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THE BUDDHIST DOCTRINE OF LIBERATION
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personality and leads from ignorance to knowledge. It implies awareness, vigilance, recollection, remembrance, and promotes tranquillity of mind."60
The eighth and the last limb of the Middle Way is called right concentration (samādhi). Buddhism has laid special stress on mind control and cultivation of trances. The purpose of dhyāna or samādhi is not only to bring about one-pointedness of the mind but also to purify it of all impurities. Usually four stages of concentration are taught in the Buddhist sources. 62
1. In the first stage, the meditator feels joy and happiness by
avoiding evil desires, unlawful thoughts, false ideas, fear, doubt and worries etc. Here the meditator is devoid of
perverted thoughts, wrong notions and sensual desires. 2. In the second stage one-pointedness of mind is developed by
discarding intellectual activities, the feelings of joy and good thoughts are still there and intuition is more powerful in the
second stage. 3. In the third stage equanimity, mindfulness and bliss are
retained while the feelings of joy disappear. 4. In the fourth stage of dhyāna all states of happiness, joy,
sorrow, sensation are destroyed. It is devoid of inspiration, reflection, pain, pleasure and joy etc. Here the meditator
experiences only tranquillity and equanimity. FAITH
The Pali word saddhā, Sanskrit śraddhā is often translated into English as faith. Faith has been described by the Buddha as the 'seed' of religious life. Faith in the Buddha and in His teachings is the first step in the Buddhist way of life. It is important, however, to note that Buddha had condemned blind faith in any given dogma or customary practice. Faith is an intellectual as well as emotional virtue. A person will have to verify for himself the truthfulness of Buddha's teachings; one of the cardinal tenets of Buddhism is that each one must 'see' and “know the dharma by himself. But at the initial stage one has to accept the doctrinal formulas on faith. Religious faith relating as it does to the ultimate concern, influences all the other concerns of
60. L.M. Joshi, 'Buddhist Meditation and Mysticism' in Buddhism, Punjabi
University, Patiala, 1969, p. 68. Dharmasamgraha, Section 72; Lalitavistara (ed. BST-1), p. 90.
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