Reading guide
An attainment outside the numbered ladder
The signless immersion of the heart is not the “fifth jhāna” or a further formless dimension continuing the sequence; it is a distinct kind of meditative attainment, defined by not focusing on any signs at all rather than by transcending a specific coarser predecessor.
A different kind of disturbance
Where SN 40.1–8 each named a specific residual perception tied to one specific prior attainment, this discourse instead says Moggallāna's own “consciousness followed after signs” — a general susceptibility rather than a residue of any one named state.
The shared shape, still intact
Private reflection, a definition, a first attempt disturbed, the Buddha's personal intervention by psychic power, and eventual success closing on the identical self-proclamation — this discourse keeps every other element of the template unchanged, confirming the break is specific to the attainment-and-residue pairing, not the whole narrative shape.
Key terms
The text
§1“They speak of this thing called the ‘signless immersion of the heart’. What is the signless immersion of the heart? It occurred to me: ‘It’s when a mendicant, not focusing on any signs, enters and remains in the signless immersion of the heart. This is called the signless immersion of the heart.’ And so … I was entering and remaining in the signless immersion of the heart. While I was in that meditation, my consciousness followed after signs.
§2Then the Buddha came up to me with his psychic power and said, ‘Moggallāna, Moggallāna! Don’t neglect the signless immersion of the heart, brahmin! Settle your mind in the signless immersion of the heart; unify your mind and immerse it in the signless immersion of the heart.’ And so, after some time … I entered and remained in the signless immersion of the heart. So if anyone should be rightly called a disciple who attained to great direct knowledge with help from the Teacher, it’s me.”
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