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Buddhist-Meditation-Systematic-and-Practical

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accumulate to aid him onwards to nirvana. The other,<br />

who lacks this, must go to heaven for his deeds.<br />

Whether one will get rebirth in heavenly states or attain<br />

nirvana is entirely according to one's knowledge <strong>and</strong><br />

meditation of sunyata.<br />

3. The four boundless minds have been left aside so far,<br />

as they belong to mathematical, not to philosophic,<br />

boundlessness. In the Hinayana, it is admitted that they<br />

are meditations for heaven, not even for arhathood. In<br />

their practice, there is still a subject (one who practices)<br />

<strong>and</strong> an object (the person toward whom one practices),<br />

<strong>and</strong> the good deeds one does (the friendliness,<br />

compassion, etc. cultivated), <strong>and</strong> all this leads to<br />

heavenly attainment.<br />

With the realization of sunyata it is quite different. The<br />

subject is void, the object is void, <strong>and</strong> so too are all the<br />

deeds done; consequently, the merits are not for<br />

heavenly fruit. Such is Mahayana practice of these<br />

boundless minds.<br />

D. The <strong>Practical</strong> Methods of Mahayana Sunyata<br />

<strong>Meditation</strong>s<br />

I have arranged these into four classes:<br />

1. <strong>Meditation</strong>s of sunyata—here there are four methods.<br />

a. First meditation: To meditate according to the four<br />

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