This book identifies what is meant by sati (smrti); usually translated as ‘mindfulness’; in early Buddhism; and examines its soteriological functions and its central role in the early Buddhist practice and philosophy. Using textual analysis and criticism; it takes new approaches to the subject through a comparative study of Buddhist texts in Pali; Chinese and Sanskrit. It also furnishes new perspectives on the ancient teaching by applying the findings in modern psychology. In contemporary Buddhism; the practice of mindfulness is zealously advocated by the Theravada tradition; which is the only early Buddhist school that still exists today. Through detailed analysis of Theravada's Pali Canon and the four Chinese Agamas - which correspond to the four main Nikayas in Pali and belong to some early schools that no longer exist - this book shows that mindfulness is not only limited to the role as a method of insight (vipassana) meditation; as presented by many Theravada advocates; but it also has a key role in serenity (samatha) meditation. It elucidates how mindfulness functions in the path to liberation from a psychological perspective; that is; how it helps to achieve an optimal cognitive capability and emotional state; and thereby enables one to attain the ultimate religious goal. Furthermore; the author argues that the well-known formula of ekaayano maggo; which is often interpreted as ‘the only way’; implies that the four satipa.t.thaanas (establishments of mindfulness) constitute a comprehensive path to liberation; and refer to the same as kaayagataa sati; which has long been understood as ‘mindfulness of the body’ by the tradition. The analysis shows that kaayagataa sati and the four satipa.t.thaanas are two different ways of formulating the teaching on mindfulness according to different schemes of classification of phenomena.
#7821507 in Books 2007-11-05Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 9.25 x .72 x 6.38l; 1.11 #File Name: 0415317711248 pages
Review
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A fascinating study with wide implicationsBy Dr. Richard M. PriceThe aim of this book is not to offer a full description of the practices of Russian popular (or folk) religion; though it contains many vivid references to customs often associated with major Christian feasts; such as bonfires; bathing; drinking; ribald songs and the like; some of which were probably more than mere jollification and contained a magical element. Instead; the book provides a critical analysis of the concept of 'double belief' ('dvoeverie'); namely that Russian popular religion was a mixture of Christian and pagan elements; and that the strength of the pagan element distinguishes Russian religion from the Christianity of other lands; where folk traditions were less robust and normative Christianity more dominant.Dr Rock shows that the notion that this was already perceived by medieval churchmen; and defined by them with the word 'dvoeverie'; is a misconception: the word was used rather to refer to wavering and uncertainty (and sometimes to toleration of Latin Christianity); not to a combination of Christianity and paganism. What rather we find in early Russian texts is a recurrent rhetoric on the part of the educated clergy that condemned practices which in their view were unacceptable as 'pagan' or 'demonic'. In a wide-ranging final chapter she shows how this concern was equally strong in western Christianity; from late antiquity to the early modern period; and does not provide evidence of Russian particularity.The book brings out tellingly how analysis of the mixture of Christian and non-Christian elements in European culture has been vitiated by restrictive and often anachronistic notions of what can count as Christian. Most often; what a historian might categorize as a 'pagan survival' was not perceived by those who practised it to be anything of the kind. To define correct Christian practice in narrow terms; according to the convictions of a religious elite -- whether monastic or reformed or rationalistic --; and then stigmatize other forms of religious practice as semi-pagan is simply a refusal to understand.
