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- SN 21

SN 21.1
PTS: S ii 273
CDB i 713
Kolita Sutta: Kolita
translated from the Pali by
Thanissaro Bhikkhu
© 2012

I have heard that on one occasion the Blessed One was staying near Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, Anāthapiṇḍika's monastery. There Ven. Mahā Moggallāna addressed the monks, "Friend monks!"

"Yes, friend," the monks responded to him.

Ven. Mahā Moggallāna said, "Friends, once as I was withdrawn in seclusion, this train of thought arose to my awareness, '"Noble silence, noble silence," it is said. But what is noble silence?' Then the thought occurred to me, 'There is the case where a monk, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, [1] enters & remains in the second jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. This is called noble silence.' So, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, I entered & remained in the second jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance. While I remained in that [mental] dwelling, I was assailed by perceptions & [acts of] attention connected with directed thought.

"Then the Blessed One, coming to me through his [psychic] power, said, 'Moggallāna. Moggallāna. Brahman, don't be heedless of noble silence. Establish your mind in noble silence. Make your mind unified in noble silence. Concentrate your mind in noble silence.' So at a later time, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, I entered & remained in the second jhāna: rapture & pleasure born of concentration, unification of awareness free from directed thought & evaluation — internal assurance.

"When one, speaking rightly, would say of someone, 'A disciple attained to greatness of direct knowledge through the assistance of the Teacher,' it's of me that one speaking rightly would say, 'A disciple attained to greatness of direct knowledge through the assistance of the Teacher.'"

# Notes

1.
  According to MN 44, directed thought and evaluation constitute verbal fabrication, which is why the second jhāna — the level of concentration in which these fabrications are stilled — is called noble silence.