[Buddha-l] testifying with body (AN.i.118)

[Mitchell Ginsberg]

hello all, 

I just opened the PTS edition of AN vol. 1 and came 
across AN.II.3.Sect.21 (in one ordering), aka AN.i.118
(by pagination). 

In that little section is the concept of Testifying with 
Body (that's the way the PTS translation puts it). 

I am not clear what they are gettingat, but I interpret
it to relate to the progress possible for one who is 
focusing on the first of the four satipatthanas, which 
is body, after all. 

In the passage, the Buddha is asked, and says that of 
the 3 kinds of people being considered it is not easy 
to tell which is the best, which means, I take it, that 
they're pretty much about the same in worthiness in 
the (Buddhist) path. 

The three are people who testified to the truth with body, 
who have won view (or insight)_ and who are released by 
confidence (or "faith" in the special Buddhist sense that is 
quite different from the term in Christianity). 

The one thing I can see so far is that it has to do with the 
concentration developed by paying careful attention to the 
body. 

Are there any passages elsewhere, or in the cmy lit. that 
clarifies this? 

Thank you very much. 

Mitchell G.

==========
In memoriam Robert Solomon:
http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa/books/TheInnerPalace/TIP_RCS.html
For information on psychotherapy with links of interest:
http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa/mentalhealth.html
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/jinavamsa


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