Gāthā''), Thai
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
and the invocation of spirits and ghosts (such as
Somdej Toh
Somdet To (1788–1872; B.E. 2331–2415), known formally as Somdet Phra Buddhacarya (To Brahmaramsi) ( th, สมเด็จพระพุฒาจารย์ (โต พฺรหฺมรํสี); ), was one of the most famous Buddhist m ...
and
Mae Nak
Mae Nak Phra Khanong ( th, แม่นากพระโขนง, meaning 'Lady Nak of Phra Khanong'), or simply Mae Nak ( th, แม่นาก, 'Lady Nak') or Nang Nak ( th, นางนาก, 'Miss Nak'), is a well-known Thai ghost. Acc ...
). Today, magicians and forest monks using these techniques are most prevalent in the banks of the
Mekong
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's List of rivers by length, twelfth longest river and List of longest rivers of Asia, the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , ...
in Cambodia and Laos; they are believed to have magical powers, the
divine eye and the ability to communicate with spirits. They practice
Kasina meditation, mantra recitation, and ascetic practices (
dhutanga). Thai forest monks such as Ajahn Lee Dhammadharo were also influenced by esoteric practices as is exemplified by his text "The Divine Mantra."
Practices
Cousins sees the practice of Southern Esoteric Buddhism as being defined by the mapping of inner and outer worlds, and calls it 'tantro-kabbalistic' mysticism. By this he means "a form of mysticism which utilizes a rather elaborate map of correspondences -between the human body, the cosmos and some kind of higher reality or knowledge. In the process it draws on the full resources of the widely-dispersed traditions of magic and the occult - letter, sound and number symbolism together with the use of structured patterns of shape or gesture."
Features of Yogāvacara practice include:
*The use of encoded language
*Energy centers & channels like cakra/marma & nadi
*Esoteric interpretation of Buddhist words, objects, myths, numbers and the
Abhidhamma Pitaka texts
*The importance of initiation by a
Guru
Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverentia ...
(master)
*The use of the symbolism of embryology
*The practice of a type of meditation in which one visualizes and gives birth to a 'Buddha within' and the ''
Dharmakāya
The ''dharmakāya'' ( sa, धर्म काय, "truth body" or "reality body", zh, t=法身, p=fǎshēn, ) is one of the three bodies ('' trikāya'') of a buddha in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The ''dharmakāya'' constitutes the unmanifested, "incon ...
''.
*Chemistry of mercury as model for ongoing process of purification
*The practice of
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
for healing, longevity, protection, etc.
*
Alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
*Worship (
puja) of Buddhas, Devas and Spirits
*A path which is open to all, monastics and lay persons
*Internal/external applications (Right hand-left hand)
*The importance of
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
.
Two of the most widely used sacred
mantras
A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...
in Yogāvacara texts are ''Namo Buddhaya'' ("Homage to the Buddha") and ''Araham'' ("Worthy One"). Here is an example of esoteric interpretation of the letter and number symbolism of ''Namo Buddhaya'':
*NA, symbolizes the twelve virtues of the mother;
*MO, the twenty-one virtues of the father;
*BU, the six virtues of the king;
*DDHA., the seven virtues of the family;
*YA, the ten virtues of the teacher.
The recitation of these sacred phrases was used as a meditation practice.
Robert Percival (in Ceylon from 1796 to 1800), described Buddhist mantra meditation thus: "To their girdles they wear suspended strings of beads made of a brownish or black wood; and mutter prayers as they go along."
In one text studied by Bizot, meditation includes the use of visualization of colored lights paired with sacred syllables located throughout the body and visions of the Buddha and a
stupa
A stupa ( sa, स्तूप, lit=heap, ) is a mound-like or hemispherical structure containing relics (such as ''śarīra'' – typically the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns) that is used as a place of meditation.
In Buddhism, circumamb ...
at the top of
mount Sumeru.
Another text called the ''Ratanamala'' uses the ''
itipi so'' formula for various purposes including spiritual protection, magical 'worldly' uses which are termed "left-hand", the transformation of the body into a ''kayasiddhi'', a spiritual body, as well as for the pursuit of
nirvana
( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...
(termed "right-hand path").
Several studies by Bizot have also looked at certain "rebirthing" rituals which seem to have been common in pre-modern Cambodia. They included symbolic sacred syllables, the entrance into a cave which symbolized the womb, meditation on embryonic development, and the belief that this meditation would allow one's body to be reborn as the
Dharmakaya.
Another practice studied by Bizot was the use of
yantras
Yantra () (literally "machine, contraption") is a geometrical diagram, mainly from the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions. Yantras are used for the worship of deities in temples or at home; as an aid in meditation; used for the benefit ...
or sacred diagrams, which were made with Pali words and phrases and used as tattoos and on clothing.
In his study of the ''Saddavimala'', a Yogāvacara text which was widely circulated in Southeast Asia (with over two hundred extant manuscripts), Bizot gives an outline of Yogāvacara practice:
"The yogavacara must:
# memorise the stages of the embryonic development (with their alphabetic equivalents) which form the stages of his own formation;
# through these stages build himself another body using the organs and constituents that are the letters, i.e. the portions of the Dhamma;
# become conscious that this new body which he is going to produce outside of himself, first takes form within him, in his stomach at the level of the navel, taking the form of a Buddha the height of a thumb;
# pursue and achieve in this life the construction of this immortal vehicle because it leads the person who possesses it to
Nibbana
Nirvana (Sanskrit: निर्वाण, '; Pali: ') is "blowing out" or "quenching" of the activities of the worldly mind and its related suffering. Nirvana is the goal of the Hinayana and Theravada Buddhist paths, and marks the soteriologica ...
, in that it takes the place of the spent physical form at the moment of death."
In contemporary Southern Buddhism, these practices are sometimes termed ''Boran Kammatthana'' (former practices) and are most widely seen in Cambodian Buddhism. They usually involve "the physical internalisation or manifestation of aspects of the Theravada path by incorporating them at points in the body between the nostril and navel."
[Kate Crosby, Andrew Skilton, Amal Gunasena; The Sutta on Understanding Death in the Transmission of Boran Meditation From Siam to the Kandyan Court.]
The practices of the Burmese Buddhist
Weizza
A weizza or weikza ( my, ဝိဇ္ဇာ, pi, vijjādhara) is an immortal, supernatural wizarding mystic in Buddhism in Burma associated with esoteric and occult practices such as recitation of spells, samatha, mysticism and alchemy. The goal ...
("Wizards") who follow an esoteric system of occult practices (such as recitation of spells, samatha and alchemy) which are believed to lead to supernormal powers and a life of immortality might also be related to Southern Esoteric Buddhism.
See also
*
Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism
Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism or Esoteric Buddhism in Maritime Southeast Asia refers to the traditions of Esoteric Buddhism found in Maritime Southeast Asia which emerged in the 7th century along the maritime trade routes and port cities of the In ...
*
Buddhism in Cambodia
*
Buddhism in Thailand
Buddhism in Thailand is largely of the Theravada school, which is followed by 95 percent of the population. Thailand has the second largest Buddhist population in the world, after China, with approximately 64 million Buddhists. Buddhism in Tha ...
*
Tantra
Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...
*
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna ( sa, वज्रयान, "thunderbolt vehicle", "diamond vehicle", or "indestructible vehicle"), along with Mantrayāna, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, are names referring t ...
References
Sources
*Mettanando Bhikkhu (1999), Meditation and Healing in the Theravada Buddhist Order of Thailand and Laos, Hamburg (Ph.D. thesis).
*Woodward, EL. (1916)
Manual of a Mystic being a translation from the Pali and Sinhalese Work entitled The Yogavachara's Manual Pali Text Society, London, reprint 1982, .
*Bernon, Olivier de (2000)
Le manuel des maîtres de kammaṭṭhān : étude et présentation de rituels de méditation dans la tradition du bouddhisme khmer(Ph.D. thesis)
*Bizot F (1976). Le figuier à cinq branches, Recherches sur le bouddhisme khmer I, PEFEO, vol.CVI1, park
*Bizot F (1980)
'La grotte de la naissance' Recherches sur le bouddhisme khmer II, BEFEO, vol.LXVI1: 222-73, Paris.
*Bizot F (1981a). Le don de soi-même, Recherches sur le bouddhisme khmer III, PEFEO, vol.CXXX, Paris. .
*Bizot F (1988), Les traditions de la pabbajja en Asie du Sud-Est, Recherches sur le bouddhisme khmer IV, Gijttingen. ISBN 3-525- 82454-8.
*Bizot F (1992). Le Chemin de Lankā, Textes bouddhiques du Cambodge no.f4, Collection de Ecole francaise de Extreme-Orient, Paris. ISSN 1150-2177, .
*Bizot, F & E Lagirarde (1996). La pureté par les mots (Saddavimālā), Ecole francaise de Extreme-Orient, Paris, Chiang Mai. ISSN 1150-2177. .
* Crosby,Kate (2013) Traditional Theravada Meditation and its Modern-Era Suppression Hong Kong: Buddha Dharma Centre of Hong Kong
*Crosby, Kate (2019). Abhidhamma and Nimitta in Eighteenth-century Meditation Manuscripts from Sri Lanka: a Consideration of Orthodoxy and Heteropraxy in Boran Kammaṭṭhāna.
*Davids, Thomas William Rhys ed. (1896)
The Yogavacara's manual of Indian mysticism as practised by Buddhists London: PTS, Oxford University Press
*Foxeus, N. (2013)
Esoteric Theravada Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis, 25, 55–79. https://doi.org/10.30674/scripta.67433
* Foxeus, N. (2016). "I am the Buddha, the Buddha is Me": Concentration Meditation and Esoteric Modern Buddhism in Burma/Myanmar. ''Numen'', 63(4), 411-445
*Skilton, Andrew & Choompolpaisal, Phibul (2016). The Ancient Theravāda Meditation System, Borān Kammaṭṭhāna: Ānāpānasati or ‘Mindfulness of The Breath’ in Kammatthan Majjima Baeb Lamdub.
{{Meditation
Buddhist meditation
Theravada