Visuddhimagga (the pah of purification)
by Ñāṇamoli Bhikkhu | 1956 | 388,207 words | ISBN-10: 9552400236 | ISBN-13: 9789552400236
This page describes The Light Kasina of the section The Remaining Kasiṇas (Sesa-kasiṇa-niddesa) of Part 2 Concentration (Samādhi) of the English translation of the Visuddhimagga (‘the path of purification’) which represents a detailled Buddhist meditation manual, covering all the essential teachings of Buddha as taught in the Pali Tipitaka. It was compiled Buddhaghosa around the 5th Century.
The Light Kasiṇa
21. Of the light kasiṇa it is said: “One who is learning the light kasiṇa apprehends the sign in light in a hole in a wall, or in a keyhole, or in a window opening.” So firstly, when someone has merit, having had previous practice, the sign arises in him when he sees the circle thrown on a wall or a floor by sunlight or moonlight entering through a hole in a wall, etc., or when he sees a circle thrown on the ground by sunlight or moonlight coming through a gap in the branches of a dense-leaved tree or through a gap in a hut made of closely packed branches.
22. Anyone else should use that same kind of circle of luminosity just described, developing it as “luminosity, luminosity” or “light, light.” If he cannot do so, he can light a lamp inside a pot, close the pot’s mouth, make a hole in it and place it with the hole facing a wall. The lamplight coming out of the hole throws a circle on the wall. He should develop that [175] as “light, light.” This lasts longer than the other kinds.
23. Here the learning sign is like the circle thrown on the wall or the ground. The counterpart sign is like a compact bright cluster of lights. The rest is as before.