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# Pīti

Passion, Enthusiasm, Excitement

References:

The Seventh Lesson
[MN 118]
PTS: Majjhima Nikaya III #118: Mindfulness When Breathing, Horner trans., pp127
WP: The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, #118: Mindfulness of Breathing, Nanamoli/Bodhi, trans., pp946
[DN 22]
PTS, Dialogues of the Buddha II: #22: Setting-Up of Mindfulness, Rhys Davids, trans, pp336
WP: The Long Discourses of the Buddha 22: The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness;
[DN 1] 1 n.81.
[AN 4.]
PTS: The Book of the Gradual Sayings II: The Book of the Fours, II: Deportment iv: Restraint, Woodward, trans, pp16
ATI: Wings to Awakening
Puremind Publishers, Bhante Madawela Punnaji, Awakening Meditation, pp4-7

Pāḷi | MO | Hare | Horner | Punnaji | Bodhi | Nanamoli | Rhys Davids | (Mrs)Rhys Davids | Thanissaro | Walshe | Woodward
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Pīti | Enthusiasm, passion, excitement | zest for joy | rapture and joy, rapture | Rapture, mental happiness | rapture | rapture, rapture and pleasure | joy | Entheusiasm (KS I, pp23 n.), Rapture | Rapture | delight | zest

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

Pīti: [cp. Class. Sk. prīti & Vedic prīta pp. of p.rī...] emotion of joy, delight, zest, exuberance. -Classed under saṅkhārakkhandha, not vedanā-. - D I.37, 75; III.241, 265, 288; M I.37; S II.30; IV.236; A III.26, 285 sq.; IV.411, 450; V.1 sq., 135, 311 sq., 333 sq.;...In series pīti passaddhi samādhi upekkhā under sambojjhanga (with eleven means of cultivation: see Vism 132...). -- Phrase pītiyā sarīraṅ pharati "to pervade or thrill the body with joy" (aor. phari), at J I.33; V.494;...; all passages refer to pīti as the fivefold pīti, pañcavaṇṇā pīti, or joy of the 5 grades..., viz. khuddikā (slight sense of interest), khaṇikā (momentary joy), okkantikā (oscillating interest, flood of joy), ubbegā (ecstasy, thrilling emotion), and pharaṇā pīti (interest amounting to rapture, suffusing joy)....-- pīti as nirāmisa (pure) and sāmisa (material)[1] at M III.85; S IV.235.

-pāmojja joy and gladness A III.181. 307 (*pamujja);...
-pharaṇatā state of being pervaded with joy, joyous rapture, ecstasy D III.277;...
-bhakkha feeding on joy (Ep. of the Abhassara Devas) D I.17; III.28, 84, 90; A V.60;...A I.110;...
-mana joyful-hearted, exhilarated, glad of heart or mind M I.37; III.86; S I.181; A III.21; V.3;...
-rasa taste or emotion of joy...
-sambojjhanga the joy-constituent of enlightenment M III.86; D III.106, 226, 252, 282....
-sukha zest and happiness, intrinsic joy...S I.203; D III.131, 222;...

[1] "Nirāmisa and sāmisa" "without-meat, with-meat" or with or without carnality. This, it is my contention, is the clue to the translation of this term, that is to say that Piti, whatever it is, has a carnal side, and that must be accounted for in the translated term. I believe the best term is probably "excitement". I usually use "enthusiasm" to avoid having to explain that this is a good kind of excitement, not a distracted sort.

Walshe [The Long Discourses of the Buddha, 1, n.81]: "Pīti: a difficult word to translate. Renderings vary from 'interest' through 'zest' to 'rapture'. It is classified not as a feeling (vedanā) but as part of the group of mental formations (sankhārā), i.e. as a mental reaction. BDic says: 'It may be described psychologically as "joyful interest"' — for which the simplest term would seem to be 'delight'.

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