Как учил досточтимый Аматха Гавеси

[Ассаджи]

Вот описание подхода этого шри-ланкийского учителя:

http://charlesperera.150m.com/page8.htm#in_Pallekelle
http://www.basicbuddhism.org/index.cfm?GPID=80
http://web.archive.org/web/20080520204244/http://www.geocities.com/venamathagavesi/

Ven. Amathagavesi was a pioneer in sri lankan Buddhism. He was
originally from the Mahasi Sayadaw centre in Kandy, Kanduboda. He
incorporated the use of jhana to which the dry insight meditators at
Kanduboda took exception to. He also experimented with various iddi
(supernormal powers) and would teach them to his students, even
though he later discouraged it. One was using `dibba chakku' (divine
eye). It is said that he would get students to `see' what was in the
next room using the `divine eye'.

His method of meditation was a very potent one utilising the power of
the jhanas (absorptions) to make for a very efficient vipassana
(Insight meditation) practice.

This utilises sila (virtue), Samadhi (one-pointedness) and panna
(insight), the well known formulation. However it's application is
unique anywhere in the world.

Sila (Virtue)
The practitioner establishes himself in sila/virtue/ precepts. A
practitioner starting off on the path would need to be established in
the five precepts or the ten precepts depending on whether he was
practising from home or at the retreat centre. At the stage of the
Sotapanna (stream entrant) he said a person's precepts would be very
good, but not unbreakable. He taught that they would become even
firmer the higher one went up the path. The precept were highly
developed as an anagamin (non-returner) . Unbreakable as an arahanth.

Later understanding of this path maintain that inner purity is of
essence here. It is almost as if inner purity in terms of virtue
should be developed. This almost naturally leads to keeping precepts.
As a basic foundation it involves caring for another being and is
based in metta. One does not need to keep precepts based on striving
very hard, but it happens naturally when this personality change
occurs. Another facet of this purity and compassion for others is the
development of generosity. This is again a natural feature of a
Sotapanna. This is the completion of the Sila Visuddhi (Purifcation
of conduct) stage.

Samadhi (One-pointedness)
Having good sila as the base he taught the practice of meditation. He
taught metta/loving- kindness meditation to reduce aversion and
ashubha/foulness of the body contemplation to reduce craving – the
strongest craving being the one towards the body. He used these two
meditations, each lasting around 20 minutes each, to reduce craving
and aversion , two of the strongest of the five hindrances. He also
used walking meditation in a samatha format – just focusing on the
sensation at the soles of the feet to help calm the mind. These three
became the basis on which to develop Anapanasathi/ Mindfulness of
Breath. While he preferred yogis meditating in a retreat setting, he
urged people to try and do these three/four meditations each day,
spending more time on Anapanasathi if they were to do it from home.
One could slowly build up the time spent on Anapanasathi starting
from 10-15 minutes to at least 45 minutes at a sitting. This was
Anapanasathi samatha. One focused on the breath to develop calm and
concentration/ Samadhi. If the mind was very disturbed one could use
walking meditation at the start to calm the mind before starting
Anapanasathi.

He used the sensation of the breath hitting a certain portion of the
inside of the nose or upper lip. The instructions were simple. He did
not impress upon Nimitta as the experiences of various meditators
were different. He just required a degree of concentration – that was
being able to concentrate without the mind running completely away
from the breath, other than for 5-6 times within 45mins. This was
considered enough indication that someone was able to give rise to a
jhana (along with other indicators of deep Samadhi).

Once this degree of samadhi was reached, he taught Mastery of Jhana.
The practitioner made a determination `may I attain to the first
jhana' for a few minutes when in deep Samadhi. If the development of
Samadhi was adequate then they would go into a jhana. Then one made
similar wishes to control the time spent in a jhana `may I spend 5
minutes in the first jhana'. Then coming out of a jhana `may I come
out of the first jhana now' . Later additions to the technique also
included adverting into the various jhana factors one by one- thereby
enabling the practitioner to experience the various jhana factors and
what the labels meant. Each wish (for example -going into a jhana)
would be practiced about 5 times before getting mastery over the next
aspect.

Then one would, while in the first jhana, practice in a similar
manner for attaining mastery of the second jhana, again practising 5
times each.

The 3rd and 4th jhanas would also be mastered in a similar manner.

The fourth jhana having the quality of equnanimity was used as the
foundation for starting vipassana. This is the completion of the
citta visuddhi (purification of mind) stage.

It is said that the majority do achieve deep stages of Samadhi if not
the first jhana within 14 days. Others go on to complete the
vipassana stages as well.

Panna (Insight)
The vipassana method is `structured' for ease of comprehension, rapid
development and possibly teaching. It is based on the visuddhi or
purifications. The insights build up on each other until it reaches
fruition. The method utilises all of the six doors of contact. Each
stage of vipassana is practiced on average for a whole day, during
retreat. Each may take from 1- 4 weeks practiced while in normal lay
life. Even during normal lay life one must try to maintain
the 'vipassana atmosphere' and try see everything through the lense
of vipassana.

Nama-Rupa
The practitioner focuses on the movement of the mind rushing to each
sense base in turn, in between the arising of various sights, sounds
etc. ie – a sound is heard, and then the `mind' rushes to that ear
and the sound is heard clearer. This is understood as the experience
of the rupa components of the sound and the ear coming together and
that giving rise to sota vinnana/ear consciousness, which then fuses
(the movement of the mind to the ear) with the former two to give
rise to a mental component which is Contact/phassa.

If one focuses on the phassa a little longer one can see
vedana/pleasantness ,unpleasantness and sanna/concept, meaning arising
as well subsequently. With this method it was possible to see the 5
aggregates arising and passing away in the present.

Then when the practitioner was able to clearly see that everything
was made up of this process and that there was nothing beyond nama-
rupa, he was asked to look at the relationship of the dhammas which
arise.
Ditti-Visuddhi would be reached at this stage with understanding
namarupa pariccheda nana.

Hethu-Phala (cause and effect)
He is asked to focus on the movement of the mind to the sense base
(vinnana) and the subsequent arising of the sound (phassa) as these
are the easier aspects to detect. He is asked to see the first as
cause and the latter as effect, of that cause. He is asked to do this
until it is clear that everything arises due to a cause. Each effect
then in turn becomes an cause for the next link of the chain. This
way it is possible to see the following chain:

Sound+ear (gives rise to) sotavinnana (gives rise to) phassa (gives
rise to) vedana,sanna, sankhara (cetana, manasikara)

With further mindfulness it is possible to see pleasantness arising
at any sense base, if it were adequately strong, would give rise to
craving. This can be experienced. If the craving were adequately
strong it would give rise to attachment/upadana. This can be known in
retrospect if in turn, attachment/upadana were to give rise to
bhava/becoming – this can be experienced as a thought arising
seemingly of it's own accord. Such thoughts would be based on a
attachment which was still present in the mind, unknown to us. For
example a thought/memory of something that we ate, that we
particularly enjoyed would arise suddenly seemingly out of nowhere.
Such a thought is a combination of five aggregates, the basic
building blocks of a `being'. If the body were to perish such a
thought due to it's inherent energy would arise seemingly out of
nowhere, elsewhere ie in a foetus.

However it is not required for the yogi to see all these steps for
the first stage of Sotapanna. If he can see even one link of the
chain of dpendant origination and understand that this law applies to
every Dhamma that arises, it is considered adequate. Later evolvement
of this method included contemplating that if there were no cause,
there would be no effect either. Pacchayapariggaha nana would be
completed here.

It is in the this stage that most people see that there is no self
and the tilakkana is understood. One sees that the tilakkhana and
causality is applicable to everything that arises and passes away.
This is the completion of sammasana-ñana.

The stage of Kankhavitarana visuddhi would be completed here.

Anicca
After seeing Nama-Rupa and Hethu-Phala, the practitioner goes on to
focus actively on the impermanence of hethu (cause) and impermamance
of phala (effect). Some as an additional step go on to look at
impermanence of nama and the impermanence of rupa.
This stage is complete when the yogi clearly sees impermanence in
everything. Fear, revulsion etc may arise.
This stage completes the early stage of udayavyaya nana, magga-magga
nanadassana visuddhi,

Athiweema-Nethiweem a (arising-passing away)
Here the yogi is asked to focus on the arising of the in-breath and
passing away of the in-breath; arising of the out-breath and passing
away of the outbreath, using anapanasathi (mindfulness of breath).
This remains a powerful way of focusing and deepening on the insight
of anicca.
This completes the mature stage of udayavyaya nana and leads all the
way to the magga-citta and phala citta.
Magga-Phala (Path and Fruit)
Reaching of magga and phala citta is experienced as an (upward)
movement of the mind far stronger that what is experienced in the
movement of the mind into jhana. This movement shoots the mind into a
non-experience. Everything ceases for a moment. This is the
experiencing of nibbana, for a moment. This is followed by great
rapture and bliss never experienced before. It lasts several hours
and the practitioner is unable to practice vipassana further in this
state. Often he experiences rapture spreading across his chest. He
may experience much happiness and an understanding that he has
attained something very special. As a way of determining that this is
what has actually happened, it is possible to ask the yogi to keep on
seeing anicca as before. He will experience this same phenomena again
as his faculties (the factors of the noble eightfold path) are in a
high state of development. Before the magga and phala citta arises
the practitioner may experience subtle bursts of rapture, almost
predicting that the moment of attainment is close at hand.

Phalasamawatha (Attainment of Fruition)
Then the yogi is asked to wish for the fruit of his practice upto
now –to experience it for a few minutes. His mind should dip into the
non-experience of nibbana for a few minutes. This is often
accompanied by rapture which is different in character to that of the
jhanas. The practitioner feels the need to go into this again and
again and to abide in this state longer and longer. However for some,
the ability to enter into this stage may take a few days to develop.
He may experience this automatically when repeating vipassana in a
sankhara upekha stage.

When coming out of phalasamawatha, one is able to experience various
sankhara (mental formations) pulling one `out' and giving rise to
vinnana (consciousness) again. Alternatively when seeing constantly
with insight into anicca one can fall into phala. This shows the
reverse first steps of the paticcasamuppada where the fading of
avijja leads to the fading of sankhara (mental formations), this in
turn leads to the fading of vinana, therefore every subsequent step
of the paticcasamuppada. It becomes clear that this is the path to
the cessation of suffering.

A yogi may not explicitly be able to state all this unless pointed
out to him. However he has seen all this and understanding is
inherent. His knowledge is like that of drinking a cup of tea for the
first time. He may not be able to say what the tast of sugar is or
the taste of tea is, but he has experienced it and knows it almost
subconsiously. However when it is pointed out, the separate
components become clear. It is a common experience that the suttas
become clearer, when the practice has been completed in this manner.

With this knowledge doubt is cleared. This is doubt about the ariya
magga as a path to the cessation of suffering. It also eradicated
doubt based on views (ie- ideas, standpoints not based on direct
experiencing) about existence and non-existence.

One does not seek another teacher to seek cessation of suffering, but
has fully developed faith and confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma and
sangha in this.

One does not think that observing rites and rituals will give rise to
cessation of suffering. Sila arises naturally without being forced.
(silabbataparamasa)

One has understood that there is no Self and also the
insubstantiality/ sunnata of everything (Sakkaya ditti is eradicated).

One has seen the full extent of dukkha, ie how even the five
aggregates are suffering. (Dukkha sacca)

One has seen that craving for the five aggregates is counteracted by
insight. (Samudaya sacca)

One has experienced the cessation of suffering. (nirodha sacca)
One has seen that the path to the cessation of suffering is the noble
eightfold path, which is experienced in the mind. (Magga sacca)

The totality of the experience that the practitioner has had can now
be summarised as the four noble truths.

This is the Path leading to the stage of Stream entry or the
Sotapanna.

May all being attain nibbana!

Matheesha

May 2007

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jhana_insight/message/1887