Aṅguttara Nikāya
Navaka Nipāta
Pañcāla Vagga

The Book of Nines

Sutta 43

Kāya-Sakkhi Suttaṁ

Bodily Realization

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

 

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Translator's Introduction

This sutta should be read together with AN 9.44, 45. It should be noted that there is, in this description, no difference between the body-knower and the wisdom-freed in terms of bodily experiencing the jhānas. This would make the wisdom-freed always both-ways freed. In other places the body-seer is spoken of as one who has also achieved the three visions of the Arahant (past abodes, the outcome of deeds and knowledge of the eradication of the 'āsavas') and the wisdom-freed is, at least in one place spoken of as being without the first two of these visions. In still other places all three visions are said to be properties of the Arahant.

 

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[1][pts][than] I Hear Tell:

Once upon a time The Ancient Ānanda, Kosambī revisiting, Ghosita park.

There then the venerable Udāyin visited the Ancient Ānanda, and, after exchanging greetings, sat down at one side.

Seated at one side, then, the venerable Udāyin said this to the Ancient Ānanda:

"'Bodily realization, bodily realization'^[1] it is said, friend,
to what extent then, friend, does the Lucky Man speak of bodily realization?"

"Here, friend, in a bhikkhu
separating himself from sense pleasures,
separating himself from unskillful things,
with thought and with consideration,
with the appreciation^[2] of the pleasure of solitude,
there arises and abides the first knowledge.^[3]

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
resolving thought and consideration,
internally pacified,
whole-heartedly single-minded,
without thought,
without consideration,
with the appreciation of the pleasure of knowledge,
there arises and abides the second knowledge.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
living detached and indifferent to enthusiasms
recollected and self-aware,
experiencing that bodily ease
spoken of by the Aristocrat as:

'Detached, recollected, taking it easy.'

there arises and abides the third knowledge.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
letting go of pleasure,
letting go of pain,
antecedent mental ease and mental pain settling down,
without pain but without pleasure,
detached,
recollected,
all-around perfectly pure,
there arises and abides the fourth knowledge.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
raising himself entirely above form-perception,
settling down sensory reaction,
not bringing to mind perceptions of diversity,
thinking:

'Endless space'

there arises and abides the realm of space.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
raising himself entirely above the realm of space,
thinking:

'Endless consciousness'

there arises and abides the realm of consciousness.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
raising himself entirely above the realm of consciousness,
thinking:

'There is nothing real.'

there arises and abides the realm of unreality.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
rising himself entirely above the realm of unreality,
there arises and abides the realm of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent,
bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as
'encompassed.'

And again, deeper than that, friend, in a bhikkhu
rising himself entirely above the realm of neither-perception-nor-non-perception,
there arises and abides in the realm where sense-perception and sense-experience end and its range.

And whatsoever whatever is its sphere of influence,
suchis suchas he habitually contacts with body.

To just this extent bodily realization is spoken of by the Lucky Man as without compass."

To this extent, friend, does the Lucky Man speak of 'bodily realization'."

 

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^[1] Kāya-sakkhi. It is my understanding that what this term means is what Don Juan speaks of (when Carlos Casteneda translates his words) as 'the body knowing'. This is the phenomena we know of as bodily conditioning. The state of the body as having been conditioned to make certain responses to familiar situations without intervening thought. We shave virtually without thinking about the process. The body 'knows' the routine. After a period of training the stomach and digestive tract and the apparatus for evacuation of waste 'appreciate' the fact that we do not eat more than it is necessary to keep the body going. In the cases given in this sutta the phenomena is, of course, applied to a higher sphere of knowing, but the mechanism is the same. The body has a sense, in solitude, of the lessening of the stresses placed on it. But there is still that which remains ... until all external stresses are finally removed. Thus the state where sense-perception and sense-experience end and achieving that, has become detached, and detached sees that as freedom and freed, sees freedom as freedom and he knows that he is free of the 'āsavas', i.e., the state of the Arahant known as the body-knower.

^[2] Pīti- A change from my usual 'enthusiasm'. Pīti is a concept which encompasses a spectrum of items (from a mild approval to an ecstatic rapture) which could all be classed under the heading 'appreciation.' Some may recall that this term was my original choice for Pīti. The first jhāna being described in brief by me as being "the appreciation of the peace and calm of solitude." The statement here "the appreciation of the pleasure of solitude", has the advantage of putting 'pleasure' at a distance — rather than having it be a bodily sensation it becomes a mental appreciation.

^[3] jhāna.