Friday, June 19, 2020

STED 4sp satipatthana formula, 4 jhanas occurring simultaneously according to canonical Nettippakarana

More evidence against late Theravada erroneous dichotomy of Samatha  & vipassana

Regarding these 2 recent posts, which show that satipatthana and 4 jhanas occur simultaneously:
1. (glossing the 'having removed avarice and distress' from 4sp formula) abhijjhā domanassaṃ, like kamehi and akusala dhamm...
2. (agama EBT parallel explicitly links 4sp and 4th jhana) MN 52 eleven doors to deathless (doing vipassana i...

Friend Arka astutely points out KN Netti canonical gloss of 4sp formula also agrees with my gloss from post #1.

I based my gloss on pali EBT
SN 47.4 Sālā: (name of village): all 4sp are done simultaneously with jhana samadhi (based on abhijja domanassa in STED 4sp formula replaced with "ekodibhava, samadhi, ekaggata")

-frank

KN Netti canonical gloss of 4sp formula


Hi Frank regarding this term , I found something interesting in the Nettippakarana, first quoting the Pali : ' tasmātiha tvaṃ bhikkhu kāye kāyānupassī viharāhi ātāpī sampajāno satimā vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassaṃ. “ātāpī”ti vīriyindriyaṃ, “sampajāno”ti paññindriyaṃ, “satimā”ti satindriyaṃ, “vineyya loke abhijjhādomanassa”nti samādhindriyaṃ, evaṃ kāye kāyānupassino viharato cattāro satipaṭṭhānā bhāvanāpāripūriṃ gacchanti. kena kāraṇena, ekalakkhaṇattā catunnaṃ indriyānaṃ.'

This is the translation from Bhikkhu Nanamoli's Nettipakarana :
(§174).
[83] Now 'ardent' means the energy faculty, 'aware' the under-
standing faculty, 'mindful' the mindfulness faculty, and 'guiding
out covetousness and grief about the world' the concentration
faculty (§174).
So when someone abides contemplating the body as a body, the
four foundations of mindfulness come to fulfilment through keeping
in being. For what reason ? Because of the four faculties' state
of single characteristic (§174).
The guiding out covetousness and grief is referred to as the Concentration faculty.
This is from SN 48.10 :
And what is the faculty of concentration? There is the case where a monk, a disciple of the noble ones, making it his object to let go, attains concentration, attains singleness of mind. Quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, he enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. With the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters & remains in the second jhana: rapture & pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. With the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, 'Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.' With the abandoning of pleasure & pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation & distress — he enters & remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity & mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain. This is called the faculty of concentration.'
So basically Satipatthana and jhana practice are not differentiated here.


correspondence between 4 jhanas and 4 satipatthana

"The first foundation of mindfulness [corresponds to] the

first meditation; the second foundation of mindfulness to the

second meditation; the third foundation of mindfulness to the third

meditation; the fourth foundation of mindfulness to the fourth

meditation." - Netti

1 comment:

  1. Frankk, I have something very interesting for you, it's related to early Buddhist meditation. But I'd like to chat with you first. Check your messages on Reddit I wrote you (John7070).

    ReplyDelete