The Foundations of Buddhism

The Buddhist Path

on the snake. Just as the man became frightened, so the medit-

ator (3) knows the presence of danger; just as he knew fear, so

the meditator (4) contemplates his distress; just as he felt dis-

taste for what he had grasped, so the meditator (5) contemplates

disenchantment; just as he desired to be free of the snake, so too

the meditator ( 6) desires release; and just as he devised a means

of letting go, so the meditator (7) discerns all dharmas to be imper-

manent, suffering, and no self such that they cannot appear to

him again as lasting, pleasant, beautiful, and self. So with the eighth

knowledge, all formations are seen as empty (suftfta).

The eight knowledges culminate at a point where the mind is

once more settled and at peace. One should not be misled by the

ra_ther elaborate and complex descriptions that are given of what

happens next. In part they seem intended to present the profound

and subtle nature of an expe.rience which happens very rapidly.

With the mind having reached a point of balance, it settles in

transcendent jhiina and in a moment it directly sees and under-

stands suffering, its arising, its cessation, and the way leading to

its cessation; it directly sees and experiences nirval).a. Accord-

ing to the Theravadin sources this understanding quite literally

occurs in one moment: the conditioned world that is saq1sara

(suffering and its cause) and nirval).a and the transcendent path

(cessation and the path leading to cessation) are finally fully

known in a single flash of transcendent insight and peace. This

is the culmination of previous practice and this moment is itself
termed 'path' (magga); in this moment all the conditions that con-
tributed to the development of the path are at once fulfilled.
Frequently these conditions are listed as thirty-seven in all: four
establishings of mindfulness, four right endeavours, four bases
of success in concentration, five spiritual faculties, five spiritual
powers, seven 'limbs' of awakening, and the eightfold path itself.
The 'path' moment is understood as being immediately followed
by a transcendent jhiina of similar qualities, this time termed 'fruit'
(phala).
The theoretical models of the path allow a number of pos-
sibilities concerning precisely what happens when. the mind
settles in transcendent dhyiina. In the first place, the mind may