Suttra references for Meditation Techniques

Talisman

Just looking for references dealing specifically with Samatha and methods for developing concentration. I am interested in both Pali and Sanskrit sources.

Thanks guys :om:

fivebells

Anapanasati sutra

buddhajunkie

Anapanasati sutra

What would you say is the difference between the Anapanasati sutta and the Satipatthana sutta?

federica

Bumped for Mindfulness.....

Talisman

hehe thanks fede

DhammaDhatu

What would you say is the difference between the Anapanasati sutta and the Satipatthana sutta?

There is a big difference, which you can find in reading them.

Feelings in SS are all feelings where as feelings in AS are just rapture & happiness.

The last satipatthana in SS is a collection of unrelated dhammas where as in the AS it is experiencing impermanence & nirvana (i.e., vipassana).

Many learned Buddhists, even including conservative monks such as Ajahn Sujato, hold the Buddha did not speak the SS and it was added into the scriptures later.

The SS is simply a list of disconnected teachings of the Buddha, lumped in together. It does not follow the sequential logic used by the Buddha.

DhammaDhatu

Just looking for references dealing specifically with Samatha and methods for developing concentration. I am interested in both Pali and Sanskrit sources.

Dvedhavitakka Sutta: Two Sorts of Thinking

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.019.than.html

Maha-Rahulovada Sutta: The Greater Exhortation to Rahula

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.062.than.html

Maha-cattarisaka Sutta: The Great Forty

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.117.than.html

:om:

Talisman

Thanks for the links and commentary. I printed off SS earlier but havent started reading it yet. Starting with Anapanasati.

buddhajunkie

What would you say is the difference between the Anapanasati sutta and the Satipatthana sutta?

There is a big difference, which you can find in reading them.

Feelings in SS are all feelings where as feelings in AS are just rapture & happiness.

The last satipatthana in SS is a collection of unrelated dhammas where as in the AS it is experiencing impermanence & nirvana (i.e., vipassana).

Many learned Buddhists, even including conservative monks such as Ajahn Sujato, hold the Buddha did not speak the SS and it was added into the scriptures later.

The SS is simply a list of disconnected teachings of the Buddha, lumped in together. It does not follow the sequential logic used by the Buddha.

Here's my impression:

AS is the pattern one might follow if he/she were at a 10-day retreat, whereas SS is more useful for a, say, 40-minute sitting.

I say this partly because it seems that AS has jhanna one of the steps.

Similarly, the "disconnected teachings" of the SS seems to actually be quite useful since, as Gunaratana said, you can't control what your mind is going to do. Thus, the Four References are exactly that, just references and not steps.

I'm not much of a Pali scholar, so I would appreciate any feedback here on the AS vs. SS debate. Also, if you have some links that would be great.

DairyLama

The SS is simply a list of disconnected teachings of the Buddha, lumped in together. It does not follow the sequential logic used by the Buddha.

I agree. AS seems to have a progressive structure whereas SS seems to be a lot of stuff bundled together. I view SS as a list of techniques for developing mindfulness off the cushion, whereas AS describes a progression of meditative states.

P

pegembara

Dwelling at Savatthi... "Monks, the ending of the effluents is for one who knows & sees, I tell you, not for one who does not know & does not see. For one who knows what & sees what is there the ending of effluents? 'Such is form, such its origination, such its disappearance. Such is feeling, such its origination, such its disappearance. Such is perception, such its origination, such its disappearance. Such are fabrications, such their origination, such their disappearance. Such is consciousness, such its origination, such its disappearance.' The ending of the effluents is for one who knows in this way & sees in this way.

Upanisa Sutta: Prerequisites

That is vipassana- observing appearance and disappearance of the aggregates from moment to moment.

As for samatha there are 40 samatha kammatthana bhavana
http://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/samatha-kammatthana-bhavana/index.html
but anapanasati comes highly recommended by the Buddha himself.