an’s beauty which is unpleasant, but the meditation practiced during the pleasant vimokṣa is not a mistake due to the extension (viśālatva) of all true blue color, [etc].
Moreover, in order to tame the mind (cittadamanārtham), the pleasant meditation presupposes a lengthy practice of the meditation on the horrible (aśubhabhāvana) and on mental revulsion (cittanirveda): this is why practicing the pleasant meditation is not a mistake and there is no desire (lobha) in it.
Moreover, the yogin begins by contemplating the horrors of the body and fixes his mind on all the inner and outer horrors in bodily things. Then he feels revulsion (nirveda): [his negative emotions], lust (rāga), hatred (dveśa) and stupidity (moha) decrease; he becomes frightened and understands: “I do not possess these characteristics as a person at all: it is the body that is like that. Then why am I attached to it?”
He concentrates his mind and really meditates so as not to commit mistakes. As soon as his mind becomes disciplined and gentle, he avoids thinking of the horrors of the body, such as skin (tvac), flesh (māṃsa), blood (lohita) and marrow (asthimajjan): for him there are only white bones (śvetāsthika) and he fixes his mind on the skeleton (kaṅkāla). If his mind wanders outward, he concentrates and gathers it back. Concentrating his mind deeply, he sees the diffused light of the white bones (śvetāsthika) like a conch-shell (śaṅkha), like shells (kapardaka), lighting up inner and outer things. This is the gateway of the pleasant vimokṣa.
Then, noting the disappearance of the skeleton, the yogin sees only the light of the bones (asthiprabhā) and grasps the characteristics (nimitta) of outer and inner visibles. For example:
3) pure water (ap): [second kṛtsna],
5) pure wind (vāyu), without dust (rajas): [fourth kṛtsna],
6) blue visibles (rūpāṇi nīlāni), like the kin-tsing-chan: [fifth abhibhu and fifth kṛtsna],
7) yellow visibles (rūpāni pītāni), like the ginger flower (campakapuṣpa): [sixth abhibhu and sixth kṛtsna],
8) red visibles (rūpāni lohitāni), like the flower of the red lotus (padmapuṣpa): [seventh abhibhu and seventh kṛtsna]. 9) white visibles (rūpāṇy avadātāni), like white snow (hima): [eighth abhibhu and eighth kṛtsna].
Grasping these characteristics (nimittāny udgṛhṇan), the yogin fixes his mind on the pleasant meditation (śubhabhāvana) on the pure light (pariśuddhaprabhā) belonging to each of these visibles. Then the yogin experiences joy (prīti) and happiness (sukha) filling his entire body (kāya): this is what is called the pleasant vimokṣa (śubha vimokṣa). Since it has pleasant things as object (ālambana), it is called ‘pleasant’ vimokṣa. Since the ascetic experiences this [215c] happiness in his whole body, it is said that the yogin ‘actualizes it physically’ (kāyena sākṣātkaroti). Having obtained this mental happiness (cittasukha), the yogin ‘turns his back and rejects’ (vi-muc) the five objects of enjoyment (kāmaguṇa) and is henceforth without joy (prīti) or happiness (sukha): this is indeed a vimokṣa.
As the yogin has not yet destroyed the impurities (akṣīṇāsrava), it happens that, from time to time, passionate thoughts (saṃyojanacitta) arise in him and he becomes attached (anusajate) to pleasant visibles (śubharūpa). Then he vigorously (ātāpin) and energetically (vīryavat) cuts this attachment (tam āsaṅgaṃ samucchinatti). Actually, this pleasant meditation is a result of his mind. And just as a master magician (māyākāra), in the face of objects that he has created magically, knows that they come from him, so the yogin is no longer attached (āsaṅga) and no longer pursues objects (ālambana). Then the vimokṣa ‘liberation’ changes its name and is called ‘sphere of mastery over the object’ abhibhvÂatana.
Although the yogin thus masters (abhibhavati) the pleasant meditation (śubhabhāvana), he is still incapable of extending it (vistārayitum). Then he returns to grasp the pleasant characteristics (śubhanimitta):
a. Using the power of the vimokṣas and the power of the abhibhvāyatanas, he grasps the nature of pleasant earth (śubhapṛthi