​Polak/Nikaya Buddhism, 2. Calm and Insight, Concentration and Wisdom

Chapter 2 focuses on the early Chan and Nikāya passages which suggest that insight or wisdom may occur naturally in the meditative state of concentration or unification characterized by mental calm and the absence of thoughts. The chapter attempts to reconstruct the concept of mind implied by these accounts and discusses the issue of psychological plausibility of the notion of insight described in the texts of both traditions. The final part of the chapter reconsiders various Nikāya formulas of insight.