Chapter 10 - Summary and Interpretation

Summary

The concluding chapter provides a summary of the comparative textual analyses that have contributed to the proposed reconstruction of the sequence of practices the Buddha is most likely to have personally taught as the means to achieve enlightenment. It goes on to offer an interpretation of the advanced meditative techniques through which each of the three knowledges is achieved. This interpretation is based on personal introspective examination of the efficacy of specific meditative practices and draws on the Thai monk Buddhadasa’s understanding of how the language used by the Buddha to describe these knowledges should be construed. Support is provided by reference to the widespread belief at the time of the Buddha in microcosm–macrocosm parallelism. The chapter concludes by drawing out some of the implications that the methodology of comparative analysis of texts has for the wider field of Buddhist studies.