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Anussati (Pāli; Sanskrit: Anusmriti) means
"recollection," "contemplation," "remembrance," "meditation" and
"mindfulness."[1] In Buddhism, anussati
refers to either:
Sets of
recollections
In various contexts, the Pali literature and Sanskrit Mahayana sutras emphasize and identify
different enumerations of recollections.
Three
recollections
The Three Recollections:
-
- Recollection of the Buddha (Pali Buddhānussati,
Skt. Buddhanusmrti, Tib. Sans- rgyas -rjes-su dran pa)
- Recollection of the Dhamma (Pali Dhammānussati, Skt.
Dharmanusmrti, Tib. Chos- rjes- su dran pa)
- Recollection of the Sangha
(Pali Saṅghānussati, Skt. Sanghanusmrti: Tib. dge -hdun-
rjes- su dran pa)[2]
The Dhammapada
declares that the Buddha's disciples who constantly practice
recollection of the Three Jewels "ever awaken happily."[3]
According to the Theragatha, such a practice will lead to
"the height of continual joy."[4]
Unlike other subjects of meditative recollection mentioned in
this article, the Three Jewels are considered "devotional
contemplations."[5]
The Three Jewels are listed as the first three subjects of
recollection for each of the following lists as well.
Five
recollections
On a Buddhist sabbath (Uposatha) day, in addition to practicing
the Eight Precepts, the Buddha enjoined a
disciple to engage in one or more of Five Recollections:
-
- Recollection of the Buddha
- Recollection of the Dhamma
- Recollection of the Sangha
- Recollection of Virtue
(sīlānussati)
- Recollection of Deva virtues
(devatānussati)
According to the Buddha, for one who practices such
recollections: "'his mind is calmed, and joy arises; the defilements
of his mind are abandoned.'"[6]
Six
recollections
The Six Recollections are traditionally ordered as:
-
- Recollection of the Buddha
- Recollection of the Dhamma
- Recollection of the Sangha
- Recollection of Generosity
(cāgānussati)
- Recollection of Virtue
- Recollection of Deva virtues[7]
The Buddha tells a disciple that the mind of one who practices
these recollections "is not overcome with passion, not overcome
with aversion, not overcome with delusion.[8] His
mind heads straight, ... gains joy connected with the Dhamma...,
rapture arises..., the body grows calm ... experiences ease..., the
mind becomes concentrated."[9]
In Mahayana practice,
the first six recollections were commonly taught and the Buddha
anusmriti was particularly emphasized in many popular sutras such
as the Medicine Buddha sutra.[10]
Ten
recollections
As Ten Recollections, the following are added to the Six
Recollections:
-
- Recollection of death (maraṇānussati)
- Recollection of the body (kāyagatāsati)
- Recollection of the breath (ānāpānassati)[11]
- Recollection of peace (upasamānussati)[12]
In the Pali canon's Anguttara Nikaya, it is stated that
the practice of any one of these ten recollections leads to nirvana.[13]
The Visuddhimagga identifies the Ten
Recollections as useful meditation subjects for developing concentration needed to
suppress and destroy the Five Hindrances
during ones pursuit of Nibbana.[14]
In terms of the development of meditative absorption,
mindfulness of the breath can lead to all four jhanas, mindfulness of the
body can lead only to the first jhana, while the eight other
recollections culminate in pre-jhanic "access concentration"
(upacara samadhi).[5]
Specific subjects of
recollection
As indicated in the above sets, the following are recollected
subjects of either meditation or devotion.
Recollection of the
Buddha
The standard formula when recollecting the Buddha is:
- 'Indeed, the Blessed One is worthy and rightly self-awakened,
consummate in knowledge & conduct, well-gone, an expert with
regard to the world, unexcelled as a trainer for those people fit
to be tamed, the Teacher of divine & human beings, awakened,
blessed.'[15]
It has been suggested that the Recollection of the Buddha
identified in the Theravada canon might have been the basis for
the more elaborately visual contemplations typical of Tibetan
Buddhism.[16]
Recollection of the
Dhamma
The standard formula when recollecting the Dhamma is:
- 'The Dhamma is well-expounded by the Blessed One, to be seen
here & now, timeless, inviting verification, pertinent, to be
realized by the wise for themselves.'[15]
Recollection of the
Sangha
The standard formula when recollecting the Sangha is:
- 'The Sangha of the Blessed One's disciples who have
practiced well... who have practiced straight-forwardly... who have
practiced methodically... who have practiced masterfully — in other
words, the four types [of noble disciples] when taken as pairs, the
eight when taken as individual types — they are the Sangha of the
Blessed One's disciples: worthy of gifts, worthy of hospitality,
worthy of offerings, worthy of respect, the incomparable field of
merit for the world.'[15]
Recollection of actual past
lives
For one accomplished in meditative concentration, there is the
possibility of attaining the recollection of one's own past lives
(pubbenivāsānussati).[17] In
this case, anussati is not a meditative subject to achieve jhanic
absorption or devotional bliss; it is the actual fruit of
practice.
An example of one who has achieved such a power is described in
the following manner by the Buddha in the "Lohicca Sutta" (DN 12):
- "With his mind thus concentrated, purified, & bright,
unblemished, free from defects, pliant, malleable, steady, &
attained to imperturbability, he directs & inclines it to
knowledge of the recollection of past lives (lit: previous homes).
He recollects his manifold past lives, i.e., one birth, two births,
three births, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one
hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, many aeons of cosmic
contraction, many aeons of cosmic expansion, many aeons of cosmic
contraction & expansion, [recollecting], 'There I had such a
name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my
food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my
life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I
had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance.
Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such
the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here.'
Thus he recollects his manifold past lives in their modes &
details...."[18]
See also
Notes
- ^
Rhys Davids & Stede
(1921-5), p. 45; Fischer-Schreiber et al.. (1991), p.
10; and, Nyanatiloka
(undated).
- ^
For an example, see reference to this type of recollection in Dhammapada, Ch. XXI, vv.
296-8 (Buddharakkhita,
1996).
- ^
Buddharakkhita
(1996).
- ^
Thanissaro (2002).
- ^ a
b
Gunaratana (1988).
- ^
AN 3.70 (Thanissaro, 1997b).
- ^
Anālayo (2006), pp. 46-7; and, Rhys Davids & Stede
(1921-5), p. 45.
- ^
For more information about the import of passion, aversion and
delusion in Buddhism, see kilesa.
- ^
Thanissaro (1997a). As suggested by this quote and discussed
further below, Gunaratana (1988) states that meditation on these
recollected subjects leads to "access concentration" but not to
higher jhanic attainment.
- ^
Bimalendra Kumar, ANUSMRITI IN THERAVADA AND MAHAYANA TEXTS,
Buddhist Himalaya VOLUME XI 1999-2005 (COMBINED ISSUE)http://www.nagarjunainstitute.com/buddhisthim/backissues/vol11/v11anusmrit.htm
- ^
For canonical material associated with the recollections of death,
body and breathBullitt (2005) refers
readers to the mindfulness (sati) practices identified in
the Satipatthana Sutta.
- ^
Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), p. 90; and, Rhys Davids & Stede
(1921-5), p. 45.
- ^
AN 1.16.1.1 - 1.16.1.10 (SLTP, retrieved from "BodhGayaNews" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=5554).
- ^
See, for instance, Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), p. 90
ff.
- ^ a
b
c
Thanissaro (1997a).
- ^
Kammalashila (2003), p.
227. For an example of the subject of a typically Tibetan
Buddhist visualization, see Tara (Buddhism).
- ^
Anālayo (2006), p. 47.
- ^
Thanissaro (1998).
Bibliography
- Anālayo (2006). Satipaṭṭhāna: The Direct Path to
Realization. Birmingham, England: Windhorse Publications. ISBN
1-899579-54-0.
- Buddhaghosa,
Bhadantacariya & Bhikkhu Nanamoli (trans.) (1999), The Path
of Purification: Visuddhimagga. Seattle: BPS Pariyatti Editions.
ISBN 1-928706-00-2.
- Fischer-Schreiber, Ingrid, Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Michael S.
Diener & Michael H. Kohn (trans.) (1991). The Shambhala
Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen. Boston: Shambhala. ISBN
0-87773-520-4.
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