-313. S II 314.

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The practice appears not to be a progressive narrowing of the minds sphere of activity, but rather an expansion of that sphere, from body to feeling to mind to dhammas. As mindfulness is strengthened, the mind is enabled to engage a wider range of activities and entertain a wider range of experiences without losing its bearings, its direction, its purpose of liberation. Its vision becomes simultaneously broader, deeper, and more detailed. This expansion of perspective is indicated in the body section by the expansion of meditation from the major postures/movements, sitting, standing, walking, lying down, to the minor postures/movements, bending, stretching etc. even to include the ordinary activities of dressing, eating, and using the toilet, etc. There seems no reason to suppose that when one advances to the contemplation of feeling, that contemplation of body ceases. It seems more reasonable to suppose that contemplation of body continues and that one is then aware of feelings as they arise. The same can be said of citta and dhammas: rather than shifting from the base of one level to the base of the next, one adds the next level to the previous. This is indeed clearly the case with contemplation of dhammas as the previous foundations are included in this foundation as dhammas to be contemplated. It is interesting that under dhammnupassan, sammsamdhi (right concentration) is defined as the practice of the four rpajjhnas, thus making the jhnas, hence samatha meditation, an essential part of the Noble Eightfold Path. But also, in order to contemplate those jhnas directly, one would have to practise them. Samatha meditation, then, is included in satipahna meditation.

2.4

Results and Benefits

As we have seen, the Sutta itself promises enlightenment to those who practise diligently and properly. Whoever, monks, should practice these foundations of mindfulness for just seven years may expect one of two results: either Arahantship in this life or, if there should be some substrate left, the state of a Non-Returner. Let alone seven yearswhoever should practice them for just one week may expect one of two results:

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either Arahantship in this life or, if there should be some substrate left, the state of a Non-Returner. 97 The npnasatisutta promises great fruit, in particular the perfection of the seven factors of enlightenment. Ten benefits of practicing mindfulness of the body are listed in the Kyagatasatisutta:98 1. One overcomes like and dislike, dislike does not overcome him; he conquers any dislike that has arisen. 2. One overcomes fear and anxiety, they do not overcome him; he conquers any fear and anxiety that have arisen. 3. One bears with cold, heat, hunger, thirst, biting insects, wind and sun, creeping things, irritating speech, and rejection; he is of such a character as to bear such bodily feelings as are unpleasant are painful, and deadly. 4. Without difficulty one achieves the four jhnas. 5. One achieves paranormal powers such as multiplying his body, passing through solid matter, diving into the ground, walking on water, and flying. 6. One acquires the psychic power of hearing both human and divine sounds from far away. 7. One acquires the psychic power of discerning the state of mind of others. 8. One acquires detailed recall of former lives. 9. One acquires the psychic power of discerning the rebirths of others.

M I 63; Soma Thera, op cit, pp. 14-15. I am indebted to Phramaha Narong Cherdsungnoen, A Study of Sati (Mindfulness) in Buddhism: Theory and Practice in Thai Tradition, for identifying these and the following benefits of meditation in the Suttas.
98

97

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10. One destroys the cankers, realizing here and now freedom of mind and freedom through intuitive wisdom. In the Pacakanipta of the Aguttaranikya, 99 the Buddha lists benefits of walking meditation: Patience when travelling by foot. Patience in exertion. Good health. Good digestion. Stability in meditation.

In the Vedansutta the Buddha describes the benefits of satipahna practice. One becomes aware of the different varieties of feeling, becoming aware of pleasant feelings, he says, the tendency to greed should be relinquished; becoming aware of unpleasant feelings the tendency to hatred should be relinquished; becoming aware of neutral feelings, the tendency to delusion should be relinquished. Having done so, one is freed of the defilements, sees clearly, and achieves the end of suffering. 100 In the Dhammapada, the Buddha teaches that a controlled mind brings happiness, 101 and that one who subdues the mind is thereby freed from the bonds of Mara. 102 Just as one comes to see the rise and fall of phenomena in satipahna practice, the Buddha in the Dhammapada maintains that it is better to live only a short life comprehending rising and falling, than to live a very long life without that comprehension. 103 Buddhaghosa lists the benefits of both samatha and vipassan meditation. As the method of the Satipahnasutta can be employed in both, the benefits of both types of meditation are relevant to our research. He lists the benefits of samatha meditation as follows. 104
99

A III 27. S IV 205. 101 Dhp 35. 102 Dhp 37. 103 Dhp 113. 104 Vism XI 120-124; List adapted from Bhikkhu amoli, op cit, pp. 406100

407.

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1. Blissful abiding here and now; 2. Insight by serving as the proximate cause of insight; 3. Direct-knowledge since it becomes the proximate cause for direct-knowledge whenever there is an occasion; 4. An improved form of existence (i.e. rebirth in a happy realm) 5. The attainment of cessation, abiding in bliss here and now by reaching the cessation that is Nibbna.

It would be impossible, Buddhaghosa maintains, to list all the benefits of vipassan meditation. Nevertheless he highlights four significant categories of benefit: 105 1. 2. 3. 4. Removal of the various defilements; Experience of the taste of the Noble Fruit; Ability to attain the attainment of cessation; Achievement of worthiness to receive gifts and so on.

105

Vism XXIII 1; List adapted from Bhikkhu amoli, op cit, p. 819.

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Chapter III The Dynamic Meditation of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho 3.1 Background

Luangpor Teean taught a method of meditation that is well within the vipassan tradition of modern Southeast Asia. He repeatedly maintained that samatha meditation, that is, meditation that aims at trance-like states through extreme concentration is not only unnecessary but also potentially distracting and even harmful to the Buddhist pursuit of Nibbna. 1 He prefers the cultivation of sati (mindfulness) to that of samdhi (concentration). Some techniques that call themselves vipassan, he maintained, are in reality samatha, because they cultivate too much concentration. 2 Like most vipassan techniques, Luangpor Teeans method begins with deliberate awareness of ones own physical body and progresses to a reflexive awareness of ones own mind. One salient difference is that Luangpor Teean instructs the meditator never to remain stationary, not only while walking, but also in the other classical postures of sitting, standing and lying down. The meditator is to move continually, for example raising and lowering the arms, or running the thumb over the fingertips, and to be aware of the movements. It is this continual movement that gives the technique the name Dynamic Meditation. Beyond the physical technique, Luangpor Teeans instructions for defining and overcoming obstacles in the pursuit of enlightenment seem, to the present researcher, to be particularly significant. Our aim is to present a study of Dynamic Meditation and the teachings of Luangpor Teean in terms of accepted Theravda tradition. To do so we must not only discuss the techniques themselves, but also the theory behind, or implicit in, the techniques. Luangpor Teean, however, was primarily concerned with the practice itself, and while the method is complete and coherent, he did not expound a complete and coherent
Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok: Nuea Khwamkhid, (Bangkok: Glum Pert Pratu Chai, 2003/2546 BE), p. 36ff. 2 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Pakati, (Hardyai: Suthammacht Foundation, 2003/2546 BE), p. 160.
1

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theory. Inevitably, he made many theory-like statements, but problems emerge in attempting to reconstruct a complete theory from them. First, it is sometimes difficult to understand precisely what he meant, as, for example, when he spoke of the existence of lobha, dosa, and moha. He said at one time that truly, lobha, dosa, and moha do not exist at all, 3 but at another time he taught observing them as objects of meditation, 4 implying that they do exist. These teachings seem at first glance not to agree with each other. However, on a close reading we also find the teaching that moha does not exist when mindfulness is present, 5 thus resolving the apparent inconsistency. I assume such difficulties, encountered on a first reading are not genuine inconsistencies, but rather that they served a pedagogical purpose. Luangpor Teeans teachings about the existence or non-existence of lobha, dosa, and moha were not theoretical-doctrinal propositions, but rather teachings calculated to provoke mindfulness in his students. It is essential to keep in mind that these texts are transcriptions of his instructions to meditators, and that such apparent conflicts would not even be evident to such meditators. In constructing a theoretical understanding, then we must read carefully. In this case the theoretical statement would be that as long as mindfulness is maintained, there will be no place for moha and that lobha and dosa will consequently not exist. Another problem is that Luangpor Teean sometimes used doctrinal Pali terms in non-standard ways.6 At times when his words may seem heterodox, then, his intended meaning may be orthodox, and viceversa. An obvious case is the use of the term jhna to refer to stages in his vipassan practice or to the stages of enlightenment, while the term traditionally and canonically refers to stages of samatha. There are several possible reasons for his non-standard usage of terms. First, he was not classically trained in Buddhist doctrine; neither was he highly literate, and hence did not have access to texts that would have made the classical
Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa: To One That Feels, ed. by Tavivat Puntarigvivat, (Songkhla: Suthammacht Foundation, 2003/2546 BE). p. 31. 4 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok: Nuea Khwamkhid, p. 121. 5 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Kanpatibat Kammathan, Prasopkan Khong Luang Po, Kan Dern Thang, (Bangkok: Klum Suksa lae Patibat Tham, 1984/2527 BE), p. 93. 6 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Khwam Rusuk Toa, (Hardyai: Chia Tai Yia Yang Co. Ltd., 1998/2541 BE), p. 30-31.
3

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definitions available. He may then simply not have known the classical definitions of some terms, and may then have repeated usages he had heard from a variety of meditation masters in Thailand and Laos. Often, he seems to use a Pali term with the meaning of its Thai cognate rather than its Pali meaning. By samdhi, for example, he evidently often means meditation rather than concentration. Luangpor Teean made much of the distinction between sammutisacca (conventional truth) and the way things really are. One gets the feeling that for Luangpor Teean all language was conventional, so that whatever was said, even if true, was not quite right. 7 He hoped, then, to convey what essentially could not be conveyed in words. That possibility leads directly to another at which we have already hinted. That is that his pedagogical purpose was to inspire, evoke, or provoke, in the meditator a movement of being, a shift in awareness. His teaching was, as it were, a pointing rather than a telling. For that purpose, the content of statements need not be strictly coherent. Allowing that much may indeed be inexpressible, I attempt here to express what can be expressed in a coherent system without doing violence to the genuinely inexpressible.

3.1.1

Sources

Luangpor Teean wrote no books. However, his students recorded many of his talks on audiotape. A number of these were transcribed, edited and published in book form. Three such books, Phlik Lok 8 (Turning the World), Pakati 9 (The Ordinary), and Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa 10 are my principle sources. 11 The books are in Thai. Luangpor Teean, however, taught for most of his career in Lao, his first language, and only attained fluency in Thai later in life. Much of the material in these books may, therefore, have been translated as well as transcribed, with the introduction of possible errors.

See, for example, Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 131f. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok. 9 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Pakati. 10 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa. 11 I have read many other compilations of his teachings, but most of the material is included in these three.
8

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Luangpor Teean is said to have personally verified the final version of the text of these books, but given that he learned to read only late in life, and his possible weakness in Thai, we cannot be certain how complete and detailed his verification was. A validating study of these texts, however, is beyond the scope of the present study. Therefore, having acknowledged these difficulties, I take these books at face value, as authoritatively representing Luangpor Teeans teachings.

3.1.2

Possible Sources of Dynamic Meditation

Luangpor Teean formulated his techniques after long experience with other techniques and other teachers and it may prove helpful to explore some of the possible sources of the technique by briefly reviewing Luangpors personal history. 12 Born in a rural village in Loei province, Phan Inthaphieu, Luangpor Teeans birth name, grew up speaking the local dialect of Lao. There was no school in the village, but from age ten, he spent 18 months in the village monastery as a novice, during which time he studied the Lao script. From that time, and from his six-months ordination when he was twenty, he developed an abiding interest in meditation, which he continued to practise regularly. He married and had children. The firstborn died, leaving the Teean as the eldest and Phan then came to be known as Por Teean, Teeans father. When he later ordained as a monk, the name stuck, though adding the honorific luang shifted its meaning to, roughly, Honourable Father Teean. Phan made his living as a river merchant, travelling the Mekong from Loei into Laos as far as Luang Prabang. He thereby had the opportunity of meeting and learning from a variety of meditation masters in both Northeast Thailand and Laos. By his own report, he came to realise that his years of meditation and of generating pua had not liberated him from anger. At forty-six, in 1957, his children grown, he went on a meditation retreat determined not to return home until he had achieved Dhamma. At Wat Rangsimukdaram in Nong Khai province he practiced under a Lao monk, Achan Pan.
The following is derived from Loo-ang por Tee-an Cittasubho, Normality, tr. unknown, (Bangkok: Loo-ang por Tee-an Cittasubho (Pun Indapiw) Foundation, 2004), p. 210-237; and Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, 1992, pp. 70-79.
12

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Achan Pan taught a meditation involving bodily movement accompanied by the silent recitation of the words moving, stopping. Phan continued the movement practice, being aware of the movements but omitting the recitations. Within two days and passing through several stages, Phan achieved the end of suffering. He often said afterwards that the experience was like cutting a cord that was tied off at either end and under tension: having been cut the cord could never be rejoined. Phan returned home where he taught his wife and relatives the meditation technique that he had discovered. Nearly three years later, in 1960, he ordained as a monk, in order better to teach. He was given the ordination name, Jittasubho (Pali, Cittasubho), but has always been best known as Luangpor Teean. He taught until his death at 77 in 1988. His teachings had spread throughout Thailand and beyond.

3.2

Theory

As already noted, Luangpor Teean was more concerned with method than with doctrine and theory, his ultimate pedagogical intent being to evoke a shift in orientation rather than to convey information. He wanted to guide his students to a direct seeing for which words could not substitute. Nevertheless, the work of guiding and reorienting requires language. The method, if not the goal, must be conveyed, and words must be used at least to indicate or point toward the goal.

3.2.1

Epistemology and Metaphysics

These considerations are entirely in keeping with Luangpor Teeans concept of knowledge. There are four levels of knowing, he said many times: memorization (rujam), familiarity (rujak), clarity (rujaeng), and truly knowing (rujing). 13 What he seemed to mean is that from learning words we become familiar with the reality or activity indicated by the words, progressing to a clarity in which we see the reality, and finally to a true knowing which is a direct and full apprehension. The last, he comments, is the real knowing! 14 This insight into the deepening of knowledge is radicalised by his idea of conventional truth. Conventional truth is indeed truebut
13 14

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa, p. 54. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 111.

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only conventionally. Ultimately, there is a reality other than the words and their meanings. This much is standard doctrine, but Luangpor Teean seems to take the principle further, to the point of implying that all language is conventional. He repeatedly applies this to his own teachings, but also even to the teachings of the Buddha. 15 Truth, he seems fairly to shout, is not a quality of statements, but rather a quality of experience. Truth is seeing, but not seeing anything sublime or transcendent; rather truth is seeing the ordinary, seeing our normal state of mind. 16 Indeed, the true knowledge that he wants to provoke in us is the ordinary state of being. If true knowledge is direct seeing, then putting it into words may obscure it, since the words are not it. Yet, again, it is just the ordinary. Fully understanding the conventional, then, is to see beyond it and hence is the equivalent of full enlightenment. 17 It is not surprising, then, that Luangpor Teean sees thoughts as potentially giving rise to not-knowing (avijj). If Luangpor Teean makes a distinction between the conventional and the real, he also gives and frequently uses a definition of the real. What is real he says has three qualities, which I translate as thingness, existence, and conditionality. 18 The first, vatthu, means, in Thai, rather than Pali, material in the sense of equipment or resource, object as in object of art, or objective; Luangpor Teean clearly includes both physical and mental material, or things, under this heading. 19 The second is the Pali paramattha, which he defines as that of which one is immediately aware at the moment, that which is immediately existent to consciousness. Finally, conditionality (akn) he defines as subject to change, especially, arising and ceasing.

3.2.2

Broad Framework

Like his method of meditation, Luangpor Teeans broad doctrinal-theoretical framework is that of traditional Theravda. Human existence is characterized by dukkha, and the goal of Buddhism is the end
Ibid, pp. 144-145. Ibid, pp. 222-225, 230, 155; Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Saddha, (Bangkok: Phapphim Ltd., 1966/2529 BE), p. 79-85. 17 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, pp. 135, 155. 18 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa, p. 81. 19 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 121.
16 15

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of dukkha, or Nibbna. Dukkha is caused by lobha, dosa, and moha, collectively referred to as the kilesas, or defilements. Typically translated into English as greed, hatred, and delusion, lobha, dosa, and moha are referred to in Thai by Luangpor Teean as greed, anger, 20 and unawareness. 21 22 Dukkha ceases automatically as soon as the defilements are eliminated. Luangpor Teean also agrees with standard doctrine that the round of dukkha and death-rebirth is grounded in avijj or notknowing.23 Fully consistent with the doctrine of paiccasamuppda, he says that the contact of sense organ with sense object issues in lobha, dosa, and moha. 24 Departing from traditional doctrine, he says that contact must be severed so that perception no longer produces the defilements. 25 This severing, which he equates with the realization of Nibbna, he compares to severing a stretched cord: it snaps apart and cannot be rejoined. It is not clear what he means by severing the connection between sense organs and their sense objects. Both in common sense and in traditional Buddhist doctrine, such a severing would render the person unconscious. Clearly, this is not what Luangpor means. He appears, rather, to mean that the forward connection in paiccasamuppda from contact to vedan and tah should be broken, so that one becomes severed, or detached from the perception and is not blindly led along by it.26 But indeed, Luangpor emphasized that words could not adequately describe or explain this
Indeed the Thai cognate of dosa, thosa, means anger rather than hatred. Unawareness is not exactly right. The Thai word, long, can refer to being lost, infatuated, enchanted, confused etc. One who is foolishly in love, for example, is longrak. One who is physically lost is long as well. In both there is the sense of not-knowing in reference to oneself. A boy infatuated with a girl does not know himself. When one is lost in the city, she does not know where she is. Luangpor Teean in Phlik Lok p. 158, defines moha as khwam mai ruseuk, not being aware or not feeling/sensing which he then equates with long. After consulting with native English speakers, lostness suggested itself as coming close to covering the same ground as long: infatuated, one may be lost in love, when one is confused or doesnt understand she may say that she is lost. One may be lost in his dreams, his thoughts, his imaginings, etc. and hence not be aware of himself and his surroundings. However this is so unusual sounding that I have opted for unawareness. Not-knowing I reserve for translating avijj. 22 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 53. 23 Ibid, p. 131. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid.
21 20

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event. Too many words get in the way and one has to come to know directly for himself or herself.27 Severing occurs when the origin of thoughts is seen clearly and directly. As will become clear below, Luangpor Teean sharply distinguishes thoughts from the mind. It is thoughts, but not the mind itself, that may be defiled with lobha, dosa, and moha. That is, it is thoughts which may be greedy, angry, and unaware. However, thoughts which are seen clearly are not, and cannot be, defiled. 28

This becomes the central premise of the overall method. Dukkha is caused by defiled thoughts. Defiled thoughts, once seen, instantly cease or are dissolved or, at least, cease to be defiled, and when the origin of thoughts is seen clearly, defiled thoughts do not arise at all. The selfawareness involved in seeing thoughts and the origin of thoughts is sati (mindfulness) and seeing clearly is sampajaa so that, for Luangpor Teean, the cultivation of sati and sampajaa, cultivated continuously, that is, diligently, is the way to end dukkha. For Luangpor Teean, Nibbna is not produced, but is already present, and this, too, is in keeping with the tradition. He says little about the Noble Eightfold Path as such, though he does invoke the traditional three main parts of it, sla, samdhi, and pa, as a progressive elimination of the defilements. 29 Luangpor Teean de-emphasizes kamma and rebirth to the point that some may be tempted to imagine that he denies them. He does not, but affirms their reality several times. Rather, he subordinates those concerns to the pursuit of Nibbna. That the achievement of Nibbna is not the effect of good kamma is brought home by his assertion that one who has not kept the precepts can enter into meditation practice (which practice does include keeping the precepts) and achieve enlightenment. Shocking as this may seem, it is in agreement with the tradition: rebirth and the escape from rebirth are driven by the defilements, not by kammavipka as such. Agulimla, certainly, had not kept the precepts before embarking upon the practice.

27 28

See the interview with Dr. Wattana, 3.2.5.4 below. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 229. 29 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, To One That Feels, pp. 22-23.

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Part of understanding Luangpor Teean, is understanding the cultural assumptions from which he arose and which he affirmed, refined, or opposed. The practice of Buddhism in Thailand and Laos is strongly coloured by the concepts of pua and ppa, roughly, the merit and demerit that accumulates from good and bad deeds. Pua is generated, accessed, and accumulated especially in ritual acts of offering gifts to monks, termed making pua. The accumulated pua, then, enhances ones chances for good fortune in this life and a happy rebirth in the next. The culture of the area, and indeed Buddhism as practiced and believed, retains a strong admixture of animism, with consequent belief in ghosts and magic. A more complete view of Luangpor Teeans positions emerges from a consideration of the practice of Dynamic Meditation.

3.3

Practice

Luangpor Teean presents his practice as a progressive refinement of awareness to the point of full realization, a direct knowing which is not to be equated with intellectual comprehension. Avijj is at that point displaced by vijj, and dukkha brought to an end. The progressive refinement of awareness is equivalent to the progressive weakening and final elimination of the defilements, since it is the defilements that obscure awareness and that are refined out of it. He is highly sceptical of the efficacy of samatha meditation in progressing toward full realization. Speaking of his own experience he said: Formerly, I learned many kinds of kammahna (meditation; lit. working ground), such as inhaleBudh, exhaledho, and sitting cross-legged with eyes closed, all sorts of methods like that. I learned internal recitation of samm araha. And I practised the method of the rising and falling of the abdomen: this is also a method of inhalation and exhalation. And then I came to the method of breath-counting, yet another practice of inhalation and exhalation. Then I came to npnasati (awareness of in-and-out-breaths), knowing the short inhalation and the short exhalation, and also

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knowing the long inhalation and the long exhalation. These kinds of methods that I practised, I didn't have any insight. 30 Samatha, he insists, tends to a calm of not-knowing. 31 Luangpor Teean often invokes the traditional sla-samdhipa triad as a progression to enlightenment. He says that the practice of sla eliminates gross defilements, samdhi medium, and pa subtle defilements. 32 Observing sla is at the level of social convention. Luangpor Teean says little about it, but presumably he means that one learns to behave in non-greedy, non-hateful, non-foolish ways as those behaviours are defined by society. With samdhi the psychological defilements are weakened, leading thence to pa and their elimination. Samdhi and pa he says, are the completion of sla. With pa one fully understands convention and returns to the ordinary. In a typical and significant move, Luangpor Teean holds that in reducing the defilements, sla and samdhi themselves become defilements in that they seem to be complete but are not: they are something to go beyond, not to be satisfied with. 33 His use of samdhi, which means concentration in Pali, here seems odd in light of his scepticism of samatha, and his repeated cautions against concentration. The Thai cognate of samdhi, spelled and pronounced the same way, however, means meditation of any kind, rather than concentration, and this is probably what Luangpor Teean means. Dynamic Meditation starts with awareness of bodily movements and progresses to awareness of thoughts and of the mind. 34 In my extended discussion of Dynamic Meditation, I follow in the main pages 109 forward in Phlik Lok 35 in which Luangpor Teean enumerates five stages: an initial stage plus four stages that he refers to as jhnas. There is no clear link to the traditional and canonical jhnas and the precise dividing line between the third and fourth stages in Luangpors teaching is unclear. Beginning on page 223 of Phlik Lok,
Ibid, p. 11. Ibid. 32 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 128f; Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Kanpatibat Kammathan, pp. 27-33. 33 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, pp. 182ff. 34 Ibid, pp. 66-67. 35 Ibid, pp. 109ff.
31 30

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there is a very similar exposition but with no enumeration of stages. I also utilize similar and related material from Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Kanpatibat Kammathan, Prasopkan Khong Luang Po, Kan Dern Thang beginning on page 60. Luangpor Teean tended to discuss practice and progress by recalling his own experience, with the evident presumption that the experiences of others would be very similar and follow a similar progression. This tendency is reflected in the following.

3.3.1

The Initial Stage

3.3.1.1 Bodily Movement

The first task is to build mindfulness. The technique that Luangpor Teean discovered and developed over years of teaching can be put briefly: Do not sit still. Move rhythmically all the timeDo not close your eyes. 36 While sitting, he suggests: 37 1. 2. Rest the hands palm down on the thighs. Turn the right hand onto its edge, be aware; do it slowly, then stop. Do not say to yourself: Turn the right hand; being aware is enough. Raise the right hand up, be aware, then stop. Lower the right hand to rest on the abdomen, be aware, then stop. Turn the left hand onto its edge, be aware, then stop. Raise the left hand up, be aware, then stop. Lower the left hand to rest on the right hand, be aware, then stop. Move the right hand up to rest on the chest, be aware, then stop.
36 37

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, A Manual of Self Awareness, p. 5. Ibid, p. 6.

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9.

Move the right hand out, be aware, then stop.

10. Lower the right hand onto its edge on the thigh, be aware, then stop. 11. Face the right palm down, be aware, then stop. 12. Move the left hand up to rest on the chest, be aware, then stop. 13. Move the left hand out, be aware, then stop. 14. Lower the left hand onto its edge on the thigh, be aware, then stop. 15. Face the left palm down, be aware, then stop. The meditator is instructed to attend to the attitudes and movements of his own body, moving some part of his body rhythmically, even while sitting, with short pauses for applying awareness. He is instructed to keep his eyes open, to be lightly aware of the movements and cautioned not to note the movements by naming them. He is to walk at ease and to move in a relaxed way. 38 One is to sleep fully at night and, if necessary, even briefly during the day. 39 Such formal practice, according to Luangpor Teean, will cultivate mindfulness quickly and should be performed frequently. 40 The cultivation of mindfulness must not be restricted to formal meditation sessions but is to be practiced continuously like a chain. 41 One can practice while riding the bus, for example, by turning the palm, or running the thumb over the fingertips. 42 By practicing continuously like a chain, he means literally all the time, while performing daily tasks, while falling asleep. 43 Because the eyes are open, Luangpor Teean says, one can continue to practice the meditation while performing ordinary tasks and duties. 44 Be aware at every moment, he insists, listing the
38 39

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Pakati, p. 163. Ibid, p. 167. 40 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, A Manual of Self Awareness, p. 8. 41 Ibid, p. 10. 42 Ibid, p. 9. 43 Ibid, p. 10. 44 Ibid.

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traditional major and minor postures/movements: while standing, walking, sitting, lying, bending or stretchingnodding and raising your headleaning to the left, leaning to the right, blinkingbreathing 45

3.3.1.2 Rpa-Nma
Practicing in this way, with awareness of bodily movement, one becomes familiar with rpa and nma as bodily movement and awareness of bodily movement. They are harmonized, says Luangpor Teean. 46 Rpa, again, means body and nma means mind. Both are natural phenomena that really exist. He said that knowing rpa and nma is knowing dhamma and that dhamma, therefore is ourselves. 47 Here Luangpor Teean makes an interesting usage. He says that one becomes familiar with rp tham and of nm tham, (writing the Thai phonetically). Though the spelling is different, the Thai for to do or to make sounds exactly like the Thai word for Dhamma, tham above. The translation in Normality maintains in a footnote that this is a clever play on words, equating doing with Dhamma. 48 Phlik Lok has no note here but simply places the alternate reading in brackets: the meditator becomes familiar with rpa doing (rpa dhamma)nma doing (nma dhamma). 49 The brackets in the Thai version may simply indicate uncertainty on the part of the editors/transcribers as to which word was intended. From listening to tapes of his teachings in the context of my own practice, I believe that a play on words was indeed intended. The context, and a separate discussion, 50 suggests that Luangpor Teean intended to equate human existence with the actions of mind and body. In Thai, rpadhamma and nmadhamma mean, respectively, tangible or concrete, and intangible or abstract. The Thai simply suggests that bodily actions are concrete and that mental actions are abstract. Clearly, what Luangpor meant was that the meditator comes to see that he is his actions: that the actions of body and the actions of mind are what we are at any moment.
45 46

Ibid, p. 10f. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 111-112; Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, p. 82. 47 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 159. 48 Loo-ang por Tee-an Cittasubho, Normality, p. 99. 49 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 159. 50 Ibid, p. 223.

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Coming to see rpa-nma in this way, Luangpor Teean says that he came to see dukkha-anicca-anatt. The movements of body and mind, he says, are dukkha. In seeing the body as a lump of meat, one sees it as a lump of dukkha. 51 The movements of the body, breathing, and thinking are all dukkha. As I understand it, dukkha is attached to rpa, anicca is uncertainty, 52 while anatt signifies uncontrollability. It changes by itself.53 Dukkha as physical frailty, pain, sorrow and the like are, for Luangpor Teean, merely feelings of dukkha, not dukkha-aniccaanatt itself. Rather, Dukkha-anicca-anatt itself is the very postures and movements. 54 Having become familiar with dukkha-anicca-anatt, Luangpor Teean became familiar with convention.55 Devas and ghosts are convention. Ordination is convention. Buddhism with its temples, images, and books is convention. The real Buddhism, he says, is sati-samdhipa. The Buddha is one who knows, is awakened, is joyful. Ppa is stupidity, darkness, heaviness of heart, credulity. Pua is soft, happiness with knowledge, healthy scepticism. Luangpor says that the popular story that in every Buddha image there is a tiny seed of mind means that there is a seed of Buddha-mind in everyone. 56 Luangpor Teean now says that these realizations, while true in themselves, become defilements of insight (vipassanpakkilesa). The meditator puts his realizations into words. He feels that he understands everything, and is enthusiastic and happy (pti) in his newfound knowledge; 57 he goes about talking to himself and others, further elaborating his understanding. He thinks about it, in other words, rather than attending to rpa-nma and though he may continue going through the movements of Dynamic Meditation, mindfulness is lost. In this state

Ibid, p. 112. The word Luangpor Teean negates here, thiang can mean straight, just, certain, just the right amount, and the like. Uncertainty seems the closest to the usual interpretation of anicca as impermanence. 53 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 112. 54 Ibid, p. 113. 55 Ibid. 56 Ibid, p. 114. 57 Ibid, p. 115.
52

51

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one may be subject to visions and the like. 58 All of these, the knowledge, the enthusiasm, the visions are distractions, one becomes intoxicated by them, and as with intoxication with alcohol, doesnt realize that he is intoxicated. Such things must be disregarded; one should attend only to rpa-nma, dukkha-anicca-anatt, and convention; when anything else arises one must let it go.59 The rpa-nma objects should be reviewed repeatedly, backwards and forwards until they are embedded in the mind. 60 It goes without saying that attending to rpa-nma includes continuing with the moving meditation. When thoughts arise, Luangpor Teean says to let them go. When they threaten to distract mindfulness, he advises slowing down the movements and being aware of them. 61

3.3.2

Destroying Unawareness: the First Jhna 62

Continuing Dynamic Meditation with awareness of rpa-nma, the meditator becomes aware of thoughts flashing up. Like a cat watching a mouse, he says, the awareness sees thoughts and pounces on them as soon as they arise. 63 At first, as when a mouse may be too strong for a kitten and escape, the thoughts may be too strong for the awareness and get away, but as one continues the practice, awareness grows and becomes stronger than thoughts. 64 The problem with thoughts is that we enter into them and knowledge follows the thoughts, but we still sufferknowing this and that, thinking continues, but thinking is not seen. 65 Thought, he said on one occasion, flows constantly, like a river. Being lost in and deceived by thought is like scooping out water and storing it upBeing lost in, and deceived by, thought gives rise to suffering. 66 Knowledge from within thought Luangpor Teean says, using a different image, is like being inside
Ibid, p. 114. Ibid, p. 116. 60 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, A Manual of Self Awareness, p. 14. 61 Ibid. 62 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 116. 63 Ibid, p. 117. 64 Ibid, p. 119. 65 Ibid, p. 117. 66 Vatana Supromajakr, M. D., Luangpor Teean: An Interview with An Awakened Master, http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/teean2.html.
59 58

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a cave. 67 He elaborates the image saying: while inside the cave one cannot see the cave itself; once outside the cave, we can see inside the cave as well as outside of it. We see everything. 68 At this point, Luangpor Teean provides an interesting and profound interpretation of avijj (ignorance) the origin of dukkha in the paiccasamuppda doctrine. What is to be known, vijj, includes thoughts themselves and, no matter how much thoughts know, there remains not-knowing (avijj) as long as the thoughts themselves are not known. 69 Avijj, then may be a kind of knowledge, to the extent that the thoughts know something, yet to the extent that the thoughts themselves are not known, it is a knowledge infected with non-knowing.70 Thoughts that arise spontaneously and without being seen bring the defilements with them, 71 and may even conjure up ghosts, coloursillusion. 72 There is no suggestion here that thought as such is a problem or that thoughts are to be suppressed. Deliberate thought, Luangpor Teean says, does not bring the defilements. 73 Moreover, even random, spontaneous thoughts are to be observed, not suppressed: in observing thoughts of all kinds, our genuine knowledge increases. 74 Elsewhere he says that dukkha is a thought or an idea; then that the thought or idea itself is the arising of dukkha, such thoughts are to be watched, not suppressed. Being watched, such thoughts cease of themselves. 75 When thought is seen, unawareness [moha] is destroyed, 76 In explaining what he means by seeing thought, Luangpor Teean elaborates his definition of what is real, discussed above. Thoughts are objective things, present to awareness, and conditionalarising and passing awayjust like the hand turning and the eye seeing, and are to be observed as such, objectively, from outside. 77 This, he says, is to see the origin of thoughts. 78 When thoughts are observed in this way, lobha,
67 68

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 117. Ibid, p. 231. 69 Ibid, p. 119. 70 Ibid, p. 225. 71 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, A Manual of Self Awareness, p. 18. 72 Ibid, p. 19. 73 Ibid, p. 18. 74 Ibid. 75 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 127. 76 Ibid, p. 120. 77 Ibid. 78 Ibid, p. 205.

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dosa, and moha are seen also to be objective things that arise and pass away, they are then seen to be external to the mind rather than permanent features of it. 79 Thoughts, he says, and presumably the defilements, obscure the mind like the clouds obscure the sun: the sun itself never ceases to shine and the mind itself is not affected by the defilements. 80 The mind that is clean, bright and peacefulalready exists in everyone Life itself abides in the ordinary. 81 When thoughts are observed in this way, the defilements immediately diminish. 82 When one sees convention and the origin of thought and life, he says that lobha, dosa, and moha will not come near. 83 The defilements and suffering have been dispelled, he emphasizes, but the five aggregates remain. 84 Elsewhere, he says that in progressing from observing only bodily movements to observing thoughts, one has advanced from the rpa-nma stage to the nmarpa stage, insisting that they are not the same. 85 His terminological distinction is not immediately clear, but if we consider the terms as Thai rather than Pali, a possible explanation comes to mind. By hyphenating the first pair 86 he may intend them to be both taken as nouns: bodily movements and mental movements. In not hyphenating the second pair he may intend rpa to be taken as an adjective of nma; alternatively, he may intend nma as a verb, to know or to perceive, with rpa as its object. Though neither the Pali nma nor its Thai cognate, nm, is a verb, the combination could indicate the act of naming rpa. The Thai cognate of rpa, rp, can mean an imagea painting, photograph, or statueor body shape or figure, in other words, an appearance, something that is seen. Taking rpa as an adjective of the noun nma, Nmarpa, then may mean something mental that appears to consciousness: a mental object that is seen. Thought, he says, contradicting the traditional definitions, is a kind of rpa, by which he can only mean something that appears. There are, he says, two levels of nma and of rpa. He gives an example: suppose we want to fix a watch. On the rpa-nma level, the watch is rpa and the thought of
Ibid, p. 121. Ibid. 81 Ibid, p. 122. 82 Ibid, p. 205. 83 Ibid, p. 206. 84 Ibid, pp. 123, 207. 85 Ibid, p. 163f. 86 Of course it is possible that the hyphenation was the work of the transcriptionists and editors and not necessarily intended by Luangpor Teean.
80 79

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fixing the watch is nma. On the nmarpa level, however, the thought of fixing the watch is rpa and knowing that thought is called nmarpa, thus treating nma as a verb. What he seems to be saying here is that there is a primary consciousness of things to which can be added an awareness of the consciousness of things. It is this secondary awareness of consciousness-of-something that he wants to cultivate. To summarize, Luangpor Teean seems to mean that when thoughts are not observed as objective things, we tend to go into them and follow them, getting lost in and among them, blinded to the world beyond our own thoughts. Being lost is itself moha, in the sense of not being aware of where we are, which, in turn fosters lobha, and dosa. When the thoughts are observed as objective things, on the other hand, we have stepped outside them and can see both thoughts and the rest of the world directly. No longer lost, that is, being aware of where we are, there is, by definition no moha and, in consequence, lobha and dosa are dispelled. Anyone who reaches this point, Luangpor Teean says, has become an Ariyan, 87 presumably meaning that one has achieved the first stage of enlightenment, sotpatti. Since the section is entitled the First Jhna in the text, a redefinition of the jhnas as the stages of enlightenment is implied, and indeed, he explicitly equates the first and second stages of enlightenment, with the first and second jhna. 88

3.3.3

Destroying Clinging and Grasping: The Second Jhna 89

Luangpor Teean emphasizes repeatedly that the successive realizations come of themselves as long as the practice of simply observing movements, rpa-nma, and thoughts is followed. I emphasize here that the physical movement and awareness of it continues throughout the process, as the basis from which mindfulness, arises, from which rpa dhammas and nma dhammas and the rest become manifest. The continual practice further strengthens mindfulness and clear awareness as they arise. Again and again, Luangpor Teean emphasizes practicing continually like a chain, his meaning, evidently that every moment is
87 88

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 206. Ibid, p. 125. 89 Ibid, p. 123.

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like a link in the chain. When a link in a chain breaks, it no longer holds at all. Losing mindfulness for only a moment brings progress to a halt. Especially, for progressing beyond the first stage, constant diligence is absolutely essential. As the practice continues one comes to a sudden realization of grasping and clinging, comes to truly know the defilements, tah, clinging, and kamma. These things then become tasteless, impotent 90 . 91

3.3.4

Being Ordinary: The Third Jhna92

Continuing to practice as before, one comes to understand sla as the ordinary, 93 and samdhi and pa as the perfection of sla. 94 One comes really to understand the Buddhas teaching of sla, realizing that sla is a tool for getting rid of the gross defilements (lobha-dosa-moha, kilesa-tah-updna-kamma). 95 The moment that one knows that the gross defilements are destroyed, the perfection of sla appears. 96 Then one comes to know that samdhi is a tool for eliminating the medium defilements, that is, calm with moha, calm without awareness, 97 with the canker of sensuality (kmsava), the canker of being (bhavsava), and the canker of ignorance (avijjsava). 98 One then truly comes to understand that calm through vipassan is calm with knowledge/wisdom. 99 Knowing this, the mind becomes free, not clinging to anything. 100 The remainder of this section appears to be a reiteration of the previous jhnas and reflections on the process whereby overcoming defilements on one level leads to knowledge that becomes a more subtle defilement on the next level. Even the words of the Buddha have glue on them so they are defilements. 101 The point, again, is that we tend to cling
The Thai is jeut, which means tasteless or dull, but is also applied to alcoholic beverages that are low in alcohol and, hence impotent to intoxicate. 91 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 123. 92 Ibid, p. 126. 93 Ibid, p. 128. 94 Ibid, p. 129. 95 Ibid, p. 132. 96 Ibid, p. 129. 97 Ibid, p. 132. 98 Ibid, pp. 132-133. 99 Ibid, p. 131. 100 Ibid, p. 133. 101 Ibid, p. 132.
90

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to knowledge and, in clinging to the knowledge, lose touch with the reality that the knowledge indicates. Even at high levels of development, one may be infected with the canker of sensuality, extending sensuality to include also happiness over any state of being, including those that are not sensual. 102 He emphasizes that attempting to abandon the defilements through sitting meditation, but without proper cultivation of mindfulness, is like sitting in a cave. Even with a fire, one only sees inside the cave, and there is light only on one side. When the fire goes out, one is in the dark. Such a one does not yet know how to abandon the defilements. 103 In summary, at this stage, because gross and medium defilements are destroyed, one comes to sustain the ordinary in body, speech, and mind. 104

3.3.5

Completion and Truth: Beyond Pua and Ppa: The Fourth Jhna105

At this juncture in his own practice, Luangpor Teean says, understanding arose that the results of good deeds were complete and perfect sla, samdhi, and pa. He understood Nibbna. At the same time, he understood bad deeds. At this moment, he says, all things just came apart and the state of arising/passing appeared to be seen, known and understood. 106 He then came to understand distortion (Pali: vipallsa, Thai: vipalt), which he immediately explains as: false view, not understanding convention, ones not being oneself, a matter of above pua, above ppa. A note in Phlik Lok 107 clarifies that this indicates unawareness, an incomplete understanding of conventions of self, pua and ppa. Vipallsa, the note continues, means seeing arising-passing, but then clinging to that knowledge as being oneself or belonging to oneself. 108
102 103

Ibid, p. 132. Ibid, p. 134. 104 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Saddha, p. 20. 105 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 135. 106 Ibid. 107 Ibid, p. 137. 108 Ibid, pp. 136-137.

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In other words, Luangpor Teean meant that the seeing of arising and passing can become yet another subtle defilement, in that the meditator tends to cling to, or identify with, the experience, and that Luangpor Teean, in his own experience overcame that clinging or identification. Luangpor Teean continues by saying that an arahants good and bad deeds do not produce pua or ppa. His mind is calm and he does not act for the sake of merit. To summarize, the practice of Dynamic Meditation begins with mindfulness cultivated and strengthened by awareness of bodily movements and then progresses to the awareness of thoughts as they arise. It is here that the real meditation begins. Continuing, without pause, with awareness of bodily movements, observing thoughts as they arise, and refusing to be distracted by the proliferation of ideas, by visions or by enthusiasm and joy, the awareness deepens into a purer and more direct seeing, overcoming successively more subtle manifestations of the defilements until full enlightenment is achieved.

3.4

Discussion

In presenting the practice and progress of Dynamic Meditation, several theoretical issues have emerged that bear further discussion.

3.4.1

The Ordinary

Luangpor Teean used the word ordinary (Thai Pakati) to identify the nature of mind that appears to be known in the present moment as neutral, equanimous, clean, bright, and calm. None of the defilements exist in the ordinary mind. It is the result of full selfawareness. It is the Buddha-mind that already exists in everyone. 109 Luangpor Teean spoke on many occasions of the ordinary, encouraging his students, for example, to realize the ordinary state of their minds at the moment that they were listening to his teachings, pointing out that at such moments the mind was neutral and free of
109

Ibid, pp. 68-70, 155.

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defilements, and that at such moments the mind was concentrated and self-aware. Such discourses helped to provoke immediate self-awareness in his students, showing them the nature of Nibbna, and that it could be achieved by anyone in the present rather than only after death. As we have seen, in the third stage of Dynamic Meditation practice, the gross defilements (lobha-dosa-moha, kilesa-tah-updnakamma) are destroyed, the mind becomes ordinary, and one comes to understand the perfection of sla. In this stage the ordinary refers to body, speech, and mind. 110 Again the ordinary is used to point out that, sla is not actually the precepts that one should observe as a social rule, but that sla is the experience that really appears to the mind at the present moment.

3.4.2

The Existence of the Defilements, Avijj, and the Mind

On several occasions, Luangpor Teean seems to proclaim that the defilements do not really exist, 111 while in others, as we have seen, he pointedly includes them as existent things to be observed. The pedagogical intent of saying that they exist is clearly to encourage the meditator to observe them as they arise: to see them. Saying that they do not exist comes in the context of explaining the ordinary (ordinarily they are absent), 112 and of teaching that with awareness, they quickly dissipate of themselves. 113 A careful reading of his teachings indeed confirms this: When there is mindfulness, moha, lobha, and dosa are, in truth, not present at all. 114 If we consider the above statements, we may conclude that Luangpors teaching was that the existence of defilements depends on self-awareness. At first, with moha (unawareness) one does not know that defilements exist in oneself and make him suffer. 115 Through the cultivation of mindfulness, self-awareness of bodily movement, and the
Ibid, p. 129. See, e.g. Ibid, pp. 160, 227. 112 Ibid, p. 160. 113 Ibid, p. 227, 231. 114 Ibid, p. 160. 115 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa: To One That Feels, p.43.
111 110

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observance of thoughts, one learns to know the existence of the defilements (lobha, dosa, and moha) as they appear in thoughts, and to know their arising and passing away. These defilements appear with the characteristics of thingness (vattu), existence (paramata) and conditionality (akn). 116 At this stage, with the increase of selfawareness, which replaces unawareness, moha, one realizes a decrease in defilements. Through continuing observation, progression of selfawareness, diligence, and right concentration, one comes to realize truly knowing in the moment of full awareness, right concentration and knowledge (pa), thus overcoming all defilements and dissipating them completely. 117 One returns to the ordinary, that is, Nibbna. Avijj (ignorance) is replaced by Vijj (knowledge). For the meditator arriving at this stage, says Luangpor Teean, In actual fact, greed, hatred and delusion do not really exist at all. These considerations bring us to identify moha (unawareness) as the first kind of defilement, eliminated by self-awareness on a less than complete level. Avijj (ignorance) then is the final defilement, eliminated by complete self-awareness in the form of truly knowing (pa). The ordinary mind, or the mind itself, for Luangpor Teean, however, cannot be defiled. It is like the sun, obscured, but not touched, by the clouds. It is only the thoughts that can be defiled. Thus he seems to make metaphysical distinction between thoughts and the mind. Even in someone overwhelmed with defilements, the mind itself is still clean, bright and peaceful, 118 and the momentary existence of the defilements and thoughts is, by implication, contrasted to the relative permanence of the mind. 119 This position on the mind seems closely related to his insistence that we are all Buddha or like the Buddha, 120 and that a seed of the Buddhas mind is present in all of us. 121

116 117

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, pp. 120-121. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa, p. 57. 118 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 227. 119 Ibid. 120 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Pakati, p. 200. 121 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 114.

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3.4.3

Sati, Sampajaa, and tpa

Although Luangpor Teean tends to treat mindfulness and clear knowing as the same thing, it is abundantly clear that he includes both in the awareness that his method is intended to cultivate. The reflexive awareness of mindfulness is cultivated and strengthened in the initial stage; mindfulness is then made more and more clear, direct and knowledgeable, as the thoughts, and then the origin of thoughts are brought into focus. One comes to know dukkha-anicca-anatt and arising and ceasing more and more directly and deeply. But one only progresses in this way through continual effort, that is, with diligence. Clearly, then, sati, sampajaa, and tpa, are essential features of Luangpor Teeans theory and method.

3.5

Results and Benefits

It remains to discuss the results and possible benefits of Dynamic Meditation. Luangpor Teean promised that anyone who practiced correctly and continuously like a chain would achieve a reduction in suffering, perhaps full enlightenment. Specific results that Luangpor Teean promised include cleanliness, brightness, peace, and full awareness. 122 Such achievements would be attained, he said within a few years, perhaps as quickly as a few months. 123 I shall review the reports of practitioners in an attempt to ascertain whether or not those results have been attained on an individual level.

3.5.1

Published Reports

By Luangpor Teeans own account, he achieved full enlightenment within a few days of beginning the practice later dubbed Dynamic Meditation. Although we have no objective way of validating or falsifying that claim, published accounts of those who knew him, report that he was a wise and compassionate man, and many considered that he was indeed enlightened. His practice of Dynamic Meditation marks a radical shift in career from a wealthy river merchant to a

122 123

Ibid, p. 68-71, 96. Ibid, p. 71.

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generous meditation master, and there is every reason to believe that the meditation was effective for him. Also by his own account, after his enlightenment, he returned home and taught the technique to relatives and friends. Many, he says, including his wife, achieved significant results in the reduction of dukkha. 124 Published reports of his students indicate similar results from the practice. Several monks who practiced under Luangpor Teean write that, with his wise guidance, they achieved significant progress along the path to full enlightenment, together with significant reduction of dukkha. 125 Their reports of stages of progress closely parallel those taught by Luangpor Teean and discussed above. Two of his Thai students may be mentioned here: Achan Khamkhian Suvao and Achan Da Sammakhato. Achan Khamkhian, then a 30 year-old master of magic and incantation from Northeast Thailand, practiced under Luangpor Teean in early 1966 at Wat Paphutthayan. Experienced in samatha meditation, Achan Khamkhian resisted the practice of continual movement. Under Luangpor Teeans tutelage, he finally consented to try it and, after about a month, he came to know rpa-nma and overcame his superstitions. He then ordained as a monk and continued meditation under Luangpor Teean, achieving enlightenment in three years. He became a Dynamic Meditation teacher and founded a meditation centre at Wat Pasukhato in Chaiyabhum province. Besides teaching meditation, he has campaigned for the rural poor and worked to preserve the environment. As of this writing, he is Abbot of Wat Phukhaothong, Chaiyabhum Province. 126 Achan Da, a monk from Northeast Thailand had practiced many forms of meditation without significant results. Eventually, he met
Tavivat Puntarigvivat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, p. 74. 125 Ibid, p. 238-271. 126 Bhatharaphon Sirikan, Nathi Khong Phra Song Tam Phuthdhabanyat: Naewkhid Lae Botbat Khong Phra Khamkhian Suvanno Nai Kanphatthana Chumchon (The duties of the Sangha in accordance with monastic law: The thought and role of Phra Khamkhian Suvao in community development), (Bangkok: Thai Khadi Research Institute, Thammasat University, 1993/2536 BE).
124

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Luangpor Teean. Meditating under his guidance, he achieved knowledge of rpa-nma within three days and rapidly achieved Nibbna. He has served as Dynamic Meditation master at Wat Mokkhavanaram and as of this writing is Abbot of the Redding Meditation Center, West Redding, Connecticut, U. S. A. A layman living in the United States, Kongsak Tanphaichitr, writes that a number of senior Thai monks in the U. S. have made significant progress in their Dhamma practice through Dynamic Meditation, their wisdom having grown beyond what is available in academic learning.127 He emphasises also that the method is well suited to the laity, and that mindfulness comes to be embedded in all activities such that even while working or performing ones dutyone is not stressful, but simply dwells in the norm of ones mind, being calm, serene, peaceful and happy. 128 The experiences of several laypersons in Singapore who attended Dynamic Meditation retreats with Luangpor Teean are recounted in Pakati. 129 I summarise a few of these here. Y. S. Kee reports that Dynamic Meditation developed a sense of inner calm, reducing tensions in daily life and helping him to think more clearly and to take a better perspective. As awareness increases, he writes, he sees how thoughts influence the mind and learns to let them go. After practicing Dynamic Meditation for some time Geok Lian reports that he came to live more and more in the present. Being aware of his own thoughts became a daily practice. At a Dynamic Meditation retreat, K. C. Oon practiced at first with intense concentration and Luangpor Teean advised him to relax and feel the practice. After three days, he became more aware of the thoughts of his internal dialogue and Luangpor advised him to be aware of the thingness, existence, and conditionality of thoughts and to be aware of thoughts in relation to lobha, dosa, and moha. While attempting to follow this advice, Oon had a vision of a floating Buddha. Following
Kongsak Tanphaichitr, Essence of Life: Mindfulness & Self Awareness, (Bangkok: Horatanachai Printing Limited Partnership, 2005), p. 40. 128 Ibid, p. 45. 129 Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Pakati, pp. 381-403.
127

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Luangpors advice, Oon maintained indifference to the image and it soon disappeared, indicating to him that it was pure illusion. By the fourth day, Oon was exhausted and was further disturbed by overhearing that Luangpor Teean had been diagnosed with cancer. The next day Oon took things easily and playfully. On the following day the retreat ended and Oon returned home, feeling that no significant result had come of the retreat. By midday, however, he had a sudden experience of non-self: he was driving the family car, but there was no driver, only driving. He felt detachment from his wife and children, but in a way that did not interfere with his love for them. He reports that he experienced a number of perceptual alterations. Hearing and seeing were sharpened, a more total awareness of individual sensations, a sensation of physical lightness, a clear and sparkling mind, drastic reduction in physical pain, and he lived from moment to moment. He writes that in this state he easily understood the Mahyna Stras and the Christian Bible. This state of mind lasted for about a month. We may surmise, especially given the enhanced capacity for understanding, that Oon may have been experiencing the vipassanpakkilesa, the defilements of insight. He himself says that the experience was delusion. If so, then he may have progressed in his meditation at least to the rpa-nma stage. After two further retreats with Luangpor, Oon writes, he began to have experience of insight.

3.5.2

Interviews

In addition to perusing the literature, I have interviewed a few practitioners of Dynamic Meditation, in an effort further to identify individual results of practice.

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3.5.2.1 Phra Achan Khamkhian Suvao 130

Phra Achan Khamkhian Suvao, presently Abbot of Wat Phukhaothong, Chaiyabhum Province, was born in 1936 in Khonkaen Province. He ordained as a novice for two years, beginning when he was 15 years old. At 17 he became a worker in incantations and magic. He believed at that time that Buddhism was concerned primarily with ritual and magic. In doubt about pua and ppa he sought out Luangpor Teean when he was 30, hoping for answers. 131 Before, learning meditation under Luangpor Teean, in 1967, Phra Achan Khamkhian had learned tranquillity meditation and was able to achieve tranquillity. Luangpor Teean, however, taught him self-awareness. Phra Achan Khamkhian found this very satisfactory and achieved genuine results. Self-awareness, he says, has to do with life, with taking care of oneself, and with taking responsibility for oneself. Not-knowing 133 (long) changes to knowledge. Not-knowing and knowledge are both born in the mind. It is a matter of meditation practice, knowledge that the meditator gains for himself. Phra Achan Khamkhian was satisfied with this and with the ability to help himself. When he was angry he was aware of the anger and was able to change the anger to nonanger. When there was suffering, he was able to change the suffering to non-suffering, to change incorrectness to correctness. He could do it immediately. Meditation conferred this ability, and he advanced in stages.
132

In cultivating mindfulness, he eliminated evil and build up the good in himself. Developing mindfulness, he says, is observing morality (sla); it is concentration (samdhi), setting his mind on knowledge is, of course, concentration; when there is not-knowing (long), having the wisdom (pa) to change not-knowing for knowledge is already wisdom. The wisdom of the Buddha begins with this. When there is morality, concentration, and wisdom we have already arrived, we dont have to wait.
Interview with Phra Achan Khamkhian Suvanno, Abbot of Wat Phukhaothong, Chaiyabhum Province, 4 January 2006. 131 See 3.5.1 above. 132 The published report cited above has 1966. 133 Though I have translated long as unawareness elsewhere, notknowing reads more naturally here. The meaning is the same as unawareness used elsewhere.
130

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Those, he says, who practice meditation, know for themselves. They have no questions: only answers. We answer for ourselves, others cannot answer for us. Going and coming, knowledge stays with knowledge. The mind sees itself. It is like Luangpor Teean said, nonknowing is born in the mind, and it is the mind that knows. It is like turning the hand from front to back. Cut out evil with the body. Cut out evil with the heart. But at first we are not sure. When we have seen rpanma then we are complete, doing good with the body, doing good with the mind. Before, we did wrongly with the body. Not-knowing was greater than knowing. Learning meditation practice, knowing comes to be greater than not-knowing until finally non-knowing loses its opportunity. The growth of awareness is the growth of morality. When morality arises in us that is happiness both for ourselves and for the group. This is a lesson within us. If there is not-knowledge there is knowledge of oneself. There is no fear and we speak the truth. The truth completely reveals itself; the truth does not flee. Clearly knowing dukkha, anicca, and anatt is to clearly know everything, knowing the concrete (rpadhamma) and the abstract (nmadhamma), to see the conditionality that comes with rpanma. To fall into the condition of not being straight, of suffering, of not being oneselfall of these show themselves. When is anger straight? When is not-knowing straight? When is suffering straight? These are not straight. These are not ourselves, but things that enslave us, that seize us and make our tears to flow. Knowing this, release them. One knowledge will reveal all.

3.5.2.2 Phra Achan Khammai hittaslo 134

Phra Achan Khammai hittaslo was born in 1958 in Chaiyabhum Province, Thailand. He completed seven years of elementary school and spent six years as a novice. He ordained as a monk in 1988 and is now Chief Meditation Master at Samnak Thab Ming Khwan Koh Buddhadhamma, Loei Province. He began practicing Dynamic Meditation in 1985 while still a layman, and has practiced continually, every day, whenever there is bodily movement. His formal
Interview with Phra Achan Khammai hittaslo, Chief Meditation Master, Samnak Thabmingkhwan Koh Buddhadhamma, Loei Province, 29 December 2005.
134

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practice consists of the fourteen movements, alternating with walking meditation, whenever there is the opportunity. At other times, he practices awareness by noting natural movements throughout the day while going about daily activities at the Wat. At first, mindfulness could only occasionally keep up with thoughts; afterwards mindfulness kept up more and more often. When he is able to maintain awareness of his feelings, he says, he is able also to observe thoughts as they pass by. Phra Khammai had previously practiced breathing, and risingfalling, meditation that he learned from books and from meditation masters, but only at an elementary level. When he read about Luangpor Teeans way of meditation, he was intrigued by both the technique and the teachings, and by the challenge to try it and see whether it yielded results. He practiced under one of Luangpors students and has been practicing Dynamic Meditation ever since. He hoped that through meditation he would overcome anger, irritation, extravagance, and uncertainty. Before Dynamic Meditation, Phra Khammai had been fearful, suspicious, and anxious. Through meditation he has for the first time become aware of his feelings and his thoughts. He no longer worries excessively, or suffers sleeplessness, and has full confidence in the method. An important difference between Dynamic Meditation and other techniques, according to Phra Khammai, is the ability to continue the practice of cultivating mindfulness in all everyday activities. With other techniques, he says, the mindfulness cultivated cannot be extended and does not truly become part of our lives. Dynamic Meditation, on the other hand, can be applied from the time one awakens and wherever one goes, at work and in any activity. What is easy is what we already have within us. What is difficult are the extraneous concerns that arise in the course of life that interfere with continuous self-awareness. With frequent practice it comes more easily. We have mindfulness within ourselves. The things that we would observe are already there, practice gradually improves, the mind is tamed, whatever we do comes to be our own lives. With movement we know ourselves, we know being pleased and being displeased, we know our minds. When we are aware of ourselves, the mind is there, we dont have to go looking for it. Easiness is like this. He says that the other styles of meditation that he has practiced had no standard, or criteria, but that with Dynamic Meditation the
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standard is that with self-awareness properly practiced there is no anger or disturbance. When mindfulness becomes strong thoughts and emotions present no problems. With the ability to observe thoughts, thoughts about unnecessary matters are ended, while we continue to think about necessary matters without anxiety. Similarly when angry thoughts arise we can put them aside. If we do not observe thoughts, however, they carry us away. Phra Khammai says that the practice can be maintained in daily activities, whatever we do, speaking, working, travelling, from the time of waking to the time we go back to sleep. Whether we are sick or healthy we can keep mindfulness with us. We can practice anywhere by moving the arms, rolling the fingers, or just observing states of mind. With frequent practice, he says, emotions are never strong because the fire is cut off at the source. Because of that it is not difficult to cope with any problems that arise: we dont let them get out of hand. Phra Khammai believes that Dynamic Meditation includes all four foundations of mindfulness. He is fully certain, based on his own experience, that Dynamic Meditation truly changes lives, enabling an enduring return to the ordinary.

3.5.2.3 Dr. Vatana Supromajakr 135

Dr. Vatana Supromajakr, MD is a physician, now on the General Surgery staff of Bumrungrad Hospital. He treated Luangpor Teean through the years of his illness. Dr. Vatana met Luangpor by chance when he was admitted to the hospital for cancer treatment. Dr. Vatana at first took him for an ordinary monk, but in conversation realised that there was something unusual about him. Throughout the six years from the time that Dr. Vatana met Luangpor at the hospital until Luangpors death, Dr. Vatana asked him many questions and recorded the answers in his personal journal. At the request of Luangpor Teeans students, Dr. Vatana has written up and published the contents of his notes and his understanding of Luangpors teachings. His writings have been translated into English and Spanish, and have been posted on the internet.

Interview with Dr. Vatana Supromajakr, MD, General Surgery, Bumrungrad Hospital, Bangkok, 5 May 2006.

135

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Dr. Vatana says that knowing Luangpor Teean changed his life even though he has not practiced Dynamic Meditation in a formal meditation setting. He has rather followed Luangpor Teeans teaching of being aware of bodily movement in the activities of daily life. What has been changed in my life: The truth has been seen, my real life has been seen, and I have understood my life fully. When I was asked whether or not I practise Luangpors meditation technique I answered that I do not practise. Luangpor said that one must be mindful all the time. I myself have been mindful all the time in whatever I do including all of my daily activities. As a medical doctor I am always busy. Luangpor said one should be aware of all bodily and mental activities. When lying down in bed one must be aware while his head is touching the pillow. How many people have been aware of the back of their head touching the pillow while lying down? Dynamic Meditation is a natural way that anyone can follow. The doctor said that his greed, hatred, and delusion had been reduced. He uses the Dhamma taught by Luangpor to lead him, to work better, to get along better with friends and associates, to understand science better, and to understand himself better. Dr. Vatana reports that he has been studying religion for all of his adult life and though he found that all religions teach people to be good, he has been unsure why teachings that were given 2000 or more years ago should remain valid after so much change in the world. Answers such as you must believe Gods word were unsatisfactory to him. He asked the question of Luangpor. Luangpor replied that indeed the world is changeable and that everything has been changing because it is non-self. But the nature of mind does not change. It will always have greed, hatred, delusion, craving, and clinging, though these may be manifested differently depending on time, place, and society. Luangpor Teean said that to study Buddhism one must study the nature of ones own mind. Otherwise, one is not learning the essence of Buddhism. Luangpors answer impressed Dr. Vatana with its simplicity and goodness. The prognosis at that time, according to Dr. Vatana, was the Luangpor would die within the next six months. In fact he lived for another six years.

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Luangpor Teean spoke little when he came to me for medical treatment, but I asked him questions and he always answered and his kind answers stimulated my mind to understand the Dhamma. Luangpor told Dr. Vatana that Dynamic Meditation is suitable for the majority of people who have little free time. With only a little time following his instructions one can realize the mind to some extent, reducing greed, hatred, and delusion and coming to the door of Nibbna.

On the Pali language and the Pali Canon, Luangpor told Dr. Vatana that the Pali Canon was written long ago, and much of it long after the time of the Buddha. No matter how well intentioned the writers were, people today who do not know the Pali language will have trouble understanding it. The Dhamma itself is beyond time and one who realizes Dhamma understands Buddhism. To refer to the texts, he said, is to refer to someone elses understanding. When I speak, he said, I refer to my own understanding. Luangpor suggested that people are addicted to Pali. A mango, he said, is called by different names in different languages, but when we taste it we know what it is: what we call things doesnt matter. Dr. Vatana asked him about the Vessantara story in which the Bodhisattas giving away his children and wife is presented as the highest generosity. The story violates common sense, the Doctor said and he cannot believe it, yet no monk had been able to explain it or interpret it satisfactorily. Luangpor said that the story was a metaphor in which wife, son, and daughter stand for greed, hatred, and delusion: they are with us all the time and it is most difficult to relinquish them. Dr. Vatana was very impressed with this interpretation. Similarly with other Buddhist stories that contradict common sense, Luangpor interpreted them symbolically as metaphors or allegories and thus Dr. Vatanas ability to understand Buddhism increased. Dr. Vatana learned that in spite of Luangpors high realization of Dhamma, he was illiterate. He feels that our knowledge programs us, limiting our ability to understand true Dhamma. Luangpor Teean told him that given the nature of mind, there are many ways of teaching Dhamma. In the Buddhas time, the Buddha answered questions differently depending on the questioner, so that the answer would reach the questioners mind. Similarly, according to Dr. Vatana, Luangpor he had a way of answering that would hit or provoke the mind.

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Luangpor told Dr. Vatana that people who know Dhamma are like a lighted lamp in the dark. People near the lamp will see the light clearly but those farther away will see the light less and less clearly, until they do not see it at all. But as long as there are people in the world there will from time to time be some who light their lamp. Luangpor confirmed that there are many techniques, many of them may be effective, but he could only guarantee his own because that was the only one he knew from experience. A problem with meditation practices is that people come to cling to the practice. Similarly people are attached to social conventions, they believe only what society tells them. They think that money is the most important thing because of the social convention of using it to buy other things. But money cannot buy the end of suffering. With such teachings from Luangpor, Dr. Vatana says that he began to understand Buddhism and himself better. Shortly before Luangpor died, he told Dr. Vatana that he would die in two weeks time. The doctor asked who Luangpor would recommend as a Dhamma teacher. Luang told him to study his own mind, that the mind is the best teacher. Luangpor Teean once told Dr. Vatana that most people are in a dark room; they are accustomed to it and want to stay in the dark. Those few who want to get out need a key to open the door, but Luangpors key cannot open the door for others. But why not? the doctor wondered, since Luangpor knew Dhamma so fully. Luangpor answered that human suffering cannot be understood through words. It is a level of feeling which cannot be expressed by letters. We must use our own key to open the door of understanding. It was Luangpors duty to light matches in the dark to show people where the door is so that they could use their key to unlock the door and go out from the darkness. The doctor said that for all the books that he had read over many years, Luangpor answered his questions the most wonderfully. Dr. Vatana said he has visited many Buddhist centres and has observed that students become attached to their centre and seem to regard their teachers more than the Buddha. For example many who follow the
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Buddho meditation technique think that that is the only way to get rid of suffering. That method might be suitable for their teacher and might be suitable for some students, but it might not be suitable for some other students. Luangpor told Dr. Vatana that very few understand the teachings because people cling to merit (pua) and to making merit. Luangpor, according to Dr. Vatana, taught that merit was not like money in the bank from which you get interest later. Neither should we imagine that sponsoring a Kathina ceremony will win us 50,000 devas as retainers in the next life. There wouldnt be enough devas! The real meaning of merit, Luangpor told Dr. Vatana, is self-realization and understanding, not future material benefit. One should rather make merit by aiming at the realization of the true nature of things. Why should we believe the Buddha when he didnt speak our language? Dr. Vatana asked Luangpor Teean. Luangpor responded that we learn our own minds and that through the heart is the way to understand the Buddha. Therefore the way to the Buddha is through our own language. The doctor suggested that because Luangpor did not study Pali formally, he used it according to his own meanings rather than according to the meaning of the language. Nevertheless Luangpors meanings awakened the students minds and were appropriate for those who were sitting in front of him. When we read his words in a book, however, we are not in the situation of receiving a direct oral teaching, and we might misunderstand. This is similar to the cases in which the Buddha tailored his teachings to specific persons so that they would understand and be fully liberated. The teaching was successful because they were who they were in their particular situation with their particular background. But when we read the same teachings of the Buddha today sometimes we do not achieve full reality. Dr. Vatana suggested that it is not enough to read Luangpors teachings. One has to meet him. Dr. Vatana related a few stories. When he was working in Sukhothai province, he was given a small Buddha image named Nangpaya believed to be 700 years old. He showed the image to Luangpor telling him how important it was. Luangpor asked when this
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image was made and what it was made of. The doctor told him that it was made from a special kind of earth, and most importantly that it was 700 year old. Luangpor said, The soil that was used to make the Buddha image was not older than the soil that you stand on here, because the soil here arose in the same time as the world. A woman showed a tiger tooth to Luangpor, telling him of its great power. Luangpor asked where she got it. The woman said that she was given it by her grandparents. Luangpor said that the grandparents who had given her the tiger tooth were dead: the tooth did not help them not to die, so how would it help her? He was asked by a Dharmakaya student whether Dharmakaya meditation was good or not. He replied that it was good for them, not good for me. When he was asked by a student of Pothirak how Luangpor could eat meat and teach Dhamma. Luangpor replied that Bhikkhu means beggar. A monk begs for food just to survive in order to teach Dhamma. A monk cannot ask for any special food, so he has no choice. Luangpor also explained that Dhamma does not depend on eating or not eating meat, but on wisdom obtained individually.

3.5.3

Summary

The simplicity of the practice is a frequent theme of meditators, as is the possibility of extending Dynamic Meditation beyond formal sessions and into ordinary daily activities. That possibility is essential to continual practice, a necessary condition for progress, according to Luangpor Teean. Indeed Dr. Vatanas remarks suggest that formal meditation sessions are not necessary to achieving important results. Practice of awareness in daily activities alone appears to be effective in reducing defilements and stress and in enhancing mental clarity. Meditators report having achieved various levels of mental clarity, peace, and increased awareness as well as reductions in anxiety levels. Those who progressed farther reported achieving awareness of rpa-nma in varying periods of time, but then progressing rapidly and in stages to full enlightenment. These stages parallel those of Luangpor Teean: awareness of thoughts, of mind, and of rising-falling. Monks appear to have been more likely to progress to the higher stages than have lay people.

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Chapter IV A Review of Luangpor Teean Jittasubhos Dynamic Meditation in Light of the Satipahnasutta
In a general way, Dynamic Meditation would seem to fit into the framework of the Satipahnasutta, with the initial stage of Dynamic Meditation corresponding to kynupassan, the observation of thoughts to cittnupassan, developing into dhammnupassan as the observation becomes more detailed. Similarly, there can be no doubt that Luangpor Teeans identification of the defilements as the cause of dukkha and that they, along with dukkha, are overcome through mindfulness and clearly knowing, sati and sampajaa, is orthodox. In the present chapter, I present a more detailed and discussion of the theory and practice of Luangpor Teeans teachings and of Dynamic Meditation. In previous chapters, theory was first dealt with in order to define the concepts used in discussing the method. The order is reversed in the present chapter, the method being first dealt with in order to help us to discern the pedagogical intent of theoretical statements.

4.1

Method and Technique

The Satipahnasutta repeatedly insists on mindfulness, clear awareness, and diligencesati, sampajaa, and tpa. To what extent does Dynamic Meditation incorporate these three qualities, and to what extent are they incorporated in ways parallel to that of the Sutta? Luangpor Teean does not, to my knowledge, utilise the term tpa, but if we accept Bhikkhu Anlayos interpretation of tpa as diligence, or unwavering commitment, keeping up ones contemplation in a balanced effort, 1 then it would seem that it is just as important in Dynamic Meditation as it is in the Satipahnasutta. His repeated insistence that one must practice continuously like a chain is equivalent to unwavering commitment and keeping up, or persistence. A balanced effort is indicated by the instruction to be
1

Bhikkhu Anlayo, Satipahnathe Direct Path to Nibbna, p. 15f.

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lightly aware of movements, to move easily; instead of directly battling with thoughts and defilements, the meditator is instructed simply to observe them, allowing them to arise and letting them go. Moreover a balanced effort is indicated by coupling continuous practice with attending to ones physical needs. In Phlik Lok, 2 while discussing the Satipahnasutta, Luangpor Teean defines sati as recollectionbefore doing anything we should be aware, the implication being that sati means awareness of our actions and their purposes, recollecting ourselves, mindfulness. On the same page, he defines sampajaa in a way that seems almost identical to sati. Sampajaa, he says, is to be self-aware. 3 It is not surprising, then, that he usually seems to make no distinction between them, simply speaking of awareness. In the Sutta, the two terms nearly always appear together and, judging by the meanings of the terms gleaned from the Nikyas by Anlayo, and from the Buddhist Dictionary, they would seem to be two aspects of the same awareness, rather than two distinct kinds of awareness: sati as self-awareness, and sampajaa as clarity. These two aspects are strengthened through the Satipahna practice to the point of full-self awareness and complete clarity. Understood in this way, Luangpor Teeans teachings clearly do make the distinction in practice, if not in terminology. Through cultivating awareness of ones own movements, then of thoughts and of mind, the self-awareness aspect of sati is strengthened, while the recollection aspect is evident in the continuity of practice: one continually recollects what one is doing. The progressive clarity of awareness and of knowing (that is, seeing directly) with greater and greater subtlety, what Luangpor Teean calls knowing clearly and knowing truly seems identical to what the Sutta means by sampajaa. While the Sutta remains rather abstract, the concrete detail in Luangpor Teeans instruction may help to clarify what sati and sampajaa mean in the Sutta.

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok: Nuea Khwamkhid, p. 65. The Thai cognates of these terms, indeed, have overlapping definitions. See Manit Manitchroen, Phochananukrom Thai (Thai Dictionary), (Bangkok: Ruamsa, 1977/2538 BE).
3

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4.1.1

Rising and VanishingJust to the Extent

In a refrain at the end of the instruction for each foundation of mindfulness, the Sutta instructs the meditator to be aware of arising and ceasing phenomena within that foundation. Luangpor Teean rarely uses such terms as arising and ceasing until the final stage. To omit the awareness of arising and ceasing would seem a serious departure from accepted Buddhist meditation practices. A closer reading, however, reveals that Luangpor Teean has not omitted this aspect of practice after all. One is to be aware of the starting and stopping of movements, of the arising and passing of thoughts, images, defilements and the like. Moreover, one is instructed repeatedly to be alert to anicca, impermanence. Arising and ceasing of phenomena, then, is not at all neglected in Dynamic Meditation, but Luangpor Teean seems to give it a special role in the final stage and perhaps for that reason reserves the terminology for instruction at that stage. The other part of the refrain is the instruction to be aware just to the extent necessary for knowledgenot clinging to anything in the world. This would seem to be directly reflected in Luangpor Teeans instructions on thoughts, visions, discursive knowledge, and defilements. One is instructed to be lightly aware of them as they arise, simply observing them, not attaching to them or going into them thus to be dragged along by them. As with sampajaa, Luangpor Teeans concrete and detailed descriptions of the arising of such phenomena and of the attitude of letting them pass by without attachment, gives a more vivid definition and may help us to understand the Sutta.

4.1.2

The Body in the Body

Although Luangpor Teean rarely uses the phrase body in the body feeling in the feeling and so on, his instructions are in keeping with the commentarial interpretations of that phrase. He insists on observation of the body and its postures and movements, of thoughts, and the rest as such and in the moment. One is to observe the object itself, not thinking about it or observing ideas about it. At the same time, like the commentaries, he calls for an analytical gaze that sees the constituent parts of the objects of awareness.

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4.2

The Stages and the Four Foundations

Luangpor Teean does not explicitly correlate progress in Dynamic Meditation with the four foundations of the Sutta. However, such a correlation is not difficult to identify, and in making it explicit, we may come to a more complete understanding of both Dynamic Meditation and of the Satipahnasutta.

4.2.1

Contemplation of the Body (Kynupassan)

The Sutta begins this section with instructions for breathing meditation. Luangpor Teean, while not denying the possible utility of meditation with breathing, de-emphasises it, concerned that too much attention to the breathing can lead to samatha and away from vipassan. In this, Luangpor Teean clearly alters the method of the Sutta, or at least removes one of its techniques. The relation between vipassan and samatha in the Sutta and in Luangpor Teeans teachings will be addressed below. The Suttas instructions on being aware of both major and minor postures/movements are fully integrated into Dynamic Meditation. Similarly, the extension of the cultivation of mindfulness beyond formal meditation to ordinary daily activities such as eating and using the toilet is shared by both Dynamic Meditation and the Sutta. Luangpor Teeans further extension of the cultivation to on-the-job duties, appear to go beyond the Sutta. The Sutta says that the meditator should be aware when taking a long or a short breath in the way that a turner is aware of taking a long or a short turn. That, however, is metaphor: it does not say that the turner, in being aware of making long or short turns, is thereby cultivating mindfulness. Luangpor Teean, in effect, is saying that the turner is indeed cultivating mindfulness by performing his craft mindfully. Such an extension, nevertheless, seems reasonable, and nothing in the Sutta forbids such an interpretation. Moreover, a number of Luangpor Teeans lay students report that such cultivation on the job is indeed possible and effective. 4 This may constitute a valuable extension of the satipahna method in the modern age, when the rhythms of an industrial economy give the laity free time in small portions, without long periods for meditation retreats.
4

Kongsak Tanphaichitr, Essence of Life.

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Dynamic Meditation seems to have nothing corresponding to the meditations on the repulsiveness of corpses. Neither does it seem to include the meditations on the dhtu, earth, water, fire, or air. What seems to be an innovation is the practice of deliberate movements, even while sitting. The Sutta has the meditator at the beginning sitting cross-legged and erect, and being mindful of breathing. This suggests sitting still without deliberate movement of any kind. Luangpor Teean has added a new technique. Still, this does not seem to me to be beyond the spirit of the Sutta, especially since such movements as eating are included in the Sutta, and the movements of eating are indeed deliberate. It would seem that in deliberate rhythmic movement, Luangpor Teean has discovered a technique that is effective for some people in the contemporary world that perhaps would not have been effective for the audience of the Buddha in quite a different place and time. If we accept that people in widely different cultures may respond differently to the same practices, than we must allow reasonable flexibility in the interpretation of traditional meditation practices. Luangpor Teeans innovation here seems well within reason. Another innovation is Luangpor Teeans insistence that there be no mental or verbal recitation of the movements, such as rising, falling moving, stopping and the like. Again, though such recitations are common in modern vipassan techniques, Luangpor Teean fears that they lead to samatha. Whether the Sutta itself advises such recitations is debateable. It is true that the Sutta has such instructions as (quotation marks in original): and so he trains himself, thinking: I will breathe out 5 mindfulness that there is a body 6 Here, a monk thinks: Such is form 7
Maurice Walshe, tr., The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dghanikya), p. 336. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid, p. 343.
5

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Yet such instructions may simply indicate what the meditator is to be aware of, rather than literally that he should recite these words as if it were a kind of mantra. The ruling consideration here should be maintaining awareness just to the extent necessary and not clinging to anything. Recitation may indeed be useful for some in the beginning. However, it seems that at some point in the development of mindfulness, Luangpor Teean is right that the recitation may distract from the actual object of awareness and lead towards excessive concentration. Again, I believe that the Sutta is flexible enough to accommodate Luangpor Teeans position.

4.2.2

Contemplation of feeling (Vedannupassan)

The contemplation of feeling appears at first glance to be missing from Dynamic Meditation, as Luangpor Teean rarely speaks explicitly and exclusively about awareness of feelings. This may partly be due to the fact that the foundations themselves, while discernible, are not sharply delineated in Dynamic Meditation. At the same time, it should be acknowledged that the Sutta itself gives little space to feelings as compared to body or dhammas. We may suspect that part of the nmadhammas seen at the end of Luangpor Teeans initial stage includes feeling. Indeed, the inclusion of nmadhammas with rpadhamma when rpa-nma comes to be seen indicates that Luangpor Teeans initial stage includes both the contemplation of body and the contemplation of feelings. When he says that with awareness of rpa-nma one becomes aware of rpa disease and nma disease, he means, at least in part, being aware of physical and mental pain, 8 varieties of vedan. By extension, one would be aware of physical and mental pleasure as well. In TeacherTeaching, Luangpor Teean defines mind disease as gladness, sadness, pleasure, unpleasure, 9 thus equating it with vedan. Moreover, though Luangpor Teean did not directly emphasize the contemplation of feeling, he always pointed out the ordinary in mind that was neutral and without defilements. Especially in the third and fourth stages, neutral feeling supports the meditator in the ability to see the origin of thoughts clearly. Even in the final stage, equanimity appears in the stage of

8 9

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 111f. Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Teacher-Teaching, p. 23.

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Nibbna. 10 Awareness of vedan is, then, implicitly included in Dynamic Meditation.

4.2.3

Contemplation of Mind (Cittnupassan)

Cittnupassan, while occupying only a short section in the Sutta occupies the bulk of Luangpor Teeans teaching of Dynamic Meditation. I understand citta here to mean both the mind, that is, consciousness, and the thinking process. In Dynamic Meditation, in progressing from rpa-nma to nmarpa, one becomes aware of thoughts and that the mind thinks. At that point, the meditator will have embarked upon the contemplation of citta. This is also the point at which, according to Luangpor Teean, meditation really begins. In comparison with the Sutta, which simply says that one should be aware of the current state of citta, Luangpor Teeans instructions are more concrete and pragmatic: they tell the meditator what to do. He teaches that when a thought arises, look at it, observe it. With practice, awareness becomes quick and strong, able to observe all the thoughts as they arise and finally to identify the origin of the thoughts. With this perspective and with strengthened awareness, the Dynamic Meditation meditator sees the various states of mind, for example the presence of lobha, dosa, and moha, that the Sutta mentions. It may not matter at this point that Luangpor Teean would assign these states of mind to thoughts independent of the mind, rather than to the mind itself. His practice is to observe them without attachment, without going into them. Indeed, certain states of mind, for example the deluded state, is automatically dispelled upon being observed, while other states, such as developed, will automatically be strengthened under observation. Luangpor Teeans detailed instructions on how the different states of mind arise and become defiled greatly clarify how the meditator is to practice cittnupassan. For example, understanding gained from meditative observation generates ideas about that new understanding, and happiness (pti) over the new ideas. These ideas and the attendant happiness, tend to distract attention from the objects of observation themselves and from the task of meditation. The distraction, however, dissolves when the meditator simply observes the ideas and the happiness, an observation that is assisted by continuing the rhythmic movements and reviewing the earlier objects of meditation. This, then, is a concrete instruction how to be
10

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 136.

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aware of the states of mind, with awareness just to the extent necessary for knowledge, clinging to nothing in the world.

4.2.4

Contemplation of Dhammas (Dhammnupassan)

I cannot discern a clear division in Luangpor Teeans teachings between citta and dhammnupassan. It would appear rather that as mindfulness is strengthened and clarity is deepened, the awareness gradually becomes more detailed, taking more and more dhammas into its field. Indeed, in Dynamic Meditation, the contemplation of dhammas begins at the rpa-nma stage, before contemplation of citta. Scattered here and there throughout his teaching, Luangpor Teean mentions most of the dhammas that are collected under this heading in the Sutta. The Four Noble Truths provide one obvious example of dhammas included in Luangpor Teeans teachings. In the initial stage, suffering appears in the observation of rpa-disease, nma-disease and bodily movement. In the second stage thoughts are known as suffering and the realization comes that thoughts become the cause of suffering since they are defiled by lobha, dosa, and moha. With the strengthening of mindfulness, awareness, and right concentration from the second to the fourth stage, one becomes able to observe the arising and falling of defilements till the mind returns to the ordinary that is Nibbna, the end of suffering. This does not conflict with the Sutta. In the Sutta, many of the dhammas named under this foundation were already named in earlier foundations. For example, rpa, vedan, and citta are all listed again under dhammas. Dhammas then appear simply to supply greater detail to what went before. I surmise from this that the Buddha did not intend the four foundations as a strict temporal sequence, but as maturing process in which contemplation of the body already includes potential elements of vedan, citta, and dhammas, which, with practice, grow into full objects of contemplation, roughly, but not necessarily, in the order given. Such a maturation of awareness and of objects of contemplation is precisely what Luangpor Teean describes.

4.3

Stages of Enlightenment

Luangpor Teean correlates advancement in Dynamic Meditation with achievement of the successive stages of Enlightenment. These are,

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of course, those of the sotpanna, sakadgm, angm, and arahant. Luangpor Teean, however typically does not name them and I shall, therefore refer to them, as he does, as the first, second, third, and fourth stage of Enlightenment. When the meditator has achieved awareness of thoughts as objective entities and of the origin of thoughts, he has achieved the first stage of Enlightenment. The second stage of Enlightenment comes with a sudden realization of grasping and clinging; one comes to truly know the defilements, tah, clinging, and kamma, which then become tasteless, impotent. At the third stage, the mind becomes ordinary, and at the forth stage all defilements are completely eradicated. We can discern a correlation of the stages in Luangpor Teeans teachings with the traditional and canonical paring away of the fetters (sayojanas) at each progressive stage of enlightenment. 11 Upon achieving stream-entry (sotpatti), three fetters, personality-belief (sakkyadihi), sceptical-doubt (vicikicch), and attachment to rules and ritual (slabbataparmsa) are overcome. In Dynamic Meditation, upon the realization of rpa and nma one comes to know the body and the mind in their natural condition, 12 corresponding to the eradication of personality belief; the disappearance of the second and third fetters, sceptical-doubt, and attachment to rules and rituals, is spoken of on page 160 of Phlik Lok. At the second stage of Dynamic Meditation, lobha-dosa-moha and kilesa-tah-updna-kamma are destroyed. 13 At the third stage, the mind becomes ordinary. 14 These would correspond to the traditional account of the weakening and eradication of the fourth and fifth fetters, sensual desire (kmachanda) and ill will (vypda), hence of all five lower fetters, that occurs in the once-returner (sakadgmi) and nonreturner (angm). The five higher fetters, desire for experience of the rpa realms (rparga), desire for experience of the arpa realms (arparga), conceit (mna), restlessness (uddhacca), and ignorance (avijj) are
11 12

Nyanatiloka, Buddhist Dictionary, sv Ariya-puggala. Ibid, p. 159. 13 Ibid, pp. 123-126. 14 Ibid, pp. 127-137.

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eradicated in the arahant in the traditional and canonical schema. Luangpor names only avijj as being eradicated at the fourth stage. However it is manifestly clear that both restlessness and mna which means ranking oneself as better worse of equal to others has been overcome at this stage. Rparga and arparga, on the other hand, have to do with the jhna states of samatha meditation. Since Dynamic Meditation does not aspire or lead to such states, we would not expect Luangpor to mention the desire for them at this point, or even for such desires to arise. In short, it is clear that the five higher fetters disappear at the fourth stage of Dynamic Meditation according to Luangpor Teeans teachings. 15 Luangpor Teeans statements of when the stages of Enlightenment come are based on his own experience. Without doubting his Enlightenment and the process by which it occurred for him, we may suppose that things may not transpire in exactly the same way for others.

4.4

Samatha versus Vipassan

As noted in Chapter II, the Nikyas do not appear to treat samatha and vipassan meditation as sharply distinct methods. Dhammadinn went so far as teach that the way to cultivate concentration was through the four satipahnas. As noted, the Sutta itself, by including the jhnas among the objects of contemplation, implies that the meditator will have practiced samatha prior to, or in conjunction with, satipahna practice. Moreover, traditionally, the Buddha himself attained Enlightenment with the rpajjhnas as its basis. 16 Luangpor Teeans distrust of samatha and his constant cautions against it seem to contradict the intent of the Sutta on this point. His position is obviously based on his own experiencehe made progress in insight only when he stopped samatha practice. There are two possibilities here. First, it is possible that his prior practice which, judging from his descriptions, combined samatha and vipassan, formed a necessary preliminary to his rapid progress in insight, once he had ceased the silent recitations. In other words, by that
Ibid. Using jhna in the traditional and canonical sense rather than in the very different sense that Luangpor Teean gave the term.
16 15

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time he had developed his ability to concentrate to the point that he could open his awareness to a gentler view, without losing mindfulness: a certain skill in concentration may be necessary for sustained mindfulness. Luangpor Teean may not have realized the importance of that preliminary work. The second possibility is a misunderstanding of the term samatha itself. Luangpor Teean was concerned that samatha would give rise to visions and illusions that would detour the meditator from the track of Enlightenment. But in the Suttas, samatha at the level of the rpajjhnas may not have been intended to lead to visions and the like. It is even possible that some correlation of Dynamic Meditation with the jhnas is possible. In both, discursive thought is overcome, pti is overcome, and equanimity is achieved. To the extent that such a correlation is possible, Luangpor Teeans method might well be said to include samatha in the sense that the term is used in the Suttas. In that case, Luangpor Teeans distrust of samatha is not in conflict with the Suttas. Rather, what he distrusts is a modern misunderstanding of samatha. This is only a suggestion, however, as such an investigation is beyond the scope of this thesis.

4.5 4.5.1

Concept, Theory, and Practice Rpa and Nma

In the previous chapter, I noted Luangpor Teeans distinction of rpa-nma from nmarpa. He appears to be using the terminology in a new way here. Rpa-nma does not, to my knowledge, appear within either the Canon or the tradition as a concept distinct from nmarpa. Yet the distinction that Luangpor makes here is important. Moreover, once it is understood, is seen to be a distinction that the tradition itself makes in the progress of insight through meditation. By rpa-nma he seems to mean simply physical things and mental things, and especially nma as awareness and rpa as the postures and movements of the body. That is how nmarpa is often understood in the tradition. 17 As noted above (Section 3.3.1.2), at this stage, one comes
17

Nyanatiloka, op cit, sv nmarpa.

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to see dukkha-anicca-anatt especially as associated with rpa, as the postures and movements. 18 By nmarpa, on the other hand, Luangpor Teean evidently means awareness of rpa where rpa also includes mental objects of awareness, for example, thoughts and lobha, dosa, and moha. Especially, as discussed above (Section 3.3.2), by nmarpa he means a reflexive awareness: awareness of awareness-of-something. Again, to speak of a watchmaker in terms of rpa-nma is to speak of the watch and his awareness of it. To speak of the watchmaker in terms of nmarpa is to speak of his reflexive awareness of being aware of the watch. Luangpors distinction here appears to be a more detailed account of the development of consciousness in The Analytical Knowledge of Name-and-Form (nmarpa pariccheda aa), the first of the traditional progressive Sixteen Knowledges (soasaa) leading to full enlightenment. According to Mahasi Sayadaw, this Knowledge is concerned with insight practice and refers to the understanding of nmarpa. It also means meditation on nmarpa and to be aware of it. It is basic insight knowledge, or analytical knowledge, of nmarpa and of conditionality. 19 As mind-and-body, or awareness of physical things (for example bodily movements) Luangpors rpa-nma means what nmarpa traditionally means, and Luangpors nmarpa means awareness of nmarpa, in other words, the first Knowledge of the soasaa. This understanding of the soasaa confirms Luangpor Teeans teachings about nma in the context of the practice of meditation as awareness. This also confirms his saying that the knowledge of rpanma is only the bark, meaning that it is only the surface, like the bark of a tree, that is, that it is only the beginning and that the meditator must go deeper to get to the core. The meditator begins by cultivating awareness of bodily movements, rpa-nma, but insight meditation only begins fully, for Luangpor Teean, with reflexive awareness of the awareness of bodily movement, that is with the first soasaa Knowledge. If he sometimes uses rpa (corporeality 20 ) to refer to thoughts, his point is that thoughts, like physical things, can be objects of consciousness, a valid and important concept. Indeed, the content of his discussion about
Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 113. Sudarat Bantaokul, Vipassan-a (insight knowledge): an Analytical Study of Soasaa (the Successive Stages of Sixteen Knowledges) in Theravda Buddhism, (Bangkok: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, 2003), p. 71. 20 Nyanatiloka, op cit, sv nmarpa, Rpa.
19 18

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nma and rpa are well within the traditional Theravda understanding of consciousness, even if his use of the terms is unusual.

4.5.2

Dukkha-anicca-anatt

Luangpor Teeans understanding of these central concepts is interesting. He distinguishes dukkha from feelings of pain or sorrow, identifying it as something more than fleeting sensations. In this he is traditional: dukkha is a fundamental condition of conscious beings. In observing bodily movement, movement and posture are seen to be dukkha. He explains that turning the hand up and down, blinking the eyes, and breathing in and out are all suffering.21 Dukkha is attached to rpa. It is unbearable. Anicca is uncertainty, changing all the time, the inability to stay in one position. Anatt is uncontrollability. 22 In the Sixteen Knowledges, the third Knowledge is Knowledge by Comprehension of Groups (sammasanaa) or, Knowledge by Comprehension of the Three Characteristics of Existence. 23 At this stage: As the practitioners concentration becomes further strengthened during the course of taking note of rising, falling, sitting, touchingcomprehend it is suffering in the sense of breaking up after each arisingcomprehend them as just a conglomeration of suffering. Further, he comprehends the object as consisting of mere impersonal phenomena without a master, in the sense of not arising of or by themselves, but arising subject to conditions and then breaking up. He realizes that incessant arising and ceasing constitutes dukkha and that what is not subjected to anyones control or will is not self. 24 Luangpor Teeans teachings on dukkha, then, are very much in line with tradition.

4.5.3

The Existence of Defilements, Thoughts, and Avijj

In the contemplation of mind and of dhammas, both Dynamic Meditation and the Satipahnasutta take the defilements as real and as
21 22

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, pp. 112-113. Ibid, p. 203. 23 See Bantaokul, op cit, p. 76. 24 Bantaokul, op cit, pp. 75-76.

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objects of meditation. Both instruct the meditator to contemplate the arising and vanishing of defilements. Although Luangpor Teean may not have instructed his students to observe the arising and vanishing of defilements in explicitly specific terms, he did speak of the experience of knowing the arising and the vanishing of lobha-dosa-moha and kilesatah-updna-kamma, in the first and second stages and thus by strong implication taught the observation of the arising and the vanishing of defilements. 25 But Luangpor Teean placed particular emphasis on the vanishing of defilements in that he instructed his students to see that in their minds defilements do not exist. This prods the student to realize the natural condition of the mind at the moment of listening to teachings, when there are no defilements in the mind. That is, the mind that Luangpor defined as ordinary. There is therefore no contradiction is saying at one time that defilements exist and at another that defilements do not exist. Both conditions are reality and Luangpor Teean is here well within the tradition and is certainly consistent with the teachings of the Suttas. A possible difference is that for the tradition, the defilements exist in the mind, while for Luangpor Teean, they exist only in thoughts. Thoughts, however, are for Luangpor Teean objects of awareness and thus in front of, as it were, and external to the mind. But if we recall that according to Luangpor Teean language is always only convention, it may not matter whether we say that defilements exist in thought or that they exist in mind, the important teaching is the practice which includes observing the defilements (and thoughts) in meditation. It is the practice of observation of defilements and thoughts that are factors in leading to the highest, not the theory that they are internal or external to the mind. Luangpors teaching that the defilements are external to the mind helps the meditator to observe them. As a practical teaching, then, Luangpor Teean is consistent with the tradition and the Suttas. Given Luangpors teaching that all language is conventional, that words are always insufficient, we may assume that he was not giving a doctrinal-theoretical teaching here, and we may thus safely disregard the possible difference here. Both tradition and Luangpor Teean agree that avijj is the cause of suffering. According to the Dependent Origination doctrine, avijj, literally ignorance, or not-knowing, of the truth of suffering, is the
25

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, pp. 120-124.

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ultimate cause of suffering and its elimination, by removing the cause, would also remove suffering. To eliminate suffering requires eliminating the defilements, which are its cause. Luangpor Teean defined avijj as not knowing thoughts. 26 Thoughts according to his teachings are suffering and defilements in the thoughts are the causes of suffering. To eliminate suffering requires the destruction of the defilements. The defilements in the thoughts, in turn, can be dissolved simply by mindfully observing the thoughts. The way to end suffering, therefore, is to observe the thoughts by using mindfulness, and that is the way of the Noble Path. 27 This is without question consistent with satipahna practice.

4.5.4

The Objectivity of Thoughts and Other Mental Phenomena

Luangpor Teean treats thoughts and other mental phenomena as objective rather than subjective entities. This serves to designate them as things that can be observed and from which we can gain independence: ordinarily we are inside them and hence led along by them and lost in them. As objective entities, it is possible to step out of them and no longer be led or lost. That thoughts and the rest can, and should, be observed, and that under observation they can be made not to lead us astray, seems like a direct re-statement of the Sutta. That ideas, visions and the like are objective entities that can be observed expresses the doctrinal designation of them as rammaa, objects of awareness. It may be difficult when reading transcriptions rather than when actually receiving his instruction in a meditation setting, to understand what it means to be inside or outside of thoughts. If thoughts are outside the mind, how could one be in them? If, on the other hand, thought were to mean the process of thinking (the mind thinks! he said at one point), how could one be outside it? The problem, again, is in reading these transcriptions as though Luangpor Teean had written a doctrinal-theoretical treatise, rather than hearing them as practical meditation instructions. The image of stepping out of thought, is an effective way of getting meditators to observe both ideas and the thinking process and in that sense, this teaching is pedagogically correct. Still, we may conceptualize this image of in or
26 27

Ibid, pp. 91, 117. Ibid, p. 127.

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out of thought as being lost among (rather than inside) thoughts, from which position one could step out from among them. The image of being out from among thoughts and observing them and thus cutting off defiled thoughts, suggests the possibility of deliberate thinking, that is of thinking with mindfulness of the thoughts as well as of the subject matter. We may suppose that it was the mode of mindful deliberate thinking that Luangpor gave his teachings. Again, Luangpor Teean repeatedly insists that his teachings are only words, and that taking them as genuine knowledge is a defilement. Similarly, maintaining that the ordinary mind is always already undefiled, clean, bright, and peaceful, encouraged simple awareness of movements and thoughts as opposed to attempts to enter into mystical, hyper-ordinary states. The idea of an already undefiled ordinary mind also suggests to meditators that they already possess the mind with which to observe ephemeral thoughts, that is, that they are capable of genuine meditation, and at the same time giving them hope and encouragement by assuring them that they were indeed capable of enlightenment. Together with Luangpors image of the mind as like the sun that is obscured but not touched by the clouds, there seems to be a hint here that the ordinary mind is permanent, even eternal. That would suggest the Mahyna doctrine of original mind in contradistinction to the Theravda doctrine of a constantly changing and contingent mind (see Section 2.2.2 above). However, even for the theory of moments in which the mind is seen to completely cease and reappear from moment to moment, states of mind, memories, moods, and so on are transmitted from one moment to the next. 28 We can then understand Luangpors teaching as saying that indeed the ordinariness the potential and essential purity, and hence the potential for enlightenment is always transmitted from one mind-moment to the next. That potential then, passed or renewed from moment to moment, is the sun that is obscured but not touched by the clouds. If I may extend this idea slightly, perhaps we could say that each new mindmoment is also a new beginning, a new possibility for entering the path to enlightenment. Luangpors teaching of the undefiled ordinary mind indicates that ever renewed possibility.

Phra Assajita Dhammajito (Awale), An Analytical Study on Concept of Citta and Its Significance in Theravada Buddhist Philosophy, (Bangkok: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Press, 2000/2543 BE), pp. 69-70.

28

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Once again, Luangpors teachings serve the practice of meditation, not the formulation of doctrine.

4.6

Results

In this section, I first examine the promised and actual results of the Sutta and of Dynamic Meditation in terms of progress on the path to enlightenment. I next inquire into whether genuine vipassan is achieved, that is, whether or not the quality of mind achieved in Dynamic Meditation is similar to that traditionally achieved in vipassan meditation.

4.6.1

Promised Results

In the Satipahnasutta, the Buddha maintains that one who practices the satipahna method correctly will become enlightened as an angm or arahant within seven days to seven years. Luangpor Teean makes a similar if more modest, claim for Dynamic Meditation. Practicing Dynamic Meditation correctly, he claims, will have results within 90 days to a few years. Those results range from a significant reduction in dukkha to full enlightenment; the diligent meditator will attain cleanliness, brightness, peace, and full awareness. Luangpor Teean does not typically speak in terms of the traditional four stages of enlightenment and it is difficult therefore to determine whether he meant a significant reduction in dukkha to be equivalent to attainment of angm or one of the other stages. Nevertheless, it is clear that he meant that some would become arahants through his method. It appears to me that we should not take the claims of either the Sutta or of Luangpor Teean too rigidly. Certainly many people have practiced satipahna diligently for seven days and more without becoming angms. On the other hand, many people are represented in the Nikyas as having achieved enlightenment in much less than seven days. Similarly, Luangpor Teean himself achieved full enlightenment within only a few days of practicing Dynamic Meditation, and others report similar results in fewer than 90 days. However, there are no doubt also those who practiced Dynamic Meditation without the promised results.

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One may say, of course, that those who failed to achieve the promised results did not practice correctly. However, to say so opens up the problem of measurement. How do we know whether or not a given individual practiced correctly or not? How do we know what results, if any, were achieved? How do we detect enlightenment? In order to evaluate any meditation method, we must be able to determine the correctness with which the meditator follows the method and the extent to which he approaches or achieves enlightenment. And we must be able to determine these two things separately from each other. To say, Those who failed to achieve results did not practice correctly, is only to claim that the method is effectiveit provides no criteria to evaluate the claim. But, again, how do we make the determination? Much of the practice is internal and hence inaccessible to objective observation. We can observe meditators sitting and moving their arms, for example, but we have no way of knowing the quality of their awareness of the movements. Similarly, since the reduction of dukkha and enlightenment are internal states; we cannot observe them objectively. We have little to go on, then, save for the reports of meditators and meditation teachers. Yet such reports may not be reliable. People are quite capable of deceiving others, and themselves, over their states of mind. As Luangpor Teean himself repeatedly emphasized, it is common for a person genuinely to believe that he is enlightened when he is not: the belief itself is delusion. My evaluation of results must therefore remain tentative. In searching for published reports of people who have practiced Dynamic Meditation, I have encountered the problem that the only such reports are published either by the Luangpor Teean Foundation, or else are written by those who seek to place Dynamic Meditation in a positive light. In other words, published reports of meditators are testimonials presented in an essentially promotional context. Although I take these reports to be truthful, they nonetheless give only a very partial picture. Negative reports would not have been solicited and, if submitted, would not have been published. For this reason, I sought out and interviewed Dynamic Meditation practitioners on my own. There is a further, and well-known, problem in relying on meditators own reports to evaluate the results of the practice. That is the problem of transference, in which the meditator in reporting his own

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experience, in fact, simply repeats what he has heard from the master. The student performs a kind of psychological imitation of the master, believing wrongly that he has achieved actual progress toward awakening. This phenomenon is evident in some published reports in which the meditators description of certain stages of progress mirror nearly word-for-word Luangpors description of his own progressa description that was a regular feature of his Dhamma talks. Allowing for these problems, published reports of meditators indicate that the technique has been effective for at least some practitioners. They report reduction in stress levels and in levels of such negative emotions as anger. Some report experiences in meditation and increased clarity of mind that may indicate the achievement of some level of enlightenment, and some, like Luangpor Teean himself say directly that they achieved enlightenment through the practice of Dynamic Meditation. Of course, we cannot take such claims at face value, since it is easy to be mistaken about the state of ones own mind. However, I do not believe that these people are lying, and if they feel less stressful, have less anger and the like, then it is likely that the stress and anger has actually been reduced at least to some extent. Moreover, we cannot assume that the authors of these reports are mistaken. It could very well be that many have achieved enlightenment through this method. As noted in the previous chapter, those who progressed to and beyond the rpa-nma stage passed through stages of awareness of thoughts, of mind and of rising-and-falling. Those reports suggest an experiential correlation to the four satipahnas, with body fitting into the initial stage of awareness of movements, feeling into the rpa-nma stage, mind in the awareness of thoughts and of minds, and dhammas in the rising-and-falling stage. That the correlation of stages that we identified above in the teachings should be reflected in the actual experience of meditators is significant, indicating that Dynamic Meditation, without explicitly naming the four foundations, is, in practice, one implementation of the method of the Satipahnasutta. My face-to-face interviews tend to confirm the published reports. Similar experiences and results were reported. Being face to face with the interviewees and able to ask probing questions, I became convinced of their honesty in reporting results and that the positive results in the published reports are real, at least for some people.

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To the extent that it can be determined, then, the results of Dynamic Meditation would seem to be consistent with the results promised in the Satipahnasutta.

4.6.2

The Attainment of Vipassan

We may also ask whether the quality of the meditation is similar to that achieved in satipahna practice. I approach the question by searching for the Sixteen Knowledges (soasaa) detailed in the Visuddhimagga, in Luangpor Teeans descriptions of the experiences of Dynamic Meditation. My assumption is that the Sixteen Knowledges characterise satipahna practice, although the Sutta does not explicitly say so. Indeed the Sixteen Knowledges do not, as such, appear in the Tipiaka. Sudarat Bantaokul, however, has shown that they are implicit in the Nikyas, 29 and the Visuddhimagga 30 itself links the Knowledges to satipahna meditation practice. Certainly, some features of the Sutta seem similar to one or more of the Sixteen Knowledges. For example, nma and rpa are clearly distinguished in the Sutta, as they are in the first three Knowledges. The awareness of arising and vanishing phenomena in the Sutta, similarly, recalls the fourth and fifth Knowledges. The Knowledges are: 31 1. Knowledge of the delimitation of nma from rpa. 2. Knowledge discerning the conditions of nmarpa. 3. Knowledge of comprehending nmarpa as anicca, dukkha, and anatt. 4. Knowledge of contemplation of rising and falling. 5. Knowledge of contemplation of dissolution.
Bantaokul, op cit,. E.g. Vism I 6, I 51. 31 Adapted from Matara Sri rma Mahthera, The Seven Stages of Purification and the Insight Knowledges, (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1983), pp 21.
30 29

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6. Knowledge of appearances as terror. 7. Knowledge of contemplation of danger. 8. Knowledge of contemplation of disenchantment. 9. Knowledge of desire for deliverance. 10. Knowledge of contemplation of reflection. 11. Knowledge of equanimity regarding formations. 12. Conformity knowledge. 13. Change of lineage knowledge. 14. Path knowledge. 15. Fruition knowledge. 16. Reviewing knowledge. Items four through twelve are termed vipassana, or insight knowledges. 32 In stages three and four, the meditator is subject to ten vipassanpakkilesas, or defilements of insight, which impede further progress. 33 These are: illumination, knowledge, pti, calm, joy (sukha), resolve (adhimokka), energy, self-assurance (upahna), equanimity, and attachment. 34 The second knowledge is a defilement in that the meditator gains insight and knowledge but is deluded in believing that the knowledge is supramundane. He becomes enthusiastic in preaching. As a result, his meditation suffers a setback. 35 It is quite clear from our discussion in Chapter III that the first three Knowledges are achieved in the rpa-nma stage of Dynamic Meditation. In that stage one comes to see rpa as the movements of the body and nma as the movements of the mind. Seeing that it is rpa and nma that act, not a self or a soul, the meditator comes to see dukkha,
32 33

Ibid, p. 44. Ibid, p. 38. 34 Adapted from Ibid. 35 Ibid, p. 39.

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anicca, and anatt. That the early stage of Dynamic Meditation gives rise to the first three Knowledges, is made strikingly clear in the fact that towards the end of this stage the Dynamic Meditator encounters difficulties that are identical to some of the classical defilements of insight. Indeed Luangpor himself refers to them as vipassanpakkilesas. The meditator has visions. He gains new insights and experiences pti (enthusiasm), and unwarranted self-assurance. He goes about elaborating his insights and teaching others. Distracted by visions, excitement, and joy, and imagining that he has already arrived at the goal, he does not progress. These qualities correspond directly to illumination, knowledge, pti, and self-assurance in the classical list. The similarity in difficulties at this stage is further confirmation that the effects of Dynamic Meditation are similar to those traditionally expected of satipahna practice. Perhaps because Dynamic Meditation progresses so rapidly, it is difficult to discern each of the following Knowledges. However, it seems significant that progressing from the rpa-nma stage to the nmarpa stage is when, according to Luangpor the real vipassan begins, and the first jhna is achieved. In the classical list of Knowledges, vipassana, insight knowledge, begins at precisely this point, in the move beyond the third knowledge. Many of the classical Knowledges are clearly present in Dynamic Meditation. The knowledge of contemplation of rising and falling and the knowledge of contemplation of dissolution are indicated in Luangpor's statement that, all things just came apart and the state of arising/passing appeared, to be seen, known and understood. 36 The reports of Luangpor and others that life and its concerns became tasteless or impotent may correspond to the knowledge of contemplation of disenchantment. The genuine equanimity achieved through insight discussed by Luangpor may be the same as the knowledge of contemplation of equanimity. I do not feel competent to comment on the higher Knowledges, but the above strongly suggests that Dynamic Meditation gives meditative results very similar to that traditionally expected of satipahna practice.

36

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho, Phlik Lok, p. 135.

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Chapter V Conclusions and Recommendations

5.1 5.1.1

Conclusions

The Technique

I believe that I have shown that Dynamic Meditation can be considered to be a form of satipahna meditation within the Theravda tradition. I have considered theory, technique, promised results and actual results, and along all these dimensions the similarities are strong. It is true that the parallels are not perfect: Dynamic Meditation and the Satipahnasutta each contain features that are missing from the other. The continuous rhythmic movement characteristic of Dynamic Meditation does not appear in the Sutta. However, both emphasize maintaining awareness of all activities and movements, whether part of formal meditation or not. These include the major and minor postures/movements and such deliberate movements as eating. Luangpor has simply extended the practice of observing bodily movements to moving the arms and hands while sitting, and this seems a reasonable extension of the satipahna method. Many practices of the Sutta do not occur in Dynamic Meditation. These include observation of the breath, the contemplation of repulsiveness and the contemplation of corpses. The contemplation of feeling, vedannupassan, is not often spoken of explicitly, but is clearly present in Dynamic Meditation. I believe that the Sutta should be understood as a collection of possible methods, a range of options from which the meditation master may choose those which are most suitable for each particular studentand which he feels the most competent to teach. It does not appear that the Buddha intended every meditator to conduct every practice of the Sutta. The Sutta, in other words presents a methodology rather than a single method. If this is the case, then Luangpor Teean would appear to have taught a method within of the wider methodology of the Sutta. Judging by the results of my research,

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his method, Dynamic Meditation, is effective and complete for many people.

5.1.2

The Doctrinal Content of the Teachings

Things are more difficult when we turn to the theoretical and doctrinal content of his teachings. His teachings are important and profound, and, as we have seen, largely orthodox. Yet he often uses technical Pali terms in non-standard ways, making his teachings sometimes difficult to understand. Using the term jhna, for example, to refer to stages of enlightenment, or applying the term rpa to thoughts, may possibly confuse the reader who already knows the standard definitions of the terms. In most cases his meaning appears to correspond to traditional teachings and there are indeed traditional ways to express his meanings. His lack of formal education and the fact that he only acquired literacy late in life are often presented as strengths: his teaching was of his own experience, not just things memorised from books. The lack of formal education may well attest to the genuineness of his insight and the originality of his teaching. It is indeed remarkable that so much of his unschooled wisdom, once we understand it, corresponds to the wisdom preserved in the tradition. But again, there is the danger that he may be seriously misunderstood. No doubt, he is right the words are merely convention and that we should not be attached to them. The problem, however, is that, now that he is gone, we cannot ask him to clarify his meanings for us. As his teachings are distributed in book form and translated into other languages, the dangers of misunderstanding, and of his teachings consequently being lost, are greatly increased by the fact that we dont always know what meanings he attached to certain words. This danger became clear to me in reading the English translation, Normality, side-by-side with the original Thai Phlik Lok and Pakati. In the essential doctrines of the four noble truths and paiccasamuppda, Luangpor is in full agreement with the tradition. It may be pointed out how closely Luangpor Teeans teachings about obstacles that arise in the course of practice parallels the Visuddhimaggas treatment of the vipassanpakkilesas, defilements of insight. Luangpors detailed descriptions of how progress in insight comes to be transformed into obstacles or defilements, and his

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instructions for overcoming them, I believe, may contribute greatly to our understanding of this phenomenon and to the meditators ability to overcome them. This is worthy of further study. In areas of possible a divergence of Luangpor Teeans teachings from the doctrinal tradition, we found that when read as practical instructions to meditators, the possible divergences disappear. Thus teachings about the objectivity of defilements and thoughts or the purity of ordinary mind serve pedagogically to situate the meditator mindfully in relation to defilements, thoughts, and mind. That is to bring about in the meditator the mindful attitude of satipahna practice. Indeed, as noted early on, Luangpor Teean did not write books. Rather he gave instructions, orally and face-to-face in practical, meditation settings. It is essential, then, to read these books as though one were listening to direct oral instructions, in the spirit of a meditator rather than in the spirit of a scholar. My research has convinced me that Dynamic Meditation is a valuable and effective method, capable of leading some persons quickly to enlightenment and, at the least, leading to greater personal clarity and wisdom, and consequently greater peace of mind. The doctrinal problems and terminological difficulties should not dissuade anyone from Dynamic Meditation and I do not hesitate to recommend it.

5.2

Recommendations for Further Research

A number of interesting issues have arisen in the course of my study and though they are outside the present scope, I should here like to mention some of them as directions for future research.

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5.2.1

The Role of Samatha

Luangpor Teeans distrust of samatha meditation is certainly not unique to him in the modern period. As I have indicated, however, the Suttas do not seem to make such a radical distinction between vipassan and samatha; it seems likely that Luangpor and others are objecting to samatha as it has come to be practiced in the modern period and that they would not have objected to the way that the Buddha intended it to be practiced. I should here like to suggest the possibility that Luangpors many years of practice, including samatha, were a preparation for his rapid enlightenment when he discovered and began practicing Dynamic Meditation. Although he apparently did not recognise it as such, it may well be that a certain level of skill in concentration is necessary for strictly vipassan practice, and that his prior samatha practice was instrumental in developing those skills, even though it brought no actual progress toward enlightenment. A better understanding of the role of samatha in vipassan meditation should help us to design better meditation programmes. I suggest, therefore, a survey of persons who have practiced Dynamic Meditation, in an attempt to discover correlations between prior samatha practice and progress in Dynamic Meditation.

5.2.2

The Stages of Dynamic Meditation

5.2.2.1 The Jhnas

Luangpor presents progress in Dynamic Meditation as a series of distinct stages. He refers to these stages as jhnas and sometimes correlates them to the four classical stages of enlightenment. As noted, this seems to be a simple case of using the term jhna incorrectly. There are nevertheless some intriguing hints at a real similarity between the jhnas as classically understood and the stages of enlightenment as presented by Luangpor. For example, in the second jhna as classically understood, discursive thought (vitakka and vicra) is discarded; in Dynamic Meditation, thoughts lose their power over the meditator, and defiled thoughts cease to arise. In the third jhna, as classically understood, enthusiasm (pti) is discarded; in Dynamic Meditation pti is overcome. In the fourth jhna, happiness (sukha) is replaced by

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equanimity (upekkh); and in Dynamic Meditation equanimity is achieved as well. This is only the suggestion of a correspondence, of course, but, raises the question: to what extent do the stages of Dynamic Meditation, as described by Luangpor Teean, in fact correspond to the traditional description of the jhnas? To the extent that these stages can be shown to be like the jhnas, a new and better understanding of jhna and of samatha may be forthcoming. Indeed, if the stages of Dynamic Meditation were the same as the jhnas, then Dynamic Meditation would be a form of samatha as well as of vipassan. Such a discovery would force us to revise our understanding of samatha and perhaps lead us to restore samatha and satipahna practice to the complementary roles they apparently have in the Suttas.

5.2.2.2 The Sayojanas

The four traditional stages of enlightenment are traditionally associated with a progressive eradication of the ten sayojanas (fetters). I suggested a correlation of the paring away of the fetters in classical descriptions with Luangpors recounting of what occurs at the different stages of Dynamic Meditation. A more detailed examination of Luangpors teachings, and identification of the fetters and their eradication would, I believe, be a valuable contribution to our understanding of Dynamic Meditation, and would help us more fully to situate Luangpors position within the Theravda tradition.

5.2.3

Interpreting the Satipahnasutta

I have presented here an analytical study of Dynamic Meditation and Luangpor Teeans teaching in light of the Satipahnasutta. I believe that the reverse would be fruitful as well. That is, I believe that it would be a valuable exercise to attempt a reinterpretation of the Sutta in light of Dynamic Meditation. There may be parts of the Sutta that remain obscure to us, or that we are not sure how to implement in the contemporary world. Looking at the Sutta through the lens, as it were, of Dynamic Meditation may spark new understandings for us and inspire new modes of application.

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5.2.4

Terminology

Luangpors teachings, I believe, demonstrate a profound understanding of the essence of Buddhism. His insights and stories could be instrumental, both in enhancing our academic understanding of our tradition, and in bringing the teachings of Buddhism to life in the contemporary world. His non-standard use of terms, however, may prove a hindrance to both the academic and popular contributions of his teachings. I suggest, therefore, a detailed research effort involving masters of the academic tradition, Dynamic Meditation practitioners and Dynamic Meditation teachers in an attempt to explain Luangpors teachings in standard terminology. Such an effort should enlist the assistance of those who were close to Luangpor and should be carried out while the memories of him and his teachings are still fresh. Certainly the research suggested above would require some mapping of Luangpors terminology to standard vocabulary. I believe further that such an effort would reinvigorate our understanding of the traditional terminology as well, forcing us to rethink our traditional understandings in light of Luangpors wisdom. I want here to emphasize and insist that we must not change Luangpor Teeans teachings themselves. His words must be preserved as he spoke them as the standard of Dynamic Meditation, and to convey the sense of the actual oral teachings. Nevertheless, recalling his teaching that words are always only conventional and that attachment to words is a defilement, we may find better ways of explaining Dynamic Meditation to new and wider audiences.

5.2.5

Translation

Translation from one language to another is never an easy or straightforward task. Where the languages are as divergent as Thai and English, the task is considerably more difficult. Where the concepts to be conveyed are subtle, spiritual and psychological ideas, the task may appear nearly impossible. At least some of the existing translations of Luangpor Teeans teachings into English appear to seriously distort those teachings. I therefore propose, as a major research effort, the new translation of Luangpors teachings into English. Such a translation would involve

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native Thai and Lao speakers who are conversant with English and who are familiar with Buddhist doctrine and with Luangpors teachings. It would also involve native English speakers who are conversant with Thai and Lao, and who are familiar with Buddhist doctrine and Luangpors teachings. Such a project would necessarily include Dynamic Meditation practitioners and teachers, including those who knew and were closest to Luangpor Teean.

5.2.6

Published Presentation of Luangpors Teachings

I noted above the importance of reading Luangpor Teean in the spirit of a meditator receiving oral instructions rather than in that of a scholar studying doctrines. I feel that this is so important that consideration should be given to adopting a format for publishing his teachings that reflects and encourages that spirit. One possibility would be to publish transcriptions of his talks as they were given, together with dates and a description of the situation in which the talks were given, together with any comments or questions from the students that may have been captured on the tapes. Transcriptions of question and answer sessions have been published, as have been teachings in the format just suggested. Such presentations should be encouraged and expanded. But also, research should be conducted into the best way to present these teachings so as to generate the sense of direct practical instruction, rather than of a body of doctrinal knowledge, to reconstruct as far as possible for the reader the experience of receiving these teachings directly from the Master.

5.2.7

Results of Dynamic Meditation

Many who practice Dynamic Meditation report enhancements in their daily activities. Dr. Vatana, for example said that through awareness of movement following Luangpor Teean's advice and instruction, he experienced a reduction in defilements an increase in clarity, along with increased effectiveness in his professional work, social life, and intellect. While a reduction in defilements would be difficult to measure directly, increased effectiveness in work and social and intellectual activities could be measured. I therefore propose research introducing Dynamic Meditation in schools the universities to discover whether the practice of this technique would effect academic, social, ethical, and problemsolving skills. Effects could be evaluated with such measurements as

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grades, teachers reports, and problem-solving tasks, perhaps presented as games. Such dimensions as inner calm and happiness are more difficult to measure, but perhaps standard psychological profiles could be employed. Similar programs in the workplace would be valuable as well with measurements of results derived from supervisor and peer evaluations. Besides the unquestioned benefit that the participants would get from the meditation, if Dynamic Meditation could be shown to enhance performance in specific contexts and age groups, it could be widely instituted in those contexts, thus benefiting both the practitioners and the schools, universities, and workplaces.

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Bibliography 1. Primary Sources 1.1 Pali Texts

Aguttaranikya, Vol. I, ed. R. Morris, Warder (revised). Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1989. Aguttaranikya, Vol. II, ed. R. Morris. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1995. Aguttaranikya, Vol. III, ed. E. Hardy. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1989. Dghanikya, Vols. I-II, ed. T. W. Rhys Davids and Carpenter. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1982-1995. Majjhimanikya, Vol. I, ed. Trencker. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1992. Majjhimanikya, Vol. II,. ed. Chalmers. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1992. Sayuttanikya, Vol. II, V, ed. M. Leon Feer. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1970-1991. Sumagalavilsin (Dghanikya Commentary) Vol. I, 2nd edition, ed. T. W. Rhys Davids and J. E. Carpenter. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1968. Sumagalavilsin (Dghanikya Commentary) Vol. II, 2nd edition, ed. T. W. Rhys Davids and J. E. Carpenter. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1968. Sumagalavilsin (Dghanikya Commentary) Vol. III, 2nd edition, ed. W. Stede. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1971. Sutta Nipta, ed. Anderson and Smith. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1990.

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Udna, ed. P. Steinthal. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1982. Vibhaga, ed. C. A. F. Rhys Davids. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1978. Vinaya, Vol. I. (Mahvagga), ed. H. Oldenberg. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1969. Visuddhimagga, ed. C. A. F. Rhys Davids. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1975.

1.2

Translations of Pali Texts

Bodhi, Bhikkhu, tr. ed. A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Sangaha of chariya Anuruddha. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1993. Masefield, P., tr. The Udna. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1994. amoli, Bhikkhu, tr. The Path of Purification, 2nd ed. Colombo: A. Semage, 1964. Narada Thera, tr. ed. The Dhammapada. Kuala Lumpur: Buddhist Missionary Society, 1978. Rhys Davids, C. A. F., tr. A Buddhist Manual of Psychological Ethics (Dhammasagai). London: Pali Text Society, 1974. Soma Thera, tr. The Way of Mindfulness (Satipahnasutta and Commentary). Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1981. Walshe, Maurice, tr. The Long Discourses of the Buddha (Dghanikya). London: Wisdom Publications, 1987.

1.3

Luangpor Tean Jittasubho

Cittasubho, Tee-an. Normality. tr. unknown. Bangkok: Loo-ang por Teean Cittasubho (Pun Indapiw) Foundation, 2004.

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Jittasubho, Luangpor Teean. Concentration-Insight, tr. by Anchalee Thaiyanond. Bangkok: Thammasat University Press, 1989/2532 BE. _____________. Dae Thur Phu Rusuk Toa: To One That Feels. ed. Tavivat Puntarigvivat. Songkhla: Suthammacht Foundation, 2003/2546 BE. _____________. Kanpatibat Kammathan, Prasopkan Khong Luang Po, Kan Dern Thang. Bangkok: Klum Suksa lae Patibat Tham, 1984/2527 BE. _____________. Khwam Rusuk Toa. Hardyai: Chia Tai Yia Yang Co. Ltd., 1998/2541 BE. _____________. Manual of Self Awareness, tr. unknown. Bangkok: Luangpor Teean Jittasubho Foundation, 1994. _____________. Pakati. Hardyai: Suthammacht Foundation, 2003/2546 BE. _____________. Phlik Lok: Nuea Khwamkhid. Bangkok: Glum Pert Pratu Chai, 2003/2546 BE. _____________. Saddha. Bangkok: Phapphim Ltd., 1966/2529 BE. _____________. Teacher-Teaching. tr. unknown. Bangkok: Luangpor Teean Jittasubho (Pann Intapew) Foundation, 1997. _____________. To One That Feels: The Teaching of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho. tr. ed. Tavivat Puntarigvivat and Bhikkhu Nirodho. Kuala Lumpur: W. A. V. E. reprints, 2000/2543 BE.

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2. 2.1

Secondary Sources Books

Bantaokul, Sudarat. Vipassan-a (insight knowledge): an Analytical Study of Soasaa (the Successive Stages of Sixteen Knowledges) in Theravda Buddhism. Bangkok: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, 2003. Buswell, Robert E. Jr., ed. Encyclopedia of Buddhism. New York: The Gale Group Inc., 2004. Chinnavanno, Variya et al. Samadhi as appears in the Tipitaka: The Development on Hermeneutic of the Teaching of Samadhi in Theravada Buddhism in Thailand. Bangkok: Chulalongkorn University Press, 2000/2543 BE. Dhammajito, Phra Assajita (Awale). An Analytical Study on Concept of Citta and Its Significance in Theravada Buddhist Philosophy. Bangkok: Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University Press, 2000/2543 BE. Manitchroen, Manit. Phochananukrom Thai (Thai Dictionary). Bangkok: Ruamsan, 1977/2539 BE. rma Mahthera, Matara Sri. The Seven Stages of Purification and the Insight Knowledges. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1983. Nyanaponika Thera. The Heart of Buddhist Meditation. London: Century, 1987. Nyanatiloka Mahathera. Fundamentals of Buddhism: Four Lectures. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1994. Nyanatiloka. Buddhist Dictionary: Manual of Buddhist Terms and Doctrines. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1980. Payutto, P. A. Dictionary of Buddhism. Bangkok: Suetawan Co Ltd, 2002/2545 BE.

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Rahula, Walpola Sri. What The Buddha Taught. New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1987. Rhys Davids, T. W. and Stede, W. Pali-English Dictionary. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 1998. Sirikan, Bhatharaphon. Nathi Khong Phra Song Tam Phuthdhabanyat: Naewkhid Lae Botbat Khong Phra Khamkhian Suvao Nai Kanphatthana Chumchon (The duties of the Sangha in accordance with monastic law: the thought and role of Phra Khamkhian Suvao in community development). Bangkok: Thai Khadi Research Institute, Thammasat University, 1993/2536 BE. Tanphaichitr, Kongsak. Essence of Life: Mindfulness & Self Awareness. Bangkok: Horatanachai Printing Limited Partnership, 2005. Tepvisuddhikavi, Ven. Phra. Mind Development. Bangkok: Mahamakuta Rajavidyalaya Foundation, 1999. Vajiranana, Paravahera Mahathera. Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice. Colombo: M. D. Gunasena Co. Ltd., 1962. Vairaavarorasa, HRH Prince. Thai Buddhist Encylopedia. Bangkok: Mahamakuta Rajavidyalaya Foundation, 1986/2529 BE.

2.2

Theses

Anlayo, Bhikkhu. Satipahnathe Direct Path to Nibbna, Doctoral Thesis, University of Peradeniya, 2001. Cherdsungnoen, Phramaha Narong. A Study of Sati (Mindfulness) in Buddhism: Theory and Practice in Thai Tradition, Doctoral Thesis, University of Delhi, 1993.

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Nibhon Mahadhammarakkhito, Phramaha. A Comparative Study of Teaching on Meditation Practices Between Luangpor Tian Cittasubho and Buddhadsa Bhikkhu, Masters Thesis, Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University, 2003/2546 BE.

2.3

Articles

Puntarigvivat, Tavivat. Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, Crossroads: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Vol. 7, No. 1, 1992.

2.4

Electronic References

Supromajakr, Vatana. Luangpor Teean: An Interview with An Awakened Master, www.angelfire.com/electronic/bodhidharma/teean2.html (accessed June 7, 2005). Royal Thai General System of Transcription. www.royal.go.th/upload/246/FileUpload/416_2157.pdf (accessed April 13, 2007).

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Appendix A Dynamic Meditation Positions1

Sit upright, the hand resting on the knees and the eyes open, one may move the eyes as is natural, it is not necessary to fix them on one point or to look down.
Diagrams and text reproduced from Loo-ang Por Tee-an Cittasubho, Normality. pp. 304-318.
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Slowly turn up the right hand and feel the sensations that arise in the arm and the hand as you do so. When the movement is completed, be aware that you stop.
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Raise the arm half-way the body, be aware of the feeling. Pause for about 1 second before moving on and know the point where the arm comes to a halt. Relax.
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Move the hand in a straight line to the abdomen, experiencing the movement with awareness, but dont concentrate; just acknowledge the feeling. Then stop.
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Turn up the left hand. While moving the hand, you know that it is moving: when stopping, you know that your are stopping. Dont verbalize this in your mind.
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Raise the left arm half-way up, contacting the sensation of it. Do not count the movements or repeat any mantras or words internally: just feel it. Very simple.
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Put the left hand on top of the right hand. Do you feel the movement? Also notice the hands touching each other and the coming to a standstill of the move.
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Re-stablish awareness as youre moving the right hand to the chest. Every movement and pause is an opportunity to re-new your awareness. Touch the chest.
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Move the right hand out, to the side and let it be there for a moment, knowing the movement as well as the stopping. Do the movements, feeling at ease.
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Lower the right arm to the knee with the hand upright. Just be aware of one movement at the time; one moment at the time: from moment to moment to moment.
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Turn down the palm of the hand. Keep the eyes open all the time. Dont fix or focus on one particular part of the body; just know whats happening with it.
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If stray-thoughts made you loose awareness, just come back to this movement of rubbing the left hand up to the chest and of stopping there, before moving on.
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Move the left hand over to the side, experiencing the beginning, middle and end of the movement clearly, fully aware without the mind labeling or fabricating.
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If sensations arise in other parts of the body, such as breathing, the eyes blinking etc., be aware of that also as youre lowering the arm to the knee.
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When you turn down the hand, you are again in the same position that you started off, and from there you continue with a new cycle, continuously.
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Appendix B Biography of Luangpor Teean Jittasubho 1

Luangpor Teean Jittasubho was born September 5, 1911 in Northeast Thailand, in the small village of Buhom, Loei Province. His parents were Chin and Som Inthaphieu. Luangpor Teeans birth name was Phan Inthaphieu. As an adult he came to be known as the father of his eldest surviving son, Teean, following local custom. Thus he was called Por Teean, or Teeans father. When he ordained, the honorific luang was added. To avoid confusion I refer to him throughout as Luangpor Teean, or during his childhood, as Phan. Phan was fifth among five brothers and one sister. His childhood was typical of rural Thailand early in the twentieth century. His parents were rice farmers and he helped them in the fields and in caring for the cattle. His father died when he was quite young and he spent much of his childhood helping his mother with the hard work of farming. Being in an area where there were no schools, and lacking adequate transportation facilities to travel to other areas, Phan had no opportunity to acquire a formal education. At the age of ten he ordained as a novice at the local monastery where his uncle Yakhuphong Chansuk was serving as a monk. As a novice, Phan diligently, devoutly, and obediently studied ancient Buddhist scripts, meditation, and magic. After eighteen months, Luangpor Teean disrobed and left the monastery to help work on the farm. At 20, the age at which full ordination is permitted, and following traditional practice, he ordained as a monk and stayed in the monastery with his uncle for six months, studying and meditating. Even after disrobing, he continued to practice meditation regularly, inspired by a growing interest in meditation and a deep faith in the teachings of the Buddha. When he was 22 or 23 years old Phan married. In time, his wife,
Adapted from Tavivat Puntarigvat, Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master and from the appendix of Luangpor Teean Jitasupho, Pakati. The Romanizations of Thai names are from Puntarigvat, except that I have retained here the more common Romanization of Luangpor Teeans name.
1

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Hom gave birth to three sons, Niam, Teean and Triam. The firstborn died at the age of five, leaving Teean the eldest, and it was then that Phan then came to be known as Por Teean, Teeans father. Luangpor Teean worked hard cultivating rice and fruit and building a trade business in the village. He came to be respected as a lay Buddhist leader, offering food, robes and other necessities to the monks and organizing construction projects at nearby monasteries. He was also respected for his scrupulous honesty and was chosen three different times to serve the village as mayor. Moving to Chiangkhan, Luangpor Teean built a successful career as a merchant, trading goods between Nong Khai Province and Chiang Khan, and sailing his boat along the Mekong River between Thailand and Laos. On his travels he practiced under many meditation teachers and his enthusiasm for meditation and for the Dhamma continued to grow. In his mid-forties, Luangpor Teean came to the realization that merit-making (cultivating pua), avoiding wrongdoing (ppa), and meditation did not abolish his anger and he formed the unshakeable resolution to find the Dhamma. After having settled his business affairs and arranging for the well being of his wife and children, he left home determined not to return until he had found Dhamma. He was then 46 years old. Luangpor first went to Wat Rangsimukdaram, a monastery in Nong Khai province, just prior to the three-month rainy-season retreat (vassa, Thai khao phans) of 1957. There he learned a meditation technique from a Laotian meditation teacher, Achan Pan, involving body movements with the silent recitation of moving stopping with the movements and pauses. Achan Pan, however, returned to Laos for the retreat, leaving Luangpor Wanthong in charge. At the beginning of the retreat, Luangpor Wanthong instructed the meditators to practice the contemplation of death by focusing on the breath and repeating the word death with every in and out breath. Luangpor Teean diligently attempted to follow this instruction, but could not maintain his motivation. He had practiced many forms of meditation throughout his life. All involved focus on breathing and most some form of recitation. None of them had been able to produce more than transitory calm. He chose to abandon the technique and to practice the moving technique he

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had recently learned from the Laotian monk, but without the recitations. He practiced in this way throughout the following day, practicing in accord with nature, remaining energetic and at ease. 2 About five in the morning of the third day of the retreat, a scorpion and its young scurried over his lap as he was meditating. He was neither afraid nor startled but realized that he was now for the first time experiencing himself as rpa-nma (body-mind); he saw it acting, and he saw its disease. Furthermore, at that point he knew clearly that rpanma was dukkha-anicca-anatt. 3 With this experience came a profound change in his understanding of Buddhism. He was overcome briefly by emotion, but then returned to the meditation and by evening his mind was so clear that he could observe thoughts as they arose. As soon as a thought was observed, it disappeared. Observing thoughts, he penetrated to the source of thought and realization arose. His mind changed fundamentally. Por Teean was now independent of both scriptures and teachers. 4 As he continued his practice, his mind changed again and again till on the third change arising-extinction was realized, Luangpors conditioning dissolved and the body-mind returned to its original state. 5 A few days later Achan Pan arrived from Laos for a short time in order to interview the meditators. The interview with Luangpor Teean has been recounted many times. The following is from Luangpor Teean: The Dynamic Practice of a Thai Meditation Master, by Tavivat Puntarigvivat. When asked what he knew, Por Teean said that he knew himself. Asked how he knew himself, he answered that in moving sitting, and lying he knew himself. Achan Pan commented that in that case only dead people did not know themselves. Por Teean replied that he had already died and had been born anew. I have died to filth, wickedness, sorrow, darkness, and drowsiness, but I am still alive, he explained. Achan Pan then asked him whether salt is salty.
2 3

Puntarigvivat, op cit, p. 72. Puntarigvivat, op cit, p. 72. 4 Puntarigvivat, op cit, p. 72. 5 Puntarigvivat, op cit, p. 73.

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Salt is not salty, Por Teean replied. Why? Salt is not on my tongue, so how can it be salty. Achan Pan then asked whether chili [sic] is hot and sugar cane sweet. Por Teean responded in a similar way to each of these questions. Achan Pan went on to ask: Among the black colors, which one is more black? Black is black, no black can be beyond black; white is white, no white is beyond white; the same is true for red and every other thingnothing is beyond itself, Por Teean answered. Achan Pan was silent for a long time. Then he spoke again, Suppose here is a forest, and a person came to see me, and then walked back home. On the way back home he carried a gun, and coming upon a tiger he shot it. Being wounded, the tiger became very fierce. If I had asked that person to tell you to come and see me here, would you come? Achan Pan used a story to pose a profound question. Yes, I would. Being asked by you, I would come. If I did not come, it would be disrespectful to you, Por Teean answered. If you come, the tiger will bite you. Eh, I do not see the tiger. Will you come along the path or use a short-cut? Achan Pan asked. I will not use a short-cut. I will use the path. When I walk on the path and the tiger comes, I can see it and avoid it. If I do not walk on the path and the tiger comes, I cannot see it, and therefore cannot avoid it, Por Teean replied. After this, Achan Pan had nothing more to say. Luangpor Teean returned home wishing to convey the truth of Dhamma and of the suffering of humanity to others. He began teaching

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meditation in his home village and elsewhere, devoting his own resources, energy, and attention to this sole purpose. Within two years his wife, following his instructions had achieved Dhamma. Many others among his relatives and friends following his instructions out of respect for him achieved significant results. He gave his first ten-day meditation retreat in Buhom while he was yet a layman providing food for the participants out of his own pocket. He built two meditation centres in Buhom as well as centres in nearby villages. In 1960, at the age of 48, he re-ordained as a monk in order to be in a better position to reach as many people as possible with his Dhamma in an instant as he called it. He was ordained on February 3, 1960, in his hometown at Wat Srikhunmuang by the senior monk, Venerable Vijitdhammachariya. He was given the ordination name, Jittasubho (Pali Cittasubho, brilliant mind), but he has been most widely known as Luangpor Teean. After a year of teaching Dynamic Meditation to both monks and laity, he moved from Buhom to Chiangkhan where he established meditation centres at Wat Santivanaram and Wat Phonchai. He built a meditation centre across the border in Laos as well. With utmost kindness, Luangpor Teean, devoted the remainder of his life to teaching Dhamma. He encountered many obstacles. Since the ultimate truth he had discovered is beyond written texts, customs, traditions, and longstanding beliefs of any kind, he was accused of heteroxy and even of being a communist. The police spy who came as a monk to investigate allegations that he was a communist, practiced the meditation and came to respect and to honour Luangpor Teean. In time, such rumours faded away. Luangpor was never discouraged, and never slowed in his mission. Luangpor Teeans reputation spread throughout the Northeast and he build major meditation centres in Loei and Khon Kaen. He taught Dynamic Meditation in Laos from 1961 to 1963, and again in 1974 at Vientiane. He came to the Bangkok area in the central region in 1975, when Wat Chonlaprathan in Nonthaburi invited him to teach meditation there. Seen as little more than an illiterate country monk, his presence generated little interest until the scholar monk Ven. Kovit Khemananda realized the profundity of his teachings. In time, Luangpor Teean and Dynamic Meditation came to be well known throughout the country. In 1976, he established Wat Sanamnai near Bangkok, where he made his residence to the end of his life.

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With Wat Sanamnai as headquarters, Luangpor Teean travelled widely giving talks and meditation instructions, for example, at universities, hospitals, and Buddhist organizations. He travelled twice to Singapore in 1982 at the request of a Buddhist group there. On the second visit, from October 16-31, he gave a Dynamic Meditation retreat. He continued to teach in the provinces and his teachings came to be disseminated through books, pamphlets, and audiocassettes.

Luangpor Teen was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1983. He had suffered constant stomach pain from the beginning of the year but the symptoms became intense during his second visit to Singapore. He was forced to cut the journey short and was admitted to Siriraj Hospital for surgical treatment. After that he remained under the close care of the medical staff of Samitivej Hospital. During the last years of his life, as his health declined, and in spite of undergoing painful surgery and radiation therapy Luangpor Teean continued energetically with his work, giving public talks and leading meditation retreats. By the end of his life he was receiving medical treatment two to three times a month. In mid-August 1988, Luangpor Teean was admitted to Samitivej Hospital with a lung infection in addition to the cancer. In early September, he discharged himself and travelled to Koh Puddhatham in Loei province, determined to improve it as a meditation centre. On the fifth day there, September 13, he announced that he was going to die, and turning his consciousness inward, relaxed and fully aware, unattached, holding to nothing, not even the breath, an hour laterhis breathing ceased like a tree coming to rest as the wind that moved it fades completely away. 6 Luangpor Teean gave his last teaching to his followers on September 10, 1988, He had been teaching Dhamma for fully 32 years.

Puntarigvivat, op cit, p. 79.

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Biography of Researcher
Name: Education: Mrs. Venica Pookgaman B. A. in Political Sciences (International Relations) Thammasat University, Bangkok, 1969 Diploma in Secretarial Studies Auckland Technical Institute New Zealand, 1971 Occupation: 1972-1977 Company Secretary Hotel Manhattan, Bangkok 1977-1979 Senior Secretary ILACO 1979-1980 Senior Secretary and Accountant TAHAL Consultant Engineering 1981-1992 Manager, Personel and Administration Dept. Wardley Thailand LTD 2002-Present Manager, Master Peach Unit Ayudhya Alliance CP Life Insurance

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