Path, Fruition, Stream-Entry & Liberation
ภาวนาคืออะไร? ทานและศีลอย่างเดียว ก็ไม่พ้นทุกข์
Summary
Giving, precepts and bhāvanā is a familiar set in Thailand, but the third term is usually taken to mean an outward ritual.
Its actual meaning is the cultivation of mind into concentration and understanding, divided into samatha-bhāvanā and vipassanā-bhāvanā.
The way in that can be started immediately is ānāpānasati, which is what the Buddha recommends in the Canon.
Key points
Giving and precepts are the base, not the destination
They create the conditions for a workable mind but do not by themselves produce seeing.
Bhāvanā means to cultivate
It is a verb describing training, not the name of a particular ceremony.
Two branches going the same way
Samatha steadies, vipassanā sees. Both are needed and neither substitutes for the other.
It can be started now
Ānāpānasati requires no place, no equipment and no preparation.