---
title: "Linked Discourses V: The Great Book · Saṁyutta Nikāya · Mahāvagga"
author: "The Buddha"
translator: "Bhikkhu Sujato"
languages: [pi, en]
shelf: "Pali Canon"
section: 79 of 105
url: https://scriptura.si/works/pali-samyutta-nikaya-5/79/
cite: "The Buddha, tr. Bhikkhu Sujato, Linked Discourses V: The Great Book · Saṁyutta Nikāya · Mahāvagga, section 79. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/pali-samyutta-nikaya-5/79/"
---

# Linked Discourses V: The Great Book · Saṁyutta Nikāya · Mahāvagga

*The Buddha, tr. Bhikkhu Sujato*

The path: the noble eightfold path, the factors of awakening, mindfulness meditation, breathing, and the first teaching, Turning the Wheel of Dhamma.

> Pali: the Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka (Buddha Jayanti edition, 2500), from SuttaCentral’s bilara-data, dedicated to the public domain (CC0).

> English: Bhikkhu Sujato, from SuttaCentral’s bilara-data, dedicated to the public domain (CC0). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the segment numbers the two texts share, gathered into paragraphs; verse keeps its lines.

## 79. Abbreviated Texts on the Ganges · SN 53.1–12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/pali-samyutta-nikaya-5/79/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/pali-samyutta-nikaya-5/79/#p-N

[¶0] SN 53.1–12 · Absorptions, Etc.

> Pali: SN 53.1–12 · Jhānādisutta

[¶1] At Sāvatthī.

> Pali: Sāvatthinidānaṁ.

[¶2] > Pali: Tatra kho …pe…

[¶3] “Mendicants, there are these four absorptions. What four?

> Pali: “cattārome, bhikkhave, jhānā. Katame cattāro?

[¶4] It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.

> Pali: Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṁ savicāraṁ vivekajaṁ pītisukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.

[¶5] As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.

> Pali: Vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā ajjhattaṁ sampasādanaṁ cetaso ekodibhāvaṁ avitakkaṁ avicāraṁ samādhijaṁ pītisukhaṁ dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.

[¶6] And with the fading away of rapture, they enter and remain in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’

> Pali: Pītiyā ca virāgā upekkhako ca viharati sato ca sampajāno sukhañca kāyena paṭisaṁvedeti, yaṁ taṁ ariyā ācikkhanti: ‘upekkhako satimā sukhavihārī’ti tatiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.

[¶7] With the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, they enter and remain in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness.

> Pali: Sukhassa ca pahānā dukkhassa ca pahānā pubbeva somanassadomanassānaṁ atthaṅgamā adukkhamasukhaṁ upekkhāsatipārisuddhiṁ catutthaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.

[¶8] These are the four absorptions.

> Pali: Ime kho, bhikkhave, cattāro jhānāti.

[¶9] The Ganges River slants, slopes, and inclines to the east. In the same way, a mendicant who develops and cultivates the four absorptions slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment.

> Pali: Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, gaṅgā nadī pācīnaninnā pācīnapoṇā pācīnapabbhārā; evameva kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu cattāro jhāne bhāvento cattāro jhāne bahulīkaronto nibbānaninno hoti nibbānapoṇo nibbānapabbhāro.

[¶10] And how does a mendicant who develops and cultivates the four absorptions slant, slope, and incline to extinguishment?

> Pali: Kathañca, bhikkhave, bhikkhu cattāro jhāne bhāvento cattāro jhāne bahulīkaronto nibbānaninno hoti nibbānapoṇo nibbānapabbhāro?

[¶11] It’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.

> Pali: Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṁ savicāraṁ vivekajaṁ pītisukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.

[¶12] As the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption … third absorption … fourth absorption.

> Pali: Vitakkavicārānaṁ vūpasamā …pe… dutiyaṁ jhānaṁ … tatiyaṁ jhānaṁ … catutthaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.

[¶13] That’s how a mendicant who develops and cultivates the four absorptions slants, slopes, and inclines to extinguishment.”

> Pali: Evaṁ kho, bhikkhave, bhikkhu cattāro jhāne bhāvento cattāro jhāne bahulīkaronto nibbānaninno hoti nibbānapoṇo nibbānapabbhāro”ti.

[¶14] > Pali: Dvādasamaṁ.

[¶15] > Pali: Gaṅgāpeyyālavaggo paṭhamo.

[¶16] > Pali: Tassuddānaṁ

[¶17] Six on slanting to the east,
and six on slanting to the ocean;
these two sixes make twelve,
and that’s how this chapter is recited.

> Pali: Cha pācīnato ninnā,
cha ninnā ca samuddato;
Dvete cha dvādasa honti,
vaggo tena pavuccatīti.