Abstract:

The present article studies the meditative approaches to imperturbability depicted in the Āneñjasappāya-sutta and its Chinese and Tibetan parallels. By way of introduction to the main theme broached in this discourse, I briefly survey Pāli discourses relevant to the early Buddhist notion of imperturbability. Next I examine the presentation given in the Āneñjasappāya-sutta based on translated extracts from its Madhyama-āgama parallel, noting variations between these two and a Tibetan version extant in Śamathadeva’s commentary on the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya. In the concluding part of the article, I turn to the relationship between tranquillity and insight reflected in the Āneñjasappāya-sutta.

Author: Bhikkhu Anālayo