Overview
To guide meditators systematically, Venerable Buddhaghosa collated all the meditation subjects taught by the Buddha into a master list of 40 Kammaṭṭhānas (places of work). This list serves as a psychological toolkit; a skilled teacher selects the specific subject that best counteracts the dominant defilement of the student’s unique temperament.
The List
1-10: The 10 Kasinas (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Blue, Yellow, Red, White, Light, Space). 11-20: The 10 Foulnesses / Corpses (Bloated, Livid, Festering, Cut-up, Gnawed, Scattered, Hacked/Scattered, Bleeding, Worm-infested, Skeleton). 21-30: The 10 Recollections (Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, Virtue, Generosity, Deities, Death, Body Parts, Breath, Peace). 31-34: The 4 Divine Abodes (Loving-kindness, Compassion, Sympathetic Joy, Equanimity). 35-38: The 4 Formless Spheres (Infinite Space, Infinite Consciousness, Nothingness, Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception). 39: The 1 Perception (The perception of repulsiveness in food). 40: The 1 Defining (The analysis of the four elements).
Textual References
- Commentary: Visuddhimagga (Chapter III) – Introduces the 40 subjects, maps them to the six temperaments (lustful, hating, deluded, faithful, intelligent, speculative), and explains which level of absorption each subject can reach.