Four meditations for progress (sutra)

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Sayalay Aloka (eds.), Asubha Sutra: Unattractiveness (AN 4.163, PTS: A ii 151) based on a very idiosyncratic translation by Ven. Thanissaro, Wisdom Quarterly

"Meditators, there are four types of meditation practice. What are these four?

1. painful practice with slow progress,
2. painful practice with quick progress,
3. pleasant practice with slow progress,
4. pleasant practice with quick progress.

Surgery will do what karma didn't.

1. "What is the first? A meditator takes up and maintains attention on the unattractiveness of the body, aware of the foulness of food, not delighting in anything in the world, focused on noticing that all formations (fabrications, compounded things) are impermanent (falling apart, hurtling toward destruction, altering from moment to moment). The perception of death becomes well established in such a person.

"One dwells relying on a learner's Five Powers:

1. the power of confidence (verifiable faith)
2. the power of conscience
3. the power of concern
4. the power of persistence (effort)
5. the power of wisdom (insight)

"But these Five Faculties —

1. the faculty of confidence (conviction)
2. the faculty of persistence (effort)
3. the faculty of mindfulness
4. the faculty of concentration
5. the faculty of wisdom — 

"appear weakly. Because of their weakness, one attains only slowly the realization [Note 1] that culminates in the end of the defilements. This is called painful practice with slow realization.

I got old so fast and now I'm trans.

2. "What is the second? One remains focused on unattractiveness (foulness) with regard to the body, aware of the loathsome aspects of food, aware of non-delight regarding the whole world, (and) focused on impermanence regarding all formations. The perception of death becomes well established. And one dwells dependent on these Five Powers (strengths) of a learner.

"And these Five Faculties appear intensely. Because of their intensity, one attains quickly the realization that leads to the ending of the defilements. This is called painful practice with fast realization.

3. "What is the third? One — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful states — enters and abides in the first meditative absorption (jhana) -- accompanied by rapture and pleasure born of seclusion and applied and sustained attention.

"With the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and abides in the second absorption -- accompanied by rapture and pleasure born of concentration, unification of mind (samadhi), free from applied and sustained attention — with internal assurance.

It's hard to mask beauty, which shines through.

"With the fading of rapture [replaced by something superior and more subtle], one remains equanimous, mindful, and alert, sensing pleasure with the body. One enters and abides in the third absorption of which the noble ones say, 'Equanimous and mindful, one enjoys a pleasant abiding.'

"With the overcoming of pleasure and pain — as with the earlier fading of joy and distress [gladness and sadness] — one enters and abides in the fourth absorption -- accompanied by equanimity and mindfulness, having overcome pleasure and pain. One dwells depending on these Five Powers of a learner.

"But these Five Faculties appear weakly. Because of their weakness, one attains only slowly the immediacy that leads to the ending of the defilements. This is called pleasant practice with slow realization [2].

When I turn inwards, bring attention to the internal experience of thing, it all becomes clear.

.

4. "What is the fourth? One remains quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful states — and one enters and abides in the first absorption -- which is accompanied by rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by applied and sustained attention.

"With the stilling of applied and sustained attention, one enters and abides in the second absorption -- which is accompanied by rapture and pleasure born of concentration, unification of mind free from applied and sustained attention — with internal assurance.

Equanimity (impartiality) is sublime.

"With the fading of rapture, one remains equanimous, mindful, and alert, and senses pleasure with the body. One enters and abides in the third absorption, of which the noble ones say, 'Equanimous and mindful, one has a pleasant abiding.'

"With the overcoming of pleasure and pain — as with the earlier fading of elation and dejection — one enters and abides in the fourth absorption, which is accompanied by purity of equanimity and mindfulness, which is [beyond and] neither pleasant nor painful.

"One dwells dependent on these Five Powers of a learner. And these Five Faculties appear intensely. Because of their intensity, one attains quickly the concentration that culminates in the end of the defilements. This is called pleasant practice with fast realization.

"These are the four types of practice."

NOTES
1: According to the Commentary, this means the "immediacy" or concentration forming the Path. This is an apparent reference to a passage in Sn 2.1: "What the excellent Enlightened One extolled as pure and called the concentration of unmediated [immediate] knowing, no equal to that concentration is to be found. This, too, is a excellent treasure in the Dharma. By this truth may there be well-being."

2: Because the description of pleasant practice here contains the standard meditative absorption (jhana) formula, while the description of painful practice contains no mention of absorption, some writers have taken this as evidence that there is an alternative path to enlightenment that does not involve the jhanas. However, this reading ignores the description of how painful practice and pleasant practice can yield either slow or fast realization. Insight comes slowly when the Five Faculties are present in a weak form and quickly when they are present in an intense form. But in both cases the faculty of concentration — which is defined by the standard formula of the absorptions (SN 48.10) — has to be present for the ending of the defilements. Because this is true both for painful and pleasant practice, both sorts of practice need absorption (jhana) in order to succeed.

• See also AN 4.162, AN 4.164, AN 4.165