THE Jhānas

IN Theravāda BUDDHIST MEDITATION

by Mahāthera Henepola Gunaratana

BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY P. O. Box 61 54, Sangharaja Mawatha Kandy, Sri Lanka Copyright 1988 by Henepola Gunaratana This book is an abridged version of the author’s „The Path of Serenity and Insight: An Explanation of the Buddhist Jhānas.“ Copyright 1985 by Motilal Banarsidass, New Delhi. This abridgement is published in the Wheel series by permission of the original publisher. ISBN 955-24-0035-X THE WHEEL PUBLICATION No. 351/353

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS PTS = Pali Text Society edition BBS = Burmese Buddhasāsana Samiti edition A. Anguttara Nikāya (PTS) D. Dīgha Nikāya (PTS) Dhs. Dhammasanganī (BBS) Dhs.A. Dhammasanganī Atthakathā = Atthasālini (BBS) M. Majjhima Nikāya (PTS) MA. Majjhima Nikāya Atthakathā (BBS) Miln. Milindapañha (PTS) PP. Path of Purification (translation of Visuddhimagga by Bhikkhu Nanamoli; Kandy: BPS, 1975) S. Samyutta Nikāya (PTS) SA. Samyutta Nikāya Atthakathā (BBS) ST. Samyutta Nikāya Tīkā (BBS) Vbh. Vibhanga (PTS) Vin.A. Vinaya Atthakathā (BBS) Vism. Visuddhimagga (PTS) Vism.T. Visuddhimagga Tīkā (BBS)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mahāthera Henepola Gunaratana was ordained as a Buddhist monk in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1947 and received his education at Vidyalankara College and Buddhist Missionary College, Colombo. He worked for five years as a Buddhist missionary among the Harijans (Untouchables) in India and for ten years with the Buddhist Missionary Society in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1968 he came to the United States to serve as general secretary of the Buddhist Vihara Society at the Washington Buddhist Vihara. In 1980 he was appointed president of the Society. He has received a Ph.D. from The American University and since 1973 has been Buddhist Chaplain at The American University. He is now director of the Bhāvanā Meditation Centre in West Virginia in the Shenandoah Valley, about 100 miles from Washington, D.C.