Kasina

Kasina (Pali: कसिण kasiṇa; Sanskrit: कृत्स्न kṛtsna) refers to a class of basic visual objects of meditation used in Theravada Buddhism. The objects are described in the Pali Canon and summarized in the famous meditation treatise the Visuddhimagga.

This article is about the class of objects of Buddhist meditation. For the Hopi spirit, see Kachina.

List of kasiṇa

There are ten kasiṇa described in the Visuddhimagga, which are also mentioned in the Pali Tipitaka:[1]

  1. earth पठवी कसिण (Pali: paṭhavī kasiṇa, Sanskrit: pṛthivī kṛtsna)
  2. water आपो कसिण (āpo kasiṇa, ap kṛtsna)
  3. fire तेजो कसिण (tejo kasiṇa, tejas kṛtsna)
  4. air, wind वायो कसिण (vāyo kasiṇa, vāyu kṛtsna)
  5. blue, green नील कसिण (nīla kasiṇa, nīla kṛtsna)
  6. yellow पीत कसिण (pīta kasiṇa, pīta kṛtsna)
  7. red लोहित कसिण (lohita kasiṇa, lohita kṛtsna)
  8. white ओदात कसिण (odāta kasiṇa, avadāta kṛtsna)
  9. enclosed space, hole, aperture आकास कसिण (ākāsa kasiṇa, ākāśa kṛtsna)
  10. consciousness विञ्ञाण कसिण (viññāṇa kasiṇa, vijñāna kṛtsna); in the Pali suttas and some other texts; bright light आलोक कसिण āloka kasiṇa according to later sources, such as Buddhaghosa's Visuddhimagga.

The kasiṇa are typically described as a colored disk, with the particular color, properties, dimensions and medium often specified according to the type of kasiṇa. The earth kasiṇa, for instance, is a disk in a red-brown color formed by spreading earth or clay (or another medium producing similar color and texture) on a screen of canvas or another backing material.

Concentration meditation method

Kasiṇa meditation is one of the most common types of samatha meditation, intended to settle the mind of the practitioner and create a foundation for further practices of meditation. In kasiṇa meditation, a mental object (kasina) is used as the object of meditation, being used to keep the mind focused whenever attention drifts.[2]

The meditation treatise the Visuddhimagga is centered around kasina-meditation.[3] According to American scholar monk Thanissaro Bhikkhu, "[t]he text then tries to fit all other meditation methods into the mold of kasina practice, so that they too give rise to countersigns, but even by its own admission, breath meditation does not fit well into the mold."[3] He argues that by emphasizing kasina-meditation, the Visuddhimagga departs from the focus on dhyana in the Pali Canon. Thanissaro Bhikkhu states this indicates that what "jhana means in the commentaries is something quite different from what it means in the Canon."[3]

Abilities

According to scholars, the Visuddhimagga is one of the extremely rare texts within the enormous literatures of various forms of Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism to give explicit details about how spiritual masters are thought to actually manifest supernormal abilities.[4] Abilities such as flying through the air, walking through solid obstructions, diving into the ground, walking on water and so forth are performed by changing one element, such as earth, into another element, such as air.[5] The individual must master kasina meditation before this is possible.[6] Dipa Ma, who trained via the Visuddhimagga, was said to demonstrate these abilities.[7]

Although practice with kasiṇas is associated with the Theravāda tradition, it appears to have been more widely known among various Buddhist schools in India at one time. Asanga makes reference to kasiṇas in the Samāhitabhūmi section of his Yogācārabhūmi.[8]

Disciples of the Buddha

Uppalavanna, one of the Buddha's chief female disciples, famously attained arahantship using a fire (tejo) kasina as her object of meditation.[9][10][11]

References
  1. A.v.36, A.v.46-60, M.ii.14; D.iii.268, 290; Nett.89, 112; Dhs.202; Ps.i.6, 95
  2. Davidji (2017-03-07). Secrets of Meditation Revised Edition. Hay House, Inc. ISBN 9781401954116.
  3. Bhikkhu Thanissaro, Concentration and Discernment Archived 2019-05-28 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Jacobsen, edited by Knut A. (2011). Yoga Powers. Leiden: Brill. p. 93. ISBN 9789004212145.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  5. Jacobsen, edited by Knut A. (2011). Yoga Powers. Leiden: Brill. p. 83-86. ISBN 9789004212145.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  6. Jacobsen, edited by Knut A. (2011). Yoga Powers. Leiden: Brill. p. 83-86. ISBN 9789004212145.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  7. Schmidt, Amy (2005). Dipa Ma. Windhorse Publications Ltd. p. Chapter 9 At Home in Strange Realms.
  8. Buddhist Insight: Essays by Alex Wayman. Motilal Banarsidass: 1984 ISBN 0-89581-041-7 pg 76
  9. Jr, Robert E. Buswell; Jr, Donald S. Lopez (2013-11-24). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 945. ISBN 9781400848058.
  10. Therī, Tathālokā. "The Amazing Transformations of Arahant Theri Uppalavanna" (PDF). bhikkhuni.et. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-10-17. Retrieved 2019-09-26.
  11. "03. The Story about the Elder Nun Uppalavanna". www.ancient-buddhist-texts.net. Archived from the original on 2017-07-28. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
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