DN 2: I perform a miracle, B. Sujato claims Buddha had an impoverished language and was forced to redefine 'body' as 'mind'

 

DN 2 example of how a simile can show that jhana meditation bliss is happening in the mind only, not in the physical body

B. Sujato claims the Buddha had to redefine what "body" and "thinking" means in the four jhānas, because he just didn't have the language to indicate those words changed into a more subtle meaning. And second, he also wasn't able to use simile to accurately convey that the 'body' in jhana was not a physical body, but a mind.

"The body as metaphor", B. Sujato essay from 2012 attempting to justify hiding the dead body in the third jhana formula

https://sujato.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/the-body-as-metaphor/

The body as metaphor

...

And in just the same way, the body is not a physical body, but a metaphor for the wholeness and directness of experience. As if this were not obvious enough from the context, notice that the things to be realized with the body are the eight liberations, which include the four formless attainments. These are by definition beyond any kind of physical reality. Elsewhere, the Buddha says that even Nibbana is to be realized with the body.

The body is not the body, the eye is not the eye, and thought is not thought. These are all words, inadequate, struggling, messy words, creeping up from the evolutionary slime, groping and grasping towards the light. As long as we keep them weighed down by the mundane, we can never speak of higher things. And since these higher things are things of the mind, if we cannot speak of them, we cannot imagine them. And if we cannot imagine them, we cannot realize them. And that is rather a sad state of affairs.

The take away

So basically B. Sujato is claiming the Buddha had no choice but  to redefine 'body' as 'mind', and could only use inadequate and misleading similes in DN 2 that seem to unequivocally say that the sukha pleasure of third jhana is felt with the physical body.

Let's test out his theory. 

DN 2: B. Sujato's translation of third jhana, and its simile as of 4/21/2021 

4.3.2.7. Third Absorption4.3.2.7. Tatiyajhāna

Furthermore, with the fading away of rapture, a mendicant enters and remains in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, personally experiencing the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’Puna caparaṁ, mahārāja, bhikkhu pītiyā ca virāgā upekkhako ca viharati sato sampajāno, sukhañca kāyena paṭisaṁvedeti, yaṁ taṁ ariyā ācikkhanti: ‘upekkhako satimā sukhavihārī’ti, tatiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.They drench, steep, fill, and spread their body with bliss free of rapture. There’s no part of the body that’s not spread with bliss free of rapture.So imameva kāyaṁ nippītikena sukhena abhisandeti parisandeti paripūreti parippharati, nāssa kiñci sabbāvato kāyassa nippītikena sukhena apphuṭaṁ hoti.

It’s like a pool with blue water lilies, or pink or white lotuses. Some of them sprout and grow in the water without rising above it, thriving underwater. From the tip to the root they’re drenched, steeped, filled, and soaked with cool water. There’s no part of them that’s not soaked with cool water.Seyyathāpi, mahārāja, uppaliniyaṁ vā paduminiyaṁ vā puṇḍarīkiniyaṁ vā appekaccāni uppalāni vā padumāni vā puṇḍarīkāni vā udake jātāni udake saṁvaḍḍhāni udakānuggatāni antonimuggaposīni, tāni yāva caggā yāva ca mūlā sītena vārinā abhisannāni parisannāni paripūrāni paripphuṭāni, nāssa kiñci sabbāvataṁ uppalānaṁ vā padumānaṁ vā puṇḍarīkānaṁ vā sītena vārinā apphuṭaṁ assa; Variant: paripphuṭāni → paripphaṭāni (sya-all); paripphuṭṭhāni (pts1ed) | nāssa → nassā (bj) | parisannāni → abhisannāni (sya1ed, sya2ed); abhisandāni parisandāni (mr)

I'm going to modify the 3rd jhana simile, and show that it IS possible to use a simile to convey that sukha pleasure is felt only in the mind, not the physical body.

It’s like a pool with blue water lilies, or pink or white lotuses. Some of them sprout and grow in the water without rising above it, thriving underwater. From the tip to the root they’re drenched, steeped, filled, and soaked with cool water. There’s no part of them that’s not soaked with cool water.

A man steps into this pool of cool water, and completely submerges his body (kāya), so that his physical (rūpa)  anatomical body made of 4 elements and 31 body parts, born of mother and father, was completely drenched and steeped enclosed by the cool water. 

In the same way, a monk drenches, steeps, fills, and pervades their MIND (citta instead of kāya)  with pleasure free of rapture. There’s no part of the MIND that’s not pervaded with pleasure free of rapture.

 

Did I just perform a miracle?

According to B. Sujato, jhana is so exalted and subtle that mere human language and simile can not convey that jhāna is mind only, not bodily experience. He says the Buddha had no choice but to confoundingly and confusingly redefine 'body' to be 'mind' to get the message across about the subtlety of jhana, even at the great risk  and likelihood that all the schools of Early Buddhism would interpret "body" literally and assume the physical body experiences pleasure in third jhana.

So which scenario seems more plausible to you?

1. I'm a miracle worker more skilled than the Buddha, since I was able to come up with a simile and use  language in the ordinary way  to show that the pleasure in 3rd jhana is experienced in the mind, not the body.

2. B. Sujato is mistaken about the Buddha redefining "body" as "mind" for the jhanas.