Skip to main content

second jhāna formula, 'pasāda' means both internal purity and self-confidence

 

In answer to the question I posed in an earlier article that surveyed various commentaries on the meaning of 'pasāda' in second jhāna:

pasāda: what does it mean in the second jhāna formula? serenity, confidence/faith, or purity?


After more reasearch, I've reached a conclusion I'm satisfied with.


Vitakka-vicārānaṃ vūpasamā
with the subsiding of directed-thought and evaluation [of those verbal ☸Dharma thoughts],
ajjhattaṃ sam-pasādanaṃ
with internal purity and self-confidence,
🌄 cetaso ekodi-bhāvaṃ
his mind becomes singular in focus.
🚫(V&V💭) a-vitakkaṃ a-vicāraṃ
Without directed-thought and evaluation, [mental processing is now subverbal,]
🌄😁🙂 samādhi-jaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ
[mental] rapture and [physical] pleasure is born from undistractible-lucidity,
🌗 dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.
he attains and lives in second jhāna.


4.3.2.3 – ajjhattaṃ sam-pasādanaṃ = with internal purity and self-confidence

1. pasāda can mean clarity, purity, for example in sixth abhiñña simile where meditator penetrates four noble truths and attains arahantship, he sees through clear/pure water different fish and marine life. The ‘purity/clarity’ of the water is ‘pasāda’.

1b. purity could also allude to first jhāna, one has used right view to discern and separate from desire for sensual pleasures and evil Dharmas, while second jhāna the distance from impurity is even greater, since one can see even more clearly with purer vision, one’s sword is sharper and cuts deeper, ones eyes are more clear and able to see more lucidly than first jhāna.

2. pasāda also means confidence, such as confidence in Buddha, Dharma, Sangha of monastics.

Thera-vāda commentary favors second definition of pasāda, but since both meanings apply very well, I’m assuming Buddha deliberately meant to invoke both meanings here.

The question is, what is one ‘confident’ about?

First jhāna has waxing and waning of the mental joy and physical pleasure, due to the wavering of vitakka and vicāra.

Second jhāna one has confidence because the samādhi is strong and unwavering.

First jhāna has some doubt whether one really has first jhāna quality of samādhi, or just one has gotten pretty good at thinking thoughts of Dharma that generate a continuous but not very intense or stable whole body level of pīti and sukha.

Second jhāna, there is no doubt that the stability and strength of this samādhi is not an ordinary state of mind. For some meditators, the physical pleasure is so intense it feels like a full body orgasm that can last hours. But whether mild or out of this world, there is self-confidence that this samādhi quality is undoubtedly jhāna, not something any ordinary person can do.

’pasāda’ conclusion

Translators and scholars often treat words as if you always have to make a choice and only go with one interpretation and exlude the others. I believe that’s a mistake, and especially when multiple interpretations satisfy the criteria of being eminently-useful , it seems prudent to accept all qualified interpretations. It’s not only in puns or jokes that the Buddha can intentionally use multiple meanings for a word.



Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more