The Foundations of Buddhism

The Buddhist Path

meditator investigates and explores the acquired sign, there even-

tually arises the 'counterpart sign' (pa{ibhiiga-nimitta). The aris-

ing of the counterpart sign is concurrent with the attainment

of access concentration. Whereas the acquired sign is a mental

visualization of the physical object exactly as it appears-an

eidetic image-the counterpart sign is a purified conceptual image

free of any marks or blemishes. In the case of, say, the white or

red disk the mind becomes completely absorbed in the concept

of 'whiteness' or 'redness'. The arising of the counterpart sign is

compared to the moon coming out from behind clouds.

I have already mentioned how, as the mind becomes fam-

iliar with the object of meditation, it is enlivened and begins to

feel more at ease. The stages of this process are charted rather

exactly in the list of the five kinds of joy. Thus the initial stage

of 'slight joy' simply raises the hairs of the body; 'momentary.

joy' comes like repeated flashes of lightning, while 'descending

joy' is stronger and washes over the body again and again and

then subsides; 'transporting joy' has the power to lift the body

into the air. A Thai meditation manual written at the turn of the

last century describes it as follows:

When transporting joy arises it is very strong; it makes the whole body

shake and tremble. The meditator will fall to the left or to the right,

bow down, clap hands and feet, sit down, stand up, and then run around

filled with strange emotions. The meditators will cry and laugh and will

not be able to shut their eyes or mouths. The veins will protrude and

the blood feel hot and cold. The body will feel as if it is expanding and

will levitate the length of a finger span, a cubit, an arm's length.^25

We are counselled that such phenomena are not a sign of mad-
ness. Rather they indicate the progress of one's meditation prac-
tice. Eventually, the mind settles in 'suffusing joy'; this kind of
joy pervades the whole body touching every part and is likened
to water flooding into a rock cave. The spiritual (niramisa) joy felt
in meditation is contrasted by the tradition with carnal (samisa)
joy. The point here seems not so much to suggest sexual pleasure
as a mere metaphor for spiritual joy, but rather to indicate that
the increasing joy experienced as the mind gradually becomes