9 samādhi attainments (illustrated)

New and Improved simile borrowed from Vism.

Visuddhimagga is a mish mash of many commentaries, often disagreeing with each other.

In the four jhānas and the 7 awakening factors,

pīti is a somanassa, a mental factor.

sukha can be a combination of both physical and mental factors, but in the context of 7 awakening factor and 4 jhānas, 

it's clear from context that sukha is referring to the physical sensation.

Pīti is mental joy, mental rapture.

sukha is physical pleasure, felt with a physical body one is conscious of during all 4 jhānas.

In Vism., they ambiguate pīti to the point you really can't tell if they believe it's physical or mental.

But one simile they do use, does conform to a correct EBT interpretation of how pīti and sukha differ,

so I adopt that here and extend it to 3rd and 4th jhāna as well.

The water represents sukha, physical pleasure felt with the physical body.

First jhāna doesn't have physical contact with the water, all the happiness is mental, somanassa, pīti.

2nd and 3rd jhāna have physical contact with the sukha (water, pleasure).

4th jhāna, like first jhāna, no longer has contact with the water, divested of sukha.

smd1: first jhāna

Suppose you're crossing the desert, dying of thirst, and in the distance you see an oasis with water. 

You realize you're not going to die.

Pīti (mental joy, rapture), is the joy knowing that you will soon drink water.

sukha (physical pleasure), follows as a result of the pīti.

So the physical pleasure that arises based on the (mental) excitement and joy, such as goose bumps, hair raising, is properly part of sukha, not pīti.

smd2: second jhāna

The happiness of second jhāna comes from the sukha, the physical sensations of pleasure that arise from actually being in contact with and drinking the water.

The contrast between the dying, pained body from first jhāna, with the hydraulic sensations of cool water ingested as you drink, has some similarity to the hydraulic sensations of jhānic force circulating up your back and down the front of your body in continuous loops, often with euphoric sensations of pleasure. 

smd3: third jhāna

In third jhāna, you're not only drinking the water, you're completely submerged in it, no part of your body is not contacting the cool refreshing life giving water.

Your entire physical body is suffused with physical pleasure (sukha) of drinking water, and bodily contact with the comfortable cool water.

Unlike the second jhāna sukha physical pleasure, which had strong jhānic currents of energy with some combination of hydraulic and electrical flow, the sukha pleasure is still and soft, homogenous through the entire body, not current of energy running around in various loops like 2nd jhāna.

Mental rapture (pīti) has faded away, since you're already accustomed to your newfound ability to completely soak in the water.

notice the lotus in the water, a reference to a different jhāna simile

smd4: fourth jhāna

If one develops a strong meditative luminosity, you'll see light in your meditation even with your eyes closed. 

Can range from subtle translucent white, similar to covering your eyes with white cotton cloth and seeing through it as a translucent layer, or a light so bright it's like looking into the sun. 

If you develop perception of luminosity to a high degree,  monastics, yogis and meditators can directly, and literally, see the true nature of a body.

yogis can be young and precocious

any gender or race

Seeing the non-attractiveness, aging, and death that await us all

Seeing our own nature of decay and death helps to dissolve and eventually destroy any illusion of self 

Even yogis and monastics who have attained a noble path short of arahantship, are told to continue with asubha and 31 body parts contemplation. 

That's why there's such a strong emphasis on kāyagatā-sati.

No one is exempt from aging, illness, and death.

smd5: dimension of infinite space

smd6: dimension of infinite consciousness

smd7: dimension of no-thingness

smd8: dimension of neither perception nor non perception

smd9: cessation of perception and feeling

STED for 9 samādhi attainments

🚫💑 vivicc’eva kāmehi	Judiciously-secluded from desire for five cords of sensual pleasures,
🚫😠 vivicca a-kusalehi dhammehi	Judiciously-secluded from unskillful ☸Dharmas,
(V&V💭) sa-vitakkaṃ sa-vicāraṃ	with directed-thought and evaluation [of those verbal ☸Dharma thoughts],
😁🙂 viveka-jaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ	with [mental] rapture and [physical] pleasure born from judicious-seclusion,
🌘 paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.	he attains and lives in first jhāna.

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.

🚫😁 pītiyā ca virāgā	With [mental] rapture fading,
👁 upekkhako ca viharati	he lives equanimously observing [☸Dharmas with subverbal mental processing].
(S&S🐘💭) sato ca sam-pajāno,	remembering [and applying relevant ☸Dharma], he lucidly discerns.
🙂🚶 sukhañca kāyena paṭi-saṃ-vedeti,	He experiences pleasure with the [physical] body.
yaṃ taṃ ariyā ācikkhanti —	The Noble Ones praise this [stage of jhāna in particular because they expect this to be the normal state of the average monk in all postures at all times]:
‘upekkhako satimā sukha-vihārī’ti	"He lives happily with pleasure, Equanimously observing and remembering [to engage in relevant ☸Dharma]."
🌖 tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.	he attains and lives in third jhāna.

sukhassa ca pahānā	With the abandoning of [physical] pleasure
dukkhassa ca pahānā	and pain,
pubbeva so-manassa-do-manassānaṃ atthaṅgamā	with the previous abandoning of elated and distressed mental states,
A-dukkham-a-sukhaṃ	experiencing [physical] sensations of neither pain nor pleasure,
👁🐘 Upekkhā-sati-pārisuddhiṃ	his equanimous observation and his remembering [and application of relevant ☸Dharma] is purified.
🌕 catutthaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati	he attains and lives in fourth jhāna.



sabbaso rūpa-saññānaṃ samatikkamā	Going totally beyond perceptions of [both the internal physical body and external] forms,
Paṭigha-saññānaṃ atthaṅgamā	with the ending of perceptions of impingement, [such as extreme cold, heat, bug bites that can only be felt when the mind is still connected to the 5 senses],
nānatta-saññānaṃ a-manasikārā	not focusing on perceptions of diversity [that occur when the five sense faculties are active],
‘an-anto ākāso’ti	[one perceives that] ‘space is infinite’,
ākāsānañcā-(a)yatanaṃ upasampajja viharati.	they enter and remain in the dimension of infinite space.



sabbaso ākāsānañcā-(a)yatanaṃ samatikkamma	Going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space,
'An-antaṃ viññāṇan’ti	[one perceives that] ‘the consciousness [that remains when the perception of infinite space drops out is also] infinite’,
viññāṇañcā-(a)yatanaṃ upasampajja viharati.	they enter and remain in the dimension of infinite consciousness.



sabbaso viññāṇañcā-(a)yatanaṃ samatikkamma	Going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness,
'N-atthi kiñcī’ti	[one perceives that] ‘there is nothing at all’ [after one drops the perception of infinite consciousness],
ākiñcaññā-(a)yatanaṃ upasampajja viharati.	they enter and remain in the dimension of nothingness.



sabbaso ākiñcaññā-(a)yatanaṃ samatikkamma	Going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness,
Neva-saññā-nāsaññā-(a)yatanaṃ upasampajja viharati.	they enter and remain in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.
	[This means that awareness is too subtle to be considered ‘perception’, but there is enough awareness to know you’re not unconscious.]



sabbaso neva-saññā-nāsaññā-(a)yatanaṃ samatikkamma	Going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception,
Saññā-vedayita-nirodhaṃ upasampajja viharati	they enter and remain in the cessation of perception and sensation.