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Attention as a means of self‐dissolution and reformation
Author(s) -
Carpenter Amber D.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ratio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-9329
pISSN - 0034-0006
DOI - 10.1111/rati.12215
Subject(s) - meditation , transformative learning , gautama buddha , buddhism , action (physics) , epistemology , aesthetics , object (grammar) , psychology , existentialism , self , sociology , social psychology , philosophy , pedagogy , theology , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics
Buddhist ethics generally favour attention over action, and mental cultivation as the means of ethical transformation. Buddhaghosa’s treatment of samādhi – meditation – in the Path of Purification ( Visuddhimagga ) exemplifies this view that practices of attention are morally transforming. His detailed discussion of which forms of attentional exercises are transformative to whom reveal that edifying attention is directed to impersonal reality rather than persons – even when the Buddha is our object of attention. In successful meditation, we do not just recognise reality and ourselves as devoid of essence; we experience it as such – and in the experiencing, become so ourselves.