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

 

In answer to the question I posed in an earlier article that surveyed various commentaries on the meaning of 'pasāda' in second jhāna:

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

After more reasearch, I've reached a conclusion I'm satisfied with.

4.3.2 - j2🌗 Second Jhāna

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

4.3.2.3 – ajjhattaṃ sam-pasādanaṃ = with internal purity and self-confidence

1. pasāda can mean clarity, purity, for example in sixth abhiñña simile where meditator penetrates four noble truths and attains arahantship, he sees through clear/pure water different fish and marine life. The ‘purity/clarity’ of the water is ‘pasāda’.

1b. purity could also allude to first jhāna, one has used right view to discern and separate from desire for sensual pleasures and evil Dharmas, while second jhāna the distance from impurity is even greater, since one can see even more clearly with purer vision, one’s sword is sharper and cuts deeper, ones eyes are more clear and able to see more lucidly than first jhāna.

2. pasāda also means confidence, such as confidence in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha of monastics.

Thera-vāda commentary favors second definition of pasāda, but since both meanings apply very well, I’m assuming Buddha deliberately meant to invoke both meanings here.

The question is, what is one ‘confident’ about?

First jhāna has waxing and waning of the mental joy and physical pleasure, due to the wavering of vitakka and vicāra.

Second jhāna one has confidence because the samādhi is strong and unwavering.

First jhāna has some doubt whether one really has first jhāna quality of samādhi, or just one has gotten pretty good at thinking thoughts of Dharma that generate a continuous but not very intense or stable whole body level of pīti and sukha.

Second jhāna, there is no doubt that the stability and strength of this samādhi is not an ordinary state of mind. For some meditators, the physical pleasure is so intense it feels like a full body orgasm that can last hours. But whether mild or out of this world, there is self-confidence that this samādhi quality is undoubtedly jhāna, not something any ordinary person can do.

’pasāda’ conclusion

Translators and scholars often treat words as if you always have to make a choice and only go with one interpretation and exlude the others. I believe that’s a mistake, and especially when multiple interpretations satisfy the criteria of being eminently-useful , it seems prudent to accept all qualified interpretations. It’s not only in puns or jokes that the Buddha can intentionally use multiple meanings for a word.