The following takes lead from @Vaddha 's post The 8 Liberation are Brahmanical. I would recommend reading that first.
In this post I assume that the thesis of the above post is true; the 8 liberations, 8 domains of Mastery, 10 Kasinas, 4 Brahmaviharas, and 4 perceptions were interrelated meditation techniques that were pre-Buddhist, and not necessarily related to the Jhanas. (Vaddha did not include the 4 perceptions.)
First, let’s look at the Eight Liberations, also translated into English as the Eight Emancipations:
| Liberation Number | Description of Internal Form | What Else is Perceived? |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | “Possessed of Form” or “Having Form” | Seeing forms externally |
| 2nd | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally |
| 3rd | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing only the beautiful |
| 4th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Infinite Space |
| 5th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Infinite Consciousness |
| 6th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Infinite Nothingness |
| 7th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Neither perception nor non-perception |
| 8th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Cessation |
Next, let’s look at Eight Dimensions of Mastery, also translated into English as the Eight Bases for Transcendence:
| Mastery Number | Perception of Internal Form | How are External Forms Perceived? |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as limited, beautiful, and ugly |
| 2nd | Perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as limitless/immeasurable, beautiful, and ugly |
| 3rd | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as limited, beautiful, and ugly |
| 4th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as limitless/immeasurable, beautiful, and ugly |
| 5th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as blue |
| 6th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as yellow |
| 7th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as red |
| 8th | No longer perceiving forms internally | Seeing forms externally as white |
Rather than, “No longer perceiving forms internally,” Thanissaro has, “One percipient of the formless internally” here.
Next, let’s look at the Ten Universal Dimensions of Meditation / The Ten Totality Dimensions / The Ten Kasinas:
| Dimension Number | Description/Perception of Internal Form? | How is the Dimension Perceived? |
|---|---|---|
| 1-10 | Unspecified | Perceiving Earth → Water → Fire→ Wind→ Blue→ Yellow→ Red→ White→ Space→ Consciousness as above, below, all-around, undivided/non-dual, immeasurable/limitless |
Finally, let’s look at the Four Perceptions:
| Perception Number | Description |
|---|---|
| 1st | One perceives the limited |
| 2nd | One perceives the enlarged |
| 3rd | One perceives the immeasurable |
| 4th | Dimension of nothingness |
| Beyond Perception | Neither Perception nor Non-Perception |
| Beyond Perception | Cessation |
I have added in here the last two rows (when the Four Perceptions are given in the suttas, these last two rows are not mentioned, but they seem relevant here). A description of the 2nd perception has often been taken to refer to the mind in Jhana; however, I have not been able to find this explicitly stated. Meanwhile, the 3rd perception seems more explicitly related to the Brahmaviharas, 8 domains of mastery, 8 liberations, Kasinas, and the Arupas.
Now, on to the task at hand. Given that the premise of this post is to try to unite these into one framework, I am going to assume that the description of “having material form/perceiving form internally” is the same between the 8 dimensions of mastery and the 8 liberations. The wording here is not exactly the same in each case which is why this remains only an assumption. I am also going to assume that this refers to a common experience in meditation: is awareness of the body still present?
With that being said, let’s see if we can unite these into one description of meditative progression, where the objects of meditation start out as a Brahmavihara or a Kasina and sequence through “the beautiful” and the Arupas all the way up to cessation:
| Meditative Stage | Is there body awareness? | What else is perceived? |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Liberation, 1st Mastery, 1st Perception | Yes | One perceives an unmastered element Kasina as limited and not purely beautiful. Or one perceives an unmastered Brahmavihara. |
| 1st Liberation, 2nd Mastery, 3rd Perception (Possibly 2nd Perception) | Yes | One perceives a partially mastered element Kasina as enlarged/immeasurable, but not purely beautiful. Or one perceives a partially-mastered Brahmavihara. |
| 2nd Liberation, 3rd Mastery, 1st Perception (Possibly 2nd Perception) | No | One perceives an unmastered element Kasina as limited and not purely beautiful. Or one perceives an unmastered Brahmavihara. |
| 2nd Liberation, 4th f Mastery, 3rd Perception | No | One perceives an element Kasina as fully immeasurable (not just enlarged), beautiful, and ugly. Or one perceives a fully-mastered and immeasurable (not just enlarged) Brahmavihara |
| 2nd Liberation, 5th-8th Mastery, 3rd Perception | No | One perceives a color Kasina as immeasurable. Or one perceives a fully-mastered Brahmavihara |
| 3rd Liberation, Beyond Domain of Mastery, 3rd Perception | No | One perceives only the beautiful, nowadays called the Nimitta, “hard Jhana” (or just Jhana, depending on your view). In the Visudhimagga, it is said that it is much easier for most meditators to be absorbed into a Nimitta using a Kasina instead of the breath. |
| 4th Liberation, Beyond Domain of Mastery, 3rd Perception | No | Infinite Space Kasina/Arupa (which can be entered from Goodwill Brahmavihara |
| 5th Liberation, Beyond Domain of Mastery, 4th Perception | No | Infinite Consciousness Kasina/Arupa (which can be entered from Compassion Brahmavihara |
| 6th Liberation, Beyond Domain of Mastery, Beyond Perception | No | Domain of Nothingness (which can be entered from Sympathetic Joy Brahmavihara) |
| 7th Liberation, Beyond Domain of Mastery, Beyond Perception | No | Domain of neither perception nor non-perception(which can be entered from Equanimity Brahmavihara) |
| 8th Liberation, Beyond Domain of Mastery, Beyond Perception | No | Cessation of Perceptions and Feelings |
What do folks think of this? I welcome any critiques.