Chapter 4

(Tape 9 / PS: 1-73)

We have had a long break. I think we need to at least remember the third chapter which deals with how to prepare for the practice. Before really going to the practice we have to prepare ourselves. The first thing we have to do is to purify our virtue. That means to keep our moral conduct clear, to take and keep the precepts. That is the first thing.

The next thing is - please go to paragraph 28 in chapter 3 - there the steps are given. First there is purifying virtue. The second is severing any of the ten impediments or ten obstacles. That was dealt with in the third chapter. Then one must find a good friend, a good meditation teacher from whom the yogi must learn about the meditation subject. And also he should choose a subject that is suitable for his own temperament. There is a description of the six kinds of temperaments and what kind of temperament a person belongs to. After that the yogi should avoid a monastery unfavorable to the development of concentration and go to live in one that is favorable. The fourth chapter picks up there.

The fourth chapter begins with the 18 faults of a monasteries not suitable for the practice of meditation and the 5 qualities or factors of suitable monasteries. Then the author goes on to explain how to make a kasiÓa disk or the earth kasiÓa and how to practice.

We begin the fourth chapter with the 18 faults of a monastery. Before that the author states that a person should live in a monastery not too far from where the teacher lives because if he has doubt about the subject of meditation he could go to the teacher and ask and let him clarify the teaching.

“If it is inconvenient there, he can live in another monastery - a suitable one - a quarter or a half or even a whole league distant.” A league is said to be about 8 miles. The monastery of the teacher should be at most 8 miles from where you live so that you can walk to him in a day. People had to walk in those days as well as go for alms along the way. It may be a quarter or a half or a whole league away. So that means two miles, four miles or eight miles.

Student: I think Daly City is about 10 or 12 miles from here (San Francisco).

Teacher: Oh. So it may be about this difference. So if the meditator has some doubt about his meditation subject, he can go there and ask the teacher. Then he can go back to his monastery and practice.

Then the Commentary gives the 18 faults of a monastery. When describing how to practice meditation, the teachers of old are very detailed in explaining how to prepare for meditation. Maybe it is too meticulous. A monastery where a person lives and practices should be free of these 18 faults.

The first one is largeness. When a monastery is a large one, disturbances come up for the practice of meditation. “People with varying aims collect in a large monastery.” ‘People’ here means monks, not lay people. Monks with different aims collect in a large monastery. They will conflict with each other. When there are many people, people will neglect the duties - sweeping the compound, setting up water and so on. If they are not done and the person sees that they are not done, he should do them. And if he does not do them, then he commits an offense of wrong-doing. It is a very minor offense, but still it is an offense. If he has to sweep the place, put out water and so on, then his time for meditation is reduced. So living in a monastery where monks are not doing their own duties is not a suitable one for a person who wants to practice meditation. If it is a large monastery and the monks do their duties and if there are no disturbances for the practice of meditation, then he may live in a big monastery and practice meditation. The main point is the suitability for the practice of meditation. It may be a big monastery but if it is kept well and the monks and novices do their own duties well and there is no disturbance or interference for the practice of meditation, then he can live in a big monastery. There are such big monasteries in our countries where monks live in a very disciplined way. You don’t hear a sound although 500 monks are eating. Such a monastery although big is suitable for the practice of meditation.

The next one is a new monastery. When a monastery is new, you have many thing to do. So it is also not a suitable place for the practice of meditation. In paragraph 4 “let the venerable one do the ascetic duties.” That really means the practice of meditation, not the ascetic practices or other duties.

The PÈÄi word is samaÓadhamma. ‘SamaÓa’ means an ascetic or monk. ‘Dhamma’ here means practice. ‘SamaÓadhamma’ really means the practice of meditation, not just doing duties. Even though it is a new monastery, if others take care of what is to be done there and let the person who wants to practice meditation practice freely, then that is a suitable monastery for him.

The next one is the delapidated monastery. When a monastery is not in good shape, then you have to repair and do whatever needs to be done there. Then you have little time for meditation and so it is not a suitable monastery.

The next one is a monastery with a nearby road. If it is close to a road or a main street, visitors keep coming night and day. ‘Visitors’ here means monk visitors. When visiting monks come, you have to assign places for them. Sometimes you have to give your place to the visiting monk. You have to go to some other place. You may have to go to the root of a tree or a flat rock. You have to give up your place to the visiting monk. The next day is the same. So there is no opportunity to practice meditation. This is not a suitable place for him.

Student: when you say meditation here, are you talking about sitting or walking meditation?

Teacher: Both. Any kind of meditation.

Student: so then work is a kind of meditation.

Teacher: Here meditation is walking or sitting meditation. Doing things at the monastery, working, cannot be done with real intense mindfulness meditation. You may have light mindfulness doing what you are doing, but when you are doing some work preparing the monastery, it is very difficult to keep mindfulness, the intense mindfulness. Here it means the intense practice of meditation.

A monastery near a pond is the next one. People come there and drink water. “Pupils of city-dwelling elders supported by the royal family come to do dyeing work.” Here ‘supported by’ means frequenting royal families or being familiar with or intimate with royal families. So it is not a suitable place.

The next one is near a place where there are vegetables. ‘Edible leaves’ here really means vegetables. When there are vegetables, women may come to gather the vegetables. They will sing and so on. So there is disturbance with sounds of the opposite sex. There is danger to the meditation.

The same is true for a monastery with flowering shrubs or trees. People come to gather flowers and so there is disturbance to the meditation.

The next one is a monastery with many fruits such as mangoes, rose-apples, jack-fruits and so on. When there are many fruits, people come and pick fruits. There is disturbance.

Student: What is jack-fruit?

Teacher: Jack-fruit is a big tree. Some jack-fruit may be as big as this building. The fruit has something like thorns outside. They are not really thorns; they are protrusions outside. When you cut open the fruit, there is meat inside and a seed. Jack-fruit is grown in tropical countries like Burma, SrÏ Lanka, and I think it is also grown in Hawaii. Many people in this country don’t know jack-fruit.

Jack-fruit tree was very important for monks because we used the inner core of jack-fruit to make dye for the robes. The inner core is color between brown and yellow. It is a dark yellow color. We chopped the inner core into small pieces. We boiled those small pieces and got the dye. Then we dyed the robes with the dye that we got from the jack-fruit tree. The other thing we used for making dye was the bark of the banyan tree. That is not as good as the inner core of jack-fruit tree. I think now jack-fruit is imported into this country.

Student: What does it taste like?

Teacher: Hard to say. It is sweet. If you eat too much, you will have stomach trouble.

And then if a monastery is famous, if it is renowned, many people will come. Then there will not be enough time for meditation. “But if it suits him, he can live there at night and go elsewhere by day.” You can go somewhere else during the day and go back at night. That you can do.

“In one with a nearby city objects of the opposite sex come into focus.” When it is close to a city, that is a kind of disturbance. In paragraph 10 “Also important people spread out carpets in the middle of the monastery and sit down.” Actually they do not spread out carpets, but they sit in the middle of the monastery, screened by curtains. That is what is meant. They will come to the monastery, sit down and put a curtain around them. It is not just spreading carpets. The PÈÄi word here means not a carpet but a curtain.

Student: That was done to isolate them for meditation?

Teacher: Not for meditation, just for isolation. Here the ‘important people’ are not monks. Lay people, a king, or ministers, or anybody may come. They may wish to be separated or secluded from other people so they will put the curtain around them.

The next one is a monastery nearby timber trees. The timber people come and cut down trees. So it is not a good place.

Another one is a monastery near arable fields. When there are fields close to the monastery, people use the monastery as a thrashing place. So there is disturbance. Also when the monastery owns land, then the attendants of the monastery have to avoid cattle from coming into the field or sometimes have to avoid giving water to them. It is what is said here. “The monastery attendants impound cattle belonging to families and deny the water supply to their crops. Then people bring an ear of paddy and show it to the Community saying, ‘Look at your monastery attendants work’.” and so on.

Student: What is paddy?

Teacher: It is a kind of crop. We get rice from it.

The next one is the presence of incompatible persons. “Where there are bhikkhus living who are incompatible and mutually hostile, when they clash and it is protested ‘Venerable sirs, do not do so’ they exclaim ‘We no longer count now that this refuse-rag wearer has come’.” They are saying that they are nobody or something like that. It is not a good place for a monk who wants to meditate.

Then a monastery near a land port of entry or a water port of entry may not be suitable. When a monastery is near such a place, the monks are inconvenienced by the people constantly arriving by ship or caravan, asking for water, for salt, and so on.

The next one is a monastery near border countries. ‘Border countries’ really means outlying districts. Mostly people living in the outlying districts are not of religious type. They do not have faith in religion or in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sa~gha. ‘Border countries’ really means outlying districts near the border.

The next one is a monastery near the frontier of a kingdom. When a monk lives near the border of a country, kings may come and attack this place and that place. Sometimes it may fall to one king and then it may fall to another. When a monk is living there, he might be suspected of spying. It could be dangerous for him. So it is not suitable for him to live near a frontier and practice meditation.

“Unsuitability is that due to the risk of encountering visible data, etc., of the opposite sex as objects or to haunting by non-human beings.” So if it is a haunted house you do not live and meditate there.

“Here is a story. An elder lived in a forest, it seems. Then an ogress stood in the door of his leaf hut and sang. The elder came out and stood in the door. She went to the end of the of the walk and sang. The elder went to the end of the walk. She stood in a chasm a hundred fathoms deep and sang. The elder recoiled. Then she suddenly grabbed him saying, ‘Venerable sir, it is not just one or two of the likes of you I have eaten’.” So it is not safe to practice meditation in a haunted house.

The last one is lack of good friends. If you cannot get good friends, then you don’t live there and practice meditation. A teacher or the equivalent of a teacher is important for a person who practices meditation.

These are the 18 faults that a monk has to avoid to make his meditation practice successful.

Then there is a monastery which is suitable for monks to practice meditation. There are five qualities of such a monastery or resting place. ‘Resting place’ here means a monastery. Sometimes Venerable NÈÓamoli wanted to be very literal.

Student: so it is monastery.

Teacher: Actually it is a monastery. It is a dwelling place. A dwelling place for monks must not be too far or too near a village, or a town, or a city. A monk has to go for alms. If it is too far, it is difficult for him to go. If it is too close, it is noisy and there is disturbance. So a monastery should be neither too far or too near the village. “It has a good path for going and coming.” That means it has a good road. The monk can go to the village and come back with comfort.

Number two: “It is little frequented by day (That means seclusion.) with little sound and few voices by night.” So it is not too crowded during the day and it is not noisy at night.

The third factor is: “There is little contact with gadflies, flies, wind, burning sun and creeping things.” So there should not be many mosquitoes, gadflies and so on.

The fourth is: “the one who lives in that lodging easily obtains robes” and so on. The four requisites must be easily obtainable because if a monk has to go about getting robes and so on, then he cannot practice meditation well. The monk must live in a place where these things are easily obtained.

The fifth one is a place where monks are living “who are learned, versed in the scriptures, observers of the Dhamma, observers of the Vinaya, observers of the Codes.” ‘Observers’ really means holders. ‘Observer’ is a little softer. Here it means those who have learned by heart the Dhamma, the Vinaya and the Codes. The PÈÄi word is dhara. It is not just observers. It is those who are competent, those who are competent in Dhamma and Vinaya. ‘Dhamma’ here means Suttas and Abhidhamma. Vinaya means disciplinary rules. ‘Observers of the Codes’ means ‘Holders of the Codes’. ‘Codes’ means the beginning portion of Abhidhamma PiÔaka and the rules for monks.

I hope you remember there is a code of rules for monks, 227 rules and so on. These are called ‘Codes’. In PÈÄi they are called ‘MÈtikÈ’. ‘MÈtikÈ’ also means the very first section of Abhidhamma PiÔaka.

Student: would you call them precepts?

Teacher: That’s right, precepts for monks.

There should be such monks at a monastery, so that if you have doubt about anything, then you can go to them and ask them.

These are the five desirable qualities of a monastery. One should avoid the 18 faults and go to a monastery where one finds these five factors and practice meditation.

Before practicing meditation you have to do one more thing. That is to sever the lesser impediments. You have severed the grosser impediments. There were ten impediments mentioned in the third chapter in paragraph 29. He should sever the ten impediments. Then he should find a teacher, learn about meditation, avoid the 18 faults of a monastery, and then find a monastery endowed with the five qualities. After taking up the practice of meditation, he has to do something. That is severing the lesser impediments. ‘Lesser impediments’ here means when your hair is long, you have to cut it. When your nails are long, you have to cut them. And also if your robes need to be mended, you have to do that. If there is a stain on the bowl (That means the bowl is made of iron.) so it is not so good, then you have to bake it again. The bed, chair etc. should be cleaned. So everything has to be done neatly, so that when you practice meditation, you don’t have to worry about all these things.

After severing the lesser impediments, we embark upon the practice of meditation. But still you have to do something. You remember that there are 40 subjects of meditation. Now the author is going to describe the practice of the first subject of meditation given there, the earth kasiÓa.

Student: If you were to follow the advice about avoiding the 18 faults of a monastery, are there many places in Burma today that don’t have these hindrances?

Teacher: Yes. Mostly they are forest monasteries because in the cities you cannot get a monastery that is free from all these 18 faults. When you go to a forest, not the deep jungle, about a mile or two away from a village, you get a proper place for the practice of meditation. But I think the point here is that it should be a place where you can practice meditation without disturbance. It should be a place where you can develop concentration. That is the main point.

The first subject of meditation mentioned in the third chapter is the earth kasiÓa. ‘KasiÓa’ means whole or orb. We just say it is a disk because you look at a disk of earth and then practice meditation on it.

“When a bhikkhu has thus severed the lesser impediments, then, on his return from his alms round after his meal and after he has got rid of drowsiness due to the meal.” That means after he has rested for awhile, after a meal, you feel a little drowsy. You want to go to sleep. You may take rest for awhile. That is what is meant by getting rid of drowsiness due to the meal.

“He should sit down comfortably in a secluded and apprehend the sign in earth that is either made up or not made up.” The earth kasiÓa could be a made one or it may be not made up, a natural one.

“For this is said: ‘One who is learning the earth kasiÓa’ - ‘learning the earth kasiÓa’ means practicing meditation on it. Here also Venerable NÈÓamoli wanted to be literal. The PÈÄi word ‘uggaha’ has many meanings. ‘Picking up’ is also uggaha. ‘Learning’ is uggaha. ‘Taking hold of’ or ‘grasping’ is uggaha. Here it means practicing meditation on the kasiÓa object or concentrating on the kasiÓa object.

“For this is said: ‘One who is learning the earth kasiÓa apprehends the sign in earth that is either made up or not made up, that is bounded not unbounded, limited not unlimited, with a periphery not without a periphery, circumscribed not uncircumscribed, either the size of a bushel or the size of a saucer.” What is a bushel?

Student: It is a measure.

Teacher: How deep is it? In Burmese this word is translated as something like a tray, a round tray about one inch deep. It is not a bushel basket. Now when you want to serve something, you use a tray. It is something like that.

‘The size of a saucer’ - in Burmese we translate it as a lid of a pot. When you cook something, you use a pot made of clay and there is a lid. It is about nine or ten inches in diameter.

“He sees to it that the sign is well apprehended, well attended to, well defined.” He puts his mind on that object and tries to concentrate on that object, and tries to actually memorize the object so that he could see the object, see the sign with his eyes closed.

“Having done that, and seeing its advantages and perceiving it as a treasure, building up respect for it, making it dear to him, he anchors his mind to that object.” He may even be attached to that sign. After you have got it in your mind, you may be attached to it. You don’t want to lose it. It is dear to you.

“He anchors his mind to that object thinking ‘Surely, in this way’ - actually ‘Surely by this practice I shall be free from aging and death’.” What the author is describing here is samatha meditation. Even samatha meditation should be directed towards getting free from aging and death. That means after practicing samatha on it, he will go to vipassanÈ.

Samatha for samatha’s sake is not praised by the Buddha. You practice samatha meditation to get good concentration. Then you go to vipassanÈ meditation. With the help of the concentration from samatha meditation you can easily go to vipassanÈ meditation. Samatha meditation should be a basis for vipassanÈ meditation. That is why it is said “Surely by this practice I shall be freed from aging and death.”

“Secluded from sense desires ...he enters upon and dwells in the first jhÈna.” We will come to the jhÈnas not today but next week.

When a person has previous experience with the practice of meditation, then he may not need to make a disk of earth. Just by looking at the natural earth he may get the sign, or the abstract sign, or the grasped sign. If a person had experience in the past, then he may not need to make a kasiÓa disk. If he does not have this experience, then he will have to make a kasiÓa disk. That is with regard to ‘made and unmade’ . ‘Unmade’ is for those who have had experience in the past lives. For those who have not, they have to make a kasiÓa for themselves.

“When a man has had no such previous practice, he should make a kasiÓa, guarding against the four faults of a kasiÓa and not overlooking any of the directions for the meditation subject learned from the teacher. Now the four faults of a kasiÓa are due to the intrusion of blue, yellow, red or white.” When you make the earth kasiÓa it must not be blue color, yellow color, red color or white color. That is because among the ten kasiÓas there are four color kasiÓas - blue, yellow, red and white. So in order not to mix with them the earth kasiÓa should not be blue, yellow, red or white.

“Instead of using clay of such colors he should make the kasiÓa of clay like that in the stream of GangÈ, which is the color of the dawn.” It is somewhat red but not really red color. You may get up in the early morning and look at the dawn. In our books it is defined as a little red, but not quite red, but just a little red. It is that color. It is said in the book that you should use dawn-colored clay. You can get it in the stream GangÈ. ‘GangÈ’ does not mean necessarily the Ganges river in India. A river is called ‘gangÈ’. GangÈ is a common noun meaning river. And it is also the name of a river in India.

He should make it not in the middle of the monastery in a place where novices, etc., are about but on the confines of the monastery.” So he should make it in a secluded place.

When he makes the kasiÓa, he can make it portable one or as a fixed one. “A portable one should be made by tying rags, or leather, or matting onto four sticks and smearing thereon a disk of the size already mentioned.” That means about the size of a round tray. Down further the size will be given.

“...Using clay picked clean of grass, roots, gravel and sand, and well kneaded. At the time of the preliminary work it should be laid on the ground and looked at.” So you put it on the ground and look at it and practice meditation on it.

“A fixture should be made by knocking stakes into the ground in the form of a lotus calyx, lacing them over with creepers. If the clay is insufficient, then other clay should be put underneath.” So if the dawn-colored clay is insufficient, then you can use other colored clay underneath and put the dawn-colored clay on the surface, on top.

“And a disk a span and four fingers across made on the top of that” - that is about the size of a tray. A span and four fingers is about ten inches in diameter.

“So, having thus made it delimited and of the size prescribed, he should scrape it down with a stone trowel.” He should not use a wooden trowel because it makes the color bad. “And make it as even as the surface of a drum.” So it is very smooth.

“Then he should sweep the place out and have a bath.” We will come to that later. We need cleanliness both internal as well as external.

“On his return he should seat himself on a well-covered chair.” Actually it is not a well-covered chair. It is a well-placed chair on even ground.

“He should seat himself on a well-placed chair with legs a span and four fingers high (about ten inches), prepared in a place that is two and a half cubits from the kasiÓa disk.” So the disk should be about four feet away. A cubit is 18 inches. So two cubits is 36 inches or three feet and then nine inches more.

“For the kasiÓa does not appear plainly to him if he sits further off than that.” If he sits too far, it is not plain to him. If he sits too close, then faults of the kasiÓa appear. When you make an earth disk, it may not be as smooth as a mirror. So you may see faults like impressions of your fingers or something like that. In order not to see them, you have to put it a little way back.

“If he sits higher up, he has to look at it with his neck bent; and if he sits lower down, his knees ache.” So he should sit in a place that is neither too high nor too low. The kasiÓa should be neither too far from him nor too close to him Then he practices meditation.

When he looks at the disk, he should not open his eyes too wide. If he opens his eyes too wide, he gets fatigued and the disk becomes too obvious. And when the disk becomes too obvious, then the sign cannot become apparent to him. If he opens his eyes too little, then he cannot see the disk clearly. And so the person may become drowsy and fall asleep. It should be looked at with eyes open evenly, not too wide nor too little as if he were looking at himself in a mirror. When you look at a looking glass or mirror, you look at your face and not at the color of the glass or the characteristics of the mirror. In the same way when you look at the disk, you do not look at its color and so on. We will come to that later.

“The color should not be reviewed. The characteristics should not be given attention.” The author did not say that the color should not be looked at because you cannot avoid looking at color when you look at the disk. The disk is somewhat red. When you look at the disk and practice meditation on it, you cannot help seeing color. But you do not pay attention to color because if you pay attention to color, then your meditation will not be on the earth disk but on the colored disk. You are not to mix with the colored disks. You are not to pay attention to color.

“The characteristic should not be given attention.” Earth has the characteristic of hardness. You should not concentrate on the hardness of the earth on the disk. If you concentrate on the characteristic of the earth disk, you are doing another kind of meditation, not this kasiÓa meditation. There is another kind of meditation which is described in maybe chapter 10 where you concentrate on the characteristics of things and not on the things themselves. Here you pay attention to the earth kasiÓa and not its characteristics.

“The characteristic should not be given attention. But rather while not ignoring the color, attention should be given by setting the mind on the (name) concept.” The earth is a concept. It is not a reality. What is real is just the hardness. Hardness is a reality and earth is a concept. This kind of meditation takes concept as object and not reality. So the concept should be taken into account. Something like the shape, the thing, the earth, the round earth you look at it. But you do not concentrate on its characteristic, its hardness or softness. You do not look at the color or take care of the color but just what is called earth by people.

Then you look at it and say “earth, earth, earth”. So it says here “That conceptual state can be called by any one he likes among the names for earth.” There are many words for the earth. They are synonyms. You can use any synonym for the earth. In English there may not be as many as in PÈÄi language. In PÈÄi there are pathavÊ, mahÊ, medinÊ, bhumi, vasudhÈ, and vasudharÈ. There are many words in PÈÄi for the English word ‘earth’. Any one of them can be used. You look at the disk and you say in PÈÄi “PathavÊ, pathavÊ, pathavÊ” or “VasudhÈ, vasudhÈ”. Whatever word you say, it just means the earth. One uses “whichever suits his perception.”

“Still ‘earth’ is also a name that is obvious”. The sentence really means ‘earth’ is a name that is commonly used. So you can just use the word ‘pathavÊ’ and not the other words. That is what is meant here.

“Still ‘earth’ is (‘Also’ is not needed here.) a name that is obvious, so it can be developed with the obvious one by saying ‘earth, earth’.” That means pathavÊ, pathavÊ, pathavÊ. You look at it with your eyes open and say ‘earth, earth’. Then you close your eyes and try to memorize it. Then you open your eyes and close them again. In this way you practice meditation. You try to memorize the image or sign of the earth until you get it in your mind, until you see it in your mind without looking at it.

That is the time when you are said to have got what is called the ‘learning sign’ here. That means the abstract sign or let us say the memorized sign.

After you get that memorized sign, you leave that place and go to your own place and practice there. That is because if you look at the disk and practice again and again, it is said that you cannot get the counterpart sign.

‘Counterpart sign’ is finer than the memorized sign. In order to get the counterpart sign you have to practice looking in your mind and not looking at the thing itself.

In order not to see the thing, not to look at the thing, you get away from it because if you are close to it, you cannot help looking at it. So you just leave it there and go back to your own place and practice meditation, memorizing or seeing the sign in your mind and dwelling upon it again and again and again. Then it becomes refined and is changed into what is called a ‘counterpart sign’.

Student: You are not memorizing or visualizing the word ‘earth’?

Teacher: No, not the word but the thing we call ‘earth’.

Student: So the counterpart sign is your mental image.

Teacher: Mental image, that’s right. The first mental image here is called ‘learning sign’. That mental image appears as the real thing is. You dwell on it again and again in your mind and it changes to a counterpart sign. When it changes into a counterpart sign, it is refined. It is smooth and very shiny. When you have the memorized sigh in your mind, whatever faults there are on the disk also appear in your mind. But when you reach the stage of the counterpart sign, then the faults or defects of the kasiÓa disappear. It becomes like a polished mirror.

You dwell upon it again and again until you first reach the access concentration and then jhÈna concentration. There are two kinds of concentration - access concentration and absorption concentration. Access concentration is the one you get before you reach the stage of jhÈna. They are described in paragraphs 32,33 and so on.

“Now concentration is of two kinds, that is to say, access concentration and absorption concentration: the mind becomes concentrated in two ways, that is, on the plane of access and on the plane of obtainment.” ‘Obtainment’ means jhÈna concentration.

“Herein, the mind becomes concentrated on the lane of access by the abandonment of the hindrances.” When you get rid of hindrances (sensual desire, anger, sloth and torpor, agitation and remorse, and doubt), then your mind is on the object and you are said to have got the plane of access concentration. When you reach the jhÈna stage, you are said to have attained the absorption concentration.

“The difference between the two kinds of concentration is this. The factors are not strong in access..” During the time of access concentration the factors are the mental states accompanying that consciousness which is practicing meditation. These factors are not strong. Because they are not strong enough your mind lapses into life-continuum or bhava~ga. Then the mind goes to the object again and then lapses into bhavaÓga again. The factors there are not so strong.

When you reach the jhÈna stage, your mind can be on that object for a whole day, for a whole night without being distracted to any other object. The factors or mental states accompanying the consciousness are strong at that time. These are the two kinds of concentration. When you reach access or jhÈna concentration, then you reach to one stage of the practice of meditation.

If you can get to the absorption stage easily, it is good. But if you cannot, then you have to do something here. What you have to do is ‘guarding the sign’. You’ve got the counterpart sign. You have to keep it in your mind. You have to keep it from slipping away from your mind. You have to do something to guard the sign.

Actually you have to avoid seven things that are unsuitable. The seven things that may be unsuitable are abode, resort, speech, person, food, climate and posture. For example if living in a certain place you practice meditation and lose the sign, it is not a good place. It is not suitable for you. It is something like that with the others too.

‘Resort’ really means a village where monks go for alms. That is called a ‘resort’. It should be neither too far nor too near.

In paragraph 37 there is the word ‘kosa’. One kosa is about two miles. So ‘one kosa and a half’ means about three miles.

Then speech - ‘speech’ means talking. If you talk too much and if you talk nonsense, then you will lose what you have got, the counterpart sign. So you have to be restrained with regard to talking.

“Person: one not given to aimless talk, who has the special qualities of virtue, etc., by acquaintanship with whom the unconcentrated mind becomes concentrated, or the concentrated mind more so, is suitable. One who is much concerned with his body, who is addicted to aimless talk is unsuitable.” The latter kind of persons are unsuitable and you have to avoid them.

Student: When you say ‘pays too much attention to the body, what is too much attention?

Teacher: In the footnote it says in exercising and caring for the body. It is too much concern with exercises or too much concern with the body. However you need to have some exercise to keep your body in good shape.

Student: Do they do yoga practices?

Teacher: I don’t know. Yoga practices are for keeping your body in good shape. It may be permissible to practice yoga postures or whatever with concentration or mindfulness meditation. But some people are too much concerned with their bodies. I think that is what is meant here. We have to pay proper attention to our physical bodies. If our physical bodies are not in good shape, we cannot practice meditation.

Such persons are to be avoided because the attainments even the jhÈnas can disappear if you associate with such persons who talk aimlessly and pay too much attention to their bodies.

Then food - for some sweet food is suitable. For others sour food is suitable and so on. One must get suitable food to keep the counterpart sign from disappearing from you.

“Climate: a cool climate suits one, a warm one another.” That is why we need some kind of comfort to practice meditation. We need to eat food which is suitable for us. Then we need to be in a suitable climate, not too cold nor too warm and so on.

Posture - you can choose a posture which is best for you - walking, standing, sitting, maybe not lying down. If walking suits you, then you walk. If sitting suits you, then you can sit. Here in the book lying down is also given.

Student: Is this something that the person decides for himself or that the teacher decides?

Teacher: Here the monk decides for himself. It is like the abode. You have to try it for three days for each one - walking three days, sitting three days and so on. Then you choose which is best for you and do that.

If after avoiding the seven which are not suitable and taking those which are suitable, you cannot get jhÈna or absorption, then you have to go through these ten skills in absorption. The first is making the basis clean. It is keeping your body clean and keeping the place clean. There is internal cleanliness and external cleanliness. The meditation room needs to be clean and neat. Also our bodies should be clean. That is why a few pages before it said you take a bath and then practice meditation. Keeping the basis clean is important. When our bodies are clean, then we have more chance to get concentration. Also when the place is clean and neat and not too crowded with many things, it is conducive to the practice of meditation or concentration.

The second one is maintaining balanced faculties. It is very important. When we practice meditation, there are said to be five faculties or working factors. They are faith or confidence, effort, mindfulness, concentration, and understanding. These five faculties should be balanced so that we get good concentration, or we get absorption or jhÈna, and also if we practice vipassanÈ we get the realization of truth. There must be balancing of these faculties. If any one of these faculties is in excess, then the others cannot do their function well. They must be functioning well when they are working together. One must not exceed another.

If there is too much faith, too much confidence, then you have to reduce it by reviewing the individual essences of the states. That means if you have too much faith in the Buddha or you have too much faith in your teacher, then you have to review the impermanence of the Buddha or the teacher. They are not permanent. They will go away one day. And so you get less attachment or less devotion to them. If there is too much devotion, then you cannot practice meditation.

If there is too much energy, you cannot practice meditation either. There are two stories given here. One is of the Elder Vakkali and the other is of the Elder Sona.

The Elder Vakkali is the one who had too much faith in the Buddha, who was too devoted to the Buddha. So he did not practice meditation. The buddha had to shake him up and dismiss him. He said something like: “Don’t come to me. What is the good of looking at this putrid body of mine?” Buddha dismissed him in this way. Elder Vakkali was so sorry that he decided to kill himself by jumping off a cliff. When he was about to jump the Buddha sent his rays to him. That is the story of Vakkali. I brought the story of the Elder Vakkali in case you don’t have it here. It is in Buddhist Legends.

Student: We do have it. I will put it on reserve.

Teacher: The other story is about the Elder Sona who made too much effort and so could not achieve anything in the beginning. He was the son of a very rich man. It is said that he was very soft with regard to his body. He was so very delicate that hair grew on his palms and on the soles of his feet. When he became a monk, he thought that he must make much effort in order to obtain attainment. So he walked up and down during the night. He put forth too much effort walking up and down. He could not get concentration. He wore blisters on the soles of his feet. After practicing for some time, he decided to leave the Order and go back to lay life.

The Buddha knew this. So Buddha went to him and told him the simile of the lute or harp. If the strings are too tight, you cannot get good sound. If the strings are too loose, you cannot get good sound. This story can be found in The Book of Discipline and in the Gradual Sayings. I will give you the references in case you want the story in full. In the book of Discipline it is in volume 4, page 236 and the following pages. In the Gradual Sayings it is in volume 3, pagee 266 and the following pages.

When one is too strong, the others cannot perform their respective functions well. It is not ‘several’ but ‘respective’ functions. These factors have their respective functions. Faith has one function. Effort has another function and so on. When one is too strong, the others cannot perform their respective functions well.

“Particularly recommended is balancing faith with understanding, and concentration with energy.” These are the most important - balancing faith with understanding and concentration with energy.

If you have too much faith, then you will believe in anything. You will believe in what you ought not believe. You will be led astray by those who deceive people. If your understanding is too strong, if you are too wise, you tend to become cunning or maybe tricky. These two have to be balanced. You must not have too much faith or too much understanding or wisdom.

Concentration and energy must be balanced also. If there is too much concentration, you tend to become lazy. If there is too much energy, you tend to become agitated. In both ways you lose concentration.

Paragraph 48 is important because first the author said that there should be balance between the faculties. Particularly recommended is the balancing between faith with understanding and concentration with energy. Now he is going to give another explanation, a different explanation than in the preceding paragraph.

Here the translation is not what it should be. Paragraph 48 says differently than what is said above. What was said above is that faith must be balanced with understanding and concentration should be balanced with energy. There in paragraph 48 it is said that for a person who is practicing samatha meditation, faith even strong faith is permissible. If faith is stronger than other factors, it is still good. This is because by faith he will make effort and get what he wants. That is he will get concentration and absorption or jhÈna.

With regard to concentration and understanding, not concentration and energy, here it is concentration and understanding. For one practicing samatha meditation concentration can be stronger. When you are practicing samatha meditation, concentration that is stronger is permissible. Stronger is good because by strong concentration you will get to absorption. You will get to the jhÈna stage. For one working on insight, that is practicing vipassanÈ meditation, understanding that is stronger is permissible. Understanding could be or should be stronger. This is because with that understanding or penetrative knowledge he will reach the penetration of characteristics. The ‘characteristics’ mean impermanence, suffering and soullessness. So for one who is practicing samatha meditation, stronger concentration is permissible. For one who is practicing vipassanÈ meditation, stronger understanding is permissible.

But with the balancing of the two he reaches absorption as well. We can ask what is their balance? It’s OK. When they are balanced, he can get absorption as well. He can get jhÈna absorption.

When you practice meditation and you are trying to get jhÈna, then there can be stronger concentration. It’s OK. But when you practice meditation to get the supramundane attainment, the balancing of the faculties is necessary. This is what is meant in this paragraph.

The translation here is not quite like that. It is different from what has been said above. Above it says that the faculties should be balanced. In this paragraph it says even though they are not perfectly balanced, still it is OK.

What about mindfulness? Mindfulness is needed everywhere. Mindfulness is like salt seasoning all dishes. So there is no instance where mindfulness is in excess. Mindfulness is always needed.

Student: Concentration mentioned in paragraphs 47 & 48 is samatha. It’s not jhÈna or samÈdhi?

Teacher: Concentration in paragraph 47 is samÈdhi. In paragraph 48 ‘one working on concentration’ means one practicing samatha meditation. For him samÈdhi can be stronger than paÒÒÈ.

Student: What do you mean by samÈdhi?

Teacher: Concentration.

Student: SamÈdhi, jhÈna and samatha can be translated as concentration in different contexts.

Teacher: Yes. In PÈÄi samÈdhi and samatha can be synonymous. It is concentration of mind. Samatha is translated as tranquillity, but samatha and samÈdhi can be synonymous. SamÈdhi may be wider in meaning than samatha because in vipassanÈ also we need samÈdhi. SamÈdhi is the ability of the mind to be stuck to the object, to be on the object. Samatha is defined as the stilling of the hindrances or getting rid of the hindrances. But samÈdhi and samatha are used synonymously in some contexts. ‘Concentration here sometimes means samatha and sometimes it really means samÈdhi.

Student: Samatha has a fixed object and samÈdhi may have a fixed object or variable objects.

Teacher: That’s right. Because samÈdhi in vipassanÈ meditation does not have a fixed object. Although if it can be on a fixed object, it is better. But when you practice vipassanÈ meditation, you have to be mindful of everything that becomes prominent at the present moment. Therefore the object cannot be fixed.

Student: JhÈna in these definitions is a particularly developed kind of samatha concentration.

Teacher: Right. JhÈna is in the realm of samatha meditation.

For details on paragraph 54 you may read the book the Way of Mindfulness by Venerable Soma Thera. I will give you the page numbers also. For paragraph 54 it is pages 135-140. For paragraph 55 you may read the same book pages 141-143.

In paragraph 55 the fourth line it says “ seeing benefit in obtaining the mundane and supramundane distinctions.” ‘Mundane distinctions’ means the attainment of jhÈna. ‘Supramundane distinction’ means the attainment of enlightenment. ‘Distinction’ here means jhÈnas and enlightenment.

For paragraph 56 you may read that book The Way of Mindfulness, page 144. Then for paragraph 60 you may read the Way of Mindfulness, pages 144-145. For paragraph 61 you should read The Way of Mindfulness, pages 145-147. And for paragraph 62 you need to read in the same book pages 147-148.

Here how to exert the mind on occasions and how to restrain or how to suppress the mind on occasions is given. So if a person cannot get absorption just by avoiding the seven that are unsuitable, then he should do these ten things for skill in absorption. ‘Skill in absorption’ means skill in getting or reaching absorption. These ten things he should do. And even at that stage after acquiring the ten skills, if he cannot reach the jhÈna stage, he should not despair. He should do what is called equalizing the effort or energy and concentration. So the verses just mean that.

“A man wise in temperament

Notices how his mind inclines;

Energy and serenity

Always he couples each to each.”

So he should balance these two.

The Commentator gives five similes. The first is the bee getting the pollen. The second is the medical student practicing surgery on a lotus leaf. The third is taking the spider’s thread or the spider’s web. The fourth is the ship’s skipper. The fifth is the oil tube. So there are five similes given.

At the beginning of the first simile it says “When a too clever bee -“. Now there is a variant reading which means just not clever. So we can take either one. We may take ‘too clever’ because it doesn’t hurt the meaning. So we may say a ‘too clever bee’ or a ‘bee which is not clever’. The same is true for the other similes.

These five similes are just to teach us that we are not to be too eager or too lax in our efforts. We must equalize or balance concentration with energy. If we can keep energy and concentration on the same level, then we will get what we are striving for or we will get the absorption states.

Next week we will go to the first jhÈna.

Student: The reason that the first meditation is on the earth kasiÓa is because it is easier for concentration? It is a natural concentration?

Teacher: Yes, for those who have had experience in the past it comes naturally. They just look at the earth and they get the sign. This is true for other kinds of kasiÓas also. Sometimes you just look at a pond or water and then you get the sign. So it is like natural.

Student: Is there some usual length of time using earth kasiÓa to develop absorption? Is there great variation?

Teacher: There may be variation between one individual and another. It depends on how he practices and also how much past experience he had.

Student: Are there pictures of kasiÓas so we could see a typical kasiÓa object?

Teacher: I have a color kasiÓa. I can bring it next time or next week. Color kasiÓa is easier to make than earth kasiÓa. You find a board and paint it blue, yellow, red or white. There is one lady who is practicing color kasiÓa. She lives in marin County. She wanted to practice mettÈ meditation. So I suggested that she practice the white kasiÓa first to get the conceptualized image of that disk. Then after getting that she could put anybody in that disk and then she could practice loving-kindness to that person. That is effective. I don’t know how far she has gone, but she said that she was doing that.

Student: Getting the mental image clearly is different from seeing the counterpart sign?

Teacher: there are two signs. The first one let us cal ‘the memorized sign. First you look at it. Then you memorize it. Then you close your eyes and see it as clearly as if your eyes were open.At that stage your image is the exact image of the disk. If there are defects on the disk, they appear in your memory too. Then you concentrate on that memorized image. You close your eyes and look at that image again and again. Then it becomes more refined. And so eventually the faults disappear. It becomes smooth and clean. That is the stage where you get the counterpart sign. That is called the ‘counterpart sign’.

Student: That is a transformed image that you experience with your concentration.

Teacher: That’s right. The two signs differ in degree of clarity.

Student: It’s a conceptualization. The second is more conceptualized.

Teacher: Yes. The counterpart sign is also a concept. It is not a reality. It is born of a perception of your mind. It exists in your mind. So it is a kind of concept.

Student: Is it something that you just know that you have when you see it or attain it?

Teacher: Oh yes. You know that you have that because it is in your mind. Whenever you calm down and close your eyes, it will appear to you.

Student: Is this a meditation that is done at just a particular time or is it something you do for the rest of your life?

Teacher: No, not the rest of your life. It is for a particular time to reach a certain stage of absorption. The Buddha’s wish is for people to practice samatha meditation as a basis for vipassanÈ meditation. First you practice samatha meditation. Then you contemplate on the practice itself or on the other objects as impermanent, unsatisfactory and soulless. So you go to vipassanÈ after you practice samatha meditation. OK.

SÈdhu! SÈdhu! SÈdhu!

(Tape 10 / PS: 74 -137)

Today we will study the detailed exposition of the first jhÈna. So far the yogi has prepared and practiced until he got the access concentration. With the gaining of access concentration he got the counterpart sign in his mind. That is the mental image of the kasiÓa disk appears in his mind. He dwells on it again and again. He concentrates on that mental image. When the time is ripe, there arises in him a thought process containing jhÈna consciousness.

“While he is guiding his mind in this way, confronting the sign (that means dwelling on the counterpart sign again and again.), [then knowing] ‘now absorption will succeed’.” This is the place where most translators misunderstood the PÈÄi idiom. The PÈÄi idiom here means just ‘when absorption is about to arise. So we do not need the words in square brackets, ‘then knowing’. The subject of this sentence is mind-door-adverting and not the person. Also the person does not know when the absorption will arise. So this PÈÄi idiom is: ‘when absorption is about to arise’. Literally translated it should be ‘when it could be said that absorption will succeed or absorption will arise’. When absorption or jhÈna is about to arise, what happens is that mind-door-adverting arises cutting off the flow of the life-continuum or bhava~ga.

Please look at the sheet today of the jhÈna thought process. I have given the diagrams of the thought processes before. If you look at the beginning of the line the first two are ‘Bh’. They are bhava~gas. Then M is mind-door-adverting. When absorption is about to arise, there arises first in his mind mind-door-adverting. After that there are five moments of impulsion or javana. The first four belong to kÈmavacara (sense-sphere) consciousness. The fifth javana belongs to r|pavacara (fine-material-sphere) consciousness. The first four javanas are what we call beautiful-sense-sphere consciousness. The first javana is called preliminary work. the second javana is called access. The third javana is called conformity. The fourth javana is called change of lineage. The Commentary explains that all four of these javanas can be called by each of these names - preliminary work, access, conformity. All four can be called by these names. If we want to give them separate names so that one excludes the other , then the first is preliminary work, the second is access, the third is conformity and the fourth is change of lineage.

It is at the fourth moment that the kÈmavacara lineage stops. The fifth moment becomes the r|pavacara lineage, the fine-material lineage. That is why it is called change of lineage.

The second diagram shows another variety of the thought process, but here you do not have the preliminary work. There are three kÈmavacara javanas and the fourth is jhÈna. So in this thought process there are three kÈmavacara javanas and then the fourth javana is the r|pavacara jhÈna. The jhÈna arises either at the fifth moment or at the fourth moment. In these thought processes we don not have the normal duration of seven javanas. Usually javanas repeat themselves seven times, but in this thought process there are only five or four javana moments. Normally there are seven moments of javana in the thought process. These are the moments when the object is really experienced. They are the moments when kamma is acquired, either good kamma or bad kamma. The commentator explains all this in paragraphs 74 & 75.

In paragraphs 76 & 77 another view is given of the Elder Godatta. There can be sixth and seventh moments of javana. This Elder felt there could be six or seven javana moments. This opinion is refuted by Venerable Buddhaghosa, the author of this book. If the javana were to go on to the sixth or seventh moment, it would not be able to stop as jhÈna.

The analogy that is given is: When a person runs fast towards a precipice, he would not be able to stop there because he has gained momentum. In a similar manner one javana supports the next javana. They become more and more powerful. At the third or fourth kÈmavacara javana moments the flow of kÈmavacara consciousness can stop and the jhÈna consciousness can arise. The common opinion of the teachers is that jhÈna consciousness at the fifth moment or at the fourth moment and not at the sixth or seventh moments. There must be either four kÈmavacara moments or three kÈmavacara moments preceding the arising of the jhÈna thought moment. This is how a jhÈna thought process arises.

In this book it is called ‘cognitive series’. We call it a ‘thought process’ and Venerable NÈÓamoli calls it a ‘cognitive series’. In PÈÄi it is called ‘vÊthi’.

When Buddha described the first jhÈna he used something like a stereotyped expression. The Commentary gives a detailed exposition of that Text. The translation of that Text I have given on the sheet to make it more clear. It is different from what you see in The Path of Purification., but they mean the same thing.

The passage runs like this: “Quite secluded from kÈmas, secluded from akusalas, he enters upon and dwells in the first jhÈna which is accompanied by vitakka and vicÈra and which is born of seclusion or arises in secluded states and which is with pÊti and sukha.” This is the description of the first jhÈna.

The first phrase says ‘quite secluded from kÈmas’ and the second phrase says ‘secluded from akusalas’. The Commentary explains that the word ‘quite’ is to be understood in the second phrase also. In PÈÄi usage they do not repeat a word again and again, but let it be understood tacitly in later expressions. Here although it does not say ‘quite secluded from kÈmas and quite secluded from akusalas’, we must understand that ‘quite’ is meant in the second phrase also. The word ‘quite’ here means something lie ‘not otherwise’. There is definiteness here. Your mind must be secluded from kÈmas and not otherwise in order to get jhÈna. Without seclusion from kÈmas there can be no attainment of jhÈna. The same is true for akusala. Without being quite secluded from akusala there can be no attainment of jhÈna. ‘Quite’ should be understood in the second phrase also.

“He enters upon and dwells in the first jhÈna which is accompanied by vitakka and vicÈra.’ Vitakka and vicÈra are jhÈna factors. They are mental factors. In English we call them ‘initial application’ and ‘sustained application’. This is why you need a certain knowledge of Abhidhamma in order to understand this. The first jhÈna is accompanied by vitakka and vicÈra (initial application and sustained application).

The first jhÈna is born of seclusion. We will come to seclusion later. The first jhÈna arises in secluded states. That means it arises together with secluded states.

The first jhÈna is with pÊti and sukha. ‘PÊti’ is translated as joy. ‘Sukha’ is translated as happiness. I think you remember the difference between pÊti and sukha. It is explained in The Path of Purification.

The word ‘kÈma’ is important here. The word ‘kÈma’ can mean objects of sense-desire or sense-desires themselves. Whenever we find the word ‘kÈma’, we have to understand what it means. Sometimes it just means the objects of sense-desires. Sometimes it may mean sense-desires. And sometimes it may mean both. Here the word ‘kÈma’ can mean both the objects of sense-desires and sense-desires themselves.

If I am attached to this cup, then this is the object of my sense-desire. Sense-desire is in me and this is the object. This object is called ‘kÈma’ and the desire arising in my mind is also called ‘kÈma’. ‘KÈma’ can mean the thing we are attached to or the attachment that we have.

When we take kÈma to mean the objects of sense-desires, then the first phrase shows that we must be secluded from these sense objects, desirable sense objects, objects which we can be attached to. We should not be practicing in the middle of the city where there can be many attractions. We should be in a secluded place or in a forest somewhere where there are not such attractive objects. The first phrase shows that we should be secluded bodily.

The second phrase ‘quite secluded from akusalas’ means that we must be secluded from sense-desires and all akusala. That means akusalas including sense-desires. Sense-desire is lobha. So it is included in akusala. This is when we take kÈma to mean objects of sense-desire.

If we take kÈma to mean just sense-desires, then the first phrase shows seclusion from sense-desires. The first phrase shows we must be secluded from sense-desires. We must not have sense-desires arise in our mind. The second phrase shows seclusion from all akusala and sense-desires. When we say ‘secluded from kÈma’, we mean secluded from lobha. ‘Secluded from akusala’ means all akusala including lobha. We should understand these two phrases in this way. This is the gist of what the Commentary or The Path of Purification explains in these passages.

In order to get jhÈna one must be secluded from sense objects and sense-desires, and also be secluded from akusala, especially from what we call the ‘hindrances’. There are five hindrances mentioned later in the book. If our minds are not free from sense-desires and the other hindrances, concentration cannot arise. When there is no concentration, there can be no attainment of jhÈna. In order to get at least this first jhÈna our minds should be away from the sense-desires, the sense objects and also away from the mental hindrances. The hindrances are sense-desires, anger, sloth and torpor, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. These are the five hindrances that are mentioned later.

In the translation what is meant by ‘sense desires as object’? Are objects sense desires? I think that is not accurate. Suppose this is a sense object. This is the object of sense. This is not sense desire. This is the object of sense desire. I think we should not say ‘sense desires as object’. I think we should say ‘sense desires’ object’ or ‘object of sense desires’. I think it should be like that.

Student: Sense desires as object - we would look at sense desires not their object.

Teacher: When we say ‘object of sense desire’, what do you understand by that?

Student: That would be r|pa.

Teacher: They can be r|pa and nÈma also.

Student: The tea could be the object of sense desire.

Teacher: The tea could be the object of sense desire. Anything can be the object of sense desire. Sense desire is the subject arising in our mind. The objects are something outside our mind or even within our mind, but they cannot be the same thing at the same moment. You know we are attached to thoughts too. Then the thought is in the mind. That thought is the object of our sense desire.

Student: Aren’t dharmas objects of sense desire?

Teacher: Everything in the world can be the object. There are six senses in Abhidhamma - eye, ear and so on. The visible object is the object of the eye, of seeing consciousness and so on. The other objects are the objects of the mind. Instead of saying ‘sense desires as object’ I think it should say ‘objects of sense desires’. But we have ‘sense desires’ objects’ in the second line of paragraph 83. I think that is correct. It is an apostrophe. It is not a quote. There is confusion here in the typing also.

In paragraph 82 about a third of the way down we find ‘sense-desire-element’. It actually means the realm of sense desire. We have come across this word in the past. Although it is translated as element, what is meant is the realm of sense desire. That means kÈmavacara realm. Sometimes translators want to be very literal. The word ‘dhÈtu’ is used. The word ‘dhÈtu’ is normally translated as element. For example there are four great elements - earth element, water element, fire element and wind element. The word used for these is dhÈtu. Here also the word dhÈtu is used in a different sense, not in the sense that they are essential parts of something. Here ‘kÈmadhÈtu’ means simply the realm of kÈma. That means the kÈmavacara realm, the kÈmavacara world.

In paragraph 88 “So far the factors abandoned by the first (We need the word ‘first here.) jhÈna have been shown. And now, in order to show the factors associated with it, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought etc. is said.” Etcetera is missing there.

Now we come to familiar ground. There is initial application or here it is called applied thought and sustained thought. That means initial application and sustained application. Vitakka and vicÈra are two mental factors. The Commentary explains one by one initial application and sustained application. It also explains the difference between these two. They arise at the same time with the same type of consciousness, but they have different functions. So they are different.

In paragraph 89 “And though sometimes not separate” - that means ‘though sometimes they arise together’ with some types of consciousness. Initial thought and sustained thought arise together with many types of consciousness. Actually with 55 kinds of consciousness they arise together. In the second jhÈna there is no initial application or applied thought. The same is true for the third, fourth and fifth jhÈnas. Though sometimes not separate’ means that although in some types of consciousness they arise together, applied thought is one thing and sustained thought is another.

The author then gives the analogies of the differences between vitakka and vicÈra. I have told you about these differences when we studied Abhidhamma here. Do you remember them? In the middle of paragraph 89 applied thought is “like a bird’s spreading out its wings when about to soar into the air, and like a bee’s diving towards a lotus when it is minded to follow up the scent of it. The behaviour of sustained thought is quiet, being the near non-interference of consciousness, like the bird’s planing with outspread wings after soaring into the air, and like the bee’s buzzing above the lotus after it dives towards it.” Initial application is going to the thing first and sustained application is staying on it. There are other analogies too.

Student: It would seem that they would arise in sequence.

Teacher: They arise together and they have different functions. Initial application is the one that takes the mind to the object. Sustained application is the one that keeps the mind there.

Student: Still it seems to me that initial application would arise first and then sustained application.

Teacher: They arise together. ‘Initial application’ is not an exact translation of the word. There is the word ‘initial’, so we may think that vitakka comes first and then vicÈra follows. ‘Vitakka’ just means thinking or thought. ‘VicÈra’ means going here and there. That is vicÈra. They are together but they have different functions.

Then there is the word that we just translated here as ‘born of seclusion’. There are two meanings for this word in PÈÄi - ‘born of seclusion’ or ‘arises in secluded states’. That means arises with secluded states. ‘Secluded states’ really means the jhÈna consciousness and the other mental factors. ‘Seclusion’ here means the disappearance of hindrances. So long as there are hindrances there can be no seclusion or there can be no arising of jhÈna consciousness. ‘Born of seclusion’ means the disappearance of or the absence of mental hindrances.

The jhÈna is with pÊti and sukha, with joy and happiness. Here Venerable NÈÓamoli translated pÊti as happiness and sukha as bliss.

The Commentary gives five kinds of pÊti here. These kinds of pÊti the meditators experience during their meditation. There are said to be five kinds of such happiness, or joy, or zest. There are minor pÊti, momentary pÊti, showering pÊti, uplifting pÊti, and pervading pÊti.

Minor pÊti is only able to raise the hairs on the body. Sometimes you have this hair standing on end. That may be caused by the cold. It is also caused by pÊti in the mind.

Momentary pÊti is a little stronger than minor pÊti. It is like flashes of lightening at different moments. Sometimes you feel this when you practice meditation.

“Showering pÊti breaks over the body again and again like waves on the sea shore.” It is like a wave that comes over the body and the subsides. Then it comes again and subsides. That is showering pÊti.

The fourth one is uplifting pÊti. When you have this kind of pÊti, your body can levitate. Two stories are given here in which two persons levitated or flew through the air. It was not by the power of jhÈna or supernormal knowledge but by the power of this pÊti.

These stories are not difficult to understand. One story is about a monk and the other story is of a girl who was left behind because she was pregnant. The girl was very desirous of going to the pagoda festival. She got pÊti from thinking of the people going round the pagoda and making offerings to the Buddha. She got this uplifting pÊti and was transported to the pagoda festival. She got there before her parents reached the place. That was by the power of uplifting pÊti.

The last one is pervading pÊti. “the whole body is completely pervaded, like a filled bladder, like a rock cavern invaded by a huge inundation.” It is something like when surgical cotton is put in water. It is totally soaked by the water. Your whole body is soaked in this kind of happiness.

I would translate sukha as happiness. PÊti is difficult to translate. It could be translated as rapture. The Commentary gives the difference between pÊti and sukha.

PÊti and sukha also arise at the same time with some types of consciousness. Although they arise together in this case also there is difference because pÊti is not feeling according to Abhidhamma. PÊti belongs to formation aggregate and sukha belongs to feeling aggregate. So they are different. Sukha is feeling (vedanÈ). PÊti is not vedanÈ, but it is something like ‘preceding sukha’ although they arise at the same time.

Púti is compared to a man exhausted in the desert who saw a pond at the edge of the woods. That is pÊti. If he went to the woods’ shade, he would have sukha there. PÊti and sukha are something like that. PÊti is also translated as pleasurable interest. When you are going on a journey and you are tired and you see the pond, then you have some kind of joy. When you have reached the pond and made use of the water and so on, then you have the real experience of that thing. One is interest in that thing. The other is the real experience of that thing.

There is an alternate translation of the passage there. That is “which is accompanied by vitakka and vicÈra, and which is with pÊti and sukha which are born of seclusion.” The word ‘born of seclusion’ can qualify jhÈna or it can qualify pÊti and sukha. Although it is not so important which way we take this, we must understand this. ‘Born of seclusion’ qualifies jhÈna in the first translation. It is jhÈna which is born of seclusion. The alternative translation is that it is pÊti and sukha which are born of seclusion. Actually they mean the same thing because pÊti and sukha are constituents of jhÈna.

Do you remember the five factors of jhÈna? Vitakka, vicÈra, pÊti, sukha and the last is one-pointedness (ekaggatÈ). Those are the five factors of jhÈna.

So the word ‘pÊtisukha’ in PÈÄi or ‘vivekajanpÊtisukha’ is interpreted in two ways. In the first way it is the jhÈna which is born of seclusion and which is accompanied by pÊti and sukha. In the alternative interpretation it is pÊti and sukha which are born of seclusion, and it is jhÈna which is accompanied by that pÊti and that sukha. So if pÊti and sukha are born of seclusion the jhÈna is also born of seclusion. PÊti and sukha are part of jhÈna.

“First jhÈna: this will be explained below. Enters upon (upasampajja): arrives at; reaches is what is meant; or else, taking it as ‘makes enter’ (upasampÈdayitvÈ).” Actually the word ‘upasampÈdayitva’ means something like having accomplished. The literal meaning is having approached.

Then the word ‘dwell’ is explained in paragraph 103. “And dwells in (viharati); by becoming possessed of jhÈna of the kind described above through dwell in a posture favorable to that {jhÈna} he produces a posture, a procedure, a keeping, an enduring, a lasting, a behaviour, a dwelling, of the person.” ‘Of the person’ really means ‘of the body’.

The first jhÈna abandons five factors and possesses five factors. Five factors are abandoned by first jhÈna and it possesses five factors. The five factors that are abandoned are the five mental hindrances. Here (in paragraph 104) they are stated as lust, ill will, stiffness and torpor, agitation and worry, and uncertainty. They are the five mental hindrances. “For no jhÈna arises until these have been abandoned.” There can be no jhana when there are these five mental hindrances.

Student: What does ‘stiffness’ mean?

Teacher: Actually it is sleepiness. It is the translation of the PÈÄi word ‘thÊna’. It is not really stiffness. It is the inability of the mind to be awake, to be alert. It is translated as sloth and torpor in other books.

In paragraph 105 the second line it says “become concentrated on an object consisting in unity.” That means a single object because if you have to get jhÈna your mind has to be on one and the same object, a single object. ‘Object consisting in unity’ simply means one object. ‘Object which has the same essence’ means a single object or one object.

Here again we have the word ‘sense-desire-element’. it should be understood as meaning the realm of sense desires (kÈmavacara loka).

What are the five factors possessed by first jhÈna? These are the five factors we met in Abhidhamma - initial application, sustained application, pÊti, sukha and ekaggatÈ. In the passage here ekaggatÈ is not mentioned. But we must understand that ekaggatÈ is a factor of the first jhÈna, not only the first jhÈna but of all jhÈnas. So although one-pointedness is not mentioned in the passage we should understand that one-pointedness is one of the factors or one of the constituents of jhÈna.

Student: Is that what ‘unification of mind’ means?

Teacher: Yes. That is what is meant here. It is translated here as unification of mind. What we call jhÈna is simply - (Tape is turned over.)

The commentary gives the analogy of the army with four factors, music with five factors, the path with eight factors and so on. The army with four factors means the army consisting of elephants, horses, troops and chariots.

Student: where are you reading now?

Teacher: In paragraph 107 “The army with four factors and music with five factors” - there are five kinds of musical instruments like a drum with skin on one side and a drum with skin on two sides, a flute, something you can strike together like cymbals. And then there is Eightfold Path. When we say Eightfold Path, the eight factors are the Path. There is no path apart from or different from the constituents. In the same way when we say jhÈna, we mean these five factors in the first jhÈna. In second jhÈna we mean the four factors and so on.

We must understand jhÈna, constituents or factors of jhÈna, and jhÈna consciousness. ‘Jhana’ means these five factors - vitakka, vicÈra, pÊti, sukha, and ekaggatÈ. ‘Constituents of jhÈna’ means each of them. The combination or group of five factors is jhÈna. Each one is a jhÈna factor. Consciousness accompanied by these five factors is called ‘jhÈna consciousness’. We must know the difference.

Now paragraph 109 “Although unification of mind is not actually listed among these factors in the [summary] version [beginning] ‘which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, nevertheless it is mentioned [later] in the vibhanga (‘Vibhanga’ means an exposition.) as follows, ‘jhÈna’: it is applied thought, sustained thought, happiness, bliss, unification, and so it is a factor too; for the intention with which the Blessed One gave the summary is the same as that with which he gave the exposition that follows it.”

Although in the first passage Buddha did not mention unification of mind, later on when he made an exposition on that passage, Buddha said “‘jhÈna’ means applied thought, sustained thought, happiness, bliss and unification.” So unification of mind is one of the factors of jhÈna. Unification of mind is actually very important because it is what we call ‘samÈdhi’ which is a synonym for jhÈna also. These are the five factors.

The first jhÈna abandons five and possesses the other five. The five that are abandoned are the five mental hindrances. The five that it possesses are initial application and others.

Student: The five mental hindrances are just abandoned for the duration of the jhÈna?

Teacher: Yes. That’s right. They are not totally abandoned. They may come back to the person. These are totally abandoned or eradicated only at the moment of enlightenment.

Student: through the power of concentration?

Teacher: Through the power of concentration and penetration into the nature of things. In other words through the power of vipassanÈ. In order to be successful in vipassanÈ you need concentration because without concentration no vipassanÈ penetration can arise.

Student: But why then if you have insight and abandonment through insight, do the hindrances return?

Teacher: No. Insight can only abandon temporarily, not all together. Only when a person reaches the stage of enlightenment does he abandon the mental defilements all together once and for all. That is why we do not reach the stage of enlightenment, they come back to us when we do not practice meditation. When we are practicing meditation, they are pushed aside for some time. They may not arise in our minds at this time. When we stop meditation, then we may get one or many of these hindrances again. These are abandoned just temporarily, not all together.

Student: Does that mean you can sort of backslide after the first jhÈna?

Teacher: Even after the first jhÈna they can come back. But when there is first jhÈna, when first jhÈna is in our minds, these mental hindrances do not arise. They are suppressed. This is because mental hindrances and jhÈna are incompatible with each other. When one is there, the other is not. They cannot coexist. So in order to get jhÈna we have to abandon mental hindrances.

Student: Once you attain first jhÈna does it become easier for you subsequently to experience it?

Teacher: Yes. After you get the jhÈna, this book tells you what to do to keep it for a long time and how to go on to the second jhÈna and so on.

First it explains that it is good in three ways and possesses the ten characteristics and so on. I think these passages are a little difficult to understand.

“The first jhÈna is good in three ways, that is good in the beginning, good in the middle, and good in the end.” ‘Good in the beginning’ is explained as first jhÈna purification of the way. How many characteristics has the beginning? The beginning has three characteristics. The mind is purified of obstructions to that [jhÈna]. That means the mind is freed of the mental hindrances. “Because the mind is purified it makes way for the central state of equilibrium which is the sign of serenity.” What does ‘makes way for’ mean? Let something happen?

Students: Prepares. For example if you walk into the room people would ‘make way for’ you so that you could pass.

Teacher: But the PÈÄi word here does not mean ‘make way for’. It is ‘to go to’ or ‘to reach’. It does not mean ‘make way for’. Because it is purified the mind reaches the central sign or the state of serenity or something like that. ‘Central’ here means not too lax or not too active. The effort or energy should be just the right amount, neither too little nor too much.

Student: The middle way.

Teacher: That’s right. “Because it has reached (not ‘it has made way’) the mind enters into that state. And it is since the mind becomes purified of obstructions and, through being purified, (same thing not ‘making way for’) reaches the [central state of equilibrium which is the] sign of serenity and, having made way, enters into that state.” and so on.

We will skip these passages and we will go to paragraph 119. “It is called first jhÈna because it starts a numerical series.” That means it is just first and others are second, third, fourth and fifth. “Also it is first because it arises first.”

“It is called jhÈna because of lighting the object.” ‘Lighting is to put fire or to shine?

Student: To turn switch on for electricity.

Teacher: But here it does not mean ‘lighting’. It means closely observing the object. ‘UpanijjhÈna’ means intensely observing, not lighting.

The word ‘jhÈna’ has two meanings. One meaning is to look closely, to observe closely. The other meaning is to burn. When you get jhÈna, your mind is close or your mind is on the object and you burn away the five hindrances. That is why it is called jhÈna. There are two meanings for the word ‘jhÈna’ - one that observes closely or one that burns up the opposition. ‘Opposition’ here means the mental hindrances.

Student: I thought you had to burn up mental hindrances in order to get into jhÈna.

Teacher: Before getting into the state of jhÈna they are not well-burned. They can come back. But at the moment of jhÈna they are well-suppressed.

“The disk of earth is called earth kasiÓa.” When you practice earth kasiÓa meditation, the jhÈna that you get is also called earth kasiÓa or earth kasiÓa jhÈna.

“The disk of earth is called earth kasiÓa in the sense of entirety.” The PÈÄi word ‘kasiÓa’ means entire or all. When you look at the disk, you look at the whole disk and not just part of it. You look at it as a whole. The word ‘kasiÓa’ means entire.

“The sign acquired with that as its support and also the jhÈna acquired in the earth-kasiÓa sign are so called too.” The PÈÄi word ‘pathavÊ-kasiÓa’, which is translated as earth-kasiÓa, can mean the earth disk, and also the sign or image of the earth disk that you get in your mind. Also it can mean the jhÈna which you get keeping your mind on that sign of the earth disk. The PÈÄi word ‘pathavÊ kasiÓa’ can mean three things - the disk itself, the mental image of the disk in the mind, and the jhÈna that you get taking that image as an object.

“When it has been attained in this way, the modes (There should be an S.) of its attainment must be discerned by the meditator as if he were a hair-splitter or a cook.” After getting the first jhÈna, you must know its modes of attainment. That is so that if you lose that jhÈna you know what to do again. I got this jhÈna when I was at a certain place or when certain things were suitable for one, like when I ate certain food or was at a certain place. So when you lose the jhÈna, you can experience them again. After getting a jhÈna, the yogi must note or discern its modes of attainment.

Student: I don’t understand. You attain jhÈna while eating something?

Teacher: Not while eating. You know food is one of the suitable things to take into account. Sometimes if you have desire to eat something and you don’t get that, your meditation doesn’t go well. You have attachment to that food. There is something in your mind. When you have suitable food, your mind becomes calm and you can practice meditation. The same is true for place. Sometimes a place is not suitable for you.

Student: In that case you haven’t suppressed the sense desire. You have accomodated the sense desire.

Teacher: You know there are some foods which are not suitable. If you eat unsuitable food, then you may get indigestion or some sort of discomfort that interferes with your meditation. Suitable food is also an important factor to be taken into account. Also a suitable place is important. If a place is noisy and dirty, it is difficult to get jhÈna or even to practice meditation.

After getting jhÈna you have to note this. I got the jhÈna when I had a certain kind of food, or when I was at a certain place, or when I was living with certain monks at a monastery and so on. That is not all. There are some other things to do too.

In paragraph 123 “And when he recaptures those modes by apprehending the sign, he just succeeds in reaching absorption, but not in making it fast.” That means after getting jhÈna, you must make notes of the modes or signs of the attainment. This is so because if you happen to lose it, you may apply all these things. That will just help you to get the jhÈna again, but it will not help you to keep it or sustain it. That means after getting jhÈna, you will enter into the sustained attainment of jhÈna for one hour, two hours, or for a whole day. In order to be in the jhÈna state for a long time you need to do some other things.

“It lasts when it is absolutely purified from states that obstruct concentration.” He has to avoid the dangers to concentration or the obstructions of concentration. They are the five mental hindrances again. A yogi has to not only discern the modes or signs of attainment, but he also has to purify his mind absolutely from the states which obstruct concentration - lust, ill will and other things.

In paragraph 126 “So if he wants to remain long in the jhÈna, he must enter upon it after [first] purifying his mind from obstructive states.” That means after getting jhÈna, you don’t go back to sense objects. You just keep them away from you so that you are able to be in the jhÈna for a long time.

“In order to perfect the development of consciousness he should besides extend the counterpart sign according as acquired.” After avoiding the obstructions to jhÈna, he must extend the counterpart sign. When a person gets jhÈna, he practices on the counterpart sign. If the counterpart sign is eight inches in diameter, then it is the same size in the jhÈna. Then the Commentary says that he is to extend that sign. That means he must exercise his ability in dealing with the sign. He should extend the sign. The extension of the sign can be done during access or when he gets jhÈna absorption. Before getting jhÈna during the stage of access concentration you can extend the sign or you can do so after getting jhÈna.

“The meditator should not extend the sign as a clay bowl” and so on. That means I think when potters make pots, they do not decide for example that they want a pot which is five inches in diameter. They make the pot and extend it little by little. They do not specify what size the pot will be. It is something like that.

You are not to do like that. When you extend the sign, you must have a definite area. You must extend for example by the breadth of one finger, two fingers, three fingers, or I will extend it to the size of a room, or to the size of a building, or to the size of the whole world and so on. You have to extend the sign so that you become adept at dealing with the counterpart sign.

In paragraph 129 “When a beginner has reached the first jhÈna in this sign he should enter upon it often without reviewing it much.” After extending the sign what must he do? He must get into the jhÈna repeatedly and he must not spend much time reviewing. After getting into jhÈna or after the jhÈna thought process there follow some thought processes of reviewing the constituents of jhÈna, observing the constituents of jhÈna. The Commentary says not to do this too much because if you review too much the factors appear very crudely. The jhÈna factors very crudely in one who review it too much. So you do not review it too much. You just enter into it and get out and then enter it again and so on.

Student: what does ‘reviewing’ mean?

Teacher: ‘Reviewing’ means you get into jhÈna; then you get out of it and concentrate on the constituents of jhÈna for example vitakka. You concentrate on vitakka, then you concentrate on vicÈra and so on. That is reviewing the jhÈna factors. You do not do that. If you do that, they will become crude. If you do that - “while he is endeavoring for the unfamiliar [higher jhÈna] he falls away from the first jhÈna and fails to reach the second.” That actually does not mean ‘unfamiliar’, but rather not so familiar. It is not a ‘higher jhÈna’. It means the first jhÈna. After you get the first jhÈna you are not so familiar with that. You just have it. You are not well acquainted with that jhÈna. You have to make yourself well acquainted with that jhÈna by entering into it again and again. And you must not review too much the factors of jhÈna. So the sentence should read: “while he is endeavoring for the not so familiar first jhÈna, he falls away from the first jhÈna and fails to reach the second.”

Student: So the process of becoming familiar with the first jhÈna is to just touch upon the five factors.

Teacher: No. It is to just enter into the jhÈna and let them arise in your mind, not reviewing them, not watching them.

Student: You let them present themselves normally.

Teacher: Yes. That’s right. When they present themselves in a strong state, then they are called jhÈna. You do not dwell upon each and every one of the factors. You just enter into the jhÈna and get out of it.

“Thereafter he should acquire mastery in the five ways.” That is in paragraph 131. After getting into jhÈna and not reviewing much, one must acquire mastery in the five ways. There is mastery in adverting. That means mastery in reviewing the factors. There is mastery in attaining. That is getting into the jhÈna. There is mastery in resolving. That is resolving how long you are going to stay in jhÈna. There is mastery in emerging. That is getting out of jhÈna. There is mastery in reviewing. That is the same as the first one, mastery in adverting. These are the five kinds of mastery you should acquire with regard to the jhÈna you have attained.

Then there is the explanation of the five kinds of mastery one by one. “When he emerges from the first jhÈna and first of all adverts to the applied thought, then next to the adverting that arose interrupting the life-continuum, either four or five impulsions impel with that applied thought as their object.” When you review the jhÈna factors, the javanas may run seven times. When you are reviewing in rapid succession one jhÈna factor after another, then the javanas do not run for six or seven times but only for four or five times because you have to hurry in this way.

“Then there are two life-continuum (bhava~ga) consciousness. Then there is adverting with the sustained thought as its object (similarly with pÊti and so on) and followed by impulsions in the way just stated. When he is able to prolong his conscious process uninterruptedly in this way with the five jhÈna factors, then his mastery of adverting is successful. But this mastery is found at its acme of perfection in the Blessed One’s Twin marvel, or for others on the aforesaid occasions. There is no quicker mastery in adverting than that.” Adverting takes place in only four or five javana moments. Then two bhava~ga moments interrupt. Then reviewing of the next jhÈna factor takes place with four or five javana moments and two bhava~ga moments interrupting and the next jhÈna factor and so on.

The second one is getting quickly into the jhÈna. “The Venerable MahÈ MoggallÈna’s ability to enter upon jhÈna quickly, as in the taming of the Royal NÈga Serpent Nandopananda is called mastery in attaining.” There was a nÈga and he was very vicious. He was very angry with the Buddha because the Buddha went above him and some dust fell on his head. He coiled around Mount Meru and got ready to attack the Buddha. Then Venerable MahÈ MoggallÈna, the Buddha’s disciple, requested to tame the dragon. Buddha let him do it because Venerable MahÈ MoggallÈna was foremost among those who have the psychic powers. At that time Venerable MoggallÈna entered inside the body of the nÈga. Then he came out and entered into it again. And so when he was at the entrance of the mouth the dragon put forth fire to burn him. At that moment Venerable MoggallÈna had to get into jhÈna very quickly. It is said that only Venerable MahÈ MoggallÈna could do that, not the other disciples. So it is the ability to enter into the jhÈna quickly.

“Ability to remain in jhÈna for a moment consisting in exactly a finger-snap or exactly ten finger-snaps is called mastery in resolving.” ‘Resolving’ here means just remaining in the jhÈna, keeping the jhÈna while suppressing the bhava~ga. That is not letting bhava~ga arise. It is keeping the jhÈna for a period of time - for a finger-snap, or ten finger-snaps, or the whole day.

“Ability to emerge quickly in the same way is called mastery in emerging.” That is getting out of jhÈna.

“The story of the Elder Buddharakkhita may be told in order to illustrate both these last.” This Elder could enter into jhÈna and get out of it very, very quickly. He saw a Royal SupaÓÓa. What is a supaÓÓa?

Student: It says that it is a demon.

Teacher: Do you know garuda? It is a mythical bird. It is supaÓÓa. Actually it might be a kite. It is the enemy of snakes. It is that kind of bird.

“He saw a royal supaÓÓa swooping down from the sky intending to seize an attendant royal nÈga-serpent as he was getting rice gruel for the Elder. The Elder Buddharakkhita created a rock (maybe a mountain) meanwhile, and seizing the royal nÈga by the arm, he entered the rock himself with the nÈga. The royal supaÓÓa gave the rock a blow and made off. The Senior Elder remarked: ‘Friends, if Rakkhita had not been there, we should all have been put to shame’.” Alkthough there were many monks who had psychic power, none of us were able to save the nÈga from being taken by the bird (supaÓÓa).

“Mastery in reviewing is described in the same way as mastery in adverting; for the reviewing impulsions are in fact those next to the adverting mentioned there.” Mastery in reviewing and mastery in adverting mean the same thing because they are in one and the same thought process. Mastery in reviewing are the reviewing of impulsions or javanas that are in the thought process. So javanas in that thought process are mastery in reviewing. Adverting in that thought process is mastery in adverting. So they are in fact not so different.

“When he has once acquired mastery in these five ways, then on emerging from the now familiar first jhÈna, he can regard the flaws in it in this way.” That comes to the approach of the second jhÈna. We will take it up next week.

This is the first jhÈna. You try to get the first jhÈna. You develop it so that you can get into it quickly and get out of it quickly. These five kinds of mastery are meant for going over to the second jhÈna, third jhÈna and so on. So first there is trying to get it, then getting it, keeping it, and then going over to the higher ones. ]

Student: How many jhÈnas are there?

Teacher: Four or five jhÈnas will be mentioned here. You know there is the fourfold method of the jhÈnas and the fivefold method of jhÈnas. They mean the same thing. Fourfold method of jhÈnas is mostly mentioned in the Suttas. We very seldom find five jhÈnas mentioned in the Suttas. Whenever the Buddha talked about jhÈnas, he mentioned four jhÈnas. In Abhidhamma both four jhÈnas and five jhÈnas are mentioned.

There are four or five jhÈnas depending upon the ability of the person to surmount the jhÈna factors. There are persons who have powerful intelligence or knowledge. Such persons are able to get rid of two factors, vitakka and vicÈra at the same time. For them there are only four jhÈnas. There are others who can only get rid of the jhÈna factors one at a time. First they get rid of vitakka. Then they get rid of vicÈra. For them there are five jhÈnas. Thank you.

Student: How long does it take to get first jhÈna?

Teacher: I don’t know. That depends upon a person’s experience in the past. If a person has experience in the past, it may not take too long. You know nowadays people practice some kind of kasiÓa meditation. Even to get access concentration they have to practice about six months, sometimes maybe longer. There are people who practice the color disk meditation. There is a monk in Los Angeles who said he practiced this meditation. He got the access concentration but not the absorption concentration. Also it may depend on how intensely you practice. If you practice two or three hours a day or if you practice eight or nine hours a day, there will be difference.

Student: It seems like there are good things and then you have to give them up. Like there are good things in the first jhÈna.

Teacher: Yes. These are mentioned as sukha or happiness. Buddha first said there is happiness people get from enjoying sense pleasures. That is a kind of happiness although it is not in the ultimate sense. Compared with the happiness you get from sense objects the happiness of first jhÈna is better because there is no sense desire. You are really calm and happy. Then the second jhÈna happiness is better than the first jhÈna happiness. There is no initial application and sustained application to disturb your equilibrium of mind. Then the third jhÈna is better than the second jhÈna and so on. Step by step the Buddha pointed out that there are different kinds of happiness. Even the highest jhÈna, the ar|pavacara jhÈna, is still not all together free from suffering because there is the end of the jhÈna. The jhÈna cannot last forever. JhÈna consciousness arises and then it must disappear. Then it arises and disappears again. Even that very high form of happiness has a beginning and an end. It is also not ultimate happiness. Ultimate happiness is freedom from all formations. So the highest form of happiness is the happiness of NibbÈna, the abandonment of all mental defilements. Buddha gave us the different kinds of happiness, one above the other. JhÈna happiness is a great happiness, but still it is not enough for the Buddha.

Student: The attaining of the jhÈnas in succession is the way to abandoning all the mental defilements?

Teacher: It is not the inevitable path. If you read Suttas, it seems like that. You go through these jhÈnas stage by stage. Then you change over to vipassanÈ. When Buddha described his own attainment of Buddhahood, he said that first he practiced breathing meditation. Then he got first, second, third and fourth jhÈnas. Then he attained the supernormal knowledge of seeing his past lives and so on. Only after getting two kinds of supernormal knowledge did he practice vipassanÈ meditation. Only then did he change to vipassanÈ meditation. Before that he practiced samatha meditation and got the jhÈnas. Then during the last part of the night he changed to vipassanÈ meditation.

Student: That’s when he saw Dependent Origination?

Teacher: Yes. Immediately before attainment of Buddhahood he reflected upon the twelve links of Dependent Origination and their relationships.

Student: Then seeing past lives and so on is related to samatha?

Teacher: Yes. The ability to see past lives comes from samatha meditation. Only after getting jhÈnas can one get these kinds of knowledge. We can cll them special kinds of jhÈna. Actually they are a variety of fifth jhÈna or fourth jhÈna. After getting fifth jhÈna you have to specially develop it in order to get these kinds of supernormal knowledge. So when you read the Suttas it goes like you first practice samatha meditation and then you change over to vipassanÈ meditation. But in the later Commentaries it says that you can skip samatha and practice vipassanÈ. Those who practice in this way are called ‘dry vipassanÈ meditators’. That means that they don’t practice samatha meditation.

SÈdhu! SÈdhu! SÈdhu!

(Tape 11 / Ps: 138 – 202)

Today we come to the second jhÈna, third jhÈna, and then the fourth jhÈna. The translation given on the sheets I think is easier to understand, clearer. Please look at these translations.

After getting the first jhÈna, when a person wants to get the second jhÈna, the first thing that he should do is find fault with the first jhÈna. After getting the first jhÈna, he thinks that it is not good enough. With first jhÈna there are five jhÈna factors - initial application, sustained application, pÊti, sukha and one-pointedness of mind. This person after getting the first jhÈna sees danger in being close to the hindrances. By overcoming hindrances he was able to get the first jhÈna. When he gets the first jhÈna, it is free from hindrances, but it is with initial application and sustained application and so on. Now he finds fault with initial application and sustained application or in PÈÄi vitakka and vicÈra. He tries to be dispassionate towards these two factors. He tries to eliminate them. When he is able to eliminate them, he will get the second jhÈna.

After gaining the first jhÈna, he tries to get the five kinds of mastery like entering into it quickly, emerging from it and so on. In paragraph `138 “When he has emerged from the first jhÈna, applied thought and sustained thought (vitakka and vicÈra) appear gross to him as he reviews the jhÈna factors with mindfulness and full awareness.” He enters into the first jhÈna and emerges from that jhÈna. Then he reviews the factors in that jhÈna. There are five factors in first jhÈna. When he reviews them, applied thought and sustained thought appear gross to him while happiness and bliss (in PÈÄi pÊti and sukha) and unification of mind (ekaggatÈ) appear peaceful.

“Then he brings the same sign ‘earth, earth’ to mind again and again.” So after reviewing the jhÈna factors, he dwells upon the counterpart sign that he got during the preliminary stages. He takes that counterpart sign as the object of meditation and concentrates on it saying ‘earth, earth’ again and again “with the purpose of abandoning the gross factors and obtaining the peaceful factors.

“Knowing now the second jhÈna will arise” - we will have to correct this. It should say “When second jhÈna is about to arise”, not knowing. He does not know when it will arise. This is a PÈÄi idiom. I have told you about this before. “When the second jhÈna is about to arise, there arises in him mind-door-adverting with the same earth kasiÓa as its object, interrupting the life-continuum.”

If you look at the first jhÈna chart, the same thought process arises here. After cutting off bhava~ga there arises ‘m’ (manodvÈrÈvajjana or mind-door-adverting). Then there are four moments of sense-sphere javanas and the fifth moment is jhÈna. For a person who has quick intelligence or quick realization then there will be only three sense-sphere javanas and the fourth moment is jhÈna.

“There arises in him mind-door-adverting with the same earth kasiÓa as object, interrupting the life continuum. After that either four or five impulsions (javanas) impel on that same object (depending upon whether the person is of quick intelligence or slow intelligence), the last one of which is an impulsion (javana) of the fine-material sphere (r|pÈvacara).” Here it is the second jhÈna. “The rest are of the sense-sphere of the kinds already stated.” ‘The rest’ means the preceding four or three.

Now comes the translation of the description of the second jhÈna. I have made a new translation. It cannot be used for all people, but for the class it is better.

“With the stilling (That means overcoming of vitakka and vicÈra.) of vitakka and vicÈra he enters upon and dwells in the second jhÈna which arises internally and (literally) which is confident and which arouses singleness of mind, or which clarifies the mind and arouses singleness which is without vitakka and vicÈra, and which is born of concentration with pÊti and sukha or which is with pÊti and sukha born of concentration.” This is the description of the second jhÈna. Whenever there is a description of the second jhÈna, the same stock sentences are repeated many times in the Suttas and in Abhidhamma.

The first phrase is “with the stilling of vitakka and vicÈra”. ‘Stilling’ means the overcoming of vitakka and vicÈra. When a person wants to attain the second jhÈna, he has to overcome or abandon vitakka and vicÈra.

Because of the overcoming of vitakka and vicÈra “he enters upon and dwells in the second jhÈna which arises internally.” JhÈna arises in one’s mind. So it does not arise in other persons or outside things. So it is internal.

“Which is confidence and which arouses singleness of mind” - you will find this in paragraph 142. In PÈÄi the word used is sampasÈdanam. It means confidence or saddha. You may remember saddha. It is one of the 52 cetasikas. Saddha is confidence or faith. Here the jhÈna itself is called confidence or faith. It is figuratively speaking. But the meaning is which is accompanied by confidence or which is accompanied by faith. For this class we would say ‘which is confidence’, but for general purposes we should say ‘which has confidence’, that is which arises together with confidence or faith (saddha). The function of faith or confidence is to clear the mind of doubt and others.

“And which arouses singleness of mind” - ‘singleness of mind’ really means concentration. There is another explanation. That is which clarifies the mind and arouses singleness. The PÈÄi words are given in footnote #41. The PÈÄi phrase is sampsÈdanaÑ cetaso ekodibhÈvam. ‘Cetaso’ means of mind. That comes between the two words ‘sampasÈdanaÑ’ and ‘ekodibhÈvam’. The word ‘cetaso’ can be connected with sampasÈdanaÑ or with ekodibhÈvam. When it is connected with the first one, then that means clarifying the mind or which clarifies the mind. When it is connected with the other word ‘ekodibhÈvam’, it means arouses singleness and ‘cetaso’ means of mind. So cetaso can be connected with the previous word or the following word. That is what is being explained in paragraphs 142 and 143.

“Which is without vitakka and vicÈra and which is born of concentration” - that means after getting the first jhÈna, he practices meditation and gets second jhÈna. The second jhÈna is said to be conditioned by or caused by the concentration in the first jhÈna. Or it is accompanied by concentration when it arises. Here ‘concentration’ can be taken as that which is with first jhÈna or that which is with second jhÈna. Either can be taken.

“Which is born of concentration and which is accompanied by pÊti and sukha” is one explanation. That is “which is with pÊti and sukha born of concentration.” PÊti and sukha are here conditioned by concentration and so they are said to be born of concentration. This is the explanation of the second jhÈna.

A person gets the second jhÈna after removing, after abandoning vitakka and vicÈra. That jhÈna is internal. That jhÈna clarifies the mind and arouses singleness of mind. That jhÈna is without vitakka and vicÈra. That jhÈna is born of concentration and accompanied by pÊti and sukha or it is accompanied by pÊti and sukha born of concentration.

Then there are some problems. They are all explained here. Here it is said that the second jhÈna has confidence. That means the second jhÈna is accompanied by the cetasika saddha (confidence). This cetasika saddha also accompanies the first jhÈna. Please look at paragraph 144. “it might be asked: but does not this faith exist in the first jhÈna too, and also this concentration with the name of the ‘single[thing]’?” In the first jhÈna there arise a number of cetasikas and among them is saddha or faith and also unification of mind or one-pointedness of mind. Then why is only this second jhÈna said to have confidence and singleness of mind? They are in the first jhÈna also. That problem the Commentator or The Path of Purification solves here.

“It may be replied as follows: It is because that first jhÈna is not fully confident owing to the disturbance created by applied thought and sustained thought.” When there is vitakka and vicÈra, they take the mind pushing it to this object and that object. They tend to distract the mind. When there is vitakka and vicÈra with the jhÈna, saddha or confidence is not good enough. It does not fully clarify. It is not fully confident. “It is like water ruffled by ripples and wavelets. That is why, although faith does exist in it (the first jhÈna), it is not called ‘confidence’. And there too concentration is not fully evident because of the lack of full confidence.” When saddha is not strong, then concentration is also not strong there. That is why it is not called ‘arousing concentration’ or ‘arousing singleness’.

Student: Is that the highest form of concentration?

Teacher: No, not yet. This is just the second stage or level of concentration. We will have the third and fourth stages. In later chapters we will go to the formless jhÈnas also. This is only the second stage of concentration.

“That may be understood as the reason why only this jhÈna is described in this way. But that much is actually stated in the Vibha~ga too with the words ‘Confidence is faith’.” And so on. Although confidence and concentration are present in the first jhÈna, the first jhÈna is not described as having confidence and concentration because they are not strong enough there. Why are they not strong enough? Because there is the disturbance of vitakka and vicÈra. In this second jhÈna there is no vitakka and vicÈra to disturb them, so they become strong. That is why only this jhÈna is described as “having confidence and arousing singleness of mind”.

Student: So that means you don’t need vitakka and vicÈra to create concentration and confidence?

Teacher: Actually vitakka and vicÈra are not really hindrances or obstacles. They are some kind of disturbance to strong concentration let us say. The first jhÈna also has strong concentration but compared to second jhÈna it is not so strong.

Student: You need vitakka and vicÈra to get first jhÈna?

Teacher: Yes. Then after you get first jhÈna, you eliminate them in order to get second jhÈna. You know at first when concentration is not strong, you need vitakka to support the mind being on the object. After getting the second jhÈna the mind does not need vitakka to take it to the object. The second jhÈna eliminates or gets rid of vitakka and vicÈra.

We have solved one problem. Another problem is that the second jhÈna is described as without vitakka and vicÈra. The first sentence also means that it is without vitakka and vicÈra. Why is there repetition? We have “with the stilling (or overcoming) of vitakka and vicÈra” in the first instance and here “the second jhÈna is without vitakka and vicÈra.” The commentator explains this repetition by giving two or three explanations.

The first one is in paragraph 146. The first explanation is that in order to get higher jhÈnas you have to eliminate the grosser factors. In order to let you understand this the phrase is repeated here. So the phrases ‘with the stilling of vitakka and vicÈra’ and ‘it is without vitakka and vicÈra’ are repeated. That is one reason. It is repeated in order to show that only by eliminating the grosser factors in the lower jhÈnas do you attain the higher jhÈnas. That is one explanation.

Another explanation is that the phrase ‘with the stilling of vitakka and vicÈra’ is the cause of this jhÈna having confidence and singleness of mind. It shows that. It does not show the mere absence of vitakka and vicÈra, but it shows that because of the stilling of vitakka and vicÈra this jhÈna comes to be called ‘confidence and this jhÈna arouses singleness of mind’. To show this relationship as cause and effect two phrases are given here.

Student: Is this voluntary? It sounds like you are saying that one drops vitakka and vicÈra voluntarily in order to obtain the higher jhÈna.

Teacher: Yes.

Student: But does that just naturally arise?

Teacher: Yes, when it arises, it arises naturally. But before the jhÈna arises, you have to meditate. While you meditate you have the intention to get rid of vitakka and vicÈra. If you cannot eliminate vitakka and vicÈra, you cannot get the second jhÈna.

Student: You eliminate them through more concentration?

Teacher: That’s right. You arouse dispassion towards vitakka and vicÈra. It is just by thinking. After you emerge from jhÈna, you review or concentrate on the jhÈna factors. Since you find fault with vitakka and vicÈra, they appear to be gross. The others appear to be subtle. These two gross factors you eliminate when you get the second jhÈna.

The elimination of vitakka and vicÈra is the cause. The second jhÈna being with confidence and arousing singleness of mind is the effect. To show this cause and effect relationship the first phrase is given here.

Then there is another reason given. The second phrase ‘without vitakka and vicÈra’ means just the absence of vitakka and vicÈra, nothing more. The first phrase means not only without vitakka and vicÈra but also it is without vitakka and vicÈra because they have been overcome. So in this case the first phrase is the cause of the second phrase. Because vitakka and vicÈra are stilled or because they are eliminated there are no vitakka and vicÈra in the second jhÈna. In order to show that these two phrases are given or stated in the description of the second jhÈna.

Then it is born of concentration. PÊti and sukha are the same, are to be understood similarly as in the first jhÈna.

“Born of concentration” - here also there is a problem. The first jhÈna is also born of concentration. If you do not have concentration, you cannot get the jhÈna, or you cannot get even access concentration preceding jhÈna. If you do not have concentration, you cannot get any of these jhÈna or even the stage of access. So why is this second jhÈna described as ‘born of concentration’? Again here concentration in the first jhÈna is not so strong as concentration in the second jhÈna. Again the second jhÈna is stronger in concentration because it is not disturbed by vitakka and vicÈra. When vitakka and vicÈra are eliminated, concentration becomes very strong and the mind becomes very clear. In order to praise the second jhÈna it is described as ‘born of concentration’. We are to understand that not only the second jhÈna is born of concentration but also the first jhÈna.

In paragraph 148 about the middle of the paragraph “still it is only this concentration that is quite worthy to be called ‘concentration’ because of its complete confidence.” ‘Confidence’ here means complete clarifying, complete clarification.

“And extreme immobility” - what do you understand by immobility?

Student: Something that is still.

Teacher: Still, yes. Not moving. I think ‘extreme stillness’ may be better here. The PÈÄi word is ‘achala’. ‘Achala’ means not moving. The translator I think wanted to be literal so he used immobility, but that may mean some other thing than stillness of mind. So there is extreme stillness due to the absence of vitakka and vicÈra.

In paragraph 147 “Besides, this confidence comes about with the stilling, not the darkness of defilement” - actually the word does not mean darkness. The word means turbidness, muddiness, cloudiness of the mind. It is not darkness. The mind is always clear. So it is the turbidness of defilement.

In the second jhÈna how many factors are there? Three factors - pÊti, sukha and ekaggatÈ (unification of mind). It abandons two factors - vitakka and vicÈra.

Then we go to the third jhÈna. Now you find fault with pÊti. One by one you are going to eliminate the factors.

Paragraph 151 “Once this has been obtained in this way, and he has mastery in the five ways already described, then on emerging from the now familiar second jhÈna he can regard the flaws in it thus: This attainment is threatened by the nearness of applied thought and sustained thought.” Although vitakka and vicÈra are not in the second jhÈna, it is close to the first jhÈna which does have vitakka and vicÈra. So it (this second jhÈna) is close to applied thought and sustained thought.

“Whatever there is in it of happiness, of mental excitement, proclaims its grossness.” That means its factors are weak because of the grossness of pÊti which is described thus in the Sutta: “This second jhÈna is declared to be gross with that very pÊti because it is mental excitement.” When you are feeling pÊti, you are something like floating on the surface. PÊti has the function of exciting the mind. Now this person wants his mind to be very calm and serene. He finds fault with pÊti now. “Its factors are weakened by the grossness of happiness (pÊti) so expressed. He can bring the third jhÈna to mind as quieter and so end his attachment to the second jhÈna and set about doing what is needed for attaining the third.”

“When he has emerged from the second jhÈna, pÊti appears gross to him as he review the jhÈna factors with mindfulness and full awareness, while sukha and ekaggatÈ (bliss and unification) appear peaceful. Then as he brings that same sign to mind as ‘earth, earth’ again and again, with the purpose of abandoning the gross factor and obtaining the peaceful factors, when the third jhÈna is about to arise (not ‘knowing’) there arises in him mind-door adverting with that same earth kasiÓa as its object, interrupting the life-continuum.” The rest is the same.

Now we come to the third jhÈna. The third jhÈna is described in set phrases or set sentences. We have the translation on the sheet. “With the fading away of pÊti as well he dwells in equanimity, and is mindful and fully aware” and so on. The words ‘as well’ here are said to have the meaning of conjunction. By ‘as well’ we can conjoin some others. They are described in the brackets. “With the distaste for” - that is fading away. “With the fading away and stilling of pÊti as well” so here in the first case ‘as well’ conjoins stilling. “With the fading away and stilling of pÊti as well” means with the fading away and stilling of pÊti. ‘Stilling’ is mentioned in the second jhÈna. That is something like taken over to the passage explaining the third jhÈna. “With the fading away as well” means with the fading away and stilling of pÊti.

It may also convey some other thing. In that case with the surmounting (That is fading away.) of pÊti and the stilling of vitakka and vicÈra. It can mean one of these two things.

“With the fading away of pÊti as well” simply means with the distaste for and stilling of pÊti or the surmounting of pÊti and stilling of vitakka and vicÈra.

“He dwells in equanimity and is mindful and fully aware and experiences sukha (Here sukha is both bodily and mental.) with his mental body, he enters upon and dwells in the third jhÈna, on account of which the Noble Ones announce (with regard to the person who has attained the third jhÈna): he has equanimity, he is mindful and dwells in sukha.” This is the third jhÈna.

Student: he experiences sukha both bodily and mental with his mental body?

Teacher: I will explain later. Vitakka and vicÈra are stilled. They do not arise with the second jhÈna. “With the stilling of vitakka and vicÈra” is said once again to praise the third jhÈna. In praise of the third jhÈna some of the descriptions of the other jhÈnas are repeated here. This is what the Commentary explains. Actually there are no vitakka or vicÈra in second jhÈna much less third jhÈna. In order to show the way to get to higher jhÈnas and in order to praise the third jhÈna it is said here also. The stilling of vitakka and vicÈra is the way or condition for gaining the third jhÈna.

“He dwells in equanimity” - in connection with the word ‘equanimity’ the Commentator gave us ten kinds of (Let us use PÈÄi.) upekkhÈ. It is very important when you see the word ‘upekkhÈ’ in PÈÄi that you understand what is meant. At least you should know that ‘upekkha’ means feeling or it means equanimity. Equanimity is not feeling here. Equanimity is impartiality. Impartiality is one of the cetasikas. Feeling is also one of the cetasikas. Feeling upekkhÈ is different from equanimity upekkhÈ. This much you have to understand. Whenever you find the word ‘upekkhÈ’, you have to see whether it means feeling upekkhÈ or equanimity upekkhÈ.

UpekkhÈ comes from ‘upa’ and ‘ekkha’. That is explained in paragraph 156. “It watches [things] as they arise (UPApattito IKKHATI), thus it is equanimity (upekkhÈ or onlooking); it sees fairly, sees without partiality (a-pakkhapatita), is the meaning.”

There are ten kinds of upekkhÈ. The first is called ‘six factored equanimity’. It is the equanimity found in the minds of Arahants. “Here a bhikkhu whose cankers are destroyed (That is an Arahant.) is neither glad nor sad on seeing a visible object with the eye: he dwells in equanimity, mindful and fully aware.” Whether an Arahant sees a good object or a bad object he does not feel glad or sad with regard to that object. He is impartial to these objects. He can keep that impartiality in the face of objects desirable and undesirable. That is one of the qualities of the Arahants. This is because Arahants have eradicated all mental defilements. And so they are not glad with attachment to things nor are they repulsed by things which are undesirable.

The next one is equanimity as a divine abiding. Equanimity is one of the four divine abidings. “He dwells intent upon one quarter with his heart endued with equanimity.” That is not hating and not loving. It is viewing with impartiality.

The next one is equanimity as an enlightenment factor. There are seven factors of enlightenment and equanimity is one of them. “He develops the equanimity enlightenment factor depending on relinquishment.” So it is neutrality “in conascent states”. Actually it is neutrality among conascent states. Neutrality is also a conascent state. Among the conascent states arising with consciousness this is neutrality, this is the mode of neutrality. This is one of the factors of enlightenment.

The next one is the equanimity of energy. ‘Energy’ is called ‘equanimity’ here. Energy should not be too much nor too little. It must be in the middle, so it is called ‘equanimity’ here. Actually it is energy or viriya - “neither over-strenuous nor over-lax in energy.

The next one is equanimity about formations. That arises during vipassanÈ meditation. When a person practices vipassanÈ meditation and reaches the higher stages of vipassanÈ knowledge, then he gains this equanimity about formations. There is “neutrality about apprehending reflexion and composure regarding the hindrances, etc., described thus.” That means he doesn’t have to make effort to keep his mind on the object. It is effortless observation at that moment. He is neither attached to nor repulsed by what he sees.

“How many kinds of equanimity about formations arise through concentration? How many kinds of equanimity about formations arise through insight? Eight kinds of equanimity about formations arise through concentration (through samatha). These are the eight kinds of jhÈna. Ten kinds of equanimity about formations arise through insight.” When you practice vipassanÈ meditation, then you go through ten kinds of equanimity.

Those ten and the eight also are given in footnote 44. “The ‘eight kinds’ are those connected with the eight jhÈna attainments. The ‘ten kinds’ are connected with the four Paths, the four Fruitions, the void liberation, and the signless liberation.” Actually the word ‘liberation’ is not used in the Commentary. It is not ‘void liberation’ but ‘dwelling in voidness’, ‘dwelling in signlessness’. ‘Dwelling in voidness’ means contemplating on the voidness of formations. He is still in the stage of vipassanÈ. He is not yet at the stage of enlightenment, not at the stage of Path and Fruition. So here ‘dwelling in voidness’ means dwelling on voidness. ‘Dwelling in signlessness’ means dwelling on the signless formations. When he practices vipassanÈ meditation, he takes the formations as object. These formations he contemplates on as void. That means void of permanency, void of satisfactoriness and void of soul or self. ‘Signlessness’ means the same thing. These are the ten. When a person reaches that stage, he gains equanimity about formations.

The next one is equanimity as feeling. “Equanimity as a feeling, is a name for the equanimity known as neither pain nor pleasure described thus: ‘On the occasion on which a sense-sphere profitable consciousness has arisen accompanied by equanimity’.” I don’t think we should use the word ‘equanimity’ for feeling. ‘Neutral feeling’ I think is a better word.

“Equanimity about insight is a name for the equanimity consisting in neutrality about investigation described thus.” It is more or less the same as equanimity about formations. Equanimity about formations has to do with vipassanÈ meditation just as this equanimity about insight. “what exists, what has become, that he abandons, and he obtains equanimity.”

Equanimity as specific neutrality, this is the real equanimity which is one of the mental factors. In PÈÄi it is called ‘tatramajjhattatÈ’.

“Equanimity of jhÈna is a name for equanimity producing impartiality towards (them).” This also is not feeling upekkhÈ. It is jhÈna upekkhÈ. It is a specific equanimity.

The next one - “Purifying equanimity is a name for the equanimity purified of all opposition described thus.” Since it is purified of all opposition, there is no interest in stilling them because the yogi has succeeded in stilling the opposition. After this achievement he no longer has interest in stilling them because they are already stilled. This is called ‘purifying equanimity’. This also is a specific equanimity.

“Herein, six factored equanimity, equanimity as a divine abiding, equanimity as an enlightenment factor, equanimity as specific neutrality, equanimity of jhÈna, and purifying equanimity are one in meaning (‘One in meaning’ means one in reality, one in essence.), that is equanimity as specific neutrality.”

“Their difference, however is one of position (or occasion), like the difference in a single being as a boy, a youth, an adult, a general, a king, and so on. Therefore of these it should be understood that equanimity as an enlightenment factor, etc., are not found where there is six factored equanimity (They are mutually exclusive.); or that six factored equanimity, etc., are not found where there is equanimity as enlightenment factor.”

“And just as these have one meaning (That means just as these are the same in essence or reality.), so also equanimity about formations and equanimity about insight have one meaning too; for they are simply understanding (paÒÒÈ).” So these two are not specific neutrality, but they are really understanding or paÒÒÈ because they arise during vipassanÈ meditation.

At the bottom of paragraph 170 “Equanimity of energy and equanimity as feeling are different both from each other and from the rest.” ‘Equanimity’ just means energy. ‘Equanimity of feeling’ is neutral feeling.

How many kinds of equanimity do we get in essence or in reality? Four - specific neutrality, understanding, energy, and neutral feeling. In essence there are four kinds of upekkhÈ. In detail there are ten kinds of upekkhÈ. Whenever we see the word ‘upekkhÈ’, we have to understand what kind of upekkhÈ is meant here.

Then in the phrase “He dwells in equanimity” what upekkhÈ is meant? Specific neutrality. It is not feeling upekkhÈ because we are still in the third jhÈna. In the third jhÈna there is still sukha which is not neutral feeling. Sukha is pleasurable feeling. Here ‘equanimity’ means specific neutrality or impartiality.

Paragraph 176 “He is mindful and fully aware, and he experiences sukha, both bodily and mental with his mental body.” It is better in translation than in the original PÈÄi. In the original PÈÄi the sentences are very involved. Also the Commentator used many relative pronouns, one relative of another, and then other relative of that and so it goes on and on. It is very difficult to understand. I don’t know why he wrote that way. In the translation it is better. We can understand.

‘He feels’ means he experiences sukha. Here ‘sukha’ means both bodily sukha and mental sukha. When this jhÈna arises, there is this sukha (pleasurable feeling). When there is pleasurable feeling, he cannot help but experience it, although he has no intention that he will experience or will enjoy this sukha. Since that sukha feeling is accompanying the jhÈna, he just experiences it.

‘With his mental body’ means other mental states. When the third jhÈna arises, there are other cetasikas arising with it. There is third jhÈna citta and there are cetasikas. Among these cetasikas there are pÊti, sukha and ekaggatÈ. These are three jhÈna factors. Actually they are called ‘jhÈnas’. The other concomitants are here called ‘mental body’. There is one consciousness and 33 cetasikas. So there is one third jhÈna citta and 33 cetasikas. Among them there is pleasurable feeling which is sukha. Since sukha arises together with other mental concomitants, the person is said to experience sukha with the mental concomitants. The mental concomitants are here called ‘the mental body’. In PÈÄi the word ‘kÈya’ is used.

Then when this third jhÈna arises it causes material properties to arise. Some matter is caused by kamma, some by consciousness (citta), some by climate, and some by food. When the third jhÈna citta arises, it causes material properties to arise too. Since it is a very refined state of mind, state of consciousness, the material properties it produces are also very fine, very subtle. Those very fine and very subtle material properties, that tangible object the meditator or the one who has jhÈna experiences. That feeling arises through contact of his body with other tangible things, other tangible objects, like sitting on a soft cushion, something like that. During the time when the third jhÈna arises, he is said to experience mental sukha with his mental body and physical sukha with his mental body.

This is because what we call ‘vedanÈ’ (feeling) is in the mind. What we call feeling or sensations are the material properties in the body. Suppose there is pain here. Pain is a collection of material properties here. We feel that pain. That feeling of pain is in our mind. When we have a good touch, there is feeling. That good touch is material properties and that we feel in our mind as sukha (pleasurable feeling). Here also when the person gets third jhÈna, his mind is so refined that it produces very refined material properties. These material properties are all scattered throughout his body or pervade his body. Therefore he feels very pleasant sensations in the body through his mind. That is why it is described here as “experiencing sukha bodily and mental with his mental body.” And ‘mental body’ means a group of mental concomitants or a group of mental factors.

“He enters upon and dwells in the third jhÈna on account of which the Noble Ones announce (with regard to a person who has attained the third jhÈna) he has equanimity, he is mindful, and he dwells in sukha.”

Why do the Noble Ones recommend? I think ‘praise’ is better than the word ‘recommend’ here. You say something in praise of something. The Noble Ones praise here this person who has attained the third jhÈna because he can keep himself impartial. He is not attached to even the very high form of sukha. He is so mindful that he can keep pÊti from arising. At that time in the third jhÈna pÊti does not arise. Therefore this person is worthy of praise. He can keep impartiality and he can keep away pÊti by being very mindful. He dwells in sukha which is experienced by all Noble Persons. That is why he is worthy of praise. In order to praise him they say “this person has equanimity. This person is mindful. This person dwells in sukha.”

In this jhÈna there are how many factors? Two factors. What are they? Sukha and ekaggatÈ. There are only these two jhÈna factors. This is the third jhÈna. After third jhÈna we go to the fourth jhÈna.

Student: It says here “He has equanimity, is mindful, and dwells in sukha.” Isn’t there a third factor of mindfulness?

Teacher: Mindfulness is with all jhÈnas. JhÈnas can never be without mindfulness. Here his mindfulness is so good that it can keep pÊti from arising. When you pay close attention to what is happening at the moment, you can keep even pÊti away from you, from arising in your mind. That is why his mindfulness is praised. It is not just ordinary mindfulness. It is a very powerful and refined mindfulness.

He dwells in sukha. This is not an ordinary sukha. It is unmixed or unsullied sukha. It is the one enjoyed by Noble Persons.

Now we go to the fourth jhÈna. The meditator has to do the same thing. He has to find fault with sukha. He is going to neutral feeling now.

In about the middle of paragraph 181 ‘knowing’ should not be there but instead it should say “When the fourth jhÈna is about to arise.” Fourth jhÈna is different from the others because it is accompanied by neutral feeling. First jhÈna, second jhÈna and third jhÈna are accompanied by pleasurable feeling.

When we talk about the different conditions in PaÔÔhÈna (There are 24 causal relations in PaÔÔhÈna.), when we talk about repetition condition, the constituents must be of the same nature. That means when moments of consciousness arise one after the other, the concomitants arising together with the previous consciousness can be a condition as repetition condition of the succeeding consciousness only when they are of the same nature. Pleasurable must be followed by pleasurable. Neutral must be followed by neutral. If neutral followed pleasurable, there would be no relationship as repetition. So in this fourth jhÈna “pleasant feeling is not a condition, as repetition condition, for neither-pain-nor-pleasant feeling, and [the preliminary work] must be aroused in the case of the fourth jhÈna with neither-pain-nor-pleasant feeling, consequently these [consciousnesses of the preliminary-work] are associated with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, and here happiness vanishes simply owing to their association with equanimity.”

What is that? What the Commentator is saying is the pleasurable feeling cannot be a repetition condition for neutral feeling. In the fourth jhÈna there is neutral feeling and not pleasurable feeling. If you look at the thought process, the jhÈna consciousness is preceded by four or three sense-sphere javanas or impulsions. Since in the first thought process the fifth moment, the jhÈna moment, is accompanied by neutral feeling, the others also must be accompanied by neutral feeling. That is what the Commentator is saying. In the first, second and third jhÈnas the javanas are accompanied by pleasurable feeling. That is the difference. In this thought process for fourth jhÈna, since fourth jhÈna must be accompanied by neutral feeling, the preceding kÈmÈvacara javanas must also be accompanied by neutral feeling. That is the only difference. That is what the Commentator is saying.

Here in the translation there is some error. I will read it. “But there is this difference: blissful (pleasant) feeling is not a condition, as repetition condition, for neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, and [the preliminary-work] must be aroused in the case of the fourth jhÈna with neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.” Actually it should say: “In the fourth jhÈna neither-painful-nor-pleasant must arise.” It is not in the preliminary-work but it is in the fourth jhÈna that neutral feeling must arise. Neutral feeling must be there.

“Therefore these [consciousnesses of the preliminary-work] (That means the kÈmÈvacara javanas preceding the r|pÈvacara javanas.) must be accompanied by neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling, and here happiness vanishes simply owing to their association with equanimity.” ‘Equanimity’ here means neutral feeling. Neutral feeling is feeling and sukha or happiness is feeling. If it is neutral it cannot be happiness, and if it is happiness it cannot be neutral. Since the fourth jhÈna is accompanied by neutral feeling, there can be no sukha feeling there. There can be no pleasant feeling.

“Here happiness vanishes simply owing to their association with equanimity.” It may be a ‘turn-off’ for many people because if happiness vanishes, what are we to do? Happiness is pleasurable feeling. Neutral feeling is said to be higher than pleasurable feeling. So in this fourth jhÈna pleasurable feeling vanishes and in its place neutral feeling arises. This neutral feeling is so refined that it is almost a kind of sukha. Although it is not technically sukha, it is the kind of ‘sukha’ that such people enjoy.

The fourth jhÈna - “With the abandoning of sukha and dukkha and with the previous disappearance of somanassa and domanassa, he enters upon and dwells in the fourth jhÈna, which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure and which has purity of mindfulness caused by equanimity.”

You know there are five kinds of feelings - sukha feeling, dukkha feeling, somanassa feeling, domanassa feeling, and upekkhÈ feeling. Sukha feeling and dukkha feeling are connected with the body. It is experienced in the mind, but it depends upon the physical thing or the body. These bodily feelings are called sukha and dukkha. Somanassa and domanassa are mental feelings, the feeling of pleasure in the mind and the feeling of anguish in the mind.

When you hit your finger with something, there is pain there. You have the experience or feeling of that pain in your mind, the dukkha feeling. When you think of something and you are sad, that is domanassa feeling. Or when you are angry, that is domanassa feeling that you get with your anger. It is like that.

“with the abandoning of sukha and dukkha and with the previous disappearance of somanassa and domanassa” - when we read this it would lead us to believe that sukha, dukkha, somanassa, and domanassa are abandoned close to the moment of fourth jhÈna. The abandonment of these four (sukha, dukkha, somanassa, domanassa) occurs during the preliminary stage of the fourth jhÈna it would seem. During the preliminary stage of the fourth jhÈna somanassa is abandoned. During the preliminary stage of the first jhÈna dukkha is abandoned. At the preliminary stage of the second jhÈna domanassa is abandoned. At the preliminary stage of the third jhÈna pÊti is abandoned. They are all abandoned at the preliminary stages of these four jhÈnas. That is why it says “with the previous disappearance of somanassa and domanassa.” Sukha, dukkha, somanassa, and domanassa are abandoned or eliminated before the moment of fourth jhÈna. Before reaching the fourth jhÈna there are preliminary stages. During these preliminary stages, that is the preliminary stages of first, second, third and fourth jhÈnas, these feelings are abandoned.

There is one passage in the Suttas where it is said that they are abandoned during the jhÈna stage. So the Commentator points to that passage and tries to explain it. It is true that they are abandoned in the preliminary stages. But their abandonment there is not intensive. Their cessation in the preliminary stages is not strong or reinforced. But at the moment of jhÈna there is reinforced cessation or reinforced abandonment of these things, these feelings. In the Sutta passage pointed out by the Commentator only the reinforced cessation is meant and not just cessation. That is why these are said to be abandoned at the stage of jhÈna in the Sutta. Therefore these two statements do not contradict one another.

In paragraph 187 “For accordingly, during the first jhÈna access, which has multiple adverting” - I don’t like the word ‘multiple’. Actually it is ‘different adverting’, not multiple. In a thought process there is only one adverting, either five-sense-door adverting or mind-door adverting. There can only be one adverting. So here ‘jhÈna access which has different adverting’ means the preliminary stage before reaching the jhana thought process. When a person tries to get jhÈna he practices meditation. He gains first the preliminary concentration and then access concentration. During the stage of access concentration there are moments of this preliminary work. These moments consist of a series of thought processes. In each thought process there is only one adverting. ‘First jhÈna access which has different adverting’ means while a person is trying to attain the first jhÈna, but who has not yet reached the first jhÈna thought process, then those stages are called the jhÈna access with different adverting. If it is said with the ‘same adverting’, it would mean the first jhÈna thought process itself. JhÈna thought process is not meant , but those occurring before the jhÈna thought process. Each of those thought processes has one adverting, but they are in different thought processes. There can be many thought processes of access concentration before the jhÈna thought process. The PÈÄi word ‘nÈnÈ’ can mean many or different. Here it means different. So ‘which has different adverting’ is what is meant here.

“There could be rearising of [bodily] pain faculty (‘Bodily pain faculty’ simply means bodily pain.) due to contact with gadflies, flies etc.” In paragraph 188 ‘multiple’ should be replaced with ‘different adverting’.

If these feelings are abandoned in the preliminary stages, why are they mentioned here? All four of them are mentioned in this passage describing the fourth jhÈna. The Commentator explains that it is done so that they can be easily understood or easily grasped. In paragraph 190 “It is done so that they can be readily grasped.” ‘Readily grasped’ means easily understood.

“For neither-painful-nor- pleasant feeling described here by the words ‘which has neither-pain-nor-pleasure’ is subtle, hard to recognize and not readily grasped (not readily understood).” Among the feelings the neutral feeling is the most difficult to see or to understand. Pain is obvious. Sukha or good feeling is also obvious. But the neutral feeling is difficult to see. Although one experiences neutral feeling, one is not aware that that is neutral feeling. It is so difficult to understand, so subtle.

Here the Buddha wants us to understand neutral feeling in comparison with other feelings. So he gives all the feelings here and explains that this feeling is the most difficult to understand.

“Just as, when a cattle-herd wants to catch a refractory ox that cannot be caught at all by approaching it, he collects all the cattle into one pen and lets them out one by one and then (I would say ‘saying’) saying ‘That is it; catch it’ - I would strike out ‘and so’. It is not ‘it gets caught’ but ‘gets it caught’. - gets it caught.” That means let other people catch the ox. This is the one I want to catch. Catch it. So the other people catch it. The sentence should run like this: “He lets them out one by one, and then saying ‘that is it; catch it; gets it caught as well, so too the Blessed One has collected all these [five kinds of feeling] together so that they can be readily grasped; for when they are shown collected together in this way, then what is not [bodily] pleasure (bliss) or [bodily] or [mental] joy or [mental] grief can still be grasped in this way.” What is not sukha, dukkha, somanassa, domanassa is upekkhÈ. The fourth jhÈna is accompanied by neither pain nor pleasure but neutral feeling.

“It has the purity of mindfulness caused by equanimity.” That is specific neutrality. Actually not only mindfulness but all mental concomitants, all mental factors are purified in this jhÈna. So it is stated: “The teaching is given under the heading of mindfulness.” Only mindfulness is mentioned, but we must understand that all the others are meant headed by mindfulness.

Is there an expression for that? Do you know what I mean? Sometimes we do not say all of what we want to say. But we let people know by saying something different from what we really want to say. I want you to understand that sati (mindfulness) and others are purified by equanimity. But all that I say is that mindfulness is purified by equanimity. I name mindfulness only, but I mean mindfulness and others. How do you say that in English? Is there a way of expressing that in English? Is there a figure of speech for that?

Student: Maybe ‘and so on’.

Teacher: But I just say ‘mindfulness’, but you must understand mindfulness and others. Sometimes we say “The president comes.” In reality he does not come alone, but we do not mention the others. It is something like that.

Student: Sometimes we say ‘shorthand’. We just say a little bit and the rest is understood.

Teacher: In that way we should understand that ‘purity of mindfulness’ is not purity of mindfulness only. It is purity of mindfulness and other concomitants.

So whenever you find in this translation the expression ‘under the heading of’ it means this. So ‘under the heading of mindfulness’ means taking mindfulness as the head of something, but you have to understand mindfulness and others as well.

This is the fourth jhÈna. How many jhÈna factors are there in fourth jhÈna? Two factors because instead of sukha there is upekkhÈ. The two factors are upekkhÈ and ekaggatÈ (unification of mind). The third jhÈna has two jhÈna factors and the fourth jhÈna also has two jhÈna factors.

This is the fourfold method. There are four jhÈnas according to this method. But if you want to experience five jhÈnas, you eliminate vitakka and vicÈra separately. First you try to eliminate vitakka and then you get the second jhÈna. The you try to eliminate vicÈra. Then you get the third jhÈna and so on. In that way there are five jhÈnas, not four. But actually they are the same depending upon whether a person eliminates vitakka and vicÈra at the same time or whether a person eliminates them one at a time.

Let us say there are four jhÈnas on the left hand side and five jhÈnas on the right hand side. The first in the fourfold method is the same as the first in the fivefold method. The second in the fivefold method stands alone because it has eliminated vitakka so it is unlike the first jhÈna in either method. It is also unlike the second jhÈna in the fourfold method which has eliminated vicÈra. The second jhÈna of the fivefold method still has the mental factor vicÈra. The third in the fivefold method is the same as the second in the fourfold method. The fourth in the fivefold method is the same as the third in the fourfold method. The fifth in the fivefold method is the same as the fourth in the fourfold method.

You will find four jhÈnas mostly in the Suttas. Very rarely will you find five jhÈnas mentioned in the Suttas. Only four jhÈnas are mentioned in many, many Suttas. But in Abhidhamma the fourfold method as well as the fivefold method is mentioned. That is the end of chapter 4.

SÈdhu! SÈdhu! SÈdhu!