9.14. About Samiddhi (AN9.14)

Then Ven. Samiddhi went to Ven. Sariputta and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there, Ven. Sariputta said to him, “Based on what, Samiddhi, do thoughts & resolves arise in a person?”

“Based on name & form, sir.”

“And how do they go to diversity?”

“Through the properties, sir.”

“And what do they have as their origination?”

“They have contact as their origination, sir.”

“And what do they have as their meeting place?”

“They have feeling as their meeting place, sir.”

“And what do they have as their presiding state?”

“They have concentration as their presiding state, sir.”

“And what do they have as their governing principle?”

“They have mindfulness as their governing principle, sir.”

“And what do they have as their surpassing state?”

“They have discernment as their surpassing state, sir.”

“And what do they have as their heartwood?”

“They have release as their heartwood, sir.”

“And where do they gain their footing?”

“They gain their footing in the deathless, sir.”

“Samiddhi, on being asked, ‘Based on what do thoughts & resolves arise in a person?’ you have answered, ‘Based on name & form.’

“When asked, ‘And how do they go to diversity?’ you have answered, ‘Through the properties.’

“When asked, ‘And what do they have as their origination?’ you have answered, ‘They have contact as their origination.’

“When asked, ‘And what do they have as their meeting place?’ you have answered, ‘They have feeling as their meeting place.’

“When asked, ‘And what do they have as their presiding state?’ you have answered, ‘They have concentration as their presiding state.’

“When asked, ‘And what do they have as their governing principle?’ you have answered, ‘They have mindfulness as their governing principle.’

“When asked, ‘And what do they have as their surpassing state?’ you have answered, ‘They have discernment as their surpassing state.’

“When asked, ‘And what do they have as their heartwood?’ you have answered, ‘They have release as their heartwood.’

“When asked, ‘And where do they gain their footing?’ you have answered, ‘They gain their footing in the deathless.’

“Very good, Samiddhi, very good. It’s good, the way you have answered when questioned, but don’t get conceited about that.”

Translated from the Pali by: Thanissaro Bhikkhu.

©1998 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. The text of this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of the license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. Documents linked from this page may be subject to other restrictions. Transcribed from a file provided by the translator.

Access to Insight (Legacy Edition), 30 November 2013, http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

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