{"collection":"Samyutta Nikaya","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/suttacentral_sn54.8/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/suttacentral_sn54.8","id":"suttacentral_sn54.8","license":"CC0","rights_basis":"suttacentral_bilara_data_cc0","source":"suttacentral","source_url":"https://suttacentral.net/sn54.8/en/sujato","summary":null,"tags":["Early Buddhist Texts","Samyutta Nikaya"],"text":"\u201cMendicants, when immersion due to mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated it\u2019s very fruitful and beneficial. How so? It\u2019s when a mendicant\u2014gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut\u2014sits down cross-legged, sets their body straight, and brings mindfulness to the present. Just mindful, they breathe in. Mindful, they breathe out. Breathing in heavily they know: \u2018I\u2019m breathing in heavily.\u2019 Breathing out heavily they know: \u2018I\u2019m breathing out heavily.\u2019 \u2026 They practice like this: \u2018I\u2019ll breathe in observing letting go.\u2019 They practice like this: \u2018I\u2019ll breathe out observing letting go.\u2019 That\u2019s how immersion due to mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, is very fruitful and beneficial. Before my awakening\u2014when I was still unawakened but intent on awakening\u2014I too usually practiced this kind of meditation. And while I was usually practicing this kind of meditation neither my body nor my eyes became fatigued. And my mind was freed from defilements by not grasping. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May neither my body nor my eyes became fatigued. And may my mind be freed from the defilements by not grasping.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May I give up memories and thoughts tied to domestic life.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May I meditate perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May I meditate perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May I meditate perceiving the repulsive in the unrepulsive and the repulsive.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May I meditate perceiving the unrepulsive in the repulsive and the unrepulsive.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018May I meditate staying equanimous, mindful and aware, shunning both the repulsive and the unrepulsive.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018Quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, may I enter and remain in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, may I enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018With the fading away of rapture, may I enter and remain in the third absorption, where I will meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, \u201cEquanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.\u201d\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018With the giving up of pleasure and pain, and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, may I enter and remain in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018Going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that \u201cspace is infinite\u201d, may I enter and remain in the dimension of infinite space.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018Going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that \u201cconsciousness is infinite\u201d, may I enter and remain in the dimension of infinite consciousness.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018Going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that \u201cthere is nothing at all\u201d, may I enter and remain in the dimension of nothingness.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018Going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, may I enter and remain in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. Now, a mendicant might wish: \u2018Going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, may I enter and remain in the cessation of perception and feeling.\u2019 So let them closely focus on this immersion due to mindfulness of breathing. When immersion due to mindfulness of breathing has been developed and cultivated in this way, if they feel a pleasant feeling, they understand that it\u2019s impermanent, that they\u2019re not attached to it, and that they don\u2019t take pleasure in it. If they feel a painful feeling, they understand that it\u2019s impermanent, that they\u2019re not attached to it, and that they don\u2019t take pleasure in it. If they feel a neutral feeling, they understand that it\u2019s impermanent, that they\u2019re not attached to it, and that they don\u2019t take pleasure in it. If they feel a pleasant feeling, they feel it detached. If they feel a painful feeling, they feel it detached. If they feel a neutral feeling, they feel it detached. Feeling the end of the body draw close, they understand: \u2018I feel the end of the body draw close.\u2019 Feeling the end of life draw close, they understand: \u2018I feel the end of life draw close.\u2019 They understand: \u2018When my body breaks up and my life has come to an end, everything that\u2019s felt, since I no longer take pleasure in it, will become cool right here.\u2019 Suppose an oil lamp depended on oil and a wick to burn. As the oil and the wick are used up, it would be extinguished due to not being fed. In the same way, feeling the end of the body draw close, they understand: \u2018I feel the end of the body draw close.\u2019 Feeling the end of life draw close, they understand: \u2018I feel the end of life draw close.\u2019 They understand: \u2018When my body breaks up and my life has come to an end, everything that\u2019s felt, since I no longer take pleasure in it, will become cool right here.\u2019\u201d","title":"The Simile of the Lamp","tradition":"Samyutta Nikaya","translated_text":null,"word_count":1108}