The Foundations of Buddhism

The Buddhist Path 177

pure, abstract 'forms' (riipa ). The experience of this refined world

of pure form comprises four increasingly subtle dhyiinas corres-

ponding to the sixteen Brahma realms of the Buddhist cosmos

(Chapter 5).

To begin to still the mind by the practice of calm meditation

one needs, then, a suitable object of contemplation. Drawing

on the earlier Nikayas/Agamas, later manuals such as Upatissa's

Vimuttimagga ('Path of Freedom') and Buddhaghosa's Visud-

dhimagga give standardized lists of thirty-eight and forty ob-

jects of meditation (kammatthiina) respectively; Vasubandhu's
Abhidharmakosa focuses on a more limited number of medita-
tion objects. Upatissa and Buddhaghosa initially discuss the sub-

jects of meditation from two points of view: (1) their suitability

for the practice of the preliminary or advanced stages of calm

meditation, and (2) their suitability for different personality
types (see Table 4).^20

Certain objects-the six recollections ( anusmrti!anussati) of the

Buddha, the Dharma, the Sangha, good conduct, generosity,
and the gods, along with mindfulness of death-are suited to the
preliminary practice of calm known as 'access concentration'
(upaciira-samiidhi), which is a level of concentration considered

to be on the brink offull dhyiina or 'absorption' (appanii). Others

-the ten 'devices' (kasil;a), along with mindfulness of breath-
ing (iiniipiina-smrti!-sati)-are suitable for both the preliminary
and more advanced stages. Yet others, such as the four 'form-
less' (arupa) meditations, can only be cultivated by the advanced
practitioner of calm. Certain meditation subjects are also tra-
ditionally regarded as particularly suited to different character
types. Thus someone with a strong tendency towards sensual desire
should balance this by cultivating the ten meditations on 'ugliness'
(asubha/asubha), that is, on the body in ten different degrees of
putrefaction; someone with strong faith will respond to the first
six recollections; while for someone with a tendency to intel-
lectualize and get lost in speculations, mindfulness of breathing
is particularly recommended as cutting off discursive thinking;
someone whose temperament is irritable and who tends towards
states of anger and hatred might take one. of the four coloured