A Tale of Two Meditations

In Buddhism, there are generally two categories of meditation. In Ven. Yin-Shun’s book The Way to Buddhahood, he spends the last section of the book dealing with mindfulness and meditation. Yin-Shun is a very well-respected Ch’an Buddhist monk who passed away a few years ago, and he’s credited with helping to revive the Buddhism in China, Taiwan and abroad.

According to him, meditation falls into two types:

• Cessation or Śamatha – One ceases the chatter in their mind, thereby attaining a peaceful, calm state. Literally “keeping the mind level”. Zazen is an example of cessation meditation, though not the only one as we shall see.
• Concentration or Vipaśyanā (or vipassana) – One develops a focused, single-minded concentration able to discern truths.

A common misunderstanding is that Vipassana meditation is for Theravada Buddhism, while Samatha meditation is for Mahayana Buddhism, but this is not true. But this is not true. A lesser-known, but important sutra in Mahayana Buddhism is the Saṃdhinirmocana Sutra, or the Sutra of the Explication of the Underlying Meaning which deals with the topic of meditation quite a bit. Ven. Yin-Shun quotes from this sutra to further his point:

One should know that all śravakas, bodhisattvas, Tathāgatas, all good things, and all good world-transcending things are the results of this śamatha and vipaśyanā

Further, Ven. Yin-Shun states that:

Cessation and Contemplation are different. Those who practice both cessation and contemplation should practice cessation first.

He talks further about how wisdom through Concentration cannot be attained until the mind is first calm, collected and “level”. Ven. Yin-Shun then talks at length about different kinds of cessation meditation, and provides clear details about how to approach each, their drawbacks, benefits, and who might be inclined toward that. Different cessation techniques include:

• Focusing on the breath. This is a popular and effective technique in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. First, this begins as just counting breaths from one to ten, and starting over. Later, as one’s focus gets more effortless, they can just drop counting altogether.
• Chanting something like a Buddha’s name. Here, he cites the common example of the nembutsu (Amitabha Buddha’s name).
• Focusing on a mental image, such as a Buddha or Bodhisattva, possibly while reciting their name, as above. The key here, Ven. Yin-Shun says, is not to look at a statue or picture, nor imagine a statue or picture. Instead, construct an image of a real Buddha in your mind, be that Shakyamuni, Amitabha, or someone else. As one practices, the image, first vague, becomes sharper, more detailed. He stated that this is a very Mahayana-specific technique, but spoke highly of it.
• Focusing on a mental image of a wrathful, heavenly deity. This seems similar to above, but more in line with what you see in Vajrayana Buddhism, not Mahayana Buddhism.

The visualization of a Buddha is something I’ve heard of before, but I have never seen it explained so clearly. This reminds me of Genshin’s text, The Ojoyoshu, written in the 10th century, where he talks about the need to visualize Amida Buddha while reciting his name. Genshin had considered this the most effective way to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land of Amida Buddha, but it reminds me of a more contemporary Tendai monk in the US, who stated the importance of reciting mantras a means of quieting the mind (i.e. cessation).

It’s interesting the convergence of monks, past and present, who espouse these similar practices, even when they come from somewhat different lineages and backgrounds.

Given my background, I am curious about visualization of Amitabha Buddha while reciting his name. A few pages later, Ven. Yin-Shun writes:

Following this method [mindfulness of a Buddha's appearance while reciting his name] can lead toward superior world-transcending dhyāna [mindfulness] contemplation and thereby further leads to enlightenment. On a more superficial level, being mindful of a buddha acts as repentance for one’s karmic obstructions and as a means to gather good roots [merit].

I’ll write more on the subject later.

Namuamidabu

P.S. I have to say, now that I am nearly finished, Ven. Yin-Shun’s book is one of the best and most comprehensive in understanding Mahayana Buddhism. Really, he deserves a lot more credit in the West than he gets.