The Art of Solitude by Stephen Batchelor

Author:Stephen Batchelor
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300250930
Publisher: Yale University Press

20

on meditation (jhāna)

gotama, the buddha

selected passages from the pali canon

I said to myself: “These painful austerities have not led to any transcendent states, any knowledge or vision able to ennoble one. Could there be another way?”

Then I recalled: “Once, while my father the Sakiyan was at work, I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree. Untroubled by sensual desires or unskillful ideas, I entered into and dwelled in the first meditation, which is accompanied by thought and reflection, by rapture and well-being born of solitude. Could that be the way?”

Recalling this, I realized: “Yes, this is the way. Why do I fear a well-being that has nothing to do with sensual desire or unskillful ideas? There is no reason to fear that well-being. Yet it is hard to experience it with a body so emaciated. Why don’t I eat some solid food?” So I ate some boiled rice and junket.

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