Aṅguttara Nikāya
Pañcaka Nipāta
III: Pañc'aṅgika Vagga

The Book of the Gradual Sayings
The Book of the Fives
III: The Fivefold

Sutta 28

Pañc'aṅgika-Samādhi Suttaɱ

The Five-Limbed

Translated by E. M. Hare

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[25] [17]

[1][than][bodh][olds] Thus have I heard:

Once the Exalted One dwelt near Sāvatthī;
and there he addressed the monks, saying:

"Monks."

'Yes, lord,' they replied; and the Exalted One said:

"Monks, I will teach you how to make become
the five-limbed
Ariyan right concentration;
listen attentively and pay heed and I will speak."

'Even so, lord,' they replied, and the Exalted One said:

"Monks,^[1] take the case of a monk, who,
aloof from sensuous appetites,
aloof from evil ideas,
enters and abides in the first musing,
wherein applied and sustained thought works,
which is born of solitude
and is full of joy and ease;
he steeps
[18] and drenches
and fills
and suffuses this body^[2]
with a zest and ease,
born of solitude,
so that there is not one particle^[3] of the body
that is not pervaded
by this lone-born zest and ease.

Monks, just as a handy bathman
or attendant
might strew bath-powder
in some copper basin
and, gradually sprinkling water,
knead it together
so that the bath-ball gathered up the moisture,
became enveloped in moisture
and saturated both in and out,
but did not ooze moisture;^[4]
even so a monk steeps,
drenches,
fills
and suffuses this body
with zest and ease,
born of solitude,
so that there is not one particle of the body
that is not pervaded
by this lone-born zest and ease.

Monks, this is firstly how to make become
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration.

■

Or a monk, suppressing applied and sustained thought,
he enters and abides in the second musing,
which is self-evolved,
born of concentration,
full of zest and ease,
free from applied and sustained thought,
and there the mind becomes calm and one-pointed;
he steeps
and drenches
and fills
and suffuses this body
with joy and ease
born of concentration,
so that there is not one particle of the body
that is not pervaded
by this zest and ease
born of concentration.

Monks, imagine a pool with a spring,
but no water-inlet
either on the east side
or on the west
or on the north
or on the south,
and suppose the (rain-) deva
supply not proper rains from time to time —
cool waters would still well up from that pool,
and that pool would be
steeped,
drenched,
filled
and suffused
with the cold water
so that not a drop but would be pervaded
by the cold water;
in just the same way, monks,
a monk steeps
drenches,
fills
and suffuses
his body with zest and ease
born of concentration.

Monks, this is secondly how
to make become the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration.

■

Again, a monk, free from the fervour of zest,
mindful and self-possessed,
he enters and abides in the third musing,
and experiences in his being
that ease whereof the Ariyans declare:
'He that is tranquil and mindful dwells at ease;
. . . he steeps
and drenches
and fills
and suffuses
this body with a zestless ease
so that there is not one particle of the body
that is not pervaded by this zestless ease.

Monks, just as in a pond of blue,
white
and red water-lilies,^[5]
the plants are born in water,
grow in water,
come not [19] out of the water,
but, sunk in the depths,
find nourishment,
and from tip to root
are steeped,
drenched,
filled
and suffused
with cold water
so that not a part of them
is not pervaded by cold water;
even so, monks, a monk steeps
and drenches
and fills
and suffuses
his body in zestless ease.

Monks, this is thirdly how to make become
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration.

■

Again, a monk, putting away ease
and by putting away ill,
by the passing away of happiness and misery
he was wont to feel,
he enters and abides in the fourth musing,
which is utter purity of mindfulness,
which comes of disinterestedness
and is free of ease and ill;
seated,
he suffuses his body
with purity by the pureness of his mind
so that there is not one partide of the body
that is not pervaded with purity
by the pureness of his mind.

Monks, just as a man might sit
with his head^[6] swathed in a clean cloth
so that not a portion of it
was in contact with that clean cloth;
even so
a monk sits suffusing his body
with purity by the pureness of his mind
so that there is not one partide of the body
that is not pervaded with purity
by the pureness of his mind.

Monks, this is fourthly how to make become
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration.

■

Again, the survey-sign^[7] is rightly grasped by a monk,
rightly held by the attention,
rightly reflected upon,
rightly penetrated by insight.

Monks, just as someone might survey another,
standing might survey another sitting,
or sitting might survey another lying down;
even so the survey-sign is rightly grasped by the monk,
rightly held by the attention,
rightly reflected upon,
rightly penetrated by insight.

Monks, this is fifthly how to make become
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration.

 

§

 

Monks, when a monk has thus made become
and thus made abundant
the five-limbed Ariyan concentration,
he can bend his mind
to realize by higher knowledge
whatever condition is so realizable,
and become an eyewitness in every case,
whatever the range may be.

■

[20] Monks, suppose a water jar,^[8]
brimful of water
so that a crow could drink from^[9] it,
were set on a dish;
as soon as a strong man rocked^[10] it to and fro
would the water spill?'^[11]

'Yes, lord.'

'Even so, monks,
when a monk has so made become
and made abundant
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration,
he can bend the mind
to realize by higher knowledge
whatever condition is so realizable,
and become an eyewitness in every case,
whatever the range may be.

■

Monks,^[12] imagine a tank
on a level piece of ground,
with dykes built up on its four sides,
brimful of water
so that a crow could drink from it;
as soon as a strong man
loosened the aides here and there
would the water flow out?'^[13]

'Yes, lord.'

'Even so, monks,
when a monk has so made become
and made abundant
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration,
he can bend the mind
to realize by higher knowledge
whatever condition is so realizable,
and become an eyewitness in every case,
whatever the range may be.

■

Monks,^[14] suppose a carriage,
harnessed with thoroughbreds,
with goad hanging^[15] handy,
were to stand on the level,^[16] where four main roads meet;
as soon as the coachman,
a capable trainer and driver of horses,'
had mounted
and grasped the reins in his left hand
and with his right seized the goad,
he would drive on or back,^[17]
as and how he pleased.

Even so, monks, when a monk has so made become
and made abundant
the five-limbed Ariyan right concentration,
he can bend the mind
to realize by higher knowledge
whatever condition is so realizable,
and become an eyewitness in every case,
whatever the range may be.

 

§

 

[21] Should^[18] he wish:

"I would experience psychic power
in manifold modes -

Being one,
I would become many;
being many,
I would become one;
I would become visible or invisible;
I would go without let
through walls,
through fences,
through mountains,
as if they were but air;
I would dive in and out of the earth,
as if it were but water;
I would walk on water
without parting it,
as if it were earth;
I would travel cross-legged through the air,
as a bird on the wing;
I would handle and stroke the moon and the sun,
though they be so powerful and strong;
I would scale the heights of the world
even in this body" -

he becomes an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may be.

■

Should he wish:

"With the celestial means of hearing,
purified and surpassing that of men,
I would hear sounds
both of; devas and mankind,
both far and near" -

he becomes an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range maybe.

■

Should he wish:

"I would compass
and know with my mind
the thoughts of other beings,
other persons;
I would know the passionate mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the malignant mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the infatuated mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the congested mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the diffuse mind as such,
the mind free therefrom as such;
I would know the lofty mind as such,
the low mind as such;
a would know the better mind as such,
the inferior mind as such;
I would know the controlled mind as such,
the uncontrolled as such;
I would know the liberated mind as such,
the mind not freed as such" -

he becomes an eyewitness
in every case
whatever the range may be.

■

Should he wish:

"I would call to mind
many a previous dwelling,
that is to say,
one birth,
two births,
three births,
four, five,
ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty,
a hundred births,
a thousand births,
a hundred thousand births,
many an aeon of progression,
many an aeon of destruction,
many an aeon of both progression and destruction;
that in each,
such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of happiness and ill,
such my span of life;
that faring on thence
I arose there,
when such was my name,
such my clan,
such my caste,
such my food,
such my experience of happiness and ill,
such my span of life;
faring on thence
I arose here;
thus I would call to mind
each detail and circumstance
of my many previous dwellings" -

he becomes an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may be.

■

Should he wish:

"With the celestial eye,
purified and surpassing that of men,
I would see beings faring on
and being reborn,
some low,
some lofty,
some beautiful,
some ugly,
some happy,
some miserable;
I would see them pass
according to their works;
thus these worthies
were given over to evil ways
in deed,
word
and thought,
defamers of the Ariyans,
holders of wrong views,
reaping the reward accordingly,
such, on the breaking up of the body after death,
were reborn in hell,
the wayward way,
the ill way,
the abyss,
hell;
or,
those acted rightly
in deed,
word
and thought,
they were no defamers of the Ariyans,
but held right vews
and reaped their reward accordingly,
such, on the breaking up of the body after death,
were reborn in heaven,
that happy place of bliss;
thus, with the celestial eye,
purified and surpassing that of men,
I would see beings faring on
and being reborn,
some low,
some lofty,
some beautiful,
some ugly,
some happy,
some miserable;
I would see them pass
according to their works" -

he becomes an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may be

■

Should he wish:

"Having destroyed the cankers,
I would enter
and abide in
the emancipation of the mind,
in the emancipation of insight,
which is free of the cankers,
having realized that state
by my own knowledge
even in this very llfe -

he becomes an eyewitness
in every case,
whatever the range may be.

 

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^[1] Cf. the whole of this sutta with D. i, 74 (D.A. i, 217 is materially the same as our Comy.), 232; M. i, 276; ii, 15; iii, 92.

^[2] Kāya, here karaja- (Comy.).

^[3] Comy. instances, skin, flesh and blood.

^[4] Comy. so that yon can put it in your pocket (ovaṭṭikāyaɱ).

^[5] Uppala, paduma, and puṇḍarīka. Comy. observes that the first may be any of the three colours; the second is white and has a hundred leaves (see Kh.A. 67 for the use of these); the last is deficient in these hundred leaves and is red (Childers the white lotus). Cf. S. i, 138 for this simile.

^[6] Sasīsa.

^[7] Paccavekkhanānimitta. Comy. of which there are 19 (UdA. 336; in detail: Vism. 676, trsl. 829). It is notworthy that this item is omitled from the D. and M. suttas referred to above; but see D. iii, 278 (Dial. iii, 255), where Mrs. Rhys Davids translates 'images for retrospective thought,' adding in a note 'insight on emezging from ecstasy.' (The five at D. differ in items 2 and 4 from our set.) See Cpd. 58 on 'reviewing' after Jhāna. Our simile does not appear to recur elsewhere.

^[8] This simile recurs at M. iii, 96.

^[9] Comy. a jar with cords around it (sa-mekhalā).

^[10] See S.B.E. xi, 178 this expression reccurs at D. i, 244; S. ii, 134; Vin. i, 230; Ud. 90.

^[11] Āvajjeyya, so S.e.; P.E.D., to cause to yield (?), but suggests the v.l. āvaṭṭeyya, to turn round.

^[12] Āgaccheyya.

^[13] Cf. M. loc. cit.

^[14] This recurs at M. i, 124; iii, 97; S. iv, 176.

^[15] Odhasta. Comy. ālambana.

^[16] Subhūmiyaɱ, so S.e., but Comy. sa-, glossing sama-.

^[17] Sāreyya pi paccāsūreyyai see Vism. trsl. 355, where this phrase is used of racehorses.

^[18] D. and M. continue with all this (see references in the first note to this for full details see above, § 23. Our text is not in full.