5 ways of meditation

Yes. There is a sutta that describes that.

• I don’t recall the name offhand. If he did mention the name, let me know around what time, and I can listen and figure out the sutta‘s name.

It is “Vimuttāyatana Sutta (AN 5.26).”

P.S. Even though he said, “Panca Vimuttāyatana Sutta,” it is “Vimuttāyatana Sutta.”

Buddhist meditation does not involve anything that has to do with this world. For example, breath or a kasina object like a clay ball for a water bowl is used by anariya yogis.

• Buddhist (Ariya) meditation is based on a Dhamma concept like Paticca Samuppada, the anicca nature of this world, etc.
• The following was extracted from the recent post “Jānato Passato” and Ājāniya – Critical Words to Remember.”

8. Cultivation of jhāna could be an important part of progresing on the Noble Path, especially if one is a bhikkhu. While the term “Ariya jhāna” does not appear in the Tipiṭaka, the Buddha clearly distinguished between jhānās cultivated by Ariyās and anāriyās. For example, when a bhikkhu named Sandha visited the Buddha, he was rebuked not to meditate like a mule (khaḷuṅka) but like a horse trained for battle (Ājānīya.) See “Sandha Sutta (AN 11.9).”

• It is good to read that whole sutta.
• @marker 2.16, the sutta describes how an anariya yogi cultivates a jhāna: “They meditate (with the mind focused on) earth, water, fire, and air. They meditate (with the mind focused on) the dimension of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, or neither perception nor non-perception.”
• Note that “breath meditation” (or anariya “kasina meditation” using a clay ball or fire) belongs to that category; it focuses the mind on the “air element.”
• How does an Ariya meditate? That is described @marker 3.13: “They don’t meditate (with the mind focused on) earth, water, fire, and air. They don’t meditate (with the mind focused on) the dimension of infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, or neither perception nor non-perception. They don’t meditate (with the mind focused on) this world or the other world. They don’t meditate (with the mind focused on) what is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, or explored by the mind.”
• We will discuss that further in the next post.

9. Several suttās compare the quality of Ariya and anariya jhānās to that between a well-trained horse and a lazy mule. 

• In the “Bhaddāli Sutta (MN 65),” the Buddha describes the training of an ajānīya horse to have ten qualities, compared to an Ariya cultivating ten qualities. A similar description is in the “Gaṇakamoggallāna Sutta (MN 107).”
• Also, note that “jāna(to)” and “jhāna” are very different. Furthermore, it is a god idea to understand how to pronounce (and write with the “Tipiṭaka English” convention); see “Pāli Words – Writing and Pronunciation.”

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Jorg, pathfinder

The above comment applies not only to jhana cultivation but also to meditation in general. 

• I forgot to emphasize that above.

Thank you for this discussion, since I recently chatted with some people about meditation, and it was relevant to this. They practice “mindfulness”, which they consider to be “vipassana“.

Their practice was to be “fully present”, to be aware of what is going on in the moment: that one is breathing, that one is seeing something, hearing something, thinking something, etc.

This kind of practice, when cultivated well, probably brings a sense of deep calm (samatha) and is mistaken to be Buddhist meditation. Yet it is still mundane (anariya) meditation since it delves into the world of the senses.

It is good reminder for us from the “Sandha Sutta (AN 11.9)” as Lal pointed out above:

“…They don’t meditate (with the mind focused on) what is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, or explored by the mind.”

Sadhu!
Lang

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pathfinder