You may have heard people saying something like “enter jhāna”. It befits the Visuddhimagga’s idea of jhāna, as one is supposed to get absorbed in one’s own mental creation. The expression also somewhat matches the translations below, usually followed by “the x jhāna”:
- “enters upon and abides in” (in MLDB)
- “enters and dwells upon” (in CDB)
- “enters and dwells in” (in NDB)
- “enters & remains in” (by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu)
The above translations (translated from upasampajja viharati) generally portray jhāna as something one enters and stay s in, thus alluding to and seemingly confirming the Visuddhimagga’s absorption jhāna. But the truth may be the other way round: that the Visuddhimagga’s idea of jhāna has somehow influenced these translations.
Actually, they can’t be properly translated backwards to the original Pāli phrase:
- “Enters upon and abides in” can almost be translated back to upasampajja viharati. By using “enters upon”, meaning “takes on a job or duty”, this is the only one of the four that does not portray jhāna as something one enter s. The only issue is the “in”. Viharati can only be translated to “abides”. For the “in”, the object would have to be in the locative form, e.g. paṭhame jhāne, which it is not.
- “Enters and dwells upon” and “enters and dwells in” basically translates backward to pavisitvā viharati or okkamitvā viharati, both departing significantly from the original. I say “basically” because, as above, viharati translates to “dwells” only. For the “upon” and “in”, the object, as above, would also have to be in the locative.
- “Enters & remains in” translates perfectly to pavisitvā tiṭṭhati, departing the furthest.
Seeking a more satisfactory translation, I’ve arrived at “abides engaging in”. In case you misunderstand:
- The “in” here is for upasampajja, not viharati. I’m translating upasampajja as “engaging in”.
- I reckon upasampajja as an absolutive functioning as a present participle, a fairly common occurrence in the Suttas. (You’ll see some convincing examples below.)
- I arrived at “engaging in” based on one meaning of upasampajjati provided by PED: “take upon oneself”. It also seems to agree with other contexts in which the phrase occurs (as you’ll see later).
This translation is more literal and aligns with the kind of jhāna that one can engage in (upasampajjati) in any posture, as shown under Does Jhāna Mean Absorption? (p75).
It also agrees with how viharati is defined in Jhāna·vibhaṅga of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka: iriyati vattati pāleti yapeti yāpeti carati viharati. In that context, they all revolve around the same meanings: conduct (oneself), move about, behave, exist, be, survive, go on, go, live, abide, dwell, sojourn. These words generally refer to living one’s life, not being mentally absorbed.
Now let’s include the jhāna into the phrase: jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati. The verb necessarily acting on jhānaṁ is only upasampajja. The phrase is structurally similar to
- rājagahaṁ upanissāya viharanti (DN16), commonly translated as “abide/dwell depending on Rājagaha”.
- mettāsahagatena cetasā ekaṁ disaṁ pharitvā viharatha (SN42.13), translated in CDB (p1367) as “dwells pervading one quarter with a mind imbued with lovingkindness”.
Notice the absolutives upanissāya and pharitvā translated as “depending on” and “pervading” accordingly, in the same way as I translated upasampajja as “engaging in”.
If we want to say “dwell in” or “abide in” something, that “in” will have to be reflected in the locative form of that something, like rājagahe viharanti (e.g. in SN21.3), not rājagahaṁ viharanti (not found in the Suttas).
Now, let’s survey similar phrases in other contexts in the Suttas and see if “abides engaging in” fit in those better than existing common translations. Here’s a passage from Ajahn Ṭhānissaro’s translation of the famous Kālāma (or Kesamutti) Sutta (AN3.66):
When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’ — then you should enter & remain in (upasampajja vihareyyātha) them. [Emphasis and parenthesis are added.]
Isn’t it odd to say we “enter & remain in” skilful qualities? Before we brush off this question by saying it’s just a Pāli idiom, let’s first have the faith to doubt this assumption. How can we enter skilful qualities ? It’s the same problem as: How can we enter meditation ? We can however engage in skilful qualities and engage in meditation. Consider these translations:
- You should abide engaging in skilful qualities.
- He abides engaging in the first jhāna.
Wouldn’t these be more meaningful?
Another example is in Sammā·samādhi Sutta (AN5.113), already provided in the text proper: “Bhikkhus, possessed of five things a bhikkhu is unable to abide engaging in proper composure (sammā·samādhiṁ upasampajja viharituṁ).”
I hope the above is convincing enough for you to reconsider the presently common translations, which seem to be influenced by orthodoxy and then seemingly confirmed by orthodoxy.
The above is extracted from Appendix 15 of my book What You Might Not Know about Jhāna & Samādhi.
thank you venerable 
, with effectively no knowledge of Pali it sounds convincing, or at the very least coherent. Radical stuff indeed; my understanding of the topic is fundamentally altered.