Anussati


Anussati means "recollection," "contemplation," "remembrance," "meditation" and "mindfulness." It refers to specific meditative or devotional practices, such as recollecting the sublime qualities of the Buddha, which lead to mental tranquillity and abiding joy. In various contexts, the Pali literature and Sanskrit Mahayana sutras emphasize and identify different enumerations of recollections.
Anussati may also refer to meditative attainment, such as the ability to recollect past lives, also called causal memory.

The three recollections

The Three Recollections:
The Dhammapada declares that the Buddha's disciples who constantly practice recollection of the Three Jewels "ever awaken happily." According to the Theragatha, such a practice will lead to "the height of continual joy."
Unlike other subjects of meditative recollection mentioned in this article, the Three Jewels are considered "devotional contemplations." The Three Jewels are listed as the first three subjects of recollection for each of the following lists as well.

Recollection of the Buddha

The standard formula when recollecting the Buddha is:
It has been suggested that the Recollection of the Buddha identified in the Theravada canon might have been the basis for the more elaborately visual contemplations typical of Tibetan Buddhism. Another way of saying worthy is that the Tathagata is the pure one. Well-gone can also be interpreted as the accomplished one, or the well-farer. Blessed could be replaced by the word holy, but he was also often referred to as "The Blessed One".

Recollection of the Dhamma

The Teaching of the Buddha has six supreme qualities:
  1. Svākkhāto. The Buddha's teaching is not a speculative philosophy but an exposition of the Universal Law of Nature based on a causal analysis of natural phenomena. It is taught, therefore, as a science rather than a sectarian belief system. Full comprehension of the teaching may take varying lengths of time but Buddhists traditionally say that the course of study is 'excellent in the beginning, excellent in the middle and excellent in the end'.
  2. '. The Dharma is open to scientific and other types of scrutiny and is not based on faith. It can be tested by personal practice and one who follows it will see the result for oneself by means of one's own experience. Sandiṭṭhiko comes from the word sandiṭṭhika which means visible in this world and is derived from the word sandiṭṭhi-. Since Dhamma is visible, it can be "seen": known and be experienced within one's life.
  3. Akāliko. The Dhamma is able to bestow timeless and immediate results here and now. There is no need to wait for the future or a next existence. The dhamma does not change over time and it is not relative to time.
  4. Ehipassiko. The Dhamma invites all beings to put it to the test and come see for themselves.
  5. Opanayiko. Followed as a part of one's life the dhamma leads one to liberation. In the "Vishuddhimagga" this is also referred to as "Upanayanam." Opanayiko means "to be brought inside oneself". This can be understood with an analogy as follows. If one says a ripe mango tastes delicious, and if several people listen and come to believe it, they would imagine the taste of the mango according to their previous experiences of other delicious mangoes. Yet, they will still not really know exactly how this mango tastes. Also, if there is a person who has never tasted a ripe mango before, that person has no way of knowing exactly for himself how it tastes. So, the only way to know the exact taste is to experience it. In the same way, dhamma is said to be Opanayiko which means that a person needs to experience it within to see exactly what it is.
  6. '. The Dhamma can be perfectly realized only by the noble disciples who have matured in supreme wisdom. No one can "enlighten" another person. Each intelligent person has to attain and experience for themselves. As an analogy, no one can simply make another know how to swim. Each person individually has to learn how to swim. In the same way, dhamma cannot be transferred or bestowed upon someone. Each one has to know for themselves.
Knowing these attributes, Buddhists believe that they will attain the greatest peace and happiness through the practice of the Dhamma. Therefore, each person is fully responsible for his or her self to put it into practice for real.
Here the Buddha is compared to an experienced and skillful doctor, and the Dhamma to proper medicine. However efficient the doctor or wonderful the medicine may be, the patients cannot be cured unless they take the medicine properly. So the practice of the Dhamma is the only way to attain the final deliverance of Nibbāna.
These teachings ranged from understanding karma ) and developing good impressions in one's mind, to reach full enlightenment by recognizing the nature of mind.

Recollection of the Sangha

The standard formula when recollecting the Sangha is:
Practicing masterfully, or practicing with integrity, means sharing what they have learned with others.

The five recollections

On a Buddhist sabbath day, in addition to practicing the Eight Precepts, the Buddha enjoined a disciple to engage in one or more of Five Recollections:
According to the Buddha, for one who practices such recollections: "'his mind is calmed, and joy arises; the defilements of his mind are abandoned.'"

The six recollections

The Six Recollections are:
The Buddha tells a disciple that the mind of one who practices these recollections "is not overcome with passion, not overcome with aversion, not overcome with delusion. His mind heads straight,... gains joy connected with the Dhamma..., rapture arises..., the body grows calm... experiences ease..., the mind becomes concentrated."
In Mahayana practice, the first six recollections were commonly taught and the Buddha anusmriti was particularly emphasized in many popular sutras such as the Medicine Buddha sutra.

The ten recollections

As Ten Recollections, the following are added to the Six Recollections:
In the Pali canon's Anguttara Nikaya, it is stated that the practice of any one of these ten recollections leads to nirvana. The Visuddhimagga identifies the Ten Recollections as useful meditation subjects for developing concentration needed to suppress and destroy the Five Hindrances during ones pursuit of Nibbana. In terms of the development of meditative absorption, mindfulness of the breath can lead to all four jhanas, mindfulness of the body can lead only to the first jhana, while the eight other recollections culminate in pre-jhanic "access concentration".
The recollection of death is connected with the Buddhist concept of not-self: devotees recollect on the inevitability of their own demise, and in that way learn to understand that their physical body is not a permanent self. To often reflect in such a way, is believed to strongly affect the devotee's motivations and priorities in life, and to help the devotee become more realistic.