2.
The Discourse on the Body-Witness
43.
"'Body-witness, body-witness', friend, is said.
In what way, friend, has a body-witness been spoken of by the Blessed One?"
"Here, friends, a monk, quite secluded from sensual pleasures... etc.
he enters and dwells in the first meditative absorption.
And in whatever way that plane is, in that way he dwells having touched it with the body.
To this extent too, friends, a body-witness has been spoken of by the Blessed One by method.
"Furthermore, friends, with the subsiding of applied and sustained thought, a monk... etc. the second meditative absorption... the third meditative absorption... he enters and dwells in the fourth meditative absorption. And in whatever way that plane is, in that way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent too, friends, a body-witness has been spoken of by the Blessed One by method.
"Furthermore, friends, with the complete transcendence of perceptions of material form, with the passing away of perceptions of sensory impingement, with inattention to perceptions of diversity, aware that 'space is infinite,' a monk enters and dwells in the plane of infinite space. And in whatever way that plane is, in that way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent too, friends, a body-witness has been spoken of by the Blessed One by method... etc.
"Furthermore, friends, a monk, having completely transcended the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, enters and dwells in the cessation of perception and feeling, and having seen with wisdom, his mental corruptions are utterly eliminated. And in whatever way that plane is, in that way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent too, friends, a body-witness has been spoken of by the Blessed One without qualification." The second.