The History of Buddhist Thought c12.58

c12.58

Besides the four trances other methods are given. These are not necessarily later, but their place in the Buddhist system of training appears to be subordinate, and an attempt has been made to co-ordinate them with the trances. They are classified in accordance with Buddhist cosmology, which divides existence into three planes, the world of sense, the world of form, and the formless world up to the limit of existence (*bhavāgra*). The most important are the four (sometimes five) Attainments, which added to the trances make a series of eight or nine, as described below.