[247] "'Body-witness (kāyasakkhī), body-witness,' friend, is it said. To what extent, friend, has a body-witness been declared by the Blessed One?"
"Here, friend, a bhikkhu, quite secluded from sensual pleasures … enters and dwells in the first jhāna; and in whatever way that base (āyatana) exists, in that very way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent too, friend, a body-witness has been declared by the Blessed One in a qualified sense (pariyāyena).
"Furthermore, friend, with the subsiding of thought and examination … a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the second jhāna … the third jhāna … the fourth jhāna; and in whatever way that base exists, in that very way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent too, friend, a body-witness has been declared by the Blessed One in a qualified sense.
"Furthermore, friend, with the complete transcending of perceptions of form, with the passing away of perceptions of sensory impingement, with non-attention to perceptions of diversity, [aware that] 'space is infinite,' a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the base of the infinity of space (ākāsānañcāyatana); and in whatever way that base exists, in that very way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent too, friend, a body-witness has been declared by the Blessed One in a qualified sense. …
"Furthermore, friend, having completely transcended the base of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the cessation of perception and feeling (saññāvedayitanirodha); and, having seen with wisdom, his taints (āsava) are utterly destroyed; and in whatever way that base exists, in that very way he dwells having touched it with the body. To this extent, friend, a body-witness has been declared by the Blessed One in the definitive sense (nippariyāyena)."
English translation from the Pali (Siam Raṭṭha edition) — under review, not for citation.