You can hear sounds in the 4 jhānas. Which samādhis are silent?
AN 5.26 hearing, speaking, V&V while in jhāna samādhi
(1) First jhāna possible while hearing live dhamma talk
idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno |
Here, monks, (for a) monk, |
satthā dhammaṃ deseti |
(a) teacher (of) dhamma teaches (him), |
aññataro vā garuṭṭhāniyo sabrahmacārī. |
{or a} certain fellow monk [teaches him], |
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yathā yathā, bhikkhave, tassa bhikkhuno |
in whatever way , *********, (for the) monk (that) |
satthā dhammaṃ deseti |
(a) teacher (of) dhamma teaches (him), |
aññataro vā garuṭṭhāniyo sabrahmacārī. |
{or a} certain fellow monk [teaches him], |
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(refrain: 7sb → jhāna → arahantship)
tathā tathā so tasmiṃ |
like-that, accordingly, he ****** |
dhamme attha-paṭisaṃvedī ca hoti |
{feels [inspiration]} in Dhamma meaning and |
dhamma-paṭisaṃvedī ca. |
{feels [inspiration]} in Dhamma, |
tassa attha-paṭisaṃvedino dhamma-paṭisaṃvedino |
as he {feels [inspiration] in} Dhamma-meaning (and) Dhamma, |
pāmojjaṃ jāyati. |
joy arises. |
pamuditassa pīti jāyati. |
(When he is) joyful, rapture arises. |
pīti-manassa kāyo passambhati. |
(with) rapturous-mind, (the) body (becomes) tranquil. |
passaddha-kāyo sukhaṃ vedeti. |
(with) tranquil-body, pleasure (he) feels. |
sukhino cittaṃ samādhiyati. |
(For one feeling) pleasure, (the) mind (becomes) concentrated. |
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idaṃ, bhikkhave, paṭhamaṃ vimutt-āyatanaṃ |
This, monks, (is the) first liberation-basis, |
yattha bhikkhuno appamattassa |
by means of which, if a monk {dwells} assiduous, |
ātāpino pahitattassa viharato |
ardent, resolute, ********, |
a-vimuttaṃ vā cittaṃ vimuccati, |
(his) un-liberated ** mind (is) liberated, |
a-parik-khīṇā vā āsavā parik-khayaṃ gacchanti, |
un-destroyed ** asinine-inclinations, utterly-destroyed (they) become. |
An-anuppattaṃ vā an-uttaraṃ yogak-khemaṃ |
(the) un-reached un-surpassed security-from-the-yoke |
Anu-pāpuṇāti. |
(he) reaches.” |
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AN 5.113 sammā-samādhi-suttaṃ (right concentration)
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AN 5.113 sammā-samādhi-suttaṃ |
AN 5.113 right concentration discourse |
♦ 113. “pañcahi, bhikkhave, dhammehi samannāgato bhikkhu abhabbo sammāsamādhiṃ upasampajja viharituṃ. katamehi pañcahi? idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu akkhamo hoti rūpānaṃ, akkhamo saddānaṃ, akkhamo gandhānaṃ, akkhamo rasānaṃ, akkhamo phoṭṭhabbānaṃ. imehi kho, bhikkhave, pañcahi dhammehi samannāgato bhikkhu abhabbo sammāsamādhiṃ upasampajja viharituṃ. |
(bodhi trans.) “Bhikkhus, possessing five qualities, a bhikkhu is incapable of entering and dwelling in right concentration. What five? Here, a bhikkhu cannot patiently endure forms, sounds, odors, tastes, and tactile objects. Possessing these five qualities, a bhikkhu is incapable of entering and dwelling in right concentration. |
... (and the opposite case of above is stated for the remainder of the sutta)...
(Thanissaro translates ak-khamo as "resilient" or "able to withstand the impact of")
Recall STED (standard definition) of right concentration is the 4 jhānas. In the four arupa samadhis, the mind is divorced from the 5 sense faculties. In the 4 jhānas, which are still joined with the 5 sense faculties, as that’s the nature of rūpa, one is still able to hear sounds, feel mosquito bites, smell fresh cow dung, etc.
AN 5.139 🐘 explicit in withstanding 5 senses while in samādhi
(based on thanissaro trans., the phrase for mind concentrated is "cittaṃ samādahituṃ")
“Endowed with five qualities, monks, a king’s elephant is not worthy of a king, is not a king’s asset, does not count as a very limb of his king. Which five? There is the case where a king’s elephant is not resilient to sights, not resilient to sounds, not resilient to aromas, not resilient to flavors, not resilient to tactile sensations.
...
“And how is a king’s elephant not resilient to sounds? There is the case where a king’s elephant, having gone into battle, hears the sound of elephants, the sound of cavalry, the sound of chariots, the sound of foot soldiers, the resounding din of drums, cymbals, conchs, & tom-toms, and so he falters, faints, doesn’t steel himself, can’t engage in the battle. This is how a king’s elephant is not resilient to sounds.
“And how is a king’s elephant not resilient to aromas? There is the case where a king’s elephant, having gone into battle, smells the stench of the urine & feces of those pedigreed royal elephants who are at home in the battlefield, and so he falters, faints, doesn’t steel himself, can’t engage in the battle. This is how a king’s elephant is not resilient to aromas.
...
“And how is a king’s elephant not resilient to tactile sensations? There is the case where a king’s elephant, having gone into battle, is pierced by a flight of arrows, two flights, three flights, four flights, five flights of arrows, and so he falters, faints, doesn’t steel himself, can’t engage in the battle. This is how a king’s elephant is not resilient to tactile sensations.
...
“In the same way, a monk endowed with five qualities is not deserving of gifts, deserving of hospitality, deserving of offerings, deserving of respect, nor is he an unexcelled field of merit for the world. Which five? There is the case where a monk is not resilient to sights, not resilient to sounds, not resilient to aromas, not resilient to flavors, not resilient to tactile sensations.
...
“And how is a monk not resilient to sounds? There is the case where a monk, on hearing a sound with the ear, feels passion for a sound that incites passion and cannot concentrate his mind. This is how a monk is not resilient to sounds.
“And how is a monk not resilient to aromas? There is the case where a monk, on smelling an aroma with the nose, feels passion for an aroma that incites passion and cannot concentrate his mind. This is how a monk is not resilient to aromas.
...
“And how is a monk not resilient to tactile sensations? There is the case where a monk, on touching a tactile sensation with the body, feels passion for a tactile sensation that incites passion and cannot concentrate his mind. This is how a monk is not resilient to tactile sensations.
...
(... the rest of sutta states the positive opposite 5 cases each for elephant and monk ... )
“Endowed with these five qualities, a monk is deserving of gifts, deserving of hospitality, deserving of offerings, deserving of respect, an unexcelled field of merit for the world.”
While the scenario above is an active samādhi that occurs in all postures, sitting meditation is one of those postures. It’s possible to hear sounds while in first jhāna, listening to a dhamma teaching for example, and reflecting on the meaning of that dhamma with V&V (vitakka and vicara), as we’ll see in another sutta.
AN 5.151 listen to Dhamma with ekagga-citta
(1. doesn’t hold talk in contempt )
(2. doesn’t hold speaker in contempt )
(3. doesn’t hold oneself in contempt )
(4. Listens without scattered/vikkhitta-citto mind )
(5. Mind is ek-agga, with-appropriate attention. )
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a-vikkhitta-citto dhammaṃ suṇāti, |
“One listens to the Dhamma with an un-scattered mind, |
ek’-agga-citto |
(with) single-preoccupation – (in) – mind |
yoniso ca manasi karoti. |
“One attends appropriately.” |
imehi kho, bhikkhave, pañcahi dhammehi samannāgato |
“Endowed with these five qualities |
suṇanto saddhammaṃ |
when listening to the True Dhamma, |
bhabbo niyāmaṃ okkamituṃ kusalesu dhammesu sammattan”ti. paṭhamaṃ. |
one is capable of alighting on the orderliness, on the rightness of skillful qualities.” |
Ekaggata and samādhi often used synonymously
Here are a few excerpts from Thanissaro’s article on Ekaggata that show hearing sounds and samādhi and jhāna happen simultaneously.
agga is a meeting place
The second cluster of meanings for agga centers on the idea of “meeting place.” A hall where monks gather for the uposatha, for example, is called an uposath’agga. The spot where they gather for their meals is called a bhatt’agga.
Given that the object of concentration is said to be a dwelling (vihāra), and that a person enters and dwells (viharati) in the levels of jhāna, this second cluster of meanings may be the more relevant one here. A mind with a single agga, in this case, would simply be a mind gathered around one object, and need not be reduced to a single point.
B. An even more telling way to determine the meanings of ek’agga and ek’aggatā is, instead of dividing these words into their roots, to look at the ways in which the Canon uses them to describe minds.
1. Two passages, one from the Vinaya and one from a sutta, show what ek’agga means in the everyday context of listening to the Dhamma.
Mv.II.3.4 “We listen with an ek’agga mind, an unscattered...
In Mv.II.3.4, the phrase, “we pay attention,” in the instructions for how to listen to the Pāṭimokkha, is defined as: “We listen with an ek’agga mind, an unscattered mind, an undistracted mind.” Even if ek’agga were translated as “one-pointed” here, the “point” is obviously not so restricted as to make the ears fall silent. Otherwise, we would not be able to hear the Pāṭimokkha at all. And the fact that the mind is ek’agga doesn’t mean that we can’t also hear other sounds aside from the Pāṭimokkha. It’s just that those sounds don’t make the mind lose its focus on a single theme.
AN 5:151 with ek'agga mind one can listen and think
In AN 5:151, the Buddha lists five qualities that enable one, when listening to the true Dhamma, to “alight on assuredness, on the rightness of skillful qualities.” The five qualities are:
“One doesn’t hold the talk in contempt.
“One doesn’t hold the speaker in contempt.
“One doesn’t hold oneself in contempt.
“One listens to the Dhamma with an unscattered mind, an ek’agga mind.
“One attends appropriately.”
Because appropriate attention means to contemplate experiences in terms of the four noble truths (see MN 2), this passage shows that when the mind is ek’agga, it’s not only able to hear. It can also think at the same time. If it couldn’t hear or think, it couldn’t make sense of the Dhamma talk. So again, even if we translate ek’agga as “one-pointed,” the one-pointed mind is not so pointy that it cannot think or hear sounds. This would defeat the purpose of listening to the Dhamma and would get in the way of “alighting on assuredness.”
AN 5.209 chanting suttas is samādhi
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sara-kuttimpi ni-kāma-yamānassa |
(4) intonation-refining (for) one-desiring (that), |
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samādhissa bhaṅgo hoti, |
(their) undistractable-lucidity breaks-up. |
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This sutta is talking about the problems with being too musical in how one chants suttas. Item #4 shows that the act of vocalizing, listening to one's own vocalization to adjust intonation, understanding the sutta's meaning as one chants, or even just knowing whether one's reciting is accurate, is samādhi.
The 4 jhānas are samādhi, so one can hear sounds in jhāna.
AN 6.55 imperturbable (āneñja) outside of sitting jhāna
evaṃ sammā vimuttacittassa kho, āvuso, bhikkhuno bhusā cepi cakkhuviññeyyā rūpā cakkhussa āpāthaṃ āgacchanti, nevassa cittaṃ pariyādiyanti; amissīkatamevassa cittaṃ hoti ṭhitaṃ āneñjappattaṃ, vayaṃ cassānupassati. |
"Even if powerful forms cognizable by the eye come into the visual range of a monk whose mind is thus rightly released, his mind is neither overpowered nor even engaged. Being still, having reached imperturbability, he focuses on their passing away. |
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♦ “bhusā cepi sotaviññeyyā saddā... ghānaviññeyyā gandhā... jivhāviññeyyā rasā... kāyaviññeyyā phoṭṭhabbā... manoviññeyyā dhammā manassa āpāthaṃ āgacchanti, nevassa cittaṃ pariyādiyanti; amissīkatamevassa cittaṃ hoti ṭhitaṃ āneñjappattaṃ, vayaṃ cassānupassatī”ti. chaṭṭhaṃ. |
And even if powerful sounds... aromas... flavors... tactile sensations... Even if powerful ideas cognizable by the intellect come into the mental range of a monk whose mind is thus rightly released, his mind is neither overpowered nor even engaged. Being still, having reached imperturbability, he focuses on their passing away. |
In this particular passage, Ven. Sona is an arahant describing himself, but the key word imperturbability suggests he’s still in a 4th jhāna that can hear sounds, and not be affected by the sounds .
AN 6.56 Phagguna attained arahantship with hearing, V&V
Jhāna and samādhi are not explicitly stated in AN 6.56 Phagguna-sutta.
But it’s hard to believe one hears a Dhamma talk, or reflects on memorized Dhamma with V&V (vitakka & vicara) without being in at least first jhana to attain non-returner or arahantship.
If you’re saying these 6 scenarios happened without jhana, then you’re in a very awkward position of trying to explain what kind of samadhi looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, but is not jhana.
This sutta is talking about not just Phagguna, but is a general description of 6 ways one can attain non-return or arahantship from listening to (while in first jhana), or thinking and considering Dhamma (B. Sujato’s translation of V&V here).
So which is it? If he’s in first jhana, then V&V would need to be translated as “placing the mind and keeping it connected”, which would be incoherent. If he’s not in first jhana, then where in the suttas does it explain the origination and province of all these duck-like species that aren’t ducks but look and behave exactly like them?
AN 6.56 phagguna, although not mentioning jhana explicitly, is following the same 7sb pattern (where hearing and V&V are involved) in AN 5.26.
Now AN 5.26 also doesn’t explicitly say “jhana”, but when you have piti-samobojjhanga present, passadhi-sambojjhanga present, samadhi-sambojjhanga present, that’s absolutely 4 jhana quality of samadhi. Or else you have yet more mysterious species of duck like creatures that look, act, quack like a duck but are supposedly not actually ducks.
AN 10.72 see sutta analysis in next sections
SN 46.38 hearing & thinking the dhamma while in jhāna samādhi
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SN 46.38 āvaraṇ-anīvaraṇa-suttaṃ |
SN 46.38 without-obstruction-without-hindrances-discourse |
♦ “yasmiṃ, bhikkhave, samaye ariya-sāvako |
"whatever, *********, time (a) noble-one's-disciple, |
aṭṭhiṃ katvā manasi katvā |
attending to it as a matter of vital concern, |
sabbaṃ cetaso samann-āharitvā |
(with) entire mind directed (to it), |
ohita-soto dhammaṃ suṇāti, |
(with) eager-ears, (the) dhamma (he) listens (to), |
imassa pañca nīvaraṇā tasmiṃ samaye na honti. |
the five hindrances (at) that time (are) not present. |
satta bojjh-aṅgā tasmiṃ samaye |
(the) seven awakening-factors (at) that time |
bhāvanā-pāripūriṃ gacchanti. |
(their) development-fulfillment happens. |
bodhi:
“When, bhikkhus, a noble disciple listens to the Dhamma with eager ears, attending to it as a matter of vital concern, directing his whole mind to it, on that occasion the five hindrances are not present in him; on that occasion the seven factors of enlightenment go to fulfilment by development.
In a moment of practice where the 5 hindrances are absent, and all 7 awakening factors are fulfilled, that includes samādhi-sam-bojjhanga, which the next 2 passages show includes sammā samādhi, i.e. the four jhānas.
AN 10.3 suggests samādhi-sambojjhanga includes sammā-samādhi
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sīlavipannassa hatūpaniso hoti avippaṭisāro; |
(1) for an immoral person, for one deficient in virtuous behavior, |
avippaṭisāre asati avippaṭisāravipannassa hatūpanisaṃ hoti pāmojjaṃ; |
(2) non-regret lacks its proximate cause. When there is no non-regret, for one deficient in non-regret, |
pāmojje asati pāmojjavipannassa hatūpanisā hoti pīti; |
(3) joy lacks its proximate cause. When there is no joy, for one deficient in joy, |
pītiyā asati pītivipannassa hatūpanisā hoti passaddhi; |
(4) rapture lacks its proximate cause. When there is no rapture, for one deficient in rapture, |
passaddhiyā asati passaddhivipannassa hatūpanisaṃ hoti sukhaṃ; |
(5) tranquility lacks its proximate cause. When there is no tranquility, for one deficient in tranquility, |
sukhe asati sukhavipannassa hatūpaniso hoti sammāsamādhi; |
(6) pleasure lacks its proximate cause. When there is no pleasure, for one deficient in pleasure, |
sammāsamādhimhi asati sammāsamādhivipannassa hatūpanisaṃ hoti yathābhūtañāṇadassanaṃ; |
(7) right concentration lacks its proximate cause. When there is no right concentration, for one deficient in right concentration, |
yathābhūtañāṇadassane asati yathābhūtañāṇadassanavipannassa hatūpaniso hoti nibbidāvirāgo; |
(8) the knowledge and vision of things as they really are lacks its proximate cause. When there is no knowledge and vision of things as they really are, for one deficient in the knowledge and vision of things as they really are, |
nibbidāvirāge asati nibbidāvirāgavipannassa hatūpanisaṃ hoti vimuttiñāṇadassanaṃ. |
(9) disenchantment and dispassion lack their proximate cause. When there is no disenchantment and dispassion, for one deficient in disenchantment and dispassion, |
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(10) the knowledge and vision of liberation lacks its proximate cause. |
SN 46.52 samādhi-sam-bojjhanga includes samādhi in 3 ways
SN 46 is the bojjhanga samyutta, and these 2 samādhis are 2 out of the “samadhi in 3 ways”, which are recognized by both EBT and commentaries as being equivalent to the 4 jhānas of sammā samādhi.
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♦ “yadapi, bhikkhave, |
18“Whatever concentration there is accompanied by thought and examination is the enlightenment factor of concentration; |
savitakko savicāro samādhi tadapi samādhisambojjhaṅgo, |
whatever concentration there is without thought and examination is also the enlightenment factor of concentration.103 "" Thus what is spoken of concisely as the enlightenment factor of concentration becomes, |
yadapi avitakkāvicāro samādhi tadapi samādhisambojjhaṅgo. |
by this method of exposition, |
‘samādhisambojjhaṅgo’ti iti hidaṃ uddesaṃ gacchati. |
twofold. |
tadamināpetaṃ pariyāyena dvayaṃ hoti. |
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Vinaya Mv.II.3.4
Mv.II.3.4 “We listen with an ek’agga mind, an unscattered...
In Mv.II.3.4, the phrase, “we pay attention,” in the instructions for how to listen to the Pāṭimokkha, is defined as: “We listen with an ek’agga mind, an unscattered mind, an undistracted mind.” Even if ek’agga were translated as “one-pointed” here, the “point” is obviously not so restricted as to make the ears fall silent. Otherwise, we would not be able to hear the Pāṭimokkha at all. And the fact that the mind is ek’agga doesn’t mean that we can’t also hear other sounds aside from the Pāṭimokkha. It’s just that those sounds don’t make the mind lose its focus on a single theme.
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Vin 4, 2. uposathakkhandhako, 69. pātimokkhuddesānujānanā, para. 3 ⇒ |
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Sādhukaṃ suṇomāti aṭṭhiṃ katvā manasi katvā sabbacetasā [sabbaṃ cetasā (syā. ka.)] samannāharāma. |
(We) listen properly means: having applied ourselves, having attended, we concentrate with all our mind. |
Manasi karomāti ekaggacittā avikkhittacittā avisāhaṭacittā nisāmema. (Mhv. 2, Pātimokkhuddesānujānanā) |
(We) pay attention means: we listen, minds one-pointed, minds not distracted, minds not perturbed. (Mhv. 2, Allowance to recite the Pātimokkha) |
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Vinaya Parjika 4.1 Moggallana hears sound in imperturbable samadhi
passage analyzed in next section.
imperturbable (anenja) corresponds to most likely 3 formless perception attainments, but can also refer to a high quality fourth jhana capable of 6ab psychic powers.
Vimt. Arahant Upatissa, On sound and speech in jhāna
From Vimutti-magga, this is Arahant Upatissa’s explanation of speech ceasing in first jhāna, and the ability to hear sounds in jhāna:
Q. What are the miscellaneous teachings in the field of concentration?
A. Stoppage of sounds; overturning; rising; transcending; access; initial application of thought; feeling; uncertainty. “Stoppage of sounds”: In the first meditation, jhāna, speech is stopped. On entering the fourth meditation, jhāna, the yogin stops breathing.
Gradual stoppage of sounds: When the yogin enters into concentration, he hears sounds, but he is not able to speak because the faculty of hearing and that of speech are not united. To a man who enters form concentration {four jhānas}, sound is disturbing. Hence the Buddha taught: “To a man who enters meditation, jhāna, sound is a thorn”.
Hearing and thinking while in Jhāna strongly implied
In conjunction with the principles established in the previous section, these passages support the idea of hearing dhamma and thinking about it while one is in first jhāna.
MN 70 hearing, memorizing, thinking dhamma for arahantship
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MN 2, 2. bhikkhuvaggo, 10. kīṭāgirisuttaṃ (MN 70.1), para. 18 ⇒ |
(bodhi trans.) |
183. “nāhaṃ, bhikkhave, ādikeneva aññārādhanaṃ vadāmi; api ca, bhikkhave, anupubbasikkhā anupubbakiriyā anupubbapaṭipadā aññārādhanā hoti. |
“Bhikkhus, I do not say that final knowledge is achieved all at once. On the contrary, final knowledge is achieved by gradual training, by gradual practice, by gradual progress. [480] |
kathañca, bhikkhave, anupubbasikkhā anupubbakiriyā anupubbapaṭipadā aññārādhanā hoti? |
“And how is final knowledge achieved by gradual training, gradual practice, gradual progress? |
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idha, bhikkhave, saddhājāto upasaṅkamati, |
Here one who has faith [in a teacher] visits him; |
upasaṅkamanto payirupāsati, |
when he visits him, he pays respect to him; |
payirupāsanto sotaṃ odahati, |
when he pays respect to him, he gives ear; |
ohitasoto dhammaṃ suṇāti, |
one who gives ear hears the Dhamma; |
sutvā dhammaṃ dhāreti, |
having heard the Dhamma, he memorises it; |
dhatānaṃ dhammānaṃ atthaṃ upaparikkhati, |
he examines the meaning of the teachings he has memorised; |
atthaṃ upaparikkhato dhammā nijjhānaṃ khamanti, |
when he examines their meaning, he gains a reflective acceptance of those teachings; |
dhammanijjhānakkhantiyā sati chando jāyati, |
when he has gained a reflective acceptance of those teachings, zeal springs up in him; |
chandajāto ussahati, |
when zeal has sprung up, he applies his will; |
ussāhetvā tuleti, |
having applied his will, he scrutinises; |
tulayitvā padahati, |
having scrutinised, he strives; |
pahitatto samāno kāyena ceva |
resolutely striving, he realises with the body |
paramasaccaṃ sacchikaroti, paññāya ca naṃ ativijjha passati. |
the supreme truth and sees it by penetrating it with wisdom.708 |
seeing supreme truth seems to imply at least stream entry. Upa-parikkhato Is close in meaning to upekkha, both have the verb ikkhati (to look at, examine), as a base. Nij-jhānam has the same root as jhāna. Zeal, will, scrutiny, exertion are near synonyms of the 4 iddhi-pada. So if you read between the lines, upekkha and jhāna together means one has 4th jhāna, and then perfecting the 4th jhāna with the 4ip (iddhi pada) leads to stream entry of seeing supreme truth. In any case, whatever of the 37bp (bodhi pakkhiya) models from the framework you view this passage through, we know that stream entry can’t happen without jhāna and upekkha, so it’s hard to imagine nij-jhāna could refer to anything but the four-jhānas.
AN 9.41 Buddha practicing impure first jhāna
"So it is, Ananda. So it is. Even I myself, before my Awakening, when I was still an unawakened Bodhisatta, thought: 'Renunciation is good. Seclusion is good.' But my heart didn't leap up at renunciation, didn't grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace. The thought occurred to me: 'What is the cause, what is the reason, why my heart doesn't leap up at renunciation, doesn't grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace?' Then the thought occurred to me: 'I haven't seen the drawback of sensual pleasures; I haven't pursued [that theme]. I haven't understood the reward of renunciation; I haven't familiarized myself with it. That's why my heart doesn't leap up at renunciation, doesn't grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace.'
[1] "Then the thought occurred to me: 'If, having seen the drawback of sensual pleasures, I were to pursue that theme; and if, having understood the reward of renunciation, I were to familiarize myself with it, there's the possibility that my heart would leap up at renunciation, grow confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace.'
"So at a later time, having seen the drawback of sensual pleasures, I pursued that theme; having understood the reward of renunciation, I familiarized myself with it. My heart leaped up at renunciation, grew confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace. Then, quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities, I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation.
"As I remained there, I was beset with attention to perceptions dealing with sensuality. That was an affliction for me. Just as pain arises as an affliction for a healthy person, even so the attention to perceptions dealing with sensuality that beset me was an affliction for me.
Read this sutta passage carefully, in conjunction with AN 5.113 and AN 5.139 . Right concentration means being able to withstand the sounds one is able to hear while in first jhāna. The key characteristic of first jhāna is turning away from 5 cords of sense pleasure and seeing the suffering in it, and instead turning to the pleasure of renunciation. That has nothing to do with being in a samādhi where the body disappears and can’t be felt, and sound can’t be heard. History and even among modern meditators you’ll find plenty of live cases of meditators who can do the Vism. Samādhi of no hearing, no body sensation, but they disrobe or clearly are not free from desire for 5 cords of sensual pleasure when they are not in that samādhi. The essence of Right Concentration is that you’ve trained yourself to instantly remove akusala thoughts and replace them with kusala thoughts, not just in sitting posture, but all the time.
Don’t forget the Buddha promised a gradual training compared to the beach ocean floor gently declining until there’s a steep drop off (representing Nirvana attainment, AN 8.19, 8.20, Ud 5.5). Rome wasn’t built in a day, and a samādhi with no hearing divorced from 5 sense faculties comes later, after fourth jhāna.
Can you hear sound in imperturbable samādhi?
Moggallana hears loud elephant noises in imperturbable samādhi
♦ pārājikapāḷi ♦ 1. pārājikakaṇḍaṃ ♦ 4. catutthapārājikaṃ |
Vinaya Vibhanga, 4th pārājika |
♦ 232. atha kho āyasmā mahāmoggallāno bhikkhū āmantesi — |
Venerable Mahāmoggallāna said to the monks: |
“idhāhaṃ, āvuso, sappinikāya nadiyā tīre āneñjaṃ samādhiṃ samāpanno nāgānaṃ ogayha uttarantānaṃ koñcaṃ karontānaṃ saddaṃ assosin”ti. |
“After attaining an imperturbable samādhi on the banks of the river Sappinikā, I heard the noise of elephants plunging in, emerging, and trumpeting.” |
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bhikkhū ujjhāyanti khiyyanti vipācenti — |
The monks complained and criticized him: |
“kathañhi nāma āyasmā mahāmoggallāno āneñjaṃ samādhiṃ samāpanno saddaṃ sossati! |
“How can Venerable Mahāmoggallāna say such a thing? |
uttarimanussadhammaṃ āyasmā mahāmoggallāno ullapatī”ti. |
He’s claiming a super-human ability.” |
bhagavato etamatthaṃ ārocesuṃ. |
They informed the Master. |
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“attheso, bhikkhave, samādhi so ca kho aparisuddho. |
“Monks, there is such a samādhi, but itʼs not wholly purified. |
saccaṃ, bhikkhave, moggallāno āha. |
Moggallāna spoke truthfully. |
anāpatti, bhikkhave, moggallānassā”ti. |
There’s no offense for Moggallāna.” |
Imperturbable (āneñjaṃ), mainly refers to arupa formless attainments, and sometimes the 4th jhāna. A separate article on āneñjaṃ under 4nt → 8aam #8 examines all the passages where that attainment occurs.
The main point of this passage is Moggallana thought he was able to hear sounds WHILE in the imperturbable samadhi. The other monks accuse Moggallana of lying about having an attainment that he didn’t actually have, but the Buddha explains Moggallana just has an IMPURE imperturbable attainment.
DN 16 Buddha can’t hear in thunderstorm
presumably Buddha in formless samadhi
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‘Idāni, bhante, deve vassante deve gaḷagaḷāyante vijjullatāsu niccharantīsu asaniyā phalantiyā |
‘Just now, sir, it was raining and pouring, lightning was flashing, and thunder was cracking. |
dve kassakā bhātaro hatā cattāro ca balibaddā. |
And two farmers who were brothers were killed, as well as four oxen. |
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Ettheso mahājanakāyo sannipatito. |
Then this crowd gathered here. |
Tvaṃ pana, bhante, kva ahosī’ti? |
But sir, where were you?’ |
‘Idheva kho ahaṃ, āvuso, ahosin’ti. |
‘I was right here, friend.’ |
‘Kiṃ pana, bhante, addasā’ti? |
‘But sir, did you see?’ |
‘Na kho ahaṃ, āvuso, addasan’ti. |
‘No, friend, I didn’t see anything.’ |
‘Kiṃ pana, bhante, saddaṃ assosī’ti? |
‘But sir, didn’t you hear a sound?’ |
‘Na kho ahaṃ, āvuso, saddaṃ assosin’ti. |
‘No, friend, I didn’t hear a sound.’ |
‘Kiṃ pana, bhante, sutto ahosī’ti? |
‘But sir, were you asleep?’ |
‘Na kho ahaṃ, āvuso, sutto ahosin’ti. |
‘No, friend, I wasn’t asleep.’ |
‘Kiṃ pana, bhante, saññī ahosī’ti? |
‘But sir, were you conscious?’ |
‘Evamāvuso’ti. |
‘Yes, friend.’ |
‘So tvaṃ, bhante, saññī samāno jāgaro deve vassante deve gaḷagaḷāyante vijjullatāsu niccharantīsu asaniyā phalantiyā neva addasa, na pana saddaṃ assosī’ti? |
‘So, sir, while conscious and awake you neither saw nor heard a sound as it was raining and pouring, lightning was flashing, and thunder was cracking?’ |
‘Evamāvuso’ti? |
‘Yes, friend.’ |
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Atha kho, pukkusa, tassa purisassa etadahosi: |
Then that person thought: |
‘acchariyaṃ vata bho, abbhutaṃ vata bho, santena vata bho pabbajitā vihārena viharanti. |
‘It’s incredible, it’s amazing! Those who have gone forth remain in such peaceful meditations, |
Yatra hi nāma saññī samāno jāgaro deve vassante deve gaḷagaḷāyante vijjullatāsu niccharantīsu asaniyā phalantiyā neva dakkhati, na pana saddaṃ sossatī’ti. |
in that, while conscious and awake he neither saw nor heard a sound as it was raining and pouring, lightning was flashing, and thunder was cracking.’ |
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Āḷāra Kālāma doesn’t hear 500 carts pass by, presumably formless samadhi
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“Kiñhi, bhante, karissanti pañca vā sakaṭasatāni cha vā sakaṭasatāni satta vā sakaṭasatāni aṭṭha vā sakaṭasatāni nava vā sakaṭasatāni, sakaṭasahassaṃ vā sakaṭasatasahassaṃ vā. |
“What do five hundred carts matter, or six hundred, or seven hundred, or eight hundred, or nine hundred, or a thousand, or even a hundred thousand carts? |
Atha kho etadeva dukkaratarañceva durabhisambhavatarañca yo saññī samāno jāgaro deve vassante deve gaḷagaḷāyante vijjullatāsu niccharantīsu asaniyā phalantiyā neva passeyya, na pana saddaṃ suṇeyyā”ti. |
It’s far harder and more challenging to neither see nor hear a sound as it’s raining and pouring, lightning’s flashing, and thunder’s cracking!” |
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AN 10.72 sound can be a thorn in all four jhānas
AN 10.72 kaṇṭaka-suttaṃ
AN 10.72 kaṇṭaka-suttaṃ |
AN 10.72 thorns-discourse |
ekaṃ samayaṃ bhagavā |
One time the-Blessed-one, |
vesāliyaṃ viharati |
(at) vesāli (he) dwelled, |
mahā-vane kūṭāgāra-sālāyaṃ |
(in the) great-wood, (in the) hall-with-peaked-roof, |
sam-bahulehi abhiññātehi abhiññātehi |
{with} ***-many well known |
therehi sāvakehi saddhiṃ — |
elder disciples {******} - |
āyasmatā ca cālena, |
{and} Venerable cālena, |
āyasmatā ca upacālena, |
{and} Venerable upacālena, |
āyasmatā ca kukkuṭena, |
{and} Venerable kukkuṭena, |
āyasmatā ca kaḷimbhena, |
{and} Venerable kaḷimbhena, |
āyasmatā ca nikaṭena, |
{and} Venerable nikaṭena, |
āyasmatā ca kaṭissahena; |
{and} Venerable kaṭissahena; |
aññehi ca abhiññātehi abhiññātehi |
{and} other well known |
therehi sāvakehi saddhiṃ. |
elder disciples accompanied (them). |
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♦ tena kho pana samayena |
Now on that occasion |
sambahulā abhiññātā abhiññātā licchavī |
many very well-known Licchavis, |
bhadrehi bhadrehi yānehi para-purāya |
(in their) very finest carriages from-town, |
uccā-saddā mahā-saddā |
[making] loud-sounds, very-loud-sounds, |
mahā-vanaṃ ajjhogāhanti |
(to the) Great-Wood (they) entered |
bhagavantaṃ dassanāya. |
{to see} the-Blessed-one. |
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atha kho tesaṃ āyasmantānaṃ |
Then indeed (to) those Venerable-ones |
etad-ahosi — |
this [thought] occurred - |
“ime kho |
“these *** |
sambahulā abhiññātā abhiññātā licchavī |
many very well-known Licchavis, |
bhadrehi bhadrehi yānehi para-purāya |
(in their) very finest carriages from-town, |
uccā-saddā mahā-saddā |
[making] loud-sounds, very-loud-sounds, |
mahā-vanaṃ ajjhogāhanti |
(to the) Great-Wood (they) entered |
bhagavantaṃ dassanāya. |
{to see} the-Blessed-one. |
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‘sadda-kaṇṭakā kho pana jhānā’ |
'sound-(is a)-thorn indeed to jhānā' |
vuttā bhagavatā. |
said the-Blessed-one. |
yaṃnūna mayaṃ yena |
******* we ***** |
gosiṅga-sāla-vanadāyo tenupasaṅkameyyāma. |
{should go} to gosiṅga-sāla-woods. |
tattha mayaṃ appa-saddā app-ākiṇṇā |
there ***** (with) no-sounds (and) no-crowds, |
phāsuṃ vihareyyāmā”ti. |
(in) comfort we-can-dwell". |
atha kho te āyasmanto yena |
Then indeed those venerables |
gosiṅgasālavanadāyo tenupasaṅkamiṃsu; |
(to) gosiṅga-sāla-woods (they) went; |
tattha te āyasmanto appasaddā appākiṇṇā |
there ** ********* (with) no-sounds (and) no-crowds, |
phāsuṃ viharanti. |
(in) comfort they-dwelled". |
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♦ atha kho bhagavā |
then indeed the-blessed-one |
bhikkhū āmantesi — |
{addressed} the monks - |
“kahaṃ nu kho, bhikkhave, cālo, |
where ** ***, *********, (is) cālo? |
kahaṃ upacālo, |
where (is) upacālo? |
kahaṃ kukkuṭo, |
where (is) kukkuṭo? |
kahaṃ kaḷimbho, |
where (is) kaḷimbho? |
kahaṃ nikaṭo, |
where (is) nikaṭo? |
kahaṃ kaṭissaho; |
where (is) kaṭissaho? |
kahaṃ nu kho te, bhikkhave, |
where have *** those, ***********, |
therā sāvakā gatā”ti? |
elder disciples gone?" |
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(monks report incident to buddha)
♦ “idha, bhante, |
"Here, Lord, |
tesaṃ āyasmantānaṃ etadahosi — |
those venerables [thought] that - |
‘ime kho sambahulā abhiññātā abhiññātā licchavī |
'*** *** many well known licchavī |
bhadrehi bhadrehi yānehi para-purāya |
(in their) very finest carriages from-town |
uccā-saddā mahā-saddā |
[making] loud-sounds, very-loud-sounds, |
mahā-vanaṃ ajjhogāhanti |
{entered} the-great-woods |
bhagavantaṃ dassanāya |
{to see} the-blessed-one. |
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‘sadda-kaṇṭakā kho pana jhānā', |
'sounds-(are)-thorns indeed to jhānā', |
vuttā bhagavatā |
said the-blessed-one. |
yaṃnūna mayaṃ yena |
******* we ***** |
gosiṅga-sāla-vanadāyo tenupasaṅkameyyāma |
{should go} to gosiṅga-sāla-woods. |
tattha mayaṃ appa-saddā app-ākiṇṇā |
there ***** (with) no-sounds (and) no-crowds, |
phāsuṃ vihareyyāmā’ti. |
(in) comfort we-can-dwell". |
atha kho te, bhante, āyasmanto |
Then indeed those, ******, venerables |
yena gosiṅgasālavanadāyo tenupasaṅkamiṃsu. |
(to) gosiṅga-sāla-woods (they) went; |
tattha te āyasmanto appasaddā appākiṇṇā |
there ** ********* (with) no-sounds (and) no-crowds, |
phāsuṃ viharantī”ti. |
(in) comfort they-dwelled". |
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♦ “sādhu sādhu, bhikkhave, |
"Good, good, monks! |
yathā te mahā-sāvakā |
as those great-disciples |
sammā byā-karamānā byā-kareyyuṃ, |
properly reacted (and) should-react, |
‘sadda-kaṇṭakā hi, bhikkhave, jhānā’ |
'sounds-(are)-thorns **, *********, (to) jhānā’ |
vuttā mayā. |
{I have} said. |
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(10 thorns)
“dasay-ime, bhikkhave, kaṇṭakā. |
“[There are] ten-(of)-these, *********, thorns. |
katame dasa? |
Which ten? |
(1) pa-vivek-ārāmassa |
(1) (for one who) enjoys-seclusion, |
saṅgaṇik-ārāmatā kaṇṭako, |
enjoyment-of-society (is a) thorn, |
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(2) a-subha-nimitt-ānu-yogaṃ |
(2) (in the) {pursuit-of}-(the)-un-attractive-sign; |
anu-yuttassa |
(for the) pursuer, |
subha-nimitt-ānu-yogo kaṇṭako, |
{pursuit-of}-(the)-attractive-sign (is a) thorn, |
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(3) indriyesu |
(3) (the) sense-faculties; |
gutta-dvārassa |
(for one) guarding-(the)-doors [of that], |
visūka-dassanaṃ kaṇṭako, |
{viewing an}-unsuitable-show (is a) thorn, |
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(4) brahma-cariyassa |
(4) (for the) celibate-life, |
mātugām-ūpacāro kaṇṭako, |
association-with-women (is a) thorn, |
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(5) paṭhamassa jhānassa |
(5) (for the) first jhāna, |
saddo kaṇṭako, |
noise (is a) thorn, |
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(6) dutiyassa jhānassa |
(6) (for the) second jhāna, |
vitakka-vicārā kaṇṭakā, |
thought and evaluation (is a) thorn, |
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(7) tatiyassa jhānassa |
(7) (for the) third jhāna, |
pīti kaṇṭako, |
Rapture (is a) thorn, |
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(8) catutthassa jhānassa |
(8) (for the) fourth jhāna, |
assāsa-passāso kaṇṭako, |
In-(and)-out breathing (is a) thorn, |
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(9) saññā-vedayita-nirodha-samāpattiyā |
(9) (for) perception-(and)-feelings'-cessation-attainment, |
saññā ca vedanā ca kaṇṭako |
perception and feeling (is a) thorn, |
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(10) rāgo kaṇṭako |
(10) Lust (is a) thorn, |
doso kaṇṭako |
hatred (is a) thorn, |
moho kaṇṭako. |
delusion (is a) thorn. |
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(conclusion)
♦ “a-kaṇṭakā, bhikkhave, viharatha. |
"Thorn-less, monks, you-must-dwell! |
nik-kaṇṭakā, bhikkhave, viharatha. |
without-thorns, monks, you-must-dwell! |
a-kaṇṭaka-nik-kaṇṭakā, bhikkhave, viharatha. |
Thorn-less-(and)-without-thorns, monks, you-must-dwell! |
a-kaṇṭakā, bhikkhave, arahanto; |
Thorn-less, monks, (are the) Arahants! |
nik-kaṇṭakā, bhikkhave, arahanto; |
without-thorns, monks, (are the) Arahants! |
a-kaṇṭaka-nik-kaṇṭakā, bhikkhave, arahanto”ti. |
Thorn-less-(and)-without-thorns, monks, (are the) Arahants!” |
dutiyaṃ. |
(end of sutta) |
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commentary
jhānā (plural), means sound is a thorn for all 4 jhānas, not just the first
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‘sadda-kaṇṭakā hi, bhikkhave, jhānā’ |
'sounds-(are)-thorns **, *********, (to) jhānā’ |
vuttā mayā. |
{I have} said. |
vitakka vicara, piti, breathing, are 3 bonus thorns thrown in for jhānas #2 to #4.
many monks are mentioned, so this is a common problem
6 elder monks were famous enough to mention by name, and then the rest are referred to anonymously in the group that went to the forest to escape loud noises. The sutta seems to have been crafted deliberately this way to make the point that sound being a thorn in 4 jhānas is a common problem, not just an anomaly.
loud piercing noises from carts, horses, people
Anyone who meditates in a forest knows you have to deal with sound. Jungle noises, birds, waterfalls, wind blowing through trees, animals and insects stomping around on leaves, etc. So it’s not categorically all sounds that have to be thorns. Earlier we saw how ekaggata and AN 5.26 involve the ability to hear while in jhāna samādhi. If ambient jungle noise, for example, even sitting next to a loud waterfall, is not distracting your mind, then it’s not a thorn. Meditating in mild to moderate rain is quite noisy, but the noise is not a thorn for reasonably skilled meditators. But a thunderstorm with loud thunder piercing you at unpredicatable intervals, that’s a major thorn.
4 formless attainments conspicuously absent from list of 10 thorns
This is because rupa attainments (4 jhānas) are not arupa (formless). In Arupa, as we’ll explore in detail in the next section, the Buddha uses clear and precise language to say the mind is divorced from 5 sense faculties (seeing, hearing, smelling, etc.). So if Arupa is divorced, rupa is still married to 5 sense faculties, one is still able to hear sounds.
Also notice this sutta thematically sits in isolation in AN 10, group of tens, instead of being sandwiched in the suttas in AN 9.30 to AN 9.60, in which all 30 suttas deal with the theme of 9 progressive samādhi attainments. One not reading this sutta carefully might think sound is a thorn in first jhana only, but is NOT a thorn in all the higher attainments because one can’t hear sounds at all. As pointed out earlier, sound Is a thorn for ALL FOUR jhānas, not just the first. And the fact that it’s in AN 10 is a signal that “sound” should not be treated in the same way V&V, pīti, sukha, and the breath are gross factors abandoned in succession in each higher stage of samādhi.
but why is samādhi attainment 9 on the list?
(9) saññā-vedayita-nirodha-samāpattiyā |
(9) (for) perception-(and)-feelings'-cessation-attainment, |
saññā ca vedanā ca kaṇṭako |
perception and feeling (is a) thorn, |
for cessation of perception and feeling, it’s the
”attainment of” (samāpattiyā), not the activity within that samadhi itself that is a thorn. In this case, sounds are thorns while one is in the process of trying to attain. Note that same qualifer of “attainment” is not applied to the 4 jhanas, and note once again the 4 formless attainments are missing.
Is the thorn an irritator, preventor, or destroyer?
For those who subscribe to the view that jhāna is VRJ (Visuddhimagga Redefinition of Jhāna), then the 10 thorn similes used in the sutta is quite puzzling and incoherent. For if sound is a thorn that prevents first jhāna, the other 9 thorns must “prevent” the activity being stated. But if you work through the list and try it out, it’s logically incoherent and impossible. It only works for first jhana, 2nd, 3rd, and fourth jhana. You run into the same kind of logical incoherence and impossibility if you treat the thorn as a “destroyer” of that attainment/activity. Only treating the sound as “an irritator” while one is in the moment to moment active process of doing that activity, does the thorn simile make sense logically and coherently for all 10 similes.
AN 9.41 how V&V, pīti are thorns for 2nd and 3rd jhāna
2nd jhana
"So at a later time, having seen the drawback of directed thought, I pursued that theme; having understood the reward of being without directed thought, I familiarized myself with it. My heart leaped up at being without directed thought, grew confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace. With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, I entered & remained in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance.
"As I remained there, I was beset with attention to perceptions dealing with directed thought. That was an affliction for me. Just as pain arises as an affliction for a healthy person, even so the attention to perceptions dealing with directed thought that beset me was an affliction for me.
3rd jhana
[3] "The thought occurred to me: 'What if, with the fading of rapture, I were to remain in equanimity, mindful & alert, to be physically sensitive to pleasure, and to enter & remain in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, "Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding"?' But my heart didn't leap up at being without rapture, didn't grow confident, steadfast, or firm, seeing it as peace... So at a later time, having seen the drawback of rapture, I pursued that theme; having understood the reward of being without rapture, I familiarized myself with it. My heart leaped up at being without rapture, grew confident, steadfast, & firm, seeing it as peace. With the fading of rapture, I remained in equanimity, mindful & alert, physically sensitive to pleasure, and entered & remained in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.'
"As I remained there, I was beset with attention to perceptions dealing with rapture. That was an affliction for me. Just as pain arises as an affliction for a healthy person, even so the attention to perceptions dealing with rapture that beset me was an affliction for me.
Jhāna vs. VRJ
EBT Jhāna versus the Visuddhi-magga Redefinition of Jhāna: If you found it difficult to follow the details of the last section, don’t worry. it’s not easy to comprehend. These images should help you. If you can keep these two images in mind, and remember that rupa is not arupa, you’ll eventually be able to follow all the detailed evidence and see clearly for yourself.
This bubble represents the four EBT jhānas: The pin pressing on it is how sound affects a meditator. The higher the jhāna, the less the thorn is felt, but the sound can still be heard. The possible exception would be a purified imperturbable fourth jhāna, which straddles both rupa and arupa.
The impenetrable fortress bubble represents VRJ, the Visuddhimagga Redefinition of Jhāna (all four rupa Jhānas). Sound can only be a thorn before you enter that fortress. Once you’re inside, you can’t hear sounds, you can’t feel mosquito bites, smell aromas, etc. The mind is divorced from the 5 sense faculties.
Jhāna in Vimutti-magga vs. Vism.
In EBT jhāna, and early Abhidhamma Jhāna (See Arahant Upatissa’s comments in Vimutti-magga), it’s not until you pass the 4 rupa jhānas and go into arupa formless attainments that the mind is divorced from 5 sense faculties.
see article: 4nt → 8aam #8 → EBT Jhāna Vs. Vism. Redefinition
for the detailed audit.
Silence Isn’t Mandatory
S E N S O R Y P E R C E P T I O N I N T H E J H Ā N A S
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
(Āḷāra Kālāma and 500 carts)
On the afternoon of his last day, as he was walking to the park where he
would pass away, the Buddha stopped to rest at the foot of a tree by the side of
the road. There he was approached by Pukkusa Mallaputta—a student of the
Buddha’s first teacher, Āḷāra Kālāma—who proceeded to praise Āḷāra for the
strength of his concentration: Āḷāra had sat in concentration, percipient and alert,
as 500 carts passed by on a nearby road, but he neither saw them nor heard a
sound. Only later did he learn about them, when another man traveling along
the road asked him whether he had seen or heard the carts pass by.
The Buddha responded by telling Pukkusa of a time when he had been sitting
in concentration in a threshing barn, percipient and alert, when the rain was
pouring, lightning was flashing, and a thunderbolt killed two men and four oxen
nearby, and yet he hadn’t seen anything nor heard a sound. He, too, didn’t know
what had happened until he left the barn and asked someone why so many
people had gathered nearby.
Pukkusa was so impressed by this story that, in his words, he took his
conviction in Āḷāra and “winnowed it before a high wind” and “washed it away
in the swift current of a river.” He then took refuge in the Triple Gem, presented
the Buddha with a pair of gold-colored robes, and left.
This incident provides a curious footnote to an incident in an earlier set of
stories: the Buddha’s own account of the events leading up to his awakening.
After leaving home, he had studied with Āḷāra, who had taught him how to
reach a formless concentration attainment called the dimension of nothingness,
in which the mind is focused on a single perception: “There is nothing.” Yet
when the Buddha-to-be had mastered that attainment, he realized that it didn’t
constitute the end of suffering. So he left Āḷāra in search of a better teacher, and
eventually pursued awakening on his own. The point of this account was that, to
gain awakening, the Buddha needed more than just a concentration attainment.
He also needed to master the skills of the four noble truths so as to develop
dispassion for all fabricated states of mind, including the most profound states of
concentration. Only then could he reach the deathless.
2
The story of the Buddha’s conversation with Pukkusa, in contrast, reads like
an anti-climax. Pukkusa’s interest goes no further than concentration, and he
bases his conviction in the Buddha simply on the fact that the latter’s
concentration was very strong. As for whether the Buddha’s concentration was
actually stronger than Āḷāra’s, there’s no way of knowing, because Āḷāra wasn’t
presented with the same test.
The story does, however, raise an important question. It shows that the
Canon recognizes stages of concentration in which the physical senses fall
silent—and that the Buddha, as an awakened one, had mastered those stages—
but it says nothing about whether those stages are necessary for awakening.
Buddhaghosa—in his
Visuddhimagga and in the commentaries he compiled from
the ancient Sinhalese commentaries on the Pali suttas, or discourses—says that it
is a mandatory feature of jhāna that the external senses fall silent, but that jhāna
is not necessary for awakening. Some modern practice traditions agree with
Buddhaghosa on both counts, but others—who disagree with Buddhaghosa on
the second count, saying that jhāna
is necessary for awakening—differ from one another on the first: some groups maintaining that, Yes, the external senses must
fall silent in jhāna, others maintaining that, No, they don’t.
I have already explored elsewhere the issue of whether jhāna is necessary for
awakening—concluding that, according to the Pali suttas, it is (see
Right
Mindfulness, Appendix Three). Here I would like to examine what the suttas have to say about the other issue: whether jhāna counts as jhāna only if the external
senses fall silent. If the answer is Yes, that means that a person can attain
awakening only after developing concentration to the point where all input from
the external senses is blocked. This is clearly an issue of great practical
importance for anyone aiming at true release.
BACKGROUND: THE NINE ATTAINMENTS
Any attempt to determine the suttas’ stance on this issue has to begin by
analyzing how they describe the stages of concentration that can act as the bases
for awakening. The suttas’ most extensive standard list describes nine stages in
all. The first four stages, called the four jhānas, are the only members of the list
included in the standard definition of right concentration in discussions of the
noble eightfold path (see SN 45:8). However, according to MN 140, the remaining
stages—which the suttas call the “formlessnesses beyond forms,” and which
modern discussions call the “formless jhānas”—are simply applications of the
equanimity found in the fourth jhāna. (Here, for the purpose of keeping these
formless stages distinct from the four jhānas while at the same time saving space,
3
I will refer to them as the “formless attainments.” Any reference to “the jhānas”
will mean the four jhānas, and not the formless attainments.)
Because many passages in the suttas describe how awakening can be based
on any of the four jhānas or the five formless attainments, all nine stages seem to
be rightly classed as right concentration.
The standard description of the nine stages is this:
[1] “There is the case where a monk, quite secluded from sensuality, secluded
from unskillful mental qualities, enters and remains in the first jhāna: rapture
and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and
evaluation.
[2] “With the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations, he enters and
remains in the second jhāna: rapture and pleasure born of concentration,
unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation—internal
assurance.
[3] “With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, and alert,
and senses pleasure with the body. He enters and remains in the third jhāna, of
which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, he has a pleasant
abiding.’
[4] “With the abandoning of pleasure and pain—as with the earlier
disappearance of joy and distress—he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna:
purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain.
[5] “With the complete transcending of perceptions [mental notes] of
(physical) form, with the disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not
attending to perceptions of multiplicity, (perceiving,) ‘Infinite space,’ he enters
and remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space.
[6] “With the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of
space, (perceiving,) ‘Infinite consciousness,’ he enters and remains in the
dimension of the infinitude of consciousness.
[7] “With the complete transcending of the dimension of the infinitude of
consciousness, (perceiving,) ‘There is nothing,’ he enters and remains in the
dimension of nothingness. [This was the stage mastered by Āḷāra.]
[8] “With the complete transcending of the dimension of nothingness, he
enters and remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.
[9] “With the complete transcending of the dimension of neither perception
nor non-perception, he enters and remains in the cessation of perception and
feeling.” —
AN 9:32
Some suttas—such as MN 121 and SN 40:9—mention another stage of
concentration, called the themeless concentration of awareness
(animitta-ceto-
samādhi), that can also be used as a basis for awakening:
The monk—not attending to the perception of the dimension of nothingness,
not attending to the perception of the dimension of neither perception nor non-
4
perception—attends to the singleness based on the themeless concentration of
awareness.”
— MN 121
Because this themeless concentration of awareness, like the cessation of
perception and feeling, follows on the dimension of neither perception nor non-
perception, there is the question as to whether the two stages are identical. MN
44 suggests that they’re not, saying that “themeless contact” is one of the first
contacts that a meditator experiences on emerging from the cessation of
perception and feeling. This suggests that the themeless concentration lies on the
threshold of the cessation of perception and feeling, but is not identical with it.
It’s important to note that the mere attainment of any of these stages of
concentration does not guarantee awakening. As AN 4:178 notes, it is possible to
attain a “peaceful awareness-release” without one’s heart leaping at the idea of
the cessation of self-identification or the breaching of ignorance. MN 113 notes
that a person can go as far as the dimension of neither perception nor non-
perception and, lacking integrity, exalt himself and disparage others over the fact
that he has gained that attainment whereas other people haven’t. MN 106 notes
that it’s possible, on reaching the same level, to relish and cling to the subtle
equanimity experienced there. In all of these cases, if these defects of insight and
character are not remedied, the meditator will make no further progress toward
awakening.
The one possible exception to the principle that right concentration, on its
own, cannot achieve awakening is the ninth stage in the standard list: the
cessation of perception and feeling.
Perception, here, means the mental note that identifies and recognizes things and events.
Feeling means feeling-tones of
pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain. The
Visuddhimagga (XXIII.18) states that anyone who has reached this attainment must also attain, at the very least,
the penultimate stage of awakening: non-return. The suttas, however, are more
equivocal on the issue. On the one hand, MN 113 does not list this attainment as
a stage of concentration that a person without integrity could attain. At the same
time, many of the suttas’ descriptions of this attainment include the phrase, “and,
as he sees (that) with discernment, his effluents are completely ended.” These
two points suggest that, as one leaves this attainment, the depth of concentration
has automatically primed the mind for liberating insight. However, not all of the
suttas’ descriptions of this attainment include that concluding phrase (see, for
example, DN 15 and AN 9:32), which may imply that the insight is not
automatic.
At the same time, even if the attainment of the cessation of perception and
feeling
does automatically lead to awakening, we should note that it’s not the only totally non-percipient stage of concentration recognized by the suttas. The
other is the meditation that leads a person, after death, to be reborn in the
5
dimension of non-percipient beings. This dimension is mentioned in DN 1 and
DN 15, but the meditation leading there is not part of the standard list of
concentration attainments, nor is it described by the suttas in any detail. What
the suttas do indicate clearly is that the dimension of non-percipient beings is not
a noble attainment, for as DN 1 notes, if a perception arises in the mind of a
being there, that being falls from the dimension. If the being is then reborn in the
human world and practices meditation, he/she will be unable to remember
previous lifetimes and so may come to a conclusion that fosters wrong view: that
beings arise out of nothing, spontaneously and without cause. This view would
not occur to a person who has reached even the first stage of awakening, so the
dimension of non-percipient beings is obviously not a noble state.
So the mere attainment of concentration—even to the extent of being totally
free from perception—does not guarantee awakening.
This fact is reflected in the two main ways in which the suttas describe a
person practicing concentration. In some cases, they say simply that the
meditator enters and remains in a particular stage of concentration. In others,
they say that the meditator, while remaining in that stage, analyzes it in terms of
the fabrications of which it is composed, gains a sense of dispassion for those
fabrications, and as a result gains release. The first sort of description falls under what AN 4:41 calls the “development of concentration that leads to a pleasant
abiding in the here and now”; the second falls under what the same sutta calls
the “development of concentration that leads to the ending of the effluents.” This
element of analysis added to the practice of concentration is what can lead to
awakening.
MN 52 and AN 9:36 describe how this happens, with the latter giving the
more extensive description of the two. After mastering a particular stage of
concentration, the meditator analyzes it in terms of the five aggregates of which
it is composed and then develops a series of perceptions around those aggregates
aimed at developing a sense of disenchantment and dispassion for them. The
dispassion is what then leads to release. For instance, with the first jhāna:
“There is the case where a monk… enters and remains in the first jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and
evaluation. He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form,
feeling, perception, fabrications, and consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a
disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an
emptiness, not-self. He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having
done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: ‘This is peace, this is
exquisite—the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all
acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; unbinding.’
6
“Staying right there, he reaches the ending of the effluents. Or, if not, then—
through this very Dhamma-passion, this Dhamma-delight, and from the total
ending of the five lower fetters—he is due to arise spontaneously (in the Pure
Abodes), there to be totally unbound, never again to return from that world.” —
AN 9:36
The sutta then describes a similar process for each of the concentration
attainments up through the dimension of nothingness, after which it concludes:
“Thus, as far as the perception-attainments go, that is as far as gnosis-
penetration goes. As for these two dimensions—the attainment of the dimension
of neither perception nor non-perception and the attainment of the cessation of
perception and feeling—I tell you that they are to be rightly explained by those
monks who are meditators, skilled at attainment, skilled at attainment-
emergence, who have attained and emerged in dependence on them.”
— AN 9:36
In other words, unlike its treatment of the first seven stages of concentration,
the sutta does not describe how one might analyze the last two attainments so as
to gain release. Why these two attainments are treated differently from the others
is suggested by a similar discussion in MN 111. There the Buddha praises Ven.
Sāriputta for his penetrating discernment in being able to ferret out mental
qualities as he experiences them in the practice of concentration. The discussion
applies a standard formula to each attainment from the first jhāna up through
the dimension of nothingness, and then switches gear to a second formula that
differs from the first formula in two important respects. The difference can be
illustrated by comparing the discussion for the dimension of nothingness, which
follows the first formula, and the dimension of neither perception nor non-
perception, which follows the second:
“And further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the
infinitude of consciousness, (perceiving,) ‘There is nothing,’ Sāriputta entered
and remained in the dimension of nothingness. Whatever qualities there are in
the dimension of nothingness—the perception of the dimension of nothingness,
singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness, desire,
decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, and attention—he ferreted them
out one after another. Known to him they arose, known to him they became
established, known to him they subsided. He discerned, ‘So this is how these
qualities, not having been, come into play. Having been, they vanish.’ He
remained unattracted and unrepelled with regard to those qualities,
independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an awareness rid of barriers.
He discerned that ‘There is a further escape,’ and pursuing it, he confirmed that
‘There is.’
“And further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of
nothingness, Sāriputta entered and remained in the dimension of neither
perception nor non-perception. He emerged mindfully from that attainment. On
7
emerging mindfully from that attainment, he regarded the past qualities that had
ceased and changed: ‘So this is how these qualities, not having been, come into
play. Having been, they vanish.’ He remained unattracted and unrepelled with
regard to those qualities, independent, detached, released, dissociated, with an
awareness rid of barriers. He discerned that ‘There is a further escape,’ and
pursuing it, he confirmed that ‘There is.’”
— MN 111
The important differences in the two formulae are these: (1) The first formula
lists in great detail the qualities that Sāriputta ferreted out, whereas the second
doesn’t. This may relate to the fact that perception in the dimension of neither
perception nor non-perception is so subtle and attenuated that a meditator in
that dimension cannot label mental qualities clearly. (2) In the second formula,
the Buddha is careful to say that Sāriputta did the analysis
after emerging from the attainment, and that the analysis referred to
past qualities, whereas he doesn’t qualify the earlier discussion in this way. This indicates that it is possible to do
this sort of analysis while staying in any of the attainments up through the
dimension of nothingness, whereas in the final two attainments, the level of
perception is so attenuated that any of the perceptions used in analysis would
destroy the attainment. For this reason, these two attainments can be analyzed
only after the meditator has emerged from them.
This is why the Buddha treats the arising of discernment with regard to these
final two attainments in much less detail than he does with regard to the lower
seven. This point will have an important bearing on the following discussion.
But the main lesson to draw from these passages is that concentration, simply
as a pleasant abiding in the here and now, cannot lead to awakening. It needs the
added activity of discernment for there to be full release.
SILENCE IN THE FORMLESS ATTAINMENTS
Modern discussions of the question as to whether the external senses have
to fall silent in right concentration for there to be the possibility of awakening
tend to focus on the first jhāna, and for two connected reasons: (1) It is the lowest
stage of concentration to be classed as right concentration. (2) As MN 52 and AN
9:36 show, a meditator practicing for the sake of awakening need not master all
nine stages of concentration. It’s possible to gain awakening based on a mastery
of just the first. Thus, if a stage of concentration in which the physical senses fall silent is required for awakening, this stipulation must apply to the first jhāna.
Three passages in the suttas seem to provide clear evidence that this
proposition is incorrect, in that they describe attainments where the external
senses fall silent, but without including the first jhāna—or any of the other
jhānas—in their descriptions.
8
A.1: The first passage is AN 9:37, where Ven. Ānanda discusses four levels of
concentration in which the meditator can be percipient yet without any
sensitivity to the physical senses. Three of these levels are the first three of the
formless attainments. The fourth is the concentration that follows on the
attainment of full awakening. The four jhānas, however, are not mentioned as
meeting this description at all.
Ven. Ānanda said, “It’s amazing, friends, it’s astounding, how the Blessed
One who knows and sees, the worthy one, rightly self-awakened, has attained
and recognized an opening in a confined place for the purification of beings, for
the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the disappearance of pain and
distress, for the attainment of the right method, and for the realization of
unbinding, where the eye will be, and those forms, and yet one will not be
sensitive to that dimension; where the ear will be, and those sounds… where the
nose will be, and those aromas… where the tongue will be, and those flavors…
where the body will be, and those tactile sensations, and yet one will not be
sensitive to that dimension.”
When this was said, Ven. Udāyin said to Ven. Ānanda, “Is one percipient
when not sensitive to that dimension, my friend, or unpercipient?”
[Ven. Ānanda:] “One is percipient when not sensitive to that dimension, my
friend, not unpercipient.”
[Ven. Udāyin:] “When not sensitive to that dimension, my friend, one is
percipient of what?”
[Ven. Ānanda:] “There is the case where, with the complete transcending of
perceptions of (physical) form, with the disappearance of perceptions of
resistance, and not attending to perceptions of multiplicity, (perceiving,) ‘Infinite
space,’ one enters and remains in the dimension of the infinitude of space.
Percipient in this way, one is not sensitive to that dimension [i.e., the dimensions
of the five physical senses].
“And further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the
infinitude of space, (perceiving,) ‘Infinite consciousness,’ one enters and remains
in the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. Percipient in this way, too,
one is not sensitive to that dimension.
“And further, with the complete transcending of the dimension of the
infinitude of consciousness, (perceiving,) ‘There is nothing,’ one enters and
remains in the dimension of nothingness. Percipient in this way, too, one is not
sensitive to that dimension.
“Once, friend, when I was staying in Sāketa at the Game Refuge in the Black
Forest, the nun Jaṭila-Bhāgikā went to where I was staying, and on arrival—
having bowed to me—stood to one side. As she was standing there, she said to
me: ‘The concentration whereby—neither pressed down nor forced back, nor
with fabrication kept blocked or suppressed—still as a result of release,
contented as a result of standing still, and as a result of contentment one is not
agitated: This concentration is said by the Blessed One to be the fruit of what?’
9
“I said to her, ‘Sister, the concentration whereby—neither pressed down nor
forced back, nor kept in place by the fabrications of forceful restraint—still as a
result of release, contented as a result of standing still, and as a result of
contentment one is not agitated: This concentration is said by the Blessed One to
be the fruit of gnosis [arahantship].’ Percipient in this way, too, one is not
sensitive to that dimension.”
— AN 9:37
Because this passage, when describing attainments where the external senses
fall silent even when the meditator is percipient, mentions only the first three
formless attainments and the concentration of arahantship, it seems to give clear
support to the idea that there is no need for the physical senses to fall silent in
every level of right concentration. A person could attain any of the four jhānas
and yet still hear sounds, etc., and—as AN 9:36 notes—could use that stage of
concentration to attain full awakening.
A.2: A careful look at another passage—the standard description of the
dimension of the infinitude of space, the first attainment in Ven. Ānanda’s list—
shows why the attainments in his list differ from the four jhānas in this regard.
The description states that the meditator enters and remains in this dimension
“with the complete transcending of perceptions of form, with the disappearance
of perceptions of resistance, and not attending to perceptions of multiplicity.” As
noted above, the word “perception” here carries the meaning of mental note or
label, the act of recognizing or identifying a mental object. So, to move from the
fourth jhāna to the dimension of the infinitude of space, it’s necessary that
mental labels of resistance disappear, and that the meditator transcend mental
labels of form and pay no attention to mental labels of multiplicity.
Two of these terms,
resistance and
multiplicity, require explanation.
“Resistance”
(paṭigha) can be understood in two ways. DN 15 identifies it as
the type of contact that allows mental activity to detect the presence of forms.
What this apparently means is that mental acts can recognize the presence of
physical objects primarily because physical objects put up resistance to any other
objects that might invade their space.
However, Buddhaghosa, in the
Visuddhimagga (X.16), follows the
Abhidhamma in defining “resistance” as contact at the five external senses.
Because he gives no sutta reference to support this interpretation, it is the weaker
of the two.
However, there is a sutta passage—in MN 137—that defines “multiplicity
(nānattā)” as the objects of the five senses: forms, sounds, smells, tastes, and tactile sensations. In other words, this passage assigns to “multiplicity” the
meaning that Buddhaghosa assigns to “resistance.” MN 137 then contrasts
10
multiplicity with the word, “singleness
(ekattā),” which it identifies as the first four formless attainments.
Thus, regardless of whether perceptions of sensory input are called
perceptions of resistance or perceptions of multiplicity, the practical upshot is
that a meditator entering and staying in the dimension of the infinitude of space
would, at the very least, have to pay no attention to any mental labels that would
recognize or identify objects present to the physical senses. If “resistance” means
contact at the five senses, then such perceptions would have to disappear.
This leads to a question: Following the interpretation drawn from MN 137,
why would the simple act of not paying attention to perceptions of the objects of
the senses make a meditator insensitive to the presence of those objects? The
answer lies in the fact that, in the suttas’ descriptions of the stages of sensory
awareness, perception plays a role at two stages in the process.
—In MN 18, for instance, perception comes
after sensory contact and the
feelings that arise based on the contact. To ignore perceptions of multiplicity at
this stage of the process would not make one insensitive to the objects of the
senses. They would be present enough to give rise to perceptions, but the
meditator would simply pay those perceptions no attention.
—However, in the standard formula for dependent co-arising (see, for
example, SN 12:2), perception—as a sub-factor of fabrication (see MN 44)—also
occurs
prior to sensory contact. To pay no attention to perceptions of multiplicity at this stage of the process, and to pay sole attention to the perception, “infinite
space” instead, would allow the meditator to become insensitive to the physical
senses and their objects. The same would be true if perceptions of sensory input
were indicated by “perceptions of resistance” and those perceptions were to
disappear.
It would seem clear that because the standard formula for the nine
concentration attainments mentions these requirements beginning only with the
dimension of the infinitude of space, they are not required for any of the lower
levels. For a meditator in, say, the fourth jhāna, perceptions identifying sounds
would not have disappeared. Even though he/she would ordinarily not pay
attention to those perceptions, he or she could, for a brief moment, note a
perception identifying a sound and then drop it, returning to the object of
his/her concentration, and—as long as this is done mindfully and with
equanimity—this would still count as being in the fourth jhāna.
Thus there seems good reason to take AN 9:37 and the standard formula for
the dimension of the infinitude of space as authoritative in showing that it is not
necessary for the physical senses to fall silent in any of the four jhānas.
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A.3: Further support for this reading of AN 9:37 comes from a passage in MN
43 in which Ven. Sāriputta lists the attainments that can be known with a
purified intellect-consciousness—the consciousness of mental phenomena—
divorced from the five physical sense faculties: i.e., the eye, ear, nose, tongue,
and body. His list consists of the first three formless attainments, and makes no
mention of the four jhānas.
[Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita:] “Friend, what can be known with the purified intellect-
consciousness divorced from the five (sense) faculties?”
[Ven. Sāriputta:] “Friend, with the purified intellect-consciousness divorced
from the five faculties, the dimension of the infinitude of space can be known (as)
‘infinite space,’ the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness can be known
(as) ‘infinite consciousness,’ the dimension of nothingness can be known (as)
‘There is nothing.’
[Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita:] “With what does one know a quality that can be
known?”
[Ven. Sāriputta:] “One knows a quality that can be known with the eye of
discernment.”
[Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita:] “And what is the purpose of discernment?”
[Ven. Sāriputta:] “The purpose of discernment is direct knowledge, its
purpose is full comprehension, its purpose is abandoning.”
— MN 43
In other words, the only concentration attainments that can be known by a
purified intellect-consciousness divorced from the five physical sense faculties
are the first three formless attainments. The passage from MN 111 quoted above
helps to explain why the remaining two formless attainments are not listed here:
They cannot be known through the eye of discernment while one is in those
attainments. A meditator can analyze them with discernment only after he/she
has left the attainment.
The same point would also apply to the fourth attainment in Ven. Ānanda’s
list, the fruit of gnosis.
Thus to be included in Ven. Sāriputta’s list in MN 43, an attainment has to
meet three criteria: (a) One can analyze it with discernment while one is in that
attainment, and one’s consciousness is (b) purified and (c) divorced from the five
physical sense faculties.
Ven. Sāriputta does not explain what he means by “purified” here.
Ostensibly, it could mean any of three things: purified of defilement, as in the
Buddha’s standard description of his own mastery of the fourth jhāna (see, for
example, MN 4); having purity of equanimity and mindfulness (as in the
standard description of the fourth jhāna); or, alternatively, it could simply be
another way of saying “purely divorced from the five physical senses,” in which
case the second criterion above (b) would be identical with the third (c).
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Now, of the three criteria, MN 111 shows that all four jhānas meet the first
criterion, because a meditator can analyze them with discernment while
dwelling in them, and the fourth jhāna meets the first two possible meanings of
the second. The fact that the fourth jhāna is not listed in MN 43 means that it
does not meet the third criterion (or, what amounts to the same thing, the third
possible meaning of the second). In other words, one’s consciousness while in the
fourth jhāna is not divorced from the five physical senses. If those senses do not
fall silent in the fourth jhāna, the same could be said of the lower three jhānas as
well.
In this way, all three passages—AN 9:37, MN 43, and the standard
description of the dimension of the infinitude of space—clearly show that there is
no need for the physical senses to fall silent while in the four jhānas. This means
further that, to gain awakening, there is no need to attain a stage of concentration
that blocks out all awareness of those senses. Awakening can occur when based
on any of the four jhānas even when a background awareness of the physical
senses is present.
BUDDHAGHOSA’S INTERPRETATIONS
Buddhaghosa, however, argues that none of these three passages should be
taken at face value in proving that a meditator can sense external sensory input
in the jhānas, and instead should be interpreted to allow for the opposite: that the
external senses actually fall silent in the first jhāna. But when we examine his
arguments—and those of his modern supporters—to prove his interpretations of
these passages, we find that they leave much to be desired.
Because his most substantial argument focuses on passage A.2, we will begin
with his discussion of that passage first.
A.2: In
Visuddhimagga X.17, he argues that the phrase, “with the
disappearance of perceptions of resistance, and not attending to perceptions of
multiplicity,” should not be read as indicating a step that occurs only with the
entry into the dimension of the infinitude of space. Instead, it should be read as
describing a step that had already occurred earlier in the ascending stages of
concentration.
He bases his argument on two analogies. The first is that, in the formula for
the fourth jhāna, the phrase, “with the abandoning of pleasure and pain” is
actually describing a step that occurred earlier in the stages of concentration, and
not just with the fourth jhāna.
There is, however, no basis for his drawing this analogy here. The third jhāna,
even though it is marked by equanimity, is also marked by “pleasure sensed
13
with the body.” This pleasure is abandoned only with the entry into the fourth
jhāna.
Furthermore, MN 44 shows why pain is not really abandoned until pleasure
is also abandoned:
[Visākha:] “In what way is pleasant feeling pleasant, lady, and in what way
painful?”
[Sister Dhammadinnā:] “Pleasant feeling is pleasant in remaining, and
painful in changing, friend Visākha. Painful feeling is painful in remaining and
pleasant in changing. Neither-pleasant-nor-painful feeling is pleasant in
occurring together with knowledge, and painful in occurring without
knowledge.”
In other words, even pleasant feeling contains pain in the fact that it changes.
Thus the meditator, when going through the stages of jhāna, does not abandon
either pleasure or pain until entering the fourth jhāna. The phrase describing this
step is not referring to anything that happened earlier in the stages of
concentration. For this reason, Buddhaghosa’s first argument by analogy does
not hold.
His second argument by analogy is that the description of the third noble
path—the path to non-return—mentions the abandoning of fetters, such as self-
identity view, that were already abandoned as a result of the earlier noble paths,
and so the description of the entry into the dimension of the infinitude of space
should be read the same way, as mentioning something that had already
happened earlier.
This argument, too, does not hold. In the descriptions of the noble paths, the
fetters abandoned with each path are explicitly mentioned in the description of
that path, with the ascending descriptions being cumulative: A person who has
attained the first path has abandoned
x; a person attaining the third has
abandoned
x and
y; and so forth. For there to be an analogy here, then if the disappearance of perceptions of resistance and lack of attention to perceptions of
multiplicity were a feature of the first jhāna, they would have to be mentioned in
the description of the first jhāna. But they aren’t. This is why Buddhaghosa’s
second argument by analogy also does not hold.
A.1: As for AN 9:37—in which Ven. Ānanda lists the attainments where one
is percipient without being percipient of the five external senses and their
objects—Buddhaghosa’s commentary to that sutta explains the absence of the
four jhānas in Ven. Ānanda’s list as follows: The object of the four jhānas—the
internal mental image on which they are focused—counts as a “form” and so, to
avoid confusion with the forms that are the objects of the eye, Ven. Ānanda chose
to exclude those jhānas from his list. This explanation, however, ignores the fact
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that Ven. Ānanda explicitly assigns “those forms” to the eye—as he assigns
“those sounds” to the ear, etc.—so if he had meant to include the four jhānas in
his list, he could have done so without causing confusion. His listeners would
have known clearly that “those forms” referred to forms seen by the eye, and not
to internal forms seen by the mind.
Thus Buddhaghosa’s argument here, too, is unconvincing. It’s more likely
that Ven. Ānanda excluded the four jhānas from his list because the meditator
can still be sensitive to the five external senses when in those jhānas.
Still, modern proponents of the position that the external senses fall silent in
the first jhāna have proposed another reason for not taking AN 9:37 at face value
in this way. Their proposal is that Ven. Ānanda originally included the four
jhānas in his list, but—through a faulty transmission of the text—those jhānas
disappeared between his time and ours.
The argument in support of this proposal focuses on the form of the sutta:
Because the sutta is found in the Nines section of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, and
because it’s part of a chapter in which all the other suttas list all nine
concentration attainments, it should list them all as well, replacing the cessation
of perception and feeling with the concentration that is the fruit of arahantship.
This argument, however, misses two important points. The first is that AN
9:37, following the general pattern in the Nines, contains nine items already: the
five physical senses, the first three formless attainments, and the concentration
that is the fruit of arahantship. Five plus three plus one equals nine. Thus the
sutta already qualifies for the Nines.
The second point is that not all the formless attainments qualify for inclusion
in this sutta. Ven. Ānanda here is talking about states in which the meditator is
percipient. As AN 9:36 points out, the dimension of neither perception nor non-
perception and the cessation of perception and feeling do
not count as percipient states, so they can’t be included in Ven. Ānanda’s list. Thus only the first three
formless attainments qualify for inclusion. To include the four jhānas along with
them and the concentration that is the fruit of arahantship—four plus three plus
one—would give a total of eight, which would actually disqualify the sutta from
inclusion in the Nines.
For these reasons, the modern argument from form is unconvincing—which
means that the face-value interpretation of AN 9:37 still stands: A meditator can
still be sensitive to the five external senses when in the four jhānas.
A.3: As for MN 43—in which Ven. Sāriputta lists what can be known by the
purified intellect-consciousness divorced from the five faculties—Buddhaghosa,
in his commentary to that sutta, maintains that the phrase, “purified intellect-
consciousness divorced from the five faculties,” is a reference to the fourth jhāna.
15
This presents him with a problem, though, in that the consciousness of the fourth
jhāna does not directly know the three formless attainments given in Ven.
Sāriputta’s list. One would have to be
in those attainments for one’s
consciousness to directly know them. To get around this problem, Buddhaghosa
maintains that “can be known by” can also mean, “can be known as a result
of”—in other words, a meditator can attain the three formless attainments as a
result of attaining the consciousness of the fourth jhāna.
This is not an idiomatic reading of the passage, but grammatically it is a
legitimate interpretation of the instrumental case, the case in which the word
“consciousness” appears in the sutta, and it allows Buddhaghosa to maintain
that consciousness is divorced from the physical senses in the fourth jhāna.
Because, as noted above, the suttas do not describe the jhānas below the fourth as
“purified,” Buddhaghosa apparently felt no need to mention the lower jhānas in
this context.
However, his interpretation presents him with a further question: If “can be
known,” means, “can be experienced as a result of the fourth jhāna,” why is the
dimension of neither perception nor non-perception not listed as well? To
answer this question, Buddhaghosa quotes part of the above passage from MN
111 to add a further stipulation to the meaning of “known,” saying that the
dimension of neither perception nor non-perception is not listed because no one
except the Buddha—not even Ven. Sāriputta—can resolve it distinctly into its
individual phenomena. In other words, “can be known” must also mean, “can be
analyzed into its individual phenomena.” This would fit with the statement in
MN 43 that “can be known,” means, “can be known with the eye of
discernment.”
The question that Buddhaghosa fails to address, however, is this: Why
doesn’t Ven. Sāriputta include the fourth jhāna in his list? After all, it meets both
of Buddhaghosa’s stipulations for “can be known”: As MN 111 shows, the fourth
jhāna can be known as a result of attaining the fourth jhāna, and it can be
analyzed into its individual phenomena. If it met Buddhaghosa’s underlying
assumption—that consciousness in the fourth jhāna is divorced from the five
physical senses—then it would have to be included in the list as well. But it’s not.
This leaves a gaping hole in Buddhaghosa’s interpretation—an inconsistency
that undermines the interpretation as a whole.
The most consistent interpretation of Ven. Sāriputta’s list in MN 43 is the one
stated above: To be included in the list, a concentration attainment needs to meet
three criteria: A meditator can analyze it with discernment while in that
attainment, his/her consciousness is purified, and that consciousness is divorced
from the five physical sense faculties. Because the fourth jhāna meets the first
two criteria, the fact that it is not listed in MN 43 is a sign that it does not meet
16
the third. In other words, one’s consciousness while in that attainment—or in the
lower jhānas—is not divorced from the five physical senses.
This means that, despite the various arguments proposed for interpreting
AN 9:37, MN 43, and the standard description of the infinitude of space to
support the opposite position, all three passages in fact offer clear proof that—
from the perspective of the suttas—the physical senses do not need to fall silent
in any of the four jhānas. Right concentration can still be right even when a
background sensitivity to the physical senses is present.
MORE ARGUMENTS FOR SILENCE IN THE FIRST JHĀNA
However, proponents of the position that concentration counts as jhāna
only when the physical senses fall silent do not focus only on sutta passages
whose face value has to be denied in order to maintain their position. They also
cite three passages that, they claim, give positive proof that the suttas openly
support them. Buddhaghosa cites one of these passages—AN 10:72—but without
explaining why it proves that the senses must fall silent in the first jhāna; modern
supporters of his position provide an argument to bolster his citation, and add
the other two citations to strengthen their case.
A close examination of these citations, though, shows that none of them
actually support the position they are supposed to prove. To see why, we have to
look carefully at what each of the three passages has to say. The following
discussion treats them one by one, first quoting the passage, then stating the
modern argument for “soundproof jhāna” based on it, and finally showing how
the passage does not support the argument as claimed.
B.1: “Quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities, one enters and remains in the first jhāna.” — DN 2
This passage at the beginning of the standard formula for the first jhāna states
the prerequisite events for entering that jhāna. The argument based on it is this:
“Sensuality” here means the objects of the five senses. Thus a meditator can enter
the first jhāna only when input from the five senses falls away.
The problem with this argument is that the suttas
never define “sensuality” as the objects of the five senses. Instead, they define sensuality as a passion for
sensual resolves—the plans and intentions the mind formulates for sensual
pleasures:
“There are these five strings of sensuality. Which five? Forms cognizable via
the eye—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing;
sounds cognizable via the ear… aromas cognizable via the nose… flavors
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cognizable via the tongue… tactile sensations cognizable via the body—
agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing. But these are
not sensuality. They are called strings of sensuality in the discipline of the noble
ones.”
The passion for his resolves is a man’s sensuality,
not the beautiful sensual pleasures
found in the world.
The passion for his resolves is a man’s sensuality.
The beauties remain as they are in the world,
while, in this regard,
the enlightened
subdue their desire.
— AN 6:63
In light of this definition, “secluded from sensuality” simply means that one
has subdued one’s passion for sensual resolves. One has not necessarily escaped
the input from the senses. And one has not abandoned all resolves. As MN 73
points out, unskillful resolves are abandoned in the first jhāna. Because the first
jhāna contains directed thought and evaluation, resolved on the single task of
solidifying one’s focus on a single object, skillful resolves are actually a necessary part of the first jhāna. The singleness of the task taken on by directed thought
and evaluation is what qualifies the first jhāna as a state of singleness. Only with
the attainment of the second jhāna are skillful resolves abandoned as well,
leading to singleness on a higher level.
However, it has been further argued that “sensuality” in the standard
formula for the first jhāna has a special meaning—i.e., the objects of the five
senses—different from the definition given in AN 6:63—or anywhere else in the
suttas.
This argument, however, doesn’t accord with what we know of the Buddha’s
teaching strategy. As he said in DN 16, he didn’t keep a secret teaching that he
revealed only to a few people. And because he repeated the formula for the
jhānas so many times, it’s unlikely that he would have forgotten to explain any
special technical meanings for the terms the formula contains. Assuming that he
would have wanted his instructions to be useful and clear, we have to conclude
that he would have been careful to explain what he meant by his terms—which
indicates that “sensuality” in the jhāna formula has the same meaning as in AN
03:00.00
So the phrase “secluded from sensuality” in the description of the first jhāna
means nothing more than that meditators entering and remaining in the first
jhāna have to abandon sensual resolves. Although—in focusing their minds on
their meditation theme—they shouldn’t focus attention on input from the
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external senses, the standard formula doesn’t require them to block that input
entirely from their awareness.
B.2: “There is the case where a monk… enters and remains in the first jhāna: rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. This is called a monk who, coming to the end of the cosmos, remains at the end of the cosmos.…
There is the case where a monk… enters and remains in the second jhāna… the third
jhāna… the fourth jhāna… the dimension of the infinitude of space… the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness… the dimension of nothingness… the dimension of
neither perception nor non-perception. This is called a monk who, coming to the end of the cosmos, remains at the end of the cosmos.” — AN 9:38
The argument based on this passage states that “cosmos”
(loka) here means
the objects of the five senses. Thus a meditator who has entered the first jhāna—
and all the remaining attainments—must have gone beyond the range of those
senses.
This argument, however, ignores the definition for “cosmos” given in the
same sutta:
“These five strings of sensuality are, in the discipline of the noble ones, called
the cosmos. Which five? Forms cognizable via the eye—agreeable, pleasing,
charming, endearing, fostering desire, enticing; sounds cognizable via the ear…
aromas cognizable via the nose… flavors cognizable via the tongue… tactile
sensations cognizable via the body—agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing,
fostering desire, enticing. These are the five strings of sensuality that, in the
discipline of the noble ones, are called the cosmos.”
— AN 9:38
In other words, the word “cosmos” in AN 9:38 means the pleasant and
enticing objects of the senses. If the Buddha had wanted to state that all input
from the physical senses is blotted out in all of the jhānas and formless
attainments, he would have defined “cosmos” in this context as all objects of the
physical senses. But he didn’t. He limited it to
enticing sensory objects. And as AN 6:63 states, when one has subdued sensual desire, the beautiful objects
remain as they were. They are not blocked from awareness. They simply lose
their power.
This means that AN 9:38 is not saying that input from the senses is totally
blocked in the first jhāna. Instead, it’s simply elaborating on one of the
implications of the phrase “secluded from sensuality”: When one is secluded
from one’s passion for sensual resolves, one has gone—at least temporarily—
beyond the power of enticing objects of the senses to foster desire.
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B.3: “For the first jhāna, noise is a thorn.
“For the second jhāna, directed thoughts and evaluations are thorns.
“For the third jhāna, rapture is a thorn.
“For the fourth jhāna, in-and-out breaths are thorns.” — AN 10:72
This is the one sutta citation that Buddhaghosa provides in the
Visuddhimagga
(X.17) to prove that the external senses must fall silent in the first jhāna. As noted above, though, he doesn’t substantiate his case.
To fill in this blank, modern arguments in support of Buddhaghosa’s
interpretation of these passages center on the meaning of the word “thorn” here,
saying that it means something whose presence destroys what it pierces. Thus, to
say that noise is a thorn for the first jhāna means that if one hears a noise while in that jhāna, the jhāna has been brought to an end. This interpretation is
supported, the argument continues, by the pattern followed with regard to the
remaining jhānas: The presence of directed thought and evaluation automatically
ends the second jhāna; the presence of rapture ends the third; in-and-out
breathing, the fourth.
However, there are altogether ten items in this sutta’s list of “thorns,” and in
some of them the “thorn” obviously does
not destroy what it pierces. For
example:
“For one guarding the sense doors, shows are a thorn.
“For one practicing celibacy, nearness to women is a thorn.”
If “thorn” were to mean something that cannot be present without destroying
what it pierces, then nearness to women would automatically destroy a man’s
celibacy, or a show would destroy one’s guarding of the senses, which isn’t true
in either case.
An interpretation of “thorn” that consistently fits all ten items in the list,
however, would be that “thorn” means something that creates difficulties for
what it touches. Thus to say that directed thought and evaluation is a thorn for
the second jhāna means that these mental activities make it difficult to enter or
remain in the second jhāna; to say that noise is a thorn for the first jhāna simply
means that noise makes it difficult to enter or remain there.
This interpretation is supported by the background story in AN 10:72, the
sutta where these thorns are listed. It begins by telling how a group of elder
monks in a monastery frequented by noisy laypeople leave for a quieter
monastery with the thought, “The jhānas are said by the Blessed One to be
thorned by noise. What if we were to go to the Gosiṅga Sāla forest park? There
we would live comfortably, with next-to-no noise, next-to-no crowding.” When
the Buddha learns of what they have done, he praises them. Had he wanted to
make the point that noise cannot be heard in the first jhāna, he would have
20
criticized them for going to the trouble of leaving the first monastery, and
recommended that if they wanted to escape the disturbance of noise, they should
have entered the first jhāna and dwelled comfortably there instead. But he
didn’t.
So this sutta proves nothing more than that noise makes it difficult to enter or
maintain the first jhāna. It doesn’t prove that noises cannot be heard while in the
jhāna.
From the discussion of these three citations—DN 2, AN 9:38, and AN 10:72—
we can conclude that none of them provide convincing proof that the physical
senses have to fall silent in the first jhāna—or any of the four jhānas. This means
that the conclusions drawn from AN 9:37, MN 43, and the standard formula for
the dimension of the infinitude of space still stand: The physical senses may fall
silent in the formless attainments, but there is no need for them to fall silent in
the four jhānas. And because awakening can be based on any of the four jhānas,
this means further that a meditator can attain awakening without entering into a
concentration attainment where the senses are blocked from his/her awareness.
PURITY OF CONCENTRATION
This still leaves open, however, another question: Is it
necessary for the
external senses to fall silent in the formless attainments, or is it simply
possible for them to fall silent in those attainments? In other words, when focusing on a
formless perception, if one pays no heed to perceptions of multiplicity and yet
they keep occurring in such a way that sensory input is not blocked out, would
that still count as a formless attainment?
Causality as described in dependent co-arising leaves this open as a
theoretical possibility, because causal influences within the mind can act not only
immediately—as when inattention to perceptions of multiplicity right now could
block an awareness of the external senses right now—but also over time, as when
attention to perceptions in the past might allow for an awareness of the external
senses right now. In other words, if a meditator pays attention to perceptions of
sound consistently before entering concentration, that act of attention could
theoretically allow those perceptions to persist during the subsequent period of
concentration when he/she was no longer giving them any attention at all.
However, the suttas do not say whether this theoretical possibility actually
applies in practice. In fact, the only narrative account that addresses the issue is
found in the Vinaya—the division of the Canon dealing with monastic rules.
Because it is so short, and because its primary concern is with disciplinary issues,
21
it does not address the Dhamma side of the issue in any conclusive detail. But it
does raise some important points. The story is this:
Then Ven. Mahā Moggallāna addressed the monks: “Just now, friends,
having attained the imperturbable concentration on the bank of the Sappinikā
River, I heard the sound of elephants plunging in, crossing over, and making a
trumpeting call.”
The monks were offended and annoyed and spread it about, “Now, how can
Ven. Moggallāna say, ‘Just now, friends, having attained the imperturbable
concentration on the bank of the Sappinikā River, I heard the sound of elephants
plunging in, crossing over, and making a trumpeting call.’ He’s claiming a
superior-human state.” They reported this matter to the Blessed One, (who said,)
“There is that concentration, monks, but it is not purified. Moggallāna spoke
truly, monks. There is no offense for him.”
— Pr 4
This passage appears as part of the explanation of the fourth rule in the
monks’ Pāṭimokkha, or monastic code, a rule covering false claims of meditative
attainments. Its main concern is with whether Ven. Moggallāna violated this rule
in making his statement about hearing the elephants.
There is, however, a technical Dhamma term at stake here: “imperturbable
concentration
(āneñja-samādhi).” MN 66 states that the first three jhānas are perturbable—subject to movement—whereas the fourth jhāna isn’t. The first
jhāna is perturbable in that it includes directed thought and evaluation; the
second, in that it includes rapture-pleasure; the third, in that it includes
equanimity-pleasure. MN 66 does not describe exactly what qualities in the
fourth jhāna make it imperturbable—aside from the fact that it lacks the
preceding factors—but AN 9:34 and AN 9:41 provide a suggestion. They note
that although the fourth jhāna is marked by purity of equanimity, it does not
focus on
perceptions dealing with equanimity. This means that even though
phenomena apart from the object of concentration may be present, the mind
neither focuses on them nor is it disturbed by thoughts or feeling tones around
those perceptions.
But the fourth jhāna is not the only stage of concentration that counts as
imperturbable. MN 106, without following the standard descriptions of the
concentration attainments, cites an imperturbable concentration based on
perceptions of forms—this is apparently the fourth jhāna—and one that is based
on abandoning perceptions of forms. Because it goes on to say that the
dimension of nothingness lies beyond the imperturbable, “imperturbable” would
apply to two formless attainments: the dimension of the infinitude of space and
the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. Thus there are three levels of
imperturbable concentration in all.
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Unfortunately, the account in Pr 4 does not indicate which of these three
stages of concentration Ven. Moggallāna was in, so we cannot say for sure
whether this account applies to any of the formless attainments. Nor does it
explain what the Buddha meant by “not purified.” Given the different ways
“purified” is used in the suttas, it could mean many things. As we noted above,
“purified”—with reference to the fourth jhāna—is used in two senses: In the
standard formula for the concentration attainments, “purified” refers to purity of
mindfulness and equanimity. In the Buddha’s description of his own mastery of
the fourth jhāna, “purified” appears in a list that suggests freedom from
defilement: “When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright,
unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, and attained to
imperturbability.…”
With reference to the formless attainments, MN 43 uses the word “purified”
in what may be another sense, indicating a consciousness divorced from the five
sense faculties. This would seem to be the meaning of the word most relevant in
the context of Ven. Moggallāna’s story. After all, simply hearing the sound of
elephants is not a defilement (see SN 35:191(232)), and if the purity of equanimity
and mindfulness in the fourth jhāna can be used to hear divine sounds (see MN
4), it can surely also be used to hear the sound of trumpeting elephants.
However, given the uncertainty surrounding this story, there is no firm proof
that this is what “purified” means here.
The Commentary to this story, in discussing the term “not purified,” assumes
that Ven. Moggallāna had left the factors of jhāna entirely when he heard the
sound of the elephants. The Sub-commentary seems closer to the mark in
assuming that he had reverted briefly to factors of a lower jhāna, such as directed
thought and evaluation. If Moggallāna had entirely left the jhānas when hearing
the elephants, the Buddha would not have said that he had spoken truly about
which stage of concentration he was in, and instead would have said that
Moggallāna spoke out of a misunderstanding. That would have been enough to
exonerate Moggallāna from an offense under the rule.
But because the Buddha said that Ven. Moggallāna spoke truly, we have to
assume that Moggallāna was in a state of imperturbable concentration, even
though the attainment of that concentration was not pure. This means that we
have to further assume that the Canon allows for a certain amount of leeway in
classifying what counts as a particular stage of right concentration. The fourth
jhāna, for example, can vary somewhat in the extent to which it is purified of the
factors of a lower jhāna—at least momentarily—and yet still qualify as being the
fourth jhāna. The dimension of the infinitude of space might vary in the extent to
which consciousness is purified of any connection to the five physical senses.
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This point helps to explain an apparent anomaly in the way the suttas
describe the attainment of the different stages of right concentration. As noted
above, there are some cases in which they say simply that the meditator enters
and remains in a particular stage. In others, they say that the meditator, while
remaining in that stage, analyzes the stage in terms of the fabrications of which it
is composed, gains a sense of dispassion for those fabrications, and as a result
gains release.
As AN 9:36 shows, the process of analysis involves some fairly extensive use
of perceptions, along with directed thought and evaluation, even while the
meditator is in the state being analyzed. This would not be an anomaly in the
case of the first jhāna, which includes directed thought and evaluation as one of
its defining qualities. But the suttas state explicitly that this can also happen in
the second jhāna—which is defined as resulting from the abandoning of directed
thought and evaluation—and on up through the even more refined levels,
including the dimension of nothingness. According to MN 111, the only
attainments in which the meditator
must mindfully leave the attainment before
analyzing it are the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception and the
cessation of perception and feeling.
If there were no leeway in the descriptions of the various concentration
attainments, this sort of analysis would be impossible in any of the attainments
beyond the first jhāna. However, given the Buddha’s comment in the story of
Ven. Moggallāna, indicating that the concentration attainments can vary
somewhat in their level of purity and still count as right concentration, this sort
of analysis is possible. And, in fact, the ability to step back from one’s
concentration while fabricating it is a useful skill, because it is one of the ways in which a meditator can achieve awakening.
This skill is what Ven. Sāriputta, in MN 43, calls “the eye of discernment.”
AN 5:28 picks up the theme of vision to describe this skill with an analogy:
“And further, the monk [having mastered the four jhānas] has his theme of
reflection well in hand, well attended to, well-pondered, well-tuned [well-
penetrated] by means of discernment.
“Just as if one person were to reflect on another, or a standing person were to
reflect on a sitting person, or a sitting person were to reflect on a person lying
down; even so, monks, the monk has his theme of reflection well in hand, well
attended to, well-pondered, well-tuned [well-penetrated] by means of
discernment. This is the fifth development of the five-factored noble right
concentration.”
— AN 5:28
In other words, the meditator can step back or step above the attainment,
without destroying it, and penetrate it by means of the eye of discernment to the
point of awakening. To use a more modern analogy, a meditator developing
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concentration for the sake of a pleasant abiding is like a hand fully snug in a
glove; one developing concentration for the sake of the ending of the effluents is
like a hand pulled slightly out of the glove but not so far that it leaves the glove.
As the Buddha learned on the night of his awakening, the ability to analyze one’s
jhāna requires an even higher level of skill than the simple ability to enter and
remain in the jhāna, for the latter skill, on its own, cannot bring about awakening
(see AN 4:123), whereas the former skill can.
THE RIGHT USE OF CONCENTRATION
Thus, even though Ven. Mahā Moggallāna’s story gives no hard evidence
one way or the other as to whether a meditator in the formless attainments could
hear sounds, it does clear up an important issue surrounding the practice of right
concentration for the purpose of full release. An attainment of concentration does
not have to be fully pure in order to qualify as right—and, in fact, if one knows
how to use the impurity of one’s attainment, it can actually be an aid to
awakening.
And there’s no need for right concentration to block out sounds. After all, one
can gain awakening from any of the four jhānas. AN 9:37 and MN 43—in not
listing those jhānas as among those where one is insensitive to or divorced from
the physical senses—stand as proof that they don’t automatically block out
sensory input.
The important point about concentration is how one
uses it. As the Buddha
says in MN 152, if the consummate development of one’s faculties simply
consisted in the ability not to see sights or hear sounds, then blind and deaf
people would count as consummate in their faculties. Consummation in this area
actually consists of the discernment that allows one to be uninfluenced by
sensory input even as one is fully aware of that input.
Āḷāra Kālāma had strong concentration—strong enough to block the sound of
500 carts passing by—but he took it no further. He treated it as an end rather
than a means because he lacked insight into how to contemplate it with the eye
of discernment to reach awakening. The same point applies to the inhabitants of
the dimension of non-percipient beings. As for Ven. Mahā Moggallāna: Even
though his concentration may not have been as pure as theirs—at least on the
day he sat by the river—he was still able to use it as a means for going beyond all
fabrication, and in that way reach total release.
In the final analysis, that’s what counts.
DA 10 thorn of sound ceases in first jhana allegedly
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(trans. Sylvester) |
云何九證法？謂九盡： 若入初禪，則聲 刺 滅。 |
What are the the 9 states to be attained? That is to say the 9 Cessations. When one enters the First Dhyana, the thorn of sounds ceases. |
Thanks for that interesting passage Sylvester. I asked Dr. Chu, an Agama expert for his take:
This obviously is inconsistent with what other suttas say. Other suttas state that sound is a thorn in first jhana, and this one states that the thorn of sounds ceases–a direct contradiction.
There are many typos and mistranslations in the Taisho. I would chalk it up to such abnormality. Or, I would read “thorn of sounds ceases” in some peculiar way: e.g. seclusion can mean being away from crowds and their boisterousness, and being born of seclusion, first jhana is an escape from them.
Frank: From what I remember the agama for parallel to AN 10.72 (sounds are a thorn sutta) match pretty closely, so the DA passage would contradict that. That DA passage seems to be a single anomaly, Sylvester knew of no other agama passages corroborate.