Or 14447

Fragment of a manual of a Buddhist mystic (yogāvacara) explaining various stages of purification of the mind by meditation. It sets out the means and plans for practising meditation as an ethical self-training. The manual, in its original complete form, is known to list 112 types of meditation and the resulting states of mind. The meditation exercises in the Yōgavacara manual are said to have been practised by the Buddha himself, but are based on methods of the pre-Buddhist Indian yoga system. The 5th-century Buddhist scholar and philosopher, Buddhaghosa, discussed Yōgavacara practices in his Visuddhimagga (Path of Purification), a seminal work on meditation. This fragment refers to Ten Forms of Knowledge (Vipassanā-ñāṇa) according to the Abhidhammattha-sangaha which is attributed to the Sri Lankan monk Ācariya Anuruddha who lived between the 8th to 12 century, but based on Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga.

Illustrations: Five illustrated pages in Mon painting style of the Ayutthaya period showing visualisation methods belonging to the Ten Forms of Knowledge. The three complete illustrations depict: a monk with corpse by the river = insight into disintegration now and in the future (bhangānudassana-ñāņa and bhayatupaṭṭhāna-dassana-ñāņa), a monk with a lion = insight into danger/evil (ādīnavanudassana-ñāņa), a monk facing a pulpit on fire = insight into aversion/disgust (nibbidānudassana-ñāņa), a monk with a bird/rooster = insight by contemplation of adaptation anuloma-anupassanā-ñāņa, a monk facing Rahu (demon) swallowing the moon = insight into the desire for deliverance (muccitukamyatādassana-ñāņa), a monk with fisherman catching a snake = insight by contemplation of adaptation (anuloma-anupassanā-ñāņa)