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The place to meditate is possibly the hardest to come by. It was difficult for the Buddha himself to travel throughout the country of Magadha to find it:
MN 85: With Prince Bodhi
So, Prince, being a seeker after that which is wholesome, seeking the supreme state of sublime peace, wandering stage by stage through the lands of Magadha, I came to Senanigama near Uruvelā, a makeshift settlement. There I came to a charming tract of land with a fine grove of trees and a clear-flowing river with a delightful ford, and a nearby town for maintenance.
It occurred to me, Prince:
"Of course! it is a lovely tract of land, and the grove is fair, and the river flows clear with a delightful ford, and there is a village close by for keep. Yes of course! This serves perfectly for the training of a young man committed to the effort ».
So, Prince, I sat there, thinking, "Of course I do! This place serves to train me.
The characteristics of that place come in this very text. It must be a wide, wooded place with a clear-flowing river with a delicious ford, near a town. The flowing river can become a sea with waves.
It may seem like an extravagant requirement, but it is not. The jhānas are states that open us to gnosis and if there are no devas where we are, it is as if we have a telephone and we dial a number where we know that there is no one. On the other hand, where are the devas going to be? Obviously in charming places like these.
Do not expect to find devas in anyone's house.
A curiosity. As we see, the Buddha did not look for a certain tree, but a grove near a delicious stream. Well, even though he retaliates by saying that the Buddha became enlightened under a bodhi tree, it was not like that, but under a banyan tree. A gigantic tree that was even used to house street markets under its branches.
SN 4.1: Mortification
At a certain time, when he first awoke, the Buddha was near Uruvelā, under the banyan tree on the banks of the Nerañjarā River.
Ask who knows where to find devas.
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