Aṅguttara Nikāya
VIII. Navaka Nipāta
III. Sattāvāsa Vagga

The Book of Nines

Sutta 34

Nibbāna-Sukha Suttaṃ

The Pleasantness of Nibbāna

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

 

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[1][pts][than] I hear tell:

Once upon a time
Old Man Sāriputta
Rājagahe revisiting,
Bamboo Grove,
Squirrel's Feeding Ground.

There then Old Man Sāriputta
said this to the beggars:

"Friends beggars!"

And
"Friend!"
those beggars responded
to Old Man Sāriputta.

Old Man Sāriputta
said this to them:

"Pleasant, friends,
is this Nibbāna!

Pleasant, friends,
is this Nibbāna!"

This said, Old Man Udāyī
said this to Old Man Sāriputta:

"Now what, friend Sāriputta,
can this pleasure be
when there is no
experience of sensation?"

"Just this is that pleasure;
that there is no experience of sensation.

 

§

 

Five, friend,
are the cords of
sense-desire.

What five?

Eye-consciousness of forms —
welcome,
enjoyable,
charming;
forms
loved,
bound up in sense pleasures,
enticing.

Ear-consciousness of sounds —
welcome,
enjoyable,
charming;
forms
loved,
bound up in sense pleasures,
enticing.

Nasal-consciousness of scents —
welcome,
enjoyable,
charming;
forms
loved,
bound up in sense pleasures,
enticing.

Tongue-consciousness of tastes —
welcome,
enjoyable,
charming;
forms
loved,
bound up in sense pleasures,
enticing.

Body-consciousness of touches —
welcome,
enjoyable,
charming;
forms
loved,
bound up in sense pleasures,
enticing.

These then, friend,
are the five cords of sense-desire
resuting in the arising of
pleasurable mental happiness.

These, friend, are called
sense-pleasures.

 

§

 

Here friend, a beggar,
separating himself from sense pleasures,
separating himself from unskillful things,
still thinking and pondering
with the pleasurable enthusiasm
born of detachment^[1]
enters into and
makes a habitat of
the First Knowing.

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of sense desires,
he certainly is afflicted.^[2]

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of sense desires,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
with thinking and pondering
having calmed down,
attaining tranquillity,
becoming whole-heartedly single-minded,
without thinking and pondering,
with the pleasurable enthusiasm
born of serenity
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
the Second Knowing;

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of thinking and pondering,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of thinking and pondering,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
dispassionate and
detached from enthusiasm,
living conscious and
aware of bodily sense-reactions
such as those described by the aristocrats
when they say
'Detached,
with satisfied mind,
he lives pleasantly,'
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
the Third Knowing;

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of passion and enthusiasm,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of passion and enthusiasm,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
letting go of his former experiences of
pleasure and pain,
allowing his experience of
mental ease and discomfort
to subside on their own,
without pleasure or pain,
with utterly pure
detachment of mind,
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
the Fourth Knowing.

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of detachment,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of detachment,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
elevating himself
above all perceptions of
form,
allowing perceptions of resistance
to subside, and
not scrutinizing
perceptions of diversity,
thinking:
'Un-ending is space'
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
the Space-dimension.

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of form,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of form,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
elevating himself
completely above The Space-Dimension,
thinking:
'Un-ending is consciousness'
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
The Consciousness-Dimension.

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of The Space-Dimension,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of The Space-Dimension,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
elevating himself
completely above The Consciousness-Dimension,
thinking:
'There is nothing to be had there'
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
The No-Thing-To-Be-Had-There Dimension.

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of The Consciousness-Dimension,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of The Consciousness-Dimension,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
elevating himself
completely above The No-Thing-To-Be-Had-There-Dimension
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
The Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception Dimension.

If, friend, when that beggar
revisits that habitat,
he is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of The No-Thing-To-Be-Had-There-Dimension,
he certainly is afflicted.

In the same way, friend,
as pain
might arise in the pleasant
such as a with a disease
even so, if that beggar
is assailed by
perceptions and examinations
of The No-Thing-To-Be-Had-There-Dimension,
he certainly is afflicted.

Moreover, friend,
affliction is spoken of
by the Lucky Man as
pain.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna.

■

Then,
elevating himself
completely above
The Neither-Perception-Nor-Non-Perception Dimension
he enters into and
makes a habitat of
The Ending Of Perception and Experience and
there,
through wisdom,
he sees that
the corrupting influences
are destroyed for him.

Thus then, friend,
following this line of
thinking about experience,
pleasant is this Nibbāna."

 

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^[1] Note that here the lines:
sa-vitakkaṃ||
sa-vicāraṃ||
viveka-jaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ||
still thinking and pondering
with the pleasurable enthusiasm
born of detachment
are not included and also are not indicated by a "...pe...' as being abridged as part of the description of the first jhāna in my version of the Pāḷi. Hare, Bhikkhu Thanissaro and Bhikkhu Bodhi all have the full formula. The Sutta Central Pāḷi (which is an edited version of the BJT Pāḷi used on this site) abridges the formula almost completely so it is not possible to determine what it really shows. The CSCD Pāḷi abridges in the standard way and at the right place. Consequently I am assuming this is a typographical error and am correcting the text I have and that is the way I am translating it as to take it as an intentional, meaningful omission does not yield to a sensible explanation.

^[2] saññā-manasikārā my "perceptions and examinations" Hare's: "perceptions and thoughts"; Bhikkhu Thanissaro's: "perceptions" amount to "thinking and pondering". The way I see this then is that thinking and pondering, when the subject of that thinking and pondering is sense desires is equal to sense desires and would throw the meditator back to a place prior to the first jhāna. So this is saying that the meditator bounced from the jhāna he was in to below the first jhāna back and forth. I suppose this is possible. I don't know, but it is the way I have got to translate it in order to be conveying what I see is the Pāḷi here. For the commentarial view and the view of Bhikkhu Thanissaro see footnotes 1 and 2 of Bhikkhu Thanissaro's translation.

 

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