The mind is the basis of bondage and liberation. Therefore, the purification of mind is highly emphasized in Buddhist practices. “Feeling”, which arises conditioned by contact of sense organs and sense objects, is the crucial point that should not be neglected in the practice of purifying the mind. Feeling activates latent tendencies of the mind towards craving, aversion and ignorance. For those who do not establish mindfulness, these powerful sensations may drag them into various emotional reactions and give rise to unwholesome mental factors, such as desire, anger, ignorance and so forth. Feeling is the key to deciding both the defilement and the purity of the mind. The purification of the mind can be achieved at the point of feeling. This thesis attempts to study one of the four foundations of mindfulness－the contemplation of feelings to explore its role in the process of cultivation and realization of pure mind. It is hoped that the study of the Āgama Sutras, with emphasis on the Madhyama Āgama, which is the earliest Buddhist text reflecting the teachings of Buddha in early Buddhism, will further a deeper understanding of the pure mind. Additionally, this research was carried out in hopes of clarifying how the theoretical provides the method for the actual practice of contemplation of feelings in the process of cultivation and realization of pure mind.
目次
ABSTRACT I DEDICATION II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS III CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 MOTIVATION AND PURPOSES 5 1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT 6 1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 7 1.4 LITERATURE REVIEW 8 CHAPTER II: THE CONTENTS OF PURE MIND 14 2.1 THE IMPURITIES OF MIND 16 2.2 THE DEFINITION OF PURE MIND 27 2.3 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PURE MIND, CONCENTRATION AND WISDOM 40 2.3.1 The Relationship between Pure Mind and Concentration 40 2.3.2 The Relationship between Pure Mind and Wisdom 43 CHAPTER III: THE PRACTICE OF CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS 49 3.1 THE MEANING OF MINDFULNESS (念NIAN) 49 3.2 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF FEELING IN THE PRACTICE 56 3.3 THE PRACTICE OF CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS 61 CHAPTER IV: THE ROLE OF CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS IN REALIZATION AND CULTIVATION OF PURE MIND 73 4.1 THE ROLE OF CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF TEMPORARY PURE MIND 73 4.2 THE ROLE OF CONTEMPLATION OF FEELINGS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ULTIMATE PURE MIND 79 4.2.1 Understanding the Three Marks of Existence at the Point of Feeling 81 4.2.2 The Purification of Past Memories at the Point of Feeling 84 4.2.3 The Breaking of Twelve links of Dependent Origination at the Point of Feeling 85 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 87 BIBLIOGRAPHY 92 APPENDIX 97 APPENDIX A: THE CATEGORIES OF IMPURITIES OF MIND. 97 APPENDIX B: THE SUTRAS THAT DESCRIBED THE STATE OF MIND IN THE FOURTH JHĀNA IN THE EKOTTARA ĀGAMA. 100 APPENDIX C: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PURE MIND AND THE ATTAINMENT OF KNOWLEDGE IN THE MADHYAMA ĀGAMA. 101 List of Tables Table 1: The data from text search of Taisho regarding the characters containing the meaning of pure mind 28 Table 2: The categorization of texts discussing the pure mind and the number of texts found in the Āgamas 28 Table 3: Twenty-one kinds of feelings as objects of contemplation as recorded in the Madhyama Āgama 64 Table 4: The framework of contemplation of feelings based on the Madhyama Āgama and the Ekottara Āgama 70 Table 5: The two versions account of the four jhāna and in the Madhyama Āgama and the Saṃyukta Āgama 74 Table 6: The content of feelings in different stage of jhānas 78
