The Four Dhyanas and Formless States
The meaning of this, from the first dhyana to the fourth, is as follows. On the preparatory stage only the seven types of attention are important. The seven types of attention are, in summary: the attentions of characteristics, interest, seclusion, delight, discernment, basis of application, and result.
These seven types of attention are successively:
1. The attention that fully discriminates characteristics is, taking the example of the first dhyana, to focus the mind inwardly and put effort into fully training in that and then to exert oneself in developing the samadhi of the first dhyana, by means of the learning, reflection, and meditation of, first, regarding the Realm of Desire as being coarse because it has much pain and has many flaws, such as discomposure and so forth and, next, regarding the first dhyana as opposed to that, namely as having a pacified form.
2. The attention resulting from interest is, having trained in the former by means of the knowledge resulting from meditation, to give rise to the training in the samadhi of the first dhyana, which is beyond learning and reflection.
3. The attention resulting from total seclusion is, again after having cultivated as before, to give rise to the remedy for discarding, by means of the path of cultivation, the major discards of the Realm of Desire, and then discarding the manifest disturbing emotions of the Realm of Desire.
4. The attention of taking delight is, by means of the lesser delight and bliss resulting from complete seclusion, that one delights in discarding what is coarse, and after seeing that as a benefit one keeps from time to time the attention of great delight. This will relinquish the medium disturbing emotions of the Realm of Desire.
5. The attention of discernment is, after having in this way relinquished most of the disturbing emotions with their remedies, to give rise to the notion “Are all the disturbing emotions not relinquished?” and then to apply the attention of discernment corresponding to the arising of disturbing emotions, in order to examine whether or not disturbing emotions arise.
6. The attention of the basis of application is, when examining in that way and seeing that disturbing emotions are arising, to give rise in one’s being to the remedies against the lesser disturbing emotions of the Realm of Desire by means of cultivating the aspects of the pacified and the coarse as before.
7. The attention of the result of the basis of application is, by having cultivated the path above and what follows it, to apply the attention of experiencing their results.
In this way, the first dhyana and from the second up to the summit of existence are accomplished by means of the seven types of attention, regarding them [the dhyanas] as having the aspects of being pacified or coarse.
The individual path of the first attention is its path of joining. The three that are the attentions of complete seclusion, of taking delight, and of the basis of application are its uninterrupted path. The attention of discernment is its special path. And the attention of the result of application is its path of liberation.
The three that are the attentions of complete seclusion, of taking delight, and of the basis of application are lesser, medium, and greater aspects and thus are successively remedies against the lesser, medium, and greater disturbing emotions.
The capable preparatory stage is the seven types of attention in addition to the basis of the nine means of mental stillness.
Both the ordinary and special main part are as will be explained below.
It is taught that the mundane vipashyana should be accomplished by means of the seven types of attention. This means that the shamatha of the meditation state is the nine methods of mental stillness, and the vipashyana of the postmeditation state is the seven types of attention. By means of these two aspects, the causes and effects of all the dhyanas will arise.
The first dhyana is a state with both concept and discernment. The second dhyana is a state without concept but with just discernment. The third dhyana is a state without delight but with bliss. The fourth dhyana is a state of equanimity.
The four states of formless spheres are: the state of the sphere of infinite space, the sphere of infinite consciousness, the sphere of nothing whatsoever, and the sphere of neither presence nor absence, which is also called the sphere of neither absence of conception nor presence of conception.
The four states of formless spheres are:
1. The serenity of the sphere of infinite space is to have attained and not lapsed from the mental state of the fourth dhyana and, in addition, that the three of form [such as square and so forth], touch [of what is obstructible], and visual appearances [of white, yellow, and so forth] are blocked, and thus one has the complete meditation of thinking, “All phenomena are infinite, like space!”
2. The serenity of the sphere of infinite consciousness is, in addition to that, to have the complete meditation of thinking, “Just like space is infinite, consciousness is also infinite!”
3. The serenity of the sphere of nothing whatsoever is, after seeing that both of these have conceptual attributes, to have the complete meditation of thinking, “There is nothing whatsoever to apprehend!”
4. The serenity of the sphere of neither absence of conception nor presence of conception is, after seeing that the three of them have conceptual attributes, to have the complete meditation of thinking, “Coarse conceptions are absent, and subtle conceptions are not absent!” This is the ultimate path of the summit of existence.
By means of having cultivated the causes, the dhyanas of serenity, one attains their result, the dhyanas of rebirth. For that, the eight aspects of the preparatory stage for the dhyanas of serenity explained above are the seven types of attention, in addition to the basis of the nine means of mental stillness—eight altogether—and these are preliminary meditations.
The eight aspects of the main stage of the dhyanas are the eight from the state with both concept and discernment to the state with neither absence nor presence of conception.
The special stage of dhyana is the perfection of the individual stages.
The results, the dhyanas of rebirth, are the gods of the seventeen abodes of the Realm of Form comprised of the Four Dhyana Realms. One is reborn within the Three Brahma Abodes in the First Dhyana Realm by cultivating the four immeasurables and the firelike concept and discernment. Being further accustomed to these states, one is reborn in the Three Abodes of Radiance within the Second Dhyana Realm, with its waterlike joy and bliss. Being further accustomed to these states, one is reborn in the Three Abodes of Goodness within the Third Dhyana Realm, with its windlike inhaling and exhaling of breath. Being further accustomed to these states, one is reborn in either of the three flawless abodes within the Fourth Dhyana Realm—Cloudless Light and so forth. By increasing an undefiled state by meditating on the fourth dhyana, one takes rebirth within the Five Pure Abodes, depending upon whether this cultivation is lesser, medium, great, greater, or extremely great.
The paramita teachings mention seventeen abodes, while some other sources assert that there are eighteen. Nevertheless, the cause for taking rebirth as a long-living, conceptionless god stems from cultivating a conceptionless serenity after the third dhyana because of fixating on the cessation of notions and feelings as being nirvana. This abode is said to be situated near the god realm of Great Fruit, like a retreat place from a village, and is therefore not counted as a separate abode.
The abodes known as Immense Vista and Sublime Vision are held to be but different names for the same place, and thus it is also accepted that there are Sixteen Abodes of the Realm of Form.
The Formless Realm contains the gods in the four states of formless spheres.