This article is about a mental factor in Buddhism. For the town in Guam, see Piti, Guam. For the soup, see Piti (food). For the Spanish footballer, see Francisco Medina Luna.
Pīti in Pali (Sanskrit: Prīti) is a mental factor (Pali:cetasika, Sanskrit: caitasika) associated with the development of jhāna (Sanskrit: dhyāna) in Buddhist meditation. According to Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, piti is a stimulating, exciting and energizing and dry quality, as opposed to the calmness of sukha.[1]
Definition
Piti is a joyful saṅkhāra (formation) associated with no object, so the practitioner is not attaining it by desire. It is often translated into the English word "rapture" and is distinguished from the longer-lasting meditative "joy" or "happiness" (Pali, Sanskrit: sukha) which is a subtler feeling which arises alongside pīti.
Both pīti and sukha are born of bodily seclusion and mental quietude in first jhāna, then are born of focused concentration (samādhi) in the second jhāna but only sukha is sustained in the third jhāna while pīti fades away in the course of cultivating pure, mindfulequanimity (upekkhāsatipārisuddhi).
The 5th century 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 formationsaggregate; 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....[5]
Fivefold classification
As the meditator experiences tranquillity (samatha), one of five kinds of physical pleasure (piti) will arise. These are:
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