{"product_id":"early-buddhist-meditation","title":"Early Buddhist Meditation","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis book offers a new interpretation of the relationship between 'insight practice' (\u003ci\u003esatipatthana\u003c\/i\u003e) and the attainment of the four \u003ci\u003ejhànas\u003c\/i\u003e (i.e., \u003ci\u003eright samàdhi\u003c\/i\u003e), a key problem in the study of Buddhist meditation. The author challenges the traditional Buddhist understanding of the four \u003ci\u003ejhànas \u003c\/i\u003eas states of absorption, and shows how these states are the actualization and embodiment of insight (\u003ci\u003evipassanà\u003c\/i\u003e). It proposes that the four \u003ci\u003ejhànas\u003c\/i\u003e and what we call '\u003cem\u003evipassanà'\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003eare integral dimensions of a single process that leads to awakening.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCurrent literature on the phenomenology of the four \u003cem\u003ejhànas \u003c\/em\u003eand their relationship with the 'practice of insight' has mostly repeated traditional Theravàda interpretations. No one to date has offered a comprehensive analysis of the fourfold \u003cem\u003ejhàna \u003c\/em\u003emodel independently from traditional interpretations. This book offers such an analysis. It presents a model which speaks in the Nikàyas' distinct voice. It demonstrates that the distinction between the 'practice of serenity' (\u003ci\u003esamatha-bhàvanà\u003c\/i\u003e) and the 'practice of insight' (\u003ci\u003evipassanà\u003c\/i\u003e-\u003ci\u003ebhàvanà\u003c\/i\u003e) – a fundamental distinction in Buddhist meditation theory – is not applicable to early Buddhist understanding of the meditative path. It seeks to show that the common interpretation of the \u003ci\u003ejhànas\u003c\/i\u003e as 'altered states of consciousness', absorptions that do not reveal anything about the nature of phenomena, is incompatible with the teachings of the Pàli Nikàyas.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBy carefully analyzing the descriptions of the four \u003cem\u003ejhànas \u003c\/em\u003ein the early Buddhist texts in Pàli, their contexts, associations and meanings within the conceptual framework of early Buddhism, the relationship between this central element in the Buddhist path and 'insight meditation' becomes revealed in all its power. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEarly Buddhist Meditation will be of interest to scholars of Buddhist studies, Asian philosophies and religions, as well as Buddhist practitioners with a serious interest in the process of insight meditation. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45590131474670,"sku":"9780367111373","price":77.59,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0630\/9612\/7726\/files\/9780367111373_716c004a-c288-4517-8603-269fc080f56c.jpg?v=1721230610","url":"https:\/\/bookland.com.au\/products\/early-buddhist-meditation","provider":"Book Land AU","version":"1.0","type":"link"}