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pasāda: what does it mean in the second jhāna formula? serenity, confidence/faith, or purity?


My translation currently:

     DN 24.3.2.6 - Second jhāna



4.3.2.6. Dutiyajhāna
4.3.2.6. Second jhāna
Puna caparaṃ, mahārāja, bhikkhu
Furthermore,

(STED 2nd Jhāna)

Vitakka-vicārānaṃ vūpasamā
with the subsiding of directed-thought and evaluation [of those verbal ☸Dharma thoughts],
ajjhattaṃ sam-pasādanaṃ
with internal assurance, [of subverbal mental processing focused internally]
🌄 cetaso ekodi-bhāvaṃ
his mind becomes singular in focus.
🚫(V&V💭) a-vitakkaṃ a-vicāraṃ
Without directed-thought and evaluation,
🌄😁🙂 samādhi-jaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ
with [mental] rapture and [physical] pleasure born from undistractible-lucidity,
🌗 dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.
he enters and meditates in the second jhāna.


'pasāda' from other translators' second jhāna


Sujato: with internal clarity and confidence
Bodhi: internal placidity (2012, AN 5.28)
Bodhi & Nanamoli: self-confidence (MN 119)
Thanissaro: internal assurance


Abhdhamma Vibhanga has 'saddha, confidence, faith', but doesn't say faith in what?


        Vb 121.12 – (second jhāna)
            Vb 121.12.4 – adjhatta = personal
            Vb 121.12.5 – sampasāda = confidence

“Ajjhattan”ti yaṃ ajjhattaṃ paccattaṃ.
“Internal” means: That which is personal, self-referable.
“Sampasādanan”ti yā saddhā saddahanā okappanā abhippasādo.
“Refinement” means: That which is confidence, being confident, trust, implicit faith.



Visuddhimagga cites Vb but also some other variations


Ajjhattanti idha niyakajjhattamadhippetaṃ.
141. Internal: here one’s own internal41 is intended;
Vibhaṅge pana "ajjhattaṃ paccatta"nti ettakameva vuttaṃ.
but that much is actually stated in the Vibhaṅga too with the words “internally in oneself” (Vibh 258).
Yasmā ca niyakajjhattamadhippetaṃ, tasmā attani jātaṃ attano santāne nibbattanti ayamettha attho.
And since one’s own internal is intended, the meaning here is this: born in oneself, generated in one’s own continuity.
Sampasādananti sampasādanaṃ vuccati saddhā.
142. Confidence: it is faith that is called confidence.
Sampasādanayogato jhānampi sampasādanaṃ.
The jhāna “has confidence” because it is associated with confidence
Nīlavaṇṇayogato nīlavatthaṃ viya.
as a cloth “has blue colour” because it is associated with blue colour.
Yasmā vā taṃ jhānaṃ sampasādanasamannāgatattā vitakkavicārakkhobhavūpasamanena ca cetaso sampasādayati, tasmāpi sampasādananti vuttaṃ.
Or alternatively, that jhāna is stated to “have confidence” because it makes the mind confident with the confidence possessed by it and by stilling the disturbance created by applied and sustained thought.
Imasmiñca atthavikappe sampasādanaṃ cetasoti evaṃ padasambandho veditabbo.
And with this conception of the meaning the word construction must be taken as “confidence of mind.”
Purimasmiṃ pana atthavikappe cetasoti etaṃ ekodibhāvena saddhiṃ yojetabbaṃ.
But with the first-mentioned conception of the meaning the words “of mind” must be construed with “singleness42”.


KN Pe (nanamoli trans.) 2nd jhāna gloss


Tesaṃyeva vitakkavicārānaṃ abhikkhaṇaṃ āsevanāya tassa tappoṇamānasaṃ hoti.
585. With constant cultivation of this same thinking and exploring his mentality becomes inclined thereto.
Tassa vitakkavicārā oḷārikā khāyanti.
Then the thinking and exploring seem 1 gross to him,
Yañca pītisukhañca nekkhammañca oḷārikaṃ bhavati.
and the renunciation-born 2 pleasure- of-happiness also is gross,
Api ca samādhijā pīti rati ca jāyati.
and so concentration-born (c) happiness and (d) delight are born instead.

Tassa vicārārammaṇaṃ.
586. His heart [which in the first meditation] had exploring's object
Tesaṃ vūpasamā ajjhattaṃ ceto sampasīdati.
becomes (f) confident (clarified) in itself with the pacification of these [namely thinking and exploring].
Ye vitakkavicārā dve dhammānussaritabbā.
The two ideas, namely thinking and exploring, need no longer be recollected,1
Paccuppannā daraṇitabbaṃ.
and what now can be served 2 is the presently arisen
Tesaṃ vūpasamā ekodibhāvaṃ cittekaggataṃ hoti.
singleness due to their quieting, which singleness is (e) unification.
Tassa ekodibhāvena pīti pāripūriṃ gacchati.
It is through that singleness that the (c) happiness comes to fulfilment.
Yā pīti, taṃ somanassindriyaṃ, yaṃ sukhaṃ, taṃ sukhindriyaṃ.
The happiness is the [mental] joy faculty, 3 while the (d) pleasure is the [bodily] pleasure faculty,
Yā cittekaggatā, ayaṃ samādhi.
the unification of cognizance is concentration.
Taṃ dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ caturaṅgasamannāgataṃ.
So that second meditation possesses four factors (§ 565).

Trends and comparisons 

Ab Vb definitely uses the 'confidence' version, with no mention of 'placidity' or 'purity', when it glosses with 'saddha' and other works having to do with faith. 

doing DPR search for 'sampasīdati' (which KN Pe uses to gloss sampasādanam), 
all the sutta references that turn up have the sense of 'confidence/trust', such as lack of trust in Buddha, Dhamma, Sangha leads to lack of practice, or lack of confidence that the Buddha has all 32 marks of great man. 

Vb isn't clear exactly what one is confident in, the meditation object, or the mind, or one self (ajjhatta)?

One of Vism's proposals agrees with KN Pe's "internal self-confidence due to stilling of vitakka and vicāra", and that would not contradict Ab. 


And the winner is...



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