Moggallānasaṁyutta 4

Linked Discourses 40.4

1. By Moggallāna

A Question About the Fourth Absorption

1 “They speak of this thing called the ‘fourth absorption’. What is the fourth absorption? It occurred to me: ‘It’s when, with the giving up of pleasure and pain and the disappearance of former happiness and sadness, a mendicant enters and remains in the fourth absorption, without pleasure or pain, with pure equanimity and mindfulness. This is called the fourth absorption.’

And so … I was entering and remaining in the fourth absorption. While I was in that meditation, perception and focus accompanied by pleasure beset me.

2 Then the Buddha came up to me with his psychic power and said, ‘Moggallāna, Moggallāna! Don’t neglect the fourth absorption, brahmin! Settle your mind in the fourth absorption; unify your mind and immerse it in the fourth absorption.’

And so, after some time … I entered and remained in the fourth absorption.

So if anyone should be rightly called a disciple who attained to great direct knowledge with help from the Teacher, it’s me.”