..續本文上一頁s — whitish, yellowish, discolored — scattered near and far all over the place.
Ten kasinas:
1. Pathavi kasina: staring at earth.
2. Apo kasina: staring at water.
3. Tejo kasina: staring at fire.
4. Vayo kasina: staring at wind.
5. Odata kasina: staring at white.
6. Pita kasina: staring at yellow.
7. Lohita kasina: staring at red.
8. Nila kasina: staring at blue (or green).
9. Akasa kasina: staring at the space in a hole or an opening.
10. Aloka kasina: staring at bright light.
Four sublime abidings:
1. Metta: benevolence, friendliness, good will, love in the true sense.
2. Karuna: compassion, sympathy, pity, aspiring to find a way to be truly helpful.
3. Mudita: appreciation for the goodness of other people and for our own when we are able to help them.
4. Upekkha: When our efforts to be of help don”t succeed, we should make the mind neutral — neither pleased nor upset by whatever it focuses on — so that it enters the emptiness of jhana, centered and tranquil to the point where it can disregard acts of thinking and evaluating as well as feelings of rapture and ease, leaving only oneness and equanimity with regard to all objects and preoccupations.
Four formless absorptions:
1. Akasanancayatana: being absorbed in a sense of boundless emptiness and space as one”s preoccupation.
2. Viññanancayatana: being absorbed in boundless consciousness as one”s preoccupation, with no form or figure acting as the sign or focal point of one”s concentration.
3. Akiñcaññayatana: focusing exclusively on a fainter or more subtle sense of cognizance that has no limit and in which nothing appears or disappears, to the point where one almost understands it to be nibbana.
4. Nevasañña-nasaññayatana: being absorbed in a feeling that occurs in the mind, that isn”t awareness exactly, but neither is it non-awareness; i.e., there is awareness, but with no thinking, no focusing of awareness on what it knows.
These four formless absorptions are merely resting places for the mind, because they are states that the mind enters, stays in, and leaves. They are by nature unstable and inconstant, so we shouldn”t rest content simply at this level. We have to go back and forth through the various levels many times so as to realize that they”re only stages of enforced tranquillity.
One resolution into elements: i.e., regarding each part of the body simply in terms of physical properties or elements.
One perception of the filthiness of food: i.e., viewing food as something repugnant and unclean — with regard to where it comes from, how it”s prepared, how it”s mixed together when it”s chewed, and where it stays in the stomach and intestines.
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With one exception, all of the meditation themes mentioned here are simply gocara dhamma — foraging places for the mind. They”re not places for the mind to stay. If we try to go live in the things we see when we”re out foraging, we”ll end up in trouble. Thus, there is one theme that”s termed "vihara dhamma" or "anagocara": Once you”ve developed it, you can use it as a place to stay. When you practice meditation, you don”t have to go foraging in other themes; you can stay in the single theme that”s the apex of all meditation themes: anapanassati, keeping the breath in mind. This theme, unlike the others, has none of the features or various deceptions that can upset or disturb the heart. As for the others:
— Some of the recollections, when you”ve practiced them for a long time, can give rise to startling or unsettling visions.
— The ten foul objects can give rise after a while to visions and sometimes to sense of alienation and discontent that turns into restlessness and distress, your mind being unable to fashion anything on which it can come to re…
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