[Buddha-l] Aura and after-image

[L.S. Cousins]

Weng-Fai Wong wrote:

> Question:
>
> In the Vannupatha-jataka ("The sandy road jataka" translation by Caroline
> A.F. Rhys Davids), the second para has this statement:
>
> "But he was unable to bring forth either aura or after-image."
>
> What are the original Pali words for "aura" and "after-image"? Is this
> connected to the current buzzword "nimitta" in meditation.
>
The two words here are obhāsa and nimitta i.e. some kind of generalized 
light or a specific form. We should note that this is in the Jātaka 
commentary not in the canonical Jātaka itself.

> And on the subject of nimitta, some says "the Buddha never talked about
> nimitta as it is used today in the context of meditation, it was solely
> invented by Buddhaghosa in the Visuddhimagga". True or false.
>
It is more complicated than just 'true or false'. There are Sutta 
references to a or the nimitta of concentration or of peace. It is not 
clear whether this means the same as the later idea. In any case, it was 
certainly not invented by Buddhaghosa. It is found for example in the 
Vimuttimagga of Upatissa, a work which is almost certainly older than 
the time of Buddhaghosa. We can be reasonably certain that it was 
inherited by Buddhaghosa from the earlier Ceylon commentaries.

In fact, it is probably older than that. The canonical Abhidhamma works 
do clearly indicate that the object of jhāna is conceptual in some way.

Lance Cousins