Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha yantras
An Ayutthaya Period Meditation Manual from Wat Pradusongtham
Abstract
This article aims to contribute to the ongoing study of borān kammaṭṭhāna, the premodern Theravāda meditation tradition, by providing a detailed presentation and an analysis of a late Ayutthaya meditation manual, titled The diagrams/rooms of the qualities of the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha, from Wat Pradusongtham, Ayutthaya. The history of Wat Pradusongtham goes back at least to the reign of King Songtham (Boromracha I, reigned 1608–1628), when it was an important borān kammaṭṭhāna centre and was associated with the forest-dwelling monks’ division of the Saṅgha. The manual describes the practice of visualisations of three yantra diagrams that represent the qualities (guṇa) of the Triple Gems and makes use of various bodily bases, canonical and paracanonical chants and mantras as aids to the practice of recollections and the development of concentration (samādhi). Its interpretation is based on the author’s interview with a borān kammaṭṭhāna teacher, Phra Khru Sitthisangwon (Wira Ṭhānavīro), the meditation instructor at Wat Ratchasittharam, Thonburi.
References
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______. 1992. Le chemin de Laṅkā, textes bouddhiques du Cambodge I. Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient.
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______. 2015. ‘The ancient Theravāda meditation system, borān kammaṭṭhāna: Ānāpānasati or “mindfulness of the breath” in Kammatthan Majjhima Baeb Lamdub.’ In Buddhist Studies Review, 32 (2), 207-229.
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Walker, Trent. 2018. Unfolding Buddhism: Communal scripts, localized translations, and the work of the dying in Cambodian chanted leporellos. University of California, Berkeley (unpublished doctoral thesis).
Wat Pradusongtham. 2012. Prawat Wat Pradusongtham (The history of Wat Pradusongtham). Ayutthaya: Wat Pradusongtham.
Yasothonrat (Phra Mahājotipañño), Chai (ed.). 1935. Nangsue Phuttharangsi Thritsadiyan wa duai samatha wipatsana kammathan si yuk (Phuttharangsi Thritsadiyan book of samatha and vipassanā meditation of the four periods). Bangkok: Wat Boromniwat.
Bizot, François. 1976. Le figuier à cinq branches: Recherche sur le bouddhisme Khmer. Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient.
______.1988. Les traditions de la pabbajjā en Asie du Sud-Est: Recherches sur le bouddhisme Khmer, IV. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
______. 1992. Le chemin de Laṅkā, textes bouddhiques du Cambodge I. Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient.
Bizot, F. and F. Lagirarde. 1996. La pureté par les mot: Textes bouddhiques du Laos I. Paris and Chiang Mai: École Française d’Extrême-Orient.
Bizot, F. and Oskar von Hinüber. 1994. La guirlande de joyaux. Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu. 2000. The connected discourses of the Buddha: A translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Boston, MA: Wisdom Publications.
Bodhi, Bhikkhu, Mahāthera Narāda, U Rewata Dhamma and U. Sīlānanda. 1993. A comprehensive manual of Abhidhamma: The Abhidhammattha Saṅgaha of Ācariya Anuruddha. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society.
Cholvijarn, Potprecha. 2019. The Origins and development of Sammā Arahaṃ meditation: From Phra Mongkhon Thepmuni (Sot Candasaro) to Phra Thep Yan Mongkhon (Sermchai Jayamaṅgalo). Faculty of Arts, University of Bristol (unpublished doctoral thesis).
Choompolpaisal, Phibul. forthcoming. ‘Boran Kammatthan (Ancient Theravāda) meditation transmissions in Siam from late Ayutthaya to Rattanakosin periods.’
______. 2019. ‘Nimitta and visual methods in Siamese and Lao meditation traditions from the 17th century to the present day.’ In Contemporary Buddhism, 20:1, 1-32.
Crosby, Kate. 2013. Traditional Theravada meditation and its modern-era suppression. Hong Kong: Buddha Dharma Centre.
______. 2019. ‘Abhidhamma and nimitta in eighteenth-century meditation manuscripts from Sri Lanka: A consideration of orthodoxy and heteropraxy in boran kammaṭṭhāna.’ In Contemporary Buddhism, 20:1-2, 111-151.
Crosby, Kate, Andrew Skilton, and Amal Gunasena. 2012. ‘The Sutta on Understanding Death in the transmission of Borān Meditation from Siam to the Kandyan court.’ In Journal of Indian Philosophy, 40: 177–198.
Cœdès, George. 1956. ‘Dhammakāya.’ In The Adyar Library Bulletin XX, 3-4: 248-286.
Malasart, Woramat. forthcoming. ‘The Dhammakāya text genre and its significance on Tai-Khmer Buddhism and modern suppression.’
Mettanando Bhikkhu. 1998. Meditation and healing in the Theravāda Buddhist order of Thailand and Laos. Hamburg University (unpublished doctoral thesis).
Ong, Patrick. 2013. The Supreme Patriarch and his walking stick: The meditation legacy of Suk Kai Thuean and its implications for Theravada Buddhism in Thailand. Bangkok: Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University.
Sangkharak (Wira Ṭhānavīro), Phra Khru (ed.). 2012. Phra prawat Somdet Phra Sangkharat Yansangwon (Suk Kai Thuean) (Biography of Supreme Patriarch Yansangwon (Suk Kai Thuean)), 7th edn. Bangkok: Satisampachanya.
Sitthisangwon (Wira Ṭhānavīro), Phra Khru. 2020. Interview by the author. Bangkok. 15 September.
Skilton, Andrew. 2019. ‘Meditation and its subjects: Tracing kammaṭṭhāna from the early canon to the boran kammathan traditions of Southeast Asia.’ In Contemporary Buddhism, 20:1-2, 36-72.
Skilton, Andrew, Kate Crosby and Pyi Phyo Kyaw. 2019. ‘Terms of engagement: Text, technique and experience in scholarship on Theravada meditation.’ In Contemporary Buddhism, 20:1-2, 1-35.
Skilton, Andrew and Phibul Choompolpaisal. 2014. ‘The Old Meditation (boran kammatthan), a pre-reform Theravāda meditation system from Wat Ratchasittharam: The pīti section of the kammatthan matchima baep lamdap.’ In ASEANIE, 33, 83-116.
______. 2015. ‘The ancient Theravāda meditation system, borān kammaṭṭhāna: Ānāpānasati or “mindfulness of the breath” in Kammatthan Majjhima Baeb Lamdub.’ In Buddhist Studies Review, 32 (2), 207-229.
Swearer, Donald K. 2004. Becoming the Buddha: The ritual of image consecration in Thailand. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Thanissasro Bhikkhu (trans.). 2012. Sāriputta Sutta. http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.4.07.than.html (Accessed 5 October 2020).
Urkasame, Kitchai. 2013. A study of elements in Yogavacara tradition from Tham scripts palm-leaf manuscripts. University of Sydney (unpublished doctoral thesis).
Walker, Trent. 2018. Unfolding Buddhism: Communal scripts, localized translations, and the work of the dying in Cambodian chanted leporellos. University of California, Berkeley (unpublished doctoral thesis).
Wat Pradusongtham. 2012. Prawat Wat Pradusongtham (The history of Wat Pradusongtham). Ayutthaya: Wat Pradusongtham.
Yasothonrat (Phra Mahājotipañño), Chai (ed.). 1935. Nangsue Phuttharangsi Thritsadiyan wa duai samatha wipatsana kammathan si yuk (Phuttharangsi Thritsadiyan book of samatha and vipassanā meditation of the four periods). Bangkok: Wat Boromniwat.
