Back to Sutta Studies main page

For ideas on how to use this material over time, please see the Integrated Study and Practice Group page.

What does study consist of?

What does practice consist of?

What is the integration of study and practice?

go to top of page

go to top of page

INTEGRATION OF STUDY & PRACTICE at Barre Center for Buddhist  Studies

The separation of study and practice into two different and even competing enterprises is largely a modern convention, having little to do with the way Dhamma was originally approached in the Buddha’s time. Dhamma study has never been an entirely intellectual pursuit, and always involves the investigation of one’s own experience through meditation practice. And meditation practice has never been an anti-intellectual enterprise of “just sitting,” but involves walking the landscape of experience with the map of the Dhamma in hand.

All the Buddha’s contemporary teachers, which would include Jains, Sāmkyas, Yogis,  Ājivikas, Upanishadic and no doubt many others, articulated both a theory (dhamma) and a practice (vinaya). How one understood the way of things (dhamma) informed how one lived and practiced (vinaya), and how one lived and practiced was based upon how one understood things to be. The two were intricately intertwined. The word vinaya came to be applied to the texts outlining the history and rules of the Buddhist monastic community, but more fundamentally it simply refers to how one goes about putting one’s beliefs into practice, how one lives and embodies one’s understanding of dhamma.

The BCBS Integrated Study and Practice (ISP) program is an attempt to make whole what has become separated, to rejoin the careful and critical reading of early Buddhist texts with the prolonged and disciplined examination of phenomenal experience. It is our belief that only by using each to illuminate the other can a mature understanding of the Buddha’s teachings develop.

What does study consist of?

1. The close reading of texts. A large amount of literature has survived from ancient times, most of it quite authentic and probably going back to the Buddha himself. Study involves a careful reading of these texts, with as much comprehension as possible. Since the language of the texts is Pali, such thoughtful reading includes sensitivity to linguistic and translation issues, literary context, and familiarity with the idiom of the genre. While focusing mainly on the primary texts (the Pali suttas), study also includes judiciously reading the secondary literature and attending to the interpretations of scholars, teachers, and other specialists in the field.
   
   
2. Investigation of context. All human expression is embedded in its own unique historical, intellectual, and cultural context. The serious investigation of any set of ideas involves an exploration and appreciation of these contexts and the role they play in providing cues as to how to interpret the meaning of what is being expressed. In the case of early Buddhist texts, contexts include the historical situation in India at the time of the Buddha, the relation of his teachings to previous and contemporary intellectual movements, and the social and political climate in which they were formed.
   
   
3. Awareness of interpretive filters. It is inevitable that any understanding one might develop about Buddhist teachings (or anything else, for that matter) arises in the context of one’s own belief system and cultural conditioning. The assumptions, values, projections, and limitations brought to bear upon the subject matter, both by translators and other commentators and by oneself, need to be acknowledged and critically examined. Methods for doing this range from sophisticated hermeneutical theories to personal honesty and common sense.
   
   
4. Discussion with others. Most advanced education takes place in a communal setting, in which ideas are shared, discussed, debated and evaluated among a number of people with a serious interest in the subject. Such discussion includes published material exchanged among expert colleagues, lecture and questions between teachers and students, and peer to peer discussion, with analysis, among students. This exchange can happen in person, as in a classroom, or can take place from a distance with published material or internet connectivity.
   
   
5. Development of understanding. Synthesizing all these modes of learning, students gradually form and refine an understanding of the material. Using the intellectual tools of the discursive mind to shape, inform, and clarify different perceptual representations, and using language to express, enhance and communicate these conceptions, students develop a comprehension that matures and deepens with time and attention. The ability to express one’s understanding and articulate it clearly to others grows during this process as well.
   

What does practice consist of?

1. Prolonged periods of silent meditation. When the topic at hand is the teachings of the Buddha, it is understood that meditation is a primary tool to use for investigating those teachings. Meditation is a form of mental discipline and training, and as such needs to be undertaken in a structured and consistent manner. Whether the period of meditation is an hour, a week, or a month,  that time is to be dedicated to silent observation of mental and physical phenomena in experience. Formal meditation protocols reinforce the integrity of the practice, providing a container for establishing, developing, and sustaining the mental factors of mindfulness and concentration.
   
   
2. Restraint. Any kind of training involves some discipline; formal meditation practice requires the temporary abstention from reading, writing, listening to media, and engaging in conversation. Such activities engage the discursive mind in ways that inhibit the sort of non-discursive attention training involved with meditation. Moderation is also called for in eating, sleeping, and other normal behaviors, providing an opportunity for regarding them as opportunities for discovery rather than merely enacting them habitually and without reflection.
   
   
3. Structured and unstructured meditation. In addition to formal periods of silent meditation, the practice can also be extended into other aspects of life, ultimately excluding nothing. Between meditation sessions, or between formal meditation retreats, all facets of daily life provide an opportunity for extending and preserving mindfulness. In its fullest sense, practice involves cultivating an attitude of mindful investigation in every moment’s experience, regardless of the content of that experience.
   
    
4. Teacher guidance. While most meditation practice is a solitary and introspective affair, it is customary for it to be undertaken with the close guidance of an experienced teacher. From helpful instructions, to occasional dharma talks, to regular individual interview sessions, teacher support ensures not only correct technique but also guidance toward the development of insight into the characteristics of phenomena. The teacher’s experience can help guide a practitioner through the obstacles, breakthroughs, and vicissitudes of the spiritual path.
   
   
5. Development of understanding. Meditation is a tool for developing wisdom, which will naturally emerge when conditions are suitable. The sort of understanding one develops through meditation practice is not as much a discursive or conceptual knowledge as it is an intuitive, almost visceral insight. Through meditation one becomes intimately familiar with the texture of experience and understands its nature directly. Such understanding may elude verbal expression, but is authentic and valuable nonetheless. 
   

What is the integration of study and practice?

1. Investigation of the teachings. Understanding the Buddha’s teachings has less to do with gaining knowledge than with cultivating wisdom. The guidance given by both text and teacher require ample quiet time to be received, to sink in, and to become meaningful. Far beyond the mere processing and retention of information, the teachings call for careful reflection, critical scrutiny, and a gradual process of assimilation. By alternating periods of discursive academic analysis and experiential meditative review, students are able to incorporate the teachings fully.
   
   
2.  Investigation of phenomena. Unlike many forms of conceptual knowledge, the subject matter of the Buddha’s teaching is ultimately the nature of experience itself. The words and phrases of the texts, therefore, are directing the student to examine the texture of experience directly. The teachings need to be examined in the light of lived experience. Regular periods of meditation, guided and informed by the formal teachings, yield the best integration of the knowledge with the living expression of the realization of that knowledge.
   
   
3. Engaging with the contemporary world. Integration involves seeing the truths of the teaching for oneself, and being able to understand and express those teachings in one’s own idiom. Dharma study and practice is not about simply taking on a new set of ideas, but rather has more to do with making the Buddhist ideas meaningful for oneself. Recognizing where the ancient teachings are compatible and complimentary to modern thought and where there are areas of tension or even contradiction, is an important part of the process.
   
   
4. Engaging with one’s personal world. Integration also involves an encounter of the teachings with each individual’s unique personality. Understanding involves the local construction of meaning, and no two people are going to do this in exactly the same way. Each student who both studies and practices the dhamma will naturally engage in a process of encountering, authenticating and ultimately expressing the teachings in ways that are uniquely meaningful for themselves.
   
   
5. Development of understanding. A mature and robust understanding of the Buddha’s teaching will naturally emerge from such an integrated investigation. Drawing in equal parts upon an academic study of the traditional material, the meditative investigation of direct experience, the perspective of one’s own natural culture, and the authentic, personal engagement with the dhamma in one’s own life, such an integrated understanding can be of immense personal and collective value.
   

go to top of page