Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Aṅguttara Nikāya · Discourse 11.8

Focus

Manasikārasutta — Nissayavagga — the first chapter of the Elevens

Setting
None stated in the source
Speakers
Venerable Ānanda questioning the Buddha
Form
The same question and answer as AN 11.7, recast from perception (saññā) to focus (manasikāra), asked once only
Length
~2 minutes to read
A single variable changed
Same structure as AN 11.7 minus the Sāriputta confirmation, with one term swapped throughout
Difficulty
★★★★☆ — the same demanding immersion as AN 11.7

Why this discourse

Ānanda asks whether a mendicant might gain a state of immersion where nothing at all is focused on in its usual way — not the six sense fields, not the elements, not the formless dimensions, not this world or another — and yet still focus; the Buddha confirms it, through focusing only on the peace of nibbāna itself: the stilling of all activities and the ending of craving.

Reading guide

The teaching in one sentence

A mendicant can gain a state of immersion where nothing conventional is focused on — not the six sense fields, the elements, the formless dimensions, or either world — and yet still focus, by focusing only on the peace of nibbāna: the stilling of all activities and the ending of craving.

The same discourse, one term changed

This discourse is AN 11.7 in miniature: the identical question-and-answer structure, the identical closing formula about peace and stillness, with ‘perceive’ (saññā) replaced throughout by ‘focus’ (manasikāra) — and, unlike AN 11.7, with one addition: the six sense fields (eye and sights, ear and sounds, and so on) are named explicitly as among what is not focused on, absent from AN 11.7's list.

Why the added sense fields matter

AN 11.7's list moved directly from the four elements to the formless dimensions; this discourse's list opens with the six sense fields first — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and their objects — making explicit what AN 11.7 left implicit: that ordinary sensory engagement, not only elemental and formless perception, must also fall away in this immersion.

No Sāriputta confirmation this time

Unlike AN 11.7's two-part structure, this discourse ends immediately after the Buddha's answer, with no parallel test of the teaching through a second teacher — a reminder that this chapter's pairs and near-repeats do not always follow the exact same shape twice.

Key terms

manasikāra — “focus”, attention — this discourse's own key term, replacing AN 11.7's saññā, perception, throughout.
cakkhu rūpe, sotaṁ sadde — “the eye or sights, ear or sounds” — the six sense fields, named explicitly here as not focused on, absent from AN 11.7's own list.
etaṁ santaṁ etaṁ paṇītaṁ — “this is peaceful, this is sublime” — the identical closing formula shared with AN 11.7, describing nibbāna itself.
sabbasaṅkhārasamatho sabbūpadhipaṭinissaggo taṇhākkhayo virāgo nirodho nibbānaṁ — “the stilling of all activities... extinguishment” — the same full formula as AN 11.7, word for word.
upasaṅkamitvā — “went up to” — the standard opening for Ānanda approaching the Buddha, identical to AN 11.7's own opening move.

The text

The discourse in full: Ānanda asks about an immersion beyond all focus, and the Buddha answers. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

Ānanda asks, and the Buddha answers

§1Then Venerable Ānanda went up to the Buddha, bowed, sat down to one side, and said to him: “Could it be, sir, that a mendicant might gain a state of immersion like this. They wouldn’t focus on the eye or sights, ear or sounds, nose or smells, tongue or tastes, or body or touches. They wouldn’t focus on earth in earth, water in water, fire in fire, or air in air. And they wouldn’t focus on the dimension of infinite space in the dimension of infinite space, the dimension of infinite consciousness in the dimension of infinite consciousness, the dimension of nothingness in the dimension of nothingness, or the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. They wouldn’t focus on this world in this world, or the other world in the other world. And they wouldn’t focus on what is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, or explored by the mind. Yet they would focus?” “It could be, Ānanda.” “But how could this be?” “Ānanda, it’s when a mendicant focuses thus: ‘This is peaceful; this is sublime—that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, extinguishment.’ That’s how a mendicant might gain a state of immersion like this. They wouldn’t focus on the eye or sights, ear or sounds, nose or smells, tongue or tastes, or body or touches. … And they wouldn’t focus on what is seen, heard, thought, known, attained, sought, or explored by the mind. Yet they would focus.”

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Self-check quiz

6 questions. Click an answer to see immediate feedback. No score is recorded — this is for your own checking.

Question 1 of 6
What term does this discourse use in place of AN 11.7's "perceive" (saññā)?
Correct: A. The same structure recast around a different term throughout.
Question 2 of 6
What does this discourse add that AN 11.7 does not list explicitly?
Correct: B. Making explicit what AN 11.7 left implicit about ordinary sensory engagement.
Question 3 of 6
What is focused on in this state of immersion, according to the Buddha's answer?
Correct: B. Word for word the same closing formula as AN 11.7.
Question 4 of 6
How does this discourse's structure differ from AN 11.7's, according to the guide?
Correct: B. This chapter's near-repeats do not always follow the exact same shape twice.
Question 5 of 6
Who asks the question in this discourse?
Correct: B. The same questioner as AN 11.7, asking the Buddha alone this time.
Question 6 of 6
Where is this discourse set?
Correct: B. No scene is set beyond Ānanda approaching the Buddha.
Answered 0 of 6 · Correct 0

Further reading

← PreviousAN 11.7 · Percipient