Aṅguttara Nikāya
X. Dasaka-Nipāta
III. Mahā Vagga

X. The Book of the Tens

III: The Great Chapter

Sutta 25

Kasiṇa Suttaṃ

The Devices

 

[46] [31]

Thus have I heard:

Once the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

"Yes, lord," they replied, and the Exalted One said:

"Monks, there are these ten ranges of the devices.1

What ten?

One person perceives the earth-device
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the water-device
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the heat-device
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the air-device
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the blue-green
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the yellow
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the red
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the white
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the space-device
as above, below, across, undivided, immeasurable.

Another person perceives the intellection-device
as above, below, across, as undivided, as immeasurable.

These are the ten ranges of the devices."

 

1 Kasiṇ'āyatanāni, ranges, spheres or applications of the physical appliances or objects of concentration to induce self-hypnotism, during which the higher senses are called into action. See A. i, 41 = G.S. i, 37; D. iii, 268, 290; Path of Purity, ii, 138 ff.; Manual of a Mystic, passim. It would appear that the different methods were suited to different psychic temperaments. See the next sutta. The last two differ in some passages; cf. V.M. trans. p. 202. The space-device appears to refer to feats in four-dimensional matter. V.M. and our Comy. (as noted at AA. i, 77) do not discuss viññāṇa-kasiṇa, but probably it refers to a mental image (anantaṃ viññāṇan ti ārammanaṃ katvā esa viññāṇañ cāyatana-samāpattiṃ bhāvento viññāṇa-kasiṇaṃ bhāveti ti vuccati). See Expositor i, 248.