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| It is the art of active cultivation — tending the soil of the mind so that calmness, clarity, insight, and equanimity may grow |
“The word meditation is a very poor substitute for the original term bhavana.” — Professor Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught
By Don de Silva
Venerable Professor Rahula, a Buddhist scholar, in his provocative best, cuts through centuries of mistranslation. Bhāvanā is not “meditation” in the sense of escaping the world, sitting in a corner, or pursuing mystical powers. It means something much more vivid: cultivation.
Why “cultivation”? Because the Buddha did not speak in abstractions. There are a plethora of suttas, where he spoke in the language of the soil, of seeds, of fields that could be tilled, nourished, and renewed. “Development” feels dreary, bureaucratic, and lifeless. In my view, “cultivation” carries with it the earthy vitality of growth, patience, and continuous tending.
Etymology of Bhavana
Root: √bhu — “to be, to become.”
bhavayati — “to cause to be, to bring into being, to cultivate.”
bhavana — “the act of cultivation, mental culture, bringing into being.”
The Genius of the Buddha was to take this everyday farming word and apply it to the mind.
The Buddha with Farmer: Kasibharadvaja Sutta (Linked Discourses Sanyutta Nikaya 7.11)
In this discourse, while seeking for dana (almsfood), the Buddha encountered the brahmin farmer Kasibharadvaja, who mocked him for not working the land:
“I plough and sow, ascetic, and then I eat.
“aham kho, samana, kasami ca vapami ca, kasitva ca vapitva ca bhuñjami.
You too should plough and sow, then you may eat.”
Tvampi, samana, kasassu ca vapassu ca, kasitvā ca vapitvā ca bhuñjassū”ti.
Then the Buddha gave this remarkable, immediate riposte:
‘I too plough and sow, brahmin, and then I eat.’”
‘ahampi kho, brāhmana, kasāmi ca vapāmi ca, kasitvā ca vapitvā ca bhuñjāmī’”ti.
The Buddha continued:
“Trust is my seed, austerity the rain,
Wisdom is my yoke and plough,
Shame is the pole, mind the rein,
Mindfulness my ploughshare and goad.”
Saddhā bījam, tapa o khettam,
paññā me yuganangalam,
hiri īsā mano yottam,
sati me phālapācanam.
This is not “development” in the dry sense. It is the living, breathing cultivation of the mind — earthy, demanding, transformative.
The fourfold Bhavana
The Buddha used bhavana in many contexts — not limited to seated meditation, but as a comprehensive art of cultivating life:
Cittabhāvanā – cultivation of the mind (Long Discourses 33
Dīgha Nikāya 33)
Mettābhāvanā – cultivation of loving-kindness (So It Was Said 27
Itivuttaka 27)
Kāyabhāvanā – cultivation of the body (Long Discourses 33
Dīgha Nikāya 33)
Paññābhāvanā – cultivation of wisdom (Long Discourses 33
Dīgha Nikāya 33)
Comments
Bhāvanā is not retreat or ritual. It is not drab “development.” Or meditation. It is the art of active cultivation — tending the soil of the mind so that calmness, clarity, insight, and equanimity may grow.
Just as even the most barren field can, with care, yield a nourishing harvest, the Buddha showed that our minds too can be endlessly enriched, restored, and cultivated — until they shine with wisdom and freedom.
