[Buddha-l] The arrow: its removal and examination

[Richard Hayes]

On Tuesday 26 June 2007 10:00, Jackhat1 at aol.com wrote:

> If I remember correctly, the Buddha suggested that his teachings should be:
> (1) the wording of the doctrine be studied and learned (pariyatti), (2) the
> doctrine should be converted into a practice (patipatti) and (3) the
> teaching should be penetrated or realized (pativedha). It would seem that
> this  implies a difference between study and practice.

No one denied that there is a difference between study and practice. What I 
hinted at is that study and practice do not form a dichotomy such that doing 
one means not doing the other.

> My definition of practice would include meditation,  part of the  8-Fold
> Path. 

My definition of practice would also include meditation. But meditation that 
is not preceded with study is not very likely to bear much fruit. As I 
recall, the Buddhist tradition endorses three kinds of wisdom: hearing (that 
is, study), followed by thinking and reflection (meditation), followed by 
cultivation (realization of what one has studied and thought about).

> My question  
> of this list is what is your definition of Buddhist practice and  do you
> have a daily meditation practice?

As for how practice (carya, abhyaasa) is defined, I'm afraid I can only give 
stock answers. At the very least it consists in s'iila (good habits of 
thought, word and deed), samaadhi defined as kus'ala-cittasya ekaagrataa 
(concentration defined as single-pointed focus of a healthy mind), and 
praj~naa defined as dharma-pravicaya (wisdom defined as investigation of 
phenomena).

I can't imagine what possible relevance my own life has to you or anyone else 
on this list. But you asked how I spend my days. Very few moments of any day 
go by that I do not observe my mentality and external behaviour, reflect on 
these observations, think about how mentality and external behaviour might be 
improved, and strive to make those improvements. I leave it to bureaucrats to 
decide whether that counts as a dailty meditation practice.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico