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Sujato and his famous friends get into all the V.I.P. rooms in the hottest spots in town, anywhere in the world

 I use this simile to show the fallacious reasoning Sujato uses to justify translating third jhāna's body as "mind devoid of physical body that personally experiences things".

I include a fictional Sujato character in the simile, to make it memorable and easy to connect all the ideas of  3rd jhāna body, nine attainments, this simile,  and Sujato's erroneous understanding of how and when to interpret kāya/body metaphorically.

(fictional) Sujato is good friends with Tom Cruise, arguably the most famous actor/celebrity in the world.

They frequently socialize with a group of 9 friends (including themselves), visiting the hottest restaurants, night clubs, etc.

Tom Cruise and four of the friends are all internationally famous celebrities (5 total).

Sujato and the three remaining friends (4 total) are not famous, and would go unrecognized at most places they visit as a group of 9 friends. 

Everywhere they travelled as a group of 9, they would get the V.I.P. (Very important person) treatment. 

Sitting in a VIP room, or a VIP table, all kinds of special perks.


One time, Sujato and three of the non-famous members of the group of 9 went to a restaurant by themselves and asked to sit in the VIP room.

Even though the host of the restaurant recognized Sujato as as friend of Tom Cruise, the host refused to seat Sujato and his party of 4 in the VIP room.

He explained, "I'm sorry sir. Even though you are sometimes in a group with Tom Cruise and then we definitely seat you in the VIP room, today you are in a group of regular non-famous people, so we are not allowed to seat you there. 

You and your party of 4 (jhāna friends) have to stay in the area of regular (jhāna) people.

You are only allowed VIP access when you happened to be grouped with one of the 5 famous friends (formless attainment group).


Conclusion:

Sujato overstepped his bounds in translating and interpreting third jhāna kāya (body) as metaphorical, since in that context 3rd jhāna is part of the group of four jhānas, not part of the 5 formless attainments.

Aside from the 4 jhānas context, the Buddha is also using the language that contrasts body and mind, "sukham ca kāyena patisamvedeti", to resolve the ambuguity of a vedana/sensation potentially being body only or mind only (pati-sam-vedeti). 

So the Buddha is explicitly clarifying that the sukha (pleasure) vedana (sensation/experience) is physical, not mental. 



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