A literal reading would, as far as I can see, conform to Sylvester's analysis. True however that it could somehow mean instead "while walking", but this brings me back to the issue I raised earlier. The sutta then becomes nonsensical IMO.
Yes he did, but that doesn't then mean the Jhānas occur with the 5 senses.The Buddha ridiculed "don't see, don't hear" practice of brahman Pārāsiri, taught that the way is in proper understanding of 6 sense perception as it occurs, and then later in the sutta tell "go do jhana". It is hard for me to reconcile with that idea being part of Buddhist Jhana.
According to the commentators and some modern monks and nuns, "vivicceva kāmehi" means "absolutely secluded from external sensual pleasures" and is bodily seclusion, whilst "vivicca akusalehi dhammeh" is seclusion from the hindrances and so is mental seclusion. There being absolute bodily seclusion and mental seclusion, in conjunction with directed and sustained thought and one-pointedness of mind towards a nimitta, it's hard to see how the other senses are being experienced. I'll grant that nimitta aren't described in the suttas. We do get hints at them IMO, with the samathanimittaṁ & abyagganimittaṁ, but still nothing definitive. I don't see that as an issue though. I don't because I do not think the suttas contain everything required. I think they are very important, of course, but that Buddhism is also a living meditation tradition. Some things are passed on from master to pupil, down the ages, which wouldn't be recorded in suttas. I think nimittas then are a normal part of developing deed states of tranquility, calm and one-pointedness. For example we obviously see them in the Theravādin literature, but they also occur in northern meditation texts too such as the Dhyāna sutrasIf jhana-s required cessation of 5 senses, etc, then why none of the standard formulas say so?
It would have been so clear if the stock formulas said something (I've coloured my example):
""There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities, after merging with nimitta, and with 5 sense perceptions totally ceased, enters and remains in the first jhana".
That was taken from the Chán fǎ yào jiě (Essential Explanation of The Method of Dhyāna) by Venerable Kumārajīva. Now this piece of text comes from the Dārṣṭāntika sub-school of Sarvāstivāda. For them sukha in Jhāna is a bodily feeling, and so there is an experience of the body whilst in Jhāna. What is interesting to note though is that even here we see nimittas, as highlighted above. They also make an appearance in the Upanishads tooQuestion: How can one recognize the signs of single-mindedness?
Answer: When the mind dwells on an image, the body would be soft, gentle, and blissful. All anger, anxiety, grief, and other afflictive mental dharmas are ceased.174 The mind acquires swift blissfulness never before experienced, which surpasses the five desires. Because the mind is pure without any defilement, the body will shine brightly. It is like a pure and clean mirror [shining] the light externally, or like the shining light of bright pearl that appears, illumines, and manifests in the pure water. After having seen these signs, the cultivator‘s mind is calm, tranquil, joyful, and delightful...
Question: What are the marks of attaining the first dhyāna?
Answer: At first, one uses proper mindfulness to admonish and halt five desires. Although one has not attained the ground [of the first dhyāna], the mind is joyful, delightful, soft, harmonious, and gentle; the body has bright light. When one attains the first dhyāna, its mark is that it continuously changes, increases, and excels [than before]. Because the four elements of the Desire Realm spread fully all over the body, which is soft, harmonious, gentle, and joyful signs, and the mind leaves bad desire and unwholesome deed, then the samādhi of single-minded thought can cause one having joy and happiness.183 Forms created in the Form Realm have the feature of bright light. Hence, the cultivator sees the wonderful and bright light emitting from the body internally and externally. The mind of the cultivator changes differently. Within the angry situation, one does not get angry. Within the joyful situation, one does not have [much] joy. The eight kinds of worldly dharmas cannot move the cultivator.184 Faith, respect, shame, and conscience largely change and multiply. As for the clothes, food, and drink, one does not crave and attach to them. One only considers various wholesome deeds and meritorious morality as valuable, and others are worthless. One does not attach to even the five celestial desires, how much more the five impure desires of the secular world. For those who have attained the first dhyāna, these are the features.
‘When yoga is being performed, the forms that come first, producing apparitions in Brahman, are those of misty smoke, sun, fire, wind, fire-flies, lightnings, and a crystal moon.”
- Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad
Kāya can also be used in the sense of "personally", though I believe this is usually in it's instrumental form.And avoid all the physical body similes like: "He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal."