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Ajahn Brahm and Visuddhimagga at karaoke night


Sutta People

This is for all the sutta people
Thinking vitakka's placing the mind
Don't give up until you drink from the sutta cup
And rid your wrong views till they die

This is for Abhidhamma people
Thinking that kāya's a body of mind
Don't give up until you drink from the sutta cup
You'll never jhāna you'll just cry

Well, I'm on my way
Yes, I'm back to stay
Well, I'm on my way back home
Hit it

This is for all the sutta people
Thinking that jhāna passed them by
Don't give up until you drink from the sutta cup
She'll never take you down or never give you up
You'll never know until you try






Response to comments:


Re: don't give up on jhāna yet, until you drink from the sutta cup

Post by frank k » Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:08 am
Garrib wrote: ↑
Sat Jan 25, 2020 11:00 am
I like it frank - I need jhana!
A low quality first jhana, according to the suttas, is not hard at all.
For example:
“accharā-saṅghāt-amattampi ce, bhikkhave,
"{Monks}, (if), for the amount of time it takes to snap-the-fingers,
bhikkhu mettā-cittaṃ āsevati;
a-monk {does} Friendly-kindness-(with the)-mind
ayaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave —
this is-called, ********* -
‘bhikkhu arittaj-jhāno viharati
'a-monk not-devoid-(of)-jhāna (he) abides (in).
satthu-sāsana-karo
{he carries out} the-teachers-dispensation-****,
ovāda-pati-karo,
{he carries out} the-advice,
a-moghaṃ raṭṭha-piṇḍaṃ bhuñjati’.
not-(in)-futility (is the) country's-almsfood (that he) eats.'
ko pana vādo ye naṃ bahulī-karontī”ti!
how much-more I-say (of) he *** (that) abundantly-practices (it)!"

If you've ever listened to an inspiring Dhamma teacher or read a Dhamma talk or have been inspired by acts of virtue by any animal or living being, and as a result experienced piti and sukha, felt the warm fuzzy feelings all over your body and serenity in mind, you've had micro bursts of genuine first jhana. From a certain perspective, first jhana is not hard at all, and I'd say 99% of the people can do it, a low quality first jhana.

What is hard, from a certain perspective, is training the mind to take a time out from the 5 hindrances, on demand, whenever we want and maintain that time out for as long as we want. But that just takes practice, an investment and commitment in time and energy. It's not hard or difficult, in the way it is for someone to become an Olympic athlete, or a navy seal, an airforce pilot, or to do an arupa samadhi which Ajahn Brahm and Vism. wrongly redefine as 'first jhana', that vism. says only one in a million people can do. Arupa samadhi requires a lot of training, and a certain amount of good health that some people just don't have, and because of age ore other reason are probably not going to get no matter how much time they put in.

So as a result, because of wrong ideas promulgated by Vism. and Ajahn Brahm, you have a large number of Buddhists thinking they can never realistically get jhana. Very tragic.

Here's another sutta, where the Buddha and Sariputta tells 500 lay poeple to work on first and second jhana. Does that sound like something only 1 in a million can people can do?

AN 5.176
AN 5.176 Pīti


And those 500 lay followers after developing 4 recollections and piti of first jhana become stream enterers here:

AN 5.179, drinking from the sutta cup, continued, 500 lay people stream enterers with 1st jhana



Here in DN 18, 3 ways of using vitakka to attain first jhana. And  over 2 million lay followers attain stream entry. Does this sound like 'only 1 in a million' can attain first jhana as vism. claims?

DN 18 use of vitakka thinking to arouse mudita, piti, 7sb...



From a present day EBT jhana teacher, on his positive experience teaching hundreds of students

Comments

  1. ArkaJanuary 24, 2020 at 11:18 PM

    Hi frankk, where can I contact you ? This is regarding some clarifications

    ReplyDelete

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