The sentence "This does not depend upon colour or form" make it
quite clear that the meditator should not expect the sign of
respiration mindfulness as a visual image, since it is not
possible to conceive of a visual percept lacking colour and form.
What may be inferred from the sentence is that the sign is a
tactile percept. Incidentally, in the Patisambhidamagga, the
earliest and most extensive source treatise on breathing, there is
no mention in the whole section on breathing meditation of a
visual or "light" nimitta.
A great mystery is solved when one realizes that most of the
images ascribed to the counter-sign in the Visuddhimagga and to
the "distractions" in the Vimuttimagga are found in the earlier
Patisambhidamagga as part of a metaphorical description of the
bhikkhu liberated from the defilements on account of his
distinction in the practice of mindfulness of breathing. The
description follows thus;
"Whose mindfulness of breathing in and out is perfect,
well developed and gradually brought to growth according
as the Buddha taught, 'tis he who illuminates the world
just like the full moon free from cloud" (Pat III, 171,
p.172)
And "just like the full moon free from cloud:
Defilements are like clouds, the noble one's knowledge
is like the moon, the bhikkhu is like the deities son
who possesses the full moon. As the moon freed from
cloud, freed from mist, freed from smoke and dust,
delivered from the clutches of the Eclipse Demon Rahu,
gleams and glows and shines, so too the bhikkhu who is
delivered from all defilements gleams and glows and
shines. Hence 'just like the full moon free from cloud'
was said." (Pat.III, 182 p.175)
Here what is given canonically as a simile for the mind, in the
Vimuttimagga is taken literally as visual percepts although,
mercifully, given as images to which one should not pay attention.
The Visuddhimagga however both mistakenly takes the similes
"smoke," "mist," "dust," "gleam," "glows," "shines" and "moon," as
literal visual images, but also misapprehends them as the
counter-sign, ( the mark of success!) in direct opposition to the
Vimuttimagga.
One can only wonder how these metaphorical images, found at the
end of the section describing breathing meditation in the
Patisambhidamagga, eventually became literal visual events related
to meditation practise in later commentarial works. From the
evidence presented in this note it may seem advisable to consider
both the Vimuttimagga and the Patisambhidamagga as more reliable
texts as far as breathing meditation is concerned.
Only in the Patisambhidamagga is the material handled
appropriately. Similes for the quality of mind such as "clear,"
"illumined," or "free from clouds", are treated as similes, and
furthermore the simile images of "clouds," "mist," etc. are
properly understood as impediments to that clarity. The editors (
traditionally Acariya Buddhaghosa ) of the Visuddhimagga seem
rather uncomfortable with the "diversity of perception" of the
various nimittas for breath meditation and demonstrate their
uneasiness by explaining that such a diversity originates in the
mere uniqueness of meditators' perceptions ( see quote, next
paragraph.) Neither this explanation nor the need for it appear in
the earlier commentaries.
"216. In fact this resembles an occasion when a number of bhikkhus
are sitting together reciting a suttanta. When a bhikkhu asks,
'What does this sutta appear like to you?', one says, 'It appears
to me like a great mountain torrent,' another, 'To me it is like a
line of forest trees,' another, 'To me it is like a spreading
fruit tree giving cool shade.' For the one sutta appears to them
differently because of the difference in their perception.
Similarly this single meditation subject appears differently
because of difference in perception. It is born of perception, its
source is perception, it is produced by perception. Therefore it
should be understood that when it appears differently it is
because of difference in perception." (Vis VIII, 216)
I am sure many a meditator has wondered why the Buddha had failed
to mention the critical information of the "sign" and the
"counter-sign" in breath meditation which the Visuddhimagga has
deemed so critical to success in jhanic practice. We hope our
essay has shown that the Buddha's description of the practise of
breath meditation contains all necessary and sufficient
information for success.
I would add that the only sign of jhana which is reliable, is the
description of the jhana factors given by the Buddha Himself and
which apply in all cases, whether the meditation object is visual
or tactile.
I would further hope that the meditator realizes that the
progressive clarity and refinements of his/her perception of the
object of meditation is simply the "side-effect" of clarity and
illumination of the still and focused mind.
Lastly, I would emphasize that the object in respiration is
contact with air. The quality of the air element is critically
important to this meditation. If the Buddha were interested in
mere sensations of contact then it would be simpler to touch one's
nose with the fingers. The taking on of the lightness of air as an
experience of the body is critical. As the Vimuttimagga says;
"He feels as if his head were filled with air. Through increasing
in this way his whole body is charged with bliss. This is called
perfection." [ Previously quoted, emphasis added ]
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Location, Location, Location; A Small Related Matter
A related secondary matter regarding the breath nimitta is, once
again, a traceable misunderstanding which has evolved to its final
form in the Visuddhimagga.
A critical phrase is used in the suttas Four Foundations of
Mindfulness and Anapanasati, that is: "parimukham satim
upatthapetva," which is often translated as "setting mindfulness
before him." One is then left to wonder why the Patisambhidamagga,
the Vimuttimagga and the Visuddhimagga all confidently place the
location of breath contact as the nostrils. And furthermore, we
find in the three works; "either at the nose or lip." And here,
Buddhaghosa, the editor, gives as explanation that a "long-nosed
man can feel the breath at his nostril as it passes through his
nose." A short-nosed man however, feels it on the upper lip. This
is a strange bit of business, if one thinks about it, because even
if one is a "short-nosed man" one can only feel the exhalation of
warm air out of the nostrils onto the upper lip. We are now
missing the entire in-breath. Anyone claiming to feel the
inhalation at the upper lip, I think, has a very good imagination.
So it seems we have another puzzle.
If we look back to the original sutta at the word "mukkha," it
literally and sensibly means "entrance" or "mouth." If we give it
this obvious meaning we have: "He fixes his attention at the
'entrance' "; the entrance being either the nose or the mouth,
they are assuming that the reader realizes that the meditator may
be breathing either through his nose or his mouth. If he is
breathing through his mouth he should direct his attention to air
contact at the lip. It is very sensible advice really, for it
would be a shame to have to give up breath meditation just because
one had a cold or a plugged nose! So we see what began as a
straightforward location of breath contact at the nose or mouth
i.e. "the entrance" slowly take on the perplexing addition of a
"long-nosed and a short-nosed man."
Some modern teachers have suggested that it doesn't matter where
the breath contact is located, probably in response to the phrase
which occurs later on in the sutta: "Experiencing the whole body,
he breathes in...", etc. And since the whole of the breath is not
explicitly stated, they feel there is room for interpretation.
This, unfortunately, overlooks the explicit location of "at the
entrance" in the sutta, which the three commentaries agree on,
whatever the later confusion may have been. It also overlooks the
simile which immediately follows the explicit location i.e. "As a
turner or his apprentice, while making a long turn, knows that he
is making a long turn, or in making a short turn knows he is
making a short turn, so too a monk, in breathing in a long breath
knows that he breathes in a long breath, in breathing in a short
breath, knows that he breathes in a short breath... and so trains
himself thinking 'I will breath out, calming the whole bodily
formation'" (D.22) The Buddha includes this apparently redundant
simile for one reason. Similes are like pictures that are worth a
thousand words and which usually survive the butcheries of
translation. This is the Buddha's fail-safe mechanism to show that
the lathe worker fixes his attention one-pointedly with his chisel
on a single spot while the wooden spindle is in ceaseless motion,
the meditator does likewise at the "entrance spot" while the
breath continuously flows past.
Basically all the commentaries manage to preserve this notion in
the "simile of the saw." but unfortunately the mouth as location
is overlooked by the time of the Visuddhimagga.
I hope the above points will help clarify any confusion that
meditators have come up against and that they may breath a sigh of
relief as they move along the path.
Bhikkhu Sona, Canada
References
1) "The Path of Purification, Visuddhimagga" by Bhadantacariya
Buddhaghosa, translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nyanamoli, 5th
ed. Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka. (1991)
2) "The Path of Freedom, Vimuttimagga" by the Arahant Upatissa,
translated from the Chinese by Rev. N.R.M. Ehara, Soma Thera and
Kheminda Thera; Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka
(1995)
3) "The Path of Discrimination, Patisambhidamagga" Translated from
the Pali by Bhikkhu Nyanamoli, 2nd ed. The Pali Text Society,
Oxford (1997)
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