Suppose there was a mountain cow who was astute, competent, skillful, and used common sense when roaming on rugged mountains. She might think, ‘Why don’t I go somewhere I’ve never been before? I could eat grass and drink water that I’ve never tried before.’ She’d take a step with a fore-hoof; and after it was properly set down, she’d lift up a hind-hoof. She’d go somewhere she’d never been before, and eat grass and drink water that she’d never tried before. And she’d return safely to the place she had started from. Why is that? Because that mountain cow was astute, competent, skillful, and used common sense when roaming on rugged mountains. In the same way, some astute, competent, skillful mendicant, using common sense, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected. They cultivate, develop, and make much of that basis, ensuring that it’s properly stabilized.

They think, ‘Why don’t I, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, enter and remain in the second absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of immersion, with internal clarity and mind at one, without placing the mind and keeping it connected.’ Without charging at the second absorption, as the placing of the mind and keeping it connected are stilled, they enter and remain in the second absorption. They cultivate, develop, and make much of that basis, ensuring that it’s properly stabilized.