釋禪波羅蜜次第法門 5.96

5.96

Fourth, explaining shallowness and depth: when the first dhyāna arises, the five factors and the silent mind are not without differences of coarseness and subtlety between earlier and later stages; therefore, there are shallowness and depth, which must be distinguished. Why? As the treatise says: 'When disciples of the Buddha cultivate the dhyānas, there are lower, middle, and upper, called the three grades. Dividing each of these three grades into three, there are characteristics of nine grades of shallowness and depth. If one discusses it subtly, there should be immeasurable grades.' When non-Buddhists attain absorption, there are also shallowness and depth, but they do not formulate them as grades because their minds are coarse and they do not perceive them within absorption, and also because they do not cultivate undefiled contemplative wisdom to illuminate them clearly, so their minds do not perceive or know them.