In Udana 8. 9 (PTS, 1885; reprinted 1982, pp. 92-3), it mentions
tejodhaatu.m samaapajjitvaa "attaining the dhaatu of heat". It is a
kind of "heat meditation" (Tejo-dhaatu samaapatti). According to the
Pali text, the monk Dabba was in the air or sky sitting cross-legged
in this meditation of heat. Then, he burned himself up completely
from the meditation; his body was consumed and died (in the sense of
permanently full nirvana) (cf. the Woodward's translation, 1935;
reprinted 1985, p. 113).
Is this meditation of heat mentioned commonly in the other early
Buddhist texts? I do not quite understand what meditation is, and
how this can be for freely committing suicide? Any advice, please?
Thank you.