(this article is part of a series: SN 48.40 🔗de-corrupting and reconstructing ) 

I highlight in yellow the parts that contradict a straightforward interpretation based on EBT standard jhana formula, 7sb awakening factor formula (piti is somanassa, sukha is bodily sukha indriya following passadhi). 

(AVS) Aviparitaka Sutra (agama parallel to SN 48.40)

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(has domanassa, dukkha, somanassa, sukha and upekkha cease successively) (domanassa-indriya [mental pain] ceases in 1st jhāna) (dukkha-indriya [physical pain] ceases in 2nd jhāna) (somanassa-indriya [mental pleasure] ceases in 3rd jhāna) (Sukha-indriya [physical pleasure] ceases in 4th jhāna) (upekkha-indriya [physical & mental lack of sāta] ceases in saññā-vedayita-nirodhaṃ )

SN 48.40 Uppaṭipāṭika Irregular Order

(dukkha-indriya [physical pain] ceases in 1st jhāna) (domanassa-indriya [mental pain] ceases in 2nd jhāna) (Sukha-indriya [physical pleasure] ceases in 3rd jhāna) (somanassa-indriya [mental pleasure] ceases in 4th jhāna) (upekkha-indriya [physical & mental lack of sāta] ceases in saññā-vedayita-nirodhaṃ )

AVS matches closely with standard Jhana formula

* piti (rapture) and sukha (pleasure) are both present in the first and second jhanas; * piti (somanassa indriya) fades away in the third jhana; * the fourth jhana is free from sukha (sukha indriya), dukkha (pain), somanassa (joy) and domanassa (dejection); * upekkha (equanimity) is present in the third and fourth jhanas. * It is not clear [exactly which jhana] when somanassa and domanassa disappear.

At least 4 distinct school of Buddhism agree on AVS, against one outlier Theravada SN 48.40

These texts and commentaries from various schools of Buddhism vary on their interpretation of AVS (Aviparitaka Sutra), but they all seem to preserve the same consistent version of AVS, whereas the SN 48.40 Theravada Pali is an outlier that differs drastically from AVS. 1. Abhidharmamrta(rasa)-sastra (sarvastivada school) 2. Tattvasiddhi (or * Satyasiddhi-sastra, pé Cheng shi lun) of the Darstantikas or the Bàáhusrutiyas SCHOOL 3. Yogacarabhumi (tiita Yu qie shi di lun) of the Yogacara school. 4. As to the Sautrantika views, I shall refer to the Abhidharmako s´abhasya by Vasubandhu in the fourth or fifth century A.D. Although this treatise describes itself as ‘‘a presentation of the Abhidharma as taught by the Vaibhasikas’’, its author has evident sympathies for the Sautrantikas. (Sautrantikas is to be treated as a different school of thought than Sarvastivada)

TSE-FU KUAN's research on AVS fragment consistency

Unfortunately, many sütras of the Indriya Samyukta, including the counterpart of the Uppatipatika Sutta, are missing in the Chinese translation of the Samyukta Agama, but the foregoing account in this sutta is quoted in several later texts of various traditions in Chinese translation. For example, the *Abhidharmamrta(rasa)-sastra ( A pi tan gan lu wei lun), which is attributed to the Sarvastivadins by Takakusu (1905: 139), states: “The dejection (*daurmansya, Pali domanassa) faculty ceases without remainder in the first dhyana. The pain (*duhkha, Pali dukkha) faculty ceases without remainder in the second dhyana. The joy (*saumanasya, Pali somanassa) faculty ceases without remainder in the third dhyana. The pleasure (*sukha) faculty ceases without remainder in the fourth dhyána." The same account" is found in the *Tattvasiddhi (or * Satyasiddhi-sastra, pé Cheng shi lun) of the Darstantikas or the Bàáhusrutiyas,'^ and also in the Yogacarabhumi (tiita Yu qie shi di lun) of the Yogacara school. The *Tattvasiddhi indicates that it is said in the ‘Sutra’ and the Yogacarabhumi quotes it from the Avi-paritaka Sūtra (81 Wu dao jing,).'° Part of the passage in question in the Aviparitaka Sutra is also cited in the Abhidharmakosabhasya: "uktam hi bhagavata Aviparitakasiitre trtiyam | dhyanam uktva 'atrasyotpannam | saumanasyendriypam | aparisesam | nirudhyata iti; caturthe ca dhyane sukhendriyam nirudhyata’ ity uktam.” (Ak-P 440)" The order in which various feelings cease according to these texts does not agree with the order found in the SN 48.40 Uppatipatika Sutta. Al- though these texts are later than the Pali Nikayas, the account of the relationship between the faculties and the jhanas preserved in these texts could date back to the time when the Agamas and the Nikayas were compiled in that it is cited from a ‘sūtra’. This account (hereafter ‘Aviparitaka version’) appears to be more plausible than the account in the SN 48.40 Uppatipatika Sutta (hereafter ‘Pali version’), for

the foregoing three difficulties with the Pali version are not found in the Aviparitaka Sutra account: (1) The Aviparitaka version says that domanassa ceases in the first jhana. This conforms with the usual jhana formula, according to which one is free from unwholesome states, including domanassa, when entering the first jhana. (2) According to the Aviparitaka version, the bodily feeling sukha 1s expected to be still present in the third jhana. This tallies with the usual jhana formula, and so there is no need to postulate a mental sukha apart from the sukha faculty, a bodily sukha. (3) According to the Aviparttaka version, somanassa and doma- nassa disappear at the stages before the fourth jhana. This conforms with the description of the fourth jhana in the usual jhaàna formula. However, there is an apparent contradiction between the Avi- paritaka version and the usual jhana formula. In the usual jhana formula, the expression ‘with the abandoning of sukha and dukkha ... a bhikkhu enters the fourth jhana' seems to suggest that one aban- dons both sukha and dukkha at the moment of entering the fourth jhana, whereas according to the Aviparitaka version dukkha already ceases in the second jhana.

TSE-FU KUAN's CONCLUSION

The foregoing passage of the Aviparitaka Sutra preserved in the Sanskrit and Chinese literature provides a plausible account of the order in which specific feelings cease in different jhanas, which fits in quite well with the usual jhana formula. Its Pali counterpart in the Uppatipatika Sutta, however, contradicts the usual jhana formula in three respects and has caused difficulties to Theravada exegesis. Similarly, some doctrines of the Sarvastivada Abhidharma also con- tradict the usual jhana formula. The two schools use the same approaches to iron out their respective contradictions, but by so doing they get into other inconsistencies and complexities, and unsurprisingly the two schools sometimes arrive at different conclu- sions although using the same approaches. In contrast, the Sautrantika interpretation of sukha appears to be consistent with the earliest texts. Such a ‘Sautrantika’ approach, i.e. taking sütras as criteria, adopted by this essay shows that the earliest accounts suffice to elucidate each other regarding the issue of feelings in jhana, and that a plausible and consistent interpretation can be drawn from the earliest texts rather than from some later literature. In conclusion, we can accept the Aviparitaka Sütra account that domanassa, dukkha, somanassa, sukha and upekkha cease successively as one proceeds from lower to higher meditative attainments, and these five terms in this account are not different from those in the usual jhana formula. It is not necessary to equate sukha of the first three jhanas to somanassa as the Theravadins do, or to identify sukha of the first two jhanas with prasrabdhi (a volitional formation, not a feeling) as the Sarvastivadins do. Neither is it necessary to interpret upekkha in the jhanas as a volitional formation as the two traditions do. The process of reducing feelings as prescribed in the scheme of jhana conforms with what is stated in the Salayatanavibhanga Sutta: first developing pleasant feeling and eliminating unpleasant feeling; then abandoning pleasant feeling and achieving upekkha.