Thorns Kaṃṭhaka Sutta (AN 10:72)

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('â', These many very well-known Licchavis—racing after one another in auspicious vehicles, making a shrill noise, a great noise—are plunging into the Great Forest to see the Blessed One. Now, the jhṅnas are said by the Blessed One to be thorned by noise. What if we were to go to the Gosiṃga Sṅla forest park? There we would live comfortably, with next-to-no noise, next-to-no crowding.â So those venerable ones went to Gosiṃga Sṅla forest park. There they are living comfortably, with next-to-no noise, next-to-no crowding." "Very good, monks, very good—what those great disciples, rightly declaring, have declared, for the jhṅnas have been said by me to be thorned by noise. "Monks, there are these ten thorns. Which ten? "For one who loves seclusion, love of entanglement is a thorn. "For one committed to the theme of the unattractive, commitment to the theme of the attractive is a thorn. "For one guarding the sense doors, watching a show is a thorn. "For one practicing celibacy, nearness to women is a thorn. "For the first jhṅna, noise is a thorn.3 "For the second jhṅna, directed thoughts & evaluations are thorns. "For the third jhṅna, rapture is a thorn. "For the fourth jhṅna, in-and-out breaths are thorns.4 "For the attainment of the cessation of perception & feeling, perception & feelings are thorns. "Passion is a thorn. Aversion is a thorn. Delusion is a thorn. "Dwell unthorned, monks! Dwell unthorned & dethorned! The arahants are unthorned, monks. The arahants are unthorned & dethorned."5 Notes 1. There is no general agreement among the various editions as to these names. Here they are given as found in the Thai edition. 2. Reading paramparṅya with the Thai edition. Parampara is sometimes translated as "in succession," but in Pṅcittiya 33 it obviously means "out-of-turn," a meaning that seems relevant here. The Licchavis are portrayed as raucous in other contexts as well. See, for example, DN 16. 3. This passage has been cited as proof that a person in the first jhṅna must be unable to hear sounds, the argument being that directed thoughts and evaluations are not present in the second jhṅna, rapture is not present in the third, and so forth, so sounds must not be present in the first. This argument, however, ignores two points in the larger context of the sutta: a) If "thorn" were to mean something that cannot be present without destroying what is thorned, then nearness to women would destroy a manâs celibacy, watching a show would destroy oneâs guarding of the senses, and so on. And yet it is possible to maintain oneâs celibacy and oneâs guard over onesâ senses in situations of this sort. An interpretation of "thorn" that consistently fits all ten examples, however, would be something that creates difficulties for what is thorned. Thus to say that noise is a thorn for the first jhṅna would simply mean that noise makes it difficult to enter or stay in the jhṅna. b) If the Buddha had wanted to make the point that noise cannot be heard in the first jhṅna, he would have criticized the elder monks for going to the trouble of leaving the Great Forest, and recommended that if they wanted to escape the disturbance of noise, they should have entered the first jhṅna and dwelled comfortably there instead. Three other suttas are also relevant to this issue: MN 43 excludes the four jhṅnas from its list of meditative states that can be known through the eye of discernment when oneâs intellect-consciousness is divorced from the five sense faculties. AN 9:37 excludes the four jhṅnas from its list of concentration attainments in which the meditator is not sensitive to the five physical senses. AN 9:38 is careful to note that a person in the first jhṅna stands beyond the sway of the five strings of sensuality: enticing sights, sounds, aromas, flavors, and tactile sensations. It does not say that the person in the first jhṅna is unable to be aware of the objects of the five external senses at all. This is in keeping with the standard description of the first jhṅna, that it is entered when one is secluded from sensuality, which AN 6:63 defines as follows: "The passion for his resolves is a manâs sensuality, not the beautiful sensual pleasures found in the world. The passion for his resolves is a manâs sensuality. The beauties remain as they are in the world, while, in this regard, the enlightened subdue their desire." 4. See SN 36:11, AN 9:31, and AN 10:20. 5. This last paragraph follows the Thai reading. The Burmese edition reads: "Dwell unthorned, monks! Dwell dethorned! Dwell unthorned & dethorned! The arahants are unthorned, monks. The arahants are dethorned. The arahants are unthorned & dethorned." See also: MN 122; AN 5:30; AN 6:42; AN 8:30; AN 8:103 - --> - - - -