Professor Lin Chong'an: A Study of Vedanānupassanā (Contemplation of Feelings)

Selected Buddhist Studies Papers

A Study of Vedanānupassanā (Contemplation of Feelings)

Lin Chong'an (1996)

The four foundations of mindfulness—also called the four satipaṭṭhāna—lie at the heart of the Buddha's teaching. The Saṃyuktāgama states:

There is one path that purifies beings, leads them beyond sorrow and lamentation, extinguishes suffering and distress, and enables them to realize the true Dharma—it is the four foundations of mindfulness. What are these four? Contemplation of the body as body, contemplation of feelings as feelings, contemplation of mind as mind, and contemplation of dharmas as dharmas. (Sutra 607)

The passage points to a single path that purifies beings, lifts them beyond grief and lamentation, ends suffering and sorrow, lets them practice the truth, and brings them to realize the reality of nirvāṇa. This path is the four foundations of mindfulness (四念住, also written 四念处). What are the four? They are contemplating the body in the body (kāyānupassanā), contemplating feelings in the feelings (vedanānupassanā), contemplating mind in the mind (cittānupassanā), and contemplating dharmas in the dharmas (dhammānupassanā).

Vedanānupassanā holds a place of particular prominence within the four foundations of mindfulness. The Buddha points out in the Saṃyuktāgama:

Because I have truly known the nature of feelings, the arising of feelings, the cessation of feelings, the path leading to the arising of feelings, the path leading to the cessation of feelings, the relish of feelings, the danger of feelings, and the escape from feelings, therefore, among gods, māras, brahmās, śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, and celestial beings in the world, I am freed, I have escaped, I am liberated from all inversions, and I have attained anuttarā-samyak-saṃbodhi. (Sutra 479)

Having truly known the nature of feelings, their present arising (saṃudaya), their present cessation (nirodha), the path to their future arising (saṃudaya-magga), their contamination (āsāda), the danger of feelings (ādīnava), and their escape (nissaraṇa), the Buddha was thereby able to transcend the gods, māras, brahmās, śramaṇas, brāhmaṇas, and celestial beings of the world, to free himself from inversion, and to attain unsurpassed perfect enlightenment. From this we know that one must go beyond attachment to feeling in order to attain Buddhahood.

Regarding vedanānupassanā within the four foundations of mindfulness, the following materials are especially important in today's Southern and Northern transmission scriptures:

(1) Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta: Pali Dīgha Nikāya, second sutta.

(2) Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta: Pali Majjhima Nikāya, tenth sutta.

(3) "Four Intentions of Mindfulness" (四意止): Chinese Ekottara Āgama, fascicle 5.

(4) Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta (念处经): Chinese Madhyama Āgama, fascicle 27.

(5) Satipaṭṭhāna Saṃyutta: Pali Saṃyutta Nikāya 47.

(6) Satipaṭṭhāna Saṃyutta (念处相应): Chinese Saṃyuktāgama, fascicle 24.

(7) Vedanā Saṃyutta: Pali Saṃyutta Nikāya 36.

(8) Vedanā Saṃyutta (受相应): Chinese Saṃyuktāgama, fascicle 17.

Commentaries on vedanānupassanā appear throughout various treatises; for instance, the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra (fascicles 28, 96, 98, etc.) all contain explanations. What follows draws mainly on the first four scriptures listed above to compare the vedanānupassanā passages; the others serve as supplementary material for exploring the meaning and addressing the question of transmission.

I. Vedanānupassanā Passages in the Southern Transmission

The Pali Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta and Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta contain the same vedanānupassanā passage. A Chinese translation reads:

1. Monks, how does a monk contemplate feelings as feelings?

2. Monks, when a monk experiences a pleasant feeling, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a pleasant feeling." When he experiences a painful feeling, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a painful feeling." When he experiences a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling." When he experiences a pleasant feeling with attachment, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a pleasant feeling with attachment." When he experiences a pleasant feeling without attachment, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a pleasant feeling without attachment." When he experiences a painful feeling with attachment, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a painful feeling with attachment." When he experiences a painful feeling without attachment, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a painful feeling without attachment." When he experiences a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with attachment, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with attachment." When he experiences a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling without attachment, he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling without attachment."

3. Then he contemplates feelings within as feelings, contemplates feelings without as feelings, and simultaneously contemplates feelings within and without as feelings.

4. He observes the phenomenon of continually arising within feelings, he observes the phenomenon of continually ceasing within feelings, and he simultaneously observes the phenomena of continually arising and ceasing within feelings.

5. Then he clearly knows: "This is feeling!" Thus there is mere knowing, mere awareness.

6. Then he is unattached to anything and grasps nothing in the (mind-body) world.

7. Monks, this is how a monk contemplates feelings as feelings.

The passage divides vedanānupassanā into seven sections. A brief analysis of each:

(1) The first section asks what vedanānupassanā is. The emphasis falls on "contemplating feelings in the feelings," not on "observing feelings from outside feelings."

(2) The second section lists nine kinds of feelings with bare awareness of each.

(3) The third section sets out the threefold observation of feelings—internally, externally, and both internally and externally.

(4) The fourth section observes the arising, the ceasing, and the simultaneous arising-and-ceasing of feelings.

(5) The fifth section points out that one must know "feeling is just feeling"—here there is no self, nothing belonging to a self.

(6) The sixth section describes the result of practicing vedanānupassanā: the mind is unattached and attains liberation.

(7) The seventh section sums up: this, in short, is vedanānupassanā.

II. The Passage in the Northern Transmission Ekottara Āgama

In the Northern transmission Ekottara Āgama, the vedanānupassanā passage reads:

1. How does a monk internally contemplate pain as pain?

2. Thereupon, when a monk obtains a pleasant feeling, he is aware: "I have obtained a pleasant feeling." When he obtains a painful feeling, he is aware: "I have obtained a painful feeling." When he obtains a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he is aware: "I have obtained a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling." When he obtains a pleasant feeling with sustenance, he is aware: "I have obtained a pleasant feeling with sustenance." When he obtains a painful feeling with sustenance, he is aware: "I have obtained a painful feeling with sustenance." When he obtains a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with sustenance, he is also aware: "I have obtained a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with sustenance." When he obtains a pleasant feeling without sustenance, he is aware: "I have obtained a pleasant feeling without sustenance." When he obtains a painful feeling without sustenance, he is aware: "I have obtained a painful feeling without sustenance." When he obtains a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling without sustenance, he is aware: "I have obtained a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling without sustenance."

3. Thus the monk internally contemplates pain. Furthermore, when a monk obtains a pleasant feeling, at that time he does not obtain a painful feeling; he is aware: "I am experiencing a pleasant feeling." When he obtains a painful feeling, at that time he does not obtain a pleasant feeling; he is aware: "I am experiencing a painful feeling." When he obtains a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, at that time there is neither pain nor pleasure; he is aware: "I am experiencing a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling."

4. He delights in the arising-condition and observes the cessation-condition, and also observes the arising-and-cessation-condition.

5. Or again, "pain" is presently present and can be known and seen.

6. He contemplates the original source, delights without any dependence, and does not arouse worldly views. Therein he is neither frightened nor afraid; through this lack of fear, he attains nirvāṇa. Birth and death have ended; the holy life has been established; what was to be done has been done; he will no longer take on any existence, as he truly knows.

7. Thus the monk internally contemplates pain, removing scattered thoughts, free of sorrow and anxiety; externally he contemplates pain, and internally and externally contemplates pain, removing scattered thoughts, free of sorrow and anxiety. Thus the monk contemplates pain both internally and externally.

This passage also divides into seven sections. Comparing them section by section with the Southern transmission, the similarities and differences are as follows:

(1) The Ekottara renders "feeling" (受) as "pain" (痛), and its first section asks about internally contemplating feeling.

(2) The Ekottara and the Southern transmission both list the same nine kinds of feelings. In the Ekottara, "with attachment" is rendered as "with sustenance" (食) and "without attachment" as "without sustenance" (不食).

(3) The Southern transmission has the threefold observation of "internally," "externally," and "both internally and externally." The Ekottara, by contrast, lists only "internally" here and places the "external" and "internal-external" portions in its seventh section. It also adds an extra passage after the third section about the awareness of three kinds of feeling.

(4) In the Ekottara, "the phenomenon of arising," "the phenomenon of ceasing," and "the phenomenon of simultaneously arising and ceasing" are translated respectively as "the arising-condition" (集法), "the cessation-condition" (尽法), and "the arising-and-cessation-condition" (集尽之法). The verb viharati (to dwell or abide) is at times rendered as "delights" (自娱乐).

(5) "This is feeling!" is rendered in the Ekottara simply as the single word "pain" (痛), leaving the meaning unclear. The Southern transmission's "mere knowing, mere awareness" becomes "can be known and seen" (可知可见), losing the emphasis on "mere."

(6) The Southern transmission's "unattached to anything" (无所染着) becomes "without any dependence" (无所依倚) in the Ekottara, and its "grasps nothing in the (mind-body) world" becomes "does not arouse worldly views" (不起世间想). The Ekottara then adds an extra passage describing the fruit-stage: "Therein he is neither frightened nor afraid; through this lack of fear, he attains nirvāṇa. Birth and death have ended; the holy life has been established; what was to be done has been done; he will no longer take on any existence, as he truly knows."

(7) In the Ekottara, besides relocating the Southern transmission's third section, there are also the phrases "removing scattered thoughts, free of sorrow and anxiety" (除去乱念，无有愁忧), used to describe the result of practicing satipaṭṭhāna.

From this section-by-section comparison, it's clear that the Southern transmission's vedanānupassanā is largely the same as that in the Ekottara. The Ekottara adds a few phrases in its third, sixth, and seventh sections.

III. The Passage in the Northern Transmission Madhyama Āgama

In the Northern transmission Madhyama Āgama, the vedanānupassanā passage reads:

1. How does one contemplate perception as perception, the foundation of mindfulness?

2. When a monk perceives pleasant perception, he perceives "pleasant perception"; when he perceives painful perception, he perceives "painful perception"; when he perceives neither-painful-nor-pleasant perception, he perceives "neither-painful-nor-pleasant perception"; when he perceives pleasant bodily perception, painful bodily perception, neither-painful-nor-pleasant bodily perception, pleasant mental perception, painful mental perception, neither-painful-nor-pleasant mental perception, pleasant perception with sustenance, painful perception with sustenance, neither-painful-nor-pleasant perception with sustenance, pleasant perception without sustenance, painful perception without sustenance, neither-painful-nor-pleasant perception without sustenance, pleasant perception with desire, painful perception with desire, neither-painful-nor-pleasant perception with desire, pleasant perception without desire, painful perception without desire, he perceives "neither-painful-nor-pleasant perception without desire."

3. Thus the monk contemplates internal perception as perception, and contemplates external perception as perception.

4. He establishes mindfulness upon "perception," with knowledge and vision, with clarity and penetration.

5. This is called a monk's contemplation of perception as perception. If a monk or nun contemplates perception as perception even to this small extent, this is called contemplation of perception as perception, the foundation of mindfulness.

This passage has only five sections. Comparing it with the Southern transmission:

(1) Here "feeling" (受) is rendered as "perception" (觉).

(2) The second section lists twenty-one kinds of feelings.

(3) The third section lists only the two aspects of observation—"internal" and "external"—omitting the "internal-external" one.

(4) The fourth section corresponds to the Southern transmission's fifth section. "This is feeling!" is rendered as the single word "perception" (觉), and "mere knowing, mere awareness" becomes "with knowledge and vision, with clarity and penetration" (有知有见，有明有达), without the emphasis on "mere."

(5) The fifth section corresponds to the Southern transmission's seventh section, but adds: "If a monk or nun contemplates perception as perception even to this small extent, this is called contemplation of perception as perception, the foundation of mindfulness."

From this comparison, four textual differences emerge between the Southern transmission's vedanānupassanā and that in the Madhyama Āgama: first, the categories of feelings; second, the absence of the "internal-external" observation in the Madhyama Āgama; third, the absence in the Madhyama Āgama of the passage on the arising and ceasing of feelings; and fourth, the absence of the result of practicing the four foundations of mindfulness: "Unattached to anything, and grasping nothing in the (mind-body) world!" The first difference comes from differences in transmission, which the next section will take up; whether the other three reflect abridgement by the Chinese translator is hard to say. Since the Madhyama Āgama belongs to the Sarvāstivāda recension, however, the Chinese Saṃyuktāgama (note 1)—also a Sarvāstivāda text—together with related treatises, can be drawn on to fill in the vedanānupassanā material.

IV. Analyzing the Categories of Feelings

Both the Southern transmission vedanānupassanā and the Northern transmission Ekottara Āgama list nine categories of feelings:

(1) Pleasant feeling: sukha-vedanā.

(2) Painful feeling: dukkha-vedanā.

(3) Neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling: adukkha-masukha-vedanā.

(4) Pleasant feeling with attachment: sa-upādāna sukha-vedanā / sukha-āhāra-vedanā / sukha-sādiṅga-vedanā.

(5) Pleasant feeling without attachment: an-upādāna sukha-vedanā / sukha-anāhāra-vedanā / sukha-nissāda-vedanā.

(6) Painful feeling with attachment: sa-upādāna dukkha-vedanā / dukkha-āhāra-vedanā / dukkha-sādiṅga-vedanā.

(7) Painful feeling without attachment: an-upādāna dukkha-vedanā / dukkha-anāhāra-vedanā / dukkha-nissāda-vedanā.

(8) Neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with attachment: sa-upādāna adukkha-masukha-vedanā / adukkha-masukha-āhāra-vedanā.

(9) Neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling without attachment: an-upādāna adukkha-masukha-vedanā / adukkha-masukha-anāhāra-vedanā.

The Madhyama Āgama's vedanānupassanā, along with Saṃyuktāgama Sutras 471 and 472, and the Abhidharma-dharma-skandha-pāda (Dharmaskandha), fascicle 5, list twenty-one kinds of feelings grouped into seven categories:

(1) Pleasant feeling, painful feeling, neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.

(2) Pleasant bodily feeling, painful bodily feeling, neither-painful-nor-pleasant bodily feeling.

(3) Pleasant mental feeling, painful mental feeling, neither-painful-nor-pleasant mental feeling.

(4) Pleasant feeling with sustenance (pleasant feeling with love-flavor, pleasant feeling with flavor), painful feeling with sustenance (painful feeling with love-flavor, painful feeling with flavor), neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with sustenance (neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with love-flavor, neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling with flavor).

(v) Pleasant feeling without sustenance (pleasant feeling without attachment-taste, pleasant without taste); painful feeling without sustenance; neither-pain-nor-pleasure feeling without sustenance.

(vi) Pleasant feeling with craving (pleasant feeling of desire, pleasant feeling based on attachment, pleasant feeling attached to its basis); painful feeling with craving; neither-pain-nor-pleasure feeling with craving.

(vii) Pleasant feeling of deliverance (pleasant feeling without desire, pleasant feeling based on release, pleasant feeling released from its basis); painful feeling of deliverance; neither-pain-nor-pleasure feeling of deliverance.

Each of these seven categories is further divided into three according to pleasure, pain, and neither-pain-nor-pleasure, yielding twenty-one kinds of feeling altogether. The translated terms vary across the sūtras and treatises of the Sarvāstivāda school, but the content is identical. These twenty-one are classified by the intrinsic nature, basis, defilement, and purity of feeling. The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra (Treatise on the Stages of Yogic Practice), volume 96, says:

Furthermore, one should understand that the distinctions among the categories of feeling are named according to the intrinsic nature, basis, and the defiled and pure types of those feelings. "Feelings with taste" are the worldly feelings. "Feelings without taste" are the supramundane feelings. "Feelings based on attachment" are the defiled feelings toward the five delightful sense objects. "Feelings based on release" are all the good feelings co-arising with the determined or undetermined states, produced by release and renunciation.

In other words, the categories are drawn from the feeling's intrinsic nature (the three feelings), its basis (body and mind), its defiling aspect (feelings with taste and feelings based on attachment), and its pure aspect (feelings without taste and feelings based on release). The defiled "feelings with taste" are the worldly feelings; the pure "feelings without taste" are the supramundane. The defiled "feelings based on attachment" are the defiled feelings toward the five delightful sense objects—form, sound, scent, taste, and touch. "Feelings based on release" are all the good feelings, in both the determined and undetermined states, that arise from release and renunciation. The same treatise, volume 28, also says:

Furthermore, pleasant feeling is defined as that arising from contact to be experienced pleasantly, included within the equable class of received feeling; this is called pleasant feeling. When co-arising with the five sense consciousnesses, it is called (pleasant) bodily feeling; when co-arising with mental consciousness, it is called (pleasant) mental feeling. Among such feelings, if they accord with nirvāṇa, accord with decisive discrimination, and are ultimately released, ultimately free from defilement, and ultimately able to perfect the holy life, they are called feelings without attachment and taste; if they fall into the realms, they are called feelings with attachment and taste. If belonging to the form or formless realms, or if they accord with separation from desire, they are called feelings based on release; if belonging to the desire realm, or if not in accord with separation from desire, they are called feelings based on attachment.

This passage walks through, in turn, the meaning and scope of pleasant feeling, bodily feeling, mental feeling, feelings without attachment and taste, feelings with attachment and taste, feelings based on release, and feelings based on attachment. Once these various feelings have been sorted out by intrinsic nature (pleasant, painful, neither-pain-nor-pleasure), basis (body, mind), defilement (with attachment and taste; based on attachment), and purity (without attachment and taste; based on release), the practitioner of mindfulness of feelings can clearly see which category his or her present feeling belongs to. The Pāli Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta offers a simple example:

When experiencing a feeling that is pleasant and accompanied by clinging (pleasant feeling with taste), he is aware: "I am experiencing a feeling that is pleasant and accompanied by clinging." When experiencing a feeling that is painful and accompanied by clinging (painful feeling with taste), he clearly knows: "I am experiencing a feeling that is painful and accompanied by clinging."

Staying clear and continuous with one's present feeling is the first step of the practice. Here "feeling" refers principally to what arises in the body. Sūtras 471 and 472 of the Saṃyuktāgama (Connected Discourses) liken the body's feelings to strong winds in empty space and to travelers in an inn:

Just as in empty space, various strong winds arise—east, west, south, and north winds, winds in the four intermediate directions, winds with dust and without dust, and even the great wind-wheel—so too in this body, feelings arise in just the same way.

Just as in an inn, various people stay—warriors, brahmins, household elders and layfolk, outcasts and forest-dwellers, precept-holders and precept-breakers, householders and renunciants—so too in this body, various kinds of feelings arise: pleasant and painful and neither-pain-nor-pleasure, with sustenance and without sustenance, with craving and without craving.

The point of both analogies is plain: many different feelings arise in the body. The first image likens the body's feelings to winds in empty space—east, west, south, and north, with dust and without dust, up to the great wind-wheel. The second likens them to the varied guests of an inn—warriors, brahmins, household elders and layfolk, outcasts and forest-dwellers, precept-holders and precept-breakers, householders and renunciants. So too, various feelings arise in the body: pleasant, painful, and neither-pain-nor-pleasure; clinging (with sustenance) and not clinging (without sustenance); with craving and without craving.

Turning to the arising and ceasing of these feelings, the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, volume 96, says:

Furthermore, if there are feelings that, having arisen in their basis (the body), break apart and disperse without abiding, quickly dissolving and not lasting long, yet continuing to flow on in a similar succession—one should contemplate such feelings as being like a whirlwind. If there are feelings that pause for a short while, continuing in a similar succession without quickly changing and perishing—one should contemplate such feelings as being like travelers of varied appearance staying briefly at an inn.

Feelings whose arising and passing are very swift are thus likened to a whirlwind, a figure for subtle impermanence; feelings whose arising and passing are slower are likened to travelers, a figure for gross impermanence. In mindfulness of feelings, one first comes to know the body's feelings clearly, then meets impermanence through them, and through impermanence, selflessness. This is what the next section takes up.

V. How Should the Various Feelings Be Observed?

The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, volume 53, says:

All tathāgatas, arhats, perfectly and completely awakened ones, when they appear in the world, apply eight observations to feelings: namely, how many kinds of feeling are there? What is the origin of feeling? What is the cessation of feeling? What is the path of practice leading to the origin of feeling? What is the path of practice leading to the cessation of feeling? What is the allure of feeling? What is the danger of feeling? What is the deliverance from feeling? Observing in this way, one truly knows that there are three kinds of feeling; feeling arises because contact arises, as should be understood from the detailed exposition in the sūtras. These eight observations can be summarized as: observation of self-characteristic; observation of the cause of present continuation and of its cessation; observation of the cause of future continuation and of its cessation; observation of the two causes of continuation, observation of the two cessations, and observation of purification.

The sūtra behind this is Saṃyuktāgama Sūtra 475:

Before Vipaśyin Tathāgata became a Buddha, he dwelt alone in a quiet place, thinking in meditative contemplation, observing the various feelings thus: What is feeling? What is the origin of feeling? What is the cessation of feeling? What is the path leading to the origin of feeling? What is the path leading to the cessation of feeling? What is the allure of feeling? What is the danger of feeling? What is the deliverance from feeling? Observing in this way, he knew there are three feelings: pleasant, painful, and neither-pain-nor-pleasure. The arising of contact is the origin of feeling; the cessation of contact is the cessation of feeling. To delight in, praise, be attached to, and firmly abide in feeling—this is the path leading to the origin of feeling. Not to delight in, praise, be attached to, or firmly abide in feeling—this is the path leading to the cessation of feeling. When joy and gladness arise through the causes and conditions of feeling, this is the allure of feeling. When feeling is an impermanent and changing dharma, this is the danger of feeling. To cut off desire and craving toward feeling, to transcend desire and craving—this is the deliverance from feeling. Just as Vipaśyin Buddha, so also did Śikhin Buddha, Viśvabhū Buddha, Krakucchanda Buddha, Kanakamuni Buddha, Kāśyapa Buddha, and I, Śākyamuni Buddha, before becoming Buddhas, contemplated and observed feelings in just this way.

From this we can see that the observation of feelings is an important part of practice. One observes, in turn: (1) the intrinsic nature of feelings—the three feelings; (2) the cause of feelings' present continuation—the arising of contact; (3) the cause of feelings' present cessation—the cessation of contact; (4) the cause of feelings' future continuation—delighting in, praising, being attached to, and firmly abiding in feeling; (5) the cause of feelings' future cessation—not delighting in, praising, being attached to, or firmly abiding in feeling; (6) the defiling cause of feeling—when joy and gladness arise through feeling's causes and conditions; (7) the purifying cause of feeling—feeling as an impermanent and changing dharma; (8) the purification of feeling—cutting off and transcending desire and craving toward feeling. In the practice of mindfulness of feelings, particular weight is given to the purifying cause: feeling is an impermanent and changing dharma. The Pāli Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta quoted earlier puts it this way:

He observes the phenomenon of continually arising within feeling, the phenomenon of continually ceasing within feeling, and the phenomenon of continually arising and ceasing within feeling.

Here the observation moves from gross to subtle: first one meets feelings whose arising and ceasing last a relatively long while, then those whose arising and ceasing are almost simultaneous—first gross impermanence, then subtle. The passage also signals that the observation of feeling extends to future arising, past ceasing, and present arising-and-ceasing, and that all three must be known with this kind of clarity. In time this leads to what the sūtra then says:

"Then he clearly knows: 'This is feeling!' Thus there is only knowing, only bare awareness.

Cultivating the 'perception of impermanence' again and again, one sees that the true face of feeling is simply feeling itself! There is no self, no belonging-to-self.

This is what Saṃyuktāgama Sūtra 270 states:

By cultivating and cultivating extensively the perception of impermanence, one can cut off all desire for sense pleasures, for form, and for the formless; agitation, conceit, and ignorance. The perception of impermanence can establish the perception of selflessness. A noble disciple who abides in the perception of selflessness, with mind free from self-conceit, moves steadily toward nirvāṇa.

A meditator who keeps cultivating the perception of impermanence, passing from the path of seeing into the path of practice, can cut off the five subtle afflictions—desire for sense pleasures, desire for form, desire for the formless, agitation, and ignorance. Cultivating the perception of impermanence establishes the perception of selflessness. Once the noble disciple abides in the perception of selflessness, the mind lets go of self-conceit and moves toward the fruit of nirvāṇa. This is precisely the purification of feeling: cutting off and transcending desire and craving toward feeling. Saṃyuktāgama Sūtra 470 puts it like this:

With pleasant feeling he is not negligent; with painful contact he does not add to sorrow; both pain and pleasure he abandons alike, neither yielding to nor defying them. The bhikṣu applies effort diligently; right knowledge does not waver. Regarding all these feelings, with sagacious wisdom he is able to fully know them. Fully knowing the various feelings, in this very life he exhausts all the outflows; when the body ends he does not fall into any reckoning, and dwells forever in parinirvāṇa.

Therefore, by keeping awareness of the various feelings and observing them with right knowledge, maintaining a mind of equal poise, one can exhaust all afflictions in this very life, no longer wander through the three realms, and abide permanently in a state of freedom and stillness. The Pāli Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta passage quoted earlier goes on to say:

Then he is without attachment, without grasping toward the (mind-body) world.

Finally, let us look at the Pāli text's expressions "internally," "externally," and "internally and externally" in the observation of feelings among feelings.

1. According to the Abhidharma Dharmaskandhapāda Śāstra (Treatise on the Aggregates of Dharma):

What is it to abide in the observation of feelings with regard to internal feelings, with proper effort, proper knowledge, and proper mindfulness, while removing worldly greed and sorrow? Internal feelings are one's own feelings that are presently within one's continuum, already obtained and not yet lost. External feelings are one's own feelings that are presently within one's continuum but not yet obtained or already lost, together with all the feelings belonging to other sentient beings. The two kinds spoken of together are called internal-external feelings.

So "internal" here means one's own feelings that have been obtained and not yet lost; "external" means one's own feelings not yet obtained or already lost, along with the feelings of others. The two together constitute "internal-external."

2. According to the Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, volume 28:

If one abides in the observation of feelings taking as object the feelings arising dependent on "the bodily form of one's own internal sentient being," this is called abiding in the observation of internal feelings. If one abides in the observation of feelings taking as object the feelings arising dependent on "the bodily form of external non-sentient-being," this is called abiding in the observation of external feelings. If one abides in the observation of feelings taking as object the feelings arising dependent on "the bodily form of an external other sentient being," this is called abiding in the observation of internal-external feelings.

The distinction between internal, external, and internal-external lies in the three kinds of form from which the feelings arise: in order, "the bodily form of one's own internal sentient being," "the bodily form of an external non-sentient being," and "the bodily form of an external other sentient being." This is the first explanation. The treatise then offers a second, with three kinds of form: "form included in the sense bases, possessing grasping and possessing feeling"; "form not included in the sense bases, without grasping and without feeling"; "form not included in the sense bases, possessing grasping and possessing feeling." The third gives "light-ease co-arising form of one's own determined state"; "gross-discursive co-arising form of one's own undetermined state"; and "the form of another co-arising with both light ease and gross discursiveness." The fourth gives "internal form of the great elements as producer," "external form of the great elements as producer," and "the form produced by the great elements, included in the sense bases and their objects." The fifth gives "the form within the body that possesses consciousness"; "the form of a body without consciousness in states such as lividity belonging to a sentient being"; and "the form of a body without consciousness that in the past possessed the nature of consciousness, and the form of a body with consciousness that in the future will not possess consciousness—sharing a similar and equal dharma-nature." The sixth gives "within one's own body, the aspects of hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and so on"; "within another's body, the aspects of hair, body hair, nails, teeth, and so on"; and "the internal bodily surface in its changing and unchanging states, such as lividity; and the external bodily surface in its changing and unchanging states, such as lividity—sharing a similar and equal dharma-nature." In each case, three kinds of form from different sources give rise to internal, external, and internal-external feelings, and all of these feelings arise in the meditator's own person, not in another.

3. According to the Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣā Śāstra (Great Vibhāṣā Commentary), volume 187:

Feelings included in one's own continuum are called internal feelings; feelings included in another's continuum are called external feelings. The Venerable Parśva says: the present is called internal; the past, future, and unconditioned are called external. Question: Why are the present called internal and the past, future, and unconditioned called external? Reply: Because present dharmas mostly cause sentient beings to grasp and cling, whereas past, future, and unconditioned dharmas do not.

The first point is simply that feelings in one's own body are internal, feelings in another's body are external. The Venerable Parśva, in addition, takes present feelings as internal and past and future feelings as external—a reading that has affinities with the Dharmaskandhapāda.

4. From the practitioner's own standpoint, what is observed should be directed toward one's own feelings. The causes of feeling arise partly from oneself, partly from external stimuli, and the former are accordingly called "internal" and the latter "external." Once the meditator has mastered the four absorptions and eight concentrations, however, he or she is able to observe the feelings of both self and other, which are then distinguished as "internal" and "external."

VI. A Side Note on the Transmission of the Āgamas

Comparing the sūtra passages on mindfulness of feelings shows that the Pāli sūtras of the Southern transmission and the corresponding passages in the Northern Ekottara Āgama line up closely, both listing nine kinds of feeling. As to lineage, the Southern transmission of the Pāli canon was passed down in turn by (1) Upāli, (2) Dāsaka, (3) Sonaka, (4) Siggava and Tālapuṭṭa, (5) Moggalīputta Tissa, (6) Mahinda, and others. The Ekottara Āgama is generally assigned to the Mahāsāṃghikas, and one Mahāsāṃghika lineage runs: (1) Upāli, (2) Dhāsaka, (3) Sudanta (or Sudatta), (4) Citra, (5) Mūlaphala, (6) Dharmaghoṣa. Because Upāli was of Śūdra origin, the disciples who received his transmission were mainly commoners, and the language used was a form of "half-Māgadhī" (Note 2)—a dialect of ancient eastern India. After the teaching moved west, to Ujjayinī, it shifted to the Pāli vernacular of local commoners, and it was in this language that Mahinda later brought the Dhamma to Sri Lanka. In short, the Southern Pāli canon (Theravāda Tambapaṇṇiya line) and the Ekottara Āgama (Mahāsāṃghika) both chiefly employed the vernacular of ordinary people. Their grammatical endings differ a little, but on the whole they agree very closely.

The Northern Madhyama Āgama, Saṃyuktāgama, and Abhidharma Dharmaskandhapāda belong to the Sarvāstivāda school. Their wording tends to be more refined than the Pāli canon's; we have already seen the example of the twenty-one kinds of feeling. The main Sarvāstivāda lineage runs: (1) Mahākāśyapa and Ānanda, (2) [name missing], (3) [name missing], (4) [name], (5) Maudgalyāyana (Note 3). The school flourished greatly in Kaśmīr, used refined Sanskrit, and was chiefly supported by the upper strata of society.

What this shows is that the transmission of the Āgama sūtras had two different streams—one of commoners, one of the higher social orders. The difference arose because the Buddha taught according to his listeners' capacities and did not require a single language for spreading the Dharma; as long as the meaning was preserved, that was enough. This was his basic principle. So after the compilation at Rājagṛha, the sūtras recited by commoners and those recited by the upper strata were not necessarily word-for-word identical, but they were consistent in meaning. The Pāli texts that have come down to us are those recited by commoners; the Sarvāstivāda texts are those recited by the upper orders. As for the rearrangement of the sūtras' order, that came out of the later compilations at Vaiśālī and Pāṭaliputra (Note 4). The sūtras and treatises of the Sanskrit tradition generally have a more polished wording; comparing the Pāli Saṃyutta with the Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Saṃyuktāgama makes the difference plain—witness, for example, the twenty-one kinds of feeling and the eight observations cited above.

VII. Conclusion

This paper has compared the Southern and Northern sūtra passages on mindfulness of feelings. Two distinct lineages come to light, but on the practice itself they agree: one must clearly and knowingly perceive the feelings in the body, then meet both gross and subtle impermanence through them, see that feeling is just feeling itself and not a self or a belonging-to-self, and so let go of self-clinging and realize nirvāṇa. Finally, one should remember that the cultivation of mindfulness is required of the disciples of all Buddhas, past, present, and future. The Yogācārabhūmi Śāstra, volume 98, says:

Furthermore, the principle of cultivating mindfulness is not something first proclaimed now that the present World-Honored One has appeared in the world, nor is it something the present noble disciples have only just begun to practice. From beginningless time in the past, the cultivation of mindfulness has been carried on; and in ages to come one should know that its cultivation is also without end.

The principle of the four foundations of mindfulness was not first set forth when the present Śākyamuni appeared in the world, nor is it something today's noble disciples have just begun to cultivate. From beginningless time, all past Buddhas have proclaimed and practiced the four foundations of mindfulness, and the Buddhas of the future will do likewise, their disciples practicing in the same way without end. Sentient beings who wish to overcome sorrow and lamentation and to extinguish suffering and grief must therefore earnestly take up the Dharma gate of mindfulness.

Notes

Note 1: Collected essays in the appendix (lower volume) of the Foguang Da Zangjing (Foguang Tripiṭaka), Āgama Collection. Taipei: Foguang Publishing, 1983.

Note 2: Ji Xianlin, "On the Language of Early Buddhism Reconsidered," in Ji Xianlin Foxue Xueshu Yuwen Ji (Collected Works of Ji Xianlin on Buddhist Studies and Literary Language), p. 93. Taipei: Dongchu Publishing, 1995.

Note 3: Lin Chong'an, "Research on the Schism and Lineage of Indian Sectarian Buddhism," Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 3, pp. 25–46, 1990.

Note 4: Lin Chong'an, "Research on the Compilation of the Āgama Sūtras and the Origins of Mahāyāna Sūtras," Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 4, pp. 1–28, 1991.