| A.10_099 | Upaali Sutta | Upali asks the Buddha's permission to resort to the solitude of the forest. The Buddha advises him against it -- saying solitude is only of benefit to those who have already developed the ten prerequisite monastic practices: 1. keeping the Ten Precepts, restraint of the senses, mindfulness and self-awareness in all postures making his mind free of the Five Hindrances; 2. overcoming Five Hindrances to attain the first absorption; 3. overcoming initial application of mind [vitakka] and continuing application of mind [vicaara] to attain the second absorption; 4. overcoming joy [piti] to attain the third absorption; 5. overcoming happiness [sukha] to attain the fourth absorption; 6. overcoming the sense-objects to attain the sphere of the infinity of space (aakaasaana~ncaayatana); 7. overcoming the sphere of the infinity of space (aakaasaana~ncaayatana) to attain the sphere of the infinity of consciousness (vi~n~naa.na~ncaayatana); 8. overcoming the the sphere of the infinity of consciousness (vi~n~naa.na~ncaayatana) to attain the sphere of nothingness (aaki~nca~n~naayatana) 9. overcoming the the sphere of nothingness (aaki~nca~n~naayatana) to attain the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception (nevasa~n~naanaasa~n~naayatana), and; 10. overcoming the sphere of neither perception nor non-perception (nevasa~n~naanaasa~n~naayatana) to reach total destruction of the defilements. Just as a large bull elephant can benefit and take delight from washing in a deep pool of water but a small animal will either float to the top or float to the bottom. In the same way a bhikkhu who has not done the necessary groundwork should not yet seek out solitude and would get more benefit from staying amongst the order. | 38/323 | Dasaka Nipaata, Dutiya Pa.n.naasaka | A"nguttara | A.i. | |