Aṅguttara Nikāya
Catukka Nipāta
XVII: Paṭipadā Vagga
Sutta 163
Asubha Suttaɱ
Unattractiveness
Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Proofed against and modified in accordance with the revised edition at dhammatalks.org
For free distribution only.
[1][pts] "Monks, there are these four modes of practice.
Which four?
Painful practice with slow intuition,
painful practice with quick intuition,
pleasant practice with slow intuition,
and pleasant practice with quick intuition.
§
2. "And which is painful practice with slow intuition?
There is the case where a monk remains focused on unattractiveness with regard to the body,
percipient of loathsomeness with regard to food,
percipient of non-delight with regard to the entire world,
(and) focused on inconstancy with regard to all fabrications.
The perception of death is well established within him.
He dwells in dependence on the five strengths of one in training
— strength of conviction,
strength of a sense of shame,
strength of a sense of compunction,
strength of persistence,
and strength of discernment
— but these five faculties of his
— the faculty of conviction,
the faculty of persistence,
the faculty of mindfulness,
the faculty of concentration,
the faculty of discernment —
appear weakly.
Because of their weakness, he attains only slowly the immediacy[1] that leads to the ending of the effluents.
This is called painful practice with slow intuition.
■
3. "And which is painful practice with quick intuition?
There is the case where a monk remains focused on unattractiveness with regard to the body, percipient of loathsomeness with regard to food, percipient of non-delight with regard to the entire world, (and) focused on inconstancy with regard to all fabrications.
The perception of death is well established within him.
He dwells in dependence on these five strengths of one in training — strength of conviction, strength of a sense of shame, strength of a sense of compunction, strength of persistence, and strength of discernment — and these five faculties of his — the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment — appear intensely.
Because of their intensity, he attains quickly the immediacy that leads to the ending of the effluents.
This is called painful practice with quick intuition.
■
4. "And which is pleasant practice with slow intuition?
There is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation.
With the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations, he enters and remains in the second jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation — internal assurance.
With the fading of rapture he remains equanimous, mindful, and alert, and senses pleasure with the body.
He enters and remains in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare,
'Equanimous and mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.'
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna:||
purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain.[2]
He dwells in dependence on these five strengths of one in training — strength of conviction, strength of a sense of shame, strength of a sense of compunction, strength of persistence, and strength of discernment — but these five faculties of his — the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment — appear weakly.
Because of their weakness, he attains only slowly the immediacy that leads to the ending of the effluents.
This is called pleasant practice with slow intuition.
■
5. "And which is pleasant practice with quick intuition?
There is the case where a monk — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation.
With the stilling of directed thoughts and evaluations, he enters and remains in the second jhāna:
rapture and pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation — internal assurance.
With the fading of rapture he remains equanimous, mindful, and alert, and senses pleasure with the body.
He enters and remains in the third jhāna, of which the noble ones declare,
'Equanimous and mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.'
With the abandoning of pleasure and pain — as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in the fourth jhāna:
purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither pleasure nor pain.
He dwells in dependence on these five strengths of one in training — strength of conviction, strength of a sense of shame, strength of a sense of compunction, strength of persistence, and strength of discernment — and these five faculties of his — the faculty of conviction, the faculty of persistence, the faculty of mindfulness, the faculty of concentration, the faculty of discernment — appear intensely.
Because of their intensity, he attains quickly the immediacy that leads to the ending of the effluents.
This is called pleasant practice with quick intuition.
"These are the four modes of practice."
[1] See AN 4:162, Note 1.
A couple of points here:
1. When the Buddha speaks of "There are four ... of whatever, that never implies that there are only four.
2. This sutta describes only 'mode of progress', not 'attainment'. I don't really dispute the issue here, but the logic is based on the idea that it describes attainment.
— p.p.
[2] Because the description of pleasant practice here contains the standard jhāna formula, while the description of painful practice contains no mention of jhāna, some writers have taken this as proof that there is an alternative path to awakening that does not involve the jhānas.
However, this reading ignores the description of how painful practice and pleasant practice can yield either slow or quick intuition. Intuition comes slowly when the five faculties are present in a weak form, and quickly when they are present in an intense form. Now, in both cases, the faculty of concentration — which is defined with the standard formula for the jhānas (SN 48.10) — has to be present for the ending of the effluents. Because this is true both for painful practice and for pleasant practice, both sorts of practice need jhāna in order to succeed.
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