A groundbreaking and detailed presentation of the rich system of meditation traditions that have come to us through the Pali tradition of Buddhism.

Meditations of the Pali Tradition, from consummate scholar of Pali Buddhism L. S. Cousins, explores the history of meditation practice in early or Pali Buddhism, which was established in various parts of South and Central Asia from the time of the Buddha and developed until at least the fourteenth century CE. Ranging in discussion of jhana (absorption) meditation in ancient India to the Buddhist practice centers of the Silk Road to the vipassana (insight) practices of our modern world, this rigorous and insightful work of scholarship sheds new light on our understanding of the practices that are today associated with the Theravada school of Buddhism and the insight meditation movement. Cousins demonstrates that there is much more to Buddhist meditation than mindfulness alone--concentration and joy, for example, are equally important.

Meditations of the Pali Tradition: Illuminating Buddhist Doctrine, History, and Practice; L. S. Cousins; Shambhala Publications; Paperback; 336 pages; $24.95

L. S. Cousins (1942-2015) was one of the world's foremost experts on Pali Buddhism. He taught at Manchester University and the University of Oxford, and was a founding member of the Samatha Trust, an organization in the UK dedicated to teaching Buddhist samatha meditation.

CONTENTS: Meditations of the Pali Tradition
Tables and Figures		vii
Editor's Introduction by Sarah Shaw		ix
Introduction		1
1.	Jhana in the Commentaries	3
2.	Jhana in the Pali Canon	29
3.	Formless Attainment in the Pali Canon	51
4.	The Roots of Insight Meditation	71
5.	Samatha and Vipassana	95
6.	The Sutta on Mindfulness and In-and-Out Breathing	111
7.	A Lost Meditation Tradition from the Silk Road	133
8.	The Porana Meditation Tradition	155
9.	The Flourishing of Insight Meditation in Modern Times	175
10.	The Varieties of Samatha and Samatha-Vipassana Today	191
11.	Jhana Meditation Instructions from the Theriya Tradition: A Translation of Chapter Fourteen of Acariya Buddhadatta's Entrance to Abhidharma	207
Appendix A: Buddhaghosa's Classification of Forty Objects		227
Appendix B: Commonly Cited Passages		233
Notes		239
Bibliography		275
Index		289