The Buddhist Path
understood by reference to some such process as that of learning
to play a musical instrument. In the initial stage of competence
the mind will still have to pay attention in the way described
above: it will have to think consciously what to do. H;owever, as
one's facility develops the process will become increasingly auto-matic and unconscious-that is, the concert pianist does not
have to think consciously where to put his hands or how to place
her fingers, she just does it; nevertheless he is still fully awareof what he is doing. In much the same way, it seems, the med-
itator becomes able to attain states of concentration by simply
adverting to the object of meditation. Attaining to states of con-
centration in this way without 'application of thought' or 'exam-
ining' is the characteristic of the second dhyiina, which thus has
only three remaining limbs of dhyiina: joy, happiness, and one-
pointedness of mind. From here the state of concentration can
be further refined. Joy is experienced as something that in itself
can disturb the mind. With the subsiding of joy one attains the
third dhyiina. In a similar manner the meditator eventually lets
go of happiness too, and finally attains the fourth dhyiina, a state
of purified equanimity and balance.
The fourth dhyiina represents something of a turning point in
the theory of the Buddhist path. In attaining the fourth dhyiina
the process of stilling and calming the mind is essentially com-
plete. Although the theory allows for the further refining and
stilling of the mind in the meditative attainments known as the
four formless (arupa) attainments, these are presented as essen-
tially modifications and refinements of the fourth dhyiina.^29
The fourth dhyiina also forms the basis for the development of
various meditational powers: the rddhis (Pali iddhi) or 'higher
knowledges' (abhijfzii/abhiftfiii). The meditator is able to produce
'mind-made' bodies:
Being one he becomes many, being many he becomes one; unhindered
he passes into ... an invisible state, through house-walls, through city-
walls, and through mountains, as if through space; he goes down into
the earth and comes up, as if through water; he goes over firm wa(er,
as if over earth; he travels through the sky cross-legged, as if he were
a bird with wings; he touches and strokes with his hand the sun and