Reading guide
A familiar day's routine, told in full for the first time
"Then Venerable Sāriputta robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms... he went to the Dark Forest for the day's meditation, plunged deep into it, and sat at the root of a tree to meditate" — this opening narrative sequence, given in full only here, will be assumed rather than repeated in the discourses that follow.
Ānanda notices something in the face
"Reverend Sāriputta, your faculties are so very clear, and your complexion is pure and bright. What meditation were you practicing today?" — a question this saṃyutta will repeat with only minor variation across eight further discourses, each time prompted by the same visible sign.
The first absorption, and a striking absence
Sāriputta describes the first absorption precisely, then adds: "it didn't occur to me: 'I am entering the first absorption' or 'I have entered the first absorption' or 'I am emerging from the first absorption'" — not merely accomplishing the meditative state, but doing so without any accompanying self-referential narration about the accomplishment.
Ānanda's own diagnosis
"That must be because Venerable Sāriputta has long ago totally eradicated I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to conceit" — Ānanda doesn't merely accept the report, he explains it: the absence of self-referential thought during deep meditation is itself evidence of a much deeper, already-accomplished eradication, not a special trick reserved for jhāna alone.
Key terms
The text
§1At one time Venerable Sāriputta was staying near Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Then Venerable Sāriputta robed up in the morning and, taking his bowl and robe, entered Sāvatthī for alms. He wandered for alms in Sāvatthī. After the meal, on his return from almsround, he went to the Dark Forest for the day’s meditation, plunged deep into it, and sat at the root of a tree to meditate.
§2Then in the late afternoon, Sāriputta came out of retreat and went to Jeta’s Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery. Venerable Ānanda saw him coming off in the distance, and said to him: “Reverend Sāriputta, your faculties are so very clear, and your complexion is pure and bright. What meditation were you practicing today?”
§3“Reverend, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, I entered and remained in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. But it didn’t occur to me: ‘I am entering the first absorption’ or ‘I have entered the first absorption’ or ‘I am emerging from the first absorption’.” “That must be because Venerable Sāriputta has long ago totally eradicated I-making, mine-making, and the underlying tendency to conceit. That’s why it didn’t occur to you: ‘I am entering the first absorption’ or ‘I have entered the first absorption’ or ‘I am emerging from the first absorption’.”
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