..续本文上一页g on the breath, moving the mind deeper to a more subtle level to escape the motions of rapture and pleasure, and you enter the third jhana.

　　3. The third jhana has two factors: pleasure and singleness of preoccupation. The body is quiet, motionless, and solitary. No feelings of pain arise to disturb it. The mind is solitary and still. The breath is refined, free-flowing, and broad. A radiance -- white like cotton wool -- pervades the entire body, stilling all feelings of physical and mental discomfort. Keep focused on looking after nothing but the broad, refined breath. The mind is free: No thoughts of past or future disturb it. The mind stands out on its own. The four properties -- earth, water, fire, and wind -- are in harmony throughout the body. You could almost say that they”re pure throughout the entire body, because the breath has the strength to control and take good care of the other properties, keeping them harmonious and coordinated. Mindfulness is coupled with singleness of preoccupation, which acts as the cause. The breath fills the body. Mindfulness fills the body.

　　Focus on in: The mind is bright and powerful, the body is light. Feelings of pleasure are still. Your sense of the body feels steady and even, with no slips or gaps in your awareness, so you can let go of your sense of pleasure. The manifestations of pleasure grow still because the four properties are balanced and free from motion. Singleness of preoccupation, the cause, has the strength to focus more heavily down, taking you to the fourth jhana.

　　4. The fourth jhana has two factors: equanimity (upekkha) and singleness of preoccupation, or mindfulness. Equanimity and singleness of preoccupation on the fourth jhana are powerfully focused -- solid, stable, and sure. The breath property is absolutely quiet, free from ripples, crosscurrents, and gaps. The mind, neutral and still, is free of all preoccupations with past and future. The breath, which forms the present, is still, like the ocean or air when they are free from currents or waves. You can know distant sights and sounds because the breath is even and unwavering, acting like a movie screen that gives a clear reflection of whatever is projected onto it. Knowledge arises in the mind: You know but stay neutral and still. The mind is neutral and still; the breath, neutral and still; past, present, and future are all neutral and still. This is true singleness of preoccupation, focused on the unperturbed stillness of the breath. All parts of the breath in the body connect so that you can breathe through every pore. You don”t have to breathe through the nostrils, because the in-and-out breath and the other aspects of the breath in the body form a single, unified whole. All aspects of the breath energy are even and full. The four properties all have the same characteristics. The mind is completely still.

　　The focus is strong; the light, aglow.

　　This is to know the great frame of reference.

　　The mind is beaming & bright --

　　 like the light of the sun

　　that, unobstructed by clouds or haze,

　　illumines the earth with its rays.

　　The mind sheds light in all directions. The breath is radiant, the mind fully radiant, due to the focusing of mindfulness.

　　The focus is strong; the light, aglow... The mind has power and authority. All four of the frames of reference are gathered into one. There is no sense that, "That”s the body... That”s a feeling... That”s the mind... That”s a mental quality." There”s no sense that they”re four. This is thus called the great frame of reference, because none of the four are in any way separate.

　　The mind is firmly intent, centered & true, due to the strength of its focus.

　　Mindfulness and alertness converge into one: This is what is meant by the one path (ekayana-…

《Keeping the Breath in Mind and Lessons in Samadhi》全文未完，请进入下页继续阅读…