The Practice Which leads to Nibbana - A Buddhist Library

w 78The Base Consisting Of Boundless SpaceTo develop the four immaterial jhŒnas you should firstly reflectupon the disadvantages of matter. The human body that has beenproduced by the sperm and egg of your parents is called the producedbody (karajakŒya). Because of having a produced body(karajakŒya) you are subject to being assaulted by weapons such asknives, spears, and bullets and subject to being beaten, punched,and tortured. The produced body is also subject to many differentkinds of diseases such as diseases of the eyes, ears, heart, etc. Sothat you should firstly understand by wisdom that because you havea produced body made of matter you are subject to various kinds ofsuffering and that if you can be free from matter you can also be freefrom the suffering dependent upon matter.Even though the fourth jhŒna based on any kasiöa has alreadysurmounted gross physical matter you still need to surmount thekasiöa rèpa since it the counterpart of the gross physical matter.Having reflected like this and having become dispassionate towardsthe kasiöa rèpa you should then develop one of the nine kasiöas,such as the earth kasiöa, and use it to develop the rèpa jhŒnas, up tothe fourth jhŒna.Then after arising from the fourth rèpa jhŒna based on one of thenine kasiöas you should see the disadvantages of the jhŒna that isbased on matter reflecting that:This fourth jhŒna has as its objects kasiöa rèpa of which I havebecome dispassionate.This fourth jhŒna has joy of the third jhŒna as its near enemy.This fourth jhŒna is grosser than the four immaterial jhŒnas.Since the mental factors present in the fourth jhŒna and the fourimmaterial jhŒnas are the same you do not need to reflect on anydisadvantages concerning them as you do when developing each ofthe four rèpa jhŒnas.