The Foundations of Buddhism

The Buddhist Path I8I

instrument must acquire some measure of control over such

hindrances, so the meditator intent on developing his meditation

subject must deal with these immediate defilements of the mind.

Again, at the outset of learning to play the guitar or piflno, the

beginner must very consciously think where to put each individual

finger. At the same time one must begin to pay attention to the

subtler aspects of just how one places a finger on a key or plucks

a string; one must pay attention to the subtle differences this

gives to the quality and length of a note. These two aspects of

paying attention to an object of consciousness are referred to

in Buddhist psychology as vitarka!vitakka and vicara, which can

be rendered very approximately as 'application of thought' and

'examining'; these are the first two of the five limbs of dhyana.

When these two aspects of thinking are developed in the con-

text of a particular skill we are trying to learn, a certain kind of

quickening occurs: suddenly the mind is enlivened by its facility

in the task at hand and begins to take pleasure in it; in con-

sequence it begins to feel more at ease and content. This is the

arising of the next two limbs of dhyana, joy (prztilplti) and happi-

ness (sukha ). And as the mind feels happy and content it becomes

less distracted and more absorbed in whatever it is doing. This

is the arising of the fifth limb of dhyana, namely 'one-pointedness

of the mind' ( cittaikagratalcittass' ekaggata) which is another term

for 'concentration' or 'collectedness' (samadhi) itself. In the case

of meditation practice, the mind ceases to seek out new objects

of consciousness and becomes unified, resting on one object of

consciousness without any tendency to move.

The signs and the stages of joy

The overcoming of the five hindrances and the coming into

balance of these five limbs of dhyana is, according to the later

manuals, equivalent to the mind becoming settled in 'access'

concentration, a state of mind on the threshold of dhyana.^23 The

manuals describe the stages leading to access concentration in

two different ways (see Table 5). In effect, Upatissa and Bud-

dhaghosa give an account in terms of three successive mental

images or 'signs' (nimitta) and five stages of joy (pili), while Asanga