dharmaamrita wrote:where in the suttas are kasinas described?
Kasiṇa means "totality". As already mentioned, the standard formula for the 10 kasiṇas is given in MN 77 Mahāsakuludāyi Sutta:
- Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to develop the ten totality spheres. One perceives the earth totality above, below, and across, undivided and immeasurable... And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the perfection and consummation of direct gnosis.
Terms such as totality (kasiṇa), immeasurable (appamāṇa), and expansive (mahaggatā) are used in the descriptions of various samādhis throughout the discourses to indicate the expansiveness of jhāna. MN 127 Anuruddha Sutta explains the meaning of expansive mind-liberation (mahaggatā cetovimutti) and indicates the way of development:
- And what, householder, is the expansive liberation of mind? Here a monk abides resolved upon an area the size of the root of one tree, pervading it as expansive: this is called the expansive liberation of mind. Here a monk abides resolved upon an area the size of the roots of two or three trees, pervading it as expansive: this too is called the expansive liberation of mind. Here a monk abides resolved upon an area the size of one village, pervading it as expansive ... an area the size of two or three villages... an area the size of one major kingdom... an area the size of two or three major kingdoms... an area the size of the earth bounded by the ocean, pervading it as expansive: this too is called the expansive liberation of mind.
The commentary states that this is an instruction for developing the earth kasiṇa of varying sizes. It says that the expansive mind-liberation (mahaggatā cetovimutti) refers to kasiṇa jhāna:
- He covers the are the size of one tree root with the whole representation (kasiṇanimitta), and he abides resolved upon that totality representation, pervading it with the expansive jhāna (mahaggatajjhāna).
And so on. In the early texts, the earth kasiṇa is also called the perception of earth. MN 121 Cūḷasuññata Sutta explains the way of developing earth-perception as a type of kasiṇa jhāna:
- Now, as well as before, I remain fully in a dwelling of emptiness. Just as this palace of Migara's mother is empty of elephants, cattle, & mares, empty of gold & silver, empty of assemblies of women & men, and there is only this non-emptiness — the singleness based on the community of monks; even so, Ananda, a monk — not attending to the perception of village, not attending to the perception of human being — attends to the singleness based on the perception of wilderness. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles, & indulges in its perception of wilderness.
He discerns that 'Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of village are not present. Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of human being are not present. There is only this modicum of disturbance: the singleness based on the perception of wilderness.' He discerns that 'This mode of perception is empty of the perception of village. This mode of perception is empty of the perception of human being. There is only this non-emptiness: the singleness based on the perception of wilderness.' Thus he regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as present: 'There is this.' And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with actuality, is undistorted in meaning, & pure.
Further, Ananda, the monk — not attending to the perception of human being, not attending to the perception of wilderness — attends to the singleness based on the perception of earth. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles, & indulges in its perception of earth. Just as a bull's hide is stretched free from wrinkles with a hundred stakes, even so — without attending to all the ridges & hollows, the river ravines, the tracts of stumps & thorns, the craggy irregularities of this earth — he attends to the singleness based on the perception of earth. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles, & indulges in its perception of earth.
He discerns that 'Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of human being are not present. Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception of wilderness are not present. There is only this modicum of disturbance: the singleness based on the perception of earth.' He discerns that 'This mode of perception is empty of the perception of human being. This mode of perception is empty of the perception of wilderness. There is only this non-emptiness: the singleness based on the perception of earth.' Thus he regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as present: 'There is this.' And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with actuality, is undistorted in meaning, & pure.
Again, the commentary states that this is an instruction for developing the earth kasiṇa.
Also, Sigālapita Theragāthā 1.18 describes skeleton-perception, which is a type of asubha jhāna:
- There was an heir to the Buddha, a monk in the Bhesakala forest,
Who suffused this whole earth with skeleton-perception,
Quickly, I say, he abandoned passion for sensual pleasure.
And the brahmavihāras as types of jhāna are also described in many places, such as AN 11.17:
- Then again, a monk keeps pervading the first direction with a mind imbued with loving-kindness, likewise the second, likewise the third, likewise the fourth. Thus above, below, and all around, everywhere, in its entirety, he keeps pervading the all-encompassing cosmos with a mind imbued with loving-kindness — abundant, expansive, immeasurable, without hostility, without ill will.
dharmaamrita wrote:As described in the vishudhimagga?
In the later strata of commentaries a distinction is made between an "unprepared, unmade" kasiṇa, such as a large plowed field, and a "prepared, made up" kasiṇa, which is the circular disk (maṇḍala), made out of soil or clay. In the Vimuttimagga (circa ~100 CE) both types of kasiṇa are described in detail. Later still, in the Visuddhimagga (circa ~500 CE), the unmade kasiṇa is briefly mentioned, but is no longer considered a suitable object for development unless one had already developed this practice in previous lives. Thus, the Visuddhimagga only describes the made up circular disk type of kasiṇa. And then due to semantic shift, the term kasiṇa began to be identified as this type of circular disk.
All the best,
Geoff