what is upasama-anu-s-sati?

by frank k » Sun Dec 22, 2019 11:18 am

From AN 1
485–494

Buddhānussatiṃ bhāveti … dhammānussatiṃ bhāveti … saṅghānussatiṃ bhāveti … sīlānussatiṃ bhāveti … cāgānussatiṃ bhāveti … devatānussatiṃ bhāveti … ānāpānassatiṃ bhāveti … maraṇassatiṃ bhāveti … kāyagatāsatiṃ bhāveti … upasamānussatiṃ bhāveti ….
They develop the recollection of the Buddha … the recollection of the teaching … the recollection of the Saṅgha … the recollection of ethical conduct … the recollection of generosity … the recollection of the deities … rememberfulness of breathing … the recollection of death … rememberfulness of the body … the recollection of peace …”

The other items listed, aside from upasama sati, are well known Dharma vitakka (thoughts) with pali suttas that explain how one can use them to engage in the 7sb awakening factor sequence, having sati 'remember' that meditation subject.

But doing DPR search for upasamaanusati only turns up results like above, which only include it in a list of sati subjects, with no explanation. So what exactly is this meditation? How does it work? If upasama is meant as a synonym for nirvana, such as the frequent formula "upasama abhinnayaya sambodhaya nibbanaya samvattati", then it seems really dumb and unnecessary to list that as a meditation topic. If one already has the ability to touch and abide in nirvana, why would you need a Dharma instruction to remember to do that? It's not something you can forget.

My guess, based on the fact that there are no sutta passages that explain what this meditation subject is, is that upasama-anu-sati is a gratuitously added 'sati' to pad the number of sati's on the list to 10. Created by late Theravadans. Also near that AN 1 passage, are 10 kasinas, another late invention/addition.

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