Mike, below is an interesting excerpt. --ED
"Serenity and insight
The Buddha is said to have identified two paramount mental qualities
that arise from wholesome meditative practice:
* "serenity" or "tranquillity" (Pali: samatha) which steadies,
composes, unifies and concentrates the mind;
* "insight" (Pali: vipassana) which enables one to see, explore and
discern "formations" (conditioned phenomena based on the five
aggregates).
Through the meditative development of serenity, one is able to suppress
obscuring hindrances; and, with the suppression of the hindrances, it is
through the meditative development of insight that one gains liberating
wisdom.
Moreover, the Buddha is said to have extolled serenity and insight as
conduits for attaining Nibbana, the unconditioned state as in the
"Kimsuka Tree Sutta", where the Buddha provides an elaborate metaphor in
which serenity and insight are "the swift pair of messengers" who
deliver the message of Nibbana via the Noble Eightfold Path.
In the "Four Ways to Arahantship Sutta" Ven. Ananda reports that people
attain arahantship using serenity and insight in one of three ways:
1. they develop serenity and then insight
2. they develop insight and then serenity
3. they develop serenity and insight in tandem as in, for instance,
obtaining the first jhana, and then seeing in the associated aggregates
the three marks of existence, before proceeding to the second jhana.
"In the Pali canon, the Buddha never mentions independent samatha and
vipassana meditation practices; instead, samatha and vipassana are two
qualities of mind to be developed through meditation.
Nonetheless, some meditation practices (such as contemplation of a
kasina object) favor the development of samatha, others are conducive to
the development of vipassana (such as contemplation of the aggregates),
while others (such as mindfulness of breathing) are classically used for
developing both mental qualities."
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_meditation
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_meditation>
--- In [email protected], mike brown <uerusuboyo@...> wrote:
>
> ED,
>
> If you read the Pali canon suttas it is quite clear that the Buddha
was saying that insight meditation into the 3 Cs (along with morality
training) is the path to understanding the self and existence.
> Mike
