Page 139 - The Buddha‘s Noble Eightfold Path

of a higher nature.

In the case of the simile for the second dhyana the Buddha asks

us to imagine a beautiful lake full to the brim with water. This lake
is fed by an underground spring, so that fresh water is bubbling
up within it all the time. Thus in the second dhyana there

bubbles up from the depths of the pure and translucent mind
something even purer, something active and dynamic — as

though you had tapped some inexhaustible source of inspiration.

Waxing even more poetical, for the simile of the third dhyana the

Buddha asks us to imagine a lotus growing in the water. This lotus
is not only permeated by the water in which it grows but is, at

the same time, completely immersed in and surrounded by the
water, so that there is water both within and without. Similarly,
in the third dhyana you are not only permeated by the higher

state of consciousness but as it were contained within it, so that
you live in it as in your natural element, and draw from it

strength and nourishment.

The Buddha's simile for the fourth dhyana is that of a man who

wraps himself in a clean white sheet after taking a refreshing bath
on a very hot day, when he is very tired and dusty. Just as the

clean white sheet completely envelopes the man, so in the
fourth dhyana the higher state of consciousness is all around,
protecting and insulating you from the touch of the outside

world. You are 'hermetically sealed' within it, and though you are
not out of communication with the outside world, so long as you

remain in the fourth dhyana no external thing can affect you.

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