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[ Sitting Practice ]
Four things one may see the reality of for one' self:
Past lives,[2] seeing for one's self using the memory.
Disappearance and reappearance,[3] seeing for one's self using the eye[4].
The 8 releases,[5] seeing for one's self using the body[6].
The elimination of the asavas,[7] seeing for one's self using wisdom.
[1]Digha Nikaya III.33: Sangiti Suttanta: 4.30
[2]Pubbeniv¤so: See Knowledge of Former Habitations
[3]PED: Cuta (pp. of cavati; Sk. cyuta) 1. (adj.) shifted, disappeared, deceased, passed from one existence to another Vin IV.216; Sn 774, 899 - 2. (n.) in cpd. cut¬pap¤ta disappearance & reappearance, transmigration
[4]cakkhun¤: eye. Both Walshe and Rhys Davids turn this into the Dibba Cakkhu. I suggest the Dibba Cakkhu is a special case of cakkhu. We see with the fleshy eye the coming and going of the seasons, crops, people, etc., we see the decease of individuals, seers see the manner of their reappearance with the Dibba Cakkhu. The Dhamma is helpful in the beginning! It is helpful in determining the value of the Four Truths for beginners to be able to see decease and rebirth in common terms.
[5]PED: Vimokkha (& Vimokha) (fr. vi+muc, cp. mokkha1) deliverance, release, emancipation, dissociation from the things of the world, Arahantship D II.70, 111); III.34, 35, 230, 288; M I.196 (samaya- & asamaya-); S I.159 (cetaso v.); II.53, 123; III.121; IV.33; A II.87; IV.316; V.11; Vin V.164 (cittassa). The three vimokkhas are: su¾¾ato v., animitto v., appa¼ihito v. The eight vimokkhas or stages of emancipation, are: the condition of r¬p¨, ar¬pa--sa¾¾¨, recognition of subha, realization of ¤k¤sa-na¾c'¤yatana, of vi¾¾¤¼'a-na¾c'¤yatana, ¤ki¾ca¾¾'¤yatana, neva-sa¾¾¤-n'a-sa¾¾'¤yatana, sa¾¾¤vedayita-nirodha D III.262 (cp. Dial. III.242), A I.40; IV.306. -- In sequence jh¤na vimokkha sam¤dhi sam¤patti (magga phala) at Vin I.97, 104; III.91; IV.25; A III.417, 419; V.34, 38.
See also The Seven Types of Individuals
[6]k¤yena: Both Walshe and Rhys Davids rely on the Abhidhamma interpretation which forces this from meaning body as it is usually used in the suttas into meaning Mind (PED: . . . Abhidhamma distinguished k¤ya as = the cetasikas (mental properties, or the vedan¤, sa¾¾¤ and sankh¤r¤ khandhas), body being excluded. . . )(and I think this also warps the meaning of sankhara). This, in turn, forces the meaning of kayasakkin to be the "mental realizer" of Horner.
It may well be that it is here in this sutta that the Abhidhamma idea began: if the modifiers are methods rather than mediums, and the arupajhanas are purely mental, then it would not be possible to use the body to attain these vimokkhas, so kaya must be made to be "mind-body" or the body of things making up what we understand to be mind. The whole issue is made much simpler by understanding the modifiers to be mediums: One may understand the 8 vimokkhas with (while still in the; or in the case of this sutta 'by way of reference to (or seeing) the bodily state') body.
(See also: Glossology: kaya)
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