Ab Vb 12, Jhāna vibhanga, where does it say 5 sense perception disappears in 4 jhānas?

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frank k
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Ab Vb 12, Jhāna vibhanga, where does it say 5 sense perception disappears in 4 jhānas?

Post by frank k »

Looking at base of infinite space, the patigha sañña is especially illuminating.

1.15.3 – paṭigha-sañña: perceptions from the 5 sense doors

“Paṭighasaññānaṃ atthaṅgamā”ti tattha katamā paṭighasaññā? Rūpasaññā saddasaññā … pe … phoṭṭhabbasaññā—imā vuccanti “paṭighasaññāyo”. Imā paṭighasaññāyo santā honti samitā vūpasantā atthaṅgatā abbhatthaṅgatā appitā byappitā sositā visositā byantīkatā. Tena vuccati “paṭighasaññānaṃ atthaṅgamā”ti.
“Terminating perceptions of (sense) impingement” means: Therein what are perceptions of (sense) impingement? Visible (object) perception, audible (object) perception, Intermediate sense perceptions. tangible (object) perception. These are called perceptions of (sense) impingement. These perceptions of (sense) impingement are calmed, tranquillized, inhibited, terminated, vanished, destroyed, well destroyed, withered, well withered, abrogated. Therefore this is called “terminating perceptions of (sense) impingement”.
So if it's saying in base of infinite space, one does not perceive sensory impingement at the 5 sense doors, then it means one
does or can perceive sensory impingement at the 5 sense doors prior to that, in the 4 jhānas.

Looking through the 4 jhāna Vb 12 carefully, I see it redefines kāya as body of mind, and defines sukha as mental pleasure instead of physical, but it doesn't actually say anywhere the 5 senses are disconnected. So even though Ab is trying to redefine 4 jhānas as a purely mental experience, it doesn't actually say it's not possible to hear sounds, feel mosquito bites, etc., from the 4 jhānas.

Also, with Vb 12 I see nothing about appanā samādhi, upacara, no mentally frozen states one has to emerge from. Vitakka, vicāra, are all verbal thoughts.

Can you guys confirm this understanding is correct?

The kind of all mental 4 jhānas Vb12 is talking about, is more like there are 3 people talking to me at once, I don't pay attention to 2 of them and only hear what one of them is saying. A mosquito just bit me, but my attention is on the 1 person is saying, so I didn't perceive the mosquito bite at the body contact sense door, not that I CAN'T perceive sound and mosquito bites.

But this is different than the four jhānas of Vism., that says I'm in a state where I'm not capable of hearing sounds or feeling mosquito bites because the mind is disconnected from the 5 senses completely.
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Re: Ab Vb 12, Jhāna vibhanga, where does it say 5 sense perception disappears in 4 jhānas?

Post by Ceisiwr »

frank k wrote: Sat May 14, 2022 11:39 am
So if it's saying in base of infinite space, one does not perceive sensory impingement at the 5 sense doors, then it means one
does or can perceive sensory impingement at the 5 sense doors prior to that, in the 4 jhānas.
Sounds like the logical fallacy of denying the antecedent to me.
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
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Re: Ab Vb 12, Jhāna vibhanga, where does it say 5 sense perception disappears in 4 jhānas?

Post by frank k »

Maybe the answer doesn't exist in Vb 12, or the earliest strata of canonical Abhidhamma.
Let's open the the question then, where in Vism., Abhidhamma, Commentaries, does it actually say the mind is divorced from the 5 senses for the 4 jhānas, which are percipient of rūpa?

In the suttas, that would be in the latter stages of 8 abhibhaayatana, 8 vimokkha, formless attainments, maybe animitta samadhi.

I did a digital search in Vism., and they don't talk about 8 abhibhaayatana, 8 vimokkha, other than in passing as kasina practice for 8 abhibhaayatana as far as I can tell. That's highly suspicious, for many reasons. Another thread, another time, so just to stay on OP,
Vism. claims the rūpa of 4 jhānas one percipient of, is only the mind created visual kasina one uses to enter VRJ (vism. redefinition of jhāna, to differentiate from sutta jhāna).

appanā and upacara samādhi newly created terms in LBT abhidhamma, doesn't seem to be in Vb 12 and perhaps 7 books of canonical abhidhamma.

In KN Petakopadesa and Vimuttimagga, appanā had a different meaning for 4 jhānas. There, it simply meant, one has fixity in staying on the meditation topic, that the purity of first jhāna for example, was that it was never interrupted by any 5 hindrances.

In Vism.., appanā samādhi means one enters a frozen stupor where it's not possible for the mind to investigate anything, until reemerging later.
So does this state mean the mind is divorced from the 5 senses, or like my example in OP, those 5 senses are active and perceivable, but one is simply so focused on the visual kasina it doesn't notice sounds and mosquito bites?

I know in practice, for example the pa uak tradition, they maintain that 4 jhānas has mind divorced from 5 senses, like in the formless attainments.

So where in Vism. does it explain that? (if it does?) Where does it say appanā samādhi means mind divorced from 5 senses?
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Re: Ab Vb 12, Jhāna vibhanga, where does it say 5 sense perception disappears in 4 jhānas?

Post by frank k »

doing DPR search only in canonical abhidhamma
https://www.digitalpalireader.online/_d ... 1&rx=false

It looks like all (or almost all) occurrences are appanā and byāppanā are part of vitakka and sankappo glosses (which also occurs in MN 117). And the meaning there, MN 117 and vitakka/sankappo glosses, is as my previous post said with Vimuttimagga and KN Pe, it means one stays 'fixed' (appanā) on the thought/resolve of the meditation topic (as opposed to wandering off).

(that DPR online, you can check boxes to search cmy and subcmy, etc., I only did canonical Ab search, so someone who knows their stuff in Vism. and abhidhamma world should be able to dig up the answer to my question fairly easily).
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