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"Further,
Ananda, the monk -- not attending to the perception of human being, not
attending to the perception of forest -- attends to the singleness based on the
perception of earth. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles,
& indulges in its perception of earth. Just as a bull's hide is stretched
free from wrinkles with a hundred stakes, even so -- without attending to all
the ridges & hollows, the river ravines, the tracts of stumps & thorns,
the craggy irregularities of this earth -- he attends to the singleness based
on the perception of earth. His mind takes pleasure, finds satisfaction, settles,
& indulges in its perception of earth.
"He
discerns that 'Whatever disturbances that would exist based on the perception
of human being are not present. Whatever disturbances would exist based on the
perception of forest are not present. There is only this modicum of
disturbance: the singleness based on the perception of earth.' He discerns that
'This mode of perception is empty of the perception of human being. This mode
of perception is empty of the perception of forest. There is only this
non-emptiness: the singleness based on the perception of earth.' Thus he
regards it as empty of whatever is not there. Whatever remains, he discerns as
present: 'There is this.' And so this, his entry into emptiness, accords with
actuality, is undistorted in meaning, & pure.
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