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102
Buddhist Philosophy
[CH.
The man who has practised sila must train his mind first in particular ways, so that it may be possible for him to acquire the chief concentration of meditation called jhāna (fixed and steady meditation). These preliminary endeavours of the mind for the acquirement of jhānasamādhi eventually lead to it and are called upacāra samādhi (preliminary samādhi) as distinguished from the jhānasamadhi called the appanāsamadhi (achieved samādhi)! Thus as a preparatory measure, firstly he has to train his mind continually to view with disgust the appetitive desires for eating and drinking (ālāre pațikkūlasaññā) by emphasizing in the mind the various troubles that are associated in seeking food and drink and their ultimate loathsome transformations as various nauseating bodily elements. When a man continually habituates himself to emphasize the disgusting associations of food and drink, he ceases to have any attachment to them and simply takes them as an unavoidable evil, only awaiting the day when the final dissolution of all sorrows will come? Secondly he has to habituate his mind to the idea that all the parts of our body are made up of the four elements, kşiti (earth), ap (water), tejas (fire) and wind (air), like the carcase of a cow at the butcher's shop. This is technically called catudhātuvavatthānabhāvanā (the meditation of the body as being made up of the four elements) Thirdly he has to habituate his mind to think again and again (anussati) about the virtues or greatness of the Buddha, the sangha (the monks following the Buddha), the gods and the law (dhamma) of the Buddha, about the good effects of sila, and the making of gifts (cāgānussati), about the nature of death (maranānussat:) and about the deep nature and qualities of the final extinction of all phenomena (upasamānussati)'.
As it is not possible for me to enter into details, I follow what appears to me to be the main line of division showing the interconnection of jhāna (Skr. dhrana) with its accessory stages called parikammas (Visuddhimagga, pp. 85 f.).
2 Visuddhimagga, pp. 341-347; mark the intense pessimistic attitude, “Imai ca pana āhare patikulasaññām anuyuttassa bhikkhuno rasatanhāya cittam pațilīyati, paţikuttati, patirattati; so, kantaranittharaṇatthiko viya puttamamsam vigatamado ahāram āhāreti yāvad eva dukkhassa nittharanatthaya," p. 347. The mind of him who inspires himself with this supreme disgust to all food, becomes free from all desires for palatable tastes, and turns its back to them and fies off from them. As a means of getting rid of all sorrow he takes his food without any attachment as one would eat the flesh of his own son to sustain himself in crossing a forest. 3 Visuddhimayga, pp. 347-370.
4 Visuddhimagga, pp. 197-294.
