THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF CALMING(SAMATHA) AND INSIGHT(VIPASYANA) MEDITATION

　　童蒙止觀(亦名小止觀)

　　by Master Zhiyi, Abbot of Xiuchan Monastery On Mt. Tiantai

　　天臺山修禅寺沙門智顗述

　　Recorded by Master Zhangan Guanding

　　章安灌頂記

　　Translated into English from Chinese by

　　Venerable Zhenguan

　　釋振冠法師 英譯

　　Notes

　　1. The Pinyin system is used for Chinese terms.

　　2. Pali terms are used in the introduction part.

　　3. Foreign terms, those not included in the Webster English Dictionary, appear in italics.

　　4. Interpretations of Sanskrit terms appeared in this translation”s footnotes are mainly derived from A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, compiled by William Edward Soothill and Lewis Hodous, published in 1977 by Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubenr and Co., London.

　　Acknowledgements

　　I sincerely appreciate Dr. Chanju Mun and Venerable Longdu who offered invaluable advice and suggestions to improve the quality of this translation; Venerable Coung Le who read the introduction part and advised to rewrite problematic sentences; and Ms. Hong Tran and Mr. Michael Tran who spent considerable time to make this translation much more readable than it could have been.

　　Obviously, without these people”s substantial help, the present translation would not have been possible. Any mistakes that remain, of course, are my responsibility.

　　Introduction:

　　Śamatha and Vipaśyanā, Two Wings of a Bird

　　譯者序：止觀，鳥之雙翼

　　All that we are is the result of what we have thought:

　　It is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.

　　—The Buddha

　　我們的存在是思維的結果：它被建構在思想之中。

　　—釋迦牟尼佛

　　Meditation is the core value of Buddhism. Edward Conze proclaims, “Meditational practices constitute the very core of the Buddhist approach to life …. On the way to Nirvana they serve to promote spiritual development, to diminish the impact of suffering, to calm the mind and to reveal the true facts of existence.” Early Buddhist meditation is of the practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā. Śamatha “is defined as silencing, or putting to rest the active mind, or auto-hypnosis.” It has to do with getting rid of distraction and generating skillful mindfulness. Vipaśyana “is defined as study, examine, or contemplate.” It is the eye of understanding.

　　禅定，是佛教的核心價值。西方著名佛教學者愛德華•孔慈(Edward Conze)曾經在其《佛教禅定》一書中這樣寫道：“禅定的練習，組成了佛教對于生命探索的核心……在涅槃的道路上，禅法的修習提升了內在精神的發展，減少了煩惱與痛苦的影響，令心調服的同時，也顯示了存在的真實意義。” 早期的佛教禅修方法主要是指對止觀的練習而言。止，讓身心在息諸外緣的情形下，升起明了的專注和覺察力；觀，則展示對心境的研查和檢視，是般若之智的運用。

　　In his article entitled “Samatha and Vipassana,” Bhikkhu Pesala is of the opinion that śamatha and vipaśyanā are two different kinds of meditation taught by the Buddha — while the former leads to jhāna and psychic powers, the latter leads to insight and nibbāna. Like his preceptor, Mahasi Sayadaw, who advocates that the practice of “bare insight” is sufficient to achieve realization of nirvana, Pesala elaborates, “One can practise Samatha first, then Vipassana, or one can practise just Vipassana.”

　　In his essay, “Concentration or Insight: The Problematic of Theravāda Buddhist Meditation Theory,” Paul Griffith also notices that, in the Pali sources, one can find quite a few different types of meditative practices available to Buddhists. “We find,” Griffith observes, “the distinction between concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā) made also at many points in the canon. We must ask: What are the differences between these two types of meditative practice

　　” Śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation, as we mentioned above, indeed have different functions — while the former is to stop, the latter is to look into. Nevertheless, they both serve for a same goal, i.e., leading to the realization of nirvana. The practice of śamatha and vipaśyanā meditation in skillful cooperation also “leads to detachment from ordina…

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