Aṅguttara Nikāya
4. Catukka Nipāta
V. Rohitassa Vagga
The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fours
V. Rohitassa
Sutta 41
Samādhi-Bhāvanā Suttaɱ
Concentration
Translated from the Pali by F. L. Woodward, M.A.
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[1][than][olds] Thus have I heard:
On a certain occasion the Exalted One addressed the monks, saying:
"Monks."
"Yes, lord," replied those monks to the Exalted One.
The Exalted One said:
"Monks, there are these four ways of making-concentration-to-become.[1]
What four?
There is, monks, the making-concentration-to-become which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to happy [52] living in this very life.
There is, monks, the making-concentration-to-become which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to winning knowledge-and-insight.[2]
There is, monks, the making-concentration-to-become which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to mindfulness and well-awareness.
There is, monks, that which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to the destruction of the āsavas.
[2][than][olds] Now, monks, what sort of making-concentration-to-become which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to happy living in this very life?
Herein a monk, aloof from sense-desires ...
[aloof from unprofitable states of mind,] or
[aloof from evil conditions]
attains the first musing
[which is accompanied by thought directed and sustained,
born of seclusion,
zestful and easeful,
and abides therein];
by the calming down of thought directed and sustained ...
[he enters on that inward calm,
that single-minded purpose,
apart from thought directed and sustained,
born of mental balance,
zestful and easeful,]
he attains the second musing;
by the fading out of zest ...
[he becomes balanced and
remains mindful and composed,
and experiences with the body
that happiness of which the Ariyans aver:
"The balanced, thoughtful man lives happily," and]
he attains the third musing;
by rejecting pleasure and pain alike ...
[by the coming to an end
of the joy and sorrow which he had before,]
he attains the fourth musing
[free of pain and free of pleasure,
a state of perfect purity
of balance and equanimity.] [3]
This is called
"the making-concentration-to-become
which conduces to happy living
in this very life."
[3][than][olds] And of what sort is that
which conduces to winning knowledge-and-insight?
Herein a monk pays attention to consciousness of light,
he concentrates on consciousness of daylight,[4]
as by day, so by night,
as by night, so by day.
Thus with wits alert,
with wits unhampered,
he cultivates the mind to brilliance.
This, monks, is called
"the making-concentration-to-become which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to winning knowledge-and-insight."
[4][than][olds] And of what sort of making-concentration-to-become which,
when developed and made much of,
conduces to mindfulness and well-awareness?
Herein, monks, the feelings which arise in a monk
are evident[5] [53] to him,
the feelings which abide with him
are evident to him,
the feelings which come to an end in him
are evident to him.
The perceptions which arise in him
are evident to him,
the perceptions which abide with him
are evident to him,
the perceptions which come to an end in him
are evident to him.
The trains of thought which arise in him,
which abide with him,
which come to an end in him
are evident to him.
This, monks, is called
"the making-concentration-to-become
which conduces to mindfulness and well-awareness."
[5][than][olds] And of what sort of making-concentration-to-become
if developed and made much of,
conduces to the destruction of the āsavas?
Herein a monk dwells
observing the rise and fall
in the five factors of grasping,
thus:
Such is material,
such is the arising of material,
such its vanishing.
Such is feeling,
such is the arising of feeling,
such its vanishing.
Such is perception,
such is the arising of perception,
such its vanishing.
Such are the activities,
such the arising of the activities,
such their vanishing.
Such is consciousness,
such the arising of consciousness,
such the vanishing of consciousness.
This, monks, is called
"the making-concentration-to-become
which conduces to the destruction of the āsavas.
These are the four forms of it.
Moreover, in this connexion
I thus spoke in The Chapter on the Goal
in (the sutta called) The Questions of Puṇṇaka:[6]
[6][than][olds] By searching in the world things high and low,[7]
He who hath naught to stir him[8] in the world,
Calm[9] and unclouded, cheerful, freed of longing,
He hath crossed over birth and eld, I say.'
[1] Samādhi-bhāvanā In the uddāna. at D. iii, 222 = Dial. iii, 215.
[2] Comy. calls this (dibba-cakkhu). clairvoyance or the light of knowledge (ñāṇāloko) Cf. the phrase 'knowledge arose, light arose,' K.S. v, 157; G.S. i, 149.
[3] Text abridges thus. For the full details see G.S. i, 165, etc. Cf. The bases of psychic power, K.S. v, 235. [Ed. note: I have inserted in italics Woodward's own translation per the citation changing only 'I enter', to 'he enters'; 'abide' to 'abides' etc.]
[4] Comy. expl. 'the consciousness that it is daytime.' It means that he is always wide awake at his task. P. Dict. has 'consciousness of sight.'
[5] Cf. The four stations (or arisings) of mindfulness, K.S. v, 157. Comy. says viditā = pākaṭā (evident).
[6] In Pārāyana-Vagga of Sutta Nipāta, v. 1048. The lines are also quoted at G.S. i, 116, and other verses from this ancient poem are found in the Nikāyas. See Buddhist India, 178.
[7] Parovarāni = uccāvacāni, uttamādhamāni (Comy.) and on A. i, 132, parāni ca ovarani ca (but SnA. orāni)
[8] Text should read yass'iñjitaṅ.
[9] Text should read santo.
