Pondera wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2019 4:45 am
"There was the case where Sariputta — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities — entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Whatever qualities there are in the first jhana — directed thought, evaluation, rapture, pleasure, singleness of mind, contact, feeling, perception, intention, consciousness,[2] desire, decision, persistence, mindfulness, equanimity, & attention — he ferreted them out one after another. ...
Yes, this is a disputed point, which has been discussed here quite a lot.
There is a discussion in Bhikkhu Analayo's book,
Early Buddhist Meditation Studies, which you can download here:
https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg ... alayo.html
No matter which side of the dispute one is on, the collection of references and arguments is useful.
From page 118:
This discourse [MN111] has regularly been quoted in support of the
ability to contemplate the impermanent nature of the mental
constituents of an absorption while being in the actual attain-
ment. ...
The discussion goes on for several pages. His main conclusion is:
So when these states have not yet come into being or disap-
pear, a practitioner inevitably is not yet or no longer in the ab-
sorption, simply because the absorption lasts only as long as
all of the mental qualities that characterize it are fully present.
Therefore to observe the arising of these mental qualities and
their disappearance could only happen before an absorption is
attained or after the attainment has come to an end.
Mike
