Dear Venerable Ajahns and Dhamma friends,
Am a serious practitioner for the last one year focussing on sutta reading, mindfulness and meditative practices in tandem, to improve my practice of the Dhamma.
Am reading the Visudhi magga Chapter on Description of concentration on the 5 factors of First Jhana.
My question: Therein the detailed difference between Happiness and Bliss is described. Need help in understanding how happiness is formations aggregate whereas bliss is feeling aggregate. Bliss as feeling aggregate is quite understandable. The reason to read the text is to understand and experience word by word practice during the actual cushion session. Kindly enlighten me.
Also the last factor - unification of mind with its remaining states on the object ( do they mean evaluation of the object of focus eg - Breath)?.
Would be grateful for a response and commentary.
Nammo Budhaya
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu
Pīti is part of formation (saṅkhāra) aggregates, it is usually translated as joy, delight rather than happiness.
Sukha is part of feeling (vedana) aggregates, usually translated as happiness, ease, pleasant but here translated as bliss according to your source.
Anyway, the analogy usually is on a person in a desert, on seeing an oasis, pīti, joy arises, after drinking his fill, laying down and relaxing, that’s sukha, ease.
As part of formations aggregates it is possible to will joy to arise to some extent. As joy is inherently pleasant and every moment of mind has feelings, the corresponding feeling is sukha.
Isn’t there description of various types of joy available? Body shaking, body feeling light etc.
Unification of mind, citta ekaggatā , is one point mind, literally. The mind is only aware of the object of meditation and for a long time the object doesn’t change. As soon as the object changes one gets out of Jhānas. Since the mind is not attending on the 5 physical senses input, there’s no awareness of the physical senses, and the object is to be conceptual to have no change discernable for the mind to be able to be on it unchangingly. The breath first became the nimitta, which is a mind object already, not a physical object, that is what leads to the jhanas.
Thank you Venerable for the detailed explanation.
Nammo Budhaya
Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu
