Mindfulness in Similes in Early Buddhist Literature

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to elucidate the doctrine and practice of mindfulness as expounded in early Buddhist literature, including the suttas/sūtras in the Pali Nikāyas and the Āgamas extant in Chinese translation. This chapter focuses on the Buddha’s expositions of mindfulness accompanied by similes. It deals with four types of similes, namely prevention, healing, binding and altruism. By examining the Buddha’s discourses on mindfulness in the contexts where similes are given to assist his audience, we can delve into this important teaching and acquire a better understanding of what mindfulness means and how it is practised. In this chapter, the notion of mindfulness is explored from the viewpoint of both psychology and meditation in Buddhism. Textual criticism is utilized to approach the problems of reading some early Buddhist texts.

Abbreviations

AN:

Aṅguttara Nikāya

BJT:

Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series (electronic version)

CBETA:

CBETA Chinese Electronic Tripiṭaka Collection, Version 2014. Taipei: Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association

CS:

Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana Tipiṭaka, Version 4.0 (digital version). Igatpuri: Vipassana Research Institute

Dhs:

Dhammasaṅgaṇi

Dīp:

The Dīpavaṃsa: an ancient Buddhist historical record, ed. and tr. by Hermann Oldenberg. London: Williams and Norgate, 1879

DN:

Dīgha Nikāya

DOP I:

A dictionary of Pāli, Part I, ed. Margaret Cone. Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2001

Ee:

European edition, that is, Pali Text Society edition

It:

Itivuttaka

MĀ:

Madhyama Āgama 中阿含經 Zhong ahanjing

MN:

Majjhima Nikāya

SĀ:

Saṃyukta Ᾱgama 雜阿含經 Za ahanjing

SJD:

漢訳対照梵和大辞典 (A Sanskrit-Japanese dictionary with equivalents in Chinese translation), ed. Unrai Wogihara 荻原雲来, revised edition. Tokyo: 講談社, 1986

SN:

Saṃyutta Nikāya

Sn:

Sutta-nipāta (by verse)

T:

Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎, Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭 and Ono Genmyo 小野玄妙, Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō Kankōkai, 1924–1934. (Cited from CBETA)

Vism:

Visuddhimagga of Buddhaghosācariya, ed. Henry Clarke Warren, reprint. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1989. (First published 1950 Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press)

Ud:

Udāna