MN 108 Gopaka-moggallāna-sutta

A Teaching given (while visiting) Moggellāna the Accountant

Thus I have heard—

At one time Ānanda was staying in Rājagaha at the Bamboo Forest, the squirrels' feeding place, not long after the Buddha's death.

...

"At one time, Ānanda, sir, Master Gotama was living at the Hall with the Peaked Roof in the great forest at Vesālī. At that time I went to Master Gotama at the Hall with the Peaked Roof in the great forest. And there Master Gotama spoke about meditation through many figures of speech. He was both a meditator himself, and one in the habit of meditation. And moreover he praised every meditation."

"It is indeed not so, Brahmin, that the Buddha praised every meditation, nor did the Buddha not praise every meditation.

"What sort of meditation did the Buddha not praise?

The "Five Hindrances" fragment

"Here, some man lives with a mind obsessed with sexual pleasure, over­whelmed by sexual pleasure and does not know for real the escape from sexual desire or from its arising. One (who) meditates having created internalised sexual desire over-meditates, under-meditates and mis-meditates.

One lives with a mind obsessed by ill-will, overwhelmed by ill-will and does not know for real the escape from ill-will or from its arising; one (who) meditates having created internalised ill-will over-meditates, under-meditates and mis-meditates.

One lives with a mind obsessed with lethargy and sluggishness and does not know for real the escape from lethargy and sluggishness or from its arising; one (who) meditates having created internalised lethargy and sluggishness over-meditates, under-meditates and mis-meditates.

One lives with a mind obsessed with agitation and worry and does not know for real the escape from agitation and worry or from its arising; one who meditates having created internalised agitation and worry over-meditates, under-meditates and mis-meditates.

One lives with a mind obsessed with uncertainty and does not know for real the escape from uncertainty or from its arising; one who meditates having created internalised uncertainty over-meditates, under-meditates and mis-meditates.

This indeed was the type of meditation the Buddha did not praise.

"But what sort of meditation did the Buddha praise?

The "Four Jhānas" fragment

"Here a bhikkhu well-separated from objects of sexual desire, and separated from harmful qualities of mind, enters for a time the first stage of meditation: a state of enhanced sensitivity and well-being with intention and attention, born of detachment.

From the cessation of intention and attention a bhikkhu enters for a time the second stage of meditation: a state of enhanced sensitivity and well-being born of samadhi (an inner tranquility of mind, a state of indistractibility without thinking or investigation).

From both the fading of enhanced sensitivity and by dwelling with equanimity, mindful and fully aware, a bhikkhu enters for a time the third stage of meditation: of which the noble ones declare, "One dwells pleasantly, with equanimity and mindful awareness," experiencing well-being through the body.

From abandoning well-being and the former abandoning of suffering, from the passing away of positive and negative states of mind, a bhikkhu enters for a time the fourth stage of meditation: the neither unpleasant nor pleasant purity of dispassion and mindfulness.

"This, Brahmin is indeed the sort of meditation the Buddha praised."