Editing Theravada (section)

====Forms====
Theravāda Buddhist meditation practice varies considerably in technique and objects.<ref>Crosby, 2013, p. 138.</ref> Currently, there are also various traditions of Theravāda meditation practice, such as the [[Vipassana movement|Burmese Vipassana tradition]], the [[Thai Forest Tradition]], the esoteric ''[[Tantric Theravada|Borān kammaṭṭhāna]]'' ('ancient practices'), the Burmese [[Weizza|Weikza]] tradition, [[Dhammakaya meditation]] and the Western [[Insight Meditation Society|Insight Meditation]] movement.

Theravāda Buddhist meditation practices or [[Bhavana]] (mental cultivation) are categorized into two broad categories: [[Samatha]] bhavana (calming), and [[Vipassanā]] bhavana (investigation, insight).<ref group="web">{{Citation |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:3558.pali |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711062331/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:3558.pali |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 July 2012 |title=The Pali Text Society's Pali-English dictionary |publisher=Dsal.uchicago.edu |access-date=17 August 2012 }}</ref> Originally these referred to effects or qualities of meditation, but after the time of [[Buddhaghosa]], they also referred to two distinct meditation types or paths (''yāna'').<ref>Crosby, 2013, 139–140.</ref><ref name="Vajiranāṇa-Mahathera">Vajiranāṇa Mahathera (author), Allan R. Bomhard (editor) (20100, ''Buddhist Meditation in Theory and Practice'', p. 270.</ref><ref group="web" name="supramundane">[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html Henepola Gunaratana, ''The Jhanas in Theravāda Buddhist Meditation''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709025909/https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html |date=9 July 2018 }}.</ref>

''[[Samatha]]'' ("calm") consists of meditation techniques in which the mind is focused on a single object, thought, or gatha, leading to ''[[Samādhi]]'''. In traditional Theravāda it is considered to be the base for ''vipassanā'' ("insight"). In the Theravāda-tradition, as early as the [[Nikāya|Pāli Nikayas]], the four ''[[Dhyāna in Buddhism|jhānas]]'' are regarded as a ''samatha''-practice. The eighth and final step of the Eightfold Path, Right Samadhi, is often defined as the four jhanas.<ref>Henepola Gunaratana, The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation, 1995.</ref> In the [[Nikāya|Pāli Nikayas]], Jhānas are described as preceding the awakening insight of the Buddha, which turned him into an awakened being.<ref group="web">{{Citation |url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/ptf/buddha.html|title=A Sketch of the Buddha's Life|publisher=Access to Insight|access-date=26 March 2009}}</ref> Yet the interpretation of ''jhana'' as single-pointed concentration and calm may be a later re-interpretation in which the original aim of ''jhana'' was lost.{{sfn|Polak|2011}}

''Vipassana'' ("insight", "clear seeing") refers to practices that aim to develop an inner understanding or knowledge of the nature of phenomena (''dhammas''), especially the characteristics of ''[[dukkha]]'', ''[[anatta]]'' and ''[[anicca]]'', which are seen as being universally applicable to all constructed phenomena (''sankhata-dhammas''). ''Vipassana'' is also described as insight into [[Pratītyasamutpāda|dependent origination]], the [[Skandha|five aggregates]], the [[Ayatana|sense spheres]] and the [[Four Noble Truths]].<ref name=":10">[[Nyanaponika Thera|Nyanaponika]], The Heart of Buddhist meditation, Buddhist publication Society, 2005, p. 40.</ref><ref name="Vajiranāṇa-Mahathera" /> It is the primary focus of the modernist Burmese Vipassana movement. In western countries it is complemented with the [[Brahmavihara|four divine abidings]], the development of loving-kindness and compassion.{{sfn|Fronsdal|1998}}<ref>Crosby, 2013, p. 149.</ref>

''Vipassana'' practice begins with the preparatory stage, the practice of ''[[Śīla|sila]]'', morality, giving up worldly thoughts and desires.{{sfn|Wilson|2014|pp=54–55}}<ref>Mahāsi Sayādaw, ''Manual of Insight'', Chapter 5.</ref> The practitioner then engages in ''[[anapanasati]]'', mindfulness of breathing, which is described in the [[Satipatthana Sutta]] as going into the forest and sitting beneath a tree and then simply to watch the breath. If the breath is long, to notice that the breath is long, if the breath is short, to notice that the breath is short.<ref>Majjhima Nikaya, Sutta No. 118, Section No. 2, translated from the Pali.</ref><ref>[[Satipatthana Sutta]].</ref> In the "New Burmese Method" the practitioner [[Sati (Buddhism)|pays attention]] to any arising mental or physical phenomenon, engaging in [[vitaka]], noting or naming physical and mental phenomena ("breathing, breathing"), without engaging the phenomenon with conceptual thinking.<ref name="Practical">Mahasi Sayadaw, ''Practical Vipassana Instructions''.</ref><ref>Bhante Bodhidhamma, [https://buddhismnow.com/2013/09/12/vipassana-as-taught-by-the-mahasi-sayadaw-of-burma/ ''Vipassana as taught by The Mahasi Sayadaw of Burma''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324061800/https://buddhismnow.com/2013/09/12/vipassana-as-taught-by-the-mahasi-sayadaw-of-burma/ |date=24 March 2019 }}.</ref> By noticing the arising of physical and mental phenomena the meditator becomes aware of how sense impressions arise from the contact between the senses and physical and mental phenomena,<ref name="Practical"/> as described in the five ''[[skandhas]]'' and ''[[paṭiccasamuppāda]]''. The practitioner also becomes aware of the perpetual changes involved in breathing, and the arising and passing away of mindfulness.<ref name="Art"/> This noticing is accompanied by reflections on [[paṭiccasamuppāda|causation]] and other Buddhist teachings, leading to insight into [[dukkha]], [[anatta]], and [[anicca]].<ref>Mahasi Sayadaw, ''Practical Vipassana Instructions'', pp. 22–27.</ref><ref name="Art">{{Citation |url=http://www.dhamma.org/en/art.shtml |title=The Art of Living: Vipassana Meditation |publisher=Dhamma.org |access-date=30 May 2013}}</ref> When the three characteristics have been comprehended, reflection subdues and the process of noticing accelerates, noting phenomena in general without necessarily naming them.<ref>PVI, p. 28.</ref>{{sfn|Nyanaponika|1998}}{{sfn|Gombrich|1997|p=133}}

According to Vajiranāṇa Mahathera, writing from a traditional and text-based point of view, in the Pāli Canon whether one begins the practice by way of samatha or by way of vipassanā is generally seen as depending on one's temperament. According to Vajiranāṇa Mahathera, it is generally held that there are two kinds of individuals. Those of a passionate disposition (or those who enter the path by faith) attain Arahatship through vipassanā preceded by samatha. Those of a skeptical disposition (or those who enter by way of wisdom or the intellect) achieve it through samatha preceded by vipassanā.<ref name="Vajiranāṇa-Mahathera"/>