Fundamentos filosóficos e praxiológicos da meditação vipassana de Mahasi Sayadaw (1904-1982) e S. N. Goenka (1924-2013) e suas raízes no budismo Theravada

Abstract

This thesis aims to present the historical genealogy of the contemporary schools of the Vipassana Movement, which emerged in the 19th century in Southeast Asia, more specifically in Myanmar, and to investigate the philosophical and praxiological foundations of two of the most recognized of these schools and their respective methods, namely, the schools of Mahāsī Sayādaw (1904-1982) and S. N. Goenka (1924-2013). More specifically, the thesis deals with the canonical foundations of these two schools of meditation, focusing on the disciplinary tripartition of “virtue” (sīla), “concentration” (samatha) and “analytical wisdom” (vipassanā), whose canonical sources are the Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta – The Great Sutras on the Foundations of Mindfulness, and the treatise Visuddhimagga – The Path of Purification, by Buddhaghosa. In the investigation of the two methods, their philosophical and praxiological foundations are discussed, their disciplinary structures represented by retreats, daily practices and the masterdisciple/teacher-student relationship, and the continuities and discontinuities in relation to predecessor masters and to the Theravāda tradition as a whole