Abstract
AbstractAn exploration of the relatively rare references to skill in means in early Buddhist texts points to a close relationship to the cultivation of mindfulness, under the overarching aim of establishing the mind in wholesome conditions and preventing the arising of what is unwholesome. At the same time, however, a particular narrative related to the Buddha’s half-brother Nanda and his struggle with sensual desire testifies to incipient tendencies for the evolution of a different conception of skill in means; in fact, to some extent this episode could even be considered an instance of proto-tantra.
Highlights
In the context of a survey of Mahāyāna ethics, Keown (1992/2001, p. 157) distinguished between two kinds of skill in means
The idea of skill in means is hardly mentioned in the early discourses, reflecting its comparatively late genesis and evolution, a closer study of the few relevant instances that can be identified may provide interesting perspectives
The relevant passage proceeds as follows: Here, monastics, a monastic is skilled in progression, is skilled in retrogression, is skilled in means, gives rise to desire for achieving wholesome states that have not been achieved, protects wholesome states that have been achieved, and accomplishes through perseverant undertaking
Summary
In the context of a survey of Mahāyāna ethics, Keown (1992/2001, p. 157) distinguished between two kinds of skill in means. Whereas the two passages surveyed above, taken from the Saṅgīti-sutta and a discourse in the Aṅguttara-nikāya, present a form of skill in means that is of universal applicability to any practitioner of mindfulness meditation, another two passages reflect more specific concerns.
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