..续本文上一页te for his temperament. If he doesn”t have a teacher, he will have to select an object himself, perhaps after some experimentation. The meditation manuals collect the subjects of serenity meditation into a set of forty, called "places of work" (kammatthana) since they are the places where the meditator does the work of practice. The forty may be listed as follows:

　　ten kasinas

　　ten unattractive objects (dasa asubha)

　　ten recollections (dasa anussatiyo)

　　four sublime states (cattaro brahmavihara)

　　four immaterial states (cattaro aruppa)

　　one perception (eka sañña)

　　one analysis (eka vavatthana).

　　The kasinas are devices representing certain primordial qualities. Four represent the primary elements -- the earth, water, fire, and air kasinas; four represent colors -- the blue, yellow, red, and white kasinas; the other two are the light and the space kasinas. Each kasina is a concrete object representative of the universal quality it signifies. Thus an earth kasina would be a circular disk filled with clay. To develop concentration on the earth kasina the meditator sets the disk in front of him, fixes his gaze on it, and contemplates "earth, earth." A similar method is used for the other kasinas, with appropriate changes to fit the case.

　　The ten "unattractive objects" are corpses in different stages of decomposition. This subject appears similar to the contemplation of bodily decay in the mindfulness of the body, and in fact in olden times the cremation ground was recommended as the most appropriate place for both. But the two meditations differ in emphasis. In the mindfulness exercise stress falls on the application of reflective thought, the sight of the decaying corpse serving as a stimulus for consideration of one”s own eventual death and disintegration. In this exercise the use of reflective thought is discouraged. The stress instead falls on one-pointed mental fixation on the object, the less thought the better.

　　The ten recollections form a miscellaneous collection. The first three are devotional meditations on the qualities of the Triple Gem -- the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Sangha; they use as their basis standard formulas that have come down in the Suttas. The next three recollections also rely on ancient formulas: the meditations on morality, generosity, and the potential for pine-like qualities in oneself. Then come mindfulness of death, the contemplation of the unattractive nature of the body, mindfulness of breathing, and lastly, the recollection of peace, a discursive meditation on Nibbana.

　　The four sublime states or "pine abodes" are the outwardly directed social attitudes -- lovingkindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity -- developed into universal radiations which are gradually extended in range until they encompass all living beings. The four immaterial states are the objective bases for certain deep levels of absorption: the base of infinite space, the base of infinite consciousness, the base of nothingness, and the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception. These become accessible as objects only to those who are already adept in concentration. The "one perception" is the perception of the repulsiveness of food, a discursive topic intended to reduce attachment to the pleasures of the palate. The "one analysis" is the contemplation of the body in terms of the four primary elements, already discussed in the chapter on right mindfulness.

　　When such a variety of meditation subjects is presented, the aspiring meditator without a teacher might be perplexed as to which to choose. The manuals pide the forty subjects according to their suitability for different personality types. Thus the unattractive objects and the contemplation of the parts of the body are judged to be most suitable for…

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