Research & Article

This article offers an English translation of Tamra Kammathan khong Somdet Phra Chao Krung Thonburi (Meditation Manual of the King of Thonburi), dated 1775 CE. The manual, obtained from Wat Ratchadathitthan, Bangkok, is identified as belonging to the “borān kammaṭṭhāna”, or “old meditation”, tradition and records the practice of mindfulness of breath (ānāpānasati), the attainment of divine eye (dibba-cakkhu), and the vision of a luminous sphere termed, the “Dhamma Sphere of the Buddha”, at the bodily bases between the eyebrows and the navel. After obtaining the Dhamma Sphere, the meditator is instructed to visualise sacred Pāli syllables in Khom script inside the sphere. The practice described in the manual shares similar characteristics with two influential contemporary meditation systems of the Supreme Patriarch Suk Kai Thuean (1733‒1822) and Wat Pradusongtham, Ayutthaya. The vision of the luminous sphere, which is a common feature of the borān kammaṭṭhāna tradition, is also depicted as the highest attainment in the Thonburi and Ayutthaya versions of the illustrated manuscripts of the Traiphum (Three Worlds cosmology).