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Document Details : Title: Moving from the Conditioned towards the Ineffable Subtitle: Referential Imaging and its Absence in Buddhist Meditation Author(s): ESLER, Dylan Journal: Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses Volume: 93 Issue: 3 Date: 2017 Pages: 431-443 DOI: 10.2143/ETL.93.3.3248505 Abstract : After briefly discussing how the 'unconditioned' or 'uncompounded' (Skt. asaṃskṛta) is understood and defined in Buddhism, our enquiry will focus on the topic of meditation (Skt. bhāvanā). The latter plays a crucial role in facilitating the passage from the conditioned plight of cyclic existence (Skt. saṃsāra) to the ineffable peace of transcendence (Skt. nirvāṇa). It can be seen as a means of deconstructing the mind’s conditioning in order to reveal the uncompounded. The present paper will examine how in this process meditation initially makes use of referential imaging (Skt. ālambana) to then progress towards non-referential (Skt. anālambana) modes of contemplation. |
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