Pīti
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Pīti in Pali (Sanskrit: Prīti) is a Mental factor (Pali:Cetasika, Sanskrit: Caitasika) associated with the concentrative absorption (Sanskrit: Dhyana; Pali: Jhana) of Buddhist meditation. Piti is a very specific joy associated with a state of deep tranquillity. It is often translated with the English words "joy" or "rapture" and is distinguished from the longer-lasting meditative "pleasure" or "happiness" (Pali, Sanskrit: Sukha) that arises along with pīti.
Absorption factor
In Buddhist meditation, the development of concentrative absorption (Sanskrit: Dhyāna; Pali: Jhāna) is canonically described in terms of the following five factors:
- applied thought (Vitakka)
- sustained thought (Vicāra)
- joy/rapture/happiness (pīti)
- happiness/pleasure/bliss (Sukha)
- equanimity (upekkhā)
Both pīti and Sukha are born of bodily seclusion and mental quietude. The 5th c. CE Visuddhimagga distinguishes between pīti and Sukha in the following experiential manner:
- And wherever the two are associated, happiness [here, Ñāṇamoli'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 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 joy (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 only the last two are considered specifically piti. The first four are just a preparation for the last one, which is the jhanic factor.