Selected Lectures from the Saṃyukta Āgama Sutra

Thus have I heard. At one time, the Buddha was dwelling at Śrāvastī, in the Jeta Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's Park. At that time, the Blessed One addressed the monks: "Monks, if a monk, whether in action, form, or appearance, has severed desire and unwholesome states, possesses applied thought and sustained thought, and dwells having attained the first jhāna, which is accompanied by joy and bliss born of seclusion. He does not recall such action, such form, such appearance. Instead, he contemplates the phenomena of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness as like a disease, like an abscess, like a thorn, like a murder, as impermanent, suffering, empty, and not-self. He generates revulsion towards those phenomena, fear, and the need for protection. Having generated revulsion, fear, and the need for protection, he benefits himself with the gateway to the deathless. Such is the peace, such is the excellence, namely, renunciation; with the complete destruction of craving, without desire, extinguished, Nirvāṇa."

Explanation: If monks, in all their mental activities and appearances during walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, have severed desire and unwholesome states, possessing both mindfulness and investigation within their minds, severing from the realm of desire and giving rise to joy and bliss, dwelling completely in the state of the first jhāna. Their minds will no longer dwell on their own activities and appearances during walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. Instead, they regard their own five aggregates of form, feeling, perception, volitional formations, and consciousness as something that should not exist, like a disease, like a scar, like a poisonous thorn, like a murder, seeing them as impermanent, suffering, empty, and not-self, generating revulsion, fear, and a protective mind towards the five aggregates.

After revulsion, fear, and protection have arisen, they benefit themselves with the peaceful and excellent nectar of the Dharma, renouncing desire, having completely severed the final craving for phenomena of the three realms, having no more desires whatsoever, extinguishing all mental activities, and attaining Nirvāṇa.