ting together with the Buddha of Many Jewels (多宝佛) in a stūpa made of seven precious substances on the vulture peak, preaching the Lotus Sūtra and revealing Infinite Buddha lands in all directions. He preaches one vehicle for all beings, which is the ultimate appeased nature of all dharmas. They all possess one characteristic – a complete purity. If a yogi practices in this way, all desires and obstacles are said to disappear naturally, effortlessly. The last sūtra belonging to this group of meditation scriptures, expounding the Mahayana ideas on the bases of the traditional meditation methods, is entitled The Sūtra of the Secret Principles of Meditation (K.798) (禅密要法经, T.7613; K.798). It is the longest scripture in this group, consisting of three scrolls. The description of the great variety of meditation techniques and stories that it contains is beyond the scope of this paper; nevertheless a brief note of its interesting structure can broaden our understanding. The meditations expounded here are loosely related to three topics expounded by Buddha to three monks on three different occasions. They are the contemplation of the repulsive, themindfulness of breath (anapānasmṛti), and the analysis of the four elements (大分别). These three expositions form a background to further discusson on more than twenty othermeditation topics addressed to Ānanda, and are interspersed by other questions to Buddha asked by yogis – such as how beings in the future are to purify themselves from sins. In connection with the contemplation of the repulsive, a yogi is led to visualize various kinds of worms inhabiting the human body. Then he meditates on light emitted from his skeleton, illumining beings in all the Buddha regions. This is followed by samādhi contemplating the selfless nature of all phenomena, where the scattered thoughts are visualized as fires burning ones body and emptiness as refuge from them. Various kinds of other contemplations on the repulsive are then linked to the meditation on the four elements, connected again to contemplation of the selfless nature of all corporealities (rūpas) and to their mastery by such techniques as the exchange of oneself for others and enlarging objects to infinite dimension and focusing them at one point alternatively. After that we find an exposition on meditation on loving kindness and the Four Noble Truths, and another long exposition on analysis of the four elements related to meditation on their essential purity. Here, a yogi visualizes a lotus in the heart along with elements originating from it one by one filling the universe and returning back to it again. This is followed by contemplation on unreality of the four elements and of the five aggregates of existence in general, as they are bound to them. They are all to be seen as mere names, results of causes and conditions, and empty of an independent nature. After this, a yogi is led to visualize the four elements again, going out from all pores of his body into emptiness, which is extended to all universes. This visualization is linked to an exposition on the three liberating samādhis, the three doors to Nirvāṇa as they are often called, that is the samādhi of Emptiness (空三昧), desirelessness (无愿三昧), and signlessness (无相三昧), by the realization of which a yogi is led to realize the perfect state of neither rejoicing in Nirvāṇa 52 (8) Bhante Dhammadipa
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