Gaging the value of the text known as Manual of a Mystic, or Yogavacara

LeoCGOR · March 17, 2025, 5:42pm

In reading the editorial introduction to the Manual of a Mystic translated by F.L. Woodward and published by the Palī Text Society there are some reservations expressed on page vii which refer to those “Mystic Exercises and Mystic Faith” in the language of Sri Lanka appended to sections of prayers and such in the Pali language - Sinhalese insertions which were in his opinion just so much “wax paper exercises and color visions”. Since the term “wax paper exercises” is another way of saying time-wasting and “color visions” seems to be another way of saying lured nonsense, and in thar he sums it up by saying there is no way to connect these appended sections to either Indian or Burmese Buddhism, I have to ask myself if these issues devalue the contribution of the other materials that I’ve read in this book which seem to conform where I think of as Theravada Buddhism.

I think that this text Maybe so little studied there is no consensus on the overall evaluation of the Yogavacara. the balance of the editors prefix and the translators prefactory note as well as other things I’ve read seem to value this text for both it’s place in history and contents.

And it might be a case of a little academic stoppery or the pot calling the kettle black because many Buddhist texts seem to a large degree aggregate affairs.

Pali Edition
T W Rhys Davids, The Yogavacaras Manual of Indian Mysticism as Practiced by Buddhists, PTS,

English Translation
Caroline A.F. Rhys Davids
Manual of a Mystic: Yogavacara’s Manual
PDF!

sujato · March 17, 2025, 8:39pm

There has been quite a lot of more recent scholarship in this area, FWIW. Scholars usually call it “boran kammatthan” these days (old-style meditation). Check out Kate Crosby’s work.

LeoCGOR · March 17, 2025, 9:05pm

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Raftafarian · March 23, 2025, 8:32pm

Bhikkhu’s, under this rule a Bhikkhu, one who has truly felt the dread of the stream of becoming, goes to a solitary forest, to the foot of a tree, or to a lonely place far from the haunts of men, sits down cross-legged2 and holds the body straight. Setting mindfulness in front of him, with Nibbana as his goal, not wavering nor turning thought to other things, he breathes in mindfully and mindfully breathes out. As he draws in a long breath he knows, [2] “A long breath I draw in ; as he breathes out a long breath he knows, “ A long breath I breathe out.” As he draws in a quick breath he knows, " A quick breath I draw in ”; as he breathes out a quick breath he knows, '* A quick breath I breathe out.”
Knowing the body in all its parts, thoroughly grasping the true nature of this way, that is, the indrawal of breath which, starting from the tip of the nose, passes downwards to the navel, and the outbreathing which rises from the navel and passes upwards to the tip of the nose, and the nature of their rise and fall, he fixes his sight on the tip of the nose and grasps the truth that he sees the tip of the nose with the sight-mind, firmly fixing in the heart the thing he is attending to: such is the preparation or preamble.1

In the word Arahan, the first letter “ A ” means the Treasure of the Law (D h a m m a); the second RA ” the Treasure who
1 P a r i k a m m a. 2 Dlgha Nikdya, II, 291; Majjhima NiJcaya, I, 56; V’maya Texts. I, 119; Dialogues of the Buddha, II, 327 et seq.; Uddna, 21; Vibhanga, 252. ’

Interesting, Nibbana is explicitly stated as “his goal” when starting meditation and that sight/the seen and a sight-mind are mentioned. Has anyone seen variations of these instruction like this elsewhere? This appears to be very different from the instructions given in MN 119.