Sunday, March 3, 2019

MN 111, and the other suttas where vipassana is done in jhana


MN 111 is the most famous and detailed case of
vipassana being done while in the four jhānas or 7 of the 9 attainments.
There are also many other suttas where that's explicitly stated.
Why do you think Bhikkhu Anālayo doesn't talk about them? (I didn't read the entire EBMS book, but the part near MN 111 and jhāna relevant issues I read carefully).
We can presume if he did mention them, he would simply apply the same fallacious circular reasoning argument as in MN 111.
But most likely he didn't mention them because he can't dismiss them all as late suttas, potentially
inauthentic suttas. So by deliberately not acknowledging these suttas, he is setting us up with a biased sample fallacy, an act of intellectual dishonesty.
There are many other suttas where vipassana is explicitly performed in jhāna and samādhi attainments, such as most of the
suttas in this list, which is every sutta that contains the matching phrase:
nirvana, sabba saṅkhāra samatho
AN 3.32 nirvana, experienced within samādhi
AN 4.114 simile of king's bull elephant, 4pd -> nirvana
AN 4.124 11 ways insight while in 4 jhānas, rebirth in pure abode
AN 5.140 same as AN 4.114 simile of king's bull elephant, 4pd -> nirvana
AN 9.36, nirvana experienced within 4 jhānas, 3 formless perception attainments
AN 10.6 similar to AN 3.32 nirvana, experienced within samādhi, but is not 9 samapatti
AN 10.60 nirvana formula without the nirvana part, for perception of nirodha and viraga
AN 11.7 same as AN 10.6, nirvana, experienced within samādhi, but is not 9 samapatti
AN 11.8, almost same as AN 11.7, but expressed as attention instead of samaadhi perception
AN 11.18 like AN 11.7, but monks ask question instead of ananda
AN 11.19 like AN 11.7, but monks ask question instead of ananda
AN 11.20 like AN 11.8, but monks ask sariputta instead of ananda
AN 11.21 like AN 11.8, but monks ask sariputta instead of ananda
DN 14, 12ps like MN 26
MN 26 12ps
MN 64, like AN 9.36, nirvana experienced within 4 jhānas, 3 formless perception attainments
MN 85, 12ps like MN 26
SN 6.1 brahma’s reqeust, 12ps like MN 26
SN48.50 samsara without beginning, works in 5ind, allude to 12ps

William Chu commented on my MN 111 blog post:

Analayo's argument here indeed is tenuous.
First, the lateness of MN111 is based entirely on circumstantial evidence. Second, to argue that MN111 has Abhidhammic elements is actually defeating his own purpose: late Abhidhamma has a tendency to posit that, since every moment of consciousness can only take up one single object, jhana (as a mental object) cannot coexist with another object (e.g. intention, energy, contact, and the other factors that MN111 lists). It is very odd that, if MN111 indeed is influenced by Abhidhamma reasoning, it would go against a very common late Abhidhamma assumption, which is to posit that jhana is a kind of singular absorption/trance that does not allow for reflection!
Third, MN111 is hardly the only sutta that talks about insight in jhana. Its position that jhanas contain both calm and insight is the rule rather than the exception in the early Buddhist canon.

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