Art of Bhavana: Cultivation of mind and body

VENERABLE Professor Rahula, a Buddhist scholar, in his provocative best, cuts through centuries of mistranslation. Bhavanā is not "meditation" in the sense of escaping the world, sitting in a corner, or pursuing mystical powers. It means something much more vivid: cultivation.

- BY DON DE SILVA

Why"cultivation"? Because the Buddha did not speak in abstractions. There are a plethora of suttas, where he spoke in the language of the soil, of seeds, of fields that could be tilled, nourished, and renewed. "Development"feels dreary, bureaucratic, and lifeless. In my view, "cultivation" carries with it the earthy vitality of growth, patience, and continuous tending.

Etymology of Bhavana

Root: Vbhu -"to be, to become."

bhavayati —"to cause to be, to bring into being, to cultivate."

bhavana -"the act of cultivation, mental culture, bringing into being."

It is the art of active cultivation - tending the soil of the mind so that calmness, clarity, insight, and equanimity may grow

The Genius of the Buddha was to take this everyday farming word and apply it to the mind.