Successive Habitations

Translated from the Pāḷi
by
Michael M. Olds

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

Once upon a time The Lucky Man
Sāvātthi-town revisiting
Anāthapiṇḍika's Jetavana sporting ground.

There then the Lucky Man said this
to the beggars:

"Beggars!"

"Bhadante"
the beggars responding to
the Lucky Man,
The Lucky Man said this to them:

Nine, beggars, are
successive habitations.

What nine?

Here beggars, a beggar,
separating himself from sense pleasures,
separating himself from unskillful things,
still thinking and pondering
with the pleasurable enthusiasm
born of detachment
enters into and
makes a habitat of
the First Knowing;

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;

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;

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

These then, beggars, are
nine successive habitations."

Aṅguttara Nikāya VIII. Navaka Nipāta III. Sattāvāsa Vagga

The Book of Nines

Sutta 32

Anupubba-Vihāra Suttaṃ

Successive Habitations

Aṅguttara Nikāya
VIII. Navaka Nipāta
III. Sattāvāsa Vagga