OR
THE CASE OF THE MISSING SIMILE
An essay on aspects of the practice of breath
meditation.
By Bhikkhu Sona.
As the title suggests, there is a significant puzzle to be
solved by any meditator or scholar who tries to clearly understand
the qualities of experience, which accompany the transition from
mere attention to respiration to full immersion in jhanic
consciousness. I will attempt to show that there are good grounds
for confusion on this matter as one traces the historical
progression of the commentarial accounts from the Patisambhidamagga
through the Vimuttimagga to the (later) Visuddhimagga.
Since the Visuddhimagga is so influential and so widely quoted
by modern teachers, it would seem critical that it is reliable and,
if in certain aspects it is not, then, with supporting evidence, to
show clearly why it is not.
The body of this essay will show that a description of the mind
of the jhanic meditator found in the Canon itself and quoted in the
Patisambhidamagga as a simile involving a comparison of mind with a
full clear moon, degenerates to a mistaken literalization of these
images as internally produced visual data. Since the contents of
mind are not easy to point to, the Buddha frequently used similes
comparing visual and other sense objects with mental contents in
order for meditators to clearly understand what they should be
seeking and experiencing. In religious traditions of all kinds we
often find a naive tendency to take literally what is meant as a
simile. It seems this process has occurred somewhere along the line
and has become enshrined in the Visuddhimagga's description of the
patibhaganimitta or "counter-part sign." It is important
that new generations of western meditators not be misled by this
probable historical error.
The terms "nimitta" or "sign" and patibhaganimitta or
"counter-part sign" are frequently referred to in this essay, and
it is best to clarify their meaning at the outset. The "sign" means
a characteristic mark or phenomenon, which accompanies and helps
identify an experience. For example, the flu is often accompanied
by weakness and nausea; here nausea would be a sign of the flu.
Extreme joy may be accompanied by a feeling of lightness of body
and tears; these would be signs of joy. A doctor looks for certain
signs which characteristically accompany certain illnesses. In the
same way, certain signs are characteristic of entering deep states
of right concentration and are intrinsic to the jhanic state.
According to the definitions (taken from Commentarial sources)
found in Nyanatiloka's Buddhist Dictionary, there are three types
of nimitta. The first type is the
parikamma-nimitta,which refers to the perception of the
object at the very beginning of concentration -it is also known as
the "preparatory image or sign." When the mind reaches a weak
degree of concentration, a still unsteady and unclear image or sign
called the "acquired sign" (uggaha-nimitta) arises. This
percept precedes the appearance of an entirely clear and static
image called the "counter-image" or "counter-sign" (the
patibhaga-nimitta). The appearance of this third type of
nimitta signals the appearance of neighbourhood (or access)
concentration, the state that precedes full jhanic absorption. Both
of these states share the same sign but differ only in the
intensity of the component (state) factors. As mentioned in this
definition, the counter-part sign is understood as a more refined
and clarified version of the sign and is the natural result of
heightened awareness and concentration. By knowing these signs,
both the student and teacher are helped to assess the success or
failure of the corresponding concentration attainments.
Mindfulness of in-and-out breathing (anapanasati) is
one of the most important among the subjects or working grounds for
meditation recommended by the Buddha. It is also one of the most
popular meditation methods used by past and present generations of
Theravada Buddhist practitioners seeking to complete the noble path
of deliverance. The method is described in a number of suttas
belonging to the Pali Canon (e.g., M 118, M 10, D 22). However, the
suttas are quite concise, and at times sparse, in their treatment
of meditation methods. Hence, one finds post-canonical exegetical
works having as their main purpose the comment, explanation,
complement, or clarification of texts that may be deemed abstruse
or lacking information within the Canon.
Concerning the subject of breathing meditation, three such
commentarial works, the Visuddhimagga (Vis., 500 AC, 1st Eng. ed. 1956), the Vimuttimagga (Vim., 100 AC ?,
1st.Eng.ed. 1961) and the Patisambhidamagga
(Pat., 300 BC ?, 1st.Engl.ed. 1982) are at
present available in English translation. Both teachers and
students use them widely as valuable references for clarifying key
aspects of the practice. Traditionally, the Visuddhimagga, the
latest work of the three, has been used and considered perhaps the
most authoritative standard to be followed as a manual of
meditation.
On the subject of the sign (nimitta) and counter-part
sign (patibhaganimitta), which arise during breath
meditation, there are significant discrepancies between the
descriptions found in the Visuddhimagga and Vimuttimagga. Diverse
written works by modern teachers mention the characteristics of
sign and counter-part sign appearing during breath meditation.
Often these descriptions take the classic simile description found
in the Visuddhimagga, perhaps as a cautious attempt at not straying
from orthodoxy. However, as we show below, this description of the
sign (learning or counter-part) may turn out to be quite misleading
and, as often expressed by frustrated meditators, unclear.
In the Visuddhimagga description of mindfulness of breathing
(Vis. VIII, 213-215), para.213 one reads:
...So too, the bhikkhu should not look for the
in-breaths and out-breaths anywhere else than the place normally
touched by them. And he should take the rope of mindfulness and the
goad of understanding, and fixing his mind on the place normally
touched by them, he should go on giving his attention to that. For
as he gives his attention in this way they reappear after no long
time, as the oxen did at the drinking place where they met. So he
can secure them with the rope of mindfulness, and yoking them in
that same place and prodding them with the goad of understanding,
he can keep on applying himself to the meditation subject.
214. When he does so in this way, the sign [see
corresponding note, next paragraph] soon appears to him. But it is
not the same for all; on the contrary, some say that when it
appears it does so to certain people producing a light touch like
cotton or silk cotton or a draught.
215. But this is the exposition given in the
commentaries: It appears to some like a star or a cluster of gems
or a cluster of pearls, to others with a rough touch like that of
silk-cotton seeds or a peg made of heartwood, to others like a long
braid string or a wreath of flowers or a puff of smoke, to others like
a stretched-out cobweb or a film of cloud or a lotus
flower or a chariot wheel or the moon's disk or the
sun's disk.
[Underlining mine].
A note taken from a commentary to the Visuddhimagga reads:
"The sign" is the learning sign and the counterpart
sign, for both are stated here together. Herein, the three similes
beginning with cotton are properly the learning sign, the rest are
both. "Some" are certain teachers. The similes beginning with the
"cluster of gems" are properly the counterpart sign.
(Paramattha-manjusa, Visuddhimagga Atthakatha; Vism.
p.786, n.58).
The similes in the preceding sections (Vis.VII, 214-215)
represent both tactile and visual sense perceptions. The following
extracts are presented for the reader to assess whether a mix-up
came about as a result of an error in the transmission (perhaps an
error in written transcription) based on data obtained from earlier
commentarial material such as the Vimuttimagga and the canonical
Patisambhidamagga, or of having taken literally what originally was
meant as a simile.
The Vimuttimagga (p.68), in referring to the "discerning of
qualities" for the diverse meditation subjects, states that "...one
subject of meditation seizes the sign through contact. Namely,
mindfulness of respiration. And again, one subject of meditation
seizes the sign through sight or contact. Namely, air
kasina." This distinction is critical. It shows that
breath meditation is different from other concentration objects in
that it is exclusively tactile.
Visual objects may be perceived during breathing meditation as a
side effect for some meditators, however, the meditator should
remain focused exclusively on the tactile sensation of breath.
Thus, as mentioned in the Patisambhidamagga (170., p.172):
...the bhikkhu sits, having established mindfulness at
the nose tip or on the upper lip, without giving attention to the
in-breaths and out-breaths as they approach and recede,...the body
and cognizance in one who is energetic [in this endeavour] becomes
wieldy,...his applied thoughts are stilled...[and] his underlying
tendencies come to be done away with...
Going back to the Visuddhimagga similes given above (Vis. VII,
214-215), and comparing them with what one finds in the
corresponding description in the Vimuttimagga (Mindfulness of
Respiration. Procedure, pp.158-159; see paragraph below), one finds
that they are diametrically opposed in apparent intended meaning.
Whereas the Visuddhimagga similes are given in terms of what one
may find as the sign to be dwelled upon, in the Vimuttimagga one
finds words of caution so as to abstain from attending to such
perceptions (instead of attending to the tactile respiration sign).
The pertinent fragment from the Vimuttimagga is transcribed in
full:
To the yogin who attends to the incoming breath with
mind that is cleansed of the nine lesser defilements the image
arises with a pleasant feeling similar to that which is produced in
the action of spinning cotton or silk cotton. Also, it is likened
to the pleasant feeling produced by a breeze. Thus in breathing in
and out, air touches the nose or the lip and causes the setting-up
of air perception mindfulness. This does not depend on colour or
form. This is called the image. If the yogin develops the image
[sign] and increases it at the nose-tip, between the eyebrows, on
the forehead or establishes it in several places, he feels as if
his head were filled with air. Through increasing in this way his
whole body is charged with bliss. This is called perfection.
And again, there is a yogin: he sees several images
from the beginning. He sees various forms such as smoke, mist, dust, sand of gold, or he
experiences something similar to the pricking of a needle or to an
ant's bite. If his mind does not become clear regarding these
different images, he will be confused [!]. Thus he fulfils
overturning and does not gain the perception of respiration. If his
mind becomes clear, the yogin does not experience confusion. He
attends to respiration and he does not cause the arising of
other perceptions [underlining mine]. Meditating thus he is
able to end confusion and acquire the subtle image [sign]. And he
attends to respiration with mind that is free. That image [sign] is
free. Because that image [sign] is free, desire arises. Desire
being free, that yogin attends respiration with equipoise.
Equipoise, desire and joy being free, he attends to respiration,
and his mind is not disturbed. If his mind is not disturbed, he
will destroy the hindrances, and arouse the meditation (jhana)
factors. Thus this yogin will reach the calm and sublime fourth
meditation, jhana. This is as was fully taught above.
These warnings not to be distracted may be directly derived from
the Mindfulness of Breathing discourse (M 118.26): "I do not say
there is development of breathing for one who is forgetful, who is
not fully aware."
The phrase "pleasant feeling similar to that which is produced
in the action of spinning cotton or silk cotton" should be
understood as the pleasant tactile sensation experienced at a
certain point on the hand of the weaver who supports or guides,
while at the same time spinning, a line of cotton. The simile
interpreted in this way is appropriate in the sense that the
initial contact with the line is felt in a coarse way and
eventually changes in quality (numbness, pressure, heat, etc.) to a
different quality of perception by effect of the sustained
friction. This is a more refined simile than found in the
Vissudhimagga, which settles for the static image of "the touch of
cotton."
The sentence "this does not depend on colour or form" makes it
quite clear that the meditator should not expect the sign of
respiration mindfulness as a visual image, since it is not possible
to conceive of a visual perception lacking both colour and form.
What may be inferred from the sentence is that the sign is a
tactile percept. Incidentally, in the Patisambhidamagga, the
earliest and most extensive source treatise on breathing, there is
no mention in the whole section on breathing meditation of a visual
or "light" nimitta.
A great mystery is solved when one realizes that most of the
images ascribed to the counter-sign in the Visuddhimagga and to the
"distractions" in the Vimuttimagga are found in the earlier
Patisambhidamagga as part of a metaphorical description of the
bhikkhu liberated from the defilements on account of his
distinction in the practice of mindfulness of breathing. The
descriptions follow:
Whose mindfulness of breathing in and out is perfect,
well developed, and gradually brought to growth according as the
Buddha taught, It is he illuminates the world just like the full
moon free from cloud (Pat.III, 171, p.172).
And,
Just like the full moon free from
cloud: Defilements
are like clouds, the noble ones' knowledge is like the moon, the
bhikkhu is like the deity's son who possesses the full moon. As the
moon when freed from cloud, freed from mist, freed from
smoke and
dust, delivered
from the clutches of the Eclipse-Demon Rahu, gleams and glows and shines, so too the bhikkhu who
is delivered from all defilements gleams and glows and shines.
Hence "just like the full moon free from cloud" was said (Pat.III,
182, p.175). [Underlining mine]
Here, what is given canonically as a simile for the mind, in the
Vimuttimagga is taken literally as visual percepts, although
appropriately, given as images to which one should not pay
attention. The Visuddhimagga, however, both mistakenly takes the
similes "smoke", "mist", "dust", "gleam", "glows", "shines", and
"moon", as literal visual images, and also misapprehends them as
the counter-sign, the mark of success!, in direct opposition to the
Vimuttimagga.
One can only wonder how these metaphorical images, found at the
end of the section describing breathing meditation in the
Patisambhidamagga, eventually became literal visual events related
to meditation practice in later commentarial works. From the
evidence presented in this note, it may seem advisable to consider
both the Vimuttimagga and the Patisambhidamagga as more reliable
texts as far as breathing meditation is concerned.
Only in the Patisambhidamagga is the material handled
appropriately. Similes for the quality of mind such as "clear",
"illumined", or "free from clouds", are treated as similes, and
furthermore the simile images of "clouds", "mist", etc., are
properly understood as impediments to that clarity. The editors
(traditionally Acariya Buddhaghosa) of the Visuddhimagga seem
rather uncomfortable with the "diversity of perception" of the
various nimittas for breath meditation and demonstrate their
uneasiness by explaining that such diversity originates in the mere
uniqueness of meditators' perceptions (see quote, next paragraph).
Neither this explanation nor the need for it appears in the earlier
commentaries.
216. In fact this resembles an occasion when a number
of bhikkhus are sitting together reciting a suttanta. When a
bhikkhu asks, " What does this sutta appear like to you?" , one
says, "It appears to me like a great mountain torrent," another "To
me it is like a line of forest trees," another "To me it is like
spreading fruit tree giving cool shade." For the one sutta appears
to them differently because of the difference in their perception.
Similarly this single meditation subject appears differently
because of difference in perception. It is born of perception, its
source is perception, it is produced by perception. Therefore it
should be understood that when it appears differently it is because
of difference in perception (Vis. VIII, 216, p.278).
I am sure many a meditator has wondered why the Buddha had
failed to mention the critical information of the "sign" and
"counter-sign" in breath meditation, which the Visuddhimagga has
deemed so critical to success in jhanic practice. I hope this essay
has shown that the Buddha's description of the practise of breath
meditation contains all necessary and sufficient information for
success.
I would add that the only sign of jhana which is reliable, and
which applies in all cases, is the description of the jhana factors
given by the Buddha Himself, whether the meditation object is
visual or tactile. I would further hope that the meditator realizes
that the progressive clarity and refinements of his or her
perception of the object of meditation are simply the
"side-effects" of clarity and illumination of the still and focused
mind.
Lastly, I would emphasize that the object in respiration is
contact with air. The quality of the air element is critically
important to this meditation. If the Buddha were interested in mere
sensation of contact then it would be simpler to touch one's nose
with the fingers. The taking on of the lightness of air as an
experience of the body is critical. As the Vimuttimagga says:
He feels as if his head were filled with air. Through
increasing in this way his whole body is charged with bliss. This
is called perfection. [Previously quoted].
A related secondary matter regarding the breath nimitta is, once
again, a traceable misunderstanding, which has evolved to its final
form in the Visuddhimagga. A critical phrase is used in the suttas
Four Foundations of Mindfulness and Anapanasati, that is:
"parimukham satim upatthapetva," which is often translated
as "setting mindfulness before him." One is then left to wonder why
the Patisambhidamagga, the Vimuttimagga, and the Vissudhimagga all
confidently give the location of breath contact as the nostrils.
Furthermore, we find in the three works: "either at the nose or
lip." And here Buddhaghosa, the editor, gives as explanation that a
"long-nosed man can feel the breath at his nostril as it passes
through his nose." A short-nosed man however, feels it on his upper
lip. This is a strange bit of business if one thinks about it,
because even if one is a "short-nosed man" one can only feel the
exhalation of warm air out the nostrils onto the upper lip. We are
now missing the entire in-breath. So it seems we have another
puzzle.
If we look back to the original sutta at the word "mukha", it
literally and sensibly means "entrance" or "mouth." If we give it
this obvious meaning we have: "He fixes his attention at the
entrance'", the entrance being either the nose or the mouth. The
early commentators are assuming the reader realizes that the
meditator may be breathing either through his mouth or his nose. If
he is breathing through his mouth he should direct his attention to
air contact at the lip. It is very sensible advice really, for it
would be a shame to have to give up breath meditation just because
one has a cold or a plugged nose! So we see what began as a
straightforward location of breath contact at the nose or mouth,
i.e. "the entrance", slowly take on the perplexing addition of a
"long-nosed and a short-nosed man." The debate over the meaning of
this phrase came about at a very early time (see quote from the
original note in the Patisambhidamagga, below), and in fact all
three commentaries have opted for mukha as nose or
mouth.
"Has the sense of embracing" is in the sense
of being embraced. What is embraced? The outlet. What outlet?
Concentration based on mindfulness of breathing is itself the
outlet, right up to the arahant path. Hence "has the sense of
outlet" is said. The meaning of "outlet from the round of rebirths"
is expressed by the meaning of the word mukha (mouth) as
foremost (front). "Has the sense of establishing" is in the sense
of individual essence. The meaning expressed by all these words is:
Having made mindfulness an embraced outlet. But some say that "has
the sense of embracing'" stands for "embracing as the meaning of
mindfulness," and that "has the sense of outlet" stands for "door
of entry and exit as the meaning of in-breaths and out-breaths."
Then what is meant is: Having established mindfulness as the
embraced outlet of the in-breaths and out-breaths.(Note 14, Engl.
Ed.; PsA 350-1)
Some modern teachers have suggested that it doesn't matter where
the breath contact is located, probably in response to the phrase
which occurs later on in the sutta: "Experiencing the whole body,
he breathes in...", etc. And since the whole body of the breath is
not explicitly stated, they feel there is room for interpretation.
But the breath as a "whole body" is explicitly mentioned in the
Anapanasati Sutta, though not in the Satipatthana
Sutta the phrase means the same: "I say, monks, that of bodies
this is one, that is to say breathing-in and breathing-out"
(Majjhima Nikaya, PTS edition, III.83, p.125; the footnote
states that "...breathing is a body because it is included in the
field of touch"). As well there is an explicit location of "the
entrance" in the sutta, which the three commentaries agree on,
whatever the later confusion may have been. It also overlooks the
simile which immediately follows the explicit location, i.e., "As a
turner or his apprentice, while making a long turn, knows that he
is making a long turn, or in making a short turn, knows that he is
making a short turn, so too a monk, in breathing in a long breath,
knows that he breathes in a long breath, in breathing a short
breath, knows that he breathes in a short breath...and so trains
himself, thinking: 'I will breathe out, calming the whole body
formation.' "(Digha Nikaya. 22) The Buddha includes this
apparently redundant simile for one reason. Similes, like pictures,
are worth a thousand words and usually survive the butcheries of
translation. This is the Buddha's failsafe mechanism to show that
as a lathe worker fixes his attention one-pointedly with his chisel
on a single spot while the wooden spindle is in ceaseless motion,
the meditator does likewise at the "entrance spot" while the breath
continuously flows past. Basically all the commentaries have
managed to preserve this notion in the "simile of the saw", but
unfortunately the mouth as location is overlooked by the time of
the Visuddhimagga.
All of this does not mean that there is only one way to attain
serenity using the breath. If someone has developed a technique
that issues in jhana and which does not follow the explicit
instructions that is fine too. Whatever works.
The following is a brief summary of instructions for meditators
practicing breath meditation:
I hope the above points will help clarify any confusion that
meditators have come up against and that they may breathe a sigh of
relief as they move along the path.
1) "The Path of Purification, Visuddhimagga" by Bhadantacariya
Buddhaghosa, Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nyanamoli, 5th Ed.
Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka (1991).
2) "The Path of Freedom, Vimuttimagga" by the Arahant Upatissa,
Translated from the Chinese by Rev. N.R.M. Ehara, Soma Thera, &
Kheminda Thera; Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka
(1995).
3) "The Path of Discrimination, Patisambhidamagga." Translated
from the Pali by Bhikkhu Nyanamoli, 2nd Ed. The Pali Text Society,
Oxford (1997).
This article by Sona Bhikkhu of Birken
Forest Monastery.
Comments or Questions? Email Sona Bhikkhu