The Buddha, regarding Moggallana’s hearing of sound in an imperturbable samādhi, speaks of it as being not wholly purified (parisuddha). Is this similiar to access concentration (upacara samadhi)?
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Please kindly post the link to this sutta. Thank you. 
The EBT doesn’t talk about access concentration because there is no need to, the term upacara samadhi doesn’t even exist in EBT. The reason the term “access concentration” was developed in later Buddhism (in the Vism.) is because they redefined jhāna to mean a frozen state of samadhi where no thought or will or any “insightful” acitivity can occur, and one has to emerge from that state before “insight” is possible.
But a simple straightforward reading of key passages will make things exceedingly clear. Here in the standard third jhāna formula, note the expression in bold.
pītiyā ca virāgā
Rapture ** fading,
upekkhako ca viharati
Equanimous ** (he) dwells,
sato ca sampajāno,
mindful and alert,
sukhañca kāyena paṭisaṃvedeti,
pleasure with-the-body (he) experiences,
yaṃ taṃ ariyā ācikkhanti —
that those Noble-Ones declare -
‘upekkhako satimā sukha-vihārī’ti
“equanimous (and) mindful (he has) pleasant-abiding.”
tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.
third Jhāna (he) enters, dwells.
There are two key sutta passages that define “sati and sampajano” in more detail. In the satipatthana samyutta, in the 2nd sutta SN 47.2. Look at how sampajano is defined. Clearly the meditator is not in a frozen state of samadhi. But perhaps some people might think, “well, he can be walking, talking, pissing, so there must be a more refined version of sampajano for jhāna.” Later on in that samyutta, we do indeed have a more refined definition of “sati and sampajano” in SN 47.35. Compare the sampajano in that one with the one in SN 47.2, and it looks custom tailored to describe the activity that’s possible in jhana.
And then look in AN 4.41, the 4 developments of samadhi sutta, and once again you see the same definition of sampajano as in SN 47.35, the one that fits jhāna perfectly.
AN 4.41
Katamā ca, bhikkhave, samādhi-bhāvanā bhāvitā bahulīkatā
{and} what, *********, concentration-development, when developed (and) pursued,
Sati-sampajañ-ñāya saṃvattati?
(to) mindfulness-(and)-clear-comprehension (it) leads?
Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhuno
Here, monks, a-monk:
viditā vedanā uppajjanti,
known (are) feelings (as they) arise,
viditā upaṭṭhahanti,
known (as they are) attended-upon,
viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
known (as they) go to} disappear.
viditā saññā uppajjanti,
known (are) perceptions (as they) arise,
viditā upaṭṭhahanti,
known (as they are) attended-upon,
viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
known (as they) go to} disappear.
viditā vitakkā uppajjanti,
known (are) thoughts (as they) arise,
viditā upaṭṭhahanti,
known (as they are) attended-upon,
viditā abbhatthaṃ gacchanti.
known (as they) go to} disappear.
Ayaṃ, bhikkhave, samādhi-bhāvanā bhāvitā bahulīkatā
This, *********, concentration-development, when developed (and) pursued,
Sati-sampajañ-ñāya saṃvattati.
mindfulness-(and)-clear-comprehension (it) leads-to.
Now “sati and sampajano” is not explicitly stated in 1st and 2nd jhāna, but it’s reasonable to infer that if it’s possible in 3rd jhana, then it’s possible in the first 2. And then in fourth jhana, you still have “sati”, but “sampajano” drops out. Instead of the ubiquitous expression “sati and sampajano” that occurs so often in the EBT, in 4th jhana that expression is replaced with,
“upekkha sati parisuddhim”, equanimity and mindfulness purified
What that means exactly is hard to say, and I doubt consensus is possible, but the role of sati and sampajano in the first 3 jhanas is explicit, straightforward, clear as clear can be.
There is no “access concentration” in EBT because it’s built right into the standard jhana formula.
edit: There is no need for the special term “access concentration” in EBT because access concentration and vipasssana is built right into the standard jhana formula.
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