Hi @Invo Could it be MN 148? I’m not sure if this is what you are looking for since it talks more about the skilful/unskilful reactions to feelings and underlying tendencies behind those reactions. So it doesn’t really differentiate between the feelings themselves in quite the manner I understand you might be looking for… In that sense MN 137 could hit more closer to home, though it also is basically about different kinds of reactions to sense-contact. Anyway, here are a bit long but relevant passages from both suttas, see if they ring any bells.
MN 148 Unskilful: Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a condition for the arising of what is felt as pleasant, painful, or neutral. When you experience a pleasant feeling, if you approve, welcome, and keep clinging to it, the underlying tendency to greed underlies that. When you experience a painful feeling, if you sorrow and wail and lament, beating your breast and falling into confusion, the underlying tendency to repulsion underlies that. When you experience a neutral feeling, if you don’t truly understand that feeling’s origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape, the underlying tendency to ignorance underlies that. Mendicants, without giving up the underlying tendency to greed for pleasant feeling, without dispelling the underlying tendency to repulsion towards painful feeling, without eradicating ignorance in the case of neutral feeling, without giving up ignorance and without giving rise to knowledge, it’s simply impossible to make an end of suffering in the present life.
Ear consciousness … Nose consciousness … Tongue consciousness … Body consciousness … Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and thoughts. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a condition for the arising of what is felt as pleasant, painful, or neutral. When you experience a pleasant feeling, if you approve, welcome, and keep clinging to it, the underlying tendency to greed underlies that. When you experience a painful feeling, if you sorrow and wail and lament, beating your breast and falling into confusion, the underlying tendency to repulsion underlies that. When you experience a neutral feeling, if you don’t truly understand that feeling’s origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape, the underlying tendency to ignorance underlies that. Mendicants, without giving up the underlying tendency to greed for pleasant feeling, without dispelling the underlying tendency to repulsion towards painful feeling, without eradicating ignorance in the case of neutral feeling, without giving up ignorance and without giving rise to knowledge, it’s simply impossible to make an end of suffering in the present life.
MN 148 Skilful: Eye consciousness arises dependent on the eye and sights. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a condition for the arising of what is felt as pleasant, painful, or neutral. When you experience a pleasant feeling, if you don’t approve, welcome, and keep clinging to it, the underlying tendency to greed does not underlie that. When you experience a painful feeling, if you don’t sorrow or wail or lament, beating your breast and falling into confusion, the underlying tendency to repulsion does not underlie that. When you experience a neutral feeling, if you truly understand that feeling’s origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape, the underlying tendency to ignorance does not underlie that. Mendicants, after giving up the underlying tendency to greed for pleasant feeling, after dispelling the underlying tendency to repulsion towards painful feeling, after eradicating ignorance in the case of neutral feeling, after giving up ignorance and giving rise to knowledge, it’s totally possible to make an end of suffering in the present life.
Ear consciousness …
Nose consciousness …
Tongue consciousness …
Body consciousness …
Mind consciousness arises dependent on the mind and thoughts. The meeting of the three is contact. Contact is a condition for what is felt as pleasant, painful, or neutral. When you experience a pleasant feeling, if you don’t approve, welcome, and keep clinging to it, the underlying tendency to greed does not underlie that. When you experience a painful feeling, if you don’t sorrow or wail or lament, beating your breast and falling into confusion, the underlying tendency to repulsion does not underlie that. When you experience a neutral feeling, if you truly understand that feeling’s origin, ending, gratification, drawback, and escape, the underlying tendency to ignorance does not underlie that. Mendicants, after giving up the underlying tendency to greed for pleasant feeling, after dispelling the underlying tendency to repulsion towards painful feeling, after eradicating ignorance in the case of neutral feeling, after giving up ignorance and giving rise to knowledge, it’s totally possible to make an end of suffering in the present life.
Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, feeling, and craving.
They grow disillusioned with the ear … nose … tongue … body … mind, thoughts, mind consciousness, mind contact, feeling, and craving. Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed. When it is freed, they know it is freed.
They understand: ‘Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is no return to any state of existence.’”
MN 137 ‘The thirty-six positions of sentient beings should be understood.’ That’s what I said, but why did I say it? There are six kinds of lay happiness and six kinds of renunciate happiness. There are six kinds of lay sadness and six kinds of renunciate sadness. There are six kinds of lay equanimity and six kinds of renunciate equanimity.
Lay happiness/Renunciate happiness And in this context what are the six kinds of lay happiness? There are sights known by the eye that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasing, connected with the world’s material delights. Happiness arises when you regard it as a gain to obtain such sights, or when you recollect sights you formerly obtained that have passed, ceased, and perished. Such happiness is called lay happiness. There are sounds known by the ear … Smells known by the nose … Tastes known by the tongue … Touches known by the body … Thoughts known by the mind that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasing, connected with the world’s material delights. Happiness arises when you regard it as a gain to obtain such thoughts, or when you recollect thoughts you formerly obtained that have passed, ceased, and perished. Such happiness is called lay happiness. These are the six kinds of lay happiness.
And in this context what are the six kinds of renunciate happiness? When you’ve understood the impermanence of sights—their perishing, fading away, and cessation—happiness arises as you truly understand through right understanding that both formerly and now all those sights are impermanent, suffering, and perishable. Such happiness is called renunciate happiness. When you’ve understood the impermanence of sounds … smells … tastes … touches … thoughts—their perishing, fading away, and cessation—happiness arises as you truly understand through right understanding that both formerly and now all those thoughts are impermanent, suffering, and perishable. Such happiness is called renunciate happiness. These are the six kinds of renunciate happiness.
Lay sadness/Renunciate sadness: And in this context what are the six kinds of lay sadness? There are sights known by the eye that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasing, connected with the world’s material delights. Sadness arises when you regard it as a loss to lose such sights, or when you recollect sights you formerly lost that have passed, ceased, and perished. Such sadness is called lay sadness. There are sounds known by the ear … There are smells known by the nose … There are tastes known by the tongue … There are touches known by the body … There are thoughts known by the mind that are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasing, connected with the world’s material delights. Sadness arises when you regard it as a loss to lose such thoughts, or when you recollect thoughts you formerly lost that have passed, ceased, and perished. Such sadness is called lay sadness. These are the six kinds of lay sadness.
And in this context what are the six kinds of renunciate sadness? When you’ve understood the impermanence of sights—their perishing, fading away, and cessation—you truly understand through right understanding that both formerly and now all those sights are impermanent, suffering, and perishable. Upon seeing this, you give rise to yearning for the supreme liberations: ‘Oh, when will I enter and remain in the same dimension that the noble ones enter and remain in today?’ When you give rise to yearning for the supreme liberations like this, sadness arises because of the yearning. Such sadness is called renunciate sadness. When you’ve understood the impermanence of sounds … smells … tastes … touches … thoughts—their perishing, fading away, and cessation—you truly understand through right understanding that both formerly and now all those thoughts are impermanent, suffering, and perishable. Upon seeing this, you give rise to yearning for the supreme liberations: ‘Oh, when will I enter and remain in the same dimension that the noble ones enter and remain in today?’ When you give rise to yearning for the supreme liberations like this, sadness arises because of the yearning. Such sadness is called renunciate sadness. These are the six kinds of renunciate sadness.
Lay equanimity/renunciate equanimity: And in this context what are the six kinds of lay equanimity? When seeing a sight with the eye, equanimity arises for the uneducated ordinary person—a foolish ordinary person who has not overcome their limitations and the results of deeds, and is blind to the drawbacks. Such equanimity does not transcend the sight. That’s why it’s called lay equanimity. When hearing a sound with the ear … When smelling an odor with the nose … When tasting a flavor with the tongue … When feeling a touch with the body … When knowing a thought with the mind, equanimity arises for the uneducated ordinary person—a foolish ordinary person who has not overcome their limitations and the results of deeds, and is blind to the drawbacks. Such equanimity does not transcend the thought. That’s why it’s called lay equanimity. These are the six kinds of lay equanimity.
And in this context what are the six kinds of renunciate equanimity? When you’ve understood the impermanence of sights—their perishing, fading away, and cessation—equanimity arises as you truly understand through right understanding that both formerly and now all those sights are impermanent, suffering, and perishable. Such equanimity transcends the sight. That’s why it’s called renunciate equanimity. When you’ve understood the impermanence of sounds … smells … tastes … touches … thoughts—their perishing, fading away, and cessation—equanimity arises as you truly understand through right understanding that both formerly and now all those thoughts are impermanent, suffering, and perishable. Such equanimity transcends the thought. That’s why it’s called renunciate equanimity. These are the six kinds of renunciate equanimity. ‘The thirty-six positions of sentient beings should be understood.’ That’s what I said, and this is why I said it.
‘Therein, relying on this, give up that.’ That’s what I said, but why did I say it?
Therein, by relying and depending on the six kinds of renunciate happiness, give up and go beyond the six kinds of lay happiness. That’s how they are given up.
Therein, by relying on the six kinds of renunciate sadness, give up the six kinds of lay sadness. That’s how they are given up.
Therein, by relying on the six kinds of renunciate equanimity, give up the six kinds of lay equanimity. That’s how they are given up.
Therein, by relying on the six kinds of renunciate happiness, give up the six kinds of renunciate sadness. That’s how they are given up.
Therein, by relying on the six kinds of renunciate equanimity, give up the six kinds of renunciate happiness. That’s how they are given up.