The Buddhist Path to Awakening

by R.M.L. Gethin

Overview

This comprehensive study draws exhaustively on a wide range of sources both primary and secondary, and in particular the Pali texts, to offer an authoritative study of the "thirty-seven conditions that contribute to awakening". This classic set of Buddhist teachings is examined both collectively and individually, thus revealing how early Buddhist thinkers understood the process of spiritual practice by which ordinary consciousness is transformed in the mystic mind. Sensitive, conscientious, and featuring full notes and extensive bibliography, this text will be appreciated by scholars and students alike.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781851682850
Publisher:	Oneworld Publications
Publication date:	08/01/2001
Series:	Classics in Religious Studies
Edition description:	2nd Edition, Revised
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.85(d)

About the Author

Rupert Gethin is a Lecturer in Indian Religions and Co-Director of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol. He has published several books on the subject of Buddhist throught and literature, including The Foundations of Buddhism (Oxford University Press).

Table of Contents

	List of Tables	x
	Preface	xi
	Preface to the Second Edition	xiii
	Introduction
1.	The academic study of religion: some reflections on methodology	1
2.	Some perspectives on the early Buddhist tradition and Pali literature	6
3.	What does the Buddhism of the Nikayas teach?	16
4.	The thirty-seven bodhi-pakkhiya dhamma: preliminary remarks	22
Part 1	The Seven Sets Individually
I	The Establishing of Mindfulness
1.	What are the satipatthanas?	29
2.	What is sati?	36
3.	The Mahasatipatthana- and Satipatthana-suttas	44
4.	The exegesis of the basic satipatthana formula	47
5.	The expanded satipatthana formula	53
6.	The ekayana formula	59
7.	Conclusion	66
II	The Right Endeavours
1.	The basic formula: samma-ppadhana and samyak-prahana	69
2.	The formula in the Nikayas	72
3.	The Samanamandika-sutta	76
4.	Commentarial explanations	78
III	The Bases of Success
1.	The basic formula	81
2.	The iddhi-pada samyutta	82
3.	The suttanta-bhajaniya of the Vibhanga	85
4.	The commentarial analysis	87
5.	The desire to act, strength, mind, and investigation	90
6.	The northern tradition and the Nettippakarana	92
7.	The iddhi-padas and the prolongation of life	94
8.	The notion of iddhi in the Nikayas	97
9.	The method of developing iddhi	101
IV	The Faculties and Powers
1.	The notion of indriya: twenty-two indriyas	104
2.	Faith, truth and knowledge	106
3.	Saddha, pasada, and sotapatti	112
4.	The remaining indriyas	116
5.	The indriya-samyutta: the samudaya, etc. formula	119
6.	The indriya-samyutta: the 'relative strength' formula	126
7.	The lesser stream-attainer (cula-sotapanna)	133
8.	Conclusion: the ubiquity of the indriyas in the Nikayas	138
9.	The balas	140
V	Factors of Awakening
1.	The bare list	146
2.	Dhamma, dhammas and dhamma-vicaya	147
3.	Piti and passaddhi	154
4.	Upekkha	156
5.	The definitions of the Patisambhidamagga and the commentaries	160
6.	The bojjhangas and the viveka-nissita formula	162
7.	The bojjhanga process formula	168
8.	The bojjhanga-samyutta	173
9.	The bojjhangas according to the commentaries	183
VI	The Noble Eightfold Path
1.	General: the individual factors	190
2.	The Baranasi discourse and the middle way	197
3.	The way leading to the cessation of suffering	201
4.	The significance of the term ariya	205
5.	The ariyo atthangiko maggo and the gradual path	207
6.	The eight factors in the Dhammasangani	212
7.	The Mahacattarisaka-sutta	216
8.	The ariyo atthangiko maggo and the notion of 'path'	223
Part 2	The Seven Sets Collectively
VII	The Seven Sets in the Nikayas
1.	Preliminary remarks: different usages distinguished	229
2.	The appeal to the seven sets as dhammas taught by the Buddha	229
3.	The seven sets as the path	240
4.	The path as 'stream'	247
5.	The maha-vagga of the Samyutta-nikaya	252
6.	The powers of one who has destroyed the asavas	261
VIII	The Seven Sets Expanded
1.	In the four Nikayas	264
2.	In the rest of Buddhist literature	270
3.	Conclusions	279
IX	Dhammas that Contribute to Awakening
1.	The expression bodhi-pakkhiya dhamma in the canon	284
2.	Usage and application of the expression	289
3.	The commentarial exegesis	298
X	The Seven Sets in the Abhidhamma
1.	The Visuddhimagga: the classic developed account	303
2.	The Patisambhidamagga	307
3.	The Dhammasangani	312
4.	The Vibhanga	321
5.	Ordinary and transcendent bodhi-pakkhiya dhamma	332
6.	The bodh-paksika dharmah according to the Sarvastivada	335
	Conclusion	343
	Appendix	355
	Glossary	361
	Abbreviations	364
	Bibliography	367
	Index	375

Editorial Reviews

"It should be read by everyone concerned with Buddhist thought, in whatever school or period."

Journal of the American Oriental Society

"A very thorough study of the Abhidhamma texts, the complicated knots of which he unravels with great skill… An important contribution to the study of the Buddhist path to awakening." J. W. de Jong

Indo-Iranian Journal

"Certain to become the definitive work on the subject."

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society

A very thorough study of the Abhidhamma texts, the complicated knots of which he unravels with great skill... An important contribution to the study of the Buddhist path to awakening. J. W. de Jong-- "Indo-Iranian Journal"

Certain to become the definitive work on the subject.-- "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society"

It should be read by everyone concerned with Buddhist thought, in whatever school or period.-- "Journal of the American Oriental Society"

From the Publisher