Case study on intellectual dishonesty, agendas, biases: Frankk and his views on jhāna, vitakka, vicara
Everybody has an agenda, and cognitive biases.
Here's mine.
I only care about dukkha and its cessation.
Long ago, I figured out the only way, and the quickest way to accomplish my agenda is through radical honesty, integrity.
If you have long term vision, long term memory, and examine your failures and successes, you'll come to the same conclusion.
If you try to protect your ego and lie to yourself and others,
it may prevent short term pain if you succeed in your deceit,
but in the long term, your dukkha will be massively compounded.
So when you're wrong, the quicker you can admit it and make amends,
then the more dukkha you can eradicate,
and the more potential dukkha you can prevent from happening.
If you have long term vision,
you'll take the short term pain (of admitting wrong and bruised ego),
because the long term gains far outweigh it.
discussion between frank and dmytro on V&V in jhana, 2018.
https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28489&start=60
To summarize, dmytro pointed out an error in my understanding of V&V.
I chewed over it for few days, decided he was correct,
then posted on the forum (6 days after reading his post) to acknowledge he was correct.
I then summarized what he said, quoted and added some of his research to my website,
and credited him for his research and for correcting me on that mistake on my website.
a quote from frankk on public forum, 2017-jan.
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/vitakka-vicara-jhana-factors/2589/343
Which is fine, if you can prove it. Where’s the proof? Let’s see it. I don’t care about who’s right, who’s wrong, I’m only interested in truth. Show me truth, and I’ll follow. Show me strained arguments, I will rightly question it.
a quote from frankk on public forum late 2016, in discussion with B. Brahmali
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/vitakka-vicara-jhana-factors/2589/43
Here's mine.
I only care about dukkha and its cessation.
Long ago, I figured out the only way, and the quickest way to accomplish my agenda is through radical honesty, integrity.
If you have long term vision, long term memory, and examine your failures and successes, you'll come to the same conclusion.
If you try to protect your ego and lie to yourself and others,
it may prevent short term pain if you succeed in your deceit,
but in the long term, your dukkha will be massively compounded.
So when you're wrong, the quicker you can admit it and make amends,
then the more dukkha you can eradicate,
and the more potential dukkha you can prevent from happening.
If you have long term vision,
you'll take the short term pain (of admitting wrong and bruised ego),
because the long term gains far outweigh it.
discussion between frank and dmytro on V&V in jhana, 2018.
https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28489&start=60
To summarize, dmytro pointed out an error in my understanding of V&V.
I chewed over it for few days, decided he was correct,
then posted on the forum (6 days after reading his post) to acknowledge he was correct.
I then summarized what he said, quoted and added some of his research to my website,
and credited him for his research and for correcting me on that mistake on my website.
a quote from frankk on public forum, 2017-jan.
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/vitakka-vicara-jhana-factors/2589/343
Which is fine, if you can prove it. Where’s the proof? Let’s see it. I don’t care about who’s right, who’s wrong, I’m only interested in truth. Show me truth, and I’ll follow. Show me strained arguments, I will rightly question it.
a quote from frankk on public forum late 2016, in discussion with B. Brahmali
https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/vitakka-vicara-jhana-factors/2589/43
thanks for the explanation Bhante.(Brahmali)
it will take me some time to evaluate everything you said in the post regarding sound and thorns, but we are on the same page as far as wanting to adopt an interpretation of jhana, samadhi, vitakka, vicara that is true to EBT.
i’m open minded and i’ll change my position 180 degrees in 5 minutes if i can see compelling evidence.
i’m aware of some of the suttas you cited such as AN 7.40 where it’s supportive of the type of jhana ajahn brahm advocates.
Telling even seemingly small fibs has a distorting effect on our inner cognitive perceptual apparatus. It creates cognitive dissonance (which often manifests as noises and confusion inside), compartmentalize reality unnecessarily (which obfuscates the simple elegance and directness of the Dhamma's approach to the complexity of life). The results of telling fibs, not to mention outright lies: your inner voice--that ultimate spiritual friend whose influence determines/undermines your spiritual success--becomes murky, equivocal, and untrustworthy; your discernment--the ability to see reality in terms of differing qualities, investment and rewards, and causality--is compromised; your ability to tap into that inner strength that comes from knowing that you're an uncompromisingly honest precept-holder, is diminished.
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