In the seen there is only mere seen: an analysis of the meditation instructions in Māluṅkyaputta Sutta

Abstract

There are three discourses in Pāli Nikāya which record important encounters between Ven. Māluṅkyaputta and the Buddha. Of which the Māluṅkyaputta sutta in Saṃyutta Nikāya (S IV 72) narrates how the Buddha offers Ven. Māluṅkyaputta a brief yet powerful meditation injunction that eventually leads him to irrevocable liberation. This rather succinct teaching: ‘In the seen, heard and cognized there are only mere seen, heard and cognized’ becomes a subject of much interest and debate in today’s meditation community. Recently it was used to support the legitimacy for the practice of bare awareness in the popular culture of mindfulness practice. This paper seeks to throw light on the meditation instructions received by Ven. Māluṅkyaputta, with special focus on the aspects relating to the cultivation of liberating insight. How the above instruction is conceived and practiced in two influential meditation lineages in Myanmar, i.e. the Māhasi and Pa-Auk traditions, will also be discussed.