Reverend, there are these five kinds of sensual stimulation. What five? Sights known by the eye, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. Sounds known by the ear … Smells known by the nose … Tastes known by the tongue … Touches known by the body, which are likable, desirable, agreeable, pleasant, sensual, and arousing. These are the five kinds of sensual stimulation. The pleasure and happiness that arise from these five kinds of sensual stimulation is called sensual pleasure.

First, take a mendicant who, quite secluded from sensual pleasures … enters and remains in the first absorption. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by sensual pleasures beset them, that’s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by sensual pleasures beset them, that’s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That’s the way to understand how extinguishment is bliss.

Furthermore, take a mendicant who, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, enters and remains in the second absorption. While a mendicant is practicing such a meditation, if perception and focus accompanied by placing of the mind beset them, that’s an affliction for them. Suppose a happy person were to experience pain; that would be an affliction for them. In the same way, should perception and focus accompanied by placing of the mind beset them, that’s an affliction for them. And affliction has been called suffering by the Buddha. That too is a way to understand how extinguishment is bliss.