The Buddhist Path to Enlightenment (study)

by Dr Kala Acharya | 2016 | 118,883 words

This page relates ‘Enlightenment Factor of Joy or Rapture’ of the study on the Buddhist path to enlightenment. The Buddha was born in the Lumbini grove near the present-day border of India and Nepal in the 6th century B.C. He had achieved enlightenment at the age of thirty–five under the ‘Bodhi-tree’ at Buddha-Gaya. This study investigates the teachings after his Enlightenment which the Buddha decided to teach ‘out of compassion for beings’.

1.4. Enlightenment Factor of Joy or Rapture

< Previous

Next >

[Full title: The Seven Factors of Enlightenment—(4): Joy or Rapture (pīti-saṃbojjhaṅga or prīti-bodhiyaṅga)]

The term pīti, derived from the root prī means emotion of joy, delight, zest, exuberance. It is defined as zest (pīti), joy (pāmojjaṃ), rejoicing at (āmodanā), rejoicing over (pamodanā), mirth (hāso), merriment (pahāso), felicity (vitti), exultation (odagyaṃ) and elation of mind (attamanatā).^[1] There are many translations possible for this word; pīti means mainly contentment about getting a desirable object.

As distinguished from sukhaṃ (ease), pīti is explicitly excluded from the aggregate of feeling (vedanākkhandha) and is referred to the composite psychoses of the aggregate of formations or synergies (saṅkhārakkhandha).

In the commentarial literature it is very often spoken of as fivefold (pañcavaṇṇā-pīti), viz. i, slight sense of interest or the thrill of joy (khuddikā-pīti), “just causing the flesh to creep”, ii, the flash of joy (khaṇikā-pīti) like lightning; iii, the flood of joy or oscillating interest (okkantikā-pīti) like the breakers on seashore; iv, ecstasy or thrilling emotion or transport in which the subject could float in the air (ubbegā-pīti); and v, overwhelming suffusing joy or interest amounting to rapture (pharaṇā-pīti).^[2] The differences in these five species of pīti lie in the degree of intensity of joy.

Pīti as a state of mental experience has satisfaction as its characteristic (sampiyāyana lakkhaṇa); the thrilling of body and mind (or suffusion) as its function (kāyacitta pīnanarasa) and elation as its manifestation (odagya paccupaṭṭhāna).^[3] As a constituent of enlightenment it is of two types: -i, joy that is accompanied by thought, directed and sustained (savitakka savicāra pīti) and ii, joy unaccompanied by thought, directed and sustained (avitakka avicāra pīti).^[4] Here the phrase savitakka savicāra refers to the restless, discursive work of intellect which seeks likenesses and differences; joy accompanied by such discursive activities of the mind belongs to the first jhāna. That which is unaccompanied by such mental activities is one of the factors of the second jhāna. The second state of pīti is of a higher plane and as such represents a more developed and more purified form of joy.

There are five kinds of pīti:

1. Minor pīti: It raises the hair on the body. When you practice meditation, you sometimes have goose bumps or your hair stands on end. You are experiencing this kind of pīti.

2. Momentary pīti: It appears like a flash of lightning. You experience this kind of pīti in your body like a flash of lightning, once in a while. You feel very good and there is coolness in your body. Coolness is a welcome quality in the East where the climate is mostly hot.

3. Wavelike pīti: This kind of pīti comes over your body again and again, like waves on the seashore.

4. Uplifting pīti: It levitates the body and can even make it jump into the air. There are stories of people who levitated on account of this kind of pīti.^[5]

5. Pervading pīti: it completely pervades the whole body. It is compared to oil pervading a piece of cotton. When it arises in mediators, their whole body is, so to say, soaked with this kind of pīti.

Pīti is a mental quality which suffuses both the body and mind. As a wholesome quality of mind, pīti is so vital to the practice of bojjhaṅga that anyone who is lacking in it cannot advance along the path to enlightenment. Since no one can bestow on another the gift of happiness; each one has to build it up by effort, reflection and concentration activity. Only those who have experienced non-worldly rapture (pītinirāmisā) can truly understand that simplicity and contentment are characteristics of the really happy individual. Pīti the enlightenment factor is compared to the happy experience of a weary walker who sits down under a tree in the shade, or the cooling of a hot place by rain. According to Visuddhimagga, pīti has the characteristic of endearing. Its function is to refresh the body and the mind. It is manifested as elation.

The man who cultivates pīti the enlightenment factor does not get upset, confused or excited when confronted with the eight vicissitude of the world. He endeavors to see the rise and fall of all things conditioned, how things come into being and pass away. When pīti the enlightenment factor is cultivated and developed, one will see the fragility of the fragile without anxiety and restlessness.

A mind suffused with pīti is unshaken by loss and gain, good repute and ill repute, censure and praise, pleasure and pain and undisturbed by adversity. This frame of mind is brought about by viewing the sentient world in its proper perspective. Thus pīti the enlightenment factor leads one to enlightenment and deliverance from suffering. Pīti is spaciousness in the mind born of detachment, free of grasping or clinging or identified involvement. This intense delight is closely associated with insight knowledge and thus creates a very light and buoyant state of mind. As pīti the enlightenment factor arises as the mind settles down; and it helps one stay comfortably in the present moment and on the present object without the slightest tendency of deviation. Once the mind is firmly settled there, it acquires the ability to look at the object of meditation of a long period of time so that one can see the real nature of phenomena.

When pīti the enlightenment factor arises in the context of saṃbojjhaṅgas, then one begins to experience the fruit that the practice of bojjhaṅga brings. One comes to understand the vast difference between worldly happiness and non-worldly happiness. Real happiness comes not through grasping or clinging to things animates or inanimate but by giving up. It is the detached attitude towards the sensory world that brings about true happiness. The discourse of four foundation of mindfulness speaks of pleasant worldly feeling and pleasant unworldly feeling. Pleasant unworldly feeling is far superior to pleasant worldly feeling.

Whenever he reflects on the rise and fall of the
Aggregates, he experiences unalloyed joy and
Happiness. To the discerning one that
Reflection is deathless.

When one gets deeply concentrated in meditation, pīti becomes very strong and one’s whole energetic system is affected. A whole range of pleasant physical states and an inner sense of extreme wellbeing arise. All of this is different form the pleasurable feelings due to having a desire satisfied; it is born out of the unification of the mind as one enters present moment’s experience with strong concentration and interest. The quality of pīti is an ease and openness of mind that receives with interest every kind of circumstance. To be in touch with this factor brings a capacity to look at life with a light-hearted yet caring interest even in times of difficulty. Visuddhimagga mentions five kinds of pīti namely, minor pīti, momentary pīti, showering pīti, uplifting pīti, and pervading pīti depending on its increasing intensity. It is the fifth and final stage of pīti which is the kind associated with full absorption.

Eleven practices that lead to the arising of pīti

1. Reflecting on the qualities of the Buddha: pīti can be developed by reflection on the qualities of the Buddha, recollecting: “The Buddha is the one whose mind is totally pure. The Buddha is the one who knows all that is to be known, etc.”

2. Reflecting on the qualities of the Dhamma: This can be done by reflecting, “The Dhamma has been well proclaimed by the Buddha. The Dhamma is visible here and now, etc.”

3. Reflecting on the qualities of the Sangha: This can be done by reflecting on the qualities of the community of noble ones, such as: “The community of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered the good way. The community of the Blessed One’s disciples has entered the straight way.”

4. Reflecting on your own virtue (sīla); when you have been virtuous and your moral conduct has remained pure, then you can reflect on your purity of conduct and experience pīti.

5. Reflecting on your own generosity (cāga): When you donate something to a charitable purpose or give something to someone, you can reflect on your generosity and experience joy or pīti.

6. Reflecting on deities: Sometimes, meditators compare their qualities of those who are born in the celestial worlds by saying, “There are people who possessed good qualities. After their death, they were reborn as deities in the celestial worlds. These qualities are present in me, too.” Reflecting this way, you experience pīti.

7. Reflecting on peace: “Peace” here means subsidence of mental defilements. Pīti can be experienced by reflecting: “The mental defilements, abandoned by the attainments, do not occur for sixty or seventy years.” The Visuddhimagga, however, explains that “peace” here means nibbāna, or he stilling of all suffering. According to it, pīti can be experienced by reflecting on the special qualities of nibbāna, such as being the best of all dhammas, disillusionment of vanity, elimi-nation of thirst, abolition of reliance, termination of the round, dest-ruction of craving, fading away, and cessation.^[6]

8. Avoiding coarse people: You can develop pīti be avoiding people who are coarse or rough in their actions.

9. Associating with refined people: You can develop pīti be associating with people who are refined in their attitudes and actions, who have much confidence in the Buddha, and who are gentle of mind.

10. Reflecting on discourse that inspires confidence: Discourses that illumine the qualities of and inspire confidence in the Buddha are discourses that inspire confidence. By reflecting on them, you will be able to develop pīti.

11. Inclining toward piti: Inclining or directing the mind toward pīti in all postures will help to attain the desired qualities.

The contributory of pīti are known as the pītisambojjhaṅgaṭṭhāniyā dhammā which, according to Ven. Buddhaghosa refer to the recollections (anussati):

of the Buddha (Buddhānussati),
of the Dhamma (dhammānus-sati);
of the Saṅgha (saṃghānussati);
of the virtues (sīlānussati);
of generosity (cāgānussati) and
of deities (devatānussati).^[7]

The special qualities of the Buddha, the efficacy of the Dhamma and the virtues of the Saṅgha from the objects of recollection on the faithful observance of the four precepts of purity (catupārisuddhi sīla) in the case of a monk, and the five or ten precepts (pañca sīla or dasa sīla) in the case of a layman. Recollection of generosity, says Buddhaghosa, must be practiced by one who is naturally devoted to liberality and the constant practice of giving and sharing.^[8] These objects of recollection, it is said, are capable of evoking zest which, when brought to perfection, forms a constituent of enlightenment.