Dhr. Seven, Sayalay Aloka (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly, Nibbana Sutta: "Nirvana Discourse" (AN 9.34) based on questionable Ven. Thanissaro translation (accesstoinsight.org)
 |
| A cooling off pool in hot Madagascar, off the coast of Africa (bing.com) |
.
Thus have I heard. On one occasion Ven. Sariputra [the monk whom, like the nun Ven. Khema, the Buddha declared the "foremost in wisdom"] was staying near Rajagaha at the Bamboo Grove in the Squirrels' Feeding Ground.
There Ven. Sariputra said to the meditators: "This nirvana is pleasant, friends, this nirvana is pleasant!"
When this was said, Ven. Udayin asked Ven. Sariputra: "What is the pleasure, friend, if there is nothing felt?"
[Ven. Sariputra answered:] "Just that is the pleasure, friend, that nothing is felt.
"There are these five strands of sensuality. What are the five?
There Ven. Sariputra said to the meditators: "This nirvana is pleasant, friends, this nirvana is pleasant!"
When this was said, Ven. Udayin asked Ven. Sariputra: "What is the pleasure, friend, if there is nothing felt?"
[Ven. Sariputra answered:] "Just that is the pleasure, friend, that nothing is felt.
"There are these five strands of sensuality. What are the five?
- Forms cognizable by the eye -- agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, enticing, engendering desire [craving and clinging] --
- sounds cognizable by the ear...
- fragrances cognizable by the nose...
- flavors cognizable by the tongue...
- tactile sensations cognizable by the body -- agreeable, pleasing, charming, endearing, enticing, engendering desire.
"Whatever pleasure or joy arises dependent on these five strands of sensuality, that is 'sensual pleasure.'
"Now, say a meditator -- withdrawn from sensuality and all unskillful states -- enters and abides (reaches and remains) in the first meditative absorption [the first of the eight jhanas] born of rapture and bliss, born of withdrawal, accompanied by applied and sustained attention.
"If that meditator, remaining in that skillful state, is beset by [wandering] attention to perceptions of sensuality, that is an affliction for that meditator.
"Just as pain arises as an affliction for a healthy person, even so does attention to perceptions of sensuality arise as an affliction for a meditator beset by them.
"Now, the Blessed One (the Buddha) has said that whatever is an affliction is suffering (disappointment, pain, dukkha). So by this line of reasoning, it may be known how nirvana is pleasant.
"If that meditator, remaining in that skillful state, is beset by attention to perceptions of sustained attention, that is an affliction...
"Furthermore, say a meditator, with the fading of rapture, remains equanimous, mindful, and clearly comprehending, and senses pleasure with the body. That meditator enters and abides in the third meditative absorption, of which the noble ones say, 'Equanimous and mindful one has a pleasant abiding.'*
"Now, say a meditator -- withdrawn from sensuality and all unskillful states -- enters and abides (reaches and remains) in the first meditative absorption [the first of the eight jhanas] born of rapture and bliss, born of withdrawal, accompanied by applied and sustained attention.
"If that meditator, remaining in that skillful state, is beset by [wandering] attention to perceptions of sensuality, that is an affliction for that meditator.
"Just as pain arises as an affliction for a healthy person, even so does attention to perceptions of sensuality arise as an affliction for a meditator beset by them.
"Now, the Blessed One (the Buddha) has said that whatever is an affliction is suffering (disappointment, pain, dukkha). So by this line of reasoning, it may be known how nirvana is pleasant.
- [NOTE: Here nirvana should not be misunderstood as a place or a noun but rather as a verb -- a cooling -- to be "nirvanered" -- quenching, calming, stilling, blissing, or as Ven. Thanissaro explains "unbinding," like separating fire from its fuel, a thing from its substrate. It is very tempting because of the constraints of our language to imagine nirvana as a place (a there) or even worse as pure "nothingness." But Bhikkhu Bodhi goes to great lengths in "As It Is: Talk 6: Nibbana" to show that this is very mistaken; nirvana is not merely the eradication of the defilements and/or the end of all suffering.]
"If that meditator, remaining in that skillful state, is beset by attention to perceptions of sustained attention, that is an affliction...
"Furthermore, say a meditator, with the fading of rapture, remains equanimous, mindful, and clearly comprehending, and senses pleasure with the body. That meditator enters and abides in the third meditative absorption, of which the noble ones say, 'Equanimous and mindful one has a pleasant abiding.'*
- [*"After the fading away of rapture (piti, bliss, joy) one dwells in equanimity, mindful, clearly conscious, and one experiences in one's person that feeling of which the Noble Ones say, 'Happy lives the person of equanimity and attentive mind'; thus, one enters the third absorption."]
"Furthermore, say a meditator, by abandoning pleasure and pain -- as with the earlier disappearance of gladness and sadness (elation and dismay) -- enters and abides in the fourth meditative absorption with purified equanimity and mindfulness, beyond pleasure and pain.
"If that meditator, remaining there, is beset by attention to perceptions of equanimity, that is an affliction...
"Furthermore, say a meditator, by completely transcending perceptions of [physical] form, with the disappearance of perceptions of sense-reactions, and giving no heed to perceptions of diversity (papanca), [perceiving,] 'Boundless is space,' enters and abides in the dimension (base, plane, sphere, realm) of boundless space.
"If that meditator, remaining there, is beset by attention to perceptions of [physical] form, that is an affliction...
"Furthermore, say a meditator, by completely transcending the dimension of boundless space, [with the idea,] 'Boundless is consciousness,' enters and abides in the dimension of boundless consciousness.
"If that meditator, remaining there, is beset by attention to perceptions of the dimension of boundless space, that is an affliction...
"Furthermore, say a meditator, by completely transcending the dimension of boundless consciousness, [with the idea,] 'There is nothing' or 'Nothing is there,' enters and abides in the dimension of nothingness (ākiñcaññāyatana).
"If that meditator, remaining there, is beset by attention to perceptions of the dimension of boundless consciousness, that is an affliction...
"Furthermore, say a meditator, by completely transcending the dimension of nothingness, enters and abides in the dimension of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.
"If that meditator, remaining there, is beset by attention to perceptions of the dimension of nothingness, that is an affliction. Now, the Blessed One has said that whatever is an affliction is suffering. So by this line of reasoning it may be known how pleasant nirvana is.
"Furthermore, say a meditator, by completely transcending of the dimension of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, enters and abides in the cessation of perception and feeling.
"Having seen [that] with wisdom (insight, discernment), that meditator's mental defilements [taints, fetters] are completely eradicated. So by this line of reasoning it may be known how nirvana is pleasant."
- See also AN 9.42
No comments:
Post a Comment