Explanation of Dana Sila and Bhavana

Dána síla bhávaná ทาน ศีล ภาวนา
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D&aacute;na<O</O
In Pali, d&aacute;na means gift, donation, generosity. The purpose of this practice is to become detached, on one hand from possessions, from our dependence from material things, and on the other from unrefined mental impurities, such as desire, greediness, greed and jealousy. What is stressed here is not so much giving for giving, or giving for pleasing or making ourselves pleased. It is rather about getting detached, training not to depend any more on, developing beneficial actions by materially supporting the monks who work to realise and make known this teaching (gift of robes, food, medicines, lodging). It does also involve giving to those who are needy so as to minimize their suffering. One can give objects, food, care, but one can also give services, devout some of his or her time, pay some attention by listening, cultivating compassion or through a presence. Generally speaking, training into performing donations, d&aacute;na, aims at granting less interest to one's small material comfort to be more opened to his/her environment and better observing and understanding the world surrounding us.<O</O
From the viewpoint of kamma, everything revolves around our mental disposition. It is therefore the quality of a state of mind impelling us in donating that will determine the kind of kamma being developed. That is why it is essential to practice d&aacute;na with mindfulness, without meanness, by marking carefully our gesture, and also while facing situations when it is difficult to do it. The outcome of gift (donation) being not to possess anything, thus, dedicating oneself to the path of detachment and helping others to also reach it. Supreme gift being the gift (donation) of the dhamma, is termed in Pali language as dhammad&aacute;na.<O</O
Here is therefore the first element leading to the liberation from dukkha.<O</O


s&iacute;la<O</O
The second, s&iacute;la, is behaviour, morality, virtue. What is meant here is to develop a proper behaviour, to train to acquire and to maintain a clean way to dress oneself, to remain honest while facing all kinds of situations. This is very essential so as to develop wisdom. Right conduct is the very foundation of the path leading to liberation. We can't expect to go one step further on this path if s&iacute;la is being neglected. The one who is only preoccupied to observe a virtuous behaviour will naturally develop a certain concentration, a certain attention and a certain serenity. The day when he will begin a training into the satipa††h&aacute;na, he won't have to overcome major hindrances and will very quickly tune with the right spirit.<O</O
We are very lucky, as to easily observe a right conduct, aiming at developing a good s&iacute;la, Buddha drew us tracks that we just have to follow.<O</O
Some of these tracks are faster than others, but they all serve the purpose of liberation. The basic track, those are the five precepts. It is about refraining from killing, stealing, having illegal sexual practices, lying and consuming intoxicants. It can seem little, but those who succeed in keeping these five precepts benefit with exceedingly precious benefactions.<O</O
Among others, they are assured (insured) not to be reborn in lower spheres of existence during the next rebirth, they are protected from big dangers and have already covered up half of the path on to liberation from dukkha! By following these rules, the positive factors being developed from the viewpoint of kamma are tremendous, and the beneficial influence being exercised on the circle of acquaintances pertains to the same range of intensity. Let us imagine a country where the whole population would respect the life of other beings, would not steal, remain faithfully committed to their relations, would not tell lies and would not consume drugs or alcohol either. Needless to make comments.<O</O
Still, there is another and slightly faster track, in the shape of eight precepts: To respect life, not to steal, to avoid sexual pleasure, not to lie, not to consume any intoxicants, not to eat after noon, not to allow oneself to go after entertainment, not to use perfumes, not to adorn oneself with jewels, not to enjoy anything with in mind the pleasure given by the aesthetics and luxurious or comfortable furniture. Whether we deal with five or eight precepts, it is extremely fine to undertake a training in them, even if it is done sometimes only. One can also undertake such a training step by step, by observing only some of them for example, for later on possibly integrating the others one by one, at the right moment. It is in all cases inadvisable to painfully force oneself to follow one or the other of these rules, it could thus not be of any benefits. To a bigger extent, one should never force someone else to follow one or the other of these precepts. However, it is always positive to show up the advantages of such a step, but as to the observance of these rules or its absence, every person should do according to his own wishes.<O</O
Naturally, each is free then, to improve the s&iacute;la by working on the numerous points that are not included in the precepts which are likely to complete them. It will take place by watching one's behaviour, by refraining from pointless things, or by avoiding actions likely to promote greediness or desire.<O</O
For the other tracks, we find the behaviour of the nuns, which come into the shape of the observance of eight rules, to which are added a dozen additional points. Then, there is the one of the novices (s&aacute;maneras) who observe ten precepts, (we in fact deal with eight precepts, among which the seventh splits into two, which amount to nine, to which we add a tenth:<O</O
not to touch or to possess money. Beside these ten rules, the novices are supposed to respect more than a hundred disciplinary points, seventy-five of them taking also part into the code of discipline of the monks. Finally, we deal with monks' (bhikkhus) behaviour.<O</O
Precisely, the perfection of the s&iacute;la is completely codified in the vinaya, which all the monks have to respect, except 13 ascetic practices, which, although optional, are largely suitable to the cultivation of detachment.<O</O
What we call p&aacute;timokkha is the set of the 227 main rules of the vinaya, which naturally comprises ten rules. A layman could very well cope with the p&aacute;timokkha, but if he succeeds in adopting such a behaviour, it will mean that he already became a monk. In that case, it would be completely absurd on his side not to be ordained, because as each of us knows, it is above all the behaviour that makes the monk and not otherwise. We could also say that what makes the monk is the understanding of reality, wisdom and the realisations. Always, the main point lies in that without s&iacute;la, it is vain to expect to develop any of these elements.<O</O
At the time of Buddha, the first monks who joined the sa&micro;gha had a blameless behaviour, their s&iacute;la was pure. The p&aacute;timokkha did not exist, its observance was unneeded. But as soon as less virtuous individuals entered the sa&micro;gha and started to perform less praiseworthy actions, did Buddha establish such rules as a consequence. So, the points of the p&aacute;timokkha deal with the carelessness/heedlessness that lead us astray from the right path, the one of liberation.<O</O
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bh&aacute;van&aacute;
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Once d&aacute;na and s&iacute;la have been firmly established, there is nothing else that ought to be done save training in bh&aacute;van&aacute;, until the end. bh&aacute;van&aacute; means " development of the concentration ". There are two types of concentrations:<O</O
The samatha sam&aacute;dhi and the khašika sam&aacute;dhi (sam&aacute;dhi meaning " Transparency of the mind caused by a deep concentration ")<O</O


samatha
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The samatha sam&aacute;dhi is the result of a continuous concentration focused on a single object. It is a difficult exercise that requires a powerful determination and a complete silence. This consideration can cause ecstatic sensations and a few casual experiences that could be described as sensations of luminosity, thoughtlessness and remarkable serenity. When it bears its beneficial fruits, it can cause the yog&iacute; to experience one or several jh&aacute;nas, which are mental realisations of pure concentration, where physical phenomena do no longer appear, according to the degree of refinement of such realisations. In the highest stage, psychic powers can develop but it seems that, in today's world, there are no more beings able to reach them.<O</O
For all these reasons, these practices do world wide enjoy a popularity among large numbers of followers, via variegated religious schools. Nevertheless, not only jh&aacute;nas are lost as soon as the training and absorption into them is interrupted, but moreover, they do not enable us to develop wisdom and do not lead us at all to the definitive cessation of the suffering.<O</O


khašika<O</O
On the contrary, the khašika sam&aacute;dhi allows to acquire the right knowledge of reality. Thus, it does beget, as a consequence, the development of wisdom. This kind of concentration becomes established by a focusing of the attention on the physical and mental phenomena that are being perceived, whatever they are. It is about a concentration with rehearsal, which deepens owing to the uninterrupted succession of the moments of sustenance of the attention on phenomena.<O</O
The training lying in developing the khašika sam&aacute;dhi is called the satipa††h&aacute;na. In the satipa††h&aacute;na, we are in direct and permanent contact with reality. While during the training into samatha, we turn our mental concentration to a unique object of focusing, to the far extent that it is a mere mental fabrication. To know reality, there is nothing else that ought to be done except observing it.<O</O
It is as simple as that! It is so simple, so basic, so stupid, that nobody had thought of it before Buddha. This latter teaches us that not only that satipa††h&aacute;na is much less difficult to develop that samatha, but that it is the only one that can lead us to nibb&aacute;na, the cessation of all sufferings. Furthermore, it is not absolutely necessary to develop samatha so as to begin this training into satipa††h&aacute;na, or even to experience nibb&aacute;na. On the contrary, in most of cases, an experience of samatha turns out to be a big obstacle in the satipa††h&aacute;na.<O</O
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Internal vision<O</O

Training
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Training into satipa††h&aacute;na, consists as its name defined it, in turning one's attention, to physical and mental phenomena; that is to say on the taste, olfactory, mental, tactile, auditory, visual sensations that we do perceive. As soon as attention is turned to the object of one of these sensations, a direct knowledge of reality does take place, this latter is simply known for the way it really is. At this stage, we could call it " internal vision "or "insight", which is termed vipassan&aacute;.in Pali language.<O></O>
As to the one who did not yet train a lot in satipa††h&aacute;na or who just begins, this training can seem boring, painful, even difficult. It is worth knowing that, indeed, whatever the level of development might be, satipa††h&aacute;na is always easy. The only thing that is difficult, these are the numerous pointless efforts that one tends to do when one is a novice in that practice. Even though the mind cannot refrain from considering all the discomforts undergone during this training as taking parts in vipassan&aacute;, it is necessary indeed to well understand that it is not vipassan&aacute; at all. vipassan&aacute; is the consequence of turning in a vivid manner the attention on an object (physical or mental). Only the slightest effort must be supplied that is to say, right effort, so that this application of the attention can be made. There is no smaller effort to be done, when we are mindful. All the difficulty lies in minimizing these pointless and plaguing efforts that the mind is so much used to produce. These pointless efforts simply lie in that our habit is not to let naturally flow all this stream of thoughts and mental wanderings, which fuse in excitement, or being mindful of what does occur within our mind. This way, called satipa††h&aacute;na, is a real rehabilitation of the mind.<O</O
To reach nibb&aacute;na, the final experience of this training, it is advisable to patiently train into satipa††h&aacute;na, by abandoning, for all the time being required, all other activities. It is aimed at allowing a more and more frequent rehearsal and moving closer to the moments of vipassan&aacute;. Due to the progressive development of concentration (khašika sam&aacute;dhi), these moments of internal vision will become numerous and deep, so that will be experienced a feeling of continuous concentration. From this step onward, satipa††h&aacute;na will become much steadier and will continue almost naturally, useless efforts having been considerably reduced. Any person who trains for it seriously, by respecting the instructions that are given to him (according to the dhamma teachings) and by dropping all other physical or mental activities, ended in some weeks (at the most) in such a stage of concentration.<O</O
This being clearly expressed, it is always necessary to pay attention to possible comfortable sensations met during certain stages of satipa††h&aacute;na, because we easily tend to mistake them with permanent objects of the training, whereas they are mere consequences of concentration. They do not have anything to do with knowledge, either by means of eradication of impurities, or with wisdom, even though they often lead to very deep philosophical reflections. As soon as one becomes attached to them, he does make no further progress.<O</O
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