Path of Freedom [Vimuttimagga]

72 VimuttimaggaMEANING OF KASINAQ. What is the meaning of kasinalA. Pervasiveness — this is called kasina. It is even as the EnlightenedOne taught in the stanza:- 1"When a man remembersthe worth of the 'wakened ones,the joy that wells within himfloods his body through.So, when with spreading earth-thoughtRose-apple Isle's suffused,the earth-wrought state is likenedto the body with bliss perfused".Meditating thus one causes this mandala to prevail everywhere.KINDS OF EARTHQ. How many kinds of earth are there? Taking which earth as signshould one practise?A. There are two kinds of earth. 2 1. Natural earth. 2. Preparedearth. Solidity is the property of natural earth. This is called natural earth.What is made of earth dug out by a man himself or by another is called preparedearth. Earth is of four colours, namely, white, black, 3 red and the colour ofdawn. Here a yogin should not add anything to natural earth. He shouldexclude white, black and red. Why? When he meditates on earth of thesecolours, he does not get the after-image. By dwelling on white, black orred, he practises colour kasina. Why? If a yogin meditates on natural earthor prepared earth, he will get the (after-) image. If it (i.e., earth) is of dawncolour,he should take that sign.NON-PREPARED EARTHQ. What is non-prepared earth sign?A. Level ground which is free from thickets, free from roots of treesor tufts of grass, within the range of vision and which arouses steady mentalactivity — this is earth perception. This is called non-prepared earth.A practised yogin gains the after-image of earth following either thedifficult or the easy way, and dwells without falling. A beginner in the first1. Not traced. Cp. Th. 381: Buddham appameyyam anussara pasanno pitiyd phutasarirohohisi sat at am udaggo.2. Cp. Vis. Mag. 123 ff.3. Nila — also sometimes rendered dark-blue, blue-black, black.