BUDDHIST MONASTIC CODE I

Pārājika Chapter 4the mind's freedom from hindrance (vinīvaraṇatā cittassa): the mindunhindered by passion, aversion, and delusion; anddelight in an empty dwelling (suññāgāre abhirati): the delight in an emptydwelling stemming from the four jhānas.The Commentary classifies these states into two broad categories: mahaggatadhamma — "enlarged" or "expanded" states — related to the practice of meditativeabsorption; and lokuttara dhamma — transcendent states — related to the absoluteeradication of the mental fetters that bind the mind to the cycle of rebirth.a. Mahaggata dhamma. The discourses describe the four jhānas as follows:"There is the case where a bhikkhu — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawnfrom unskillful (mental) qualities — enters and remains in the first jhāna: rapture andpleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation.He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture andpleasure born from withdrawal..."And furthermore, with the stilling of directed thought and evaluation, he enters andremains in the second jhāna: rapture and pleasure born of composure, unity ofawareness free from directed thought and evaluation — internal assurance. Hepermeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture andpleasure born of composure..."And furthermore, with the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, &alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, ofwhich the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.'He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the pleasuredivested of rapture..."And furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain — as with the earlierdisappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna:purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. He sits permeatingthe body with a pure, bright awareness, so that nothing of his entire body isunpervaded by pure, bright awareness." — DN 2; MN 119; AN V.28The Commentary notes that four formless states — what the Canon calls"formlessnesses beyond form," and the Commentary calls "formless jhānas" — arebased on the fourth jhāna, and so would count as superior human states as well.The Canon describes them as follows:"With the complete transcending of perceptions of form, and the passing away ofperceptions of resistance, and not heeding perceptions of diversity, (perceiving)'Infinite space,' one enters and remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space...63