Reading guide
The teaching in one sentence
The five kinds of sensual stimulation are ‘confinement’; each of the first eight attainments opens a way out of confinement only in a qualified sense, since some specific remaining factor — unceased placing of the mind, rapture, form-perception, and so on — is itself still confinement there; only the cessation of perception and feeling opens it in a fully definitive sense.
A quoted verse, taken seriously
Udāyī doesn't simply ask Ānanda to define a term in the abstract; he quotes a specific verse attributed to the godling Pañcālacaṇḍa praising the Buddha as ‘the sage, the solitary boss bull’ who discovered this opening — grounding the whole technical discussion that follows in a devotional and poetic source, not just doctrine for its own sake.
What specifically still confines, at each stage
Unlike most of this chapter's remaining discourses, this one doesn't merely repeat a bare formula at each attainment; it names the specific residual factor that still counts as confinement there — unceased placing of the mind at the first absorption, unceased rapture at the second, unceased bliss-with-equanimity at the third, and so on through unceased perception at each of the formless dimensions.
This chapter's own template, set here first
The phrase this discourse repeats at each stage — ‘to this extent the Buddha spoke of X in a qualified sense... but it is still confined... only at the ninth stage, in a definitive sense’ — is the exact structural template that AN 9.43 through AN 9.51 all reuse, substituting a different technical term for ‘confinement’ each time. This chapter's own name, Sāmaññavagga, “the Chapter on Similarity,” names this structural sameness directly.
Key terms
The text
A quoted verse, and a question
§1At one time Venerable Ānanda was staying near Kosambī, in Ghosita’s Monastery. Then Venerable Udāyī went up to Venerable Ānanda and exchanged greetings with him. When the greetings and polite conversation were over, he sat down to one side and said to Ānanda, “Reverend, this was said by the godling Pañcālacaṇḍa: ‘The opening amid confinement was discovered by the Buddha of vast intelligence, who awakened to absorption, the sage, the solitary boss bull.’ But what is confinement, and what is the opening amid confinement that the Buddha spoke of?”
Confinement named, and what still confines
§2“Reverend, these five kinds of sensual stimulation are called ‘confinement’ by the Buddha. What five? Sights known by the eye that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. Sounds known by the ear … Smells known by the nose … Tastes known by the tongue … Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation that are called ‘confinement’ by the Buddha. Now, take a mendicant who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures … enters and remains in the first absorption. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever placing of the mind and keeping it connected has not ceased is the confinement there.
§3Furthermore, take a mendicant who, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled … enters and remains in the second absorption. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever rapture has not ceased is the confinement there.
§4Furthermore, take a mendicant who, with the fading away of rapture … enters and remains in the third absorption. To this extent the Buddha spoke of creating an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever bliss with equanimity has not ceased is the confinement there.
§5Furthermore, take a mendicant who, giving up pleasure and pain … enters and remains in the fourth absorption. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever perception of form has not ceased is the confinement there.
§6Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the disappearance of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite’, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite space. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever perception of the dimension of infinite space has not ceased is the confinement there.
§7Furthermore, a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite’, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite consciousness. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever perception of the dimension of infinite consciousness has not ceased is the confinement there.
§8Furthermore, a mendicant, going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing at all’, enters and remains in the dimension of nothingness. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever perception of the dimension of nothingness has not ceased is the confinement there.
§9Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, enters and remains in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a qualified sense. But it is still confined. Confined by what? Whatever perception of neither perception nor non-perception has not ceased is the confinement there.
The definitive opening
§10Furthermore, take a mendicant who, going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, enters and remains in the cessation of perception and feeling. And, having seen with wisdom, their defilements come to an end. To this extent the Buddha spoke of an opening amid confinement in a definitive sense.”
Self-check quiz
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