aṣṭa-vimokṣa
(Skt.; Pāli, aṭṭha vimokkha). The eight liberations, a meditational practice in which the meditator passes through eight levels of contemplation with the purpose of cultivating detachment. The eight stages are: (1) the contemplation of internal and external forms (i.e. inside and outside the body) as impure; (2) contemplation of external forms as impure (reinforcing and progressing from the first stage); (3) contemplation of the beautiful (śubha). This is in contrast to the impurity contemplated at the first two ...