AN 6.70 - AN 6:70 Concentration | Samādhi Sutta
Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Source: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/AN/AN6_70.html
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Copyright: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017
License notice: Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Attribution: From Handful of Leaves, Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu; https://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writings/Ebooks/SuttaPitaka_251113.epub. Copyright 2014 Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, Revised edition 2017 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Unported. To see a copy of this license visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. “Commercial” shall mean any sale, whether for commercial or non-profit purposes or entities. Questions about this book may be addressed to Metta Forest Monastery Valley Center, CA 92082-1409 U.S.A. Additional resources More Dhamma talks, books and translations by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu are available to download in digital audio and various ebook formats at dhammatalks.org. Printed copy A paperback copy of this book is available free of charge. To request one, write to: Book Request, Metta Forest Monastery, PO Box 1409, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA.
Publisher references (not part of the sutta): See also: AN 5:28
Changes: Presentation only: original HTML markup reflowed into plain text; wording, numbering and source repetitions retained. No repetitions expanded.
Completeness: ABBREVIATED. Every source-unit character is preserved, including introductions, notes and verse structure. Thanissaro's collection-level note explicitly states that repetitions were cut: https://www.dhammatalks.org/suttas/about.html. This is evidence about the translation method, not an assertion that every individual unit contains an omission; no repetitions reconstructed.

Concentration
 Samādhi Sutta (AN 6:70)

“Monks, it’s impossible that a monk—with concentration that is not peaceful, not exquisite, not attained through calming, not immersed in unification—would wield manifold supranormal powers; that having been one he would become many; that having been many he would become one; that he would appear, vanish, go unimpeded through walls, ramparts, & mountains as if through space; that he would dive in & out of the earth as if it were water; that he would walk on water without sinking as if it were dry land; that sitting cross-legged he would fly through the air like a winged bird; that with his hand he would touch & stroke even the sun & moon, so mighty & powerful; that he would influence with his body even as far as the Brahmā worlds.

“It’s impossible that he would hear—by means of the divine ear-element, purified & surpassing the human—both kinds of sounds: divine & human, whether near or far.

“It’s impossible that he would discern the awareness of other beings, other individuals, having encompassed it with his own awareness; that he would discern a mind with passion as ‘a mind with passion,’ and a mind without passion as ‘a mind without passion’; that he would discern a mind with aversion as ‘a mind with aversion,’ and a mind without aversion as ‘a mind without aversion’; that he would discern a mind with delusion as ‘a mind with delusion,’ and a mind without delusion as ‘a mind without delusion’; that he would discern a restricted mind as ‘a restricted mind,’ and a scattered mind as ‘a scattered mind’; that he would discern an enlarged mind as ‘an enlarged mind,’ and an unenlarged mind as ‘an unenlarged mind’; that he would discern a surpassed mind [one that is not at the most excellent level] as ‘a surpassed mind,’ and an unsurpassed mind as ‘an unsurpassed mind’; that he would discern a concentrated mind as ‘a concentrated mind,’ and an unconcentrated mind as ‘an unconcentrated mind’; that he would discern a released mind as ‘a released mind,’ and an unreleased mind as ‘an unreleased mind.’

“It’s impossible that he would recollect his manifold past lives [literally: previous homes], i.e., one birth, two births, three births, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, one hundred, one thousand, one hundred thousand, many eons of cosmic contraction, many eons of cosmic expansion, many eons of cosmic contraction & expansion, (recollecting,) ‘There I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose there. There too I had such a name, belonged to such a clan, had such an appearance. Such was my food, such my experience of pleasure & pain, such the end of my life. Passing away from that state, I re-arose here’; that he would thus recollect his manifold past lives in their modes & details.

“It’s impossible that he would see—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human—beings passing away & re-appearing, and discern how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma: ‘These beings—who were endowed with bad conduct of body, speech, & mind, who reviled the noble ones, held wrong views and undertook actions under the influence of wrong views—with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a plane of deprivation, a bad destination, a lower realm, hell. But these beings—who were endowed with good conduct of body, speech, & mind, who did not revile the noble ones, who held right views and undertook actions under the influence of right views—with the break-up of the body, after death, have re-appeared in a good destination, a heavenly world’; that he would thus—by means of the divine eye, purified & surpassing the human—see beings passing away & re-appearing, and discern how they are inferior & superior, beautiful & ugly, fortunate & unfortunate in accordance with their kamma.

“It’s impossible that he would, through the ending of effluents, enter & remain in the effluent-free awareness-release & discernment-release, having directly known & realized them for himself right in the here & now.”