Faculty Publications
Publication Date
2019
Language
eng
Language
pli
Disciplines
Buddhist Studies | Classical Literature and Philology | History of Religions of Eastern Origins | Religion
Abstract
The distinction between “calm” (Pāli: samatha; Sanskrit: śamatha) and “insight” (P: vipassanā; Skt: vipaśyanā) is one of several ostensibly related dichotomies that have exerted a significant influence on classical and contemporary understandings of Buddhist practices, institutions, and history, as well as of the Buddhist path(s) to and conception(s) of awakening. However, scholars continue to debate whether Buddhists ever conceptualized two (or more) different paths or conceptions of this goal. Much of the debate has been based on the interpretation of doctrinal and theoretical materials. This essay takes as its starting point the concept of “liberation by wisdom” (P: paññāvimutti; Skt: prajñāvimukti) and the figure of the “dry-insight practitioner” (P: sukkhavipassaka), and asks how Buddhist narratives, in particular, characterize these key ideas, as well as the relationship between calm and insight. It focuses primarily on two narratives: the story of Cakkhupāla, the first story of the Pāli Dhammapada commentary, and the story of Sthavira in the Sanskrit Avadānaśataka. It argues that these stories do not support a clear opposition between calm and insight as competing forms of life, but rather point to their combination on the path to awakening, or to the possibility that insight meditation can sometimes stand for the notion of intense practice. Both stories reflect an overarching “ascetic” ethos or lifestyle, but as stories they also project narrative worlds and invite us, the audience, to consider what it would mean to take such worlds seriously as our real world of lived human experience. In this way, the essay tries to bridge a divide that has often been maintained between doctrine and narrative, and thereby offers a fresh look at an influential distinction (or set of distinctions) in the history and theory of Buddhist practice.
Document Type
Published Version
Rights
Copyright © BJK Institute of Buddhist and Asian Studies. Re-posted with permission.
Terms of Use for work posted in DigitalCommons@Linfield
Original Citation
David V. Fiordalis
The blind arhat and the old baby: Liberation by wisdom, the dry-insight practitioner, and the pairing of calm and insight.
Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 2019, volume 20, pages 21-60
DigitalCommons@Linfield Citation
Fiordalis, David V., "The Blind Arhat and the Old Baby: Liberation by Wisdom, the Dry-Insight Practitioner, and the Pairing of Calm and Insight" (2019). Faculty Publications. Published Version. Submission 5.
https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/relsfac_pubs/5
Included in
Buddhist Studies Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons, History of Religions of Eastern Origins Commons
Comments
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