• being intent on material things
• not being intent in material things, but intent on the imperturbable
• not on the imperturbable, but on base of nothingness
• not on base of nothingness, but on neither-conceptualisation-nor-non-conceptualisation
• not on neither-conceptualisation-nor-non-conceptualisation but on nibbāna.
No where in this sutta are the Jhānā mentioned. In MN 106 we find:
MN 106
ENTERING THE IMPERTURBABLE
1. A noble disciple reflects on this: ‘Sense objects in this life and in lives to come, sensual conceptions in this life and in lives to come; both of these are Māra’s sovereignty, Māra’s domain, and Māra’s territory. They conduce to bad, unskillful qualities such as desire, ill will, and aggression. And they create an obstacle for a noble disciple training here. Why don’t I meditate with an abundant, expansive heart, having mastered the world and stabilized the mind? Then I will have no more bad, unskillful qualities such as desire, ill will, and aggression. And by giving them up my mind, no longer limited, will become limitless and well developed.’
Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the imperturbable now, or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the imperturbable. This is said to be the first way of practice suitable for attaining the imperturbable.
2. Furthermore, a noble disciple reflects: ‘Sense objects in this life and in lives to come, sensual conceptions in this life and in lives to come; whatever is form, all form is the four primary elements, or form derived from the four primary elements.’ Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the imperturbable now, or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the imperturbable. This is said to be the second way of practice suitable for attaining the imperturbable.
3. Furthermore, a noble disciple reflects: ‘Sense objects in this life and in lives to come, sensual conceptions in this life and in lives to come, form in this life and in lives to come, concepts of forms in this life and in lives to come; all of these are impermanent. And what’s impermanent is not worth approving, welcoming, or clinging to.’ Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the imperturbable now, or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the imperturbable. This is said to be the third way of practice suitable for attaining the imperturbable.
ENTERING NOTHINGNESS
1. Furthermore, a noble disciple reflects: ‘Sense objects in this life and in lives to come, sensual conceptions in this life and in lives to come, form in this life and in lives to come, concepts of forms in this life and in lives to come, and concepts of the imperturbable; all are concepts. Where they cease without anything left over, that is peaceful, that is sublime, namely the dimension of nothingness.’ Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the dimension of nothingness now, or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the dimension of nothingness. This is said to be the first way of practice suitable for attaining the dimension of nothingness.
2. Furthermore, a noble disciple has gone to a wilderness, or to the root of a tree, or to an empty hut, and reflects like this: ‘This is empty of a self or what belongs to a self.’ Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the dimension of nothingness now, or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the dimension of nothingness. This is said to be the second way of practice suitable for attaining the dimension of nothingness.
3. Furthermore, a noble disciple reflects: ‘I don’t belong to anyone anywhere! And nothing belongs to me anywhere!’ Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the dimension of nothingness now, or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the dimension of nothingness. This is said to be the third way of practice suitable for attaining the dimension of nothingness.
ENTERING NEITHER CONCEPTUALISATION-NOR-NON-CONCEPTUALISATION
Furthermore, a noble disciple reflects: ‘Sense objects in this life and in lives to come, sensual conceptions in this life and in lives to come, form in this life and in lives to come, concepts of forms in this life and in lives to come, and concepts of the imperturbable, and concepts of the dimension of nothingness; all are concepts. Where they cease without anything left over, that is peaceful, that is sublime, namely the dimension of neither conceptualisation nor non- conceptualisation.’ Practicing in this way and meditating on it often their mind becomes confident in this dimension. Being confident, they either attain the dimension of neither conceptualisation nor non- conceptualisation now or are freed by wisdom. When their body breaks up, after death, it’s possible that the consciousness headed that way will be reborn in the dimension of neither conceptualisation nor non- conceptualisation. This is said to be the way of practice suitable for attaining the dimension of neither conceptualisation nor non- conceptualisation.”
The imperturbable (āneñja) is very often used as a reference to the formless attainments (from SuttaCentral):
āneñja neuter (& mfn.?)
- (n.) immovability; imperturbability.
- (mfn., or n. in apposition?) unmoved; not to be stirred; imperturbable (often applied both to determinative actions leading to existence in arūpāvacara spheres, and to arūpa jhāna stages) (see also aneñja)
Notice that there are 3 ways to enter the formless here. The 1st is via the limitless mind. In MN 127 this is defined as the 4 brahmavihārās. The 2nd way seems to be via the 4 element meditation, which matches the Cūḷasuññata Sutta. Notice that once again the Jhānā are not mentioned, nor samādhi. Still, it is possible that they require the Jhānā, however the 3rd way seems to be an entry into the formless via way of insight. Here it becomes difficult to see how there can be any Jhānā at all. In terms of the base of Nothingness we once again have 3 entries. The 1st one seems like it could apply to any ascetic, thus possibly being the route of entry for Āḷāra Kālāma. The 2nd way is uniquely Buddhist, and so looks like a route into said attainment that the Buddha discovered. The 3rd way uses the reflection "I don’t belong to anyone anywhere! And nothing belongs to me anywhere!’". This is either a unique entry of the Buddha, or possibly it is a form of the annihilationist doctrine similar to "I might not be, and it might not be mine. I will not be, and it will not be mine’". Interestingly this could shed some light on the meditative practices of the annihilationists. If they were attaining the base of Nothingness, it becomes easier to understand where their annihilationist theories came from. Support for this seems to come from Ven. Anālayo's findings:
https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg ... o/ebms.pdfDN 1 at DN I 37,1 and its parallels DĀ 21 at T I 93b20, T 21 at T I 269c22, a Tibetan discourse parallel in Weller 1934: 58,3 (§191), a discourse quotation in the *Śāriputrābhidharma, T 1548 at T XXVIII 660b24, and a discourse quotation in D 4094 ju 152a4 or Q 5595 tu 175a8. The same versions also attribute the arising of annihilationist views to the immaterial attainments (for Sanskrit fragments corresponding to the section on annihilationism see also Hartmann 1989: 54 and SHT X 4189, Wille 2008: 307).
Once again, in none of these is Jhāna said to be required nor samādhi, although possibly attaining the base of infinite space or consciousness first might be a requirement.
In short, it seems that perhaps there are other entries in the formless that do not require samādhi or Jhāna at all, possibly based on a looser form of concentration. These practices and attainments were, as we know, around before the Buddha. This could then perhaps explain how the Buddha could have practiced the formless with his former teachers without the Jhānā, and why it was only on the eve of his awakening that he remembered the Jhānā and thought of them as a method to awaken, with the formless being separate attainments that he still allowed some use for after his awakening.
I look forward to all replies
N.B. Interestingly in MN 106 we find this:
"Furthermore, a noble disciple reflects: ‘Sense objects in this life and in lives to come, sensual conceptions in this life and in lives to come, form in this life and in lives to come, concepts of forms in this life and in lives to come, and concepts of the imperturbable, and concepts of the dimension of nothingness; all are concepts (sabbā saññā)."
Perhaps this was the basis for Prajñaptivāda? Interesting thought.