Where is that? I wouldn’t say they are rather clear. Rather they are quite obscure in the suttas. In the very description of kasinas themselves. If the kasinas are developed in Jhana, how can one be aware of the gross physical body? One does not exclude the other. Depends on focus of perception, as...

Kasina was mentioned in the Sutta but the actual practice was kind of not clear to me. The most comprehensive sources I know were from Visuddhi/Vimutti-magga. So, please elaborate your take in detail and share the references from the Pali canon, if possible the actual practice itself and not just w...

You just read MN 121 in a wrong way. It doesn't say you enter jhana on perception of forest/earth. It says you enter this way 1st arupa attainment. But to do this, you have to be in 4th jhana already. You can't simply jump into arupa from simple restricted ordinary consiousness (see AN 9.35). This i...

Personally I don't think it matters if you gain the perception in a grove or via a clay disc, as long as the result is the same. When I practice for the fire Kasiṇa i focus on a candle flame, trying to ignore everything else. This is incorrect method. Kasina is a non-dual perception inside jhana, n...

In Pali canon kasinas are not devices. They are states of mind in jhanic samadhi. Since that is so, "kasina meditation" was just an aspect of jhanic meditation, something to be done when jhanas are already attained. Centuries later someone introduced kasinas as physical disks, which is obv...

Is there any part in the Pali Canon that discusses the aspect of karma I'm talking about though? I'm afraid, yes. At least, to some extent. “Here, headman, some teacher holds such a doctrine and view as this: ‘Anyone at all who destroys life … who takes what is not given … who engages in sexual mis...

Which sutta says the body disappears in fourth jhana?

Not body. In-breath and out-breath.
Suttas? A lot, different. SN 36.11 just as an example.

So the body is dead then.

No.

One doesn't follow the sign of a breath.

This is incorrect understanding. When texts say "there is no breath", it means there is none. And not that you simply don't pay attention.

Suttas are quite clear that you have bodily experience in jhanas. Only in 1st arupa-attainment it is gone.

They explain gradual cessation of formations but in terms of feelings. These cease completely more and more the deeper (higher) you go. In 4th jhana you even no longer breathe, that how far you are from material world in this state. Material things simply turn off.

Yes, sanskrit version is different (and probably correct), but that doesn't really matter.

A bit strange that while discussing the topic no one quoted SN 48.36 + SN 48.40.
Because these two give direct and non-speculative answers right from the Buddha.

While reading suttas one might think that vinnana is more a function of knowing, while citta or mano are "ontological essences", however, sometimes vinnana also is used in ontological sense. The most common passage is that describing 2nd arupa world/sphere/attainment (Viññāṇañcāyatanaṁ). A...

If you ask -) Dissati, bhikkhave, imassa cātumahābhūtikassa kāyassa ācayopi apacayopi ādānampi nikkhepanampi. Tasmā tatrāssutavā puthujjano nibbindeyyapi virajjeyyapi vimucceyyapi. (Therefore the uninstructed worldling might experience revulsion towards this body composed of the four great elements;...