Anālayo 스님의 'sampajāna'에 대한 글입니다.(영문입니다)

[아위자]

ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF BUDDHISM, VOL.7, the Department of Buddhist Affairs, Ministry of Religious Affairs, SriLanka, 2007.

SAMPAJÑÑA(sampajāna)

Anālayo 스님

SAMPAJÑÑA and the equivalent adjective sampajāna represent the mental quality of ‘clear comprehension’. Such clear comprehension has a prominent role to fulfil in the context of the development of mindfulness, where it is specifically directed to a range of bodily activities. These bodily activities range from looking ahead and away or flexing and extending one's limbs to eating and drinking, defecating and urinating. They also include such everyday activities as walking, standing, sitting, fatting asleep, waking up, talking and keeping silent.

To develop clear comprehension in regard to these bodily activities constitutes one of the body contemplations described in the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta(M. Ⅰ, 57), and at the same time also forms a step in the gradual path of training(e.g. D. Ⅰ, 70), referred to as ‘mindfulness and clear comprehension’(satisampajañña). In the sequence of this gradual path of training, mindfulness and clear comprehension complete the preliminary stages concerned with ethical conduct, restraint and contentment, and form the starting point for the formal practice of meditation, when one resorts to a secluded place to overcome the hindrances, develop the absorptions and gain realisation. This indicates that to develop clear comprehension of one's bodily activities serves as a foundation for formal meditation practice.

The implications of ‘clear comprehension’ in regard to the activities mentioned find an explanation in the commentary to the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta(MA. Ⅰ, 253-261). According to this explanation, clear comprehension should be directed to the purpose(sātthaka-sampajañña) of an activity and also to its suitability(sappāya-sampajañña). Moreover one should clearly understand how to relate this activity to one's meditation practice(one's 'pasture', gocara-sampajañña) and one should develop ‘non-delusion’(asammoha-sampajañña) by clearly understanding the true nature of reality.

In the context of the development of satipaṭṭhāna, clear comprehension is however not restricted to bodily activities only. The same quality of clearly comprehending(sampajāna) recurs in the introductory part of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta(M. Ⅰ, 56), where it comes together with other central requirements for contemplation such as the need to be diligent(ātāpī) and mindful(sati), together with overcoming desires and dejection in regard to the world(vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassa). The same presence of comprehension during mindfulness meditation also underlies the expression‎ ‘he knows’(pajānāti), which recurs frequently in the description of the satipaṭṭhāna contemplations.

A clearer picture of the implications of clear comprehension in this more general context can be gained with the help of a brief survey of some occurrences of the same term in other discourses. A discourse found in the Dīgha Nikāya uses the expression‎ clearly comprehending(sampajāna) in relation to consciously experiencing one's own life as an embryo in a womb, including the event of being born(D. Ⅲ, 103). In the Majjhima Nikāya, clearly comprehending represents the presence of deliberateness when someone ‘deliberately’ speaks a falsehood(M. Ⅰ, 286: sampajānamusā) A passage from the Saṃyutta Nikāya employs clear comprehensions to refer to awareness of the impermanent nature of feelings and thoughts(S. V, 180). A discourse in the Aṅguttara Nikāya recommends clear comprehension for overcoming unwholesomeness and establishing wholesomeness(A. Ⅰ, 13). Finally the Itivuttaka relates clearly knowing to following the advice of a good friend(It. 10).

A common denominator suggested by these selected examples from the five Nikāya-s is the ability to fully grasp or comprehend what is taking place. Such clear comprehension can in turn lead to the development of wisdom(paññā). According to the Pāli Abhidhamma, clear comprehension does in fact already stand for the presence of wisdom(Dhs. 16 and Vbh. 250). Considered from an etymological viewpoint, this suggestion is convincing, since paññā and (sam-)pajañña are closely related. A close examination of the above quoted examples suggest however that clear comprehension does not necessarily imply the presence of wisdom. When one utters a falsehood, for example, one may clearly know one's speech to be a lie, but one does not speak the falsehood ‘with wisdom’. Similarly, while it is remarkable enough to be clearly aware of one's embryonic development in a womb, to do so does not seem to require wisdom. Thus, though clear comprehension may lead to the development of wisdom, in itself it only connotes to ‘clearly comprehend’ what is taking place.

To develop ‘clear comprehension’ can be taken to represent the conceptual input needed for taking clear cognisance of the observed phenomena, based on mindful observation. Understood in this way, clear comprehension in the context of satipaṭṭhāna contemplation represents the need to combine mindful observation of phenomena with an intelligent processing of the observed data. That is, clear comprehension has task of processing the input gathered by mindful observation, and thereby leads to the arising of wisdom.

This recognising aspect inherent in the quality of clear comprehension can be further developed and strengthened through the practice of mental noting, a practice often recommended in modern meditation traditions. It is this ‘comprehending’ quality of the mind which will in due turn bring about understanding and insight. Thus ‘clear comprehension’ as sampajañña or its equivalent sampajāna has an important role to perform in relation to the development of insight leading up to final deliverance.

정지(영문).hwp

[아위자]

본 글 제일 위의 두 줄이 '글의 출처'입니다. 7권의 해당 페이지는 <682페이지에서부터 683페이지>입니다.

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'김은애'님께서 영문타자를 해 주셨습니다. 감사합니다.

아마도 '봉행'님께서 '번역'을 해 주시리라 여깁니다. 미리 감사드립니다.

[예지원]

아위자님은 물론 김은애 님,
모두 모두 고맙습니다.^^