パーリ仏教における空の修行法 -空遍と空無辺処について-

抄録

There are two meditation methods that relate to “space”(akasa) in Pali Buddhism: akasa-kasina and akasanañcayatana. The two used to be similar until the thoughts about them changed variedly with the progress of time. Here I have separated the Pali age into 6 periods and described their details and development.
In the early age, “space” was used for practicing both the akasa-kasina and the akasanañcayatana, that made them hard to distinguish. As the age advanced, akasa-kasina was changed from rupasamapatti to arupasamapatti, that made akasa-kasina and akasanañcayatana similar in the method of meditation.
Until Atthakatha age, the Vimuttimagga separated akasa-kasina into rupakasina and arupa-kasina. arupa-kasina of akasa-kasina was assumed to be akasanañcayatana. After that, the Visuddhimagga set the new series of dasa-kasina by changing akasa-kasina and viññana-kasina into aloka-kasina and paricchinnakasakasina that were used for the practice of rupasamapatti.
On the other hand, akasa-kasina and viññana-kasina were changed to akasanañcayatana and viññanancayatana that divide into 4 arupasamapatti. The literature after the Visuddhimagga references the methods in the Visuddhimagga for practice space meditation.