The system of meditation taught at Pa-Auk Tawya is based on the instructions by The Buddha as found in the Tipiṭaka (the Pāli Canon) and its commentaries. The system comprises the threefold training of strict observance of precepts (sīla), developing concentration(samādhi), as a basis for attaining wisdom (paññā). This is further subdivided into the seven stages of purification which provide a step-by-step formula for systematically purifying one’s body (physical actions), speech and mind of defilements in order to realize Nibbāna in this lifetime.

Teachings:

• Mindfulness-of-Breathing (ānāpānassati) – to develop absorption concentration (the four jhānas)
• Most of the forty Samatha subjects taught by The Buddha – including loving-kindness (mettā) meditation, the thirty-two parts of the body, the ten kasinas and the four immaterial jhānas
• Four-Elements Meditation – to analyze ultimate materiality and ultimate mentality
• Dependent Origination – to discern past, present and future lives by analysing their causes and conditions
• Vipassanā Meditation – to discern the five aggregates (materiality and mentality) as impermanent, subject to suffering and without a self