"
Then that Arada, according to the Sutras and Sastras, spoke: "Yourself
using wisdom is the expedient; but I will further dilate on this a
little; first by removing from the crowd and leading a hermit's life,
depending entirely on alms for food, extensively practising rules of
decorum, religiously adhering to right rules of conduct; desiring little
and knowing when to abstain, receiving whatever is given in food,
whether pleasant or otherwise, delighting to practise a quiet life,
diligently studying all the Sutras and Sastras; observing the character
of covetous longing and fear, without remnant of desire to live in
purity, to govern well the organs of life, the mind quieted and silently
at rest; removing desire, and hating vice, all the sorrows of life put
away, then there is happiness; and we obtain the enjoyment of the first
dhyana.[101] Having obtained this first dhyana, then with the
illumination thus obtained, by inward meditation is born reliance on
thought alone, and the entanglements of folly are put away; the mind
depending on this, then after death, born in the Brahma heavens, the
enlightened are able to know themselves; by the use of means is produced
further inward illumination; diligently persevering, seeking higher
advance, accomplishing the second dhyana, tasting of that great joy, we
are born in the Kwong-yin heaven; then by the use of means putting away
this delight, practising the third dhyana, resting in such delight and
wishing no further excellence, there is a birth in the Subhakritsna
heaven; leaving the thought of such delight, straightway we reach the
fourth dhyana, all joys and sorrows done away, the thought of escape
produced; we dwell in this fourth dhyana, and are born in the
Vrihat-phala heaven; because of its long enduring years, it is thus
called Vrihat-phala (extensive-fruit); whilst in that state of
abstraction rising higher, perceiving there is a place beyond any bodily
condition, adding still and persevering further in practising wisdom,
rejecting this fourth dhyana, firmly resolved to persevere in the
search, still contriving to put away every desire after form, gradually
from every pore of the body there is perceived a feeling of empty
release, and in the end this extends to every solid part, so that the
whole is perfected in an apprehension of emptiness.
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