The Coarse Meditation

"The Bodhisattva who recently aspired to Bodhi, when he meditates on the image of the non-eternal, thinks: ‘There are two kinds of thing which obtains in the world: 1) internal, and 2) external. What is internal is non-eternal and changes. When one born, one sees that the things which obtains are different according to the stages of life as birth, when it is small, big, in the prime of life, in old age, and when it dies. I see that in all these phases of life, things are not the same. Hence, I have to know that what is with me is non-eternal'.

Also, this thought occurs to him: 'When I look at the beings, one is young and well nourished, is perfect in physical strength and in the movements going and coming, in stepping forward or stopping; and all things will proceed unimpeded and so unhindered. Or because of illness, the physical strength of a person is weak and his face fallen and scary, nothing of pride and freedom. Or I see that a person's storehouse is full, or that another person is poor and indigent. Or I see one who is full of virtues, or I see one full of evil. So, definitely I know that what is inside someone is non-eternal. Also, as regards the external world, too, I see that things are different from each other, for example, at the stages of seed, bud, stem, leaf, flower and fruit. All that stands [there] in the external world is either perfect or imperfect. And I know that all things are definitely non-eternal'.

In so realize that all things are non-eternal, then one meditates on what one listens in the sermons: 'I heard that though the devas [gods, heavenly beings] enjoy the best of pleasures, and though they are unimpeded in the divine powers, they are subject to the five omens of decline [indication of their eventual personal decline from the status of being devas]. Due to this, one knows that what exists is non-eternal'.

'Also, I heard that in the beginning of the kalpa [aeon was] there were many beings. Each was garbed in the best virtues. The light that emanated from their bodies was so intense that one did not depended upon any more from the lights of the sun and moon. [But] due to the power of the non-eternal, the light faded and the virtues diminished. Also, I heard that there lived, in times past, a Chakravartin [emperor of the world] who ruled over the four continents. The seven gems [which he possessed] were perfect, and his power was highly unconstrained. And yet he could not defeat the non-eternal'.

Also, he meditates that on the great earth, in time past, innumerable beings were fully stabilized in life and enjoyed peace, so that no groove of wheel sat upon the other. Wonderful medicines were at hand, and the people grew and prospered. Shrubs, trees and fruits were abundant. The beings were [gradually] less blessed and this great earth had little strength. Whatever grew was wasted. Hence, one should know that all things are non-eternal.

This is what we call 'coarse' (image) and non-eternal."

Read More on the Nirvana Sutra, Chapter 44 - On Bodhisattva Kasyapa 5.

the coarse meditation.mp3