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SN 28.2PTS SN 3.2351 min read

Without Placing the Mind

Avitakkasutta

Sāriputta goes to Mirkwood for meditation, and afterwards Ānanda asks why his face is so radiant. Sāriputta replies that he was practicing second absorption without any thought of self.

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

  • 0.1Saṁyutta Nikāya 28.2Linked Discourses 28.2
  • 0.21. Sāriputtavagga1. With Sāriputta

0.3AvitakkasuttaWithout Placing the Mind

1.1Sāvatthinidānaṁ.At Sāvatthī.

1.2Addasā kho āyasmā ānando …pe… āyasmantaṁ sāriputtaṁ etadavoca:Venerable Ānanda saw Venerable Sāriputta and said to him:

1.3“vippasannāni kho te, āvuso sāriputta, indriyāni; parisuddho mukhavaṇṇo pariyodāto.“Reverend Sāriputta, your faculties are so very clear, and your complexion is pure and bright.1.4Katamenāyasmā sāriputto ajja vihārena vihāsī”ti?What meditation were you practicing today?”

2.1“Idhāhaṁ, āvuso, vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā ajjhattaṁ sampasādanaṁ cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharāmi.“Reverend, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected were stilled, I entered and remained 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.2.2Tassa mayhaṁ, āvuso, na evaṁ hoti:But it didn’t occur to me:2.3‘ahaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ samāpajjāmī’ti vā ‘ahaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ samāpanno’ti vā ‘ahaṁ dutiyā jhānā vuṭṭhito’ti vā”ti.‘I am entering the second absorption’ or ‘I have entered the second absorption’ or ‘I am emerging from the second absorption’.”

2.4Tathā hi panāyasmato sāriputtassa dīgharattaṁ ahaṅkāramamaṅkāramānānusayā susamūhatā.“That must be because Venerable Sāriputta has long ago totally eradicated I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to conceit.2.5Tasmā āyasmato sāriputtassa na evaṁ hoti:That’s why it didn’t occur to you:2.6“‘ahaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ samāpajjāmī’ti vā ‘ahaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ samāpanno’ti vā ‘ahaṁ dutiyā jhānā vuṭṭhito’ti vā”ti.‘I am entering the second absorption’ or ‘I have entered the second absorption’ or ‘I am emerging from the second absorption’.”

2.7Dutiyaṁ.