Did the Buddha Truly “Fear” the Pleasure of the First Jhāna?

— What a Single Word, bhāyāmi, Reveals About the Middle Way (Part 2)

Reference: Ven. Dr. Madawela Punnaji, Ariya Magga Bhavana: The Sublime Eightfold Way, Level I·II·III; Mahāsaccaka Sutta (MN36)

In Part 1, we explored the question: why did the Buddha recall the first jhāna experienced in childhood, rather than the highest formless attainment — the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception?

At the heart of that inquiry lies a key passage from the Mahāsaccaka Sutta (MN36):

“Why should I fear the pleasure that arises apart from sensual pleasures and unwholesome states?”

This line is frequently quoted.

Yet when we look at it carefully, it is a puzzling statement.

Why would the Buddha have “feared” the pleasure of the first jhāna?

In this second part, I would like to examine this single sentence a little more closely.

1 | Was It Really “Fear”?

The Pāli word used in this passage is bhāyāmi.

It is ordinarily translated as “to fear” or “to be afraid.”

Read this way in Japanese — or in English — it can sound as though the Buddha was frightened of the pleasure of the first jhāna itself.

But in context, something feels slightly off.

The pleasure of the first jhāna does not arise from sensual desire. Nor does it arise from unwholesome states.

The sutta itself says so explicitly.

So why would such a pleasure need to be feared?

2 | A Meaning Beyond “Fear”

Consulting a Pāli dictionary, we find that bhāyati carries not only the meaning of fear, but also shrink from.

“Shrink from” does not suggest trembling with terror. It conveys something closer to:

to hold back from, to avoid, to be reluctant to approach.

If we read the passage with this meaning in mind, the Buddha’s words become:

“Why have I been avoiding that pleasure?”

Or even:

“Why have I been treating that pleasure as an obstacle to practice?”

3 | For an Ascetic, Pleasure Was Dangerous

In the India of that time, ascetic traditions placing great value on self-mortification were widespread.

To afflict the body, suppress desire, reject comfort — these were considered the means of approaching liberation.

Within that worldview, pleasure was dangerous.

Comfort leads to corruption. Ease impedes practice. Therefore it must be avoided.

The Buddha, having spent six years in severe asceticism, may well have shared these assumptions.

4 | What the Buddha Reconsidered

But when he recalled the experience beneath the rose-apple tree, the Buddha paused.

And he questioned himself:

“That pleasure did not arise from sensual desire.” “It did not arise from unwholesome states.”

So why, then, had he been avoiding it?

What was being reconsidered here was not the first jhāna itself.

It was, rather, the very premise: “pleasure is something bad.”

5 | Pleasure and Tranquility Are Not the Same

We tend to treat pleasure and tranquility as the same thing.

But the Buddha appears to have distinguished between them.

Pleasure rooted in desire generates more desire. It deepens attachment.

The pleasure of the first jhāna is different. It arises as a result of turning away from sensual desire and unwholesome states.

In other words, it is not a satisfaction gained by acquiring something — it is a stillness that emerges as a result of letting something go.

Venerable Punnaji explains this distinction in Level II:

“Sensual pleasure arises from sensory stimulation and is accompanied by tension and emotional excitement. Happiness, by contrast, is an undisturbed tranquility free from emotional excitement. It is unselfish, free from worry and anxiety — a calm, undisturbed, relaxed, and peaceful state.”

The sukha — the pleasure — of the first jhāna belongs to this second category. Not the gratification of fulfilled desire, but the stillness that arises naturally when desire, ill will, and anxiety have grown quiet.

Perhaps what the Buddha rediscovered was precisely this distinction.

6 | Was This Where the Middle Way Began?

The Buddha would later call his path the Middle Way — the path that avoids the two extremes of indulgence in sensual pleasure and self-mortification.

What is striking is that the seeds of this idea can already be seen in this single passage.

For the ascetic mind, whatever feels pleasant is suspect.

But the Buddha had begun to ask a different question: not “does it feel pleasant?” but “what is it based on?”

In Venerable Punnaji’s terms, the sukha of the first jhāna is closer to the latter — happiness arising from letting go, not from grasping.

Of course, the full emergence of the Middle Way cannot be reduced to this one passage alone. But MN36 can be read as a pivotal scene in which its seeds first appear.

Venerable Punnaji describes the meaning of the Middle Way in Level II:

“Not expressing emotions in action, nor suppressing or repressing them — but learning to relax the body and calm the mind. This is the Middle Way in dealing with the emotions (adhi citta-nu yoga). Not the pursuit of sensual pleasure (kāma sukhallikānu yoga), nor self-mortification for the sake of virtue (atta kilamatānu yoga) — the pursuit of calmness is the Middle Way, the path to the supernormal mind, to Nibbāna.”

What the Buddha turned toward, beneath that tree, was exactly this direction: not the path of increasing suffering, not the return to sensual pleasure — but a recognition that the stillness arising when desire and ill will are released holds the gateway to awakening.

7 | Closing Thoughts

In Part 1, we explored why the Buddha recalled the first jhāna rather than the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception.

In Part 2, we have looked more closely at the words he spoke in that moment:

“Why should I fear the pleasure that arises apart from sensual pleasures and unwholesome states?”

This sentence does not seem to express simple emotional fear.

It reads more naturally as a scene of questioning — a moment of stepping back from assumptions that had seemed self-evident within the ascetic worldview.

If so, this is not merely a recollection.

It may have been a crucial soliloquy marking the turning point from asceticism to the Middle Way.

And what the Buddha discovered was not that pleasure is inherently bad — but that what matters is discerning the source of that pleasure.

Each time I encounter this profound shift in the Buddha’s perspective, I find my motivation to practice quietly returning.

Reference: Ven. Dr. Madawela Punnaji, Ariya Magga Bhavana: The Sublime Eightfold Way, Level I·II·III. Buddhist Maha Vihara, Kuala Lumpur. Mahāsaccaka Sutta (MN36)