The Four Postures Meditation (Iriyapatha Bawana) as Taught by the Buddha

There are four types of Posture meditation (Iriyapatha Bhavana), which are Sitting (nisinna), Standing (ṭhita), Walking (gacchanta), and Lying (sayāna). Posture meditation techniques are commonly practiced to develop Samdhi or stillness. However, the practice of Iriyapatha taught by the Buddha aims to develop insights to his profound Dhamma. What is commonly practiced today is simply walking and to switch posture between sitting down, standing or lying positions maintaining concentration and mindfulness in whatever body posture or movement you choose to contemplate on.

We need to know well how Iriypatha meditation can be practiced for e.g. walking (sakman) meditation. It is to be noted that Irriyapatha meditation was not invented by the Tathagatha but was practiced even before the Buddha's time by the practitioners or yogis who sought liberation. However, the common understanding is that it is solely a Buddhist practice whereas what they adhere to is the traditional technique that was practiced widely by all yogis. The said practices will not develop the right view or direct one to the path of liberation, the noble Eightfold Path. The Path to liberation will only be open to the one who learns and follows the technique taught by the Buddha. Today as Iriyapatha meditation we contemplate on the body movements or posture in commonly known ways as said above, in the same old traditional way that existed even before the time of the Buddha. It appears that the so-called Buddhist meditators have no faith in the teacher or what The Blessed one taught.

As said in the scripts, Bikkhu Channa, who didn't have much interest in learning dhamma when the Buddha was alive and thus was condemned for his conceit, only realised his mistake after the Buddha passed away where had to seek help from  the other monks. Those monks offered help and taught him the Dhamma explaining impermanence (anithya) and noself (anatta) of form, sensation, perception , formation and consciousness, the five aggregates of clinging, but Channa Thero told them he knew that already. Having not followed the teaching correctly all what he knew was the common knowledge of impermanence and noself that prevailed at the time, taught by many teachers. It was only when Venerable Ananda pointed out that what he knew was incorrect, Bikkhu Channa wanted to learn the Dhamma as taught by the Buddha. Impermanence and noself doctrine taught by the Buddha showed the way beyond the understanding of the seekers of liberation and their teachers at the time, and revealed the path to Nibbana. The blessed one taught the truth about existence and not the truth of the world, which are two different things. However, the Buddha had to use the same words and terms commonly known at the time to preach his Dhamma.

Buddha Dhamma is not about the truth of the state of things in the world which generally swings between the eternalist and the nihilist views. What the Tathagatha revealed was the truth of the nature of existence, its impermanent nature. Buddha Dhamma does not relate to things that exist, the standpoint that only a Noble aspirant (Arya) will have, it is the standpoint of the one who comprehended impermanence through practice, embarking on the Path. The problem today is that we aim to comprehend that without knowing or learning how to develop it. We seem to accept any practice that suits us regardless of who teaches it, ignoring the faith  (Sadda) and the teaching (Dhamma). Therefore, first we need to learn the Dhamma as taught by the Buddha with faith, before beginning to practice. Practice is paramount for realisation but mere practice alone is not the path to liberation though it is helpful in maintaining mindfulness in the world. For instance, even an uninstructed person can practice walking, as a form of meditation. It's not solely a practice of the noble aspirants. Only by learning what the Buddha taught as the noble Dhamma, one can practice it in the noble way.

Buddhist teachings (doctrine) primarily develops insight to abandon the self view ( sakkaya ditti). It is said that only the one who listen attentively, sruthawa arya srawaka, will comprehend and reap the fruits. He is called a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones, one who has regard for noble ones, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma; who has regard for men of integrity, is well-versed & disciplined in their Dhamma. He is the one who listens attentively and comprehends the Dhamma, not anyone else.

It is further said that the person needs to develop faith based on reasons and experience (akaravathi sadda) not rootless faith (amulika sadda). That state of the faith is not gained as a mere outward faith on the Buddha, heard from others for his reputation as a Noble one, but by seeing the Dhamma he has preached. Both forms of the faith should come together, primarily based on reasons and experience. If not they are only seeing the Buddha through his qualities known to the world, such as arahan sammma sambuddassa, although such faith is important to develop unmoving admiration. Buddha's quality of arahan sambuddassa is known in the world, and most of us only seem to know what even the uninstructed practitioners know with rootless faith (amulika sadda), without seeing the salient aspects of Dhamma. Nevertheless, there are those who follow the true Dhamma, having heard and listened well, embracing it to develop unified faith. 

   Simile of the Scaffolding

A person who wants to construct a house, erects a scaffolding which he uses to raise the walls and build the top part of the house. However, if that person takes that scaffolding to be the house, after he erects it? We all agree that a sensible person will not do that. 

"By way of clarification, we brought in the simile of a scaffolding for a building, that here the concepts only serve as a scaffolding for building up mindfulness and knowledge. Talking about the scaffolding, we are reminded of two different attitudes, namely, the attitude of leaning on to and dwelling in the scaffolding itself, and the enlightened attitude of merely utilising it for the purpose of erecting a building....... Probably due to the lack of understanding of this deep philosophy enshrined in the Satipatthānasutta, many sects of Buddhism took up these concepts in a spirit of dogmatic adherence. That dogmatic attitude of clinging on is like the attempt to cling on to the scaffoldings and to live on in them." 

(Bhikku Katukurunde Gnanananda : Nibbana The Mind Stilled)   

The Buddha saw the potential of the prevailing practices like Iriyapatha meditation and improved on them so one can reach the ultimate goal of Nibbana, based on what people already know. In the same manner one uses basic material to erect a scaffolding to build a house and dismantle it thereafter, the Buddha showed how the already known practice can be used to achieve the fruits of his supreme Dhamma. What we do today is to practice only to the point as it was done by uninstructed practitioners but take it as what the Buddha has taught, same as erecting a scaffolding and dwelling in that, taking it as the house. What is widely practised today is what the uninstructed practitioners do with the mistaken belief that it is what the Buddha taught, falling short of seeing the Noble Path. We must clearly recognise the common mistake we make here, it's like dwelling in a scaffolding meant to be dismantled, not the final house.

Today we practice walking meditation, sakman bhawana, and some instructors would say, watch the foot or the lifting lowering movement of the foot, or else the movement of the body. The uninstructed practitioner thinks that this is the noble practice of walking meditation. The practitioners or yogis during the Buddha's time and even before his time, did the same and they were able to develop concentration experiencing Dyanas (janas). The Buddhist teaching shows the way to attain Nibbana by gaining insights to the Dhamma through the same practice. As said the Buddha did not invent the language, words or the terms to explain his doctrine. He used what was known to the people at the time such as sakmana, iriyapatha, sampajanna etc. Buddha did not introduce new words or terms so that even the underprivileged boys such as Suneetha and Sopaka were able to understand what he said and attain Nibbana. During Buddha's time it was only the Brahmins who had access to study and develop language skills hence the Blessed one's teachings were in common man's language.

In the Buddhist teachings there are orders of Dhamma (pariyaya) that existed before the time of the Buddha and those that the Buddha preached. There are instances where other wanderers claimed that what the Gauthama Buddha thought are exactly what they knew already, as taught by their teachers, such as Bojjanga Dhamma and removing hindrances that hinder wisdom. They simply said that the Buddha spoke about what their teachers preach. However, when the Buddha's disciples reported these claims by others to the Tathagatha, he has said, if someone says that, you should explain to them that I proclaim 14 types of Bojangas as against the 7 and 10 types of hindrances that one has to remove, as against the five types they preach. 'Monks, they don't know how to explain that and they cannot teach that, only me or my disciples who have seen the noble Dhamma can explain what the others can't.' 

This refers to the two levels of practices, explained as mundane, for worldly happiness (dwelling happily here and now) and super mundane, for final deliverance. The words used have the same meaning, however, for e.g with regard to Bojjanga or Bodhi-anga, some teachers practice Bodhi-anga to maintain existence in the world (pawathma) and the others who follow the teachings practice the noble aspect of Bodhi-anga to relinquish the world or to liberate (nopawathma). Same terms but specific meaning and purpose in terms of the teaching (Dhamma), which is what we need to learn as what the Supreme one taught to cut across to the other shore.

Let's further examine Iriyapatha bhavana, sitting,as we already know refers to sitting in one position and similarly  standing , walking or laying. The script says,

"Puna caparaṁ, bhikkhave, bhikkhu gacchanto vā ‘gacchāmī’ti pajānāti, ṭhito vā ‘ṭhitomhī’ti pajānāti, nisinno vā ‘nisinnomhī’ti pajānāti, sayāno vā ‘sayānomhī’ti pajānāti. Yathā yathā vā panassa kāyo paṇihito hoti tathā tathā naṁ pajānāti".   

See the key word here, 'Pajanati', of which we misconstrue the specific meaning and take it as 'Vijanati', which relates to sense experiences i.e. seeing by the eye, hearing by the ear and so on. When we walk we know that we are making a bodily movement and when sit we know that we change our posture from that body movement to a sitting position. Note that we make these observations by how we sense through body consciousness, or from what we see by the eye, through eye consciousness. However, the Buddha has defined that consciousness (vinnana) is an 'Illusion'! If so, isn't what we have been observing through our practice is illusionary? The teaching clearly says not vijanati but pajanati.

The issue is that we practice walking meditation not as how the Buddha taught with wisdom but as we know. As said, each word has its specific meaning and we need to focus on what is said and meant in the teaching, words are used in language to communicate such specific meaning, clearly. Sanjanati or vijanati are words used in Pali language for sense experiences or perception. In this instance, what the Buddha has used is the word pajanati - knowing with wisdom. The teaching requires us to contemplate with our focus on Dukka, Samudaya, Nirodhaya & Magga which Tathagata preached as the truth. That is what is meant by pajanati. 

Now, how should we practice sakmana and iriyapata in that context? As said the Buddha's teaching is primarily to abandon the self view, for which we need to develop yoniso manasikara - wise attention, or more appropriately translated,  Radical Attention. Radical attention arises when one lands on dhamma niccana khanti which is by gaining awareness of impermanence (anitya sammassanaya) with clear comprehension. It is not by mere thinking about impermanence or not by seeing or perceiving impermanence of 'things'. It is the knowledge developed by listening to Dhamma with rapt attention. Then only one awakens the wisdom, pajanati, aligned with the knowledge of the four noble truths.

Wisdom gained thus contemplating on the movement of the body or its posture is considered as the the practice of the Aryans, conducted from the Noble standpoint. When practised from the noble standpoint there is nothing to be grasped as real. Nothing can be established as right or as something that we understand and clear, it simply awakens the nature of impermanence. If we establish something as right or as true, it is through awareness of permanence. However, when we practice as taught by the Buddha, we are directed to the path developing the Right View through awareness of impermanence (anitya sammassana). Instead, if we continue to focus on walking and simply recite, 'I am walking', its not the noble way, it is seen as mere concentration on myself and my body. Buddha Dhamma aims to awaken awareness of impermanence and develop the Right View and that is the might of the Dhamma and the Buddha's unprecedented teaching.

Based on the Dhamma Sermon by Ven Alawwe Anomadassi Thero