September 12, 2018; revised February 24, 2019; January 30, 2024
1. One could get to magga phala without ever going through jhāna. The Noble Eightfold Path, at its completion, takes one to Sammā Samādhi. Then one becomes an Arahant by completing the following two steps — Sammā Ñāna and Sammā Vimutti — to become an Arahant.
This is stated clearly in the Maha Cattarisika Sutta (Majjhima Nikāya 117): “..Tatra, bhikkhave, sammādiṭṭhi pubbaṅgamā hoti. Kathañca, bhikkhave, sammādiṭṭhi pubbaṅgamā hoti? Sammādiṭṭhissa, bhikkhave, sammāsaṅkappo pahoti, sammāsaṅkappassa sammāvācā pahoti, sammāvācassa sammākammaṃto pahoti, sammākammaṃtassa sammāājīvo pahoti, sammāājīvassa sammāvāyāmo pahoti, sammāvāyāmassa sammāsati pahoti, sammāsatissa sammāsamādhi pahoti, sammāsamādhissa sammāñāṇaṃ pahoti, sammāñāṇassa sammāvimutti pahoti. Iti kho, bhikkhave, aṭṭhaṅgasamannāgato sekkho, dasaṅgasamannāgato Arahā hoti. Tatrapi sammāñāṇena aneke pāpakā akusalā dhammā vigatā bhāvanāpāripūriṃ gacchanti..”
- Thus, the Noble Path starts with Sammā Diṭṭhi and gets to Sammā Samādhi, at which point one is said to have completed eight steps and is still a sekkha (in training): aṭṭhaṅgasamannāgato sekkho.
- Then, one fully comprehends the real nature with Sammā Ñāna and attains full release or Sammā Vimutti (Arahantship). Now, one has completed all ten steps and is no longer in training (dasaṅgasamannāgato Arahā hoti).
2. Every one of us has attained anariya jhāna in many births during our deep past. Thus, attaining a jhāna is insignificant compared to attaining a magga phala.
- It is also clear that even a Sōtapanna Anugāmi is a million-fold better than one with the ability to get into jhāna, or even abhiññā powers, including the ability to travel through the air, create things by mind power, etc.
- Attaining jhānās can sometimes become a hindrance since many people get attached to jhāna and stop making an effort towards magga phala, which is sad.
3. It takes time to cultivate jhāna, especially for those who have not cultivated them in recent past lives. People who have high wisdom (paññā) may attain magga phala (even Arahanthood) within a very short time, and they are called paññāvimutti Arahants or “wisdom-liberated”. Bahiya Daruchiriya, who attained Arahantship upon listening to a single verse by the Buddha, is a good example; see “Bahiya Sutta (Udana 1.10)“.
- The Susima Sutta, also called “Susimaparibbājaka Sutta (Samyutta Nikāya 12.70)” discusses a group of Arahants who were paññāvimutti Arahants.
- In that sutta, the Buddha explained to Susima that there are Arahants without any supernormal (iddhi) powers because they were paññāvimutti Arahants. Once attaining Arahanthood, they have no desire to cultivate iddhi (abhiññā) powers since they have also seen the anicca nature of those powers.
4. In some exceptional cases, one may simultaneously gain abhiññā powers together with the Arahanthood within a very short time.
- Many got to magga phala without ever getting to a jhāna. Alavaka Yaksa, Upatissa, kolita, Angulimala, minister Santati, and many others attained various stages of Nibbāna by just listening to a single desanā. The account of Santati can be found at: “Dhammapada Verse 142“.
- Another prominent example in the Tipiṭaka is the story about the Culapanthaka Thero. After trying hard for months, he almost disrobed because he could not even memorize a single verse. But with Buddha’s help, he was able to attain Arahanthood in a day and simultaneously achieved abhiññā powers as well: “Cūḷapanthaka.“
5.Some argue that Sacca Vibhanga Sutta (MN 141) states that Sammā Samādhi is attained ONLY WHEN one attains the first four jhānās. This is not correct. All one needs to do is get to the vicinity of ANY of those four jhānās (thus, one could get to the upcāra samādhi for the first jhāna, for example), and attain magga phala from there.
- Here is the relevant verse from the above sutta: “..Katamo cāvuso, sammāsamādhi? Idhāvuso, bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṃ savicāraṃ vivekajaṃ pītisukhaṃ paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati, vitakkavicārānaṃ vūpasamā ajjhattaṃ sampasādanaṃ cetaso ekodibhāvaṃ avitakkaṃ avicāraṃ samādhijaṃ pītisukhaṃ dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati, pītiyā ca virāgā upekkhako ca viharati … pe … tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ … pe … catutthaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati, ayaṃ vuccatāvuso: ‘sammāsamādhi’..”.
- The key is “upasampajja viharati,” which means one stays close to any one of jhānās (“upa” means close or in the vicinity), which means one can either get to that jhāna or can get to upcāra samādhi for that jhāna. This is why it is not labelled as “Sammā Jhana” but “Sammā Samādhi“.
- The fact that it is unnecessary to cultivate jhāna to attain Arahanthood becomes apparent when you analyze how 89 types of citta become 121 citta, as explained below.
6. The 89 (or 121) citta existing in the 31 realms are discussed in “The 89 (121) Types of Citta“.
- There are 54 citta that could arise mainly in the kāmavacara realms; 15 and 12 cittās, respectively, mainly arise in the rupāvacara and arupāvacara realms. The total so far is 81 citta.
- Without going through any jhāna at all, there are 8 cittās associated with attaining the four stages of Nibbāna (4 magga citta and 4 phala citta). Then the total number of citta is 81 + 8 = 89.
- Now, one can attain each magga phala from the five rupāvacara jhānās (these can be Ariya or anariya jhāna). For example, the Arahanthood can be reached from the vicinity of each of those five jhāna. Thus, in this case, the total number of citta becomes 81 + 40 = 121.
- It is to be noted that the five jhāna in the terminology of Abhidhamma are the same as the four jhānās in the terminology of the suttās; the first jhāna in sutta terminology is split into two in Abhidhamma.
7. In Anhidhamma, the above explanation becomes even more clear when one looks at the citta vithi to attain a magga phala):
B B B B B “BC BU MD P U A G M P P” B B B B B…..
where B = bhavaṅga, BC (bhavaṅga calana), BU (bhavaṅga upaccheda), MD = mind-door, P = parikamma, U = upcāra, A = anulōma, G = gotrabhu (change of lineage), M = magga citta, P = phala citta.
- So, there is no jhāna citta preceding the magga or phala citta in the citta vithi for a magga phala. Once one gets to the upcāra samādhi, it goes through anulōma and gotrabhu (change of lineage) to the magga and phala citta. This is why upcāra samādhi (which is Sammā Samādhi) is enough to attain even the Arahanthood.
8. on the other hand, a citta vithi to attain a jhāna:
B B B B B “BC BU MD P U A G J” B B B B B…..
where, J = jhāna citta.
- Note that upcāra citta for jhāna differs from upcāra citta for magga phala, even though the same symbol represents them. Here, upcāra means “close,” either to the jhāna or to magga phala, which are two different attainments. As we discussed earlier, jhāna are associated with “this world” and magga phala are associated with Nibbāna.
- Gotrabhu (change of lineage) citta induces either a magga phala or a jhāna, which are two very different changes: jhāna is just a change of lineage to one of the 31 realms, whereas magga phala is to be dissociated from the 31 realms.
- For a discussion on citta vithi, see “Citta Vithi – Processing of Sense Inputs“.
9. There is another piece of strong evidence from the Tipiṭaka that one does not need to attain even the first Ariya jhāna to attain the Sōtapanna stage. We all know that Ven. Moggallana (who was Kolita before becoming a bhikkhu) attained the Sōtapanna stage upon hearing a single verse uttered by Ven. Assaji.
- Then Kolita (and Upatissa) went to see the Buddha and were ordained. It took them a week to two weeks to attain Arahanthood. The Moggallana Samyutta in the Samyutta Nikāya has nine suttās that describe step-by-step how Ven. Moggallana attained Ariya jhānās and samāpattis in sequence, starting with the first Ariya jhāna. They both had attained the Sotapanna stage the day they met Ven. Assaji. This is conclusive evidence that one does not need to attain any Ariya jhāna before the Sōtapanna stage.
- In particular, the very first sutta there describes how the Buddha came to him by iddhi bala and encouraged him to cultivate the first Ariya jhāna (Paṭhamajhāna Pañhā Sutta; SN 40.1): “..Atha kho maṃ, āvuso, bhagavā iddhiyā upasaṅkamitvā etadavoca: ‘moggallāna, moggallāna. Mā, brāhmaṇa, paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ pamādo, paṭhame jhāne cittaṃ saṇṭhapehi, paṭhame jhāne cittaṃ ekodiṃ karohi, paṭhame jhāne cittaṃ samādahā’ti..” OR “..the Buddha came to me by iddhi bala and told me: Moggallana, Moggallana, Brahmana, do not become delayed, cultivate the first jhāna..”.
- The subsequent suttās in the Moggallana Samyutta describe how the Buddha instructed him through each successive rupāvacara jhānās and arupāvacara samāpattis, where Ven. Moggallana developed all iddhi powers and became second only to the Buddha in supernormal powers; see “Ascendance to Nibbāna via Jhāna (Dhyāna).“
10. Therefore, one could get to the higher stages of Nibbāna via two paths.
- One could cultivate jhānās and attain successively higher jhānās by comprehending the anicca nature of those jhānās (as we mentioned above, they still belong to this world), and REMOVING successive jhāna factors.
- I will write more about this in the future, but the point is that those jhānic states are still subject to both the saṅkhāra dukkha and the viparināma dukkha, even though temporarily exempt from dukkha dukkha.
- The second path does not require jhāna; Sammā Samādhi is enough. For those with higher levels of wisdom (paññā), higher stages of Nibbāna can be arrived at without going through jhāna.
11. The second path is discussed in the Kimatthiya Sutta (Anguttara Nikāya 11.1). Here one can start with comprehending dukkha, which leads to Nibbāna via the following steps: saddhā, piti, passadhi, sukha, samādhi, yathabhutananadassana, nibbida, virāga, and to vimutti; see, “Upanisa Sutta (Samyutta Nikāya 12.23)“.
- When one starts with lōkuttara Sammā Diṭṭhi and follows the ariyakānta sila (Sammā Vaca, Sammā Kammanta, Sammā Ajiva), one will automatically get to Sammā Vāyāma, Sammā Sati and Sammā Samādhi (these three path factors constitute Samādhi). By the way, Sammā Diṭṭhi and Sammā Saṅkappa constitute paññā. So, the sequence is paññā, sila, samādhi.
- That Sammā Samādhi is all one needs to get to Sammā Ñāna (ultimate wisdom) and Sammā Vimutti (ultimate release) and thus to attain the Arahanthood; fulfilling all ten factors lead to the Arahanthood (“dasahangehi samannagatō“).
12. One time a bhikkhuni asked Ven. Ananda: “..‘yāyaṃ, bhante ānanda, samādhi na cābhinato na cāpanato na ca sasaṅkhāraniggayhavāritagato, vimuttattā ṭhito, ṭhitattā santusito, santusitattā no paritassati. Ayaṃ, bhante ānanda, samādhi kiṃphalo vutto bhagavatā’ti?“, OR
“bhante ānanda, I have this samādhi which is stable, without defilements, contented, joyful, and without agitation. What did the Blessed One call this samādhi?”
Ven. Ananda replied: “..‘yāyaṃ, bhagini, samādhi na cābhinato na cāpanato na ca sasaṅkhāraniggayhavāritagato, vimuttattā ṭhito, ṭhitattā santusito, santusitattā no paritassati. Ayaṃ, bhagini, samādhi aññāphalo vutto bhagavatā’ti. Evaṃsaññīpi kho, āvuso, tadāyatanaṃ no paṭisaṃvedetī”ti”, OR,
“Yes, bhikkhuni, there is such a samādhi. The Blessed One called it Arahant phala samādhi, which is without any defilements”.
- This is in the Ananda Sutta (Anguttara Nikāya 9.37). She was an Arahant, and she did not even realize that!
- That samādhi is tadāyatana or Nibbāna; see, “Nibbāna “Exists”, but Not in This World.“
