The Earth Totality (Paṭhavī Kasiṇa)
MN 77 Mahāsakuludāyi Sutta:
Again, Udāyin, I have proclaimed to my disciples the way to develop the ten totality spheres. One perceives the earth totality above, below, and across, undivided and immeasurable... And thereby many disciples of mine abide having reached the perfection and consummation of direct gnosis.
Terms such as totality (kasiṇa), immeasurable (appamāṇa), and expansive (mahaggatā), which are used in the descriptions of various samādhis throughout the discourses, indicate the expansiveness of jhāna. MN 127 Anuruddha Sutta explains the meaning of expansive mind-liberation (mahaggatā cetovimutti) and indicates the way of development:1
And what, householder, is the expansive liberation of mind? Here a monk abides resolved upon an area the size of the root of one tree, pervading it as expansive: this is called the expansive liberation of mind. Here a monk abides resolved upon an area the size of the roots of two or three trees, pervading it as expansive: this too is called the expansive liberation of mind. Here a monk abides resolved upon an area the size of one village, pervading it as expansive ... an area the size of two or three villages... an area the size of one major kingdom... an area the size of two or three major kingdoms... an area the size of the earth bounded by the ocean, pervading it as expansive: this too is called the expansive liberation of mind.
MN 121 Cūḷasuññata Sutta explains the way of developing the recognition of earth as a totality representation (kasiṇanimitta):2
Notes
- The commentary states that this is an instruction for developing the earth kasiṇa of varying sizes. It says that the expansive mind-liberation (mahaggatā cetovimutti) refers to kasiṇa jhāna: “He covers the are the size of one tree root with the whole representation (kasiṇanimitta), and he abides resolved upon that totality representation, pervading it with the expansive jhāna (mahaggatajjhāna).” ↩
- Again, the commentary states that this is an instruction for developing the earth kasiṇa. In the later strata of commentaries a distinction is made between an “unprepared” kasiṇa, such as a large plowed field, and a “prepared” kasiṇa, which is a circular disk (maṇḍala), made out of soil or clay. In the Vimuttimagga (circa ~100 CE) both types of kasiṇa are described in detail. Later still, in the Visuddhimagga (circa ~500 CE), the unprepared kasiṇa is briefly mentioned, but is not considered to be a suitable object for development unless one had already developed this practice in previous lives. Thus, the Visuddhimagga only describes the prepared circular disk type of kasiṇa. And then due to semantic shift, the term kasiṇa began to be identified as this type of circular disk. ↩
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