notes on the Dhamma

   AN 4.163 Asubha: Ugly          AN  4.163.1  - (painful practice + slow insight ← asubha topics + weak  5ind🖐️  )          AN  4.163.2  - (painful practice + fast insight ← asubha topics + strong  5ind🖐️  )          AN  4.163.3  - (pleasant practice + slow insight ←  4j🌕  + weak  5ind🖐️  )          AN  4.163.4  - (pleasant practice + fast insight ←  4j🌕  + strong  5ind🖐️  ) 4.163.1 - (painful practice + slow insight ← asubha topics + weak  5ind🖐️  ) Katamā ca, bhikkhave, dukkhā paṭipadā dandhābhiññā? And what’s the painful practice with slow insight? Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu It’s when a monk a-subh-ānu-passī kāye viharati, lives continuously-seeing the un-attractiveness of the body, āhāre paṭikūla-saññī, perceives the repulsiveness of food, sabba-loke an-abhi-rati-saññī, perceives dis-satisfaction with the whole world, sabba-saṅkhāresu anic...

Someone asked on reddit: Hello Frank, can you write an article how you spend your days?  What is your standard routine?  Do you have any hobbies outside spirituality?  Do you ever meet family or friends for worldly purposes?  What do you eat? What is your standard routine?  My typical daily routine: I try to stay on the raft, avoid the whirl pools, sea monsters, rough currents https://lucid24.org/misc/raft/index.html My time table follows the Buddha's schedule, see part 3 of AN 3.16 https://lucid24.org/an/main/an03/index.html#3.16 I usually go to sleep between 9 and 10pm, wake up between 2 and 3am. I take a few naps throughout the day as needed, between 10 min. to 60 min. 5:30am I do pāḷi chanting, almost all memorized from the raft, for 15-25 min. The key thing about chanting, is I'm not just saying words. I'm using vitakka, vicāra, and upekkha. In fact it feels like there's 3 people doing the whole operation. Frank #1 is doing the sati, remembering the memoriz...

  AN 3.101  doesn't explicitly label this state as first jhāna, but we can deduce it from surveying other suttas. 3.101.15.4 (first jhāna has Dhamma thoughts → gold dust) Tasmiṃ pahīne tasmiṃ byantīkate athāparaṃ dhamma-vitakk-āvasissanti. When they’ve been given up and eliminated, only thoughts about the  ☸Dharma  are left. So hoti samādhi na ceva santo na ca paṇīto nap-paṭip-passaddha-laddho na ekodi-bhāv-ādhigato sa-saṅkhāra- niggayhavāritagato. That undistractible-lucidity is not peaceful, not sublime, not [sufficiently] pacified, not [sufficiently] singular in focus, but is held in place by forceful suppression [of first jhāna’s vitakka thoughts focusing on the Dharma]. [Internal settling, singular focus, and undistractible ludicity are the explicit terms that first appear in second jhāna’s formula, and are absent from the first jhāna.] AN 4.169 explains what type of meditations sa-sankhāra are referring to. AN 4.169 Sa-saṅkhāra : Extra Effort Kathañca, bhikkhav...

  Is “an idle mind is the devil’s workshop” in the Bible? https://www.christianity.com/wiki/christian-terms/where-did-the-saying-an-idle-mind-is-the-devils-workshop-come-from.html While this exact phrase is not in the Bible, there are a number of passages that reflect this truth. However, one personal paraphrased version of the Bible, The Living Bible (TLB), authored by Kenneth N. Taylor and published in 1971, does contain this phrase verbatim. A paraphrased Bible is more of a commentary on the text of Scripture than an accurate translation of what the text says. What does the bible actually say? https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2016%3A27-29&version=TLB Proverbs 16:27  Idle hands are the devil’s workshop;  idle lips are his mouthpiece,  literally, “A worthless man devises mischief;  and in his lips there is a scorching fire.” Comparison of that verse and Buddha's right effort Right effort involves the mind, thoughts, speech, physical act...

 FITD = foot in the door technique  I've been using this technique for decades, it's great. Why do most new years' resolutions fail? (where people commit to behavioral changes to improve themself in some way for the new year) Because they challenge themself with something too difficult (for their current ability and energy level). The more difficult something is, the more willpower, energy, determination, grit, etc., required to meet the challenge every single day. Faced with that constant resistance, most people give up after a week or two. How does the FITD (foot in the door) technique work? You commit, make a resolution to do something very easy to do every day, (or every hour, every week, etc.). Once you got your foot in the door, and it becomes a habit, it becomes part of your lifestyle, part of you, part of your personality. And because you're doing it every day, you get better with more practice. And as you get better, you naturally are stronger and want to chal...

From a recent discussion on sutta central: Is it possible to attain Ajahn Brahm’s jhanas without either 1)keeping the precepts or 2)seeing danger in sensual pleasures? Darayavaush asked on suttacentral: Is it possible to attain Ajahn Brahm’s jhanas without either  1)keeping the precepts or  2)seeing danger in sensual pleasures? ... (and later in the thread)...     I also wonder what Vens @Brahmali and @Sunyo think about this matter. Because for me it seems that you can enter Aj. Brahm’s jhanas  without fulfilling either of the two mentioned conditions.  But if it is so, then what Aj. Brahm teaches simply can’t be jhanas (at least right jhanas)   and hence can’t lead to any meaningful liberation. Ajahn Brahmali responded: You have to live a generally ethical life, but you can make occasional mistakes.  Is this what you mean?  At the time of entering a jhāna, however, your mind has to be completely pure and thus ethical. And yes, you ha...

  Expanding on the cat cow exercise from my post 5 years ago: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2019/04/flying-cat-cow-principles.html That treats the spine like it only has two dimension, curving forward or backwards. The cat cow tornado expands this principle into three dimensions Video Examples  Frank's Cat Cow Tornado details The 2 video clips, both super short, about 15 seconds long, gives you the general idea. What makes it a tornado, is you vary the shape, size, speed of the circles, such that every single vertebrae will get some stretch depending on how you shape the spine. So rather than following the fixed spinal curvature of those two sample videos, you would play with the variables,  sense which vertebrae get the most benefit for which shape. How many repetitions should you do? As many as you need each day to see improvement in your spinal fluidity. If you're doing it right, you should be more and more frictionless every day. Someone stiff feels like they ...

this is some advice I gave to a friend, but monastics, 8 preceptor yogis will also find beneficial. I can sit full lotus on these comfortably even. a private email I sent to my friend, who is a serious meditator and keeps brahmacariya.   this is the stool I've been using for a few years as my main computer chair https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072Y2MRY2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I like it a lot. only 35$! for the ottoman storage cubes, https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ottoman+with+storage+cube&i=garden&crid=1VPC78Q2SJFFK&sprefix=ottoman+with+storage+15x%2Cgarden%2C209&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_24 we got ours from temu from various random chinese vendors so I don't know which is the best one on amazon. THe ones I use are 15x15x15 cubes. don't get anything shorter height and smaller seats than that. 17" high is a more comfortable leg height for me, but prices can go up much higher when you have ottomans with 2" wooden legs. that...

full context from this thread: https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/ajahn-brahmavamsos-dark-jhana/17987/22 Ven. Brahmali wrote 1. But, you know, it does matter what the jhānas are.  2. If you get them wrong, you won’t fulfil the [noble eightfold] path.  It’s as simple as that.  3. From a practical perspective, however,  all you need to do is continue the deepening of your meditative stillness and bliss.  4. If you keep going, this is bound to eventually lead to the jhānas … and beyond! Frankk comment I actually agree with his statement (1) + (2), but the problem is, his definition of "jhāna" is not the Buddha's. The Ajahn Brahm school redefinition of Jhāna requires formless samādhi,  significantly more difficult than the Buddha's four jhānas where there is bodily awareness, verbal thought in first jhāna, and subverbal mental processing and vipassana WHILE in all 4 jhānas.  And by redefining the kāma (sensuality) in first jhāna formula as "bodily awaren...