Ru-Yi Meditation Center
Saṃyutta Nikāya · Discourse 45.11

Meditation (1st)

Vihārasutta — Vihāravagga

Setting
Sāvatthī, after a fortnight's solitary retreat
Speakers
The Buddha, addressing the mendicants directly
Form
A retreat announced, then a report on what was investigated during it
Length
~1 minute to read
Northern parallel
No individual parallel confirmed by this project's own check
Difficulty
★★★☆☆ — short but genuinely cryptic, no eightfold-path resolution given

Why this discourse

The Buddha announces a fortnight's solitary retreat — no one to approach him except whoever brings his almsfood — and on emerging, reports that he has been “practicing part of the meditation” he practiced “when I was first awakened.” What follows is genuinely unusual for this vagga: not the eightfold path named as an answer, but a list of what feeling is “conditioned by” — wrong or right view, wrong or right immersion, desire, thought, perception — left without further resolution or explanation.

Reading guide

A retreat announced in the Buddha's own words

“No-one should approach me, except for the one who brings my almsfood” is a specific, practical instruction this project has not seen the Buddha give quite this way before, confirmed by reading the discourse's own opening directly — a fortnight of genuinely uninterrupted solitude.

A report on early post-awakening practice

“Part of the meditation I practiced when I was first awakened” frames what follows as retrospective, not a new teaching devised for the occasion — the Buddha investigating, on retreat, something from his own early practice rather than formulating fresh doctrine.

Feeling conditioned by five things, left unresolved

View, immersion, desire, thought, and perception (each in a wrong/right or stilled/unstilled pairing) are each named as conditions for feeling, and the discourse closes on “effort to attain the unattained” also conditioning feeling — confirmed by reading the discourse's own ending directly, no further resolution or application to the eightfold path is given, unlike nearly every other discourse in this vagga.

Key terms

aḍḍhamāsaṁ paṭisallīyitukāmo — “I wish to go on retreat for a fortnight” — the Buddha's own specific announcement, with an equally specific instruction about who may approach
yaṁ mayā paṭhamābhisambuddhena vihāraṁ — “part of the meditation I practiced when I was first awakened” — the discourse's own framing of what follows as retrospective investigation
micchādiṭṭhipaccayāpi vedanā, sammādiṭṭhipaccayāpi vedanā — “there's feeling conditioned by wrong view, and feeling conditioned by right view” — the first of several conditions for feeling this discourse names without further resolution
chanda... vitakka... saññā — “desire... thought... perception” — three further conditions for feeling, alongside view and immersion
appattassa pattiyā āyogo — “effort to attain the unattained” — the discourse's own closing condition for feeling, itself also left unresolved

The text

The complete discourse, as genuinely translated — no further resolution or eightfold-path application is given in the source itself, and none is supplied here. Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato (CC0, SuttaCentral).

A fortnight's retreat, announced

§1At Sāvatthī. “Mendicants, I wish to go on retreat for a fortnight. No-one should approach me, except for the one who brings my almsfood.” “Yes, sir,” replied those mendicants. And no-one approached him, except for the one who brought the almsfood.

A report: feeling, conditioned by five things

§2Then after a fortnight had passed, the Buddha came out of retreat and addressed the mendicants: “Mendicants, I’ve been practicing part of the meditation I practiced when I was first awakened. I understand that there’s feeling conditioned by wrong view and feeling conditioned by right view. … There’s feeling conditioned by wrong immersion, and feeling conditioned by right immersion. There’s feeling conditioned by desire. There’s feeling conditioned by thought. There’s feeling conditioned by perception. As long as desire, thought, and perception are not stilled, there is feeling conditioned by that. When desire, thought, and perception are stilled, there is feeling conditioned by that. There is effort to attain the unattained. When that state has been attained, there is also feeling conditioned by that.”

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Self-check quiz

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

Question 1 of 3
What specific instruction does the Buddha give before his fortnight's retreat?
Correct: A. A specific, practical instruction for genuinely uninterrupted solitude.
Question 2 of 3
How does the Buddha frame what he investigated during this retreat?
Correct: A. Retrospective investigation of early post-awakening practice, not fresh formulation.
Question 3 of 3
Does this discourse resolve its own list of conditions for feeling into the eightfold path, as most of this vagga's discourses do?
Correct: A. Genuinely unusual for this vagga — the list of conditions for feeling stands without further resolution.
Answered 0 of 3 · Correct 0

Further reading

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