I spent quite a number of years in this system. If you want an authentic Vism. experience and Vism. redefinition of jhāna, their system is about as authentic as it gets. Sayadaw is a highly skilled meditator, and an impressive individual. The circles I moved around, the Bhikkhus were very strict and scrupulous about keeping vinaya, highly virtuous and I greatly admire their character.
But also having spent many years, tens of thousands of hours meditating with different techniques, IMO everyone is better off with an authentic EBT system of jhana. If you have doubts, at least start with EBT and get a good grounding in that first before you explore more exotic methods that complicate, stifle, and can block progress for most people.
Richard Shankman: Many Western students are interested in samatha practice and jhāna. Why do you think there is so much disagreement about what the jhānas are?
Pa Auk: One reason there is disagreement about jhāna and samadhi is because people do not understand the Pāli texts well. According to our Theravāda tradition, jhāna practice is explained clearly in the Visuddhimagga, the Path of Purification. People should trace back to the original suttas, the original commentaries and subcommentaries, and then to the Visuddhimagga, and only then will they understand the meanings.
Although jhāna practice is described clearly in the Visuddhimagga, it is very brief and concise on some points. Because of this there are certain points they may not understand well, especially the signs of concentration, nimitta, and how to do jhāna practice. This is why they should study the suttas and the commentaries, too.
6. In pictures: ✅☸ sammā samādhi, 4 jhānas vs. ⛔VRJ and ⛔ABRJ
But also having spent many years, tens of thousands of hours meditating with different techniques, IMO everyone is better off with an authentic EBT system of jhana. If you have doubts, at least start with EBT and get a good grounding in that first before you explore more exotic methods that complicate, stifle, and can block progress for most people.
Pa Auk Sayadaw closely follows VRJ
| (excerpt from 'experience of samadhi') |
Guess what Sayadaw?
We did go back to the suttas and compare what it says about jhana to what Vism. says, and it contradicts it in several important aspects.
The way Vism. goes about redefining jhāna is explored in great detail here, with pali + english audit.
Since ⛔ABRJ (Ajahn Brahm Re-definition of Jhāna, same as Vism. Redefinition without abhidhamma theory), these two short articles will give you the main idea:
These two short parables explains how false equivalence fallacy, confirmation bias, are used to create VRJ in redefining kaya/body, vitakka/thinking:
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