Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

should meditate that our Way becomes clear to us.
f. Sixth: A person suffering from the effects of poison
requires some powerful antidote to cure him; in the
same way, we should meditate as we suffer not from
one poison but five and need the medicine given by the
Buddha.
5. What Perversion Each Meditation Cures
Human beings always hold to the four inverted views,
the first of which is impurity seen as purity. This is
cured by the first of the mindful meditations and then in
order follow: pleasure seen in pain (cured by the second
meditation); permanence seen in impermanence
(destroyed by the third meditation); and, lastly, a self
seen where none exists (corrected by the fourth mindful
meditation).
According to the Hinayana, usual human ways of
thought are inverted, so they must first be turned right
way up with, for instance, the samapatti on
impermanence. Next comes the sublimation in the
Mahayana teachings of Prajnaparamita and through the
complete realization of sunyata, we can attain the
unabiding nirvana (sometimes called "the true or great
self"). This must be clearly distinguished from the
higher self postulated in Hinduism and Theosophy,
since the teachings of sunyata enabling a Buddhist to
reach this nirvana do not exist in Hinduism (or indeed in
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