Skip to main content

SN 8.8 "pubbe a-pari-vitakka" (not previously thought of) Vangisa uses vitakka to spontaneously compose poetry

Doing a digital search in all the suttas, this phrase "pubbe a-pari-vitakka" (not previously thought of), only occurs in SN 8.8. (search phrase was 'aparivitakk' to try to catch everything)

The contrast here is between a-pari-vitakka and ṭhānasova taṃ paṭibhantī (spontaneously occurring verse that Vangisa composed)

This is not first jhana context,  but it clearly establishes that speech co-activities/fabrication (vaci-sankhara) as vitakka must mean verbal thought, and not a non-thinking "placing the mind" as B. Sujato tries to redefine vaci-sankhara for Jhana context. 


You can not compose verse with a thought-less 'placing of the mind.' No poetry would result, just incoherent mumbling.


In the rest of Vangisa samyutta, we also learn that Vangisa at one time struggled with lust, and lots of obsessive over thinking, always composing poetry, as had been his passion in lay life. Yet, he attained all four jhanas, not only became an arahant, but an arahant with triple knowledge, and the iddhis. Meaning his samadhi was so strong he could see past lives, had psychic power of being able to read thoughts of other people's minds, also read the subverbal pre-thoughts in other people's minds before they fully became vaci-sankhara verbal thought of communicable language. 


Think about that.


Someone who was a once a compulsive  over thinker,  somehow attained first jhana, which according to Vism. and Ajahn Brahm, is a frozen state of stupor where no thought is possible. 


If Ven. Vangisa had tried to learn first jhana from Ajahn Brahm or Buddhaghosa instead of the Buddha, he very well might have just thrown up his hands and say, "I give up, there's no way someone like me obsessed with thinking about poetry all the time can attain a state of samadhi where no thought occurs. Only one in a million can do that, I'll have to wait for another lifetime"


But instead, he followed the Buddha's instructions on GRADUAL samadhi training, where he first learned to decrease the quantity and intensity of his distracted thoughts, and to replace them with kusala /skillfull thoughts related to the Dharma. Then he was able to attain the Buddha's definition of first jhana, second jhana, ... arhahantship.


SN 8.8 Sutta text link

SN 8.8 4m, Paro-sahassa: over-a-thousand

Vaṅgīsa spontaneously composes poetry to praise Buddha in front of over a thousand monks.


Divāvihārā nikkhamma,
I’ve emerged from my day’s meditation,
satthudassanakamyatā;
out of desire to see the teacher.
Sāvako te mahāvīra,
Great hero, your disciple Vaṅgīsa
pāde vandati vaṅgiso”ti.
bows at your feet.”
“Kiṃ nu te, vaṅgīsa, imā gāthāyo pubbe pari-vitakkitā, udāhu ṭhānasova taṃ paṭibhantī”ti?
“Vaṅgīsa, had you previously [thought of] composed these verses, or did they spontaneously occur to you in the moment?”
“Na kho me, bhante, imā gāthāyo pubbe parivitakkitā, atha kho ṭhānasova maṃ paṭibhantī”ti.
“They spontaneously occurred to me in the moment, sir.”
“Tena hi taṃ, vaṅgīsa, bhiyyoso mattāya pubbe aparivitakkitā gāthāyo paṭibhantū”ti.
“Well then, Vaṅgīsa, speak some more spontaneously inspired verses.”
“Evaṃ, bhante”ti kho āyasmā vaṅgīso bhagavato paṭissutvā bhiyyoso mattāya bhagavantaṃ pubbe aparivitakkitāhi gāthāhi abhitthavi:
“Yes, sir,” replied Vaṅgīsa. Then he extolled the Buddha with some more spontaneously inspired verses, not previously composed:
“Ummaggapathaṃ mārassa abhibhuyya,
“Having overcome Māra’s devious path,
Carasi pabhijja khilāni;
you wander with hard-heartedness dissolved.
Taṃ passatha bandhapamuñcakaraṃ,
See him, the liberator from bonds, unattached,
Asitaṃ bhāgaso pavibhajaṃ.
analyzing the ☸Dharma.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Advice to younger meditators on jhāna, sex, porn, masturbation

Someone asked: Is porn considered harmful sexual.activity? I don't have a sex life because I don't have a partner and I don't wish to engage in casual sex so I use porn to quench the biological urge to orgasm. I can't see that's it's harmful because nobody is being forced into it. The actors are all paid well and claim to enjoy it etc. The only harm I can see is that it's so accessible these days on smart devices and so children may access it but I believe that this is the parents responsibility to not allow unsupervised use of devices etc. Views? Frankk response: In another thread, you asked about pleasant sensations and jhāna.  I'm guessing you're young, so here's some important advice you won't get from suttas   if you're serious about jhāna.  (since monastics are already celibate by rule)   If you want to attain stable and higher jhānas,   celibacy and noble silence to the best of your ability are the feedstock and prerequiste to tha

SN 48.40 Ven. Thanissaro comments on Ven. Sunyo's analysis

This was Ven. Sunyo's analysis of SN 48.40: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2024/05/exciting-news-honest-ebt-scholars-like.html And here is Ven. Thanissaro's response to that analysis: I think there’s a better way to tackle the issue of SN 48:40 than by appealing to the oldest layers of commentarial literature. That way is to point out that SN 48:40, as we have it, doesn’t pass the test in DN 16 for determining what’s genuine Dhamma and what’s not. There the standard is, not the authority of the person who’s claiming to report the Buddha’s teachings, but whether the teachings he’s reporting are actually in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma that you know. So the simple fact that those who have passed the Buddha’s teachings down to us say that a particular passage is what the Buddha actually taught is not sufficient grounds for accepting it. In the case of the jhānas—the point at issue here— we have to take as our guide the standard formula for the jhānas, a

1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue

To give more context, this is a public event,  * everyone knows cameras are rolling  *  it's a room full of children * the boy's mom is standing off camera a few feet away watching all of this * the boy initiated contact, he had already had a hug with Dalai Lama earlier and then asked Dalai Lama for another hug which triggered this segment  17 min. video showing what happened before that 1 min. clip and after, with some explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78 16min talk from Ajahn Acalo with his thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, relevance to Bhikkhu monastic code, sexual predators in religion in general, and how celibate monastics deal with sexual energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2m0TcUib0 The child's comments about the incident in a filmed interview later https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/04/18/643eba5d46163ffc078b457c.html The child: It's a great experience It was amazing to meet His Holiness and I think it's a great ex