STED 8 vimokkha, SP-FLUENT frankk translation, also hello VRJ🐍 and Jabrama🤡-jhana

 part of a series: 🔗8 vimokkha: collection of research articles 

SP fluent means I spell out some of the implications from the terse formula, pulling in information from related suttas. The result, is a sutta that you could actually follow plain English meditation instructions and not be completely baffled by code language with inscrutable meaning. 

Also very fascinating to note that VRJ🐍 (V)isuddhi-magga (Re)-definition of (J)hana and Jabrama🤡-jhana would fall under the second liberation. In other words, if they wanted to, they could have legally fit their meditation system into the EBT, without redefining important basic words like "body" and "thinking", and destroying the coherence of jhana and the suttas in general. 

So the question you should be asking VRJ and Ajahn Brahm followers, if their redefinition of "jhana" is supposed to fall under vimokkha liberation #1, then what is internal rupa and external rupa exactly, and what is liberation #2 supposed to be, if  their "jhana" is already liberation #1? The only kind of answer you'll get from them is gibberish and incoherence, yet they'll stubbornly cling to it and insist it makes sense even though their redefinitions of rupa and kaya render not only the EBT suttas incoherent, but their own Abhidhamma as well!

STED 8 vimokkha, SP-FLUENT frankk translation

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(translated by frankk‍‍, SP-FLUENT abridged)

There are eight liberations. What are they?

1) from a samadhi where the mind can perceive the 5 senses, the meditator sees form internally and externally, his own body and external objects.

This is the first liberation.

[the four jhanas fall under this first liberation, but most likely only the imperturbable version of 4th jhana with strong luminosity and ability to see internal body organs and their colors as in the 8 abhi-bh-āyatana.]

2) from a samadhi where the mind is no longer connected to the 5 senses of the body, the meditator can not see his own body and internal organs, but he can see external forms and their colors.

This is the second liberation.

[strictly speaking, the four jhanas are not included in the second liberation, since one is in a formless attainment where one can not perceive the body, but it’s by means of an imperturbable fourth jhana that one can attain this formless samadhi of the second liberation.]

3) They’re focused only on beauty [from doing the four brahma viharas, divine abidings].

[directing their minds and pervading in 8 directions as in the standard 4bv☮️ formula].

[According to SN 46.54 beauty refers only to metta, friendly kindness meditation, and not the three remaining brahmavihara divine abidings, which would occur within in the next 3 liberations. However, KN Ps 1.5 explains beauty as all four divine abidings under this third liberation. When in doubt, the more versatile interpretation is preferred. ]

[The other question is whether the brahma viharas can be done from four jhanas, or must be done for the third liberation from a formless samadhi. According to SN 46.54 the latter 3 brahma viharas are done while in formless attainments, and if we are to assume the 3rd liberation starts with the second liberation as prerequisite, then they would be correct. However, KN Ps 1.5 does not impose that restriction, so one could be doing 4bv from four jhanas, as described in AN 8.63 which is closely associated with AN 8.66, the definitive source on 8 vimokkha definition].

This is the third liberation.

4) Going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the ending of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that ‘space is infinite’, they enter and remain in the dimension of infinite space.

This is the fourth liberation.

5) Going totally beyond the dimension of infinite space, aware that ‘consciousness is infinite’, they enter and remain in the dimension of infinite consciousness.

This is the fifth liberation.

6) Going totally beyond the dimension of infinite consciousness, aware that ‘there is nothing at all’, they enter and remain in the dimension of nothingness.

This is the sixth liberation.

7) Going totally beyond the dimension of nothingness, they enter and remain in the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception.

This is the seventh liberation.

8) Going totally beyond the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception, they enter and remain in the cessation of perception and feeling.

This is the eighth liberation.

And that concludes the exposition of the eight liberations.