notes on the Dhamma

  Quiescent mode Most people think of this when they read the standard four jhāna formula. Dynamic mode of Jhāna (Zen is japanese transliteration of Jhāna) Depending on how energetically intensive your posture and activity is, you won't be able to get 100% jhānic force compared to quiescent mode sitting, but you can get 10-70% partial jhāna in all postures and activities,  with persistent training,  practice and right view of jhāna according to EBT (early buddhism). The Buddha repeatedly emphasized samādhi all the time, jhāna all the time,  but most people don't believe it because they've been taught wrong by popular teachers. You'll never get the full potential of jhāna if you have a wrong and limited understanding of jhāna being something you can only do with quiet and a sitting posture. Worse, if you were taught only 1 in a million serious practitioners can attain the heretical redefined "jhāna" as a disembodied frozen stupor, you'll never even make it ...

  SN 47.5 Akusalarāsi: A Heap of the Unskillful (standard 4sp🐘 formula) (translation style  SP-FLUENT  by  frankk‍ ) 5. Akusalarāsisutta 5. A Heap of the Unskillful Sāvatthinidānaṃ. At Sāvatthī. Tatra kho bhagavā etadavoca: There the Buddha said: “‘akusalarāsī’ti, bhikkhave, vadamāno pañca nīvaraṇe sammā vadamāno vadeyya. “Rightly speaking, monks, you’d call these five hindrances a ‘heap of the unskillful’. Kevalo hāyaṃ, bhikkhave, akusalarāsi, yadidaṃ—pañca nīvaraṇā. For these five hindrances are entirely a heap of the unskillful. Katame pañca? What five? Kāmacchandanīvaraṇaṃ, byāpādanīvaraṇaṃ, thinamiddhanīvaraṇaṃ, uddhaccakukkuccanīvaraṇaṃ, vicikicchānīvaraṇaṃ. The hindrances of sensual desire, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and remorse, and doubt. ‘Akusalarāsī’ti, bhikkhave, vadamāno ime pañca nīvaraṇe sammā vadamāno vadeyya. Rightly speaking, you’d call these five hindrances a ‘heap of the unskillful’. Kevalo hāyaṃ, bhikkhave, akusalarāsi, yadi...

 Sujato's Jhāna related suttas in SN translation notes as of 2026-march 22 SN 21.1 why is the bar for noble silence second jhāna and not first jhāna? Here, Sujato only notes that vitakka and vicāra are absent from 2nd jhāna. He makes no mention of why first jhāna is not noble silence. Is "placing the mind and keeping it connected" (to a white kasina) noisy? Can the mind reading devas and monastics who have mind reading psychic power hear the squeaky noises from these redefined "jhāna" meditators grabbing at a kasina? Does that make a squeaky noise? What makes Sujato's first "jhāna" be considered "noisy" and not "noble silence"?  If first jhāna is indeed as Sujato, Brahm, Vism., redefine the term, which is a frozen disembodied stupor where the body sense faculties are shut off, verbal thought is not possible, the mind is glued to a visual kasina, Then why is first jhāna not "noble silence"? Maybe it's because Sujato...

  vitakka and vicāra (V&V) are fundamental building blocks in the oral tradition, not just in Buddhism, but the other major religions in India. The Dharma you memorize is in the form of V&V, linguistic, verbal, communicable language. The Dharma you recite everyday to strengthen your memory, those are vitakka, directed verbal thoughts. Vicāra, evaluation of the vitakka thought, is exploring, evaluating, pondering the vitakka thought in more depth. You recite a line of memorized Dharma,  you pause to evaluate it more deeply before moving on. That's vicāra. If you recite quickly, and you know just enough that you're reciting accurately with no errors, and you have a superficial understanding of what you just recited very quickly, that's vitakka. This is a fundamental, basic law of oral tradition. You can't arbitrarily redefine V&V (vitakka and vicāra) to take on new meanings  in specialized contexts,  because then the oral tradition doesn't work. V&V do...

  This sutta doesn't make much sense if you're in the YOLO (you only live once) no rebirth believer. desktop wallpaper SN 56.35 Sattisata: A Hundred Spears (same dukkha refrain as SN‍-q 56.1.2 ) 35. Sattisatasutta 35. A Hundred Spears “Seyyathāpi, bhikkhave, puriso vassasatāyuko vassasatajīvī. “monks, suppose there was a man with a lifespan of a hundred years. Tamenaṃ evaṃ vadeyya: And someone might say to him: ‘ehambho purisa, pubbaṇhasamayaṃ taṃ sattisatena hanissanti, majjhanhikasamayaṃ sattisatena hanissanti, sāyanhasamayaṃ sattisatena hanissanti. ‘Come now, my good man, they’ll strike you with a hundred spears in the morning, at midday, and in the late afternoon. So kho tvaṃ, ambho purisa, divase divase tīhi tīhi sattisatehi haññamāno vassasatāyuko vassasatajīvī vassasatassa accayena anabhisametāni cattāri ariyasaccāni abhisamessasī’ti. And you’ll live for a hundred years being struck with three hundred spears every day. But when a hundred years have passed, you will compr...