Mindfulness and the Five Paths

Posted By Mahabodhi on Mar 29, 2024 | 0 comments

Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book…

© Mahabodhi Burton

4 minute read

This excerpt is taken from the chapter ‘Kindness front and centre‘ and follows on from Kindness and the Five Paths.

Mindfulness and the Five Paths

Throughout the Pali Canon we see mindfulness described in a number of ways; in the Satipatthana Sutta it is described as a foundation (satipatthana.) Elsewhere it is described as a spiritual faculty (satindriya,) a power (satibala,) a factor of Awakening (sati bojjangha) and a limb of the Noble Eightfold Path (samma sati.) The Five Paths essentially combine these five forms of mindfulness into one coherent path.

• Firstly, we have the Path of Accumulation: this is where we build up punja-jnana, merit and knowledge. In other words, we accumulate a basis of positive karma through practicing skilful action and developing knowledge (jnana). At this stage the monk practises the four foundations of mindfulness, the four right efforts and the four bases of success.
• Secondly, there is the Path of Preparation: this involves the monk preparing himself for the stage of Insight. The Mahayanacommentaries talk of the monk deepening his insight into emptiness and becomes more aware of the impermanent nature of existence and of the ‘faults of Samsara’. As his own plight and that of the beings around him appears more tenuous, he will gravitate towards taking refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. At this stage the monk practises mindfulness as a spiritual faculty and a power, in order to cultivate the five spiritual faculties and develop them into the five powers (a power is a spiritual faculty made unshakeable.)
• Thirdly, there is the Path of Seeing: this involves the monk gains insight, seeing clearly the nature of reality: the equivalent of stream entry in Nikaya Buddhism. At this stage the monk practises mindfulnessas a factor of Awakening.
• Fourthly, there is the Path of Practice: this involves the monk practising the transcendental Noble Eightfold Path, on the basis of that insight. At this stage the monk practises perfect mindfulness.
• Fifthly, there is the Path of No More Learning: this marks the attainment of Buddhahood.

The compilers of the Five Paths must have had good reason to structure the path in the way that they did: the Five Paths effectively:

1. Combine all of the Buddhist teachings on mindfulnessinto one coherent system
2. Reassert the importance of developing samatha (the Paths of Accumulation and Preparation) in preparation for developing vipassana(the Path of Seeing)
3. Assert that the Path of Vision (the Path of Seeing) precedes the Path of Transformation (the Path of Practice)
4. Critique the idea that mindfulness is solely concerned with bringing awareness to mental phenomena (as in, practising bare awareness), without acting on that awareness
5. Reinstate loving kindness as an indispensable component on the path
6. Balance attention to wisdom with attention to faith and devotion

Image by ady34 on Pixabay.

Combining the teachings on mindfulness into a coherent system

The Five Paths illustrate how mindfulness is brought to new objects, or groups of objects, as appropriate: whenever one problem in life is solved, a newer – and often deeper – problem will often come to the surface and present itself. For instance, when a person is wealthy (they have solved the problem of existential survival by generating enough financial security) they can often face the demon of boredom (existential boredom rises up and presents itself.)

Mindfulness – which only exists in order to solve problems – therefore needs to come to the fore in a new guise, each time there is a new problem to be solved: hence we have mindfulness appearing as a foundation; as a spiritual faculty; and so on.

The Path of Accumulation

Before we decide to take up mindfulness, we might take refuge in the ‘world of the senses,’ by looking for happiness in material possessions, in status and in sensory experience. So long as this strategy works, there is no problem. However, should it cease to work for one reason or another – say, if we are overwhelmed with stress, a chronic pain condition, or an eating disorder, then we have a problem and we might turn to mindfulness for a solution. We might enrol on a mindfulness course to help us deal with that condition. On the course we will be taught how to turn our attention inward: that instead of turning our attention away from unpleasant experiences each time they occur, that we are better advised to turn our attention towards them with kindness and curiosity; responding to them rather than reacting. We may not be conscious that we are doing so, but here we are practising the four foundations of mindfulness: we are taking the four sources of happiness / suffering that constitute the human being and are responding appropriately to them – in a way that generates happiness and not suffering for living beings, through practicing the four right efforts until they become the four bases of success.^[1] This is the Path of Accumulation (Wings of Awakening 1-12.)

The Path of Preparation

One problem that can arise on the Path of Accumulation is an imbalance in the development of the four foundations of mindfulness, because if the monk neglects any one foundation, suffering will ensue.^[2] This is remedied by the monk developing mindfulness first as a spiritual faculty and then as a power, where it oversees the cultivation of the other four spiritual faculties into powers, at which point the ‘spiritual personality’ of the monk is fully prepared to take reality on board. This is the Path of Preparation (Wings of Awakening 13-22.)

The Path of Seeing

Once the monk is completely ready to take reality on board, through having developed the five spiritual faculties into powers, mindfulness as a factor of Awakening needs to arise, because the next thing he needs to do is to fully bring mindfulness to reality in its various aspects. He investigates his experience and discriminates between those aspects of reality which are conducive to Awakening – for instance true refuges – and those which are not – false ones: he takes hold of the former and lets go of the latter. This is the Path of Seeing (Wings of Awakening 23-29.)

The Path of Practice

Once he has established insight into all aspects of reality in this way it only remains for him to continue to practice perfect mindfulness at the level of the Transcendental Noble Eightfold Path. This is the Path of Practice (Wings of Awakening 30-37.)

The fifth path is called the Path of No-More-Learning and is equivalent to Nirvana.

Image by 41330 on Pixabay.

Reasserting the need to develop samatha in preparation for vipassana

The distinction between samatha and vipassana meditation enshrines the somewhat obvious idea that before we can really see things as they really are (vipassana) we need to be in a calm, robust and emotionally positive mental state: a state that is represented by the dhyanas: seen with clarity, rather than as a spiritually material wish list. If we are not in a robust state then fully facing the truths of change, impermanence, suffering and death will, in all likelihood, shatter our composure, and as a result we won’t be able to fully take those truths in, as insight requires. This idea is opposed by the Theravada conception of dry insight, which views the dhyanas as unnecessary precursors, which raises the question of what the Theravada means by insight, if the state is not to be accompanied by a robust skilfulness. Do they mean a purely intellectual conception? And where would ethics fit with this model? This distinction is acknowledged by having the Path of Seeing follow the earlier preparatory paths.

Asserting how the Path of Vision precedes the Path of Transformation

In its Mahayana conception, the Noble Eightfold Path is divided into two: the Path of Vision – which consists of the limb of Perfect Vision; and the Path of Transformation – which consists of its remaining seven limbs. The Theravada doesn’t make this division. The fact that the Path of Seeing precedes the Path of Practice in the Five Paths expresses this view.

Critiquing mindfulness as being solely concerned with paying attention

Mindfulness is brought self-reflexively to a wide range of spiritual qualities in the Five Paths, which indicates that mindfulness is not to be seen as only concerned with paying attention to tangible experience.

The chapter goes on to explore remembering loving kindness as a central aspect of the path.

^[1] When we are practising mindfulness within a secular context we only focus on certain aspects of the four foundations of mindfulness, but we are still working at that level.

^[2] This is implicit in the Satipatthana Sutta refrain, which instructions the monk to give attention simultaneously and equally to all four foundations, not to overdo attention to any one foundation to the detriment of the others (so as not to overlook any source of happiness at the expense of another) but is explicit in the teaching of the Five Paths.