''Pīti'' in Pali (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...
: ''Prīti'') is a
mental factor (Pali:''cetasika'', Sanskrit: ''caitasika'') associated with the development of ''
jhāna'' (Sanskrit: ''dhyāna'') in
Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are ''bhavana, bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and ''Dhyāna in Buddhism, jhāna/dhyāna'' (a state of me ...
. According to
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, ''piti'' is a stimulating, exciting and energizing and dry quality, as opposed to the calmness of ''
sukha
''Sukha'' (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state o ...
''.
Definition
Piti is a joyful
saṅkhāra (formation) associated with no object, so the practitioner is not attaining it by desire. It is often translated into the English word "rapture" and is distinguished from the longer-lasting meditative "joy" or "happiness" (Pali, Sanskrit: ''
sukha
''Sukha'' (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state o ...
'') which is a subtler feeling which arises alongside ''pīti''.
Mental factor in meditation
In the commentarial tradition on
Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation is the practice of meditation in Buddhism. The closest words for meditation in the classical languages of Buddhism are ''bhavana, bhāvanā'' ("mental development") and ''Dhyāna in Buddhism, jhāna/dhyāna'' (a state of me ...
, the development of ''jhāna'' (Sanskrit: ''dhyāna'') is described as the development of five
mental factors (''cetasika'') that counteract the
five hindrances
In the Buddhist tradition, the five hindrances (; Pali: ') are identified as mental factors that hinder progress in meditation and in daily life. In the Theravada tradition, these factors are identified specifically as obstacles to the jhānas ...
:
# ''
vitakka'' ("applied thought") counteracts sloth and torpor (lethargy and drowsiness)
# ''
vicāra'' ("sustained thought") counteracts doubt (uncertainty)
# ''pīti'' (rapture) counteracts ill-will (malice)
# ''
sukha
''Sukha'' (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state o ...
'' ("non-sensual pleasure") counteracts restlessness-worry (excitation and anxiety)
# ''
ekaggata
Ekaggatā (Pali; Sanskrit: '' ekāgratā'', एकाग्रता, "one-pointedness") is a Pali Buddhist term, meaning tranquility of mind or one-pointedness, but also "unification of mind."
According to the Theravada-tradition, in their reint ...
'' ("one-pointedness") counteracts sensory desire
Both ''pīti'' and ''sukha'' are born of bodily seclusion and mental quietude in first ''jhāna'', then are born of focused concentration (''samādhi'') in the second ''jhāna'' but only ''sukha'' is sustained in the third ''jhāna'' while ''pīti'' fades away in the course of cultivating
pure,
mindful equanimity (''upekkhāsatipārisuddhi'').
The 5th century CE ''
Visuddhimagga
The ''Visuddhimagga'' (Pali; English: ''The Path of Purification''; ), is the 'great treatise' on Buddhism, Buddhist practice and Theravāda Abhidhamma written by Buddhaghosa approximately in the 5th century in Sri Lanka. It is a manual condens ...
'' distinguishes between ''pīti'' and ''sukha'' in the following experiential manner:
:And wherever the two are associated, happiness
ere, Ñāamoli's translation of ''pīti''is the contentedness at getting a desirable object, and bliss
'sukha''is the actual experiencing of it when got. Where there is happiness
'pīti''there is bliss (pleasure)
'sukha'' but where there is bliss
'sukha''there is not necessarily happiness
'pīti'' Happiness is included in the
formations aggregate; bliss is included in the
feeling
According to the '' APA Dictionary of Psychology'', a feeling is "a self-contained phenomenal experience"; feelings are "subjective, evaluative, and independent of the sensations, thoughts, or images evoking them". The term ''feeling'' is closel ...
aggregate. If a man exhausted in a desert saw or heard about a pond on the edge of a wood, he would have happiness; if he went into the wood's shade and used the water, he would have bliss....
Fivefold classification
As the meditator experiences tranquillity (''
samatha''), one of five kinds of physical pleasure (''piti'') will arise. These are:
*Weak rapture only causes
piloerection.
*Short rapture evocates some thunder "from time to time".
*Going down rapture explodes inside the body, like waves.
*Exalting rapture "makes the body jump to the sky".
*Fulfilling rapture seems to be a huge flood of a mountain stream.
Note that only the last two are considered piti, specifically. The first four are a preparation for the final stage, which is the jhanic factor.
[ Vsm. IV, 94-99 (Ñāamoli, 1999, pp. 141-2).]
See also
*
Samatha (tranquility of the mind)
*
Jhāna (absorption)
*
Sukha
''Sukha'' (Pali and ) means happiness, pleasure, ease, joy or bliss. Among the early scriptures, 'sukha' is set up as a contrast to 'preya' (प्रेय) meaning a transient pleasure, whereas the pleasure of 'sukha' has an authentic state o ...
(happiness/bliss, conascent (sahajāta) with piti during first two jhanas)
*
Upekkha (equanimity)
Notes
References
Further reading
*
Bodhi, Bhikkhu (1980). ''Transcendental Dependent Arising: A Translation and Exposition of the Upanisa Sutta'' (Wheel No. 277/278). Kandy:
Buddhist Publication Society
The Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) is a publishing house with charitable status, whose objective is to disseminate the teachings of Gautama Buddha. It was founded in Kandy, Sri Lanka, in 1958 by two Sri Lankan lay Buddhists, A.S. Karunaratn ...
. Retrieved 2008-05-08 from "Access to Insight" (1995) at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel277.html.
*
Ñāamoli, Bhikkhu (trans.) (1999). ''The Path of Purification: Visuddhimagga''. Seattle, WA:
BPS Pariyatti Editions. .
*
Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1997). ''Samadhanga Sutta: The Factors of Concentration'' (
AN 5.28). Retrieved 2008-05-09 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.028.than.html.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piti
Mental factors in Buddhism