Sleep, references to the buddha and other arhats
Upvote:1
The texts often mention of how the Buddha and many of the Arahants only slept around 4 hours a night. That may sound quite drastic, but they spent most of the rest of the night in meditation, and in my experience personally practicing a significant amount of meditation before bed can reduce the need for sleep down to 4 hours quite easily.
Here are some studies I found on the subject:
Upvote:1
An Arahat does not sleep like a normal person. He may give rest to the body but in doing so is fully aware hence not asleep. This is a natural consequence of reducing impurities of the mind, more particularly the Hindrance Sloth and Torpor. Pacalā Sutta discusses the Hindrance of Sloth and Torpor and methods to overcome it.
Another enemy is laziness, drowsiness. All night you slept soundly, and yet when you sit to meditate, you feel very sleepy. This sleepiness is caused by your mental impurities, which would be driven out by the practice of Vipassana, and which therefore try to stop you from meditating. You must fight to prevent this enemy from overpowering you. Breathe slightly hard, or else get up, sprinkle cold water on your eyes, or walk a little, and then sit again.
...
Similarly, when you go to bed at night, close your eyes and feel sensation anywhere within the body. If you fall asleep with this awareness, naturally as soon as you wake up in the morning, you will be aware of sensation. Perhaps you may not sleep soundly, or you may even remain fully awake throughout the night. This is wonderful, provided you stay lying in bed and maintain awareness and equanimity. The body will receive the rest it needs, and there is no greater rest for the mind than to remain aware and equanimous. However, if you start worrying that you are developing insomnia, then you will generate tensions, and will feel exhausted the next day. Nor should you forcefully try to stay awake, remaining in a seated posture all night; that would be going to an extreme. If sleep comes, very good; sleep. If sleep does not come, allow the body to rest by remaining in a recumbent position, and allow the mind to rest by remaining aware and equanimous.
Source: The Discourse Summaries by S.N. Goenka
Also see: Suppati Sutta
Upvote:3
I have heard on various occasions that the Buddha slept very little. I was also looking for some specific reference in the literature that can attest to this.
One of the most common references in the early texts is the wakefulness (jāgariya) pericope:
"And how is the disciple of the noble ones devoted to wakefulness? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, sitting & pacing back & forth, cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check. During the first watch of the night [dusk to 10 p.m.], sitting & pacing back & forth, he cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check. During the second watch of the night [10 p.m. to 2 a.m.], reclining on his right side, he takes up the lion's posture, one foot placed on top of the other, mindful, alert, with his mind set on getting up. During the last watch of the night [2 a.m. to dawn], sitting & pacing back & forth, he cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check. This is how the monk is devoted to wakefulness."
-MN 53, Trainee Practice
Notice that, in the second watch, sleep (niddā) is not mentioned. It mentions only lying down on the right side in the lion's posture (dakkhiṇena passena sīhaseyyaṃ kappeti). This could be an indication of not sleeping at all and continuing to practice mindfulness while, at the same time, resting the body.
On the other hand, the absence of the line "he cleanses his mind of any qualities that would hold the mind in check", which is included in the first and last watch, may indicate a less active practice or even sleeping.
I'm sure there are more references regarding this theme but I don't recall any additional ones at the moment.
More post
- 📝 How difficult is it to be a foreign monk in Asia?
- 📝 Semi-consistent Long Sessions Versus Regular Short Sessions
- 📝 What is the practice people call "shamata practice". Where did this idea come from?
- 📝 Personal practice regarding stream entry
- 📝 Why does "not existing from its own side" make something a "conceptual construction"?
- 📝 Beginner: Should I switch to a less advanced samatha practice?
- 📝 Question about metta
- 📝 What is the meaning of "dhammā" in the context of the four satipaṭṭhāna?
- 📝 Intuition in Buddhism
- 📝 How to use inner feeling (intuitive feeling) while taking refuge
- 📝 Can sankharas and craving arise without attachment?
- 📝 Importance of good moral conduct
- 📝 Need more information about samanera or sramanera in India(Theravada tradition)?
- 📝 What do the (Pali) suttas say about "sacrifice" in general (and why it's not necessary)?
- 📝 Is luminous mind unconditioned and not impermanent?
- 📝 Buddhist References about Space and Time
- 📝 Three questions about sensual desire
- 📝 When is 'dependent origination' broken, in meditation?
- 📝 Is there a Pali name for a state of being in which one experiences “craving without a target”?
- 📝 Formal Meditation Laziness
- 📝 Scriptural source for the lost son story
- 📝 Why this hair style on statues of the Buddha?
- 📝 Where do “new” humans come from?
- 📝 What is the meaning behind this chant?
- 📝 How to Know the Knowing of Anicca, Dukkha, Anatta
- 📝 Who were the wise in the Buddha's discourses?
- 📝 Does anyone know the origin of the Buddhist Prayer of Forgiveness?
- 📝 Is there a real difference between "not-self" and "no self", and if so, which one is correct?
- 📝 How many pieces of paper are there?
- 📝 How to prevent self-deception?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Sleep, references to the buddha and other arhats
- 📝 Did the Buddha state that there is only one way, and state/imply that any other path (such as those practiced by yogis) was futile?
- 📝 Looking for the source of a story about the Buddha and a lady who looked the other way
- 📝 Attachment is a poison. Why is attachment to the Buddha and to Buddhist philosophy not a problem?
- 📝 What are the other Theravada Councils held between the 4th and 6th
- 📝 Where is the Buddha originally quoted as saying "On heaven and earth, I alone am honored"?
- 📝 Did the Buddha make any reference to Krishna and Gita?
- 📝 Does Pure Land Buddhism ever have a Buddha other than Amitābha as the object of devotion?
- 📝 What is the sutra where the Buddha emits fire and water from his body?
- 📝 Was Gautama Buddha a believer of the religious beliefs prevalent in his time and in his cultural context?
- 📝 Iconography in Buddhism - from the Greeks? And why isn't the Buddha bald?
- 📝 The Buddha and the Gods realm
- 📝 buddha and the fear?
- 📝 How did the Buddha subdue fear and terror while standing, sitting, etc.?
- 📝 Did Lord Buddha teach any other meditation technique than the Anapana?
- 📝 How can the Buddha (after he was enlightened) reflect that he was not at ease and then became at ease in seclusion?
- 📝 What does the Pali canon, and other respected work, teach about parenting?
- 📝 If Buddha is able to predict the future of other sentient beings how can freewill be possible as its very nature is that of unpredictability?
- 📝 Did the Buddha work with teachers from other spiritual traditions?
- 📝 What are the reasons for and against studying other religions?
- 📝 What's the role of the detailed descriptions of the other planes of existence? Why it was important for the Buddha to tell them?
- 📝 How can anyone who hasn't realised the truth, claim that Mahatma Buddha or any other person in history realised God or the Truth?
- 📝 What is the "Unconditioned" that the Buddha is talking about? And vinjana in Buddhsm
- 📝 Searching for this Jataka where a monk is brought to the heaven and hell by The Buddha
- 📝 What is the relationship between Tathāgatagarbha and Buddha Nature?
- 📝 What is the significance of Reclining Buddha Statue in Laos compared to other countries in Asia?
- 📝 In what Sutta(s) is there a References to Imagine the Body Inside Out and What is Below the Skin
- 📝 The Buddha And The Beggar Story
- 📝 In what ways are the Advaita concept of 'Nirguna Brahman' and the Buddhist concept of Buddha Nature similar and different?
- 📝 What did the Buddha do, and what does a teacher do, to teach?