The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (Nyanponika Thera)
A Classic Mindfulness Text
[My 4-star Amazon review of “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: The Buddha’s Way of Mindfulness†by Nyanponika Thera.]
Before Vipassana (or Insight) Meditation became uber-popular in the West, Nyanaponika Thera’s “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation†(published in 1962) was The Book to read on the practice of Mindfulness. I read it more than forty years ago, but at the time I was not drawn to Theravada Buddhism, and I preferred F.L. Woodward’s translation of Buddha’s Mindfulness teachings (in his book “Some Sayings of the Buddhaâ€). So although I knew that “The Heart of Buddhist Mexditation†was a good book, I just “forgot about it†until recently, when I decided to devote a couple of years to writing texts on meditation. Motivated to study the leading texts on Mindfulness, I included it on my “to review list.â€
The book consists of three parts – The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, (Thera’s description of the practice of Mindfulness), The Basic Text (the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s essential teachings on the Four Ways/Foundations of Mindfulness), and Flowers of Deliverance (An Anthology of Texts Dealing with Right Mindfulness).
The first part, which is Thera’s Mindfulness teaching, consists of six sections (The Ways of Mindfulness, Significance, Methods and Aims; Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension; The Four Objects of Mindfulness, Culture of Mind, The Burmese Sattipatthana Method, and Mindfulness of Breathing).
In the first section, Thera says “’sati’ carries the meaning of ‘attention’ or ‘awareness,’ and that “patthana†“stands for keeping present, remaining aware, establishing.†Hence, he says, “the word ‘sattipatthana’ can be rendered by “The Presence of Mindfulness.†In his teaching, he elaborates the practice of the presence Mindfulness via the practices of “Bare Attention†and “Clear Comprehension,†which he says, “complement and support each other.†According to him, “Bare Attention is the clear and single-minded awareness of what happens to us, and in us, at the successive moments of perception. It is called ‘bare,’ because it attends just to the bare facts of as presented either through the five physical senses or the mind.†And “Clear Comprehension,†the second aspect of Right Mindfulness, according to him, “should be understood to mean that to the ‘clarity’ of bare mindfulness is added the full ‘comprehension’ of purpose and actuality, internal or external, or in other words: Clear Comprehension is right knowledge or wisdom based on right attention.â€
Thera describes the practice of Bare Attention (which is senior to that of Clear Comprehension) in the context of the “Four Foundations†(body, feelings/sensations, states of mind, mental contents/dhammas). He points out that the body should serve as the major object of contemplation (especially the breath), and that the other objects, or “Foundations,†should be contemplated in place, when they come up. To emphasize this, he quotes the Buddha, who says, “If the body is mastered, the mind is mastered.â€
At the end of the first section (which spans 120 pages), Thera, for the first time, addresses the Samatha (Tranquility)/Vipassana (Insight) dichotomy. He writes: “The system of Buddhist Meditation divides into two great parts: (a) the Development of Tranquility (samatha-bhavana) and (b) the Development of Insight (vipassana-bhavana).â€
He believes that the Development of Insight practice takes precedence for most lay people, and doesn’t even elaborate the Samatha Way of Tranquility, which emphasizes the Four Jhanas (meditative samadhis of absorption). Moreover, in accordance with most Mindfulness teachers, he denigrates the Jhanas by denying that they can produce†(my term) Nibbana. He writes, “Through the high degree of mental unification and stillness attained in these Absorptions, the fivefold sense of perception is temporarily obliterated, and conceptual and discursive thought being weak in the first stage of Absorption, is completely absent in the following stages. From the latter fact alone it can be gathered that, in the Buddha’s teaching, the Development of Tranquility or the meditative Absorptions are only a means to an end, and cannot lead by themselves to the highest goal which is only attainable by Insight.â€
In contrast with Thera, I believe that the Tranquility/Insight divide is a spurious one, invented by iconic 5th-century Theravada monk Buddhaghosa,author of the renowned “Vishuddimaga†(see my two-star review of “Vishudddimaga: The Path of Purificationâ€), and perpetuated by the Theravada mindfulness teachers who followed after him. The Buddha himself taught only Satipatthana, which is Right Mindfulness, the 7th stage of the Noble Eightfold Path, which eventually yields the 8th stage.  The 8th stage of the Noble Eightfold Path is Right Samadhi (not Right “Concentrationâ€), which means the Four Jhanas (or Four Samadhis or Absorptions). Hence, the Buddha himself made it clear that the Absorptions (or Samadhis) are a sine qua non for the attainment of Nibbana. Moreover, Thera errs in his belief that radical (or gone-to-the root) perceptual and apperceptual Insight is unavailable to meditators experiencing the Jhanas. In fact, my POV is that real Insight (or Vipassana) is only possible on the basis of “breakthrough†to the “Other Side,†meaning the Stream, or Spirit, or Light-Energy. When a meditator becomes a Stream-Winner, he experiences both the Absorptions and the Insight (or Understanding) that stems from them.
The last two sections of the book’s first part detail two different mindfulness of breathing practices – the Burmese Sattipatthana method (bare noticing of the movement and sensation of pressure in the abdomen) and Anapana-sati, which is based on the Buddha’s description of mindfulness of breathing in the Satipatthana Sutta. These instructions will prove educational and useful for many Mindfulness practitioners.
The second part of the book is the Satipatthana Sutta itself. I personally prefer other translations of it, particulary those by F.L. Woodward and Thanissaro Bhikku (see my five-star review of his “Wings to Awakeningâ€), but this one is passable.
The third part of the book, Flowers of Deliverance (An Anthology of Texts Dealing with Right Mindfulness), consists of Mindfulness-related excerpts from the Pali Canon and other Buddhist literature. I found some of excerpts to be interesting, particularly this one from the Pali Canon pertaining to Energy:
“While he wisely investigates, examines, and scrutinizes that [a respective] object, unremitting energy is initiated in him. And when unremitting energy is initiated in the monk, at that time the ‘enlightenment factor’ ‘Energy’ is initiated in him: at that time the monk develops the enlightenment factor ‘Energy;’ at that time he gains perfection in the development of the enlightenment ‘factor ‘Energy.’
“In him possessed of energy, unworldly rapture arises. And when in a man possessed of energy unworldly rapture arises, at that time the enlightenment factor ‘Rapture’ is initiated in him; at that time the monk develops the enlightenment factor ‘Rapture;’ at that time he gains perfection in the development of the enlightenment factor ‘Rapture.’â€
Although this excerpt is compelling (at least to me), what’s disappointing to me is that Thera never considers “Energy†(doubtless a synonym for “Shaktiâ€) in his discourse on Mindfulness. Hence his consideration of Buddhist meditation must be rated as less than integral. Nonetheless, this classic text is a worthwhile read for those interested in Mindfulness, and one that will continue to grace the recommended Spiritual Reading List that I include in the (nonfiction) books I write.
[My 4-star Amazon review of “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: The Buddha’s Way of Mindfulness†by Nyanponika Thera.]
Before Vipassana (or Insight) Meditation became uber-popular in the West, Nyanaponika Thera’s “The Heart of Buddhist Meditation†(published in 1962) was The Book to read on the practice of Mindfulness. I read it more than forty years ago, but at the time I was not drawn to Theravada Buddhism, and I preferred F.L. Woodward’s translation of Buddha’s Mindfulness teachings (in his book “Some Sayings of the Buddhaâ€). So although I knew that “The Heart of Buddhist Mexditation†was a good book, I just “forgot about it†until recently, when I decided to devote a couple of years to writing texts on meditation. Motivated to study the leading texts on Mindfulness, I included it on my “to review list.â€
The book consists of three parts – The Heart of Buddhist Meditation, (Thera’s description of the practice of Mindfulness), The Basic Text (the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha’s essential teachings on the Four Ways/Foundations of Mindfulness), and Flowers of Deliverance (An Anthology of Texts Dealing with Right Mindfulness).
The first part, which is Thera’s Mindfulness teaching, consists of six sections (The Ways of Mindfulness, Significance, Methods and Aims; Mindfulness and Clear Comprehension; The Four Objects of Mindfulness, Culture of Mind, The Burmese Sattipatthana Method, and Mindfulness of Breathing).
In the first section, Thera says “’sati’ carries the meaning of ‘attention’ or ‘awareness,’ and that “patthana†“stands for keeping present, remaining aware, establishing.†Hence, he says, “the word ‘sattipatthana’ can be rendered by “The Presence of Mindfulness.†In his teaching, he elaborates the practice of the presence Mindfulness via the practices of “Bare Attention†and “Clear Comprehension,†which he says, “complement and support each other.†According to him, “Bare Attention is the clear and single-minded awareness of what happens to us, and in us, at the successive moments of perception. It is called ‘bare,’ because it attends just to the bare facts of as presented either through the five physical senses or the mind.†And “Clear Comprehension,†the second aspect of Right Mindfulness, according to him, “should be understood to mean that to the ‘clarity’ of bare mindfulness is added the full ‘comprehension’ of purpose and actuality, internal or external, or in other words: Clear Comprehension is right knowledge or wisdom based on right attention.â€
Thera describes the practice of Bare Attention (which is senior to that of Clear Comprehension) in the context of the “Four Foundations†(body, feelings/sensations, states of mind, mental contents/dhammas). He points out that the body should serve as the major object of contemplation (especially the breath), and that the other objects, or “Foundations,†should be contemplated in place, when they come up. To emphasize this, he quotes the Buddha, who says, “If the body is mastered, the mind is mastered.â€
At the end of the first section (which spans 120 pages), Thera, for the first time, addresses the Samatha (Tranquility)/Vipassana (Insight) dichotomy. He writes: “The system of Buddhist Meditation divides into two great parts: (a) the Development of Tranquility (samatha-bhavana) and (b) the Development of Insight (vipassana-bhavana).â€
He believes that the Development of Insight practice takes precedence for most lay people, and doesn’t even elaborate the Samatha Way of Tranquility, which emphasizes the Four Jhanas (meditative samadhis of absorption). Moreover, in accordance with most Mindfulness teachers, he denigrates the Jhanas by denying that they can produce†(my term) Nibbana. He writes, “Through the high degree of mental unification and stillness attained in these Absorptions, the fivefold sense of perception is temporarily obliterated, and conceptual and discursive thought being weak in the first stage of Absorption, is completely absent in the following stages. From the latter fact alone it can be gathered that, in the Buddha’s teaching, the Development of Tranquility or the meditative Absorptions are only a means to an end, and cannot lead by themselves to the highest goal which is only attainable by Insight.â€
In contrast with Thera, I believe that the Tranquility/Insight divide is a spurious one, invented by iconic 5th-century Theravada monk Buddhaghosa,author of the renowned “Vishuddimaga†(see my two-star review of “Vishudddimaga: The Path of Purificationâ€), and perpetuated by the Theravada mindfulness teachers who followed after him. The Buddha himself taught only Satipatthana, which is Right Mindfulness, the 7th stage of the Noble Eightfold Path, which eventually yields the 8th stage.  The 8th stage of the Noble Eightfold Path is Right Samadhi (not Right “Concentrationâ€), which means the Four Jhanas (or Four Samadhis or Absorptions). Hence, the Buddha himself made it clear that the Absorptions (or Samadhis) are a sine qua non for the attainment of Nibbana. Moreover, Thera errs in his belief that radical (or gone-to-the root) perceptual and apperceptual Insight is unavailable to meditators experiencing the Jhanas. In fact, my POV is that real Insight (or Vipassana) is only possible on the basis of “breakthrough†to the “Other Side,†meaning the Stream, or Spirit, or Light-Energy. When a meditator becomes a Stream-Winner, he experiences both the Absorptions and the Insight (or Understanding) that stems from them.
The last two sections of the book’s first part detail two different mindfulness of breathing practices – the Burmese Sattipatthana method (bare noticing of the movement and sensation of pressure in the abdomen) and Anapana-sati, which is based on the Buddha’s description of mindfulness of breathing in the Satipatthana Sutta. These instructions will prove educational and useful for many Mindfulness practitioners.
The second part of the book is the Satipatthana Sutta itself. I personally prefer other translations of it, particulary those by F.L. Woodward and Thanissaro Bhikku (see my five-star review of his “Wings to Awakeningâ€), but this one is passable.
The third part of the book, Flowers of Deliverance (An Anthology of Texts Dealing with Right Mindfulness), consists of Mindfulness-related excerpts from the Pali Canon and other Buddhist literature. I found some of excerpts to be interesting, particularly this one from the Pali Canon pertaining to Energy:
“While he wisely investigates, examines, and scrutinizes that [a respective] object, unremitting energy is initiated in him. And when unremitting energy is initiated in the monk, at that time the ‘enlightenment factor’ ‘Energy’ is initiated in him: at that time the monk develops the enlightenment factor ‘Energy;’ at that time he gains perfection in the development of the enlightenment ‘factor ‘Energy.’
“In him possessed of energy, unworldly rapture arises. And when in a man possessed of energy unworldly rapture arises, at that time the enlightenment factor ‘Rapture’ is initiated in him; at that time the monk develops the enlightenment factor ‘Rapture;’ at that time he gains perfection in the development of the enlightenment factor ‘Rapture.’â€
Although this excerpt is compelling (at least to me), what’s disappointing to me is that Thera never considers “Energy†(doubtless a synonym for “Shaktiâ€) in his discourse on Mindfulness. Hence his consideration of Buddhist meditation must be rated as less than integral. Nonetheless, this classic text is a worthwhile read for those interested in Mindfulness, and one that will continue to grace the recommended Spiritual Reading List that I include in the (nonfiction) books I write.
