anussati
Anussati: ‘recollection’, reflection, meditation, contemplation. The six recollections often described in the Suttas e.g. A. VI, 10, 25; D. 33 are:
1: Recollection of the Buddha, buddhānussati
2: Recollection of his Doctrine, The Dhamma, dhammānussati
3: Recollection of his Sangha Community of Noble Disciples, sanghānussati
4: Recollection of Morality, sīlānussati
5: Recollection of Generosity, cāgānussati
6: Recollection of divine beings, devatānussati.
1: The Noble Disciple, Mahānāma, recollects thus: Worthy, honourable and perfectly self-Enlightened is the Buddha ! Consummated in knowledge and behaviour, totally transcended, expert in all dimensions, knower of all worlds, unsurpassable trainer of those who can be tamed, both teacher and guide of gods as well as of humans, blessed, exalted, awakened and enlightened is the Buddha !!!
2: Perfectly formulated is this Buddha- Dhamma, visible right here and now, immediately effective, timeless, inviting each and everyone to come and see for themselves, inspect, examine and verify. Leading each and everyone through progress towards perfection. Directly observable, experiencable and realizable by each intelligence…
3: Perfectly training is this Noble S angha community of the Buddha’s disciples; the right way, the true way, the good way, the direct way! Therefore do these eight kinds of individuals, the four Noble pairs, deserve both gifts, self-sacrifice, offerings, hospitality and reverential salutation with joined palms, since this Noble Sangha community of the Buddha’s Noble Disciples, is an unsurpassable and forever unsurpassed field of merit, in the world, for the world, to honour, and give to…
4: The Noble Disciple further recollects his own morality sīla, which is unbroken, without any breach, unspotted, untarnished, conducive to liberation, praised by the wise, independent of craving & opinion, leading to concentration.
5: The Noble Disciple further recollects his own generosity cāga thus: Blessed truly am I, highly blessed am I who, amongst beings defiled with the filth of stinginess, live with heart free from stinginess, liberal, open-handed, rejoicing in giving, ready to give anything asked for, glad to give and share with others.
6: The Noble Disciple further recollects the divine beings devatā: There are the divine beings of the retinue of the Four Great Kings, the divine beings of the World of the Thirty-Three, the Yāma-devas… and there are divine beings besides see: deva. Such faith, such morality, such knowledge, such generosity, such insight, possessed of which those divine beings, after vanishing from here, are reborn in those worlds, such things are also found in me. A. III,70; VI,10; XI,12.
At the time when the Noble Disciple recollects the Perfect One… at such a time his mind is neither possessed of greed, nor of hate, nor of confusion. Quite upright at such a time is his mind owing to the Perfect One… With upright mind the Noble Disciple attains understanding of the meaning, understanding of the law of Dhamma, and attains to joy through the law of Dhamma. In the joyous one rapture arises. With heart enraptured, his whole being becomes stilled. Stilled within his being, he feels happiness; and the mind of the happy one becomes firm. Of this Noble Disciple it is said that amongst those gone astray, he walks on the right path, among those suffering he abides free from suffering. Thus having reached the stream of the law, he develops and expands this recollection of the Enlightened One. A. VI, 10.
In A. I, 21 PTS: I, xvi and A. I, 27 PTS: xx. 2 another 4 recollections are added:
7: Recollection of death maranānussati,
8: Awareness of the body kāyagatā - sati,
9: Awareness of breathing ānāpāna-sati,
10: Recollection of Peace upasamānussati.
The first six recollections are fully explained in Vis.M VII, the latter four in Vis.M VIII.