Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon c24.s7.19

c24.s7.19

and mystic union (*samādhi*). The third stage of Illumination (*prabhākari*) permits the aspirant to enter the world of desire without running risk of corruption, and to engage in his work of preparing creatures for salvation. He aims at winning intuition (*prajñā*), and in the fourth stage, that of Brightness (*arciṣmatī*), he practises the thirty-seven wings of enlightenment (*bodhipakṣa*)¹ and through them he is able to conquer the defilements and ignorance, and to transfer the benefit of his already enormous merits for the benefit of creatures. The fifth stage, Hard to win (*durjayā*), is one in which wisdom attains higher development; all is appreciated as reducing itself to the four noble truths. The next stage, Right in front (*abhimukhī*), advances to the appreciation of the chain of causality (*pratītyasamutpāda*) alone; it is right in face of Nirvāṇa as of transmigration. All is pure; there is neither good nor evil; all personal feeling is utterly eliminated. The seventh stage, Going far (*dūraṃgamā*), completes the work of the other six; there is now gained the fruit of previous study, while further study is unnecessary, but the passivity of thought is affected by the impressions of earlier mental activity.