The Practice Which leads to Nibbana - A Buddhist Library

w 62jhŒna you should develop a desire to attain the fourth jhŒna andagain concentrate on the paÊibhŒga nimitta. In this way you will beable to attain the fourth jhŒna, possessed of upekkha (equanimity)and ekaggata. You should then practise the mastery of the fourthjhŒna.With the attainment of the fourth jhŒna the breath completelystops. This completes the fourth stage in the development ofŒnŒpŒnasati:4.ÒCalming the breath body I will breathe inÓ, thus he trains himselfand, ÒCalming the breath body I will breathe outÓ, thus he trainshimself.This stage begins just before the nimitta appears and as concentrationdevelops through the four jhŒnas the breath becomes progressivelycalmer and calmer until it stops.If a meditator has reached the fourth jhŒna by using mindfulnessof breathing and has developed the five masteries then when thelight produced by that samŒdhi is bright, brilliant, and radiant he isable to move on to develop insight meditation.But it is also appropriate at this point to continue to show how todevelop the thirty-two parts of the body meditation, the bones meditation,the white kasiöa meditation and the four protection meditations.These meditations are taught in this order because experiencehas shown it is generally easier to learn them in this order becauseeach one assists the development of the next. In particular if a meditatorhas developed the white kasiöa he will easily and quickly beable to develop the four protection meditations and also the detailedmethod of four elements meditation.We will now begin by showing how to develop the thirty-twoparts of the body meditation, the bones meditation, and the whitekasiöa meditation.