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Jhāna, Cattāri jhānāni

References:

[DN 33]
Sangiti Suttanta in Pāḷi
PTS: Dialogs of the Buddha III, #33: The Recital, T.W. and C.A.F. Rhys Davids, trans., pp201
WP: The Long Discourses of the Buddha, #33: The Chanting Together, M. Walshe, trans., pp479
[SN 3.34]
PTS: The Book of the Kindred Sayings, III: The Khandha Book: Kindred Sayings on Jhana, Woodward, trans.
WP: The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, I, iii: The Book of the Aggregates, #34: Connected Discourses on Meditation, pp 1034, Bodhi trans.
[AN 5.28]
Anguttara Nikaya V.28: Samadhanga Sutta: The Factors of Concentration, Thanissaro Bhikkhu
Puremind: Awakening Meditation, Madawela Punnaji, 8-35
[MN 4]
PTS: Middle Length Sayings I#4, Horner, pp27
WP: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, 4: Fear and Dread, Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi, pp104

Pāḷi MO Hare Horner Punnaji Bodhi Nanamoli Rhys Davids (Mrs)Rhys Davids Thanissaro Walshe Woodward
jhāna Ken or Kenning: 'Knowing' (in quotes to distinguish it from ordinary knowing in the same way that 'seeing' in quotes differentiates the ability of the seer to understand by way of the eye as opposed to the ordinary man's ability to look at and perceive), Knowing, Burning, Shining musing concentration, meditation ecstasy, jhana jhana jhana jhana jhana jhana, mental absorption; a state of strong concentration focused on a single sensation or mental notion jhana jhana

 

Pāḷi Text Society
Pāḷi English Dictionary
Edited by T. W. Rhys Davids and William Stede
[EDITED ENTRY]

 

Jhāna: (nt.) [from jhāyati,1 BSk. dhyāna. The (popular etym-) expln of jhāna is given by Bdhgh at Vism 150 as follows: "ārammaṇ' ūpanijjhānato paccanīka-jhāpanato vā jhanaṅ," i.e. called jh. from meditation on objects & from burning up anything adverse] literally meditation. But it never means vaguely meditation. It is the technical term for a special religious experience, reached in a certain order of mental states. It was originally divided into four such states. These may be summarized: 1. The mystic, with his mind free from sensuous and worldly ideas, concentrates his thoughts on some special subject (for instance, the impermanence of all things). This he thinks out by attention to the facts, and by reasoning. 2. Then uplifted above attention & reasoning, he experiences joy & ease both of body and mind. 3. Then the bliss passes away, & he becomes suffused with a sense of ease, and 4. he becomes aware of pure lucidity of mind & equanimity of heart. The whole really forms one series of mental states, & the stages might have been fixed at other points in the series. So the Dhamma-saṅgani makes a second list of five stages, by calling, in the second jhāna, the fading away of observation one stage, & the giving up of sustained thinking another stage (Dhs 167-175). And the Vibhaṅga calls the first jhāna the pañcaṅgika-jhāna because it, by itself, can be divided into five parts (Vbh 267). The state of mind left after the experience of the four jhānas is described as follows at D I.76: "with his heart thus serene, made pure, translucent, cultured, void of evil, supple, ready to act, firm and imperturbable." It will be seen that there is no suggestion of trance, but rather of an enhanced vitality. In the descriptions of the crises in the religious experiences of Christian saints and mystics, expressions similar to those used in the jhānas are frequent... Laymen could pass through the four jhanas (S IV.301). The jhānas are only a means, not the end. To imagine that experiencing them was equivalent to Arahantship (and was therefore the end aimed at) is condemned (D I.37 ff.) as a deadly heresy. In late Pāḷi we find the phrase arāpajjhānā. This is merely a new name for the last four of the eight Vimokkhā, which culminate in trance. It was because they made this the aim of their teaching that Gotama rejected the doctrines of his two teachers. Ā'āra-Kā'āma & Uddaka-Rāmaputta (M I.164 f.). -- The jhānas are discussed in extenso & in various combinations as regards theory & practice at: D I.34 sq.; 73 sq.; S II. 210 sq.; IV.217 sq., 263 sq.; V.213 sq.; M I.276 sq., 350 sq., 454 sq.; A I.53, 163; II.126; III.394 sq.; IV.409 sq.; V.157 sq.; Vin III.4...

 || ||

The Pāḷi:|| ||

Cattāri jhānāni:|| ||

Idhāvuso bhikkhu:|| ||

Vivicc'eva kāmehi||
vivicca akusalehi dhammehi||
savitakkaṃ||
savicāraṃ||
vivekajaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ||
paṭhamajjhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.|| ||

Vitakka vicārānaṃ vūpasamā||
ajjhattaṃ sampasādanaṃ||
cetaso ekodibhāvaṃ||
avitakkaṃ avicāraṃ||
samādhijaṃ||
pīti-sukhaṃ||
dutiyajjhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.|| ||

Pītiyā ca virāgā||
upekkhako ca viharati||
sato ca sampajāno||
sukhaṃ ca kāyena paṭisaṃvedeti,||
yan taṃ ariyā ācikkhanti||
'upekkhako satimā sukhavihārī'ti taṃ||
tatiyajjhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.|| ||

Sukhassa ca pahāṇā||
dukkhassa ca pahāṇā||
pubb'eva somanassa-domanassānaṃ atthaṅgamā||
adukkha-m-asukhaṃ||
upekkhā-sati-pārisuddhiṃ||
catutthajjhānaṃ4 upasampajja viharati.

Walshe:

Here a monk, detached from all sense-desires, detached from unwholesome mental states, enters and remains in the first jhana, which is with thinking and pondering, born of detachment, filled with delight and joy.

And with the subsiding of thinking and pondering, by gaining inner tranquillity and oneness of mind, he enters and remains in the second jhana, which is without thinking and pondering, born of concentration, filled with delight and joy.

And with the fading away of delight, remaining imperturbable, mindful and clearly aware, he experiences inhimself that joy of which the Noble Ones say: "Happy is he who dwells with equanimity and mindfulness", he enters and remains in the third jhana.

And, having given up pleasure and pain, and with the disappearance of former gladness and sadness, he enters and remains in the fourth jhana which is beyond pleasure and pain, and purified by equanimity and mindfulness.

Rhys Davids:

Here a brother, aloof from sensuous appetites, aloof from evil ideas, enters into and abides in the First Jhana wherein there is initiative and sustained thought which is born of solitude and is full of zest and ease.

suppressing initiative and sustained thought, he enters into and abides in the Second Jhana, which is self-evoked, born of concentration, full of zest and ese, in that, set free from initial and sustained thought, the mind grows calm and sure, dwelling on high,

no longer fired with zest, abides calmly contemplative, while mindful and self-possessed he feels in his body that ease whereof Ariyans declare: He that is calmly contemplative and aware, he dwelleth at ease, so does he enter into and abide in the Third Jhana.

Fourthly, by putting aside ease and by putting aside malaise, by the passing away of the joy and the sorrow he used to feel, he enters into and abides in the Fourth Jhana, raputre of utter purity of mindfulness and equanimity, wherein neither ease is felt nor any ill.

Thanissaro Bhikkhu:

[First jhana]
"There is the case where a monk -- quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities -- enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal.

[Second jhana]
"Furthermore, with the stilling of directed thought and evaluation, he enters and remains in the second jhana: rapture and pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation -- internal assurance. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of composure. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture

[Third jhana]
"And furthermore, with the fading of rapture, he remains in equanimity, mindful and alert, and physically sensitive to pleasure. He enters and remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous and mindful, he has a pleasurable abiding.' He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the pleasure divested of rapture, so that there is nothing of his entire body unpervaded with pleasure divested of rapture.

[Fourth jhana]
"And furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure and stress -- as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress -- he enters and remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure-nor-pain. He sits, permeating the body with a pure, bright awareness, so that there is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by pure, bright awareness.

Bhante Punnaji(not a translation):

To begin with, you have the five hindrances.
When the hindrances disappear there are five things in the mind:
vitakka, vicāra, pīti, sukha, and ekaggatā.

Vitakka and vicāra constitute the formation of concepts. That is, vitakka and vicāra refer to conceptual thinking.

Pīti is mental happiness.

Sukkha is physical comfort.

Ekaggatā is stillness of mind.

Those are the five components of the first jhāna.

Now when you enter the second jhāna, the first two components disappear, and what remains is pīti, sukha and ekaggatā.

That means there is rapture, physical comfort and stillness of mind.

When you enter the third jhāna, pīti also disappears and you find only comfort and the mental stillness.

And then when you enter the fourth jhāna, sukha also disappears and what remains is only stillness of mind. It is not concentration and not one-pointedness. It is stillness of mind.

Horner:
(The Buddha is speaking):

"So I, brahman,
aloof from pleasures of the senses,
aloof from unskilled states of mind,
entered into the first meditation
which is accompanied by initial thought and discursive thought,
is born of aloofness,
and is rapturous and joyful.

By allaying initial and discursive thought,
with the mind subjectively tranquillised
and fixed on one point,
I entered into and abided in the second meditation
which is devoid of initial and discursive thought,
is born of concentration,
and is rapturous and joyful.

By the fading out of rapture,
I dwelt with equanimity,
attentive, and clearly conscious;
and I experienced in my person
that joy of which the ariyans say:
'Joyful lives he who has equanimity and is mindful,'
and I entered into and abided in the third meditation.

By getting rid of joy,
by getting rid of anguish,
by the going down of my former pleasures and sorrows,
I entered into and abided in the fourth meditation
which has neither anguish nor joy,
and which is entirely purified by equanimity and mindfulness.

Nanamoli/Bodhi:
(Same as above, The Buddha is speaking):

"Quite secluded from sensual pleasures,
secluded from unwholesome states,
I entered upon and abided in the first jhana,
which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought,
with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.

With the stilling of applied and sustained thought,
I entered upon and abided in the second jhana,
which has self-confidence and singleness of mind
without applied and sustained thought,
with rapture and pleasure born of concentration.

With the fading away as well of rapture,
I abided in equanimity,
and mindful and fully aware,
still feeling pleasure with the body,
I entered upon and abided in the third jhana,
on account of which noble ones announce:
'He has a pleasant abiding who has equanimity and is mindful.'

With the abandoning of pleasure and pain,
and with the previous disappearance of joy and grief,
I entered upon and abided in the fourth jhana,
which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure
and purity of mindfulness due to equanimity."

 


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