法界次第初門 1.255

1.255

Fourth is the factor of one-pointedness of mind. When the mind is united with the phenomenon of meditative absorption, it is called the factor of one-pointedness of mind. Once the practitioner has attained the meditative absorption associated with equanimity of the fourth dhyāna, resting both equanimity and mindfulness, the mind has nothing upon which to rely, dissolving into tranquil stillness, with one-pointed mind in meditative absorption—like a bright mirror, or clear water motionless and waveless, serene, yet reflecting the ten thousand images so that they all appear. Why is this fourth dhyāna alone called motionless meditative absorption? The first dhyāna is moved by applied thought and discursive examination; the second dhyāna is moved by delight; the third dhyāna is moved by joy. In this fourth dhyāna, one has previously abandoned grief and delight, and now further eliminates suffering and joy; hence it is called true meditative absorption. No superior meditative absorption in the three realms exceeds this. If practitioners of the three vehicles skillfully illuminate it with clarity, then depending on this meditative absorption they will generate true untaintedness. Outflow-bound non-Buddhists lack the skillful means of discernment; when entering this meditative absorption, without destroying physical form, they directly extinguish the mind and enter the meditative attainment without thought, claiming it to be nirvāṇa; this is an erroneous inversion and not nirvāṇa. From the first dhyāna to the fourth dhyāna, there are eighteen factors, all of which are called 'branches' (zhī). 'Zhī' means a branch or stream. Because eighteen virtues branch out from within the four dhyānas, they are called 'branches'.