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Full Idea
The first stage of trance is calm amidst applied and discursive thinking.
Gist of Idea
The first stage of trance is calm amidst applied and discursive thinking
Source
Ashvaghosha (Buddhacarita [c.50], V.11)
Book Ref
'Buddhist Scriptures', ed/tr. Conze,Edward [Penguin 1959], p.42
A Reaction
Personally I am not sure that I would want to go any further that the first stage, since the elimination of discursive thinking seems to me to be approaching death. To pursue intense thinking very calmly I take to be the ideal of all western philosophers.
7904 | The first stage of trance is calm amidst applied and discursive thinking [Ashvaghosha] |
7906 | When the Buddha reached the highest level of insight, he could detect no self in the world [Ashvaghosha] |
7905 | The Buddha sought ultimate reality and the final goal of existence in his meditations [Ashvaghosha] |
7909 | The Eightfold Path concerns morality, wisdom, and tranquillity [Ashvaghosha] |
7908 | At the end of a saint, he is not located in space, but just ceases to be disturbed [Ashvaghosha] |
7910 | Pursue truth with the urgency of someone whose clothes are on fire [Ashvaghosha] |