Vitakka vicāra (Jhana-factors)

[Sylvester]

@Charlie

There are at least a couple suttas that say that the arahant should continue to practice jhana ‘for a calm abiding in the here and now’ - implying that without doing so things might not be so calm. One of these (SN 22.122) states that the arahant still experiences the clinging aggregates. I was surprised to find this – there is a close parallel in the agamas as well.

Hi Charlie

This is not so surprising, provided we relook SN 22.48’ distinction between the aggregates simpliciter and the “clinging-aggregates”. This calls for a robust examination of its sāsavā. Does the sa import the meaning of "being bound up with asavas " or the sense of "being liable to give rise to asavas " ?

I prefer the latter; see the definition of the first member in the compound upādānakkhandha as being the adjective upādāniyā (clingable) , rather the substantive noun “clinging”.

This is consistent with the standard exposition that an arahant does not cling at all.