Four meditation heavens  四禪天

   The 'four meditation heavens' in the realm of form. The four spheres one is born into depending upon one's level of meditation practice in the four meditative concentrations 四禪. There are various sources which describe these, but one of the most extensive is the Abhidharmako/sa-bha^sya 俱舍論, where they are discussed in connection with the term 四靜慮; the Zen gaku jiten cites a text called the Jietuodao lun 解脫道論.

   (1)、Those who practice the first meditative concentration in the present lifetime are born in the first meditation heaven into one of three different levels according to their proficiency in practice. Those of the lower level are born into heaven of Brahma followers 梵眾天; those of middling level are born into the heaven of Brahma's ministers 梵輔天 and those of the superior level are born into the great Brahma heaven 大梵天.

   (2)、In similar fashion, those who practice the second meditation in the present life are born into three grades of heavens according to their proficiency in practice: the heaven of limited light 少光天; the heaven of limitless light 無量光天 and the heaven of ultimate light and purity 極光淨天(光音).

   (3)、In the third heaven there are again three: the heaven of limited purity 少淨天, the heaven of limitless purity 無量淨天 and the heaven of pervasive purity 遍淨天.

   (4)、The fourth heaven has eight levels: the first three of these, the cloudless heaven 無雲天 the heaven of blessed birth 福生天 and the heaven of extensive fruition 廣果天 are attainable by unenlightened sentient beings; the final five are attained only by Buddhist saints who have consummated the undefiled concentration of the fourth level: these are the heaven of no affliction 無煩天, the heaven of no heat 無熱天, the heaven of skillful vision 善見天, the heaven of skillful manifestation 善現天, and the heaven of ultimate form 色究竟天.

   色界諸天分為四禪，即初禪、二禪、三禪、四禪。

   (一)、清淨心中，諸漏不動，名為初禪，即梵眾、梵輔、大梵等三天，此三天已不須段食，故無鼻舌二識，惟有樂受，與眼耳身三受相應，喜受與意識相應。

   (二)、清淨心中，粗漏已伏，名為二禪，即少光、無量光、極光天（光音天）等三天，此三天無前五識，僅有意識，因之惟有喜捨二受，與意識相應。

   (三)、安穩心中，歡喜畢具，名為三禪，即少淨、無量淨、遍淨等三天，此三天識受皆與二禪略同，但意識怡悅之相，較為淨妙。

   (四)、前五識俱無，亦無喜受，僅有捨受，與意識相應，名為四禪，即無雲、福生、廣果、無想、無煩、無熱、善見、善現、色究竟等九天。

   根據大涅槃經說，初禪天人，因他們心中有粗細的思想，所以外面有火災；二禪天人，他們對於禪定，生喜樂心，所以外面有水災；三禪天人，他們呼吸粗重，所以外面有風災；惟獨第四禪，所有內外過患，一切均無，所以諸災不能到達那裡。