STED 3rd Jhāna

3. With rapture fading,
he meditates equanimously observing,
🐘💭 remembering [and applying relevant ☸Dharma], he lucidly discerns.
He experiences pleasure with the body.
The Noble Ones praise this [stage of zen]:
"Equanimously observing and remembering [to engage in relevant ☸Dharma], they have a pleasurable abiding."
He enters and dwells in the third stage of zen (j3🌖).

STED 3rd Jhāna

🚫😁 pītiyā ca virāgā	🚫😁(with) Rapture ** fading,
👁 upekkhako ca viharati	👁 Equanimously-observing ** (he) dwells,
(S&S🐘💭) sato ca sam-pajāno,	(S&S🐘💭) (he is a) Rememberer, (a) lucid-discerner,
🙂🚶 sukhañca kāyena paṭi-saṃ-vedeti,	🙂🚶 pleasure with-the-body (he) experiences,
yaṃ taṃ ariyā ācikkhanti —	that those Noble-Ones declare -
‘upekkhako satimā sukha-vihārī’ti	“(He is an) equanimous-observer (and a) Rememberer, (he has) pleasurable-abiding.”
🌖 tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.	🌖 third Jhāna (he) enters, dwells.

Why do the noble ones single out third jhāna for praise? Why not 4th jhāna or first?

1.  third jhana is the baseline level of passadhi and samadhi most of his disciples will be able to wield in their every day all around satipatthana 24/7 practice. 

It's because third jhana is the baseline level of passadhi (pacification awakening factor) and samadhi that the Buddha expects from his ordained monastics. 

For lay people who keep 5 precepts well, a decent first jhana with a ceiling of mediocre second jhana is his expectation level. 

See article for proof: 🔗Don't give up on jhāna, till you drink from the sutta cup

(especially the sutta passages for AN 5 and DN 18)

Since ordained monastics keep 8 precepts, pure celibacy that prevents draining their jhana battery, keeping noble silence charges up their jhana battery so the expected level of jhana proficiency is 3rd jhana. 

2. because S&S🐘💭 (sati & sampajano) are not listed as jhana factors until 3rd jhana

@bath_powder wrote:

Maybe it's the inclusion of sati-sampajanna here that makes it worthy of praise? Some scholars such as Alexander Wynne and Richard Gombrich have suggested that the third and fourth jhana are fundamentally different than the first two and represent a transition to mindful observation of the sense spheres inside a jhanic state of mind. The third could be praised instead of the fourth simply because it's the first place this occurs in this understanding.

@frankk:

That's a legitimate reason too. There can be many reasons for why 3rd jhana is singled out, and those reasons need not be mutually exclusive.

Piti and sukha can be very intense in 2nd jhana, when you're first being very proficient in that, and  you'd be a lot less likely to or even able to walk around all day doing maintaining 2nd jhana, whereas third and fourth jhana become your new normal, where the sukha is really a nice but unnecessary background feature while your main focus is on S&S satipatthana, which can be done in all 4 postures all day. 

 

KN Pe Jhana commentary agrees with that, saying that sati and sampajano are listed in 3rd jhana and not first and second, because piti and sukha can be so dominant, leaving S&S unable to function well.

3. establishing code phrases for 3rd jhana

The phrase that the nobles declare they are "equanimous-observers, rememberful, and dwell in pleasure", is setting up a code phrase for 3rd jhana. That is, suttas not explicitly saying jhana or 3rd jhana, but using that code phrase is strongly implying, if not practically using a synonym for jhana. 

examples:

AN 6.1 no 3rd jhana explicitly mentioned, but monks there are guarding sense doors and using code phrase for 3rd jhana "upekkha + sati + sampajano", making them worthy of offerings.

anuruddha samyutta and MN 152: the 5 abi (noble developed faculties) refer to being upekkha, sati, and sampjano, and those sekhas have 5 bala, 5 indriya, meaning strong samadhi. 

(to be continued...)