It’s important to rest, that’s a matter of fact, but I’m curious to know if there are any texts in the Dharma that talk about rest and if there’s some difference between sensual pleasure and resting.
Thanks in advance for your time.
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MN36 was the first thing that comes to mind, although it’s not talking specifically about sensual pleasure.
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It depends how you are resting. If you are meditating, napping, or just watching the trees grow then that is low in sensory stimulation. A lot of people ‘rest’ by cramming more sense stimulation into their sense doors via movies, music and doom scrolling.
This nice verse comes to mind
Greedy intention is a person’s sensual pleasure.
The world’s pretty things aren’t sensual pleasures.
Greedy intention is a person’s sensual pleasure.
The world’s pretty things stay just as they are,
but the attentive remove desire for them.
AN6.63.8.10
It’s probably a bit more high level, as it’s about how engaging in the sense world leads to rebirth. However it also states that the cessation of sensual pleasures.
And what is the cessation of sensual pleasures? When contact ceases, sensual pleasures cease. The practice that leads to the cessation of sensual pleasures is simply this noble eightfold path, that is: right view, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right immersion.
So we should be resting in ways which lessen craving.
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You might say there are two kinds of rest: wholesome rest and unwholesome rest. Wholesome rest results in the decrease of hindrances whereas unwholesome rest increases them. In the italicized passage from AN 7.61 below, you can see that sleep and rest can be used in a sensual way. Who among us hasn’t lain around in bed after waking up, enjoying the feelings of warmth and coziness from a comfortable bed and pillow with the mind half-awake-half-asleep?
How to be intent on wakefulness. (MN 53, AN 3.16)
And how is a bhikkhu intent on wakefulness? Here, during the day, while walking back and forth and sitting, a bhikkhu purifies his mind of obstructive qualities. In the first watch of the night, while walking back and forth and sitting, he purifies his mind of obstructive qualities. In the middle watch of the night he lies down on the right side in the lion’s posture, with one foot overlapping the other, mindful and clearly comprehending, after noting in his mind the idea of rising. After rising, in the last watch of the night, while walking back and forth and sitting, he purifies his mind of obstructive qualities. It is in this way that a bhikkhu is intent on wakefulness.
Sleep is useless and fruitless for the living, but it’s better than getting caught up in evil thoughts. (SN 35.235)
Sleep never satisfies. (AN 3.108)
Nodding sutta: Antidotes to drowsiness. (AN 7.61)
But what if that doesn’t work? Then lie down in the lion’s posture—on the right side, placing one foot on top of the other—mindful and aware, and focused on the time of getting up. When you wake, you should get up quickly, thinking: ‘I will not live indulging in the pleasures of sleeping, lying down, and drowsing.’ That’s how you should train.
Overeating leading to drowsiness; fondness for sleep → return to the womb. (Dhp 325)
One who gets drowsy from overeating,
fond of sleep, rolling round the bed
like a great hog stuffed with grain:
that dullard returns to the womb again and again.Delight in work, talk, and sleep lead to decline. (Iti 79)
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