{{short description|Type of Buddhist meditation and objects used in such meditation}} {{For|the Kammaṭṭhāna Forest Tradition|Thai Forest Tradition}} {{TheravadaBuddhism|Traditions}} {{Buddhism}}
In Buddhism, '''{{IAST|kammaṭṭhāna}}''' ({{langx|pi|𑀓𑀫𑁆𑀫𑀝𑁆𑀞𑀸𑀦}}, {{langx|sa|𑀓𑀭𑁆𑀫𑀲𑁆𑀣𑀸𑀦|karmasthāna}}) literally means ''place of work''. Its original meaning was someone's occupation (farming, trading, cattle-tending, etc.) but this meaning has developed into several distinct but related usages all having to do with Buddhist meditation.
== Etymology and meanings == Its most basic meaning is as a word for meditation, with meditation being the main occupation of Buddhist monks. In Burma, senior meditation practitioners are known as "kammatthanacariyas" (meditation masters). The Thai Forest Tradition names itself ''Kammaṭṭhāna Forest tradition'' in reference to their practice of meditating in the forests.
In the Pali literature, prior to the post-canonical Pali commentaries, the term ''{{IAST|kammaṭṭhāna}}'' comes up in only a handful of discourses and then in the context of "work" or "trade."{{efn|name=fn1}}
Buddhaghosa uses ''kammatthana'' to refer to each of his forty meditation objects listed in the third chapter of the ''Visuddhimagga'', which are partially derived from the Pāli Canon. In this sense ''kammatthana'' can be understood as "occupations" in the sense of "things to occupy the mind", or as "workplaces" in the sense of "places to focus the mind on during the work of meditation". Throughout his translation of the ''Visuddhimagga'', Ñāṇamoli translates this term simply as "'''meditation subject'''".<ref>Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), pp. 90–91 (II, 27–28, "Development in Brief"), 110ff. (starting with III, 104, "enumeration"). It can also be found sprinkled earlier in this text as on p. 18 (I, 39, v. 2) and p. 39 (I, 107).</ref>
== Buddhaghosa's forty meditation subjects == ===Kasiṇas as kammaṭṭhāna=== ''Kasina'' ({{langx|pi|𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦|kasina|a whole|links=no}}, {{langx|sa|𑀓𑀾𑀢𑁆𑀲𑁆𑀦|kṛtsna|links=no}}) refers to a class of basic visual objects of meditation used in Theravada Buddhism. The objects are described in the Pali Canon and summarized in the famous ''Visuddhimagga'' meditation treatise as ''kammaṭṭhāna'' on which to focus the mind whenever attention drifts.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nV8sDgAAQBAJ|title=Secrets of Meditation Revised Edition|last=Davidji|date=2017-03-07|publisher=Hay House, Inc|isbn=978-1-4019-5411-6|language=en}}</ref> ''Kasina'' meditation is one of the most common types of samatha-vipassana, intended to settle the mind of the practitioner and create a foundation for further practices of meditation. This is similar to the yogic practice of Trāṭaka.
The ''Visuddhimagga'' concerns kasina meditation.<ref name="Thanissaro">Bhikkhu Thanissaro, [http://www.dhammatalks.net/Books/Bhikkhu_Thanissaro_Jhanas_Concentration_Wisdom.htm ''Concentration and Discernment''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190528103540/http://dhammatalks.net/Books/Bhikkhu_Thanissaro_Jhanas_Concentration_Wisdom.htm |date=2019-05-28 }}</ref> According to American scholar-monk Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, "the text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the mold."<ref name="Thanissaro"/> He argues that by emphasizing kasina meditation, the ''Visuddhimagga'' departs from the focus on ''jhāna'' in the Pali Canon. Thanissaro Bhikkhu states this indicates that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon."<ref name="Thanissaro"/>
Although practice with kasiṇas is associated with the Theravāda tradition, it appears to have been more widely known among various Buddhist schools in India at one time. Asanga makes reference to kasiṇas in the ''Samāhitabhūmi'' section of his ''Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra''.<ref>''Buddhist Insight: Essays by Alex Wayman''. Motilal Banarsidass: 1984 {{ISBN|0-89581-041-7}} pg 76</ref> Uppalavannā, one of the Buddha's chief female disciples, famously attained arahantship using a fire (''tejo'') kasina as her object of meditation.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXN2AAAAQBAJ|title=The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism|last1=Buswell|first1=Robert E. Jr.|last2=Lopez|first2=Donald S. Jr.|date=2013-11-24|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-4805-8|page=945|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.bhikkhuni.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Transformations-of-Arahant-Theri-Uppalavanna1.pdf|title=The Amazing Transformations of Arahant Theri Uppalavanna|last=Therī|first=Tathālokā|website=bhikkhuni.et|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017105311/http://www.bhikkhuni.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Transformations-of-Arahant-Theri-Uppalavanna1.pdf|archive-date=2015-10-17|access-date=2019-09-26}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/English-Texts/Foremost-Elder-Nuns/03-Uppalavanna.htm#toc9|title=03. The Story about the Elder Nun Uppalavanna|website=www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728084153/http://www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net/English-Texts/Foremost-Elder-Nuns/03-Uppalavanna.htm#toc9|archive-date=2017-07-28|access-date=2019-08-27}}</ref>
Of the forty objects meditated upon as kammaṭṭhāna, the first ten are kasina described as 'things one can behold directly'. These are described in the ''Visuddhimagga'', and also mentioned in the Pali Tipitaka.<ref>A.v.36, A.v.46-60, M.ii.14; D.iii.268, 290; Nett.89, 112; Dhs.202; Ps.i.6, 95</ref> They are: # earth ({{lang|pi|𑀧𑀞𑀯𑀻 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; Pali: ''paṭhavī kasina'', Sanskrit: ''pṛthivī kṛtsna'') # water ({{lang|pi|𑀆𑀧𑁄 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''āpo kasiṇa'', ''ap kṛtsna'') # fire ({{lang|pi|𑀢𑁂𑀚𑁄 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''tejo kasiṇa'', ''tejas kṛtsna'') # air/wind ({{lang|pi|𑀯𑀸𑀬𑁄 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''vāyo kasiṇa'', ''vāyu kṛtsna'') # blue ({{lang|pi|𑀦𑀻𑀮 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''nīla kasiṇa'', ''nīla kṛtsna'') # yellow {{lang|pi|𑀧𑀻𑀢 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''pīta kasiṇa'', ''pīta kṛtsna'') # red ({{lang|pi|𑀮𑁄𑀳𑀺𑀢 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''lohita kasiṇa'', ''lohita kṛtsna'') # white ({{lang|pi|𑀑𑀤𑀸𑀢 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''odāta kasiṇa'', ''avadāta kṛtsna'') # enclosed space, hole, aperture ({{lang|pi|𑀆𑀓𑀸𑀲 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''ākāsa kasiṇa'', ''ākāśa kṛtsna'') # consciousness ({{lang|pi|𑀯𑀺𑀜𑁆𑀜𑀸𑀡 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''viññāṇa kasiṇa'', ''vijñāna kṛtsna'') in the Pali suttas and some other texts; the bright light (of the luminous mind) ({{lang|pi|𑀆𑀮𑁄𑀓 𑀓𑀲𑀺𑀦}}; ''āloka kasiṇa'') according to later sources such as Buddhaghosa's ''Visuddhimagga''.
The kasinas are typically described as a coloured disk, with the particular colour, properties, dimensions and medium often specified according to the type of kasina. The earth kasina, for instance, is a disk in a red-brown color formed by spreading earth or clay (or another medium producing similar color and texture) on a screen of canvas or another backing material.
=== ''Asubha'' === [[File:Asubha_Body_Contemplation.png|thumb|upright=2|right|alt=Asubha Contemplation Illustration|Illustration of the first two ''asubha'' contemplations: bloated corpse and discolored, bluish corpse. From an early 20th century manuscript found in Chaiya District, Surat Thani Province, Thailand<ref>from [http://zugangzureinsicht.org/html/lib/authors/buddhadasa/dhammawithpictures_en.html Teaching Dhamma by pictures: Explanation of a Siamese Traditional Buddhist Manuscript]</ref>]] {{further|Asubha|Nine stages of decay}} The next ten are the impure objects (''asubha''):{{efn|The classification of ''asubha'' here is based on the classification of ''kammaṭṭhāna'' as found in the treatise Visuddhimagga. Within the system of 40 ''kammaṭṭhāna'', the 10 ''asubha'' (corpse objects) constitute a post-canonical codification that compiles 10 corpse terms from 10 separate ''sutta''s in the Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 46.57 to SN 46.66). This system is textually distinct from the term ''asubhasaññā'' in the Aṅguttara Nikāya—where AN 10.56 lists it as one of ten general perceptions and AN 10.60 defines it as the contemplation of the body's ugly anatomical parts (''asubhānupassī'')—as well as from the category of the Nine Stages of Corpse Decay (''Nava-Sīvathikā'') in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta.}} # a swollen corpse # a discolored, bluish, corpse # a festering corpse # a fissured corpse # a gnawed corpse # a dismembered corpse # a hacked and scattered corpse # a bleeding corpse # a worm-eaten corpse # a skeleton
=== ''Anussati'' === {{main|Anussati}} The next ten are recollections (''anussati''): # First three recollections are of the virtues of the Three Jewels: ## Buddha ## Dhamma ## Sangha # Next three are recollections of the virtues of: ## morality (''sīla'') ## generosity/relinquishment (''cāga'') ## the skillful qualities of Devas (''devatā'') # The additional four recollections of: ## the body (''kāya''), which technically focuses on the 'contemplation of repulsiveness' (''paṭikkūlamanasikāra'') regarding the thirty-two anatomical parts of the living body ## death (see Upajjhatthana Sutta) ## the breath (''pāṇa'') or breathing (''ānāpāna'') ## peace (see ''Nibbana'')
=== ''Brahma-vihārā'' === {{main|Brahma-vihara}} Four are 'divine abidings', which are the virtues of the "Brahma realm" (Pāli: ''Brahmaloka''): # unconditional kindness and goodwill (''mettā'') # compassion (''karuna'') # sympathetic joy over another's success (''mudita'') # evenmindedness, equanimity (''upekkha'')
===''Āyatana''=== Four are formless states (four ''arūpa-āyatana''): # infinite space (Pāḷi ''ākāsānañcāyatana'', Skt. ''ākāśānantyāyatana'') # infinite consciousness (Pāḷi ''viññāṇañcāyatana'', Skt. ''vijñānānantyāyatana'') # infinite nothingness (Pāḷi ''ākiñcaññāyatana'', Skt. ''ākiṃcanyāyatana'') # neither perception nor non-perception (Pāḷi ''nevasaññānāsaññāyatana'', Skt. ''naivasaṃjñānāsaṃjñāyatana'')
===Others=== Of the remaining five, one is of perception of disgust of food (''aharepatikulasanna'') and the last four are the 'four great elements' (''catudhatuvavatthana''): earth (''pathavi''), water (''apo''), fire (''tejo''), air (''vayo'').
== Meditation subjects and the four ''jhāna''s == {{JhanaFactors}}
According to Gunaratana, following Buddhaghosa, due to the simplicity of subject matter, all four ''jhanas'' can be induced through ''ānāpānasati'' (mindfulness of breathing) and the ten ''kasinas''.<ref name="Gunaratana 1988">[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html Gunaratana (1988)].</ref>
According to Gunaratana, the following meditation subjects only lead to "access concentration" (''upacara samadhi''), due to their complexity: the recollection of the Buddha, dharma, sangha, morality, liberality, wholesome attributes of Devas, death, and peace; the perception of disgust of food; and the analysis of the four elements.<ref name="Gunaratana 1988"/>
Absorption in the first ''jhana'' can be realized by mindfulness on the ten kinds of foulness and mindfulness of the body. However, these meditations cannot go beyond the first jhana due to their involving applied thought (''vitaka''), which is absent from the higher jhanas.<ref name="Gunaratana 1988"/>
Absorption in the first three ''jhanas'' can be realized by contemplating the first three ''brahma-viharas''. However, these meditations cannot aid in attaining the fourth jhana due to the pleasant feelings associated with them. Conversely, once the fourth jhana is induced, the fourth ''brahma-vihara'' (equanimity) arises.<ref name="Gunaratana 1988"/>
== Meditation subjects and temperaments == Each kammatthana can be suggested, especially by a spiritual friend (''{{IAST|kalyāṇa-mitta}}''), to a certain individual student at some specific point, by assessing what would be best for that student's temperament and the present state of his or her mind.<ref>See, e.g., Buddhaghosa & Nanamoli (1999), p. 90, which states: "He should approach the good friend, the giver of a meditation subject, and he should apprehend from among the forty meditation subjects one that suits his own temperament."</ref>
All of the aforementioned meditation subjects can suppress the Five Hindrances, thus allowing one to fruitfully pursue wisdom. In addition, anyone can productively apply specific meditation subjects as antidotes, such as meditating on foulness to counteract lust or on the breath to abandon discursive thought.
The Pali commentaries further provide guidelines for suggesting meditation subjects based on one's general temperament: * '''Greedy:''' the ten foulness meditations; or, body contemplation. * '''Hating:''' the four ''brahma-viharas''; or, the four color ''kasinas''. * '''Deluded:''' mindfulness of breath. * '''Faithful:''' the first six recollections. * '''Intelligent:''' recollection of marana or Nibbana; the perception of disgust of food; or, the analysis of the four elements. * '''Speculative:''' mindfulness of breath.
The six non-color ''kasinas'' and the four formless states are suitable for all temperaments.<ref name="Gunaratana 1988"/>
==Supernormal abilities== The ''Visuddhimagga'' is one of the extremely rare texts within the enormous literature of Buddhism to give explicit details about how spiritual masters are thought to actually manifest supernormal abilities.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last1=Jacobsen|editor-first1=Knut A.|title=Yoga Powers|date=2011|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-21214-5|page=93}}</ref> Abilities such as flying through the air, walking through solid obstructions, diving into the ground, walking on water and so forth are performed by changing one element, such as earth, into another element, such as air.<ref name="Yoga Powers">{{cite book|editor-last1=Jacobsen|editor-first1=Knut A.|title=Yoga Powers|date=2011|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-21214-5|pages=83–86}}</ref> The individual must master ''kasina'' meditation before this is possible.<ref name="Yoga Powers"/> Dipa Ma, who trained via the ''Visuddhimagga'', was said to demonstrate these abilities.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Schmidt|first1=Amy|title=Dipa Ma|date=2005|publisher=Windhorse Publications Ltd|page=Chapter 9 "At Home in Strange Realms"}}</ref>
== See also == {{Thai Forest Tradition}} * Anussati * Upajjhatthana Sutta (Five Remembrances) * Ānāpānasati Sutta (Contemplation of the breath) * Kāyagatāsati Sutta (Contemplation of the body) * Patikkulamanasikara * Gradual training (Patipatti) * Buddhist meditation * Jhana in Theravada * Anapanasati * Samatha * Vipassanā
== Notes == {{notelist|refs= {{efn|name=fn1|For instance, in the first three nikayas, the term is found only in the ''Subha Sutta'' (MN 99), although there it is found 22 times. In this discourse, it is contextualized, for instance, in this question to the Buddha by the Brahmin Subha: :"Master Gotama, the brahmins say this: 'Since the work of the household life [Pali: ''{{IAST|gharāvāsa-kammaṭṭhāna}}''] involves a great deal of activity, great functions, great engagements, and great undertakings, it is of great fruit. Since the work of those gone forth [Pali: ''{{IAST|pabbajjā-kammaṭṭhāna}}''] involves a small amount of activity, small functions, small engagements, and small undertakings, it is of small fruit.' What does Master Gotama say about this?"<ref>{{IAST|Ñāṇamoli}} & Bodhi, 2001, p. 809; the square-bracketed Pali is from Bodhgaya News' searchable Tipitaka database at [http://bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=3693].</ref>
Similarly, in the famed Dighajanu Sutta (AN 8.54): :"And what does it mean to be consummate in initiative? There is the case where a lay person, by whatever occupation he makes his living [Pali: ''{{IAST|yena kammaṭṭhānena jīvikaṃ kappeti}}''] — whether by farming or trading or cattle tending or archery or as a king's man or by any other craft — is clever and untiring at it, endowed with discrimination in its techniques, enough to arrange and carry it out. This is called being consummate in initiative."<ref>[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an08/an08.054.than.html Thanissaro, 1995]; the square-bracketed Pali is from Bodhgaya News' searchable Tipitaka database at [http://bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=sutta%20pitaka&action=next&record=6649].</ref>
An identical phrasing can be found in the very next discourse, the Ujjaya Sutta (AN 8.55),<ref>http://bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=sutta%20pitaka&action=next&record=6653 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> and in the Dutiya Sampadā Sutta (AN 8.76)<ref>http://bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=6689 {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> A last canonical use of this term can be found in the Sakya Sutta (AN 10.46): :"What do you think, Sakyans. Suppose a man, by some profession or other [Pali: ''yena kenaci kammaṭṭhānena''], without encountering an unskillful day, were to earn a half-kahapana. Would he deserve to be called a capable man, full of initiative?"<ref>[http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.046.than.html Thanissaro, 2000]; the square-bracketed Pali is from Bodhgaya News' searchable Tipitaka database starting at [http://bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=6888].</ref>}} }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
== Further reading == {{refbegin}} * Buddhaghosa, Bhadantacariya & Bhikkhu Nanamoli (trans.) (1999), ''The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga''. Seattle: BPS Pariyatti Editions. {{ISBN|1-928706-00-2}}. * Gunaratana, Henepola (1988). ''The Jhanas in Theravada Buddhist Meditation'' (Wheel No. 351/353). Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society. {{ISBN|955-24-0035-X}}. Retrieved from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/gunaratana/wheel351.html. * {{IAST|Ñāṇamoli}}, Bhikkhu (trans.) & Bodhi, Bhikkhu (ed.) (2001). ''The Middle-Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya''. Boston: Wisdom Publications. {{ISBN|0-86171-072-X}}. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1995), ''Dighajanu (Vyagghapajja) Sutta: To Dighajanu'' (AN 8.54). Retrieved 6 Apr. 2010 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an08/an08.054.than.html. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (2000), ''Sakka Sutta: To the Sakyans (on the Uposatha) '' (AN 10.46). Retrieved 6 Apr. 2010 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an10/an10.046.than.html. {{refend}}
== External links == * [http://www.myanmarnet.net/nibbana/tinhtut.htm In search of a teacher] by Dr. Tin Htut * [http://www.myanmarnet.net/nibbana/uttama2a.htm Samatha and vipassana] by Sayadaw U Uttamasara * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070210123628/http://nibbanam.com/nibbana_guide_en.htm Reaching Nibbana through insight] a guide by Ven. K. Nyanananda *[http://www.buddhanet.net/filelib/medbud/40meds.zip The Forty Meditation Objects: Who Should Use Which?] by Karen Andrews *[https://web.archive.org/web/20110709020135/http://www.dharmathai.com/buddhism-blog/?cat=173 Dharmathai Kammathana Blog] Chinawangso Bhikkhu *[https://web.archive.org/web/20031230220324/http://www.birken.ca/texts/Kasina_final.html "Colour-Kasiṇa Meditation,"] by Thitapu Bhikkhu, includes instructions for use and construction of the ''kasiṇa'' object. Via Archive.org. *[http://www.greatwesternvehicle.org/kasina.htm "Kasiṇa: The use of a Visual Meditation Object" (2004)], by Sotapanna Jhanananda (Jeffrey S. Brooks), describes the context for ''kasiṇa'' objects in the pursuit of Nibbana and discusses the color of an "earth" ''kasiṇa''. *[https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:431.pali "Kasiṇa(2),"]{{Dead link|date=March 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} PTS Pali-English Dictionary entry, includes Tipitaka references and related terms. *[https://kasina.app/ Kasina.app]
{{Buddhism topics}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kammatthana}} Category:Buddhist meditation Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts Category:Pali words and phrases