SN54.8 — The Simile of the Lamp
Disciples, when concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated, it is of great fruit and great benefit. And how is concentration by mindfulness of breathing developed and cultivated to be of great fruit and great benefit?
Here a disciple, having gone to the forest, to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, sits down; having folded his legs crosswise, sets his body erect, and establishes mindfulness on itself. Ever mindful he breathes in, mindful he breathes out.
Breathing in long, he knows; breathing out long, he knows;
He trains thus: I shall breathe in contemplating relinquishment; he trains thus: I shall breathe out contemplating relinquishment. It is in this way that concentration by mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, is of great fruit and great benefit.
I, too before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, used to dwell in this dwelling. As I dwelt thus, neither my body nor my eyes were fatigued; and my mind, without clinging, was freed from the defilements.
Therefore if a disciple should wish: May neither my body nor my eyes be fatigued, and may my mind, without clinging, be freed from the defilements, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May the thoughts connected with the household life be abandoned, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I abide perceiving the repulsive in the non-repulsive, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I abide perceiving the non-repulsive in the repulsive, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I abide perceiving the repulsive in both the repulsive and the non-repulsive, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I abide perceiving the non-repulsive in both the repulsive and the non-repulsive, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I abide with equanimity, mindful and clearly knowing, avoiding both the repulsive and the non-repulsive, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, enter and abide in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, with the subsiding of applied and sustained thought, enter and abide 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, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, with the fading away of rapture, abide in equanimity, mindful and clearly knowing, and experience pleasure with the body, and enter and abide in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare, He abides in equanimity, mindful, and clearly knowing, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, with the abandoning of pleasure and pain, and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief, enter and abide in the fourth jhāna, which is neither-painful-nor-pleasant and includes the purification of mindfulness by equanimity, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, with the complete transcendence of perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of sensory impingement, and with non-attention to perceptions of diversity, aware that space is infinite, enter and abide in the base of the infinity of space, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, by completely transcending the base of the infinity of space, aware that consciousness is infinite, enter and abide in the base of the infinity of consciousness, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, by completely transcending the base of the infinity of consciousness, aware that there is nothing, enter and abide in the base of nothingness, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, by completely transcending the base of nothingness, enter and abide in the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
If a disciple should wish: May I, by completely transcending the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, enter and abide in the cessation of perception and feeling, then he should attend carefully to this concentration by mindfulness of breathing.
When concentration by mindfulness of breathing is developed and cultivated in this way even when he feels a pleasant feeling, he understands it is impermanent, he understands it is not clung to, he understands it is not delighted in.
Even when he feels a painful feeling, he understands it is impermanent, he understands it is not clung to, he understands it is not delighted in. Even when he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he understands it is impermanent, he understands it is not clung to, he understands it is not delighted in.
When he feels a pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. When he feels a painful feeling, he feels it detached. When he feels a neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, he feels it detached. He understands: With the breakup of the body, after life has ended, all that is felt, not being delighted in, will become cool right here.
Just as an oil lamp burns in dependence on oil and a wick; with the exhaustion of the oil and the wick, it is extinguished through lack of fuel; so too when a disciple feels a feeling that is limited by the body, he understands: I feel a feeling that is limited by the body. When he feels a feeling that is limited by life, he understands: I feel a feeling that is limited by life. He understands: With the breakup of the body, after life has ended, all that is felt, not being delighted in, will become cool right here.
This is the end of the discourse.