Exploring Buddhist Meditation and Its Significance : หน้า 7/141

Preface Not a month goes by these days without another important article being published on some newly uncovered Buddhist text, and among the discoveries are ancient materials about Buddhist meditation. It is a matter for our admiration that Venerable Phrakrupaladnayokwarawat (Sudhammo Bhikkhu), such a gentle and generous instructor in Buddhist concentration, has kept abreast of these findings and encouraged scholars to explore their implications. This present volume no better illustrates his industriousness and inspiration, and I am honoured to commend its contributions to as wide as readership as possible. Since it is also offered as one way of celebrating the ordination anniversary of his superior Most Venerable Luang Phaw Dhammajayo, the president of the Dhammakaya Foundation, we can add support to the Ven. Sudhammo’s gift with thanks for the initiatives and generosity of the Foundation’s leader. For, through the Dhammachai International Research Institute (DIRI), many relevant academic units of scholarship throughout the world have been funded and valuable high-level conferences very pleasantly hosted. Consensus has yet to be reached about the nature and meaning of meditation in the original teachings of the Buddha, and insufficient attention has been paid to the purpose and effects of meditative practice for a proper understanding of the Buddhist tradition. This is why the research activities of DIRI are so important, and why the International Samadhi Forums and the inauguration of the DIRI journal with this volume should be welcomed into the sphere of ongoing scholarly discussions about ‘Buddhism in the world of religions.’ Quite apart from in-house differences of outlook between schools and movements, all significant positions should be aired in print and if they are reinforced by the attention to detail and quests for critical analysis we find in DIRIbacked research then they should all the more be welcomed. For too long traditionalist transmission of teaching has left many of Buddhism’s own highly adept practitioners unable or disinclined to consider their tradition with critical reflection. As a result ‘foreign experts’ are constantly pontificating about what Buddhist teaching is ‘essentially’ all about (even while acknowledging that the practices of Buddhism are open to all, and how valuable it can be for our understanding that many Zen roshis, for