清淨道論 四禪與五分法・品末Visuddhimagga · The Fourth Absorption, the Fivefold System, and the Chapter Close

The fourth absorption abandons even pleasure, leaving the unmoving coolness of equanimity and one-pointedness. Pain, grief, pleasure, and joy are already abandoned at the moments of access to their respective absorptions, yet the canonical text says that they cease within absorption: cessation in access is mere cessation, while cessation within absorption is surpassing and without remainder. The four feelings are gathered together like a difficult ox penned with the herd and recognized as the cattle are led out one by one: neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling is subtle and difficult to know, so it becomes manifest by eliminating the four feelings. It is the third kind of feeling, not merely the absence of pain and pleasure. “Purity of mindfulness through equanimity”: equanimity is what purifies. In the three lower absorptions, the crescent moon of specific neutrality is like a moon by day, overpowered by the sunlight of applied thought and the rest. In the fourth absorption the opposing phenomena cease and the night of equanimous feeling arrives; the crescent moon becomes extremely pure, and mindfulness becomes bright with it. The fivefold system simply divides abandoning applied thought and abandoning sustained thought into two steps. The chapter’s final words, “composed to gladden good people,” return at the end of every chapter.

Ascent is subtraction: the second absorption abandons applied and sustained thought, the third abandons rapture, and the fourth abandons pleasure. Every ascent is an act of letting go—even the rapture and pleasure that surge forth in absorption may not be clutched. The summit of concentration is not liberation; it hands a polished mind over to wisdom.

The vernacular of this unit is this edition’s own rendering-with-exposition from the Pāli original (tr. mine); see this unit’s apparatus for the base-text particulars.

§24 The Fourth Absorption—Abandoning Pleasure, Purity of Mindfulness through Equanimity 〔CSCD §87–89〕

Having attained the third absorption in this way, the meditator develops mastery over it in the five modes already described. He then emerges from the mastered third absorption and sees its defects: “Rapture, the enemy of this attainment, is still near; and its factors are weak because pleasure is coarse, as stated in the words, ‘Whatever advertence of mind there is as “pleasure”—because of this it is called coarse.’” He then attends to the fourth absorption as peaceful, removes attachment to the third absorption, and should strive to attain the fourth. Thereafter, when he has emerged from the third absorption and reviews the absorption factors with mindfulness and clear comprehension, the pleasure called mental joy¹ appears coarse, while equanimous feeling and one-pointedness of mind appear peaceful. Then, to abandon the coarse factor and obtain the peaceful factors, he attends again and again to that same sign as “earth, earth.” Thinking, “Now the fourth absorption will arise,” he interrupts the life-continuum², and mind-door adverting³ arises with that same earth kasiṇa as object. Thereafter, four or five impulsions arise upon that same object. The last is of the fine-material sphere and belongs to the fourth absorption; all the others are of the sensual sphere in the way already described. But there is this distinction here: pleasant feeling cannot serve as a repetition condition for neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, while neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling must arise in the fourth absorption; therefore those impulsions are associated with equanimous feeling. Precisely because they are associated with equanimity, rapture also fades away here. At this point, “with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters and dwells in the fourth absorption, which is neither painful nor pleasant and has purity of mindfulness through equanimity⁴.” He has thus attained the fourth absorption of the earth kasiṇa, which has abandoned one factor, possesses two factors, has three excellences, and is endowed with ten characteristics.

Here, “with the abandoning of pleasure and pain” means the abandoning of bodily pleasure and bodily pain. “Previously”—that means previously, not at the moment of the fourth absorption. “With the disappearance of joy and grief” means that these two, mental pleasure and mental pain, also disappeared previously; the word “disappearance” means abandonment.

When, then, are they abandoned? At the moments of access to the four absorptions. Joy is abandoned only at the moment of access to the fourth absorption; pain, grief, and pleasure are abandoned respectively at the moments of access to the first, second, and third absorptions. Thus, although pleasure, pain, joy, and grief are not stated here in the order in which they are abandoned but in the order in which the faculties are enumerated in the Analysis of the Faculties, their abandonment should be understood in this way.

〔Question:〕 If they are abandoned at the moment of access to each respective absorption, why do the discourses say that their cessation occurs only within the absorptions? “Where does the arisen pain faculty cease without remainder? Bhikkhus, here a bhikkhu, secluded from sensual pleasures … up to … enters and dwells in the first absorption. Here the arisen pain faculty ceases without remainder. Where do the arisen grief faculty, pleasure faculty, and joy faculty cease without remainder? Bhikkhus, here a bhikkhu, with the abandoning of pleasure … up to … enters and dwells in the fourth absorption. Here the arisen joy faculty ceases without remainder.” 〔Answer:〕 Because that is a surpassing cessation. In the first absorption and the rest their cessation is surpassing, not mere cessation; at the moment of access there is mere cessation, not surpassing cessation.

For although the pain faculty has ceased in access to the first absorption under a different adverting, it may arise again through the contact of gadflies, mosquitoes, and the like, or through the discomfort of an uneven seat; within absorption it can never arise. Or, although it has ceased in access, it has not ceased well, because it has not yet been destroyed by its opposing phenomenon. Within absorption, however, the entire body is steeped in pleasure through the pervasion of rapture, and in a body steeped in pleasure the pain faculty has ceased well because it has been destroyed by its opposing phenomenon. Likewise, although the grief faculty has been abandoned in access to the second absorption under a different adverting, it arises when bodily fatigue and mental distress conditioned by applied and sustained thought are present and does not arise when applied and sustained thought are absent. It arises where applied and sustained thought are present, and they have not yet been abandoned in access to the second absorption; therefore grief may still arise there. Within the second absorption it can never arise, because its condition has been abandoned. Likewise, although the pleasure faculty has been abandoned in access to the third absorption, it may still arise in a person whose body is pervaded by the excellent materiality produced by rapture; within the third absorption it can never arise because rapture, the condition for pleasure, has completely ceased there. Likewise, although the joy faculty has been abandoned in access to the fourth absorption, it may still arise because it remains near, because equanimity has not reached absorption, and because it has not been rightly surmounted; within the fourth absorption it can never arise. Precisely for this reason “without remainder” is used at each place: “Here the arisen pain faculty ceases without remainder.”

Here someone asks: “Since these feelings have already been abandoned in access to their respective absorptions, why are they gathered together here?” 〔Answer:〕 To make the intended feeling easy to apprehend. The neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling spoken of here is subtle and difficult to know, and it cannot easily be apprehended. Suppose a fierce ox cannot be caught however it is approached. To catch it easily, a herdsman gathers all the cattle into a single pen, then leads them out in turn. When that ox comes in sequence, he says, “That is the animal—catch it,” and so it too is caught. Just so, the Blessed One gathered all these feelings together to make the intended feeling easy to apprehend. After they have been displayed together in this way, it becomes possible to apprehend that whatever is neither pleasure nor pain, neither joy nor grief, is neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.

Further, it should be understood that these feelings are also stated to show the conditions for the mind-liberation that is neither painful nor pleasant. The abandoning of pain and the rest are its conditions. As it is said: “Friends, there are four conditions for attaining the mind-liberation that is neither painful nor pleasant. Here, friends, a bhikkhu, with the abandoning of pleasure … up to … enters and dwells in the fourth absorption. Friends, these are the four conditions for attaining the mind-liberation that is neither painful nor pleasant.”

Or, just as identity view and the rest, though abandoned elsewhere, are spoken of as abandoned at the third path in order to praise it, so too it should be understood that these feelings are spoken of in connection with this absorption in order to praise it.

Or it should be understood that these feelings are stated to show that greed and hatred are exceedingly remote here because their conditions have been destroyed. Among these feelings, pleasure is a condition for joy, and joy is a condition for greed; pain is a condition for grief, and grief is a condition for hatred. Because pleasure and the rest have been destroyed, his greed and hatred, together with their conditions, have also been destroyed and are therefore exceedingly remote.

“Neither painful nor pleasant”—because pain is absent, it is “neither painful”; because pleasure is absent, it is “nor pleasant.” Through this expression the author shows here the third kind of feeling that opposes pain and pleasure, not merely the absence of pain and pleasure. The third kind of feeling is neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, also called equanimity. It should be understood as having the experience of what is contrary to agreeable and disagreeable objects as its characteristic, neutrality as its function, indistinctness as its manifestation, and the cessation of pleasure and pain as its proximate cause.

“Purity of mindfulness through equanimity” means the purity of mindfulness generated by equanimity. In this absorption mindfulness is extremely pure, and that purity of mindfulness is produced by equanimity, not by anything else. Hence this is called “purity of mindfulness through equanimity.” The Vibhaṅga also says: “This mindfulness is lucid, purified, and cleansed by this equanimity; therefore it is called purity of mindfulness through equanimity.” The equanimity by which mindfulness is purified here should be understood in meaning as specific neutrality⁵. Moreover, not only mindfulness is purified by it here; all the associated phenomena are purified. Mindfulness is merely placed first in the exposition.

This equanimity is of course also present in the three lower absorptions. But suppose a crescent moon is present by day: because it is overpowered by sunlight and does not obtain the night that accords with, or supports, its own gentleness, it is neither pure nor bright. Just so, the crescent moon of specific neutrality, overpowered by the force of opposing phenomena beginning with applied thought and deprived of the night of equanimous feeling that accords with it, is present in the various first and subsequent absorptions but is not pure. Because it is impure, mindfulness and the other co-arisen phenomena are impure as well, like the impure light of a crescent moon by day. Therefore not a single one of those three absorptions is called “purity of mindfulness through equanimity.” Here, however, because the crescent moon of specific neutrality is not overpowered by the force of opposing phenomena beginning with applied thought and has obtained the night of equanimous feeling that accords with it, it is exceedingly pure. Because it is pure, mindfulness and the other co-arisen phenomena are also pure and bright, like the light of a pure crescent moon. Therefore only this absorption is called “purity of mindfulness through equanimity.” This is how it should be understood.

“Fourth”—it is fourth according to the numerical sequence; and because the meditator enters this fourth absorption, it is fourth. As for the statement “having abandoned one factor and possessing two factors,” the abandonment of one factor should be understood through the abandoning of joy. That joy is abandoned in the earlier impulsions of the same cognitive process; hence it is called this fourth absorption’s “factor of abandonment.” Possession of two factors should be understood through the arising of equanimous feeling and one-pointedness of mind. The rest is as stated for the first absorption. This completes the method for absorption in the fourfold system⁶.

§25 Absorption in the Fivefold System and the Chapter Close 〔CSCD §90〕

A meditator who wishes to bring forth absorption in the fivefold system emerges from the mastered first absorption and sees its defects: “The hindrances, the enemies of this attainment, are still near; and its factors are weak because applied thought is coarse.” He then attends to the second absorption as peaceful, removes attachment to the first absorption, and should strive to attain the second. Thereafter, when he has emerged from the first absorption and reviews the absorption factors with mindfulness and clear comprehension, only applied thought appears coarse, while sustained thought and the rest appear peaceful. Then, to abandon the coarse factor and obtain the peaceful factors, he attends again and again to that same sign as “earth, earth,” and the second absorption arises in the manner already stated. Its sole factor of abandonment is applied thought; sustained thought and the remaining three are its four factors of possession. The rest is as already stated.

Having attained the second absorption in this way, the meditator develops mastery over it in the five modes already described. He then emerges from the mastered second absorption and sees its defects: “Applied thought, the enemy of this attainment, is still near; and its factors are weak because sustained thought is coarse.” He then attends to the third absorption as peaceful, removes attachment to the second absorption, and should strive to attain the third. Thereafter, when he has emerged from the second absorption and reviews the absorption factors with mindfulness and clear comprehension, only sustained thought appears coarse, while rapture and the rest appear peaceful. Then, to abandon the coarse factor and obtain the peaceful factors, he attends again and again to that same sign as “earth, earth,” and the third absorption arises in the manner already stated. Its sole factor of abandonment is sustained thought; as in the second absorption of the fourfold system, rapture and the remaining two are its three factors of possession. The rest is as already stated.

Thus the second absorption of the fourfold system is divided into two and becomes the second and third absorptions in the fivefold system; the third and fourth absorptions of the fourfold system become the fourth and fifth in the fivefold system. The first absorption remains the first.⁷

　　In the Visuddhimagga, composed to gladden good people,

　　in the division on the development of concentration,

　　the chapter named “Exposition of the Earth Kasiṇa”

　　is the fourth.

Notes

¹ Joy (somanassa): mental pleasant feeling, distinct from rapture (pīti), which is an absorption factor.

² Life-continuum (bhavaṅga): the underlying flow of the mental continuum; it is interrupted when a cognitive process begins and resumes when the process ends.

³ Mind-door adverting (manodvārāvajjana): the moment after interruption of the life-continuum and before impulsion in which the mind turns toward the object.

⁴ Purity of mindfulness through equanimity (upekkhā-sati-pārisuddhi): the purity of mindfulness born of equanimity; the treatise itself explains that the purity of mindfulness is produced by equanimity and not by anything else.

⁵ Specific neutrality (tatramajjhattupekkhā): one of the ten kinds of equanimity, listed and explained in this chapter’s unit on the third absorption.

⁶ Absorption in the fourfold and fivefold systems (catukka-jjhāna · pañcaka-jjhāna): the second absorption of the fourfold system is divided into the second and third absorptions of the fivefold system, while its third and fourth become the fourth and fifth.

⁷ The remaining kasiṇas other than the earth kasiṇa are not developed in this chapter; they are treated in the chapter on the remaining kasiṇas within the division on the development of concentration.