As mentioned briefly in Chapter 19, bringing to mind the Buddha with the help of a series of epithets or qualities is already attested in the early discourses.1 Reflecting on and reciting such epithets is the traditional form of recollection of the Buddha.2 As a way of further enriching ways of making the Buddha a presence in one’s life, in addition to the traditional approach, the foregoing twenty-four chapters of my exploration are meant as an invitation to engage in various meditation practices related to the Buddha. Several exercises in the previous chapters are also related to the other five out of the standard set of six recollections. The whole set of six takes the following objects:
• the Buddha,
• the Dharma taught by the Buddha,
• the Community of Noble Disciples of the Buddha,
• one’s own accomplishment in morality,
• one’s own accomplishment in generosity,
• one’s own accomplishment in qualities that are similar to those of devas.
Recollection of the Buddha forms a continuous theme throughout the preceding chapters. Recollection of the Dharma came up in Chapter 18, recollection of the Community in Chapter 24, recollection of morality in Chapter 2, recollection of generosity in Chapter 8, and recollection of devas in Chapter 4.
The function of recollection of the Buddha, a central theme in my exploration, can be illustrated with a passage that involves Mahānāma, who had just heard that the Buddha and his monastic disciples were about to depart, after having completed the rainy-season retreat. According to the Saṃyuktaāgama account, he approached the Buddha and stated the following:3
“Blessed One, I am no [longer] in control of my four limbs, I am losing the [sense of the] four directions, and I am forgetting the teachings I have learned, as I heard from a group of many monastics who had assembled in the refectory to sew the Blessed One’s robes that soon the Blessed One, the rainy-season retreat being completed and his robes having been made, will take his robes and bowl to journey among the people. For this reason now I am reflecting: ‘When will I get to see the Blessed One again and the monastics with whom I am acquainted?’”
The Buddha said to Mahānāma: “Whether you see the Blessed One or you do not see the Blessed One, see the monastics with whom you are acquainted or do not see them, you should just be mindful of five qualities and make an effort to cultivate them.
“Mahānāma, you should rely on giving precedence to right confidence, not absence of right confidence, be endowed with morality, endowed with learning, endowed with generosity, and endowed with wisdom as being essential, not being without wisdom. In this way, Mahānāma, in reliance on these five qualities, you [should] cultivate the six recollections.”
In the Pāli version Mahānāma just asks for advice and does not describe his apprehensions regarding the Buddha’s impending departure in a comparable manner. In a version of the present discourse in the partially preserved Saṃyukta-āgama, however, he similarly expresses his dismay. The description in these two versions serves to highlight a basic predicament: how to make the Buddha a presence in one’s life when he is not there?
The Buddha’s reply shifts attention to qualities that Mahānāma can cultivate within himself. The Pāli version’s set of such qualities differs, as it lists the five faculties of confidence, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. The somewhat different listings thus agree on confidence and wisdom as the foundation for practising the six recollections. It is particularly noteworthy that wisdom serves as a foundation in this respect, showing that in early Buddhist thought the practice of recollection is considered as something that bears a relation to wisdom.
Regarding confidence or faith as a faculty, another discourse in the Saṃyukta-āgama offers the following definition:4
What is the faculty of confidence? Here a noble disciple has gained in the mind serene confidence in the Tathāgata’s awakened mind.
Although this discourse does not seem to have a Pāli parallel,5 a comparable phrase can be found in a number of other Pāli discourses,6 which also speak of having confidence in the awakening of the Tathāgata.
A crucial ingredient required for engaging in the actual practice of the liberating teachings is precisely some degree of confidence that the Buddha indeed realized awakening.7 The five companions from his ascetic times at first lacked such confidence and it took some convincing on the part of the Buddha for them to acquire sufficient trust to be willing to listen to him.
In modern times the notion that asceticism is a requirement for being able to awaken is no longer of such general appeal as it appears to have been for the Buddha’s five companions. Therefore to acquire the basic confidence in the Buddha’s awakening is not so much a matter of having to accept that awakening does not require ascetic practices. However, other obstructions to granting the minimum of initial trust to be able to dedicate oneself to the actual practice present themselves. One example is the belief that awakening is no longer possible nowadays, that this was only an option to be pursued in ancient times. Another example is a tendency to reinterpret descriptions of awakening and the realization of Nirvāṇa in rather mundane terms, assuming that they merely stand for a momentary experience of ease rather than a thorough transformation of the mind that culminates in a condition of total absence of defilements. Such assumptions can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy, as the very lack of confidence in the possibility of awakening will stop one from pursuing the practices that can lead to awakening.
When the Buddha himself set out on his quest, there was no one who could have served as an example in which to place such trust. He could only have had the confidence in the very possibility of awakening. Even that much was sufficient to sustain him in his prolonged quest, which eventually led him to the final goal.
His disciples from ancient to modern times are in a more fortunate position, since they have predecessors to look up to. Of course, this is first and foremost the Buddha himself, but also any of his disciples who have reached one of the four levels of awakening. Each of the Buddha’s awakened disciples, past, present, and future, is a corroboration of the fact that it is meaningful to place one’s confidence in the Buddha’s awakening. Such initial trust is what enables one to engage seriously in the path of practice, which on being undertaken properly will sooner or later show results that corroborate to oneself that this is indeed a path of increasing inner freedom from detrimental habits, a mode of practice that is for one’s own welfare and that of others. With this personal and direct corroboration gained, one’s confidence in the Buddha’s awakening becomes strengthened in turn, until one eventually realizes one of the levels of awakening oneself. At that point, one’s confidence has become unshakeable. It has become unshakeable simply because by now one knows for oneself.
Regarding the above discourse to Mahānāma, a central message would be that, being unable to meet the living Buddha, one can fill the resultant absence by cultivating central qualities he recommended, especially confidence in the possibility of awakening and the type of wisdom that leads to it. Based on this foundation one then recollects him as well as his teaching, those who follow his teaching, etc., that is, one engages in the six recollections.
A passage in another discourse in the Aṅguttara-nikāya sets such meditative practice within the context of the natural tendency of the human mind to recollect things. Although no parallel to this discourse has been preserved in the Chinese Āgamas, a parallel can be found as a discourse quotation in the Saṅgītiparyāya, which proceeds as follows:8
Here certain types of person recollect wife and children, or recollect wealth, or recollect relatives, or recollect recluses and brahmins who have developed wrong view, who cultivate wrong view, or their wrong teachings. Although they do recollect – it is not that they do not recollect – I say that such types [of recollection] are of an inferior nature and worldly, it is not an ennobling recollection.
If one cultivates and establishes pure confidence and affection, being able to recollect the Tathāgata and the Buddha’s disciples, I say that such types of recollection are supreme, one is capable of benefiting oneself, capable of being at ease oneself, capable of making oneself dwell with one’s whole being at peace, transcending the worries caused by misfortune and extinguishing all distress and affliction, being quickly able to realize and gain the truth of the essential teachings. This is called the supreme recollection.
The Aṅguttara-nikāya parallel applies to this type of recollection the same phrase used in the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta for the four satipaṭṭhānas, according to which these serve “for the purification of beings, for the surmounting of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of dukkha and discontent, for acquiring the right method, for the realization of Nirvāṇa”.9 Although in the present case it is only the Pāli version which makes such an indication, another discourse in the Saṃyukta-āgama does introduce the practice of recollection as the “direct path” for the purification of beings, thereby using the counterpart to the expression with which the Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta introduces the four satipaṭṭhānas.10 In short, these discourses present recollection of the Buddha and his disciples in terms similar to the potential they accord to satipaṭṭhāna meditation.
The contrast set in the present passage between worldly types of recollection and the commendable form of practice that takes the Buddha or his disciples as objects conveys the sense that, with this mode of meditation, a natural tendency of the mind is put to good use. It is natural for the mind to recollect things, to have fond memories of one’s possessions and family members, etc. This propensity of the mind can be harnessed to progress to liberation simply by being directed towards a suitable object of the mind. In the form of the six recollections, this inclination of the mind to reminisce can become a vehicle for advancing to the final goal.
Another point worthy of note is that the present passage, in line with the reference to wisdom already mentioned above, hints at the insight potential of the practice of recollection with its reference to realizing the truth of the teachings. How the practice of recollecting the Buddha can become a vehicle for insight can be seen in another discourse to Mahānāma in the Aṅguttara-nikāya and its parallels. Here is the relevant part from the Saṃyukta-āgama version:11
A noble disciple recollects with the Tathāgata as the object: “The Tathāgata is an arahant, fully awakened, endowed with knowledge and conduct, a well-gone one, a knower of the world, a supreme person, a tamer of persons, a teacher of devas and humans, a Buddha, a Blessed One.”
At the time of recollecting in this way, the noble disciple does not give rise to the entanglement of lustful desires and does not give rise to a mind of anger or delusion. That mind is straight and upright, having reached the significance of the Tathāgata and reached [the significance of] the right teachings of the Tathāgata. The mind gains delight in relation to the Tathāgata and in relation to the right teachings of the Tathāgata. The mind having become delighted, it becomes joyful. Having become joyful, the body is pleasantly calm. The body having become pleasantly calm, one experiences happiness. The mind of one having experienced happiness becomes concentrated. The mind having become concentrated, the noble disciple, [even] being among ferocious living beings, is not obstructed and has entered the stream of Dharma up to Nirvāṇa.
In a way this is a mode of overcoming the hindrances that circumvents them, rather than confronting them head-on, and by dint of the inner joy that comes from recollection easily leads over to the type of happiness and tranquillity that can then be harnessed to progress to liberating insight.
EXERCISE
A basic practice that sums up not only the present chapter but in a way this whole book is simply to make the Buddha a presence in our life. Through the selected aspects of his conduct and his qualities explored in the previous chapters, it becomes possible to develop some degree of familiarity with him, and based on such familiarity we can recollect him and perhaps pose ourselves questions like: “In this situation, what would the Buddha have done?” or else: “What would the Buddha recommend I do in this type of condition; what would he approve of?”
By way of support for such enquiry, the exercises described in the preceding chapters can be combined. In what follows I present just one possible way of joining these exercises, in the hope that this will stimulate the creativity of practitioners to find their own way of bringing some or all of them together (or devising their own exercises, based on relevant canonical passages) in the way best suited to their inclinations and needs. The key aspect is simply to undertake various practices in awareness of the fact that these bear a relation to the Buddha. By engaging in these practices, in one way or another we follow in his footsteps. The joy and inspiration that can arise from such reflection have the potential, as the discourse to Mahānāma translated above shows, to become a vehicle for progress to liberation.
As a starting point, a foundational reflection for anything we decide to do could be the simple question: “Does what I am about to do lead to dukkha or away from it?” (Chapter 16). Whenever challenges arise in our interactions with others, recollecting our morality (Chapter 2) can become a powerful support for withstanding the temptation of doing what is not wholesome. The same can also be accomplished by recollecting other accomplished practitioners whose example we would like to follow (Chapter 24).
Special challenges can be faced by becoming aware of space in front of ourselves and thereby broadening our mental condition (Chapter 21), employing this as an entry door into emptiness (Chapter 5), or alternatively by creating inner distance through attending to the reciprocal interrelationship between consciousness and name-and-form (Chapter 12). Any success we have with such practice serves to corroborate that the Dharma is indeed directly visible and can be experienced here and now (Chapter 18).
Eating can become an occasion for cultivating contentment (Chapter 8). This can lead over to mindfulness in relation to various daily activities (Chapter 22). Any such activity can serve as an opportunity to become aware of the subtle mental pleasure of being in the present moment (Chapter 10). Throughout the day, a clear distinction between wholesome and unwholesome thoughts, recalled briefly during moments that allow even a split second’s time of introspection, builds up familiarity with what happens in our own mind (Chapter 3). Should the mind be overwhelmed by one of the hindrances, we can employ one of five methods to come out of obsessive thoughts (Chapter 6). When the mind is no longer overwhelmed by the hindrances, this can be made an occasion for arousing the joy of seeing the mind free from the hindrances (Chapter 4), and the conscious cultivation of such joy can become an integral part of our path in any situation (Chapter 9).
A clear formulation of our motivation (Chapter 1), ideally in a form that gives room to compassion (Chapter 14), could be recollected every time we start formal meditation practice (Chapter 10). Such formal meditation could begin with the brahmavihāras up to equanimity (Chapter 19). This could then be followed by the sixteen steps of mindfulness of breathing (Chapter 7), the practice which the Buddha himself appears to have favoured. The breath on its own can also serve to recollect death (Chapter 23). The sixteen steps, however, are a mode of bringing into being all four satipaṭṭhānas (Chapter 11). These can profitably be used as a basis for arousing and cultivating the awakening factors in dependence on seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, leading to letting go (Chapter 13), based on finely balancing these factors with each other (Chapter 15). In this way we increasingly learn to let go of all our attachments (Chapter 20) and the mind inclines ever more towards Nirvāṇa (Chapter 17), the supreme happiness, peace, and freedom.
1 See above p. 173–4.
2 A detailed exegesis on the standard epithets employed for such recollection can be found in Vism 198,1 (translated Ñāṇamoli 1991: 192ff).
3 The translated section is taken from SĀ 932 at T II 238b15 to 238b24, parallel to AN 11.12 at AN V 328,19 (translated Bodhi 2012: 1564) and SĀ2 157 at T II 433b16.
4 The translation is based on SĀ 659 at T II 184a10 to 184a12. Notably, this discourse relates all of the faculties to the Buddha’s awakening.
5 SN 48.50 seems too different from SĀ 659 to be reckoned a parallel properly speaking.
6 The Pāli phrase is saddahati tathāgatassa bodhiṃ. Here is just a single example from each of the four Nikāyas: DN 33 at DN III 237,6 (translated Walshe 1987: 496), MN 53 at MN I 356,2 (translated Ñāṇamoli 1995/2005: 462), SN 48.9 at SN V 196,26 (translated Bodhi 2000: 1671), and AN 4.61 at AN II 66,22 (translated Bodhi 2012: 449).
7 Gethin 2016: 185 explains that “Buddhist texts understand faith in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha not so much as a question of belief that certain propositions about the world are true, [but] as a trust, confidence, affection, and devotion inspired by the person of the Buddha, his teachings and followers – a confidence that there is indeed a path leading to the cessation of suffering which has been walked by the Buddha and at least some of his followers.”
8 The translated section is taken from T 1536 at T XXVI 433c26 to 434a4 (see Stache-Rosen 1968: 173), parallel to AN 6.30 at AN III 328,26 (translated Bodhi 2012: 894).
9 MN 10 at MN I 55,31 (translated Anālayo 2013b: 253).
10 SĀ 550 at T II 143b22; on the peculiar translation employed in this discourse for the “direct path” see the discussion in Nattier 2007: 187f. The parallel AN 6.26 at AN III 314,22 (translated Bodhi 2012: 885) does not use the phrase ekāyano maggo, but has the remainder of the statement found also in AN 6.30; a parallel extant in a Sanskrit fragment, MS 2380/1/1+2 recto1, Harrison 2007: 202, has preserved ekāyano mārgaḥ.
11 The translation is based on SĀ 931 at T II 237c21 to 237c29, parallel to AN 6.10 at AN III 285,3 (translated Bodhi 2012: 862), SHT IV 623 folio 40R, Sander and Waldschmidt 1980: 256, and SĀ2 156 at T II 432c10.