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The fourfold stage of mindfulness, thought, or meditation that follows the 五停心觀 five-fold procedure for quieting the mind. This fourfold method, or objectivity of thought, is for stimulating the mind in ethical wisdom. It consists of contemplating (1) 身 the body as impure and utterly filthy; (2) 受 sensation, or consciousness, as always resulting in suffering; (3) 心 mind as impermanent, merely one sensation after another; (4) 法 things in general as being dependent and without a nature of their own. The four negate the ideas of permanence, joy, personality, and purity 常, 樂, 我, and 淨, i. e. the four 顚倒, but v. 四德. They are further subdivided into 別 and 總 particular and general, termed 別相念處 and 總相念處, and there are further subdivisions.
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