Issue 286

The three heavens of the Third Dhyana are: Heaven of Lesser Purity, Heaven of Limitless Purity, Heaven of Universal Purity. First Dhyana is called the Ground of Bliss from Leaving Production; Second Dhyana is called the Ground of Bliss from Samadhi; Third Dhyana is called the Ground of Wonderful Bliss from Leaving Joy. In the First Dhyana, the pulse stops; in the Second Dhyana, breathing stops; in the Third Dhyana, thought stops. This thought is analogous to mindfulness of the buddha.

Although the First Dhyana Heavens – Heaven of the Brahma Multitudes, Heaven of the Brahma Ministers, Great Brahman Heaven – are already pure, there is no light, or rather, the lights are very faint. There is light in the Second Dhyana Heavens; hence, they are more pure than pure. Here is a rudimentary analogy – comparing floors. The Heaven of the Brahma Multitudes, the Heaven of the Brahma Ministers and the Great Brahman Heaven are like the floor that has been swept clean once, but not yet waxed. Without wax, there is no shine. We are talking in worldly terms, e.g. no wax, no shine. When you wax the floor then it will shine, which is analogous to the Second Dhyana Heavens – Heaven of Lesser Light, Heaven of Limitless Light, Heaven of Light Sounds.

Third Dhyana Heavens’ Heaven of Lesser Purity. After the floor is waxed, it needs to be polished to make it shiny. When some dust or broom hair is not picked up during the cleaning process, there is light, but the floor is not yet clean. The Third Dhyana Heavens are clean. That’s why they are called Heaven of Lesser Purity, Heaven of Limitless Purity, and Heaven of Universal Purity. The floor is waxed and polished to shine with a bright sheen; there is no dust at all. If you do not understand the states in the heavens, you may ponder upon the principle of floor cleaning. This analogy will do.

Pulse correlates to blood. When the pulse stops, that is purity. When the breathing stops, there is luminance. In the Third Dhyana Heavens, thoughts stop – all random thoughts completely stop. In the First Dhyana Heavens, the pulse has stopped but there is still the presence of thought. In the Second Dhyana Heavens, thought is likewise not yet severed. In the Third Dhyana Heavens, thoughts stop. There will not be a series of thoughts cascading in succession. There are 90 births and deaths in one kashana for one person; in each birth and death there are 900 thoughts. Hence, we have so many thoughts in such a short time. When we reach the state of the Third Dhyana, thoughts stop – all thoughts severed. There is no preceding thought or succeeding thought; there is neither cessation nor succession of thoughts. Here, thoughts stop; this is the state of the Third Dhyana, where not only the pulse stops, the breathing stops, but even thoughts stop. When you are in this state, you may sit in meditation for a month, yet are unaware that it has been a month; sit for a year, yet are unaware that it’s been a year. There is no reckoning of time and space.

Nevertheless, sitting in meditation and entering this kind of samadhi does not mean death. You can come back if you want to. Your thought has stopped, but as you start thinking, “How come I am here meditating?”, a thought is produced, so you come back. The state of the Third Dhyana is devoid of even a thought, that’s why it’s called purity. If you have thoughts, you cannot speak of purity. Thoughts are like dust, leaving you impure. If you are still breathing, you cannot speak of luminance. When your breathing stops, then your light will shine. When your pulse stops, then your body will feel clean and pure. When breathing stops, there will be light. When your thoughts have ceased, then you have genuine purity to speak of. The Heaven of Lesser Purity, the Heaven of Limitless Purity, and the Heaven of Universal Purity are the Third Dhyana Heavens. The Third Dhyana is called the Ground of Wonderful Bliss from Leaving Joy. Leave joy behind. People think it is a good thing to be joyous; but, we should leave joy behind and not be attached to it. This is the wonderful function from the Ground of Wonderful Bliss from Leaving Joy.

Birth of Blessings Heaven, Love of Blessings Heaven, Abundant Fruit Heaven, No Thought Heaven, No Affliction Heaven, No Heat Heaven, Good Views Heaven, Good Manifestation Heaven, Ultimate Form Heaven, Maheshvara Heaven, and so forth, up to the Heaven of the Station of Neither Thought nor Non-Thought.

Birth of Blessings Heaven. What is the Birth of Blessings Heaven? Beings in this level of heaven have ended the causes that led to suffering; but, they do not abide in constant bliss. They have no suffering and they are not attached to bliss. What is meant by ‘Having ended the causes of suffering, not abiding in constant bliss’? In the First Dhyana Heavens, beings have attained the first Dhyana and their pulse has stopped, but they still have afflictions. Likewise, in the Second and the Third Dhyana Heavens, afflictions have not yet ended. In the Fourth Dhyana Heavens – the Birth of Blessings Heaven, ‘the causes of suffering have ended’. There are no more seeds of suffering. With no suffering, are they happy? They are not attached to happiness, hence, “not abiding in constant bliss.” They have parted with the afflictions of the First Dhyana and the anxiety of the Second Dhyana. Beings in the Second Dhyana Heavens have a kind of anxiety that they haven’t ended. When they reach the Fourth Dhyana, the anxiety of the Second Dhyana is severed.

What is the cause of suffering? It is desire. Desire is the cause of suffering. What is desire? Thoughts of desire, longing and craving are called desire. Desire is one cause of suffering. Without desire, there is no suffering. Without lust, there would be no cause for suffering. Beings in the Fourth Dhyana Heavens have severed lust. That’s why it’s said, “All desires are put to an end.” All desires are severed; they don’t exist. The coarse marks are extinguished. All that have forms and appearances are extinguished. Having extinguished the coarse marks, beings attain a kind of pure blessings and virtue. Such is their nature. Hence, it is called Birth of Blessings Heaven – the first of the Fourth Dhyana Heavens.

Most people simply know there is heaven. But, do you know how many are there? In the Buddhist sutras, there are the Six Desire Heavens, the three heavens of the First Dhyana, the three heavens of the Second Dhyana, and the three heavens of the Third Dhyana. The Fourth Dhyana has nine heavens. The first level of the Fourth Dhyana Heavens is Birth of Blessings Heaven, so-called because pure blessings are brought forth.

Love of Blessings Heaven is lovely. Beings in this heaven love the blessings. In this heaven,

Renunciation is perfected in perfect fusion,
Purity of superior understanding is attained.
In the midst of illimitable blessings,
Wonderful accordance is obtained.

Renunciation is perfected in perfect fusion. Beings in this heaven have reached the state of interpenetrating and unhindered renunciation. They can renounce what they could not renounce before and they renounce what they can; they let go of what they could not let go before and they let go of what they could all the more. This is the perfection of renunciation. Purity of superior understanding is attained. In the midst of illimitable blessings. The blessings in this heaven have no bounds; it goes beyond heaven and earth. Such blessings cannot be reckoned. Wonderful accordance is obtained. Beings here get what they wish for. They have such wonderful accordance. At this time, both suffering and bliss are vacated. There is neither suffering nor bliss.

Since suffering and bliss have vacated, there is no obstruction to the existence of the Form Realm. They may enjoy the realm of existence if they want. However, they accumulate their merit for another métier, another wish. What is that? They wish to reach the celestial state of the two heavens above the Love of Blessings Heaven – the Abundant Fruit Heaven and the No Thought Heaven. But the Abundant Fruit Heaven is one of the Four Dhyana Heavens, while the No Thought Heaven is the abode of the heretics. While still in the Love of Blessings Heaven, they can proceed to the Abundant Fruit Heaven or the No Thought Heaven. No Thought Heaven is a state of the heretics, so it is easy to stray into the wrong path here. Although in the celestial heaven, there is a forked path here that easily leads beings astray and get into the heaven of the heretics.

What is the Abundant Fruit Heaven? The Abundant Fruit Heaven is the fruition attained by ordinary beings. The Six Desire Heavens are fruitions that ordinary people reach. The Abundant Fruit Heaven is the finest state that ordinary people can reach. Beings in the Abundant Fruit Heaven have left the defilement of the heavens below. Here, they enjoy boundless and limitless joy; their spiritual powers have endless fruitions. It is not easy to be reborn in the Abundant Fruit Heaven. Here, the wonderful accordance is one level higher than that in the Love of Blessings Heaven. It is not simple accordance. It encompasses a vast amount of wonderful accordance. They can cultivate to reach the fruition they so wish. This is the Abundant Fruit Heaven.

No Thought Heaven. At the No Thought Heaven, their thoughts cease but not forever, just for 500 eons. The life span of beings here is 500 eons so they go through life without having thoughts. Within those 500 eons, they have no thoughts for 499 eons. Nonetheless, there is one eon where thoughts cease during the first half of the eon but occur in the last half of the eon. This is No Thought, where very little time throughout the entire life is spent thinking. This heaven is totally occupied by heretics. Heretics reach this level of heaven and think this is the ultimate heaven. They think that they will reach nirvana here. They stay here to cultivate but eventually they will still fall. This is the abode of heretics.