Dhammakaya meditation

Dhammakāya meditation is an approach to Buddhist meditation taught by Phramongkolthepmuni in the early 20th century. In Thailand, it is known as Vijja Dhammakaya, or 'the direct knowledge of Dhammakaya'. According to Phramongkolthepmuni, the Dhammakaya is the pure core that can be found within every human being, which has the shape of a Buddha sitting within oneself. 'Dhammakaya' can mean the 'body (kaya) of enlightenment or inner experience of the teaching of the Buddha (Dhamma).[1] Dhammakaya meditation has also been called Middle Way Meditation in retreats of Wat Phra Dhammakaya.

Origins

The principles of Dhammakaya meditation were discovered by Phramongkolthepmuni on the full-moon night of September 1914 at Wat ฺBotbon, Bangkuvieng, Nonthaburi.[2] Though he had practised several other forms of meditation in Thailand at the time with well-known meditation teachers, he still felt he had not discovered the core of the Buddha's teachings. He felt he had still not accomlished the purpose for which he had ordained. He decided that night to take a vow to give his life in meditation until he would discover the core of the Buddha's teaching. That same night he had a breakthrough in meditation and discovered something he would later describe as a deeper meaning to the Middle Way, about which the Buddha spoke in his first teaching. Besides the original meaning of avoiding two extreme ways of living, Phramongkolthepmuni believed there was also an inner Middle Way, which could only be discovered through stilling the mind through meditation.[2], [3]

The technique of directing attention towards the centre of the body is already described in an obscure 18th century Sinhalese meditation manual that was translated into English as Manual of a Mystic. It was probably introduced into Sri Lanka by Thai monks during the Buddhist revival in the mid-eighteenth century, and taught to forest dwelling monks of the Asgiriya Vihara fraternity in the Kandyan Kingdom, who wrote it down.[4], [5] After rediscovering the technique, Phramonkolthepmuni first taught it to others at Wat Bangpla, Amphoe Bang Len, Nakhon Pathom in 1915.[3] From 1916 onwards, when he was given his first abbothood, Dhammakaya Meditation became associated with his home temple of Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen. Members of the Dhammakaya Movement believe that the Buddha became enlightened by attaining Dhammakaya, and that knowledge of this (equated with Saddhamma in the Dhammakaya Movement) was lost 500 years after the Gautama Buddha entered Parinirvana.

Development

Phramongkolthepmuni devoted his time from 1916-1959 to teaching Dhammakaya meditation. He ran a meditation workshop (rong ngan tahm vijja) from 1935-1959 which was reserved for gifted meditators able to perform Dhammakaya meditation on the vipassana level - to meditate as a team in shifts, twenty-four hours-a-day, with the brief to use the meditation to research the underlying nature of reality.[3] Since 1959, Dhammakaya meditation has been taught by Phramongkolthepmuni's disciples at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen, Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Wat Luang Por Sod Dhammakayaram in Amphoe Damnoen Saduak, Ratchaburi Province, as well as at Wat Rajorasaram in Bang Khun Thian, Thon Buri (district). Of these, Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Wat Luang Por Sod Dhammakayaram have published instructive books on Dhammakaya meditation in English and offer training retreats for the public.[6] Instruction and the documentary programme 'Meditation for all' based on Dhammakaya meditation are broadcast by the satellite channel DMC.TV.[7]

Samatha

As with many forms of Buddhist meditation, Dhammakaya meditation has both samatha and vipassana stages.[8][9] As is common with traditional samatha practice, the goal of Dhammakaya meditation at the samatha level is to overcome the Five hindrances. When the mind becomes peaceful and stable as the result of successful practice for tranquillity, the mind will overcome the Five Hindrances and reach a state of one-pointedness (ekaggata) also known in Dhammakaya Meditation as the 'standstill of the mind' (i.e. to a state where it is free of thought). The indication of reaching this stage is that a bright clear sphere will arise spontaneously at the centre of the body. The mind should then be directed continuously at the centre of this sphere helping to transport the mind towards the ekayānamagga inside.[10] Attainment at the level of vipassana arises. There are several ways of focussing the attention at the centre of the body,[11] namely:

When one visualizes the mental object continuously, the mental object will gradually change in nature in accordance with the increasing subtlety of mind according to the following sequence:

The three nimittas originate from the description of samatha meditation in the Visuddhimagga, an influential Theravada manual on meditation.[12][13] Although the meditator may start out with as many as forty different paths of practice, once the Hindrances are overcome, all methods converge into a single path [ekayānamagga] of mental progress, which leads into meditation at the vipassana level. The first stage of this path Phramongkolthepmuni's called the First Path (Thai: ปฐมมรรค).[10]

Vipassana

Dhammakaya meditation embarks on the vipassana level at a later stage than some other meditation schools available in Thailand.[14] In this school, insight relies on purity of ‘seeing and knowing’ (ñānadassana-visuddhi) i.e. a mind that is stable, and has penetrative insight into the reality of life and the world. Such insight will allow the meditator to have penetrative knowledge of the Five Aggregates (khanda), the Twelve Sense Spheres (āyatana), the Eighteen Elements (dhātu), the Twenty-Two Faculties (indriya), the Four Noble Truths and Dependent Origination. The meditator sees and knows clearly through their insight knowledge that all things composed of the Five Aggregates exhibit the Three marks of existence and for the meditator, there arises dispassion (ekantanibbida] and detachment (viraga) and accomplishes sequential shedding of the defilements until an end to defilements can be reached.[15] The meditator sees and knows with the latter four of the five eyes the Buddha himself attained. Often Phramongkolthepmuni would speak about meditation in terms of jhanas, as is common for Buddhist meditation. However, more often, he explained the level of attainment in terms of inner bodies which start with the physical human body and the subtle human body and which go in successively deeper layers until reaching the body of enlightenment (Dhammakaya) of the arahant. The number of bodies totalling eighteen, that is 17 inner bodies within the physical body.[16]

Research

Scientific research done on Dhammakaya meditation on the Samatha level has shown that it can assist stress management[17] and reduce clinical depression[18] while enhancing self-development[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jantrasrisalai, Chanida (2008). Early Buddhist Dhammakaya: Its Philosophical and Soteriological Significance (PDF). Sydney: Department of Studies in Religion, University of Sydney. pp. 284–288.
  2. 1 2 Dhammakāya Foundation (1996). The Life & Times of Luang Phaw Wat Paknam (PDF). Bangkok: Dhammakāya Foundation. ISBN 978-974-89409-4-6.
  3. 1 2 3 Dhammakaya Open University. Exemplary conduct of the principal teachers of Vijja Dhammakaya (PDF). California, USA: Dhammakaya Open University. p. 154.
  4. ↑ Davids, Thomas William Rhys (1896). Yogāvachara's manual of Indian mysticism as practised by Buddhists. London: Pali text society.
  5. ↑ Bechert, Heinz (1997). Singhalesische Handschriften. Teil 2: Die Katalognummern 199-376. (Verzeichnis Der Orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland). Franz Steiner Verlag. ISBN 978-3-515-02440-2.
  6. ↑ "Meditation Retreat, Mindfulness Retreat - The Middle Way Meditation". Meditation Retreat, Mindfulness Retreat - The Middle Way Meditation. mdwmeditation.org. 2016. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  7. ↑ "Meditation For Peace". Dhammakaya Media Channel (DMC). Dhamma Research for Environment Foundation. 2010. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
  8. ↑ Walshe, Maurice (1995). The long discourses of the Buddha : a translation of the Digha Nikaya, 2nd print. Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications. pp. 512 (Pali p.iii.273). ISBN 0-86171-103-3.
  9. ↑ Bodhi, Bhikkhu (2012). The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Ariguttara Nikaya. Somerville, Massachusetts: Wisdom Publications. pp. 152 (Pali p.i.61). ISBN 978-1-61429-040-7.
  10. 1 2 Wat Pak Nam, Luang Phaw (2008). Visuddhivaca. Strathfield (Australia): Dhammachai Education Foundation. p. 13. ISBN 9789743498152.
  11. ↑ Dhammakaya Foundation (2004) Start Meditation Today!: The Simple Way to Inner Peace (Bangkok, Dhammakaya Foundation)
  12. ↑ Buddhaghosa, Bhadantácariya (1991). The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga), 4th edition (PDF). Buddhist Publication Society. pp. 119–120. ISBN 978-955-24-0023-0. After that he should open his eyes moderately, apprehend the sign, and so proceed to develop it" (...) "When, while he is developing it in this way, it comes into focus as he adverts with his eyes shut exactly as it does with his eyes open, then the learning sign is said to have been produced." (...) "As he does so, the hindrances eventually become suppressed, the defilements subside, the mind becomes concentrated with access concentration, and the counterpart sign arises
  13. ↑ Payutto, P. A. (2016). Dictionary of Buddhism (PDF). pp. 92–93. ISBN 974-8357-89-9.
  14. ↑ Cousins, L.S. (1995) The Origins of Insight Meditation in T. Skorupski (Ed) The Buddhist Forum IV (London SOAS), pp.38-39
  15. ↑ Wat Pak Nam, Luang Phaw (2008). Visuddhivaca. Strathfield (Australia): Dhammachai Education Foundation. pp. 14–17. ISBN 9789743498152.
  16. ↑ Phramongkolthepmuni (1997) The Heart of Dhammakaya Meditation (trans. Phra Maha Sermchai)(Dhammakaya Buddhist Meditation Foundation, Ratchaburi)
  17. ↑ Sudsuang, R., Chentanez, V. & Veluvan, K. (1991) Effect of Buddhist Meditation on serum cortisol and total protein levels, blood pressure, pulse rate, lung volume and reaction time, Physiology-Behavior, 50(3), pp. 543-548
  18. ↑ Kasantikul, Suttipan & Worakul (1986) J. Psychiat. Ass. Thailand 31 pp.177-190
  19. ↑ Pupatana & Sribundith (1996) Under test: The Dhammadayada Training Scheme, The Light of Peace 3, pp8-10
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