When the meditator, in the exercise of noticing, is able to keep
exclusively to the present body-and-mind process, without looking back
to past processes or ahead to future ones, then, as a result of
insight, (the mental vision of) a //brilliant light// will appear to
him. To one it will appear like the light of a lamp, to others like a
flash of lightning, or like the radiance of the moon or the sun, and
so on. With one it may last for just one moment, with others it may
last longer.

There will also arise in him strong //mindfulness// pertaining to
insight. As a result, all the successive arisings of bodily and mental
processes will present themselves to the consciousness engaged in
noticing, as if coming to it of themselves; and mindfulness too seems
as if alighting on the processes of itself. Therefore the meditator
then believes: "There is no body-and-mind process in which mindfulness
fails to engage."

His //knowledge// consisting in insight, here called "noticing,"
will be likewise keen, strong, and lucid. Consequently, he will
discern clearly and in separate forms all the bodily and mental
processes noticed, as if cutting to pieces a bamboo sprout with a
well-sharpened knife. Therefore the meditator then believes: "There is
no body-and-mind process that cannot be noticed." When examining the
characteristics of impermanence, etc., or other aspects of reality, he
understands everything quite clearly and at once, and he believes it
to be the knowledge derived from direct experience.

Further, strong //faith// pertaining to insight arises in him.
Under its influence, the meditator's mind, when engaged in noticing or
thinking, is serene and without any disturbance; and when he is
engaged in recollecting the virtues of the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the
Sangha, his mind quite easily gives itself over to them. There arise
in him the wish to proclaim the Buddha's Teaching, joyous confidence
in the virtues of those engaged in meditation, the desire to advise
dear friends and relatives to practise meditation, grateful
remembrance of the help received from his meditation master, his
spiritual mentor, etc. These and many other similar mental processes
will occur.

There arises also //rapture// in its five grades, beginning with
minor rapture.[28] When purification of mind is gained, that rapture
begins to appear by causing "goose-flesh," tremor in the limbs, etc.;
and now it produces a sublime feeling of happiness and exhilaration,
filling the whole body with an exceedingly sweet and subtle thrill.
Under its influence, he feels as if the whole body had risen up and
remained in the air without touching the ground, or as if it were
seated on an air cushion, or as if it were floating up and down.

There arises //tranquillity// of mind with the characteristic of
quietening the disturbances of consciousness and its mental
concomitants; and along with it appear mental agility, etc.[29] When
walking, standing, sitting, or reclining there is, under the influence
of these mental qualities, no disturbance of consciousness and its
mental concomitants, nor heaviness, rigidity, unwieldiness, sickness,
or crookedness.[30] Rather, his consciousness and its mental
concomitants are tranquil through having reached the supreme relief in
non-action.[31] They are agile in always functioning swiftly; they are
pliant in being able to attend to any object desired; they are wieldy,
in being able to attend to an object for any length of time desired;
they are quite lucid through their proficiency, that is, through the
ease with which insight penetrates the object; they are also straight
through being directed, inclined, and turned only towards wholesome
activities.

There also arises a very sublime feeling of //happiness// suffusing
all his body. Under its influence he becomes exceedingly joyous and he
believes: "Now I am happy all the time," or "Now, indeed, I have found
happiness never felt before," and he wants to tell others of his
extraordinary experience. With reference to that rapture and
happiness, which are aided by the factors of tranquillity, etc., it
was said:

Superhuman is the bliss of a monk
Who, with mind at peace,
Having entered a secluded place,
Wins insight into Dhamma.
When he fully comprehends
The five groups' rise and fall,
He wins to rapture and to joy --
The Deathless this, for those who understand.

//Dhammapada// vv. 373-374

There arises in him //energy// that is neither too lax nor too
tense but is vigorous and acts evenly. For formerly his energy was
sometimes lax, and so he was overpowered by sloth and torpor; hence he
could not notice keenly and continuously the objects as they became
evident, and his understanding, too, was not clear. And at other times
his energy was too tense, and so he was overpowered by agitation, with
the same result of being unable to notice keenly, etc. But now his
energy is neither too lax nor too tense, but is vigorous and acts
evenly; and so, overcoming these shortcomings of sloth, torpor, and
agitation, he is able to notice the objects present keenly and
continuously, and his understanding is quite clear, too.

There also arises in him strong //equanimity// associated with
insight, which is neutral towards all formations. Under its influence
he regards with neutrality even his examination of the nature of these
formations with respect to their being impermanent, etc.; and he is
able to notice keenly and continuously the bodily and mental processes
arising at the time. Then his activity of noticing is carried on
without effort, and proceeds, as it were, of itself. Also in adverting
to the objects, there arises in him strong equanimity, by virtue of
which his mind enters, as it were, quickly into the objects of
advertence.[32]

There arises further a subtle //attachment// of a calm nature that
enjoys the insight graced with the "brilliant light" and the other
qualities here described. The meditator, however, is not able to
discern it as a corruption but believes it to be just the very bliss
of meditation. So meditators speak in praise of it thus: "Only now do
I find full delight in meditation!"

Having felt such rapture and happiness accompanied by the
"brilliant light" and enjoying the very act of perfect noticing, which
is ably functioning with ease and rapidity, the meditator now
believes: "Surely I must have attained to the supramundane path and
fruition![33] Now I have finished the task of meditation." This is
mistaking what is not the path for the path, and it is a corruption of
insight which usually takes place in the manner just described. But
even if the meditator does not take the "brilliant light" and the
other corruptions as an indication of the path and fruition, still he
feels delight in them. This is likewise a corruption of insight.
Therefore, the knowledge consisting in noticing, even if quick in its
functioning, is called "the early stage of (or 'weak') knowledge of
arising and passing away," if it is beset and corrupted by those
corruptions. For the same reason the meditator is at that time not in
a position to discern quite distinctly the arising and passing away of
bodily and mental processes.

* * *

V. PURIFICATION BY KNOWLEDGE AND VISION
OF WHAT IS PATH AND NOT-PATH

While engaged in noticing, the meditator either by himself or through
instructions from someone else, comes to this decision: "The brilliant
light, and the other things experienced by me, are not the path.
Delight in them is merely a corruption of insight. The practice of
continuously noticing the object as it becomes evident -- that alone
is the way of insight. I must go on with just the work of noticing."
This decision is called purification by knowledge and vision of what
is path and not-path.

* * *

VI. PURIFICATION BY KNOWLEDGE AND VISION OF THE COURSE OF PRACTICE

After noticing these manifestations of brilliant light and the others,
or after leaving them unheeded, he goes on continuously as before with
the act of noticing the bodily and mental processes as they become
evident at the six sense doors. While thus engaged in noticing, he
gets over the corruptions relating to brilliant light, rapture,
tranquillity, happiness, attachment, etc., and his knowledge remains
concerned exclusively with the arising and passing away of the
processes noticed. For then, at each act of noticing, he sees: "The
noticed object, having arisen, disappears instantly." It also becomes
clear to him that each object disappears just where it arises; it does
not move on to another place.

In that way he understands by direct experience how bodily and
mental processes arise and break up from moment to moment. It is such
knowledge and understanding resulting from the continuous noticing of
bodily and mental processes as they arise and dissolve moment after
moment, and the discernment, in separate sections, of the arising and
passing away of each of them, while being free from the corruptions,
that is called "final knowledge of contemplation of arising and
passing away." This is the beginning of "purification by knowledge and
vision of the course of practice," which starts from this insight and
extends to adaptation knowledge (No.13).

5. Knowledge of Dissolution

Noticing the bodily and mental processes as they arise, he sees them
part by part, link by link, piece by piece, fraction by fraction:
"Just now it arises, just now it dissolves." When that knowledge of
arising and passing away becomes mature, keen and strong, it will
arise easily and proceed uninterruptedly as if borne onward of itself;
also the bodily and mental processes will be easily discernible. When
keen knowledge thus carries on and formations are easily discernible,
then neither the arising of each bodily and mental process, nor its
middle phase called "presence," nor the continuity of bodily and
mental processes called "occurrence as unbroken flux" is apparent to
him; nor are the shape of the hand, the foot, the face, the body, and
so on, apparent to him. But what is apparent to him is only the
//ceasing// of bodily and mental processes, called "vanishing," or
"passing away," or "dissolution."

For instance, while noticing the rising movement of the abdomen,
neither its initial nor middle phase is apparent, but only the ceasing
or vanishing, which is called the final phase, is apparent; and so it
is also with the falling movement of the abdomen. Again, in the case
of bending an arm or leg, while noticing the act of bending, neither
the initial nor the middle phase of bending is apparent, nor is the
form of the limb apparent, but only the final phase of ceasing and
vanishing is apparent. It is similar in the other cases of stretching
a limb, and so on.

For at that time each object that is being noticed seems to him to
be entirely absent or to have become non-existent. Consequently, at
this stage of knowledge, it seems to him as if he were engaged in
noticing something which has already become absent or non-existent by
having vanished; and the consciousness engaged in noticing appears to
have lost contact with the object that is being noticed. It is for
that reason that a meditator may here think: "I have lost the
insight"; but he should not think so.

For formerly his consciousness normally took delight in conceptual
objects of shapes, etc.;[34] and even up to the knowledge of arising
and passing away, the idea of formations with their specific
features[35] was always apparent to him. Hence his mind took delight
in a plainly distinguishable object consisting of formations, with its
particular structure[36] and its particular feature-idea. But now that
his knowledge has developed in the way described, no such idea of the
formations' features or structure appears to him, still less any
other, cruder concept. At such a stage, the //arising// of formations,
that is, the first phase of the process, is not apparent (as it is in
the case of knowledge of arising and passing away), but there is
apparent only the dissolution, that is, the final phase, having the
nature of vanishing. Therefore the meditator's mind does not take
delight in it at first, but he may be sure that soon, after becoming
familiar (with that stage of the practice), his mind will delight in
the cessation (of the phenomena) too, which is called their
dissolution. With this assurance he should again turn to the practice
of continuous noticing.

When thus engaged, he perceives that in each act of noticing there
are always present two factors, an objective factor and a subjective
one -- the object noticed and the mental state of knowing it -- which
dissolve and vanish by pairs, one pair after the other. For in each
single instance of a rising movement of the abdomen, there are, in
fact, numerous physical processes constituting the rising movement,
which are seen to dissolve serially. It is like seeing the continuous
successive vanishing of a summer mirage moment by moment; or it is
like the quick and continuous bursting of bubbles produced in a heavy
shower by thick rain drops falling on a water surface; or it is like
the quick, successive extinction of oil-lamps or candles, blown out by
the wind, as these lights are being offered at a shrine by devotees.
Similar to that appears the dissolving and vanishing, moment by
moment, of the bodily processes noticed. And the dissolution of
consciousness noticing those bodily processes is apparent to him along
with the dissolution of the bodily processes. Also while he is
noticing other bodily and mental processes, their dissolution, too,
will be apparent to him in the same manner. Consequently, the
knowledge will come to him that whatever part of the whole body is
noticed, that object ceases first, and after it the consciousness
engaged in noticing that object follows in its wake. From that the
meditator will understand very clearly in the case of each successive
pair the dissolution of any object whatsoever and the dissolution of
the consciousness noticing that very object. (It should be borne in
mind that this refers only to understanding arrived at through direct
experience by one engaged in noticing only; it is not an opinion
derived from mere reasoning.)

It is the perfectly clear understanding of the dissolution of the
two things, pair by pair -- that is, (1) of the visual or other object
appearing at any of the six sense doors, and (2) of the consciousness
noticing that very object -- that is called "knowledge of
dissolution."

6. Awareness of Fearfulness

When that knowledge of dissolution is mature, there will gradually
arise, just by seeing the dissolution of all
object-and-subject-formations, awareness of fearfulness[37] and other
(higher) knowledges, together with their respective aspects of fear,
and so on.[38]

Having seen how the dissolution of two things -- that is, any
object noticed and the insight-thought engaged in noticing it -- takes
place moment by moment, the meditator also understands by inference
that in the past, too, every conditioned thing (formation) has broken
up in the same way, that just so it will break up also in the future,
and that at the present it breaks up, too. And just at the time of
noticing any formations that are evident, these formations will appear
to him in their aspect of fearfulness. Therefore, during the very act
of noticing, the meditator will also come to understand: "These
formations are indeed fearful."

Such understanding of their fearfulness is called "knowledge of the
awareness of fearfulness"; it has also the name "knowledge of fear."
At that time, his mind itself is gripped by fear and seems helpless.

7. Knowledge of Misery

When he has realized the fearfulness (of the formations) through the
knowledge of fear, and keeps on noticing continuously, then the
"knowledge of misery" will arise in him before long. When it has
arisen, all formations everywhere -- whether among the objects
noticed, or among the states of consciousness engaged in noticing, or
in any kind of life or existence that is brought to mind -- will
appear insipid, without a vitalizing factor,[39] and unsatisfying. So
he sees, at that time, only suffering, only unsatisfactoriness, only
misery. Therefore this state is called "knowledge of misery."

8. Knowledge of Disgust

Seeing thus the misery in conditioned things (formations), his mind
finds no delight in those miserable things but is entirely disgusted
with them. At times, his mind becomes, as it were, discontented and
listless. Even so he does not give up the practice of insight, but
spends his time continuously engaging in it. He therefore should know
that this state of mind is not dissatisfaction with meditation, but is
precisely the "knowledge of disgust" that has the aspect of being
disgusted with the formations. Even if he directs his thought to the
happiest sort of life and existence, or to the most pleasant and
desirable objects, his mind will not take delight in them, will find
no satisfaction in them. On the contrary, his mind will incline and
lean and tend only towards Nibbana. Therefore the following thought
will arise in him between moments of noticing: "The ceasing of all
formations that are dissolving from moment to moment -- that alone is
happiness."