The Remaining Kasiṇas
This page carries Ru-Yi's translation of the Visuddhimagga's chapter 5, Sesakasiṇaniddesa ("The Description of the Remaining Kasiṇas") — water, fire, air, the four pure colors, light, and delimited space — each developed by the same method chapter four established in full for the earth kasiṇa, with only what is distinctive to each stated here. The chapter closes with the specific powers each kasiṇa makes possible and a final word on who cannot succeed at meditation at all.
Translation Method
The Pāli source is the Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana (Sixth Council) romanized edition maintained by the Vipassana Research Institute (VRI, tipitaka.org), cross-checked against the Pali Text Society's Rhys Davids edition (1920–21) as digitized on GRETIL. The VRI text is used under its stated terms — freely available for non-commercial use, with attribution to the Vipassana Research Institute — while the GRETIL/PTS digitization, which carries its own CC BY-SA licence, is used only to verify readings, never copied.
The English translation is Ru-Yi's own, made directly from the Pāli. No existing English translation of the Visuddhimagga — including Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli's copyrighted The Path of Purification — is consulted, paraphrased, or used as a guide for wording or structure. Reading notes are grounded only in the text's own internal citations and in the general, uncontested conventions of the Pāli commentarial (aṭṭhakathā) genre — never in a modern scholar's specific interpretation. Each translated passage carries a short vocabulary list for readers learning Pāli alongside the text, continuing the same format established on this site's earlier Visuddhimagga chapters.
The Water, Fire, and Air Kasiṇas
The chapter opens by announcing its own method of economy: since the water kasiṇa is developed by exactly the same procedure already given in full for the earth kasiṇa, only what is distinctive to each new kasiṇa will be stated from here on — a promise the chapter keeps for the water, fire, and air kasiṇas that follow, each identified by a canonical story of a monk who attained the sign spontaneously, and each given its own method of preparation, its own name-words to use in the meditative formula, and its own description of the learning-sign and counterpart-sign.
Idāni pathavīkasiṇānantare āpokasiṇe vitthārakathā hoti. Yatheva hi pathavīkasiṇaṃ, evaṃ āpokasiṇampi bhāvetukāmena sukhanisinnena āpasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhitabbaṃ, kate vā akate vāti sabbaṃ vitthāretabbaṃ. Yathā ca idha, evaṃ sabbattha. Ito parañhi ettakampi avatvā visesamattameva vakkhāma.
Idhāpi pubbekatādhikārassa puññavato akate āpasmiṃ pokkharaṇiyā vā taḷāke vā loṇiyaṃ vā samudde vā nimittaṃ uppajjati cūḷasivattherassa viya. Tassa kirāyasmato lābhasakkāraṃ pahāya vivittavāsaṃ vasissāmīti mahātitthe nāvamārūhitvā jambudīpaṃ gacchato antarā mahāsamuddaṃ olokayato tappaṭibhāgaṃ kasiṇanimittaṃ udapādi.
Akatādhikārena cattāro kasiṇadose pariharantena nīlapītalohitodātavaṇṇānamaññataravaṇṇaṃ āpaṃ agahetvā yaṃ pana bhūmiṃ asampattameva ākāse suddhavatthena gahitaṃ udakaṃ, aññaṃ vā tathārūpaṃ vippasannaṃ anāvilaṃ, tena pattaṃ vā kuṇḍikaṃ vā samatittikaṃ pūretvā vihārapaccante vuttappakāre paṭicchanne okāse ṭhapetvā sukhanisinnena na vaṇṇo paccavekkhitabbo. Na lakkhaṇaṃ manasi kātabbaṃ. Nissayasavaṇṇameva katvā ussadavasena paṇṇattidhamme cittaṃ ṭhapetvā ambu, udakaṃ, vāri, salilantiādīsu āponāmesu pākaṭanāmavaseneva "āpo āpo"ti bhāvetabbaṃ.
Tassevaṃ bhāvayato anukkamena vuttanayeneva nimittadvayaṃ uppajjati. Idha pana uggahanimittaṃ calamānaṃ viya upaṭṭhāti, sace pheṇapupphuḷakamissaṃ udakaṃ hoti, tādisameva upaṭṭhāti, kasiṇadoso paññāyati. Paṭibhāganimittaṃ pana nipparipphandaṃ ākāse ṭhapitamaṇitālavaṇṭaṃ viya maṇimayādāsamaṇḍalamiva ca hutvā upaṭṭhāti. So tassa saha upaṭṭhāneneva upacārajjhānaṃ, vuttanayeneva catukkapañcakajjhānāni ca pāpuṇātīti. Āpokasiṇaṃ.
Tejokasiṇaṃ bhāvetukāmenāpi tejasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhitabbaṃ. Tattha katādhikārassa puññavato akate nimittaṃ gaṇhantassa dīpasikhāya vā uddhane vā pattapacanaṭṭhāne vā davadāhe vā yattha katthaci aggijālaṃ olokentassa nimittaṃ uppajjati cittaguttattherassa viya. Tassa hāyasmato dhammassavanadivase uposathāgāraṃ paviṭṭhassa dīpasikhaṃ olokentasseva nimittaṃ uppajji.
Itarena pana kātabbaṃ. Tatridaṃ karaṇavidhānaṃ, siniddhāni sāradārūni phāletvā sukkhāpetvā ghaṭikaṃ ghaṭikaṃ katvā patirūpaṃ rukkhamūlaṃ vā maṇḍapaṃ vā gantvā pattapacanākārena rāsiṃ katvā ālimpetvā kaṭasārake vā camme vā paṭe vā vidatthicaturaṅgulappamāṇaṃ chiddaṃ kātabbaṃ. Taṃ purato ṭhapetvā vuttanayeneva nisīditvā heṭṭhā tiṇakaṭṭhaṃ vā upari dhūmasikhaṃ vā amanasikaritvā vemajjhe ghanajālāya nimittaṃ gaṇhitabbaṃ, nīlanti vā pītanti vātiādivasena vaṇṇo na paccavekkhitabbo, uṇhattavasena lakkhaṇaṃ na manasi kātabbaṃ. Nissayasavaṇṇameva katvā ussadavasena paṇṇattidhamme cittaṃ ṭhapetvā pāvako, kaṇhavattanī, jātavedo, hutāsanotiādīsu aggināmesu pākaṭanāmavaseneva "tejo tejo"ti bhāvetabbaṃ.
Tassevaṃ bhāvayato anukkamena vuttanayeneva nimittadvayaṃ uppajjati. Tattha uggahanimittaṃ jālaṃ chijjitvā chijjitvā patanasadisaṃ hutvā upaṭṭhāti. Akate gaṇhantassa pana kasiṇadoso paññāyati, alātakhaṇḍaṃ vā aṅgārapiṇḍo vā chārikā vā dhūmo vā upaṭṭhāti. Paṭibhāganimittaṃ niccalaṃ ākāse ṭhapitarattakambalakkhaṇḍaṃ viya suvaṇṇatālavaṇṭaṃ viya kañcanatthambho viya ca upaṭṭhāti. So tassa saha upaṭṭhāneneva upacārajjhānaṃ, vuttanayeneva catukkapañcakajjhānāni ca pāpuṇātīti. Tejokasiṇaṃ.
Vāyokasiṇaṃ bhāvetukāmenāpi vāyusmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhitabbaṃ. Tañca kho diṭṭhavasena vā phuṭṭhavasena vā. Vuttañhetaṃ aṭṭhakathāsu "vāyokasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto vāyusmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti, ucchaggaṃ vā eritaṃ sameritaṃ upalakkheti, veḷaggaṃ vā…pe… rukkhaggaṃ vā kesaggaṃ vā eritaṃ sameritaṃ upalakkheti, kāyasmiṃ vā phuṭṭhaṃ upalakkhetī"ti. Tasmā samasīsaṭṭhitaṃ ghanapattaṃ ucchuṃ vā veḷuṃ vā rukkhaṃ vā caturaṅgulappamāṇaṃ ghanakesassa purisassa sīsaṃ vā vātena pahariyamānaṃ disvā "ayaṃ vāto etasmiṃ ṭhāne paharatī"ti satiṃ ṭhapetvā, yaṃ vā panassa vātapānantarikāya vā bhittichiddena vā pavisitvā vāto kāyappadesaṃ paharati, tattha satiṃ ṭhapetvā vātamālutaanilādīsu vāyunāmesu pākaṭanāmavaseneva "vāto vāto"ti bhāvetabbaṃ. Idha uggahanimittavaḍḍhanato otāritamattassa pāyāsassa usumavaṭṭisadisaṃ calaṃ hutvā upaṭṭhāti. Paṭibhāganimittaṃ sannisinnaṃ hoti niccalaṃ. Sesaṃ vuttanayeneva veditabbanti. Vāyokasiṇaṃ.
Now, next after the earth kasiṇa, the detailed discussion of the water kasiṇa follows. Just as with the earth kasiṇa, so too one desiring to develop the water kasiṇa, sitting comfortably, should take up the sign in water — everything should be elaborated in full, whether it is a kasiṇa already made or not yet made. And as here, so everywhere else. For from this point on, we shall no longer state even this much, but shall speak only of what is distinctive in each case.
Here too, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work in a past life, the sign arises in water not specially prepared — in a lotus-pond, a lake, a salt-marsh, or the ocean — as in the case of the Elder Cūḷasiva. For it is told of that venerable one that, thinking, "having given up gain and honor, I will dwell in seclusion," he boarded a ship at the great harbor to go to the mainland of India, and, gazing out over the great ocean during the crossing, the counterpart sign of the kasiṇa arose in him.
But for one who has not done the preparatory work, guarding against the four faults of a kasiṇa, without taking water of the color blue, yellow, red, or white, but rather water caught in the sky with a clean cloth before it has even reached the ground, or other water of a similar kind that is clear and undisturbed — having filled a bowl or a water-pot with it level to the brim, and placed it, in the manner already described, in a concealed spot at the edge of the monastery, and sat comfortably — the color should not be reviewed, nor should the characteristic be attended to. Rather, having simply treated it as a physical basis, and fixing the mind on the concept by way of its predominant feature, it should be developed using one of its ordinary designations — such as ambu, udaka, vāri, or salila — simply thinking "water, water."
For one developing it thus, the two signs arise in due order, by the method already stated. But here, the learning-sign appears as though moving; if the water has foam and bubbles mixed into it, it appears just so, and a fault of the kasiṇa becomes evident. The counterpart-sign, however, appears motionless, like a crystal fan set in the sky, or like a mirror-disc made of gem. Together with its appearance, he attains access-concentration; and, by the method already stated, the fourfold and fivefold jhānas as well. This is the water kasiṇa.
One desiring to develop the fire kasiṇa should also take up the sign in fire. Herein, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises without special preparation for one looking at a lamp's flame, an oven, a place where alms-bowls are fired, a wildfire, or a flame anywhere at all — as in the case of the Elder Cittagutta. For it is told of that venerable one that, having entered the uposatha-hall on a day for hearing the Dhamma, the sign arose in him simply from looking at the flame of a lamp.
But for another, it should be made. This is the procedure for making it: having split well-seasoned firewood and dried it, and cut it into billets, one should go to a suitable spot at the root of a tree or in a pavilion, and, having heaped it up in the manner of firing alms-bowls and lit it, one should make, in a mat, a hide, or a cloth, a hole a span and four fingers in size. Having set that in front and sat down as already stated, without attending to the grass and sticks below or the crown of smoke above, one should take up the sign in the dense flame in the middle. The color should not be reviewed as "blue" or "yellow," nor should the characteristic be attended to as heat. Rather, having treated it simply as a physical basis, and fixing the mind on the concept by way of its predominant feature, it should be developed using one of the ordinary designations for fire — such as pāvaka, kaṇhavattanī, jātaveda, or hutāsana — simply thinking "fire, fire."
For one developing it thus, the two signs arise in due order, by the method already stated. Herein, the learning-sign appears as though the flame were breaking off piece by piece and falling. But for one taking it up without special preparation, a fault of the kasiṇa becomes evident: a piece of firebrand, a lump of charcoal, ash, or smoke appears. The counterpart-sign appears motionless, like a piece of red woolen cloth set in the sky, or like a golden fan, or a golden pillar. Together with its appearance, he attains access-concentration; and, by the method already stated, the fourfold and fivefold jhānas as well. This is the fire kasiṇa.
One desiring to develop the air kasiṇa should also take up the sign in air. And this by way of either sight or touch. For it is said in the commentaries: "one learning the air kasiṇa takes up the sign in air, noticing the tip of a sugar-cane, or reeds, being stirred and moved, or the tip of bamboo ... or a tree-top, or the tips of hair being stirred and moved, or notices it as touching the body." Therefore, having seen a level-topped, dense-leaved sugar-cane, bamboo, or tree four fingers in girth, or the head of a man with thick hair, being struck by the wind, and fixing attention thus — "this wind is striking at this spot" — or, having fixed attention on the spot where wind, entering through a window-gap or a crack in a wall, strikes some part of the body, it should be developed using one of the ordinary designations for wind — such as vāta, māluta, or anila — simply thinking "wind, wind." Here, the learning-sign, from the growth of the initial perception, appears moving, like the shimmer of heat rising from rice-gruel just poured out. The counterpart-sign is settled and motionless. The rest should be understood by the method already stated. This is the air kasiṇa.
The chapter's opening line is a piece of explicit methodological housekeeping rarely stated so directly: having spent the whole of the previous chapter establishing every mechanical detail of kasiṇa meditation once, in full, the text now announces it will not do so again — "we shall no longer state even this much, but shall speak only of what is distinctive." This is not a stylistic economy but the very structural principle the entire remainder of the Visuddhimagga's meditation-subject chapters depends on: chapter four is the shared reference point every later chapter, this one included, quietly assumes.
Each of the three kasiṇas here is introduced through the same two-track structure already familiar from chapter four's own opening: a monk for whom the sign arose spontaneously from ordinary, unplanned experience (a sea crossing, a lamp glimpsed at a Dhamma talk), alongside the deliberate craft-procedure for a person without that karmic head start. The pairing quietly reinforces a claim the text has made before: the sign belongs to prior merit as much as to present technique, but present technique alone is enough to succeed.
treating as a mere physical basis — nissaya (support, basis) + sa (with) + vaṇṇa (description, treatment); the instruction, repeated for each new kasiṇa, not to dwell on the object's color or characteristic but to use it only as an anchor for the developing concept.
by way of its predominant feature, on the concept — ussada (predominance) + paṇṇatti (concept, designation); the technical description of how attention rests on the kasiṇa's conceptual label rather than its raw sensory particulars.
by way of sight / by way of touch — the two distinct channels named specifically for the air kasiṇa, unique among the ten in that its sign may be taken up without ever being seen at all, purely through the felt sensation of wind on the body.
a shimmer of heat-haze — usuma (heat, warmth) + vaṭṭi (a wick, a coiling strand); the simile for the air kasiṇa's still-unsteady learning-sign, comparing its visible waver to the rising shimmer above freshly poured hot rice-gruel.
The Four Color Kasiṇas: Blue, Yellow, Red, and White
The chapter turns to the four color kasiṇas, each defined by the same brief canonical formula — the sign is taken up "in a flower, a cloth, or a color-substance" — and each following, as the text itself states three times over, "the same method": a spontaneous story for the meritorious, a craft-procedure using disc, cloth, or bundle for everyone else, built by exact analogy to the blue kasiṇa's own fuller description.
Tadanantaraṃ pana nīlakasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto nīlakasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti pupphasmiṃ vā vatthasmiṃ vā vaṇṇadhātuyā vāti vacanato katādhikārassa puññavato tāva tathārūpaṃ mālāgacchaṃ vā pūjāṭhānesu pupphasantharaṃ vā nīlavatthamaṇīnaṃ vā aññataraṃ disvāva nimittaṃ uppajjati. Itarena nīluppalagirikaṇṇikādīni pupphāni gahetvā yathā kesaraṃ vā vaṇṭaṃ vā na paññāyati, evaṃ caṅgoṭakaṃ vā karaṇḍapaṭalaṃ vā pattehiyeva samatittikaṃ pūretvā santharitabbaṃ. Nīlavaṇṇena vā vatthena bhaṇḍikaṃ bandhitvā pūretabbaṃ. Mukhavaṭṭiyaṃ vā assa bheritalamiva bandhitabbaṃ. Kaṃsanīlapalāsanīlaañjananīlānaṃ vā aññatarena dhātunā pathavīkasiṇe vuttanayena saṃhārimaṃ vā bhittiyaṃyeva vā kasiṇamaṇḍalaṃ katvā visabhāgavaṇṇena paricchinditabbaṃ. Tato pathavīkasiṇe vuttanayena "nīlaṃ nīla"nti manasikāro pavattetabbo. Idhāpi uggahanimitte kasiṇadoso paññāyati, kesaradaṇḍakapattantarikādīni upaṭṭhahanti. Paṭibhāganimittaṃ kasiṇamaṇḍalato muñcitvā ākāse maṇitālavaṇṭasadisaṃ upaṭṭhāti. Sesaṃ vuttanayeneva veditabbanti. Nīlakasiṇaṃ.
Pītakasiṇepi eseva nayo. Vuttañhetaṃ pītakasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto pītakasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti pupphasmiṃ vā vatthasmiṃ vā vaṇṇadhātuyā vāti. Tasmā idhāpi katādhikārassa puññavato tathārūpaṃ mālāgacchaṃ vā pupphasantharaṃ vā pītavatthadhātūnaṃ vā aññataraṃ disvāva nimittaṃ uppajjati cittaguttattherassa viya. Tassa kirāyasmato cittalapabbate pattaṅgapupphehi kataṃ āsanapūjaṃ passato saha dassaneneva āsanappamāṇaṃ nimittaṃ udapādi. Itarena kaṇikārapupphādinā vā pītavatthena vā dhātunā vā nīlakasiṇe vuttanayeneva kasiṇaṃ katvā "pītakaṃ pītaka"nti manasikāro pavattetabbo. Sesaṃ tādisamevāti. Pītakasiṇaṃ.
Lohitakasiṇepi eseva nayo. Vuttañhetaṃ lohitakasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto lohitakasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti pupphasmiṃ vā vatthasmiṃ vā vaṇṇadhātuyā vāti. Tasmā idhāpi katādhikārassa puññavato tathārūpaṃ bandhujīvakādimālāgacchaṃ vā pupphasantharaṃ vā lohitakavatthamaṇidhātūnaṃ vā aññataraṃ disvāva nimittaṃ uppajjati. Itarena jayasumanabandhujīvakarattakoraṇḍakādipupphehi vā rattavatthena vā dhātunā vā nīlakasiṇe vuttanayeneva kasiṇaṃ katvā "lohitakaṃ lohitaka"nti manasikāro pavattetabbo. Sesaṃ tādisamevāti. Lohitakasiṇaṃ.
Odātakasiṇepi odātakasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto odātasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti pupphasmiṃ vā vatthasmiṃ vā vaṇṇadhātuyā vāti vacanato katādhikārassa tāva puññavato tathārūpaṃ mālāgacchaṃ vā vassikasumanādipupphasantharaṃ vā kumudapadumarāsiṃ vā odātavatthadhātūnaṃ vā aññataraṃ disvāva nimittaṃ uppajjati, tipumaṇḍalarajatamaṇḍalacandamaṇḍalesupi uppajjatiyeva. Itarena vuttappakārehi odātapupphehi vā odātavatthena vā dhātunā vā nīlakasiṇe vuttanayeneva kasiṇaṃ katvā "odātaṃ odāta"nti manasikāro pavattetabbo. Sesaṃ tādisamevāti. Odātakasiṇaṃ.
Next, one learning the blue kasiṇa takes up the sign in something blue, whether in a flower, a cloth, or a color-substance — so it is said. Therefore, first, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises simply from seeing such a thing as a suitable flowering shrub, a strewing of flowers at a place of offering, or one or another of blue cloths or gems. For another, having taken blue lotus flowers, or such flowers as girikaṇṇikā, they should be strewn, filling a small basket or a covered receptacle level to the brim with the petals alone, so that the filaments or the stalks are not visible. Or a bundle should be tied up and filled with blue-colored cloth. Or it should be tied over its mouth like the head of a drum. Or, by means of bronze-blue, leaf-blue, or eye-ointment-blue substance, a kasiṇa-disc, whether portable or made directly on a wall, should be made in the manner stated for the earth kasiṇa, and delimited by a border of a dissimilar color. Then, in the manner stated for the earth kasiṇa, the attention "blue, blue" should be made to proceed. Here too, a fault of the kasiṇa becomes evident in the learning-sign — the filaments, the stalks, the gaps between the petals, and so on, appear. The counterpart-sign, released from the kasiṇa-disc, appears in the sky like a crystal fan. The rest should be understood by the method already stated. This is the blue kasiṇa.
In the yellow kasiṇa too, the same method applies. For it is said: one learning the yellow kasiṇa takes up the sign in something yellow, whether in a flower, a cloth, or a color-substance. Therefore here too, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises simply from seeing such a thing as a suitable flowering shrub, a strewing of flowers, or one or another of yellow cloths or substances — as in the case of the Elder Cittagutta. For it is told of that venerable one that, seeing at Cittala Hill a seat-offering made with pattaṅga flowers, the sign, the size of the seat, arose in him simply from the seeing. For another, using kaṇikāra flowers or the like, or yellow cloth, or a substance, having made the kasiṇa in the very manner stated for the blue kasiṇa, the attention "yellow, yellow" should be made to proceed. The rest is exactly the same. This is the yellow kasiṇa.
In the red kasiṇa too, the same method applies. For it is said: one learning the red kasiṇa takes up the sign in something red, whether in a flower, a cloth, or a color-substance. Therefore here too, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises simply from seeing such a thing as a suitable flowering shrub such as bandhujīvaka, a strewing of flowers, or one or another of red cloths, gems, or substances. For another, using such flowers as jayasumana, bandhujīvaka, or red koraṇḍaka, or red cloth, or a substance, having made the kasiṇa in the very manner stated for the blue kasiṇa, the attention "red, red" should be made to proceed. The rest is exactly the same. This is the red kasiṇa.
In the white kasiṇa too, one learning the white kasiṇa takes up the sign in something white, whether in a flower, a cloth, or a color-substance — so it is said. Therefore, first, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises simply from seeing such a thing as a suitable flowering shrub, a strewing of jasmine or similar flowers, a mass of white water-lilies or lotuses, or one or another of white cloths or substances; it arises also from a disc of tin, a disc of silver, or the disc of the moon. For another, using white flowers of the kinds stated, or white cloth, or a substance, having made the kasiṇa in the very manner stated for the blue kasiṇa, the attention "white, white" should be made to proceed. The rest is exactly the same. This is the white kasiṇa.
The four color kasiṇas are presented as close to a single template with four variables substituted in, and the text is unusually explicit about this: "the same method applies" is stated for yellow, red, and white in turn, and each is built by direct cross-reference back to the blue kasiṇa's fuller description rather than repeated in full. This is the chapter's announced economy from its opening line put into practice as compactly as it will ever be — four entire meditation subjects compressed to variations on one worked example.
Worth noticing is how each color's craft-procedure draws on locally available, unremarkable materials — lotus petals, dyed cloth, ordinary pigments (bronze, leaf, or eye-ointment blue) — rather than anything rare or ceremonially special. The Elder Cittagutta reappears here as he did for the fire kasiṇa, this time attaining the yellow sign from an ordinary seat-offering of flowers at Cittala Hill, reinforcing the pattern that a well-prepared mind finds the sign in whatever it happens to encounter, without needing to seek out anything unusual.
a border of dissimilar color — visabhāga (dissimilar, of a different class) + vaṇṇa (color); the contrasting rim used to delimit a color kasiṇa-disc, distinguishing the meditative object proper from its surrounding frame.
a blue-flowering shrub (Clitoria ternatea or a related species) — named alongside the blue lotus as source material for the blue kasiṇa's craft-procedure.
the kaṇikāra tree (Pterospermum acerifolium), bearing golden-yellow flowers — the plant named as source material for the craft-procedure of the yellow kasiṇa.
a red-flowering shrub (Pentapetes phoenicea) — named as the primary source material for the red kasiṇa in both the spontaneous-sign story and the craft-procedure.
The Light Kasiṇa and the Delimited Space Kasiṇa
The chapter completes its tenfold list with the light kasiṇa — whose sign is a disc of radiance passing through a crack or gap, with an ingenious lamp-in-a-pot method for anyone unable to find one naturally — and the delimited space kasiṇa, whose sign is, uniquely among the ten, an absence rather than a presence: a bounded hole through which nothing at all is seen. A closing verse then marks the transition from the ten kasiṇas themselves to a further discussion of what they make possible.
Ālokakasiṇe pana ālokakasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto ālokasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti bhittichidde vā tāḷacchidde vā vātapānantarikāya vāti vacanato katādhikārassa tāva puññavato yaṃ bhittichiddādīnaṃ aññatarena sūriyāloko vā candāloko vā pavisitvā bhittiyaṃ vā bhūmiyaṃ vā maṇḍalaṃ samuṭṭhāpeti, ghanapaṇṇarukkhasākhantarena vā ghanasākhāmaṇḍapantarena vā nikkhamitvā bhūmiyameva maṇḍalaṃ samuṭṭhāpeti, taṃ disvāva nimittaṃ uppajjati. Itarenāpi tadeva vuttappakāramobhāsamaṇḍalaṃ "obhāso obhāso"ti vā "āloko āloko"ti vā bhāvetabbaṃ. Tathā asakkontena ghaṭe dīpaṃ jāletvā ghaṭamukhaṃ pidahitvā ghaṭe chiddaṃ katvā bhittimukhaṃ ṭhapetabbaṃ. Tena chiddena dīpāloko nikkhamitvā bhittiyaṃ maṇḍalaṃ karoti, taṃ āloko ālokoti bhāvetabbaṃ. Idamitarehi ciraṭṭhitikaṃ hoti. Idha uggahanimittaṃ bhittiyaṃ vā bhūmiyaṃ vā uṭṭhitamaṇḍalasadisameva hoti. Paṭibhāganimittaṃ ghanavippasannaālokapuñjasadisaṃ. Sesaṃ tādisamevāti. Ālokakasiṇaṃ.
Paricchinnākāsakasiṇepi ākāsakasiṇaṃ uggaṇhanto ākāsasmiṃ nimittaṃ gaṇhāti bhittichidde vā tāḷacchidde vā vātapānantarikāya vāti vacanato katādhikārassa tāva puññavato bhittichiddādīsu aññataraṃ disvāva nimittaṃ uppajjati. Itarena succhannamaṇḍape vā cammakaṭasārakādīnaṃ vā aññatarasmiṃ vidatthicaturaṅgulappamāṇaṃ chiddaṃ katvā tadeva vā bhittichiddādibhedaṃ chiddaṃ "ākāso ākāso"ti bhāvetabbaṃ. Idha uggahanimittaṃ saddhiṃ bhittipariyantādīhi chiddasadisameva hoti, vaḍḍhiyamānampi na vaḍḍhati. Paṭibhāganimittamākāsamaṇḍalameva hutvā upaṭṭhāti, vaḍḍhiyamānañca vaḍḍhati. Sesaṃ pathavīkasiṇe vuttanayeneva veditabbanti. Paricchinnākāsakasiṇaṃ.
Iti kasiṇāni dasabalo,
Dasa yāni avoca sabbadhammadaso;
Rūpāvacaramhi catukkapañcakajjhānahetūni.
Evaṃ tāni ca tesañca,
Bhāvanānayamimaṃ viditvāna;
Tesveva ayaṃ bhiyyo,
Pakiṇṇakakathāpi viññeyyā.
In the light kasiṇa, one learning the light kasiṇa takes up the sign in light, whether at a crack in a wall, a hole for a bolt, or a window-gap — so it is said. Therefore, first, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises simply from seeing this: sunlight or moonlight, entering through one or another of such openings as a crack in a wall, produces a disc on a wall or on the ground; or, emerging through a gap between dense leaves and branches of a tree, or through a gap in a dense leafy pavilion, it produces a disc on the ground itself. For another too, that same kind of disc of radiance should be developed, thinking either "radiance, radiance," or "light, light." Likewise, for one unable to find such a natural source, having lit a lamp inside a pot, and closed the mouth of the pot, and made a hole in the pot, it should be set facing a wall. Through that hole, the light of the lamp emerges and makes a disc on the wall; that should be developed as "light, light." This method, compared to the others, lasts longer. Here, the learning-sign is exactly like the disc that has arisen on the wall or the ground. The counterpart-sign is like a dense, thoroughly clear mass of light. The rest is exactly the same. This is the light kasiṇa.
In the delimited space kasiṇa too, one learning the space kasiṇa takes up the sign in space, whether at a crack in a wall, a hole for a bolt, or a window-gap — so it is said. Therefore, first, for a meritorious person who has done the preparatory work, the sign arises simply from seeing one or another of such things as a crack in a wall. For another, having made, in a well-thatched pavilion, or in a hide, a mat, or the like, a hole a span and four fingers in size, that hole — whether this one, or one of the kind of a crack in a wall — should be developed as "space, space." Here, the learning-sign, together with the edges of the wall and so on, is exactly like the hole; even when it is being expanded, it does not expand. The counterpart-sign appears as simply a disc of space, and it does expand as it is being expanded. The rest should be understood by the method already stated for the earth kasiṇa. This is the delimited space kasiṇa.
Thus the ten kasiṇas which the Ten-Powered One, the seer of all things, declared — causes of the fourfold and fivefold jhānas belonging to the fine-material sphere. Having thus understood these, and this method of their development, a further miscellaneous discussion concerning these very same kasiṇas should also be known.
The lamp-in-a-pot method for the light kasiṇa is a small piece of practical ingenuity worth pausing on: rather than depending on the accident of sunlight or moonlight finding its way through a particular gap at a particular time of day, a meditator can manufacture the same phenomenon reliably and, the text notes, with even greater durability than the natural version — turning what might seem like the most fleeting and uncontrollable of all ten kasiṇa objects into one of the more dependable ones to set up.
The space kasiṇa's learning-sign is the one clear exception to how every other kasiṇa's learning-sign behaves: for all nine other kasiṇas, the learning-sign is simply an accurate mental image of the object itself, sharing that object's every visible flaw. But space is not an object at all — it is an absence — so the "learning-sign" here is nothing more than the boundary of the hole through which that absence is viewed, and, tellingly, it cannot be enlarged by wishing it larger, unlike every other learning-sign. Only once the counterpart-sign breaks free from that physical boundary and becomes a pure disc of space in its own right does it finally gain the capacity to expand — the moment marking the shift from perceiving an actual hole to perceiving the concept "space" itself.
radiance / light — two near-synonymous designations offered as alternatives for the light kasiṇa's meditative formula, either being acceptable as the word repeated in developing the sign.
dense and thoroughly clear — ghana (dense, solid) + vippasanna (thoroughly clear, translucent); the description of the light kasiṇa's counterpart-sign, a mass of luminosity combining solidity and total clarity at once.
the Ten-Powered One — dasa (ten) + bala (power); an epithet of the Buddha referring to his ten kinds of Tathāgata-knowledge, used in the closing verse crediting him as the source of the ten-kasiṇa teaching.
The Powers Each Kasiṇa Makes Possible
The chapter's closing miscellaneous discussion opens by cataloguing, kasiṇa by kasiṇa, the specific supernormal powers (iddhi) that mastery of each one is traditionally said to make possible — from multiplying one's body and walking on created earth, through weather-working, fire-related feats up to the fire-cremation of an arahant's own body at final passing away, and forms of altered perception connected to the divine eye and the eight liberations.
Imesu hi pathavīkasiṇavasena ekopi hutvā bahudhā hotītiādibhāvo, ākāse vā udake vā pathaviṃ nimminitvā padasā gamanaṃ, ṭhānanisajjādikappanaṃ vā, parittaappamāṇanayena abhibhāyatanapaṭilābhoti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Āpokasiṇavasena pathaviyaṃ ummujjananimmujjanaṃ, udakavuṭṭhisamuppādanaṃ, nadīsamuddādinimmānaṃ, pathavīpabbatapāsādādīnaṃ kampananti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Tejokasiṇavasena dhūmāyanā, pajjalanā, aṅgāravuṭṭhisamuppādanaṃ, tejasā tejopariyādānaṃ, yadeva so icchati tassa ḍahanasamatthatā, dibbena cakkhunā rūpadassanatthāya ālokakaraṇaṃ, parinibbānasamaye tejodhātuyā sarīrajjhāpananti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Vāyokasiṇavasena vāyugatigamanaṃ, vātavuṭṭhisamuppādananti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Nīlakasiṇavasena nīlarūpanimmānaṃ, andhakārakaraṇaṃ, suvaṇṇadubbaṇṇanayena abhibhāyatanapaṭilābho, subhavimokkhādhigamoti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Pītakasiṇavasena pītakarūpanimmānaṃ, suvaṇṇanti adhimuccanā, vuttanayeneva abhibhāyatanapaṭilābho, subhavimokkhādhigamo cāti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Lohitakasiṇavasena lohitakarūpanimmānaṃ, vuttanayeneva abhibhāyatanapaṭilābho, subhavimokkhādhigamoti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Odātakasiṇavasena odātarūpanimmānaṃ, thinamiddhassa dūrabhāvakaraṇaṃ, andhakāravidhamanaṃ, dibbena cakkhunā rūpadassanatthāya ālokakaraṇanti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Ālokakasiṇavasena sappabhārūpanimmānaṃ, thinamiddhassa dūrabhāvakaraṇaṃ, andhakāravidhamanaṃ, dibbena cakkhunā rūpadassanatthaṃ ālokakaraṇanti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Ākāsakasiṇavasena paṭicchannānaṃ vivaṭakaraṇaṃ, antopathavīpabbatādīsupi ākāsaṃ nimminitvā iriyāpathakappanaṃ, tirokuḍḍādīsu asajjamānagamananti evamādīni ijjhanti.
Among these, by means of the earth kasiṇa, such feats as being one and becoming many and so on are accomplished, as well as walking on foot after creating earth in the sky or in water, or fashioning a place to stand, sit, and so on, and the attainment of the bases of mastery by the method of the limited and the measureless.
By means of the water kasiṇa, such feats as diving into and emerging from solid earth, producing rains of water, creating rivers, oceans, and the like, and shaking the earth, mountains, palaces, and so on are accomplished.
By means of the fire kasiṇa, such feats as producing smoke, blazing into flame, producing showers of embers, extinguishing fire with fire, the ability to burn up whatever one wishes, producing light for the purpose of seeing forms with the divine eye, and, at the time of final passing away, the cremation of the body by the fire element, are accomplished.
By means of the air kasiṇa, such feats as traveling with the speed of the wind and producing gusts of wind are accomplished.
By means of the blue kasiṇa, such feats as creating blue forms, producing darkness, the attainment of the bases of mastery by the method of the beautiful and the ugly, and the attainment of the deliverance through the beautiful are accomplished.
By means of the yellow kasiṇa, such feats as creating yellow forms, resolving an object to be gold, and, by the method already stated, the attainment of the bases of mastery and the attainment of the deliverance through the beautiful are accomplished.
By means of the red kasiṇa, such feats as creating red forms, and, by the method already stated, the attainment of the bases of mastery and the attainment of the deliverance through the beautiful are accomplished.
By means of the white kasiṇa, such feats as creating white forms, keeping sloth and torpor at a distance, dispelling darkness, and producing light for the purpose of seeing forms with the divine eye are accomplished.
By means of the light kasiṇa, such feats as creating luminous forms, keeping sloth and torpor at a distance, dispelling darkness, and producing light for the purpose of seeing forms with the divine eye are accomplished.
By means of the space kasiṇa, such feats as exposing what is concealed, fashioning the postures even inside solid earth, mountains, and the like by creating space within them, and passing unobstructed through walls and the like are accomplished.
This catalogue reads almost like a formal register connecting each kasiṇa's meditative signature to a specific class of traditionally attested powers — the earth kasiṇa to solidification and multiplication, water to fluidity and dissolution, fire to combustion (including the culturally significant detail of an arahant's own self-cremation at death by the fire element, without external kindling), air to velocity, and each color kasiṇa to a distinctive perceptual transformation of the visual field. The pairing is systematic rather than arbitrary: the power granted by each kasiṇa is precisely the power to project, at will, the very quality that kasiṇa's own sign already consists of.
The repeated references to "the bases of mastery" (abhibhāyatana) and "the deliverance through the beautiful" (subha-vimokkha) point outward to two further traditional lists — the eight bases of mastery and the eight liberations — that the Visuddhimagga treats in full only later in the treatise, on the immaterial attainments; this chapter simply flags which kasiṇas feed into which later category, trusting the reader to encounter their full definitions in due course, exactly as later chapters will trust this one.
supernormal power, psychic potency — the general category of feat this entire section catalogues, traditionally arising as a byproduct of mastery over the fine-material jhānas developed through each kasiṇa.
a basis of mastery — abhibhava (overcoming, mastering) + āyatana (base, sphere); one of eight traditional stages of mastering perception of visible forms, several of which are explicitly tied here to specific kasiṇas.
the deliverance through the beautiful — subha (beautiful, fair) + vimokkha (liberation, deliverance); one of the eight liberations, attained via the pure color kasiṇas according to this section's attributions.
extinguishing fire with fire — tejo (fire) + pariyādāna (using up, exhausting); one of the fire kasiṇa's listed powers, alongside the culturally weighty detail of self-cremation at the moment of final passing away.
Above, Below, Across, Without Duality, Measureless
The miscellaneous discussion closes its treatment of powers with a further fourfold classification applying to every kasiṇa alike — the direction in which a meditator chooses to extend the sign, the fact that one kasiṇa's nature never bleeds into another's, and the sheer boundlessness with which the sign, once mastered, can be extended — before the chapter turns, in its final section, to who is disqualified from succeeding at this practice at all.
Sabbāneva uddhaṃ adho tiriyaṃ advayaṃ appamāṇanti imaṃ pabhedaṃ labhanti. Vuttañhetaṃ "pathavīkasiṇameko sañjānāti. Uddhamadhotiriyaṃ advayamappamāṇa"ntiādi.
Tattha uddhanti uparigaganatalābhimukhaṃ. Adhoti heṭṭhābhūmitalābhimukhaṃ. Tiriyanti khettamaṇḍalamiva samantā paricchinditaṃ. Ekacco hi uddhameva kasiṇaṃ vaḍḍheti, ekacco adho, ekacco samantato. Tena tena vā kāraṇena evaṃ pasāreti. Ālokamiva dibbacakkhunā rūpadassanakāmo. Tena vuttaṃ uddhamadhotiriyanti. Advayanti idaṃ pana ekassa aññabhāvānupagamanatthaṃ vuttaṃ. Yathā hi udakaṃ paviṭṭhassa sabbadisāsu udakameva hoti, na aññaṃ, evameva pathavīkasiṇaṃ pathavīkasiṇameva hoti, natthi tassa añño kasiṇasambhedoti. Eseva nayo sabbattha. Appamāṇanti idaṃ tassa pharaṇaappamāṇavasena vuttaṃ. Tañhi cetasā pharanto sakalameva pharati. Na ayamassa ādi idaṃ majjhanti pamāṇaṃ gaṇhātīti.
All of these, moreover, receive this further classification: above, below, across, without duality, measureless. For it is said: "one perceives the earth kasiṇa as one, above, below, across, without duality, measureless," and so on.
Herein, "above" means facing toward the upper sky. "Below" means facing toward the ground beneath. "Across" means delimited on every side, like the plot of a field. For one person extends the kasiṇa only upward, another downward, another on every side — extending it thus for one reason or another, as one who, wishing to see forms with the divine eye, extends it like light. For this reason it is said "above, below, across." "Without duality," however, is said for the purpose of showing that one kasiṇa does not pass over into the nature of another. For just as, for one who has entered water, it is simply water in every direction, and nothing else — so too the earth kasiṇa is simply the earth kasiṇa; there is for it no admixture with any other kasiṇa. This same method applies everywhere. "Measureless" is said by way of its measureless extension. For one who is extending it with the mind extends the whole of it entirely; he does not take hold of any measure such as "this is its beginning, this its middle."
The water simile for "without duality" is a small but exact piece of reasoning: someone standing in water experiences water in every direction they turn, with no admixture of anything else — not because water is somehow special, but because that is simply what it means for a medium to be uniform throughout the whole of one's immersion in it. Applied to the kasiṇas, the point is that expanding the earth kasiṇa's sign, however far it is extended in any direction, never starts shading into water, or fire, or blue — each kasiṇa retains its own single nature no matter how far or in which direction its sign is stretched.
"Measureless" closes the classification with a claim about how the fully mastered sign is actually experienced: not as a large object with edges simply pushed very far out, but as something without any experienced beginning, middle, or boundary at all — the meditator "extends the whole of it entirely," rather than incrementally extending a measurable thing. This is consistent with the earlier chapter's account of expanding the counterpart-sign by careful, marked degrees: the boundary-marking method is how one gets there, but the destination itself, once reached, has no boundary left to mark.
without duality, without a second — a (without) + dvaya (a pair, duality); here meaning that a given kasiṇa's nature admits no admixture from any other kasiṇa, however far its sign is extended.
measureless — a (without) + pamāṇa (measure); describing the mastered sign's mode of extension, which takes no beginning, middle, or boundary as its measure at all.
the plot of a field — khetta (field) + maṇḍala (a disc, a bounded area); the simile for "across" (tiriya), a kasiṇa extended on every side like a delimited agricultural plot rather than upward or downward alone.
Who Cannot Succeed in Meditation
The chapter closes with a sobering final section naming those for whom no meditation subject whatsoever — kasiṇa or otherwise — can succeed: those obstructed by an act of immediate retribution, by fixed wrong view or by being a hermaphrodite of both sexual characteristics, or by a rootless or weak-rooted rebirth-linking, and those simply lacking faith, zeal, or understanding — before closing, like every chapter so far, with the treatise's traditional colophon.
Ye ca te sattā kammāvaraṇena vā samannāgatā kilesāvaraṇena vā samannāgatā vipākāvaraṇena vā samannāgatā asaddhā acchandikā duppaññā abhabbā niyāmaṃ okkamituṃ kusalesu dhammesu sammattanti vuttā, tesamekassāpekakasiṇepi bhāvanā na ijjhati. Tattha kammāvaraṇena samannāgatāti ānantariyakammasamaṅgino. Kilesāvaraṇena samannāgatāti niyatamicchādiṭṭhikā ceva ubhatobyañjanakapaṇḍakā ca. Vipākāvaraṇena samannāgatāti ahetukadvihetukapaṭisandhikā. Asaddhāti buddhādīsu saddhāvirahitā. Acchandikāti apaccanīkapaṭipadāyaṃ chandavirahitā. Duppaññāti lokiyalokuttarasammādiṭṭhiyā virahitā. Abhabbā niyāmaṃ okkamituṃ kusalesu dhammesu sammattanti kusalesu dhammesu niyāmasaṅkhātaṃ sammattasaṅkhātañca ariyamaggaṃ okkamituṃ abhabbāti attho. Na kevalañca kasiṇeyeva, aññesupi kammaṭṭhānesu etesamekassapi bhāvanā na ijjhati. Tasmā vigatavipākāvaraṇenapi kulaputtena kammāvaraṇañca kilesāvaraṇañca ārakā parivajjetvā saddhammassavanasappurisūpanissayādīhi saddhañca chandañca paññañca vaḍḍhetvā kammaṭṭhānānuyoge yogo karaṇīyoti.
Iti sādhujanapāmojjatthāya kate visuddhimagge
Samādhibhāvanādhikāre
Sesakasiṇaniddeso nāma
Pañcamo paricchedo.
As for those beings said to be possessed of the obstruction of kamma, or possessed of the obstruction of defilement, or possessed of the obstruction of kammic result, or lacking faith, lacking zeal, of poor understanding, incapable of entering upon the fixed course of rightness among wholesome states — for not even one among them succeeds in the development of even a single kasiṇa. Herein, "possessed of the obstruction of kamma" means those who have committed one of the crimes of immediate retribution. "Possessed of the obstruction of defilement" means those of fixed wrong view, and those who are hermaphrodites of both sexual characteristics. "Possessed of the obstruction of kammic result" means those whose rebirth-linking is rootless or has only two roots. "Lacking faith" means devoid of faith in the Buddha and the rest. "Lacking zeal" means devoid of desire for the practice that runs counter to the defilements. "Of poor understanding" means devoid of the right view, whether mundane or supramundane. "Incapable of entering upon the fixed course of rightness among wholesome states" means: incapable of entering upon the noble path, reckoned as the fixed course and as rightness, among wholesome states. And it is not in regard to the kasiṇas alone — in the other meditation subjects too, not even one of these persons succeeds in the development. Therefore, even a clansman free of the obstruction of kammic result should, having kept the obstruction of kamma and the obstruction of defilement far away, and having increased faith, zeal, and understanding through hearing the true Dhamma, association with good persons, and the like, undertake the practice of devotion to a meditation subject.
Thus, in the Visuddhimagga, composed for the gladdening of good people, in the section on the development of concentration, this is the fifth chapter, called the Description of the Remaining Kasiṇas.
This closing catalogue of disqualifications is notable for how narrowly and specifically it is drawn: it names precise technical categories (the five crimes of immediate retribution, fixed wrong view, rootless or two-rooted rebirth-linking, the ambiguous rebirth-condition of the ubhatobyañjaka) rather than any broad moral or social judgment, and it applies identically across every meditation subject in the treatise, not to the kasiṇas alone. The text is equally careful to specify that the disqualifications concerning faith, zeal, and understanding are not fixed conditions at all — unlike the karmic and resultant obstructions, these three can be actively increased through hearing the true Dhamma and associating with good people, which is exactly the instruction the chapter closes on.
The colophon closes chapter five exactly as every chapter before it closed — "composed for the gladdening of good people," within "the section on the development of concentration" — continuing a formula now stable across five consecutive chapters. Fittingly, given how thoroughly this chapter has depended on chapter four's groundwork rather than repeating it, this is by far the shortest of the five chapters completed so far, a direct demonstration of the very economy the chapter announced in its own opening line.
a crime of immediate retribution — ānantariya (immediately following, without interval) + kamma (action); one of five specific acts (patricide, matricide, killing an arahant, wounding a Buddha, or causing a schism in the Saṅgha) whose karmic result is said to follow without any intervening rebirth.
a rootless or two-rooted rebirth-linking — ahetuka (without roots) / dvihetuka (with two roots) + paṭisandhi (rebirth-linking); an Abhidhamma classification of the resultant consciousness at conception, said here to obstruct the possibility of jhāna attainment regardless of later effort.
a clansman, a person of good family — literally "son of a clan"; the chapter's closing term of address for the ordinary aspirant, free of the deeper resultant obstruction, who is urged to actively cultivate faith, zeal, and understanding rather than assume they are simply given.
Sesakasiṇaniddesa Complete
This closes the translation of the Visuddhimagga's fifth chapter, Sesakasiṇaniddesa ("The Description of the Remaining Kasiṇas"), from the Pāli — the shortest chapter completed so far, built entirely on chapter four's foundational method and stating, as it announces at its own outset, only what is distinctive to each of the nine remaining kasiṇas. In full: the water, fire, and air kasiṇas with their canonical stories and craft-procedures; the four color kasiṇas (blue, yellow, red, white), built by direct analogy to one another; the light kasiṇa with its ingenious lamp-in-a-pot method, and the delimited space kasiṇa, whose learning-sign is uniquely an absence rather than a presence; the closing verse marking the ten kasiṇas as the Buddha's own teaching; the miscellaneous discussion cataloguing the specific supernormal powers each kasiṇa makes possible; the fourfold classification of above, below, across, without duality, and measureless; and the final section naming who is disqualified from succeeding at any meditation subject at all — closing, like the four chapters before it, with the traditional colophon. The Visuddhimagga's sixth chapter, Asubhakammaṭṭhānaniddesa ("The Description of the Foulness Meditation Subjects"), treating the ten kinds of corpse-contemplation, continues from here — the next undertaking for this translation.