AN5.28 — Pañcaṅgikasutta
I will teach the development of the noble five-factored right concentration, disciples. Listen to it and pay close attention, I will speak.
Yes, lord, the disciples responded to the Blessed One.
The Blessed One said: And what is the development of the noble five-factored right concentration? Here a disciple, having secluded himself from sensual pleasures... enters and remains in the first jhana. He drenches, steeps, fills, and pervades this very body with the joy and happiness born of seclusion; there is no part of his whole body not pervaded by joy and happiness born of seclusion.
Just as a skilled bathman or bathman's apprentice might sprinkle bath powder in a metal basin and knead it together, adding water from time to time, so that his ball of bath powder: saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without: would nevertheless not drip; even so, the disciple pervades... this very body with the joy and happiness born of seclusion.
This is the first development of the noble five-factored right concentration.
Again with the stilling of applied and sustained thought, a disciple enters and remains in the second jhana... He drenches, steeps, fills, and pervades this very body with the joy and happiness born of concentration; there is no part of his whole body not pervaded by joy and happiness born of concentration.
Just as though there were a lake whose waters welled up from below and it had no inflow from east, west, north, or south, and would not be replenished from time to time by showers of rain; even so, the disciple pervades... this very body with the joy and happiness born of concentration. This is the second development of the noble five-factored right concentration.
Again with the fading away of joy... a disciple enters and remains in the third jhana... He drenches, steeps, fills, and pervades this very body with the pleasure divested of joy; there is no part of his whole body not pervaded by the pleasure divested of joy.
Just as in a pond of blue, red, or white lotuses, some lotuses: born and growing in the water: might flourish while immersed in the water, without rising out of it, and the cool water would drench, steep, fill, and pervade them to their very tips and roots; even so, the disciple pervades... this very body with the pleasure divested of joy. This is the third development of the noble five-factored right concentration.
Again with the abandoning of pleasure and pain... a disciple enters and remains in the fourth jhana... He sits, suffusing his body with a pure, bright mind; there is no part of his whole body not pervaded by the pure, bright mind. Just as if a man were sitting wrapped from head to foot with a white cloth so that there would be no part of his whole body not pervaded by the white cloth; even so, the disciple sits, suffusing his body with a pure, bright mind. This is the fourth development of the noble five-factored right concentration.
Again a disciple's mindfulness is established well, remembered, retained, and penetrated with wisdom. Just as one might look at another's face in a mirror or a bowl of clear water, standing or sitting; even so, a disciple's mindfulness is established well, remembered, retained, and penetrated with wisdom. This is the fifth development of the noble five-factored right concentration.
Disciples, this is the fifth development of the five-factored right concentration. When developed in this way a disciple who has made much of the noble five-factored right concentration, for whatever phenomena he wishes to direct his mind for the realization of knowing, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
Just as a water jug placed on a stand, filled to the brim, would spill water wherever it is tilted. Would it not, disciples? Yes, venerable sir. Just so a disciple who has developed and made much of the noble five-factored right concentration, for whatever phenomena he wishes to direct his mind for the realization of knowing, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
Just as in a flat area, a pond with four corners and sides well defined, filled to the brim, would spill water wherever a breach is made. Would it not, disciples? Yes, venerable sir. Just so a disciple who has developed and made much of the noble five-factored right concentration, for whatever phenomena he wishes to direct his mind for the realization of knowing, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
Just as on level ground, a thoroughbred chariot stands ready, with a whip lying atop. A skilled charioteer, having mounted, taking the reins in his left hand and the whip in his right, would drive back and forth as he wishes. Just so a disciple who has developed and made much of the noble five-factored right concentration, for whatever phenomena he wishes to direct his mind for the realization of knowing, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
If he wishes: May I experience various kinds of psychic powers: becoming one, becoming many... up to the Brahma worlds with the body, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis. If he wishes: With the divine ear element, purified and surpassing the human, may I hear both divine and human sounds, far and near, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
If he wishes: May I understand the minds of other beings, other persons, having encompassed them with my own mind: knowing a mind with lust as with lust... a liberated mind as liberated, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
If he wishes: May I recollect my manifold past lives... in detail, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis. If he wishes: With the divine eye, purified and surpassing the human, may I see beings passing away and reappearing, according to their actions, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.
If he wishes: Through the destruction of the taints, may I in this very life enter and dwell in the taintless liberation of mind, liberation by wisdom, realizing it for myself with direct knowing, there and then he gains the ability to witness it, whenever there is a basis.