Savitakkasavicārasutta
Translated by Bhikkhu Sujato · Pāli: Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka · Public domain (CC0) via SuttaCentral
1.1“Katamo ca, bhikkhave, asaṅkhatagāmimaggo?“And what is the path that leads to the unconditioned?1.2Savitakkasavicāro samādhi, avitakkavicāramatto samādhi, avitakkaavicāro samādhi—ayaṁ vuccati, bhikkhave, asaṅkhatagāmimaggo …pe….Immersion with placing the mind and keeping it connected. Immersion without placing the mind, merely keeping it connected. Immersion without placing the mind or keeping it connected. …”1
1.3Tatiyaṁ.
This threefold presentation of the process of absorption focuses on vitakka (“placing the mind”) and vicāra (“keeping it connected”), looking closely at how they cease (see also DN 33:1.10.121, DN 34:1.4.7, MN 128:31.4, and AN 8.63:3.1). The standard jhāna formula focuses more on the refinement of feelings, from which perspective the first two stages of immersion here fall under the “rapture and bliss born of seclusion”, while only the third qualifies as “rapture and bliss born of immersion”. Thus Analayo describes the two descriptions as “complementary perspectives on the same process of deepening concentration” (Comparative Study, vol. ii, pg. 739, note 263).
