Rapture (SN28.3)

Linked Discourses 28.3

1. With Sāriputta

Rapture

At Sāvatthī.

Venerable Ānanda saw Venerable Sāriputta 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?”

“Reverend, with the fading away of rapture, I entered and remained in the third absorption, where I meditated with equanimity, mindful and aware, experiencing for themselves the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’

But it didn’t occur to me:

‘I am entering the third absorption’ or ‘I have entered the third absorption’ or ‘I am emerging from the third 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 third absorption’ or ‘I have entered the third absorption’ or ‘I am emerging from the third absorption’.”