..续本文上一页he mind lets down its burdens and concerns to rest for a while, like a person walking along who meets with something pleasing and attractive, and so stops to look: Both feet are standing still, stepping neither forward nor back.

　　If we aren”t skilled enough to go on any further, we”ll then retreat. If we see results — such as signs and visions — arising in the mind, we may get excited and so cause our original preoccupation to waver or fade. Like a person sitting on a chair: If he sees something appealing in front of him, he may become so interested that he leans forward and reaches out his hand; he may even begin to budge a bit from his seat or stand up completely. In the same way, if we get engrossed in visions, thoughts, or views while we”re engaged in threshold concentration, we can become excited and pleased — we may even think that we”ve reached the transcendent — and this can cause our concentration to degenerate. If we try to do it again and can”t, we may then seize the opportunity to say that we”ve gone beyond the practice of concentration, so that we can now take the way of discernment — thinking, pondering, and letting go in line with nothing more than our own views and ideas. This, though, is not likely to succeed, because our knowledge has no firm basis or core, like a wheel with no axle or hub: How can it get anywhere

　　 The power of threshold concentration, if we don”t watch after it well, is bound to deteriorate, and we”ll be left with nothing but old, left-over concepts.

　　3. Rupavacara-appana-samadhi (fixed penetration in the realm of form): This refers to the practice of all four levels of rupa jhana. The first jhana has five factors: directed thought, evaluation, fullness, pleasure, and singleness of preoccupation. The second level has three: fullness, pleasure, and singleness of preoccupation. The third has two: pleasure and singleness of preoccupation; and the fourth has two: equanimity and singleness of preoccupation.

　　Discussion

　　Fixed penetration in the realm of form means that the mind focuses on the internal sense of the body, remaining steadily with a single object — such as the in-and-out breath — until it reaches jhana, beginning with the first level, which is composed of directed thought, evaluation, fullness, pleasure, and singleness of preoccupation. When you see results arising, focus in on those results and they will then turn into the second level, which has three factors: fullness, pleasure and singleness of preoccupation. As your focus becomes stronger, it causes the sense of fullness to waver, so you can now let go of that sense of fullness, and your concentration turns into the third jhana, in which only two factors are left: pleasure and singleness of preoccupation. The mind has few burdens; its focus is strong and the sense of inner light is radiant. This causes the feeling of pleasure to waver, so that you can let go of that sense of pleasure, and the mind attains oneness in a very subtle preoccupation. The preoccupation doesn”t waver and neither does the mind. It stands firm in its freedom. This is called equanimity and singleness of preoccupation, which form the fourth jhana. Mindfulness is powerful; alertness, complete. Both are centered on a single pre-occupation without getting snagged on any other allusions or perceptions. This mental state is called the fourth jhana, which has two factors: Equanimity is the external attitude of the mind; as for the real factors, they”re mindfulness and singleness, steady and firm.

　　The mind experiences a sense of brightness, the radiance that arises from its state of fixed penetration. Mindfulness and alertness are circumspect and all-round, and so give rise to skill and proficiency in practicing jhana — in focusing, staying in place, stepping through…

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