________________
Self and meditation in Indian Buddhism / 151
must however be recalled that what these Buddhists rejected, and what the Pudgalavādins accepted, was something quite different from the notion of an inactive self which we have been discussing so far. The Buddha had rejected knowledge of the inactive self as an essential step on the road to liberation, and later Buddhists reintroduced this notion, first through a back-door (as knowledge of the non-self), then in the form of the tathāgatagarbha. The notion of the pudgala was not yet important at the time of the Buddha, and may indeed not have evolved until much later, when Abhidharma systematically analysed the person and everything else there is. The rejection by these Buddhists of the pudgala should not therefore be confused with the rejection of the inactive self.
After these reflections about the self let us now turn to meditation. It has already been pointed out that in the way preached by the Buddha meditation played a central role. The most important part is constituted by the so-called Four Dhyānas, which follow a long series of preparatory exercises in which mindfulness (smrti) plays an important role. The Four Dhyānas are described as follows in the Mahasaccaka Sutra:8)
Then indeed, Aggivessana, having taken ample food, and having recovered strength, being separated from desires, separated from bad things, I reached the First Dhyana, which is accompanied by thought and reflection, bom from separation, and consists of joy and bliss, and resided (there]. ...
As a result of appeasing thought and reflection I reached the Second Dhyana, which is an inner tranquillisation, a unification of the mind, free from thought and reflection, consisting of joy and bliss that is born from concentration (samadhija), and resided (there). ...
As a result of detachment from joy, I remained indifferent, attentive and mindful. I experienced with my body the bliss which the noble ones describe (in these terms): 'indifferent, with attentiveness, residing
8) MN 1.247.
