8.
The Discourse on the Simile of the Lamp
984.
"The concentration of mindfulness of breathing, monks, when developed and cultivated, is of great fruit and great benefit.
And how, monks, is the concentration of mindfulness of breathing developed, how is it cultivated so that it is of great fruit and great benefit?
"Here, monks, a monk, having gone to the forest, or having gone to the root of a tree, or having gone to an empty house, sits down, folding his legs crosswise, directing his body upright, having established mindfulness in front of him. He, mindful, breathes in; mindful, he breathes out. Breathing in long, he understands: 'I breathe in long', etc. he trains: 'Observing relinquishment, I shall breathe in'; he trains: 'Observing relinquishment, I shall breathe out.' Thus developed, monks, the concentration of mindfulness of breathing, thus cultivated, is of great fruit and great benefit.
"I too, monks, before the enlightenment, while still unenlightened, being just a Bodhisatta, frequently dwelt with this abiding. For me, monks, dwelling frequently with this abiding, neither the body became weary nor the eyes; and my mind was liberated from the mental corruptions by non-clinging.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May neither my body become weary nor my eyes, and may my mind be liberated from the mental corruptions by non-clinging' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May those thoughts connected with the household life be abandoned by me' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in the non-repulsive' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I dwell perceiving the non-repulsive in the repulsive' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I dwell perceiving the repulsive in both the repulsive and the non-repulsive' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I dwell perceiving the non-repulsive in both the repulsive and the non-repulsive' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I, having avoided both the non-repulsive and the repulsive, dwell equanimous, mindful and fully aware' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome mental states, enter and dwell in the first meditative absorption, which is accompanied by applied thought and sustained thought, with rapture and happiness born of seclusion' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I, with the subsiding of applied and sustained thought, enter and dwell in the second meditative absorption, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without applied thought and without sustained thought, with rapture and happiness born of concentration' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'May I, with the fading away of rapture, dwell equanimous, mindful and fully aware, and experience happiness with the body - that which the noble ones declare: "One who is equanimous and mindful, one who dwells in happiness" - enter and dwell in the third meditative absorption' - this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'With the abandoning of pleasure and with the abandoning of pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and displeasure, may I enter and dwell in the fourth meditative absorption, which has neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity', this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - '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," may I enter and dwell in the plane of infinite space', this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'With the complete transcendence of the plane of infinite space, aware that "consciousness is infinite," may I enter and dwell in the plane of infinite consciousness', this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'With the complete transcendence of the plane of infinite consciousness, aware that "there is nothing," may I enter and dwell in the plane of nothingness', this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'With the complete transcendence of the plane of nothingness, may I enter and dwell in the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception', this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Therefore, monks, if a monk should wish - 'With the complete transcendence of the plane of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, may I enter and dwell in the cessation of perception and feeling', this very concentration of mindfulness of breathing should be well attended to.
"Thus developed, monks, thus cultivated is the concentration of mindfulness of breathing, if he feels a pleasant feeling, he understands that it is impermanent, he understands that it is not clung to, he understands that it is not delighted in; if he feels a painful feeling, he understands that it is impermanent, he understands that it is not clung to, he understands that it is not delighted in; if he feels a neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant feeling, he understands that it is impermanent, he understands that it is not clung to, he understands that it is not delighted in."
"If he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it unbound; if he feels a painful feeling, he feels it unbound; if he feels a neither-unpleasant-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it unbound. Feeling a feeling bounded by the body, he understands: 'I feel a feeling bounded by the body'; feeling a feeling bounded by life, he understands: 'I feel a feeling bounded by life'; he understands: 'Upon the body's collapse, beyond the exhaustion of life, right here all that is felt, not delighted in, will become cool.'"
"Just as, monks, an oil lamp would burn dependent on oil and dependent on a wick, through the exhaustion of that very oil and wick, being without nutriment, it would be extinguished; so too, monks, a monk feeling a feeling bounded by the body understands: 'I feel a feeling bounded by the body'; feeling a feeling bounded by life, he understands: 'I feel a feeling bounded by life'; he understands: 'Upon the body's collapse, beyond the exhaustion of life, right here all that is felt, not delighted in, will become cool.'" The eighth.