THE PATH
OF PURIFICATION
(VISUDDHIMAGGA)
BY
BHADANTACARIYA BUDDHAGHOSA
Translated from the Pali
by
BHIKKHU NANAMOLI
FIFTH EDITION
BUDDHIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY
Kandy Sri Lanka
[GENERAL]
56. Thus has the Peerless Helper told
The fourfold immaterial state;
To know these general matters too
Will not be inappropriate.
57. For these immaterial states:
While reckoned by surmounting of
The object they are four, the wise
Do not admit surmounting of
Factors that one can recognize.
58. Of these [four], the first is due to surmounting signs of materiality,
the second is due to surmounting space, the third is due to surmounting
the consciousness that occurred with that space as its object, and the
fourth is due to surmounting the disappearance of the consciousness that
occurred with that space as its object. So they should be understood as
four in number with the surmounting of the object in each case. [339]
But the wise do not admit any surmounting of [jhana] factors; for there
is no surmounting of factors in them as there is in the case of the fine-
material-sphere attainments. Each one has just the two factors, namely,
equanimity and unification of mind.
59. That being so:
They progress in refinement; each
Is finer than the one before.
Two figures help to make them known:
The cloth lengths, and each palace floor.
60. Suppose there were a four-storied palace: on its first floor the five
objects of sense pleasure were provided in a very fine form as divine
dancing, singing and music, and perfumes, scents, garlands, food, couches,
clothing, etc., and on the second they were finer than that, and on the
third finer still, and on the fourth they were finest of all; yet they are still
only palace floors, and there is no difference between them in the matter
of their state (essence) as palace floors; it is with the progressive refine-
ment of the five objects of sense pleasure that each one is finer than the
one below;—again suppose there were lengths of cloths of quadruple,
treble, double and single thickness, and [made] of thick, thin, thinner,
and very thin thread spun by one woman, all the same measure in width
and breadth; now although these lengths of cloth are four in number, yet
they measure the same in width and breadth, there is no difference in
their measurement; but in softness to the touch, fineness, and costliness
each is finer than the one before;—so too, although there are only the
two factors in all four [immaterial states], that is to say, equanimity and
unification of mind, still each one should be understood as finer than the
one before with the progressive refinement of the factors due to success-
ful development.
61. And for the fact that each of them is finer than the last [there is this
figure:]
One hangs upon a tent that stands
On filth; on him another leans.
Outside a third not leaning stands,
Against the last another leans.
Between the four men and these states
The correspondence then is shown,
And so how each to each relates
Can by a man of wit be known.
62. This is how the meaning should be construed. There was a tent in a
dirty place, it seems. Then a man arrived, and being disgusted with the
dirt, he rested himself on the tent with his hands and remained as if hung
or hanging on to it. Then another man came and leant upon the man
hanging on to the tent. Then another man came and thought, 'The one
who is hanging on to the tent and the one who is leaning upon him are
both badly off, and if the tent falls they will certainly fall. I think I shall
stand outside'. [340] So instead of leaning upon the one leaning upon the
first, he remained outside. Then another arrived, and taking account of
the insecurity of the one hanging on to the tent and the one leaning upon
him, and fancying that the one standing outside was well placed, he
stood leaning upon him.
63. Herein, this is how it should be regarded. The space from which the
kasina has been removed is like the tent in the dirty place. The [con-
sciousness of the] base consisting of boundless space, which makes space
its object owing to disgust with the sign of the fine-material, is like the
man who hangs on to the tent owing to disgust with the dirt. The [con-
sciousness of the] base consisting of boundless consciousness, the occur-
rence of which is contingent upon [the consciousness of] the base con-
sisting of boundless space whose object is space, is like the man who
leans upon the man who hangs on to the tent. The [consciousness of the]
base consisting of nothingness, which instead of making the [conscious-
ness of the] base consisting of boundless space its object has the non-
existence of that as its object, is like the man who, after considering the
insecurity of those two, does not lean upon the one hanging on to the
tent, but stands outside. The [consciousness of the] base consisting of
neither perception nor non-perception, the occurrence of which is contin-
gent upon [the consciousness of] the base consisting of nothingness,
which stands in a place outside, in other words, in the non-existence of
[the past] consciousness, is like the man who stands leaning upon the
last-named, having considered the insecurity of the one hanging on to
the tent and the one leaning upon him, and fancying that the one stand-
ing outside is well placed.
04. And while occurring in this way:
It takes this for its object since
There is no other one as good,
As men depend upon a king,
Whose fault they see, for livelihood.
65. For although this [consciousness of the] base consisting of neither
perception nor non-perception has seen the flaw in the base consisting of
nothingness in this way, 'This attainment has the base consisting of
boundless consciousness as its near enemy', notwithstanding that fact it
takes it as its object in the absence of any other. Like what? As men for
the sake of livelihood depend on kings whose faults they see. For just as,
for the sake of livelihood and because they cannot get a livelihood else-
where, people put up with some king, ruler of all quarters, who is unre-
strained, and harsh in bodily, verbal and mental behaviour, though they
see his faults thus, 'He is harshly behaved', so too the [consciousness of
the] base consisting of neither perception nor non-perception takes that
base consisting of nothingness as its object in spite of seeing its faults in
this way, and it does so since it cannot find another [better] object.
66. As one who mounts a lofty stair
Leans on its railing for a prop,
As one who climbs an airy peak
Leans on the mountain's very top,
As one who stands on a crag's edge
Leans for support on his own knees—
Each jhana rests on that below;
For so it is with each of these.
The tenth chapter called *The Description of
the Immaterial States' in the Treatise on the De-
velopment of Concentration in the Path of Purifi-
cation composed for the purpose of gladdening
good people.
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