we will have to come back many life times to finish up this salt then.
I am thinking of taking step 1~12 as a more rigid steps with the objective of freeing the mind; and the 2nd and even 3rd, 4th and 5th looping for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th jhana.
In 1st pass step 11, out breath and in breath is prominent, 3rd dhamma is a ‘shadow’ even to the mind itself. At step 12, freeing the mind as in the transition of the 3rd dhamma from shadow to light, likes dime moon light. Some can be brighter but without ‘intensity’; whereas the out breath in breath become shadow.
Thus 1st pass purify the mental vedana out from combination with bodily vedana. Those that maintain mindfulness
may remain so, which probably may or may not skip parikamma nimitta and those that anchor in front of nostril may experience parikamma nimitta (2nd transition); whereby the process is looping from step 12 back to step 1 for 2nd pass.
2nd pass of 1st tetrad is going to be slightly messy as it depends on how the meditator anchoring his mindfulness in the 1st pass. Keeping large bodily mindfulness chances are proceed into white Kasina kind of nimitta unless he direct the mind to anchor in front of nostril after step 12. Those that anchoring mindfulness in front of nostril after step 11 would develop different kinds of nimitta depending on individual conceptual production of the 3rd dhamma on (air)+(out breath)+(in breath) or locality of specific point of anchoring. What ever it is, it goes thru the stilling of nimitta object process of the 2nd pass 1st tetrad.
I’m considering the cultivation of different phase of vitakka-vicara in 1st jhana process in 2nd pass 1st tetrad, looking into a process for mind object as the ‘body’. Mostly our opinion on parikamma nimitta is unstable. It comes and go with inconsistency; that is not an accurate understanding of it. There is parikamma nimitta that is perfectly stable, an embodiment of breath body in grey, resonance to the physical breath. After all, nimitta is a production of concept. For meditator that encounter this kind of experience, the 1st tetrad does not require alteration of knowing long short normal or slow breath, because the mind already see the breath directly.
The process goes into 2nd pass 2nd tetrad with cultivation of mental piti-sukha; along the way, out breath and in breath shadow has to be dropped off for the full development of the nimitta object, so that the intensity built up subtly, later allowing a minor transition to patibhaga. The reason i say that this transition minor is not really mean minor, just that first time normally it could be missed out, not that it is not there, just that not being notice even though it is being ‘recorded’; especially white kasina type. Upon exit from attainment, even after a few hours, if one look back by directing the mind into the experience even when he is not meditating, chances is he can know (see) that uggaha ‘is’ there.
So 2nd pass 3rd tetrad would be stilling and freeing the patibhaga nimitta by entering the nimitta for full absorption in 1st Jhana.
Upon exit from the absorption, by looping directly to 3rd pass 2nd tetrad, that would keep vitakka-vicara at bay; with direct mind onto piti-sukha directly, develop patibhaga nimitta with it and enter into 2nd jhana. Similarly 4th pass by looping directly to step on sukha, keeping piti at bay as well, progressing to 3rd tetrad of 3rd jhana. The 5th pass would then be end of 3rd tetrad looping directly to the beginning of 3rd tetrad by keeping sukha at bay. So looking in this way, then we see that especially 3rd jhana to 4th jhana, looping into its own tetrad, would suggest that from jhana to jhana, one has to exit that jhana, pick up a patibhaga nimitta and enter another. If one has to exit the 3rd to enter the 4th, then logically one exit the 1st to enter the 2nd jhana and the rest. Usually, i have heard of one that attain the 2nd jhana finds that easier to attain the 3rd, the fact that both are looping back to the same tetrad perhaps is the reason. 4th jhana is harder as it is looping back to the same tetrad. Furthermore, from 2nd looping onwards, i would look at the specific tetrad as a single united steps, not specifying this or that step of one after another for one reason, we are learning not to control.
A wild theory! Anyway, the translation of APS16, by taking care of the first pass is sufficient, if we try to interpret such that a single pass to include jhana, that would be difficult as different meditator experiences different fabrication of breath body nimitta and kasina is additional variation that complicate things.
As to the sequence of 5 fold formula, perhaps can see if there is any clue by looking at if it is defined due to looking at different perpective as in 1st or 2nd looping?