The Third Jhāna
1. Six-factored equanimity (cha8a/gupekkhā)
2. equanimity as a divine abiding,
3. equanimity as an enlightenment factor, 4. equanimity of energy,
5. equanimity about formations, 6. equanimity as a feeling, 7. equanimity about insight, 8. equanimity as specific neutrality, 9. equanimity of jhāna, and
10. equanimity of purification.3
For the sake of clear understanding it will be helpful to consider each briefly in turn.
1. Six-factored equanimity (cha8a/gupekkhā)
When an arahant comes in contact with objects through his senses he neither clings to them nor rejects them; rather, he regards them with an attitude of emotional equilibrium.
This attitude is called six-factored equanimity, an unbiased response towards the six sense objects – forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mental objects – experien-ced through the six sense faculties. As the Buddha says: “Here a bhikkhu whose cankers
1. “Ajjhupekkhanato upekkhā: sā pa:isaKkhāna lakkhaLā, samavāhita lakkhaLā vā; ūnādhika nivārana rasā, pakkhapātupacchedana rasā vā; majjhattabhāva paccupa::hānā.” Buddhaghosa, [A/guttara Nikāya A((hakathā] Manorathapuranī Nāma A5guttara((hakathā,[Pāli Text in Burmese script], 3 vols. (Rangoon, Burma: Buddhasāsana Samiti, 1958-68), 1:390 (hereafter cited as AN.A.).
2. PP., p. 166. Vism., p. 129.
3. PP., p. 166. “Upekkhā pana dasavidhā hoti: chaXaKgupekkhā, brahmavihārupekkhā, bojjhaKgupekkhā, viriyupekkhā, saKkhārupekkhā, vedanupekkhā, vipassanupekkhā, tatramajjhattupekkhā, jhānupekkhā, pārisuddhi upekkhā ti.” Vism., p. 129.
are destroyed is neither glad nor sad on seeing a visible object with the eye; he dwells in equanimity, mindful, and fully aware.”1
2. Equanimity as a divine abiding (brahmavihāra upekkhā)
Whereas six-factored equanimity is directed towards sense objects, equanimity as a divine abiding is directed towards living beings. This type of equanimity comes as the fourth of the four sublime “social emotions” which a meditator is advised to cultivate towards all beings. The other three are loving-kindness (mettā), the wish for the happiness of all beings; compassion (karu5ā), commiseration with the pain and suffering of other; and sympathetic joy (muditā), rejoicing at the success and good fortune of others. While loving kindness, compassion, and sympathetic joy tend towards the side of approval in relation to beings, and their opposites – aversion, cruelty, and envy – towards the side of resentment, equanimity is marked by the transcending of both approval and resentment.
The Buddha declares that a bhikkhu practising the sublime state of equanimity dwells pervading all directions with a mind of equanimity.2 The VibhaKga explains that “just as he would feel equanimity on seeing a person who was neither beloved nor unloved, so he pervades all beings with equanimity.”3 (Wr. tr.) The commentaries explain the divine abiding of equanimity thus:
Equanimity is characterized as promoting the aspect of neutrality towards beings. Its function is to see equality in beings. It is manifested as the quieting of resentment and approval. Its proximate cause is seeing ownership of deeds (kamma) thus: ‘Beings are owners of their deeds.’4
3. Equanimity as an enlightenment factor (bojjha/g’upekkhā)
Equanimity is also included among the seven factors of enlightenment as the enlightenment factor of equanimity (upekkhā sambojjha/ga). It comes last in the series, being preceded by the enlightenment factors of mindfulness, investigation, energy, rapture, tranquility, and concentration. These seven factors are called invincible states (aparihāniyā dhammā) because their practice leads without fail to nibbāna.5 The Buddha says:
Just as, monks, in a peaked house all rafters whatsoever go together to the peak, slope to the peak, join in the peak, and of them all the peak is reckoned
1. PP., p. 166. “Idha khīLāsavo bhikkhu cakkhunā rūpaJ disvā neva sumano hoti na dummano, upekkhako ca viharati sato sampajāno.” AN. 3:279.
2. DN. 1:251.
3. Vibh., p. 275.
4. PP., p. 244. “Sattesu majjhattākārappavattilakkhaLā upekkhā, sattesu samabhāvadassanarasā, pa:ighānunayavūpasampaccupa::hānā. kammassakā sattā.” Vism., p. 264.
5. KS. 5:85-86.
chief, even so, monks, one who cultivates and makes much of the seven limbs of wisdom, slopes to nibbana, inclines to nibbana, tends to nibbana.1
4. Specific neutrality (tatramajjhattatā upekkhā)
The fourth kind of equanimity is tatramajjhattatā, a Pāli term that has been rendered into English by Bhikkhu Ñānamoli as “specific neutrality.” According to the comment-aries specific neutrality consists in the “equal efficiency of conascent states”
(sahajātāna. samvāhitabhūtā).2 It is the mental factor responsible for maintaining balance among the constituent factors in a state of consciousness. The Visuddhimagga explains it thus:
Specific neutrality (tatramajjhattatā-lit. ‘neutrality in regard thereto’) is neutrality (majjhattatā) in regard to those states [of consciousness and con-sciousness-concomitants] arisen in association with it. Its function is to prevent deficiency and excess, or its function is to inhibit partiality. It is manifested as neutrality. It should be regarded as like a conductor (driver) who looks with equanimity on thoroughbreds progressing evenly.3
The Abhidhammattha Sa/gaha classifies upekkhā of this kind as a morally beautiful mental property (sobhana cetasika).4 It is said to be present in every beautiful state of consciousness, giving balance and harmony to the virtuous mind. As a particular cetasika, tatramajjhattatā can assume different forms in different contexts. In fact, as we will see below, it appears as six of the ten kinds of equanimity being outlined here. Shwe Zan Aung, who translates the Pāli term as “balance of mind” or “mental equipoise,”
shows this multivalent character of the state:
It is intellectual and not hedonic, and appears as a nuance in conscious experi-ence, when the object is of a ‘higher’ kind than those which evoke the hedonic upekkhā. It is, e.g., a bojjhanga, or a factor of wisdom, in the consciousness of Ariyans, and a factor of higher knowledge than the average, in the consciousness of average minds (Three )īkā’s, p. 195). It is this tatramajjha-ttatā which we meet with in the phrases “Brahmacariyupekkha” or religious equanimity, and saKkhārupekkhā, or indifference to the world.5
1. Ibid. 5:63. “Seyyathāpi bhikkhave kū:āgārassa yā kāci gopānā siyo sabbā tā kū:aninnā, kū:aponā, kūtapabbhārā, evaJ eva kho bhikkhave bhikkhu sattabojjhange bhāvento sattabojjhange bahulīkaronto nibbānaninno hoti nibbānapono nibbānapabbhāro.” SN. 5:75.
2. PP., p. 167, 527. Vism., pp. 130, 395
3. PP., p. 527. “Tesu dhammesu majjhattatā tatramajjhattatā, sā cittacetasikānaJ samavāhitalakkhaLā, ūnādhikatānivāranarasā, pakkhapāta upacchedanarasā vā, majjhattabhāvapaccupa::hānā; cittacetasikānaJ ajjhupekkhanabhāvena samappavattānaJ ājāniyānaJ ajjhupekkhakasārathi viya da::habba.” Vism., p. 895.
Dhs.A., p. 177.
4. Nārada. Manual, p. 78 5. Compendium, p. 230.
5. Equanimity of jhāna (jhāna upekkhā)
Equanimity of jhāna is, as the name implies, the equanimity present in the experience of the jhānas. It is this type of equanimity, a mode of specific neutrality, which is signified by the phrase describing the third jhāna meditator as abiding in equanimity, as we see below (pp. 193-94).
6. Purification equanimity (parisuddhi upekkhā)
“Purification equanimity” is the equanimity present in the fourth jhāna, which gains this designation because it purifies all opposition. We will discuss this type of equanimity more fully in the section on the fourth jhāna.
7. Equanimity of energy (viriya upekkhā)
The balanced application of energy by the avoidance of over-exertion and laxity is called
“equanimity of energy”. Striving too hard with the expectation of quick results tends to agitation and frustation; at such times the meditator must call this equanimity to mind and tone down his exertions. On the other hand, laxity and overconfidence cause a meditator to drift away from the path; at such times he should apply energy to bring himself back to the path. In this way he avoids the two extremes of excessive application and laxity.
8. Equanimity about formations (sankhāra upekkhā)
“Equanimity about formations” is a technical term used in the context of meditation, relevant to both serenity-meditation and insight-meditation. It signifies the wisdom which looks with detached indifference towards the various phenomena that come within its view. In the case of serenity-meditation there are eight types of such equanimity. These consist in detached indifference towards the eight sets of factors to be surmounted by each of the eight meditative attainments, i.e., the four jhānas and the four immaterial states. In the case of insight-meditation there are ten types of equanimity about formations. These amount to the mental composure towards formations which evolves for the purpose of obtaining the four paths, their fruits, the liberation of emptiness, and the liberation of signlessness.1 We will discuss this kind of equanimity at greater length in connection with the attainment of supramundane jhāna.
9. Equanimity about insight (vipassanā upekkhā)
Equanimity about insight is in effect identical with the equanimity about formations that emerges in the development of insight meditation. Buddhaghosa explains the slight nuance of difference between them as following upon the difference between neutrality about investigating formations and neutrality about catching hold of them.
…When a man has begun insight, and he sees with insight knowledge the three characteristics, then there is neutrality in him about further investigating the impermanence etc. of formations, and that neutrality is called equanimity about insight. But… when a man, through seeking the three characteristics,
1. Pts., pp. 60-65.
sees the three kinds of becoming as if burning, then there is neutrality in him about catching hold of formation: and that neutrality is called equanimity about formations.1
10. Equanimity as a feeling (vedanā upekkhā)
Equanimity as a feeling is a hedonic kind of upekkhā consisting in neutral feeling, i.e., feeling which is neither painful nor pleasant. Experientially feeling is either pleasant (sukha), painful (dukkha), or neither-painful-nor-pleasant (adukkhamasukha). It is this last kind of feeling that is intended by “equanimity as a feeling.” The Dhammasa/ga5i A((hakathā says in definition of hedonic neutrality:
‘Hedonic indifference’ means neutral feeling. It may be verbally defined as that which views equally the occurence of the aspects of pain and pleasure, and may be further amplified thus: ‘proceeds under a medium condition by occupying a neutral position’.2
Although this experience comes in between pain and pleasure it is not a mode of tatramajjhattatā, “specific neutrality”. The latter belongs to the aggregate of mental formations (sankhārakkhandha) and is a more evolved mental stance involving reflective impartiality towards sense objects, beings, or formed phenomena. Equanimous feeling is pure hedonic neutrality, and belongs to the aggregate of feelings (vedanākkhandha).
Whereas tatramajjhattatā is a morally beautiful mental factor (sobhanacetasika) which can be present only in wholesome or indeterminate states of consciousness, equanimous feeling is a variable which can be present in any kind of consciousness – wholesome, unwholesome, or indeterminate.
These ten kinds of equanimity explained in the Visuddhimagga can be reduced to four basic factors. Equanimity about formations and equanimity about insight belong to wisdom (paññā), the wisdom that looks upon phenomena with detached indifference.
Equanimity of energy and equanimity of feeling are, respectively, the mental factors of energy (viriya) and feeling (vedanā). The remaining six are modes of tatramajjhattatā, specific neutrality. The Vimativinodanī points out how the same factor of neutrality has been given different names under different circumstances:
There the same centredness (of mind) is called six-factored equanimity of a khī5āsava (one whose cankers are destroyed) as it does not abandon the natural state of purity when desirable or undesirable objects of the six kinds come into focus in the six doors; equanimity as a divine abiding, as it maintains the balanced state of mind towards all beings; equanimity as an enlightenment factor, as it balances the associated mental states; specific equanimity of jhāna, as it unbiasedly balances the great happiness in the third
1. PP., p. 168. “…Yā āraddhavipassakassa vipassanāñāLena lakkhaLattaye di::he sankhārānaJ aniccabhāvādivicinane majjhattatā uppajjati, ayaJ vipassanupekkhā nāma… Yā lakkhaLattayassa di::hattā āditte viya tayo bhave passato sankhāragahaLe majjhattatā, ayaJ sankhārupekkhā nāma.” Vism., p. 131.
2. Expositor, 1:56. “Upekkhāti cettha adukkhamasukhā vedanā vuttā. Sā hi sukhadukkhākārappavattiJ upekkhāti, majjhattākārasaL:hitattā tenākārena pavattatīti upekkhā.” Dhs.A., p. 85.
jhāna; and purification equanimity, as it purifies all mental factors in the fourth jhāna. Thus it is said to be six-fold owing to circumstantial differences.1 (Wr. tr.).
The kind of upekkhā referred to in the third jhāna formula by the phrase “he abides in equanimity” is the equanimity of jhāna, a form of tatramajjhattatā.2 Since the latter is present in all wholesome states of consciousness, it follows that jhānic equanimity has been present in the meditator’s mind even while he was dwelling in access concentration and in the two lower jhānas. It is only mentioned first in the third jhāna formula for the reason that it first comes to prominence here, the fading away of rapture allowing it to become evident.
Nevertheless, though upekkhā is referred to twice in the formula, it is not cited as a jhāna factor for the third jhāna. Only two mental states are designated as third jhāna factors, namely, happiness and one-pointedness. Thus in the VibhaKga’s treatment of the third jhāna, though upekkhā is included among the prominent constituents of the jhāna,3 the jhāna itself is said to be a two-factored state comprising happiness and one-pointed-ness.4 The reason is that only those phenomena present in a meditative attainment which oppose the hindrances and aid mental unification are counted as jhāna factors. These are the five mentioned in the Mahāvedalla Sutta, plus neither painful-nor-pleasant feeling, a factor of the fourth jhāna.
Some confusion might arise over the statement that both happiness and equanimity are present in the third jhāna. One might think that two different feelings are present simultaneously. Such confusion is due to misinterpreting this equanimity as equanimous feeling or hedonic neutrality (vedan’upekkhā). Since only one feeling can be present in a single state of consciousness happiness, which is pleasant feeling, cannot co-exist with equanimous feeling. But when the upekkhā referred to here is understood as the intellectual, morally wholesome quality of jhānic equanimity or specific neutrality – which can enter into association with either pleasant or indifferent feeling – then there is no difficulty in admitting the simultaneous presence of equanimity and happiness.
Mindfulness and Discernment
Mindfulness (sati) and discernment (sampajañña) are two mental states which work hand in hand in the practice of meditation. They are frequently joined together in a compound. Together they facilitate progress in the spheres both of serenity and insight.
Sati, or mindfulness, means the remembrance of an object. It sometimes signifies simply memory, but in the context of meditation it means the constant bearing of the meditation subject in the mind. Mindfulness is a very clear and steady state; thus it is said to have
1. Vimv.T. 1:73-74.
2. PP., p. 168. Vism., P. 131.
3. “Jhāna means equanimity, mindfulness, discernment, happiness [and] one-pointedness of mind.”
(Wr. tr.). “Jhānanti upekkhā sati sampajaññaJ sukhaJ cittassekaggatā.” Vibh., p. 270.
4. “Jhāna is two-factored: happiness [and] one-pointedness of mind.” (Wr. tr.). “DuvaLgikaJ jhānaJ hoti:
sukhaJ, cittass’ekaggatā.” Ibid., p. 275.
the characteristic of “not floating away” (apilāpanatā).1 The Dhammasa/ga5i A((hakathā compares mindfulness to the king’s treasurer who reminds the king of everything he has in his treasury; mindfulness reminds the meditator of both his good and bad qualities, and also reminds him to avoid the bad and cultivate the good.2 Mindfulness figures as a controlling faculty (indriya), a power (bala), an enlightenment factor (bojjha/ga), and a factor of the Noble Eightfold Path (magga/ga).
Sampajañña can be translated as discernment, awareness, or clear comprehension. The Dhammasa/ga5i A((hakathā explains it thus:
‘Comprehension’ is that which comprehends. The meaning is to know a thing all round, in different ways. Knowledge of a thing according to its usefulness, its expediency, its scope, and to know it without confusion: these are its four divisions.3
Discernment is in nature the same as wisdom (paññā), which has illuminating and understanding as characteristics.4 In insight meditation, discernment is “that which knows impermanence, etc., in right ways.”5 Again the Dhammasa/ga5i A((hakathā states that “comprehension has the characteristic of opposition to delusion, the function of overcoming doubt, or of bringing a work to completion, and the manifestation of examination.”5
Mindfulness and discernment are most conspicuous in insight meditation, but they contribute as well to the attainment of jhāna. They are mentioned for the first time in the formula for the third jhāna, though this should not be taken to imply that they appear for the first time only here. So fundamental are these two factors to meditative development that a meditator cannot attain even the access to the first jhāna without them, let alone absorption. In fact we see the two already enjoined upon a meditator in his preliminary training before he actually undertakes intensive practice:
He is mindful and acts with clear comprehension when going and coming;
when looking forward and backward; when bending and stretching his body;
when wearing his robes and alms-bowl, when eating, drinking, chewing and tasting; when discharging excrement and urine; when walking, standing, sitting, falling asleep and awakening; when speaking and keeping silent.6
1. Expositor, 1:190. Dhs.A., p. 188.
2. Expositor, 1:159-6l. Dhs.A., pp. 164-65.
3. Expositor, 1:173. “Sampajānāti ti sampajaññaJ. Samantato pakārehi jānātī’ti attho. Sātthaka sampajaññaJ sappāya sampajaññaJ gocara sampajaññaJ asammoha sampajaññaJ ti. ImesaJ cattunnaJ panassavasena bhedo veditabbo.” Dhs.A., p. 175.
4. Expositor, 1:161. “Obhāsana lakkhaLā paññā, pajānana lakkhaLā ca.” Dhs.A., p. 165.
5. Expositor, 1:173. Dhs.A., p. 175.
5. Expositor, 1:161. “AsammohalakkhaLaJ sampajaññaJ. TīraLarasaJ; pavicaya paccupa::hānaJ.”
Dhs.A., p. 219.
6. Nyānatiloka, The Word of the Buddha, p. 85. MN. 1:274.
Because they are comparatively gross, the first and second jhānas do not reveal the functions of mindfulness and discernment with sufficient clarity to merit attention. But when the level of absorption reaches the subtlety of the third jhāna the two become distinctly evident.1 Keen mindfulness and discernment are particularly needed to avoid a return of rapture. The Dhammasa/ga5i A((hakathā points out that just as a suckling calf, removed from the cow and left unguarded, again approaches the cow, so the happiness of the third jhāna tends to veer towards rapture if unguarded by mindfulness and discernment.2 Once rapture arises the third jhāna is lost. It is mindfulness and discernment which hold the jhānic mind on happiness rather than rapture, to which the mind naturally tends to cling in their absence. Therefore, in order to emphasize these functions of mindfulness and discernment, they are mentioned here rather than in the descriptions of the preceding jhānas.
Happiness
After the meditator has eliminated applied and sustained thought in attaining the second jhāna and rapture in attaining the third, what remains from the original set of five factors is happiness and one-pointedness. The feeling experienced by the meditator in the third jhāna is not equanimity but happiness (sukha), as made explicit in the phrase:
“He experiences happiness with his body” (sukha. ca kāyena pa(isa.vedeti). In the Sāmaññaphala Sutta the Buddha illustrates this with the following simile:
And his very body does he so pervade, drench, permeate, and suffuse with that ease [happiness] that has no joy [rapture] with it, that there is no spot in his whole frame not suffused therewith.
Just, O king, as when in a lotus tank the several lotus flowers, red or white or blue, born in the water, grown up in the water, not rising up above the surface of the water, drawing up nourishment from the depths of the water, are so pervaded, drenched, permeated, and suffused from their very tips down to their roots with the cool moisture thereof, that there is no spot in the whole plant, whether of the red lotus, or of the white, or of the blue, not suffused therewith. Similarly, O king, the bhikkhu so pervades, drenches, permeates, and suffuses his body with raptureless happiness, that there is no spot in the whole body not suffused therewith.3
1. Vism., p. 13l.
2. Expositor, 1:233.
3. Dial. 1:85-86. “So imaJ eva kāyaJ nippītikena sukhena abhisandeti parisandeti paripūreti parippharati, nāssa kiñci sabbāvato kāyassa nippītikena sukhena apphu:aJ hoti.
Seyyathā pi mahā-rāja uppaliniyaJ, paduminiyaJ puLYarīkiniyaJ appekaccāni uppalāni vā padumāni vā puLYarikāni vā udake-jātāni udakesaJvaYYhāni udakā’nuggatāni anto-nimugga-positāni, tāni yāva caggā yāva ca mūlā sītena vārinā abhisannāni parisannāni paripūrāni paripphu::hāni, nāssa kiñci sabbāvataJ uppalānaJ vā padumānaJ vā puLYarikānaJ vā sītena varinā apphu:aJ assa. EvaJ eva kho mahārāja bhikkhu imaJ eva kāyam nippītikena sukhena abhisandeti parisandeti paripūreti parippharati, nāssa kiñci sabbāvato kāyassa nippītikena sukhena apphu:aJ hoti.” DN. 1:75.
The word “body” (kāya) could be misinterpreted if we are not careful about its usage in this particular context, leading us to the wrong conclusion that the happiness belonging to the jhāna is pleasant bodily feeling. The happiness is still mental pleasure (cetasika sukha) or joy (somanassa), as in the first two jhānas. The word “body” here means the mental body (nāmakāya), that is, the group of mental factors associated with conscious-ness. However, the happiness of the mental body also overflows and produces physical pleasure. For the meditator’s mind, saturated with happiness, originates certain types of subtle material phenomena which cause bodily pleasure even after the meditator has emerged from jhāna. In explanation of this the Visuddhimagga says:
Now as to the clause ‘he feels bliss [happiness] with his body’, here although in one actually possessed of the third jhāna there is no concern about feeling bliss [happiness], nevertheless he would feel the bliss [happiness] associated with his mental body, and after emerging from the jhāna he would also feel bliss (happiness] since his material body would have been affected by the exceedingly superior matter originated by that bliss [happiness] associated with the mental body. It is in order to point to this meaning that the words, ‘he feels bliss [happiness] with his body’ are said.1
One-pointedness
The second constituting factor of the third jhāna is one-pointedness of mind (ekaggatā).
Though one-pointedness is not mentioned by name in the third jhāna formula, its presence in the attainment can be implicitly understood. We noticed earlier that the formula for the first jhāna also does not refer directly to one-pointedness though it is more than obvious that it must be included there. Since one-pointedness is a factor common to all states of consciousness, indispensable to sustained concentration, it must also be present with abundant strength in the third jhāna. It is explicitly mentioned in fact as a jhāna factor in the VibhaKga.2 Moreover, the mind in the third jhāna is full of sukha, and the mind suffused with sukha, as we saw earlier, gains samādhi, identical in meaning with one-pointedness. Therefore one-pointedness must be present here. It is mentioned only in the second jhāna formula for the reason that it there acquires novel intensity due to the subsiding of applied and sustained thought.
In terms of the Abhidhamma analysis, the third jhāna consciousness includes all the factors originally present in the first jhāna consciousness except vitakka, vicāra, and pīti, three general variables. Thus it contains a minimum of thirty concomitants of consciousness, and can further include compassion and sympathetic joy separately at times when these qualities are developed to the jhānic level.3
1. PP., p. 169. “Idāni, ’sukhañ ca kāyena pa:isaJvedeti’ti ettha kiñcapi tatiyajjhānasamaKgino sukhapa:isaJvedanābhogo n’atthi, evaJ sante pi, yasmā tassa nāmakāyena sampayuttaJ sukhaJ, yaJ vā taJ nāmakāyasampayuttaJ sukhaJ, taJsamu::hānen’assa yasmā atipaLītena rūpena rūpakāyo phu:o, yassa phu:attā jhāna vu::hito pi sukhaJ pa:isaJvedeyya, tasmā etaJ atthaJ dassento, sukhaJ ca kāyena pa:isaJvedeti ti āha.” Vism., p. 132.
2. Vibh., p. 275.
3. Narada, Manual, pp. 131-32.