A perusal of selected forms of early Buddhist tranquility meditation brings to light the complexity of the roles assumed by the Indic term kāya, usually translated as “body,” which corresponds to the domain of the first establishment of mindfulness. The present exploration of such complexity, which proceeds in critical dialogue with positions taken by Eviatar Shulman, covers the significance of the supernormal feat of conjuring up a mind-made body, the mindful contemplation of the somatic dimensions of absorption attainment, and the transition from these to the immaterial spheres. The patterns of early Buddhist thought that emerge in this way make it preferable to understand the compass of the term kāya to cover a continuum of somatic experiences that can range from gross materiality to more subtle types of embodiments. Even immaterial experiences, based on the complete transcendence of materiality, can still be conceptualized with the help of the term kāya in a phrase that serves to convey direct and personal experience.

仔细阅读选定的早期佛教静坐冥想形式，可以发现印度语kāya所扮演的角色的复杂性，kāya通常被翻译为“身体”，它对应于最初建立正念的领域。目前对这种复杂性的探索，在与 Eviatar Shulman 所采取的立场的批判性对话中进行，涵盖了召唤一个心造身体的超常壮举的重要性，对吸收成就的躯体维度的正念沉思，以及从这些到非物质领域。以这种方式出现的早期佛教思想模式使得理解kāya一词的罗盘更为可取涵盖一系列连续的躯体体验，范围从粗略的物质性到更微妙的体现类型。即使是基于完全超越物质性的非物质体验，仍然可以借助kāya一词来概念化，该短语用于传达直接和个人的体验。