notes on the Dhamma

  Translation title Long Discourses Translation subtitle [Supposedly!] A faithful translation of the Dīgha Nikāya Translator Bhikkhu Sujato DN 21: Sakkapañhasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato (adjust the viewing preference to show his translation notes) Then Sakka addressed the centaur Pañcasikha, “My dear Pañcasikha, it is hard for one like me to get near the Realized Ones while they are on retreat practicing absorption, enjoying absorption. We will learn later of how Sakka’s appearance could be too disturbing for the Buddha while on retreat ( DN 21:1.10.13 ). Pañcasikha, on the other hand, would appear alone, without a retinue. Note, however, that on subsequent occasions Sakka showed no such reticence, either because he was already a stream-enterer or because the Buddha was not in solitary retreat. Atha kho sakko devānamindo pañcasikhaṁ gandhabbadevaputtaṁ āmantesi: “durupasaṅkamā kho, tāta pañcasikha, tathāgatā mādisena, jhāyī jhānaratā, tadantaraṁ paṭisallīnā. Frank comment:  Sujato t...

Audio link, 3min   Frankk note: The narrative portion is abridged, but the 10 thorns and some of the technical meditation points retain accuracy and nuance faithful to the pāḷi source text. AN 10.72 abridged translation In those days, the Blessed One dwelt at Vesālī in the Great Forest, in the Hall with the Peaked Roof, accompanied by several distinguished elder disciples—the venerables Cāla, Upacāla, Kukkuṭa, Kalimbha, Nikaṭa, and Kaṭissaha, along with other renowned senior monks. At that time, a number of prominent Licchavis arrived at the Great Forest in magnificent carriages, approaching with loud and boisterous commotion to see the Blessed One. Then this thought arose among those venerable elders: "These celebrated Licchavis come with their splendid vehicles, creating such clamor and disturbance to visit the Blessed One. Yet the Blessed One has taught that noise is a thorn to four jhānas. Perhaps we should withdraw to the Gosiṅga Sāla Grove, where we might dwell in quietu...

 This is what the sutta is describing. Many well known monks, many elder monks, obviously skilled in all 4 jhānas (the sutta uses jhānā plural, so it's not only talking about first jhāna) are bothered by the loud noises of royal carriages, horses, royals yelling,  WHILE they are in the 4 jhānas meditating, and the Buddha agrees they were right to leave the noise and go somewhere quieter. It's significant the sutta mentions MANY skilled, well known, and elder monks, to emphasize this isn't just a weak isolated outlier monk who has poor jhāna skill. In other words, it's expected that even skilled experienced jhāna meditators are bothered by especially loud noises, because you can hear sounds in jhāna. Heretical redefinition of "jhāna" that contradicts Buddha's Jhāna above The next video clip is showing a monk doing Visuddhimagga and Ajahn Brahm's heretical redefinition of "jhāna", where it's not possible to hear sounds, not possible to thin...

Audio AN 10.72 abridged translation, 3m pro voice recording February 10, 2026 Video AN 10.72 explained with 16 seconds of video February 09, 2026 This is what the sutta is describing. Many well known monks, many elder monks, obviously skilled in all 4 jhānas (the sutta uses jhānā plural, so it's not only talking about first jhāna) are bothered by the loud noises of royal carriages, horses, royals yelling, WHILE they are in the 4 jhānas Sutta Analysis AN 10.72 WHILE doing four jhānas one hears sounds, versus the process of TRYING to attain four jhānas April 02, 2021 AN 10.72 sound is a thorn in the (four) jhanas Notice the difference between the four jhanas (items 5-8) and item (9) nirodha attainment. Samāpatti = attainment, trying to attain that vuṭṭhati = emerging from (that attainment or place) In AN 10.72, it doesn't talk about attaining or emerging the four jhanas, whereas for nirodha it talks about attainment, or trying to attain that samadhi. (5) paṭhamassa jhānassa...

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DN Dīgha Nikāya Long collection MN Majjhima Nikāya Middle (length) collection SN Saṃyutta Nikāya Connected collection When I first (tried to) read B. Bodhi's SN printed book many years ago, it was a nightmare. Whereas with MN, AN, I've read the printed books several times all the way through beginning to end, with SN I never did that because I could never figure out WTHAI (where the heck am I)? For every sutta, he printed different numbers for different reference number systems in parenthesis, You had 5 major Vaggas for 56 samyuttas, and lower case vaggas for each samyutta, you just could never figure out where you were, and you could never look anything up because you couldn't figure out what the reference number. Only when digital books and webpages organizing SN in a more readable way was I able to finally get a grasp of it's structure and how and where to look things up when I needed to.   Find whatever sutta reference you want in a few seconds My goal for lu...

Kareem is referencing the murders in Minneapolis this week,  But he expressed so well what I frequently feel about people remaining silent when they hear Dhamma teachers, monastics corrupting teachings and staying silent.   excerpt from Kareem's substack  Kareem’s Daily Quote “…when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.” — Audre Lorde Audre Lord, for those who may not know,  was an activist who dedicated her life to confronting all manner of injustice. When I first read that line back in the 1970s,  it didn’t feel so much a suggestion as a reminder of something I’ve tried to live my entire life. Speaking out—especially when the world would much prefer your silence—is not an act of rebellion. It’s an act of responsibility. And for those of us who have witnessed injustice up close,  silence isn’t a good place to hide. It’s a surrender. I learned that early on. Long before I became Kareem Abdul‑Jabbar the basketball player,  I was ...

  I've updated this page with nice hierarchical TOC (table of contents) tree.   every reference  to the  STED  4 jhānas🌕 formula, From this, it's clear that kāma is referring to 5 cords of sensual pleasure,   vitakka  and vicāra are verbal thought, linguistic mental words, unvocalized speech.

click this line to open/close TOC: The Essential Nature of First Jhāna ( j1🌘 ) 0. memorize 7 awakening factors 1. see dangers of sensuality + 2. replace bad thoughts with good 3.stabilize first jhāna 4. measure progress 5. beware of fake EBT 6. Pacify (passaddhi) the body Through careful study of ...