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SN 21.1PTS SN 2.2731 min read

With Kolita

Kolitasutta

Moggallāna reflects that second absorption is the true noble silence, and the Buddha encourages him to develop it.

Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 21.1Linked Discourses 21.1
  • 0.21. Bhikkhuvagga1. Monks

0.3KolitasuttaWith Kolita

1.1PTS 2.273Evaṁ me sutaṁ—So I have heard.1.2ekaṁ samayaṁ bhagavā sāvatthiyaṁ viharati jetavane anāthapiṇḍikassa ārāme.At one time the Buddha was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.1.3Tatra kho āyasmā mahāmoggallāno bhikkhū āmantesi:There Venerable Mahāmoggallāna addressed the mendicants:11.4“āvuso bhikkhave”ti.“Reverends, mendicants!”

1.5“Āvuso”ti kho te bhikkhū āyasmato mahāmoggallānassa paccassosuṁ.“Reverend,” they replied.

2.1Āyasmā mahāmoggallāno etadavoca:Venerable Mahāmoggallāna said this:

2.2“idha mayhaṁ, āvuso, rahogatassa paṭisallīnassa evaṁ cetaso parivitakko udapādi:“Just now, reverends, as I was in private retreat this thought came to mind:2.3‘ariyo tuṇhībhāvo, ariyo tuṇhībhāvoti vuccati.‘They speak of this thing called “noble silence”.2.4Katamo nu kho ariyo tuṇhībhāvo’ti?What then is this noble silence?’

2.5Tassa mayhaṁ āvuso, etadahosi:It occurred to me:2.6‘idha bhikkhu vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā ajjhattaṁ sampasādanaṁ cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.‘As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, a mendicant enters and remains in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.2.7Ayaṁ vuccati ariyo tuṇhībhāvo’ti.This is called noble silence.’2

2.8So khvāhaṁ, āvuso, vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā ajjhattaṁ sampasādanaṁ cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja vihariṁ.And so, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I was entering and remaining in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.3

2.9Tassa mayhaṁ, āvuso, iminā vihārena viharato vitakkasahagatā saññāmanasikārā samudācaranti.While I was in that meditation, perception and focus accompanied by placing the mind beset me.4

3.1PTS 2.274Atha kho maṁ, āvuso, bhagavā iddhiyā upasaṅkamitvā etadavoca:Then the Buddha came up to me with his psychic power and said,3.2‘moggallāna moggallāna, mā, brāhmaṇa, ariyaṁ tuṇhībhāvaṁ pamādo, ariye tuṇhībhāve cittaṁ saṇṭhapehi, ariye tuṇhībhāve cittaṁ ekodibhāvaṁ karohi, ariye tuṇhībhāve cittaṁ samādahā’ti.‘Moggallāna, Moggallāna! Don’t neglect noble silence, brahmin! Settle your mind in noble silence; unify your mind and bring it to immersion in noble silence.’

3.3So khvāhaṁ, āvuso, aparena samayena vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā ajjhattaṁ sampasādanaṁ cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharāmi.And so, after some time, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I entered and remained in the second absorption …

3.4Yañhi taṁ, āvuso, sammā vadamāno vadeyya:So if anyone should be rightly called3.5‘satthārā anuggahito sāvako mahābhiññataṁ patto’ti, mamaṁ taṁ sammā vadamāno vadeyya:a disciple who attained to great direct knowledge with help from the Teacher, it’s me.”53.6‘satthārā anuggahito sāvako mahābhiññataṁ patto’”ti.

3.7Paṭhamaṁ.

Translator’s notes

  1. Kolita was his personal name, Moggallāna his clan name.

    ↩ sn21.1:1.3
  2. So-called because of the absence of vitakka and vicāra, which are the precursors of speech (SN 41.6:2.4, MN 44:15.3).

    ↩ sn21.1:2.7
  3. The verb viharati here and below, and in the parallel passages at SN 40.1ff., uses the aorist and present tenses inconsistently. I take the first passage as historical present, the second as aorist in simple past tense.

    ↩ sn21.1:2.8
  4. In the Suttas, saññāmanasikārā is only used in negative contexts, but later texts use it in a positive way as well (Ps 1.1:171.5, Pe 8:3.3).

    ↩ sn21.1:2.9
  5. A series of similar conversations on different states of meditation is found in the Moggallānasaṁyutta (SN 40).

    ↩ sn21.1:3.5