My question is regarding the ‘formless realms’: are they an essential element in right concentration? I’ve come across quite a few suttas where the Buddha does mention them as following on from the rupa jhānas, but I’ve also read suttas where the Buddha stops at the fourth rupa jhāna as defining right concentration.
I’m just curious as to the overall frequency of mention of the formless realms in the suttas, compared to the rupa jhānas alone.
Maybe it’s laziness on my part, but I’m hoping that mastery of the rupa jhānas is sufficient for then knowledge and vision to arise. It seems like a more realistic goal (to hold very lightly).
“Is it really true that the venerables have declared enlightenment in the Buddha’s presence?”
“Yes, reverend.”
“But knowing and seeing thus, do you wield the many kinds of psychic power? (…)
No, reverend. (…)
“Well, knowing and seeing thus, do you have direct meditative experience of the peaceful liberations that are formless, transcending form?”
“No, reverend.”
“Well now, venerables, how could there be such a declaration when these things are not attained?”
“Reverend Susīma, we are freed by wisdom.”
According to Piya tan, the venerables freed by wisdom have at least the form jhanas. In many cases the formless jhanas were not necessary to Arahantship. But the Buddha and many of his great disciples had achieved the formless attainments before achieving Arahantship.
“There is nothing, Sāriputta, that these five hundred monks have done by way of body or speech that I would criticize. For of these five hundred monks, sixty have the three knowledges, sixty have the six direct knowledges, sixty are freed both ways [they master the formless attainments and the Cessation-Attainment] and the rest [three hundred and twenty] are freed by wisdom.”
“There is nothing, Sāriputta, that these five hundred monks have done by way of body or speech that I would criticize. For of these five hundred monks, sixty have the three knowledges, sixty have the six direct knowledges, sixty are freed both ways [they master the formless attainments and the Cessation-Attainment] and the rest [three hundred and twenty] are freed by wisdom.”
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What a suprising quote from a sutta. I am just a beginner with a German mother tongue. So I guess it might be the wrong category to ask this question. Please feel free to place it where it belongs. This sutta by the Buddha seems not only to suggest that formless attainments are not necessary for liberation but that you can skip the other four jhanas as well. That is not in line with what I have read before. Can anybody explain what „freed by wisdom“ means? Did the rest skip the jhanas and „only „ attained wisdom?
This sutta is only discussing the formless attainments and psychic powers. It does not explicitly state that arahants “freed by wisdom” were absent from the form jhānas.
In the arahant “freed by wisdom,” wisdom is the predominant factor in the complete eradication of defilements. However, concentration (samādhi) also needs to be present in this process. There are even some suttas stating that the form jhānas are necessary to attain arahantship.
Mahānāma, even though a noble disciple has clearly seen this with right wisdom, as long as they do not achieve the rapture and bliss that are apart from sensual pleasures and unskillful qualities [the first and second jhanas], or something even more peaceful than that.But when they do achieve that rapture and bliss, or something more peaceful than that, they do not return to sensual pleasures [they become at least non-returners].
“Mendicants, I say that the first absorption is a basis for ending the defilements. The second absorption (…) The dimension of neither perception nor non-perception is also a basis for ending the defilements. The cessation of perception and feeling is also a basis for ending the defilements.
If you take the commentarial tradition into account, they mention the dry-insight arahant, who attains enlightenment using a form of samādhi distinct from the form jhānas. But this would lead to a discussion that might be outside the scope of this topic.
Anyway, it is likely that for some practitioners, the more basic forms of samādhi are not sufficient to attain Arahantship—especially if they are to develop advanced psychic powers or possess a special analytical ability to teach the Dhamma. This would have been the case for the Buddha himself and his chief disciples, Sāriputta and Moggallāna, for example.
The SuttaCentral website offers resources that allow you to compare translations and even display the translated text alongside the Pāli text. This makes it easier for readers who are not native English speakers (in my case, my mother language is Portuguese).