Mahâ-Parinibbâna-Suttanta: The Book of the Great Decease

26. 'When a man having subjectively the idea of form sees externally forms which are boundless, and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight, and having mastered them is conscious that he knows and sees--this is the second position of mastery. 27. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which are finite, and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight, and having mastered them, is conscious that he knows and sees--this is the third position of mastery. 28. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which are boundless, and pleasant or unpleasant to the sight, and having mastered them, is conscious that he knows and sees--this is the fourth position of mastery. 29. 'When a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms that are blue in colour, blue in appearance, and reflecting blue,--just, for p. 51 instance, as the Ummâ flower is blue in colour, blue in appearance, and reflecting blue; or, again, as that fine muslin of Benares which, on whichever side you look at it, is blue in colour, blue in appearance, and reflecting blue,--when a man without the subjective idea of form sees externally forms which, just in that way, are blue, blue in colour, blue in appearance, and reflecting blue, and having mastered them, is conscious that he knows and sees-that is the fifth position of mastery.' .32. [The sixth, seventh, and eighth positions of mastery are explained in words identical with those used to explain the fifth; save that yellow, red, and white are respectively substituted throughout for blue; and the Kanikâra flower, the Bandhu-gîvaka flower, and the morning star are respectively substituted for the Ummâ flower, as the first of the two objects given as examples.]