In the Buddha's Words - Bhikkhu Bodhi [210]
“Whatever exists therein of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, he sees those states as impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumor, as a barb, as a calamity, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as empty, as nonself.27 He turns his mind away from those states and directs it toward the deathless element thus: ‘This is the peaceful, this is the sublime, that is, the stilling of all formations, the relinquishing of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbāna.’28 If he is steady in that, he attains the destruction of the taints. But if he does not attain the destruction of the taints, then through that very desire for the Dhamma, that delight in the Dhamma, with the destruction of the five lower fetters he becomes one due to be reborn spontaneously [in the pure abodes] and there attain final Nibbāna without ever returning from that world.29 This is the path and way to the abandoning of the five lower fetters.
10–12. “Again, with the subsiding of thought and examination, a monk enters and dwells in the second jhāna.… Again, with the fading away as well of rapture, a monk … enters and dwells in the third jhāna.… Again, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain…a monk enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity.
“Whatever exists therein of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, he sees those states as impermanent ... as nonself. He turns his mind away from those states and directs it toward the deathless element… This is the path and way to the abandoning of the five lower fetters.
13. “Again, with the complete transcending of perceptions of forms, with the passing away of perceptions of sensory impingement, with nonattention to perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite,’ a monk enters upon and dwells in the base of the infinity of space.
“Whatever exists therein of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness,30 he sees those states as impermanent … as nonself. He turns his mind away from those states and directs it toward the deathless element … This is the path and way to the abandoning of the five lower fetters.
14. “Again, by completely transcending the base of the infinity of space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite,’ a monk enters upon and dwells in the base of the infinity of consciousness.
“Whatever exists therein of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, he sees those states as impermanent … as nonself. He turns his mind away from those states and directs it toward the deathless element… This is the path and way to the abandoning of the five lower fetters.
15. “Again, by completely transcending the base of the infinity of consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing,’ a monk enters upon and dwells in the base of nothingness.
“Whatever exists therein of feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness, he sees those states as impermanent, as suffering, as a disease, as a tumor, as a barb, as a calamity, as an affliction, as alien, as disintegrating, as void, as nonself. He turns his mind away from those states and directs it toward the deathless element thus: ‘This is the peaceful, this is the sublime, that is, the stilling of all formations, the relinquishing of all acquisitions, the destruction of craving, dispassion, cessation, Nibbāna.’ If he is steady in that, he attains the destruction of the taints. But if he does not attain the destruction of the taints, then through that very desire for the Dhamma, that delight in the Dhamma, with the destruction of the five lower fetters he becomes one due to be reborn spontaneously [in the pure abodes] and there attain final Nibbāna without ever returning