notes on the Dhamma

What B.Analayo says about V&V in MN 19, 78, 125 2009 Bhikkhu Anālayo's (V&V💭) vitakka & vicāra enclopedia entry: In fact, according to the (MN 78) Samanamandikii Sutta, the complete  cessation of unwholesome thoughts and intentions can be achieved by attaining the first jhana. This points to the contribution that the development of samatha has to offer in relation to overcoming unwholesome thoughts. A meditation practice explicitly recommended forgoing beyond thought is mindfulness of breathing (Ud. 37). Vitakka and Jhana The Dvedhavitakka Sutta (MN 19) indicates that even though thoughts related to renunciation, non ill-will and harmlessness are entirely wholesome, yet, excessive thinking will tire the mind and not lead to concentration. Hence at some point even  wholesome thoughts need to be left behind in order to steady the mind and lead it to deeper concentration (MN 19) (M I. 116). ...

AN 9.34 V&V why foolish cow is doomed if you don't have a proper understanding of V&V excerpt from https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/foolish-cow-is-doomed-v-v-vitakka-vicara-in-abhidhamma-vibhanga-and-kn-petako-to-vism/5939/3 ... In Vimt. (will pull up quotes later) and EBT, first jhana foolish cow (AN 9.34) and skillful cook (SN 47.8) works on purifying wrong thoughts, replacing them with right thoughts (renunciation, non-lust, good will, etc, dukkha), understanding why wrong thoughts happen, finding strategies to remove them, purifing right view and right thought to get into first jhana. vism. is reduced to samatha kung fu. This is not to denigrate samatha kung fu, that is important and has its place, but for first jhana, the salient and main feature the EBT passages is going after is replacing unskillful wrong thoughts/intentions with right ones connected to the Dhamma, and then attenuating those right thoughts until the volume is turned down enough to satisf...

This is why it matters (V&V💭) vitakka & vicāra = directed-thought & evaluation (S&S🐘💭) sati & sam-pajāno = remembering & lucid-discerning VRJ = (Vism. Re-definition of Jhāna) If one insists on politeness and gentle speech at all times, then it often comes at the cost of clarity. In the case of V&V, this issue is of vital importance and grave errors need to be clearly expressed. That includes the degree of severity. If one is too worried about being polite in how that is expressed, then it obfuscates the severity of the problem and the nature of the problem. The Buddha Dhamma comes down to just seeing Dukkha clearly, and abandoning it. You can only see Dukkha clearly to the degree that samādhi is powerful enough. If you can’t see it clearly, you won’t abandon it, won’t want to abandon it, don’t realize you would be better off abandoning it. That’s why samādhi is so important. The Buddha promised a gradual training, including samād...

The user Buddha Vacana has a nice critique of Ven. Sujato's mistranslation of vitakka here: http://blog.buddha-vacana.org/why-vitakka-might-mean-thinking-in-jhana/ And a few interesting excerpts from his discussion thread https://dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=28489 halo effect Re: A. Sujato's Why Vitakka Doesn't Mean 'Thinking' in Jhana Post  by Buddha Vacana » Sun Dec 25, 2016 6:53 pm I just stumbled upon this article that seems relevant to this thread: http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-to-co ... ?r=US&IR=T It turns out that if you want to convince someone that your explanation for something is the best way to explain it, you might want to tack on some useless (though accurate) information from a tangentially related scientific field. It turns out that when you tack on additional information from a respected field of study, people think that makes an explanation more credible. .... And while this is a new finding, it's ju...

You'll need to understand this fallacy to see some of the problems with what B. Analayo proposes, when we have the exciting conclusion to the chapter on: MN 19, MN 78, MN 125 ❤️ When Bhikkhu Anālayo met 🔪 Occam's razor And besides, there's the added mental health benefit. Learning about a fallacy each day keeps the 🐂💩 away. excerpt from https://www.logicallyfallacious.com/tools/lp/Bo/LogicalFallacies/72/Conjunction-Fallacy Conjunction Fallacy (also known as: conjunction effect) Description:  The assumption that more specific conditions are more probable than general ones.  This fallacy usually stems from thinking the choices are alternatives, rather than members of the same set.  The fallacy is further exacerbated by priming the audience with information leading them to choose the subset as the more probable option. Logical Form: X is a subset of Y. Therefore, X is more probable than Y. Example #1: While jogging around the neighborhood, yo...

I can't let that day go by without making a reference to one of my favorite topics, asubha. Pictures are safe for viewing for everyone of all ages. but read the Readme.txt file first. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CbQ7F7qSv_PY_OqZUVL-vVsVVKGllXzC The readme.txt file in that directory says: If you are observing the abstention of vādita-visūkadassanā (listening to music – watching-shows), it's safe to view the 12 images, but do not watch the video in the subdirectory. This 2010 pin-up calendar is the weird brain child of a German advertising agency called Butter. The idea was to promote Eizo's high-precision displays for medical imaging so they used X-rays to shoot the pin-up models. The Butter Agency declares that "pin-ups are more often found in auto garages rather than in medical offices." I'll say. "Eizo breaks this taboo," Butter boasts. "This pinup calendar shows absolutely every detail." response to comments  ...