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The form of meditation discussed in this work is generally known these days as 'mindfulness' meditation, or in other circles (e.g., the Goenka crowd) as 'vipassana' (often translated 'Insight' meditation). Analayo has written a wonderful treatise on this ancient form of Buddhist (or perhaps pre-Buddhist, as you'll see) form of practice. But to avoid disappointment, you must know what this book is and is not.
It is not really a practice manual in any strict sense, although of course many practical insights can be gleaned from its pages. It is not something most people will ever finish reading through, although it is very worth reading. It is not written for the casual reader of popular books on Buddhism, though I feel it is essential for anyone who wants a deep understanding of early Buddhist meditation and philosophy.
What this book is (in my estimation): a highly detailed, densely academic discussion of meditation as viewed by the earliest Buddhist practitioners (the sources cited are almost exclusively from the Pali cannon) and/or the Buddha himself, to the extent that you consider the Pali sutras an accurate rendition of his teachings. Certainly there are modern meditation teachers' thoughts thrown in as well, and even citations of relatively recent neuroscientific work on meditation, but by and large this seems to be Buddhist meditation from the orthodox perspective.
There is nothing wrong with that at all, and I found it a very eye-opening read, if a rather long haul. The discussions are quite dense and the distinctions made, subtle; what I ended up doing was reading 10-15 pages of this book each morning after meditating and with a cup of tea.Read more ›
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60 of 62 people found the following review helpful
There are several good books on the Buddha's teachings known as The Four Foundations of Mindfulness but Analayo's recent work is among the most thoroughly rendered. Perhaps because it was written for his PhD thesis, his philological exegesis and his notes are meticulous. And because he is both a scholar of Buddhism and a practicing Buddhist monk in the long tradition of panditas, his translation and commentary are lively and applicable.
I highly recommend this book.
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40 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Awarding X number of stars for this book is somewhat arbitrary. Anyone who is inclined to read reviews of a book on the Sattipatthana Sutta is most likely a practicing meditator, and there's the rub. The real issue is whether or not this book will assist you in your practice. It's more a matter of you than the book.
As you parse the reviews, and try and determine the book's merits, sometimes in spite of the reviewers' preferences, several things should become clear. This book is thorough, dense and scholarly. Does that suit you?
My characterization of this book is the same; it is indeed thorough, dense and scholarly. This judgment is relative; it stands as a comparison made against my own reading of about a dozen books on specifically on meditation practices, mostly in the Theravada tradition.
The best advice I can give is that if you're interested in the application of the Satipatthana Sutta, read Goenka's "The Discourse Summaries," whereas if you're interested in the analysis of the Satipatthana Sutta, this would be a better choice. The caveat, of course, is that analysis and application do not preclude on another.
One final word. We of the West have a proclivity towards Buddhism from the neck up. We're more likely to be found reading about meditating, than we are to be found meditating.
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38 of 39 people found the following review helpful
The venerable Analayo does an expert job in combining a scholarly exposition on this Sutta while keeping it from being dry. As a lay person I found this book to be hugely informative and helpful to my practice.
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37 of 40 people found the following review helpful
Possibly the best book on meditation and reflection that I have come across. I used it as my main book on a 4 week solitary- very impressed. Very thorough and very inspired and practical. I got the impression of a scholar who believes in the possibility of Complete Enlightenment.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
"May we completely realize the Tathagata's true meaning," is part of the gatha that encourages Buddhist trainees to understand what the Buddha said. This book helps by clarifying one of the Buddha's discourses on meditation.
I'd previously read the Satipatthana Sutra and thought, "That's nice but so what?" In this book the author explains why the sutra is important by subjecting it to an in-depth analysis and pulling out insights I didn't know were there. Much of the difficulty I've had understading Buddhist writing comes from technical terms. What do we mean by mindfulness, concentration, or the five skandas? I had a general idea but the definitions remained somewhat vague. The author cleared a lot of these terms up by giving the translations from Pali and by describing how they are used in the sutras. This will be a big help to me.
This is a wonderful book for the intermediate to advanced meditator. I heartily recommend it.
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14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
There is a very large quantity of material on meditation available in the world these days, but it is difficult to find much of it motivated by a genuine desire to relate the practice back to the Buddha's teachings.
My experience is that while many of the books on meditation are to some degree helpful, they are often based on second, third, fourth...one thousand hand knowledge. The Theravada tradition, particularly, presents certain challenges due to the venerated position of the Commentaries. While these are most helpful in certain instances (a fact the author more than adequately acknowledges through his use of their insights), they also display clear flaws. The Venerable Anālayo has done a marvellous job of integrating the incredibly broad modern and ancient literature on what may be argued to be the most important teaching of the Buddha on meditation into an equally scholarly and practical guide to both the thought-world and practice of the Buddha and the Dhamma.
As a fellow scholar, I am impressed by the thoroughness of the Venerable's research, as well as his capacity to communicate seemingly complicated concepts into language that is simple to understand, but does not compromise on the depth and subtlety of the subject matter. In many ways this approach has revitalised my interest in the scholarly pursuit of the Dhamma, which the Venerable aptly displays as being capable of supporting its ultimate aim - Nibbāna - rather than being an exercise in dry academia.
I highly recommend this book to both novices and seasoned meditators, to scholars and to practitioners.
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