Meditations of a Buddhist Skeptic by B. Alan Wallace

Author:B. Alan Wallace
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2012-03-14T16:00:00+00:00

THE SHAMATHA–VIPASHYANA SEQUENCE

Buddhaghosa’s compilation of the ancient commentaries on the Connected Discourses of the Buddha includes a simile describing the practice of vipashyana without the support of shamatha as being like a king who sends his minister to negotiate with a wayward prince, without a bodyguard to protect him.15 Later Buddhist contemplatives have drawn a distinction between the actual state of the first dhyana and a lesser degree of samadhi that is on the threshold of the first dhyana. In the latter, called “access concentration” (Pali upachara-samadhi), the five hindrances are as dormant as they are in the actual state of the first dhyana, but samadhi is a little less robust. Instead of being able to rest effortlessly in unwavering samadhi for twenty-four hours, one may do so for only four hours—still far beyond anything considered possible according to modern psychology! This is what Tibetan Buddhists refer to when speaking of “achieving shamatha” and “settling the mind in its natural state.” To achieve this degree of samadhi may require a year or two of intensive training, meditating ten hours per day.

While at first glance such an investment of time and effort may seem impractical, consider that this is far less time than it takes to earn a graduate degree in astronomy. If the study of the heavens had been left to naked-eye observers, we would still believe that a mere 3,000 stars revolve around the Earth. We would never have discovered that our planet revolves around the Sun, only one of about 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, which is one of 50 to 100 billion galaxies in the universe. Consider what discoveries may await us when we utilize the instrument of shamatha to explore the deep space of the mind!

In his teachings recorded in the Pali canon, the Buddha asserts that without samadhi, it is impossible to gain realization. Furthermore, he declares that freedom from the five hindrances, which is the primary purpose and benefit of achieving dhyana, is a necessary condition for gaining stream entry, the initial achievement of nonconceptual union of shamatha and vipashyana in the realization of nirvana.16 The earliest Sanskrit records of the Buddha’s teachings indicate that the achievement of dhyana is necessary in order for the practice of the four close applications of mindfulness (Pali satipatthana; Skt. smrityupasthana) to unfold to full potential and lead to awakening.17 The fourth-century Indian Buddhist scholar and contemplative Vasubandhu, who is cited as a leading authority in both the Tibetan and Zen traditions, also emphasized that the four close applications of mindfulness are to be cultivated after one has achieved shamatha.18 Mindfulness is to be cultivated through the practice of shamatha and applied to the development of vipashyana. The Bodhisattva Shantideva likewise writes, “Recognizing that one who is well-endowed with vipashyana together with shamatha eradicates mental afflictions, one should first seek shamatha.”19 In Zen practice, it is clear that even without having fully achieved shamatha, one may experience a transitory realization (Jap. kensho) of one’s buddha nature. But for a practitioner to achieve the irreversible enlightenment of a buddha ( Jap.

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