The forty kammatthana of the Visuddhimagga

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines · Buddhaghosa · 400

What it is

The forty kammaṭṭhāna ("meditation subjects", literally "places of work") are the catalogue of concentration (samādhi) objects that the Visuddhimagga sets out in its section on concentration. They are: ten kasiṇa (devices: earth, water, fire, air, blue, yellow, red, white, light, limited space);…

Format

• Format and dose. Traditionally monastic or retreat-based, with individual instruction from a teacher. Pa-Auk teaches foreigners in English and Chinese. None of the sources cited gives a number of sessions, sittings or weeks, so none is given here.
• Assessment and consent. Ask about the client's tradition, teacher, subject, practice intensity, retreat plans, and mental-health history, and screen for trauma, psychosis, bipolar disorder, dissociation, eating disorder and suicidality.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Place in the whole path. The Visuddhimagga is built on the threefold training of virtue (sīla), concentration (samādhi) and wisdom (paññā); Pa-Auk divides this into seven stages of purification. Virtue comes first and is treated as the foundation for concentration.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• A client persisting with a distressing subject out of obedience. Working: an informed conversation with the teacher.
• Depersonalisation or derealisation outside practice. Working: the client reports insight without detachment from life.
• Fear of the teacher, secrecy, and cut-off from supports. Working: the client experiences the relationship as freely chosen.
• Presenting secular programmes as "the real version" of the client's tradition. Working: the client chooses the frame they want.
• Flashbacks, dissociation, numbing and hyperarousal after practice. Working: the client can approach and leave practice by choice.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.