The third jhāna factor present in the first jhāna is pīti, usually translated “joy” or
“rapture”. The Venerable Ñānamoli, in his translation of the Visuddhimagga, renders it by “happiness”, but this rendering seems misleading since most translators use
“happiness” as an English equivalent for sukha, the quality of pleasurable feeling present in the jhāna as its fourth factor. We will render pīti by “rapture”, thus maintaining the connection of the term with ecstatic meditative experience.
In the suttas pīti is sometimes said to arise from another aligned quality called pāmojja, translated as “joy” or “gladness.” Thus the Buddha states that with virtuous rules of conduct as support, freedom from remorse (avippa(isāra) arises; freedom from remorse leads to gladness, gladness to rapture, and rapture to tranquility (passaddhi).2
Again, he says that faith leads to gladness, gladness to rapture, and rapture to tranquility.3 Gladness arises from seeing the abandonment of the hindrances. The Buddha says that when the disciple sees the five hindrances abandoned in himself
“gladness (pāmojja) springs up within him on his realising that, and joy (pīti) arises to him thus gladdened, and so rejoicing all his frame becomes at ease.”4 Tranquility (passaddhi) follows rapture and leads to a feeling of happiness (sukha), on the basis of which the mind becomes concentrated, entering the first jhāna. Thus we can see that
1. Ibid.
2. GS. 5:5. AN. 5:4-5.
3. KS. 2:26-27. SN. 2:30 4. Dial. 1:84. DN. 1:73.
rapture precedes the actual arising of the first jhāna, but persists through the remaining stages and continues on as a jhāna factor up to the third jhāna.
For an analytic treatment of pīti, we must turn to the Abhidhamma pi:aka and the commentaries. The DhammasaKgaLi defines the term thus:
What on that occasion is joy (pīti)? The joy which on that occasion is gladness, rejoicing at, rejoicing over, mirth and merriment, felicity, exultation, transport of mind – this is the joy that there then is.1
The commentaries pinpoint pīti in terms of its verbal derivation, characteristic, function, and manifestation:
It refreshes (pīnayati), thus it is [rapture]. It has the characteristic of endearing. Its function is to refresh the body and the mind, or its function is to pervade (thrill with rapture). It is manifested as elation.2
Rapture is closely associated with happiness (sukha), but remains different in nature.
Happiness is a feeling and thus belongs to the aggregate of feelings (vedanākkhandha).
Rapture, on the other hand, belongs to the aggregate of mental formations (sa/khāra-kkhandha). It is not hedonic but directive, referring to the object of consciousness. Shwe Zan Aung explains that “pãti abstracted means interest of varying degrees of intensity, in an object felt as desirable, or as calculated to bring happiness.”3 When defined in terms of agency pīti is that which creates interest in the object; when defined in terms of its nature it is the interest created in the object. The Abhidhamma subcommentaries state:
“It is said that pīti has, as its characteristic mark, grasping the object qua desirable.”4 Because it creates a positive interest in the object, the jhāna factor of pīti is able to counter and suppress the hindrance of ill will. Ill will is a state of aversion implying a negative evaluation of the object. When pīti as pleasurable interest arises in the object it supplants the negative tendency towards aversion.
Both the Visuddhimagga and Dhammasa/ga5i A((akathā present a gradation of pīti into five categories: minor rapture (khuddikā pīti), momentary rapture (kha5ikā pīti), showering rapture (okkantikā pīti), uplifting rapture (ubbegā pīti), and pervading rapture (phara5ā pīti).5 Of these five types, minor rapture is said to be able to raise the hairs on the body. Momentary rapture is like lightning produced moment by moment. Flooding rapture descends on the body and disappears like the waves breaking on the seashore.
Transporting rapture is able to lift the physical body and cause it to move from one place to another. All-pervading rapture pervades the whole body. To illustrate the power of uplifting rapture, the commentaries relate the story of the elder Mahātissa, who “aroused
1. Psy. Ethics, p. 12. “Katamā tasmiJ samaye pīti hoti? Yā tasmiJ samaye pīti pāmojjaJ āmodanā pamodanā hāso pahāso vitti odagyaJ attamanatā cittassa; ayaJ tasmiJ samaye pīti hoti.” Dhs., p. 18.
2. PP., p. 149. “PītisukhaJ ti ettha pīnayati ti piti. Sā saJpiyāyanalakkhanā; kāyacittapīnanarasā, pharaLarasā vā; odagyapaccupa::hānā.” Vism., P. 115.
3. Compendium, p. 243.
4. “ĀrammaLaJ kallato gahana lakkhaLā ti vuttaJ.” Three )ikas, p. 75. [quoted in Compendium, p. 243].
5. PP., p. 149. Vism., pp. 115-16. Dhs.A., p. 158.
uplifting [rapture] with the Enlightened One as object, and rose into the air like a painted ball bounced off a plastered floor.”1 They also relate the story of a young girl who aroused uplifting rapture while contemplating the thought of a shrine and travelled to the shrine through the air, arriving before her parents who went there by foot.2
The five kinds of rapture are evidently ranked in degrees of intensity, minor rapture representing the weakest degree and all-pervading rapture the strongest. The five in sequence bring about the gradual perfection of concentration:
Now this fivefold [rapture], when conceived and matured perfects the twofold tranquility, that is, bodily and mental tranquility. When tranquility is conceived and matured, it perfects the twofold bliss, that is, bodily and mental bliss. When bliss is conceived and matured, it perfects the threefold concentration, that is, momentary concentration, access concentration, and absorption concentration.3
Minor rapture is generally the first to appear in the progressive development of meditation, coming into being as defilements subside and the meditator experiences indications of successful concentration. Momentary rapture comes next. Though stronger in its impact than the earlier grade, momentary rapture, as its name indicates, is still ephemeral and cannot be sustained for long. Showering rapture runs through the body, producing a great thrill but without leaving a lasting impact. Uplifting rapture is more sustained but still tends to disturb concentration. The form of rapture most conducive to the deepening of concentration is all-pervading rapture. The Dhammasa/ga5i A((akathā describes the effect of this rapture thus: “When all-pervading rapture arises, the whole body is completely surcharged, blown like a full bladder or like a mountain cavern pouring forth a mighty flood of water.”4 The Visuddhimagga states that what is intended by the jhāna factor of rapture is this all-pervading rapture, “which is the root of absorption and comes by growth into association with absorption.”5
1. PP., pp 149-50. Vism., p. 116. Dhs.A., pp. 158-59.
2. Ibid.
3. PP., p. 150. “Sā pan’esā pañcavidhā pīti gabbhaJ gaLhantī paripākaJ gacchantī duvidhaJ passaddhiJ paripūreti, kāyapassaddhiJ ca cittapassaddhiJ ca. Passaddhi gabbhaJ gaLhantī paripākaJ gacchantī duvidhaJ pi sukhaJ paripūreti, kāyikaJ ca cetasikaJ ca. SukhaJ gabbhaJ gaLhantaJ paripākaJ gacchantaJ tividhaJ samādhiJ paripūreti, khaLikasamādhiJ, upacāra samādhiJ, appanāsamādhiJ ti.”
Vism., p. 117.
4. Expositor, 1:154. “PharaLa pītiyā pana uppannāya sakala sarīraJ dhamitvā pūritava::i viya mahatā udakoghena pakkhandappatakucchi viya ca anuparipphātaJ hoti.” Dhs.A., p. 160.
5. PP., p. 151. “Tāsu yā appaLā samādhissa mūlaJ hutvā vaYYhamānā samādhisampayogamgatā pharaLa pīti, ayaJ imasmiJ atthe adhippetā pītī ti.” Vism., p. 117.