The Long Āgama Sūtra 18.20

18.20

「如來說法復有上者，謂見定。彼見定者，謂有沙門、婆羅門種種方便，入定意三昧，隨三昧心，觀頭至足，觀足至頭，皮膚內外，但有不淨髮、毛、爪甲，肝、肺、腸、胃、脾、腎五臟，汗、肪、髓、腦、屎、尿、涕、淚，臭處不淨，無一可貪，是初見定。諸沙門、婆羅門種種方便，入定意三昧，隨三昧心，除去皮肉外諸不淨，唯觀白骨及與牙齒，是為二見定。諸沙門、婆羅門種種方便，入定意三昧，隨三昧心，除去皮肉外諸不淨及白骨，唯觀心識在何處住？為在今世？為在後世？今世不斷，後世不斷；今世不解脫，後世不解脫，是為三見定。諸沙門、婆羅門種種方便，入定意三昧，隨三昧心，除去皮肉外諸不淨及除白骨，復重觀識；識在後世，不在今世；今世斷，後世不斷；今世解脫，後世不解脫，是為四見定。諸有沙門、婆羅門種種方便，入定意三昧，隨三昧心，除去皮肉外諸不淨及除白骨，復重觀識，不在今世，不在後世；二俱斷，二俱解脫，是為五見定。此法無上，智慧無餘，神通無餘，諸世間沙門、婆羅門無與如來等者，况欲出其上？

“The Dharma that the Tathāgata teaches has another superiority, which is his attainments of vision. The attainments of vision refer to this: Ascetics and priests use various methods to enter a fixed samādhi of mind. Following that samādhi of mind, they visualize their head to their toes and observe their toes to their head. Inside and outside of their skin, there’s only impure hair, nails, the five organs of liver, lungs, stomach, spleen, and kidneys, sweat, fat, marrow, brain, feces, urine, tears, and foul-smelling places of impurity. Not one of them is desirable. This is the first attainment of vision.

“Ascetics and priests use various methods to enter a fixed samādhi of mind. Following that samādhi of mind, they visualize the removal of the external impurities of skin and muscle and only visualize white bones and teeth. This is the second attainment of vision.

“Ascetics and priests use various methods to enter a fixed samādhi of mind. Following that samādhi of mind, they visualize the removal of the external impurities of skin, muscle, and white bones. They only visualize where their mind and consciousness dwell. Where does it exist in the present life? Where will it exist in a later life? If it’s not ended in the present life and not ended in the later life, then it’s not freed in the present life and not freed in the later life. This is the third attainment of vision.

“Ascetics and priests use various methods to enter a fixed samādhi of mind. Following that samādhi of mind, they visualize the removal of the external impurities of skin, muscle, and white bones. Once again, they investigate consciousness. Consciousness will be in a later life and not exist in the present life. The present life ended, but the later life won’t have ended. It’ll be freed from the present life but not freed from the later life. This is the fourth attainment of vision.

“Ascetics and priests use various methods to enter a fixed samādhi of mind. Following that samādhi of mind, they visualize the removal of the external impurities of skin and muscle and then remove the white bones. Once again, they investigate consciousness. It doesn’t exist in the present life and doesn’t exist in the later life. When both are ended, then it’s freed from both. This is the fifth attainment of vision.

“This Dharma is unsurpassed, his wisdom is complete, and his miraculous ability is complete. None of the world’s ascetics and priests can match the Tathāgata. How could they surpass him?