SN 47.7 is a powerhouse. I find it a very unique take on the distinction between what is safe and what is not, and instead of deploying the typical “this is not mine” mantra towards that which is dangerous and subject to change, we find an entire domain of our experience explicitly described as the domain of others. This gives the impression that danger is not just where things are displeasing, harmful or overtly painful, but is found in forms, sounds, tastes, odors and touches that are desirable, tantalizing, or even just agreeable. In other words, SN 47.7 looks to be saying that comfort does not imply safety, and, on comfort alone, one could be within the domain of others, where Mara can access them.
A few items I found interesting before we get to the main event of SN 47.7:
The realm of preference, of what is pleasing, or even of not wanting what is painful, is perhaps what is meant by “gratification”:SN 56.11 wrote:Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of suffering: birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.
SN 35.13 wrote:The pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on the eye: this is the gratification in the eye…The pleasure and joy that arise in dependence on the ear … the nose … the tongue … the body … the mind: this is the gratification in the mind.
Now although SN 47.7 only mentions the first five senses, and exclusively in terms of the “five cords of sensual pleasure”, in SN 48.42, those five senses are said to have “recourse to the mind”, and the mind has recourse to mindfulness:SN 35.238 wrote:The eye, bhikkhus, is attacked by agreeable and disagreeable forms. The ear … The nose … The tongue … The body … The mind is attacked by agreeable and disagreeable mental phenomena.
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So it would seem we can equate this description of the mind having “recourse to mindfulness” with what is described in SN 47.7 as moving to one’s “own resort”. Though this turn away from pleasure is not a turn away from happiness:SN 48.42 wrote:Brahmin, these five faculties have different scopes and different ranges, and don’t experience each others’ scope and range. What five? The faculties of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body. These five faculties, with their different scopes and ranges, have recourse to the mind. And the mind experiences their scopes and ranges.”
“But Master Gotama, what does the mind have recourse to?”
“The mind has recourse to mindfulness.
So as you read SN 47.7 below: can Mara get to us if we’re playing it too “safe” and relying on familiarity; on what is agreeable? Is basic complacency the same as the monkey stuck to the trap in five places? Thoughts on one’s own domain vs the domain of others?AN 9.34 wrote:Thus have I heard. On one occasion the Venerable Sāriputta was dwelling at Rājagaha in the Bamboo Grove, the squirrel sanctuary. There the Venerable Sāriputta addressed the bhikkhus: “Friends, bhikkhus!”
“Friend!” those bhikkhus replied. The Venerable Sāriputta said this:
“Happiness, friends, is this nibbāna. Happiness, friends, is this nibbāna.”
When this was said, the Venerable Udāyī said to the Venerable Sāriputta: “But, friend Sāriputta, what happiness could there be here when nothing is felt here?”
“Just this, friend, is the happiness here, that nothing is felt here.
“There are, friends, these five cords of sensual pleasure. What five? Forms cognizable by the eye that are wished for, desired, agreeable, pleasing, connected with sensual pleasure, tantalizing; sounds cognizable by the ear … odors cognizable by the nose … tastes cognizable by the tongue … tactile objects cognizable by the body that are wished for, desired, agreeable, pleasing, connected with sensual pleasure, tantalizing. These are the five cords of sensual pleasure. Any pleasure or joy that arises in dependence on these five cords of sensual pleasure is called sensual pleasure.
“Here, friends, secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters and dwells in the first jhāna”
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Enjoy.
(I’m again experimenting with an expanded introduction with no follow-up. This seemed to lend itself to a more productive discussion two weeks ago. Feel free to address any of the above as long as it is within the context of SN 47.7. Let’s see how it works out this time.)