The Buddhist scheme of moral practice leading to final emancipation can be understood with reference to the three aspects of moral discipline (sila), concentration (samadhi), and wisdom (panna). These three aspects are mutually dependent and gradually progress towards a higher ideal. There is a clearly presented psychological theory behind this threefold scheme. According to this theory, all our moral evil exists and activates at three distinct levels. The first level is called “latency” (anusaya). It is the level at which moral evil remains dormant and latent in the form of inner dispositions and proclivities. We are not aware of these deep-seated psychological proclivities in us until they manifest themselves as excited feelings and emotions. The second level is called “arising all around” (pariyutthana). It is the level where what remained earlier as latent proclivities are now fully awake. This awakening is what we experience as the mind’s turbulence, excited feelings, or negative emotions. The third level is called “going beyond” (vitikkama). It is the level when our emotions and excited feelings externalize in the form of vocal and physical actions. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the logical sequence in the threefold scheme of mental culture and the place assigned in it to meditation with its two aspects as “calm” (samatha) and “direct seeing” (vipassana), and to show how and why “direct seeing” acts as the decisive factor in the Buddha’ path to final emancipation.
