Survey of SN 36 Vedana, showing by default it is physical
“Physical” in this article will refer to an experience felt through the anatomical flesh and blood body.
Thesis: Vedana in the EBT, when unqualified, is emphasizing the physical aspect.
There are several numbered classification schemes for Vedana (khandha). By far the most common is the 3-fold (sukha, dukkha, a-dukkham-a-sukham). The 5-fold is most precise, it adds somanassa and domanassa (mental happiness and mental unhappiness) to clearly differentiate the 3 physical from the 2 mental feelings. There are several more classification schemes, but analyzing these two is sufficient to arrive at an interesting conclusion.
I had always thought that when talking about the 3 feelings (vedana), the Buddha was primarily emphasizing the mental aspect of feeling, that the physical part was a less important effect, and that mind being “the forerunner (Dhammapada first 2 verses)” was the cause and the important aspect of vedana to focus on.
The English translation “feeling” also has connotations of emotional (mental) things, so that probbably also colored my perception of Vedana.
Then I examined the EBT more closely to see exactly if physical or mental was the emphasis, and what to assume as a “default”. Meaning, if you see dukkha, sukha, would you assume by default that they are physical, or mental, or has both? I discovered to my surprise it’s clearly physical that is emphasized in Vedana Khandha, which leads me to conclude that the Buddha is taking the physical as the default assumption for 3-fold vedana.
I base this conclusion on carefully reading through all 31 suttas in SN 36 Vedana Samyutta, assuming this should give an accurate representation of how Vedana is treated in the entire EBT. If there are EBT suttas outside of SN 36 that point to a different conclusion, I’d be happy to have them pointed out to me.
In total, there are 7 suttas out of 31 where vedana is explicitly said to originate from the body. 2 more sutta state the vedana has phassa (contact) as its origination. Now, from 12ps (dependent origination) we know contact is not happening unless the internal sense bases are present. For bodily contact, body is a necessary condition for contact to happen, so to originate in contact, it must also originate in body. So 9 out of 31 suttas make an explicit connection of vedana originating in the physical. The other suttas don’t explicitly specify whether the feeling is physical or mental, or both (except the 2 and 5-fold suttas).
Sutta SN 36.5 in particular is the clincher. First, it shares the same passage of SN 47.2 in the 4sp Samyutta. It’s defining S&S (sati and sampajano). When those two words are together, sati is referring to 4sp (4 mindful establishments), and sampajano is referring to clear comprehension in whatever activities one is doing (walking, talking, eating, etc). The phrase S&S appears 4 times in right mindfulness, once for each satipatthana. S&S appears explicitly in the 3rd jhāna, so by deduction it must be accessible in 1st and 2nd jhāna.
Back to sutta SN 36.5, this is what’s going on when a meditator is practicing S&S: “Bhikkhus, while a bhikkhu dwells thus, mindful and clearly comprehending, diligent, ardent, and resolute, if there arises in him a pleasant feeling, he understands thus: ‘There has arisen in me a pleasant feeling. Now that is dependent, not independent. Dependent on what? Dependent on this very body. But this body is impermanent, conditioned, dependently arisen. (kiṃ paṭicca? imameva kāyaṃ paṭicca.) So there’s the word kāya (body), explicitly stated as the prerequisite and origin of the 3 type of feelings, and it’s happening while one is in first, second, third jhāna, and any time one is doing samma sati, AKA 4sp (4 satipatthana). Vedana by default is bodily in origin, so in the 4 jhānas, this is completely coherent when we see both body (kāya) and vedana is physical. When abhidhamma redefines kāya as “body of mental things”, then if vedana is physical and it’s originating from a body of mental things, that’s pretty absurd, illogical. And with the four jhānas being rupa, not arupa, the EBT text are very straightfoward and clear it’s the anatomical body that one experiences when “body” is referred to in the jhāna formulas.
conclusion
So in the cases of other EBT passsages when you come across a 3-fold scheme, the safest would be assume vedana has both a physical and mental component. But based on reading SN 36, it seems safe to also assume the emphasis is on physical as the default, with mental “darts” which follow the first being seen as a secondary side effect and not the main focus.
suttas where vedana is explicitly physical
suttas using 3 fold vedana scheme where anatomical body is the cause of vedana
sutta #4, 6, 7, 12, 13
SN 36.4 Pātāla: Bottomless Abyss: painful feeling specified as bodily (sārīrikāya dukkhāya vedanāya)
SN 36.6 Salla: Dart: Ordinary person experiences a dukkha vedana as a painful physical feeling, followed by a mental painful feeling (so dve vedanā vedayati — kāyikañca, cetasikañca.). Ariya-savako only gets struck by the first dart (physical)
SN 36.7 Gelañña 1: Sick-ward 1: sati & sampajāno defined exactly same as SN 47.2. Then, it walks through 3 types of feeling each dependent on anatomical body (imameva kāyaṃ paṭicca). Finally, the investigation of vedana takes you all the way to Nirvana, while in satipatthana, with lamp simile.
SN 36.8 Gelañña 2: Sick-ward 2: same as previous sutta, except instead of body (kāya), substitute in contact (phassaṃ paṭicca).
SN 36.10 Phassa-mūlaka: Contact-as-root: 3 types of feelings all rooted and originated from contact (phassa). simile of 2 fire sticks not touching.
SN 36.12 Ākāsa 1: Sky 1: 3 types of feelings compared to various kinds of wind blowing to sky, vedana connect to body ( kāyasmiṃ vividhā vedanā uppajjanti), and again vedana expressed as bodily in verse (“tathevimasmiṃ kāyasmiṃ)
SN 36.13 Ākāsa 2: Sky 2: same as Sky 1 sutta, without verse.
SN 36.14 Agāra: guest-house: 9 fold vedana scheme (like SN 36.31 and MN 10 vedana-anupassana), originating from body (kāyasmiṃ vividhā vedanā uppajjanti)
SN 36.21 Moḷiyasīvaka: (name of wanderer): Some outsiders held wrong view that all diseases are due to Kamma. Buddha explains kamma is just one of eight possible causes. Bile, phlegm, and also wind, Imbalance and climate too, Carelessness and assault, With kamma result as the eighth. (7 out of 8 are bodily ailments)
vedana scheme not three fold
sutta #14: 9 fold scheme, but it’s based on 3 basic ones, and then multiplied by 3 to get 9. One set of 3 is the sukha of jhāna, which is bodily
sutta #21: 8 types of causes of vedana, last one is kamma, the first 7 have to do with bodily illness.
sutta #8, 10 connnect them with “contact” (phassa). remaining 5 suttas in vagga don’t qualify whether vedana is physical or mental.
Summary of all 31 suttas in SN 36:
SN 36 Vedanā Saṃyutta
Sagāthā Vagga: with-verses chapter (all 10 suttas use 3 fold vedana classification)
suttas using 3 fold vedana scheme where anatomical body is the cause of vedana
sutta #4, 6, 7, 12, 13
vedana scheme not three fold
sutta #14: 9 fold scheme, but it’s based on 3 basic ones, and then multiplied by 3 to get 9. One set of 3 is the sukha of jhāna, which is bodily
sutta #21: 8 types of causes of vedana, last one is kamma, the first 7 have to do with bodily illness. sutta #8, 10 connnect them with “contact” (phassa). remaining 5 suttas in vagga don’t qualify whether vedana is physical or mental.
SN 36.1 Samādhi: Concentration: seeing rise, fall, destruction of 3 types of feelings within jhāna concentration
SN 36.2 Sukha: pleasure: losing passion for 3 types of feeling
SN 36.3 Pahāna: removal: removal of underlying tendencies of 3 types of feeling leads to destruction of āsavas.
SN 36.4 Pātāla: Bottomless Abyss: painful feeling specified as bodily (sārīrikāya dukkhāya vedanāya)
SN 36.5 Daṭṭhabba: Should-be-seen: sukha vedana is dukkha, dukkha vedana is a dart, a-dukkham-a-sukham is impermanent
SN 36.6 Salla: Dart: Ordinary person experiences a dukkha vedana as a painful physical feeling, followed by a mental painful feeling (so dve vedanā vedayati — kāyikañca, cetasikañca.). Ariya-savako only gets struck by the first dart (physical)
SN 36.7 Gelañña 1: Sick-ward 1: sati & sampajāno defined exactly same as SN 47.2. Then, it walks through 3 types of feeling each dependent on anatomical body (imameva kāyaṃ paṭicca). Finally, the investigation of vedana takes you all the way to Nirvana, while in satipatthana, with lamp simile.
SN 36.8 Gelañña 2: Sick-ward 2: same as previous sutta, except instead of body (kāya), substitute in contact (phassaṃ paṭicca).
SN 36.9 Anicca: Impermanent: using several synonyms and qualifications to show impermanence of 3 types of feelings
SN 36.10 Phassa-mūlaka: Contact-as-root: 3 types of feelings all rooted and originated from contact (phassa). simile of 2 fire sticks not touching.
Rahogata Vagga: Alone chapter
SN 36.11 Rahogata: Alone: 3 fold vedana scheme. Connected to dukkha and saṅkhārā, then 9 progressive cessations in samādhi attainments similar to the 30 suttas in AN 9.30-9.60, with the very interesting and unique feature of first jhāna with speech (vāca) ceasing. Note this feature of first jhāna then gets repeated in this Vagga 4 more times in SN 36.15-18
SN 36.12 Ākāsa 1: Sky 1: 3 types of feelings compared to various kinds of wind blowing to sky, vedana connect to body ( kāyasmiṃ vividhā vedanā uppajjanti), and again vedana expressed as bodily in verse (“tathevimasmiṃ kāyasmiṃ)
SN 36.12–13 Ākāsa 1–2
SN 36.13 Ākāsa 2: Sky 2: same as Sky 1 sutta, without verse.
SN 36.14 Agāra: guest-house: 9 fold vedana scheme (like SN 36.31 and MN 10 vedana-anupassana), originating from body (kāyasmiṃ vividhā vedanā uppajjanti)
SN 36.15 Santaka 1 (AKA Ananda 1): 7fold investigation (what is feeling, its origin, cessation, way to end, gratification, danger, escape). rest of the sutta then incorporates 9 successive cessations from SN 36.11
SN 36.15–16 Santaka 1–2:
SN 36.16 Santaka 2 (AKA Ananda 2): almost exactly the same as SN 36.15, with slight difference in how Ananda greets Buddha.
SN 36.17 Aṭṭhaka 1
SN 36.17–18 Aṭṭhaka 1–2 : Same as SN 36.15 to 16, except that the Bhikkhus are the questioners instead of Ananda.
SN 36.18 Aṭṭhaka 2
SN 36.19 Pañcak-aṅga: five-tool-(carpenter nickname): Carpenter debates with Bhikkhu Udāyi about 2 fold vedana versus 3. The Buddha clears up this dispute by explaining he uses many numbered vedana schemes. The Buddha then contrasts the highest sukha for worldlings being 5 cords of sense pleasure, and then uses sukha (pleasure) to describe the 9 successive meditative attainments. Buddha explains sukha can be applied to a broader range of experience than just sukha vedana.
SN 36.20 Bhikkhu: same as SN 36.19, without the intro dispute and starts from the point where the Buddha describes difference between 2 and 3 types of feeling.
Aṭṭhasatapariyāya Vagga
SN 36.21 Moḷiyasīvaka: (name of wanderer): Some outsiders held wrong view that all diseases are due to Kamma. Buddha explains kamma is just one of eight possible causes. Bile, phlegm, and also wind, Imbalance and climate too, Carelessness and assault, With kamma result as the eighth. (7 out of 8 are bodily ailments)
SN 36.22 Aṭṭha-sata-pariyāya (8 + 100 explained): number-factored classifications for feelings, all total up to 108. 2 types are bodily mental, 3 types, 5, 6, 18, 36, etc.
SN 36.23 Bhikkhu: monk: 7-factored way of analyzing phenomena applied to vedana. what now is feeling? What is the origin of feeling? What is the way leading to the origination of feeling? What is the cessation of feeling? What is the way leading to the cessation of feeling? What is the gratification in feeling? What is the danger? What is the escape?”
SN 36.24 SN 36.24a Pubbe: before: same content as SN 36.23, except setting is Buddha before his awakening.
SN 36.25 SN 36.24b Ñāṇa: Knowledge: praising the 7-factored method of SN 36.23, using the formula of 4NT dhamma-cakka-pavattana: in regard to things unheard before, there arose in me vision, knowledge, wisdom, true knowledge, and light.
SN 36.26 SN 36.25 Sam-bahula-bhikkhu: with-many-monks: same content as SN 36.23 except audience is a group of monks
SN 36.27 SN 36.26 Samaṇa-brāhmaṇa 1: ascetics and brahmins: those who understand 3 types of feelings earn the title ascetic or brahmin, while those who don’t, dont.
SN 36.27–29 SN 36.26–28 Samaṇa-brāhmaṇa 1–2:
SN 36.28 SN 36.27 Samaṇa-brāhmaṇa 2: slighty different version of SN 36.27, examining other aspects of 3 feelings
SN 36.29 SN 36.28 Samaṇa-brāhmaṇa 3: slighty different version of SN 36.27, examining other aspects of 3 feelings
SN 36.30 SN 36.29a Suddhika-vedanā: simple-(version)-feelings: This is the whole sutta: “Bhikkhus, there are these three feelings. What three? Pleasant feeling, painful feeling, neither-painful-nor-pleasant feeling.” (Probably is an intro to next sutta)
SN 36.30–31 SN 36.29 Suddhika-vedanā, Nirāmisa: simple-feelings, unworldly:
SN 36.31 SN 36.29b Nirāmisa : unworldly: 3 types of feelings in jhāna or Nirvana get special name. “Bhikkhus, there is carnal rapture, there is spiritual rapture, there is rapture more spiritual than the spiritual. There is carnal happiness, there is spiritual happiness, there is happiness more spiritual than the spiritual. There is carnal equanimity, there is spiritual equanimity, there is equanimity more spiritual than the spiritual. There is carnal deliverance, there is spiritual deliverance, there is deliverance more spiritual than the spiritual.