AN4.163 — Paṭipadāvagga, Asubhasutta
Disciples, there are these four paths of practice. What are the four? The painful path with slow realization, the painful path with quick realization, the pleasant path with slow realization, and the pleasant path with quick realization.
And what is the painful path with slow realization? Here, a disciple dwells contemplating the unattractive nature of the body, perceives repulsiveness in food, perceives non-delight in the entire world, and contemplates impermanence in all formations. The perception of death is well established within him. He dwells relying on these five strengths of a trainee: the strength of faith, the strength of conscience, the strength of fear of wrongdoing, the strength of energy, and the strength of wisdom. For him, these five faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom: are weakly manifested. Due to the weakness of these five faculties, he slowly attains the immediate destruction of the taints. This is called the painful path with slow realization.
And what is the painful path with quick realization? Here, a disciple dwells contemplating the unattractive nature of the body, perceives repulsiveness in food, perceives non-delight in the entire world, and contemplates impermanence in all formations. The perception of death is well established within him. He dwells relying on these five strengths of a trainee: the strength of faith, the strength of conscience, the strength of fear of wrongdoing, the strength of energy, and the strength of wisdom. For him, these five faculties: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom: are strongly manifested. Due to the strength of these five faculties, he quickly attains the immediate destruction of the taints. This is called the painful path with quick realization.
And what is the pleasant path with slow realization? Here, a disciple, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion. With the subsiding of applied and sustained thought, he enters and dwells in the second jhāna, which has internal confidence and unification of mind, is without applied and sustained thought, and has rapture and pleasure born of concentration. With the fading away of rapture, he dwells in equanimity, mindful and fully aware, and experiences pleasure with the body. He enters and dwells in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare: Equanimous and mindful, he dwells in pleasure. With the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, he enters and dwells in the fourth jhāna, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity. He dwells relying on these five strengths of a trainee: the strength of faith, the strength of conscience, the strength of fear of wrongdoing, the strength of energy, and the strength of wisdom.
In him, these five faculties are weak: the faculty of faith, ... up to ... the faculty of wisdom. Due to the weakness of these five faculties, he attains a slow realization leading to the destruction of the taints. This is called the pleasant practice with slow insight.
And what is the pleasant practice with quick insight? Here a disciple, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, enters and dwells in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion ... up to ... the second jhāna ... up to ... the third jhāna ... up to ... the fourth jhāna. He dwells relying on these five strengths of a trainee: the strength of faith, the strength of conscience, the strength of fear of wrongdoing, the strength of energy, and the strength of wisdom. In him, these five faculties become predominant: the faculty of faith, the faculty of energy, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, and the faculty of wisdom. Due to the predominance of these five faculties, he quickly attains realization leading to the destruction of the taints. This is called the pleasant practice with quick insight.
These are the four types of practice.