Saṃyutta Nikāya
II. Nidāna Vagga
21. Bhikkhu Saṃyutta
Sutta 1
Kolita [Moggallāna] Suttaṃ
Kolita
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
Provenance, terms and conditons
[1][rhyc][olds][bodh] I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery.
[2][rhyc][olds] There Ven. Mahā Moggallāna addressed the monks, "Friend monks!"
"Yes, friend," the monks responded to him.
[3][rhyc][olds] Ven. Mahā Moggallāna said, "Friends, once as I was withdrawn in seclusion, this train of thought arose to my awareness,
'"Noble silence, noble silence," it is said.
But what is noble silence?'
[4][rhyc][olds] Then the thought occurred to me,
'There is the case where a monk,
with the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations,[1]
enters and remains in the second jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of concentration,
unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation —
internal assurance.
This is called noble silence.'
[5][rhyc][olds] So, with the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations,
I entered and remained in the second jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of concentration,
unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation —
internal assurance.
While I remained in that [mental] dwelling,
I was assailed by perceptions and [acts of] attention connected with directed thought.[2]
[6][rhyc][olds] "Then the Blessed One, coming to me through his [psychic] power, said,
'Moggallāna. Moggallāna.
Brahman, don't be heedless of noble silence.
Establish your mind in noble silence.
Make your mind unified in noble silence.
Concentrate your mind in noble silence.'
[7][rhyc][olds] So at a later time, with the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations,
I entered and remained in the second jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of concentration,
unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation —
internal assurance.
"When one, speaking rightly,
would say of someone,
'A disciple attained to greatness of direct knowledge through the assistance of the Teacher,'
it's of me that one speaking rightly would say,
'A disciple attained to greatness of direct knowledge through the assistance of the Teacher.'"
[1] According to MN 44, directed thought and evaluation constitute verbal fabrication, which is why the second jhāna — the level of concentration in which these fabrications are stilled — is called noble silence.
[2] AN 9:34 states that, for a person in the second jhāna, any attention to perceptions dealing with directed thought are an affliction.
