Hi Yeos,
I have my reason for posting this under Meditation forum.
I notice there is a trend in recent years for Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhists to pursue the original teachings of the Buddha. Hence the name ‘Original Buddhism’ is frequently mentioned within the Buddhist community especially in countries like Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and some western countries. Many Venerables are racing against the clock to spread the original teachings to their followers. I thought it is very heartening to see such great effort being fostered in the Buddhist community. Incidentally, I am very keen to find out what this Original Buddhism is all about. Is it yet another snazzy name belonging to a certain sect of Buddhism?
Nowadays there are so many forms of meditation taught by many meditation gurus out there. From the most common breath meditation to visual meditation. Many buddhists must be wondering what is the original meditation as taught by the Buddha. Before discussing further, some background info I have gathered so far.
“The Upanishads are a collection of texts of religious and philosophical nature, written in India probably between c. 800 BCE and c. 500 BCE, during a time when Indian society started to question the traditional Vedic religious order.”
I learned somewhere that the Upanishads were written to refute Brahmanism. Final liberation in Upanishads is termed as Moksha. Authors of Upanishads had conceptualised the existence of an universal soul a.k.a atman and Brahman (the absolute reality).
“The Upanishads tell us that the core of our own self is not the body, or the mind, but atman or “Self”. Atman is the core of all creatures, their innermost essence. It can only be perceived by direct experience through meditation.”
Upanishads place very strong emphasis on meditation. Followers of Upanishads practised so hard to stilling their minds because they believe that is the only way to reunite with atman. Hence, yogis who had attained even the highest immaterial meditative absorptions mistakenly thought they had attained liberation.
Unfortunately, Upanishads have creeped into Buddhism.
“Upanishads are to some degree shared by most Indian religions, including Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism….despite the fact that the Buddha originally remained indifferent to metaphysical speculations, many Buddhist schools have adopted this scheme as part of their metaphysics.”
Much scholarly works had been done to validate the true teachings and life accounts of the Buddha. After the Parinibbana of the Buddha, there was a schism that split Buddhism into many sects. Each has their own sacred texts, proclaiming the true words of the Buddha. No wonder it is never an easy task to encounter original Buddhism. Nevertheless, scholars and researchers found a common ground across different sects that seem to agree that the original meditation taught by the Buddha is the contemplation on causation and conditionality that give rise to all phenomena. This is particularly evident in the Āgama Sutras (Saṃyukta Āgama) and the Pali Suttas (Saṃyutta Nikāya). They cross-referenced to each other and arrived at a conclusion that in order to break through in one’s spiritual practice, one must contemplate the 5 aggregates arise due to causation and conditions. Those who study the suttas long enough will be very familiar with something like this…when the eye and form meet, seeing consciousness arises. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact conditions feeling, feeling conditions craving and so on…In the seeing, there is just only the seen. In the hearing, there is just only the heard….in the cognising, there is just only the cognised. Consciousness cannot arise on its own. If seeing consciousness is found in the eye, then without relying on other conditions, the eye on its own would be able to see. The same applies to form. It is not the eye nor the form that gives rise to the seeing consciousness. Seeing consciousness arises due to intermingling conditions! Thinking there is a real self behind all our six consciousness is upside down thinking. There is definitely seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching, cognising. But it is only under the influence of these intermingling conditions that these consciousness arise. We have to remember that all these experience happen within our own sense spheres and not in another person. Which implies denying the existence of a self is also not a view to adopt.