[Buddha-l] Loving your object of study

[L.S. Cousins]

Dan, Curt:

I rather incline to agree with this interpretation. The placing of 
these two discourses in adjacent position strongly suggests:
a) samatha and wisdom are alternative forms of putting the teachings 
into practice;
b) both are envisaged as legitimate and presumably therefore as 
leading to the same goal. I would take this as implying that both are 
considered as necessary.

Lance

>This seems to indicate that "what is missing" from the first four 
>monks is something that can be looked at in two different ways - 
>and/or that it is commonly thought of as two separate things. In the 
>first case the "fifth monk" does not neglect pa.tisallana 
>(seclusion/withdrawal/meditation) and he does attend to samatha.
>
>But in the second case that Dan has now drawn our attention to, the 
>"fifth monk" attends to prajna, as opposed to samatha.
>
>How should these two cases be understood together? To me it sounds 
>like confirmation of the old adage that meditation requires both 
>samatha and prajna - calmness/clarity of mind *and* the activity of 
>insight. Or, as Chih-i liked to say "stopping and seeing".
>
>Curt Steinmetz