..续本文上一页hat is pure and undistorted. Then, noting the disturbances inherent in the act of focusing on “wilderness,” the monk drops that perception and replaces it with a more refined perception, one with less potential for arousing disturbance. He chooses the earth element, banishing from his mind any details of the hills and ravines of the earth, simply taking note of its earthness. He repeats the process he applied to the perception of wilderness—settling into the perception of “earth,” fully indulging in it, and then stepping back to notice how the disturbances associated with “wilderness” are now gone, while the only remaining disturbances are those associated with the singleness of mind based on the perception of “earth.”

　　He then repeats the same process with ever more refined perceptions, settling into the formless jhanas, or meditative absorptions: infinite space, infinite consciousness, nothingness, neither perception nor non‐perception, and the objectless concentration of awareness.

　　Finally, seeing that even this objectless concentration of awareness is fabricated and willed, he drops his desire to continue mentally fabricating anything at all. In this way he is released from the mental fermentations— sensual desire, becoming, views, ignorance—that would “bubble up” into further becoming. He observes that this release still has the disturbances that come with the functioning of the six sense spheres, but that it”s empty of all fermentation, all potential for further suffering and stress. This, concludes the Buddha, is the entry into a pure and undistorted emptiness that is superior and unsurpassed. It”s the emptiness in which he himself dwells and that, throughout time, has never been nor ever will be excelled.

　　Throughout this description, emptiness means one thing: empty of disturbance or stress. The meditator is taught to appreciate the lack of disturbance as a positive accomplishment, and to see any remaining disturbance created by the mind, however subtle, as a problem to be solved. When you understand disturbance as a subtle form of harm, you see the connections between this description of emptiness and the Buddha”s instructions to Rahula. Instead of regarding his meditative states as a measure of self‐identity or self‐worth—in having developed a self that”s purer, more expansive, more at one with the ground of being—the monk views them simply in terms of actions and their consequences. And the same principles apply here, on the meditative level, as apply in the Buddha”s comments to Rahula on action in general. Here, the action is the perception that underlies your state of meditative concentration. You settle into the state by repeating the action of perception continually until you are thoroughly familiar with it. Just as Rahula discovered the consequences of his actions by observing the obvious harm done to himself or to others, here you discover the consequences of concentrating on the perception by seeing how much disturbance arises from the mental action. As you sense disturbance, you can change your mental action, moving your concentration to a more refined perception, until ultimately you can stop the fabrication of mental states altogether.

　　At the core of this meditation practice are two important principles derived from the instructions to Rahula. The first is honesty: the ability to be free of embellishment or denial, adding no interpretation to the disturbance actually present, while at the same time not trying to deny that it”s there. An integral part of this honesty is the ability to see things simply as action and result, without reading into them the conceit “I am.”

　　The second principle is compassion—the desire to end suffering—in that you keep trying to abandon the causes of stress and disturbance where…

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