General (Development of Kasiṇas)

27.

He with Ten Powers, who all things did see,
Tells ten kasiṇas, each of which can be
The cause of fourfold and of fivefold jhāna,
The fine-material sphere’s own master key.
Now, knowing their descriptions and the way
To tackle each and how they are developed,
There are some further points that will repay
Study, each with its special part to play.

28. Of these, the earth kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as the state described as “Having been one, he becomes many” (D I 78), etc., and stepping or standing or sitting on space or on water by creating earth, and the acquisition of the bases of mastery (M II 13) by the limited and measureless method.

29. The water kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as diving in and out of the earth (D I 78), causing rain, storms, creating rivers and seas, making the earth and rocks and palaces quake (M I 253).

30. The fire kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as smoking, flaming, causing showers of sparks, countering fire with fire, ability to burn only what one wants to burn (S IV 290), [176] causing light for the purpose of seeing visible objects with the divine eye, burning up the body by means of the fire element at the time of attaining Nibbāna (M-a IV 196).

31. The air kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as going with the speed of the wind, causing wind storms.

32. The blue kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as creating black forms, causing darkness, acquisition of the bases of mastery by the method of fairness and ugliness, and attainment of the liberation by the beautiful (see M II 12)

33. The yellow kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as creating yellow forms, resolving that something shall be gold (S I 116), acquisition of the bases of mastery in the way stated, and attainment of the liberation by the beautiful.

34. The red kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as creating red forms, acquisition of the bases of mastery in the way stated, and attainment of the liberation by the beautiful.

35. The white kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as creating white forms, banishing stiffness and torpor, dispelling darkness, causing light for the purpose of seeing visible objects with the divine eye.

36. The light kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as creating luminous forms, banishing stiffness and torpor, dispelling darkness, causing light for the purpose of seeing visible objects with the divine eye.

37. The space kasiṇa is the basis for such powers as revealing the hidden, maintaining postures inside the earth and rocks by creating space inside them, travelling unobstructed through walls, and so on.

38. The classification “above, below, around, exclusive, measureless” applies to all kasiṇas; for this is said: “He perceives the earth kasiṇa above, below, around, exclusive, measureless” (M II 14), and so on.

39. Herein, above is upwards towards the sky’s level. Below is downwards towards the earth’s level. Around is marked off all around like the perimeter of a field. For one extends a kasiṇa upwards only, another downwards, another all round; or for some reason another projects it thus as one who wants to see visible objects with the divine eye projects light. [177] Hence “above, below, around” is said. The word exclusive, however, shows that anyone such state has nothing to do with any other. Just as there is water and nothing else in all directions for one who is actually in water, so too, the earth kasiṇa is the earth kasiṇa only; it has nothing in common with any other kasiṇa. Similarly in each instance. Measureless means measureless intentness. He is intent upon the entirety with his mind, taking no measurements in this way: “This is its beginning, this is its middle.”

40. No kasiṇa can be developed by any living being described as follows: “Beings hindered by kamma, by defilement or by kamma-result, who lack faith, zeal and understanding, will be incapable of entering into the certainty of rightness in profitable states” (Vibh 341).

41. Herein, the words hindered by kamma refer to those who possess bad kamma entailing immediate effect [on rebirth].^[1] By defilement: who have fixed wrong view^[2] or are hermaphrodites or eunuchs. By kamma-result: who have had a rebirth-linking with no [profitable] root-cause or with only two [profitable] root-causes. Lack faith: are destitute of faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. Zeal: are destitute of zeal for the unopposed way. Understanding: are destitute of mundane and supramundane right view. Will be incapable of entering into the certainty of rightness in profitable states means that they are incapable of entering into the noble path called “certainty” and “rightness in profitable states.”

42. And this does not apply only to kasiṇas; for none of them will succeed in developing any meditation subject at all. So the task of devotion to a meditation subject must be undertaken by a clansman who has no hindrance by kamma-result, who shuns hindrance by kamma and by defilement, and who fosters faith, zeal and understanding by listening to the Dhamma, frequenting good men, and so on.

The fifth chapter called “The Description of the Remaining Kasiṇas” in the Treatise on the Development of Concentration in the Path of Purification composed for the purpose of gladdening good people.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The five kinds of bad kamma with immediate effect on rebirth are, in that order of priority: matricide, parricide, arahanticide, intentional shedding of a Buddha’s blood, and causing a schism in the Community, all of which cause rebirth in hell and remaining there for the remainder of the aeon (kappa), whatever other kinds of kamma may have been performed (M-a IV 109f.).

[2]:

The no-cause view, moral-inefficacy-of-action view, the nihilistic view that there is no such thing as giving, and so on (see DN 2).