Does anyone know what the Śāriputrābhidharma has to say on Kasiṇa, or can they direct me to a reference which discusses it?
Thanks
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Another good question for Ayya @Vimala and @SebastianN 's machine translations of the Taisho!
Though it doesn’t call them out by name, Volume 17 seems to be about the kasina absorptions.
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That’s quite helpful. Thanks.
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"What are the 11 perceptual entries? They are the ground’s all-embracing entry that has no duality or limitlessness in width or height with a single perception. Water has all sense-entries [and so on for the other Kasiṇa]. With one perception, he knows that there’s no duality or infinity between up and down, vertical and wide.
What’s meant by the ground as all-embracing? With one perception, it’s up and down, vertical and wide, without duality or measure.
What’s meant by ground? Earth refers to the element of the ground and the greatness of the ground. This is called the ground.
What’s meant by all? If it’s exhausted without remainder, then this is called all. This is called all.
What’s meant by one? If it’s alone and has no other realms, then it’s not one. It’s like a person entering the ground and all entering. This is called one.
What’s meant by perception? If conceptions aren’t scattered or separated from each other, then they’re conceived of as one ground. This is called perception.
What’s meant by up and down, vertical and wide? The upper part is called space. The lower part is called the ground. Vertical and wide are the four directions. Suppose a person goes up and down, longitudinally and broadly. They all contemplate the ground and know and understand how to experience the ground. This is called the vertical and vertical breadth of the upper and lower parts.
What’s meant by nonduality and immeasurability? There are no two upward and no two downward. There are no two below. There are no two vertically and broadly. The upper part is immeasurable. The lower is immeasurable. Their vastness is immeasurable. There are no two perceptions, there is only the perception of the ground. It’s immeasurable and limitless, incalculable! It’s limitless and endless. There is no different conception of the ground. This is called immeasurable.
The same for the other Kasiṇa. Interestingly it mentions 11 Kasiṇa, but only discusses 10.
That’s a translation error. The Chinese term 十一切入 literally means “ten (十) all (一切, kasina) senses (入, ayatana).”
In that particular moment, the AI translator broke it into the wrong words: eleven (十一) perceptual entries (入). There are other literal translations that a person might figure out if they know how some terms read literally in Buddhist texts. It translates mahabhuta as “greatness” or “large” because in the Chinese it’s simply 大. Similarly, 無二 doesn’t mean “nonduality” in this text, it’s more like “no second” or “no other.” The AI translator gets it more or less right when it renders it as “not two.” That is, it’s one whole thing that’s being perceived in the mind rather than many.
Anyway, if you don’t read Chinese, then take it with a boulder of salt. If it sounds weird, it’s probably the translator getting confused.
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I suspected there was a translation issue. Thank you for the clarification.
Ahh, so here we are in the future already: your role is to correct the AI! (Thanks for doing so BTW!)
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