Identity and Experience_Hamilton_1996

156 Identity and Experience
life results in rebirth at the nipadha'tu, or rnanmayn, level in a subsequent life,
a bhiMu may come to understand this link and use it to affect the mode in
which he exists in his present birth. He learns the principle of this at an
early stage in his meditative practice. We read, for example, that in the first
jhina, which arises from detachment (vivekaja), a bhiWchu "drenches, saturates,
permeates and suffuses this same body with the happiness8= and joy which
arise from detachment; there is no part of this whole body which is not
filled with the happiness and joy which arise from deta~hment".~~ From this
passage, we see that in meditation the bhiWGhu is able to affect his body. At
more advanced levels of meditation, he is able deliberately to create a
subtle body while he is living in a gross nipa body. This ability is described
in the Simaiiiiaphala Suttu of the @ha JVi&ya. The b M u must have attained
what is referred to as the meditative level of the fourthjhina (elsewhere
called the fourth rzipajjhina), which is characterised by equanimity and
purity of mindfulness, and is without pleasure or pain.87 In some contexts in
the Pali canon, the four nipdjjh6na.s precede four aru'pajhiinas, and one has to
be proficient in all eight jha'nas before liberating insight can be achieved.88
But in this DQha JVikiiya passage, it is clear that the fourth ripajhtina
represents the culmination of meditative practice, and insight is attained
from this level. Prior to liberating insight, however, the bhikkhu progressively
acquires various other insights and powers. Each of these is enumerated in
the text and will be discussed shortly.
According to this Sutta, the first result of attaining the fourth jhina is that
the bhikkhu is able to purify his mind sufficiently to see clearly the relationship
between his body and his consciousness: this passage was referred to in
chapter v. With his mind so purified, the text states, he is then able to
"apply and bend down his thoughts to the magic creation of a mind-made
body" and "from this body, he magically creates another mind-made body,
having form and all the [corresponding] limbs and parts and with
supernormal senses (~hinindnyam)".~~ According to the Critical Pali Dictionaly,
ahinindnjam means 'without defect of any (sense)-fac~lty'.~~ Buddhaghosa
suggests that it has this meaning when he glosses the term in two places as
paripunnindriyagl and avikal-indr~ya.~* I have used the term 'supernormal'
because if the context is concerned with a magically created mind-made
body then it would seem likely that such perfected senses would also in
some sense be 'supernormal'. We shall see below that the use of supernormal
(dibba- 'divine') senses is referred to in this passage, and if the ability to
behave in such a way is acquired at a relatively advanced stage of the
spiritual path then perhaps what is to us supernormal is in fact an
indication that the senses are perfected. In support of this interpretation,
we read elsewhere that a bhikkhu who attains the meditative state of
saKEiuedayitanirodha has senses which are "quite purified".93
There follow three analogies which imply that the mind-made body
looks identical to the bhikkhu's existing body. The first is the pulling of a