The eight liberations

‘There are, Ānanda, these eight liberations.356 What are they? ‘

(1) Possessing form, one sees forms.357 That is the first liberation.

(2) Not perceiving material forms in oneself, one sees them outside.358 That is the second liberation. [71]

(3) Thinking: “It is beautiful”, one becomes intent on it.359 That is the third.

(4) By completely transcending all perception of matter, by the vanishing of the perception of sense-reactions and by non-attention to the perception of variety, thinking: “Space is infinite”, one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Space. That is the fourth.

(5) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Space, thinking: “Consciousness is infinite”, one enters and abides in the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness. That is the fifth.

(6) By transcending the Sphere of Infinite Consciousness, thinking: “There is no thing”, one enters and abides in the Sphere of No-Thingness. That is the sixth.

(7) By transcending the Sphere of No-Thingness, one reaches and abides in the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception. That is the seventh.

(8) By transcending the Sphere of Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception one enters and abides in the Cessation of Perception and Feeling.360 That is the eighth liberation. 36.

‘Ānanda, when once a monk attains these eight liberations in forward order, in reverse order, and in forward-and-reverse order, entering them and emerging from them as and when, and for as long as he wishes, and has gained by his own super-knowledge here and now both the destruction of the corruptions and the uncorrupted liberation of heart and liberation by wisdom,361 that monk is called “both-ways-liberated”,362 and, Ānanda, there is no other way of “both-ways-liberation” that is more excellent or perfect than this.’