the/formless/jhanas/required/mastery/of/the/fourth/rupa/jhana
to/be/embarked/upon/successfully
but/i/just/read/of/two/instances
in/which/a/different/route/is/taken
so/it/appears/i/was/mistaken.
it/seems/to/me/that/when/the/Buddha/was/still/physically/present
there/were/a/number/of/ways/to/practice/meditation
for/the/ending/of/the/mental/effluents
the/notion/that/only/one/way/or/only/another/way
is/the/right/one
might/not/be/entirely/correct
theres/a/saying
*theres/more/than/one/way/to/skin/a/cat*
not/a/nice/image/but/im/beginning/to/believe
that/there/might/be/quite/a/few/meditation/techniques
that/worked/for/particular/individuals
which/today/are/not/widely/practiced/or/known/anymore
but/which/in/the/early/days/of/the/Sangha,/were.
There/is/also/this/sutta,/in/which/the/fourth/jhanaThanissaroBhikkhu wrote:Emptiness as a State of Concentration
The third kind of emptiness taught by the Buddha — as a state of concentration — is essentially another way of using insight into emptiness as an attribute of the senses and their objects as a means to attain release. One discourse (MN 43) describes it as follows: A monk goes to sit in a quiet place and intentionally perceives the six senses and their objects as empty of self or anything pertaining to self. As he pursues this perception, it brings his mind not directly to release, but to the formless jhana of nothingness, which is accompanied by strong equanimity.
Another discourse (MN 106) pursues this topic further, noting that the monk relishes the equanimity. If he simply keeps on relishing it, his meditation goes no further than that. But if he learns to see that equanimity as an action — fabricated, willed — he can look for the subtle stress it engenders. If he can observe this stress as it arises and passes away simply on its own terms, neither adding any other perceptions to it nor taking anything away, he's again adopting emptiness as an approach to his meditation. By dropping the causes of stress wherever he finds them in his concentration, he ultimately reaches the highest form of emptiness, free from all mental fabrication.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/auth ... iness.html
if/not/mentioned/(by/name),as/being/required/for/entry
into/'the/perception/of
the/dimension/of/the/infinitude/of/space':
there/is/a/problem/with/discussing/these/states(from/the/Cula-suññata Sutta: The Lesser Discourse on Emptiness):
..."He discerns that 'Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of human being are not present. Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of wilderness are not present. There is only this modicum of disturbance: the singleness based on the perception of earth.' He discerns that 'This mode of perception is empty of the perception of human being. This mode of perception is empty of the perception of wilderness. There is only this non-emptiness: the singleness based on the perception of earth.' Thus he regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as present: 'There is this.' And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with actuality, is undistorted in meaning, & pure.
(The Infinitude of Space)
"Further, Ananda, the monk — not attending to the perception of wilderness, not attending to the perception of earth — attends to the singleness based on the perception of the dimension of the infinitude of space. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles, & indulges in its perception of the dimension of the infinitude of space.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html
(although/i/admit/i/find/them/very/interesting)
its/that/afaik/none/of/us/here/have/attained/them
furthermore/almost/no/one/seems/to/advocate/them
and/they/are/not/in/common/usage/(it/would/seem?)
so/we/end/up/discussing/things/way/beyond/us
anyway/its/interesting/regardless
but/care/must/be/taken
not/to/try/to/imagine
using/the/intellect/alone
what/these/realms/must/be/like,because
aiui/whatever/our/intellect/comes/up/with
will/almost/certainly/be/wrong!
metta/