Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/166

 IS° Buddhist Philosophy [CH. The Bodhisattvas may attain their highest by the fourfold knowledge of (I) s'l}acittadrsyablziivanii, (2) utpiidasthitibhanga- vivary/anatii, (3) biihyabltiivabltii:llopalaka1!atii and (4) s'llapra- tyaryyaifiii1ziidhiga1/liibhillnalaka1!atii. The first means that all things are but creations of the imagination of one's mind. The second means that as things have no essence there is no origina- tion, existence or destruction. The third means that one should know the distinctive sense in which all external things are said either to be existent or non-existent, for their existence is merely like the mirage which is produced by the beginningless desire (viisanii) of creating and perceiving the manifold. This brings us to the fourth one, which means the right comprehension of the nature of all things. The four dhyanas spoken of in the Lankiivatiira seem to be different from those which have been described in connection with the Theravada Buddhism. These dhyanas are called (I) biilo- paciirika, (2) artlzapravicaya, (3) tathatiilambana and (4) tathii- gata. The first one is said to be that practised by the sravakas and the pratyekabuddhas. It consists in concentrating upon the doctrine that there is no soul (pudgalanairiitmya), and that every- thing is transitory, miserable and impure. Vhen considering all things in this way from beginning to end the sage advances on till all conceptual knowing ceases (iism!zjfiiinirodhiit); we have what is called the valopacarika dhyana (the meditation for be- ginners). The second is the advanced state where not only there is full consciousness that there is no self, but there is also the com- prehension that neither these nor the doctrines of other heretics may be said to exist, and that there is none of the dharmas that appears. This is called the arthapravicayadltyiilla, for the sage concentrates here on the subject of thoroughly seeking out (pra- vicaya) the nature of all things (artlta). The third dhyana, that in which the mind realizes that the thought that there is no self nor that there are the appearances, is itself the result of imagination and thus lapses into the thatness (tathatii). This dhyana is called tathatiilambmta, because it has for its object tathata or thatness. The last or the fourth dhyana is that in which the lapse of the mind into the state of thatness is such that the nothingness and incomprehensibility of all phenomena is perfectly realized;