Skip to main content

KN Mil 3.7.6 Ven. Nāgasena says about the sword of samādhi: "It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing!"


Ven.  Nāgasena says about the sword of samādhi: "It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing!"






6. Bojjhaṅga-pañha
3.7.6. awakening factors
Rājā āha—“kati nu kho, bhante nāgasena, bojjhaṅgā”ti?
The king said: ‘Venerable Nāgasena, how many awakening factors are there?’
“Satta kho, mahārāja, bojjhaṅgā”ti.
‘Seven, O king.’
“Katihi pana, bhante, bojjhaṅgehi bujjhatī”ti?
‘And by how many kinds of awakening does one awaken?’
“Ekena kho, mahārāja, bojjhaṅgena bujjhati dhamma-vicaya-sambojjhaṅgenā”ti.
‘By one: that is to say by the awakening factor called “the Dharma investigation awakening factor.”’
“Atha kissa nu kho, bhante, vuccanti ‘satta bojjhaṅgā’”ti?
‘Then why is it said there are seven?’
“Taṃ kiṃ maññasi, mahārāja, asi kosiyā pakkhitto aggahito hatthena ussahati chejjaṃ chinditun”ti.
‘Tell me, O king. Suppose a sword were lying in its sheath and not taken in the hand, could it cut off anything you wanted to cut off with it?’
“Na hi, bhante”ti.
‘Certainly not.’
“Evameva kho, mahārāja, dhamma-vicaya-sambojjhaṅgena vinā chahi bojjhaṅgehi na bujjhatī”ti.
‘Just so, great king, by the other kinds of wisdom can nothing be understood without investigation of the Dharma.’
“Kallosi, bhante nāgasenā”ti.
‘Very good, Nāgasena!’



Visuddhi-magga and Ajahn Brahm eliminate the sword swinging from the 4 jhānas

Whereas in the EBT early buddhist texts, the samadhi awakening factor, which corresponds to the 4 jhanas, contain a symbiotic balance between samatha and vipassana, via the Dhamma vicaya (Dharma instruction investigation) and upekkha (equanimous-observation), 

Vism. and Ajahn Brahm turn the 4 jhanas into an exercise of pure samatha fetish.

Instead of an organic, holistic and harmonized approach to sharpening the sword of samadhi and going into battle trying to chop Mara's head off, i.e. developing samatha and vipassana in a balanced way, Vism. encourages an alternate approach of mastering samatha (which can take many years, and ardent and dedicated followers mostly still fail, just one in a million succeed), and delaying vipassana until after one masters samatha.

This ostensible act of  attempting to master samatha, results in most of these dedicated followers just spending much of their days for many years,  sharpening the sword, stroking and stroking and stroking the blade, never taking the sword into battle with the defilements as the Buddha instructed in the EBT seven awakening factors.


"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing!"

Don't spend all day stroking that blade trying to be the master of samatha.



Use the sword of Samadhi, the 4 jhanas, the way instructed by the Buddha, to take out Raga, Dosa, and Moha





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advice to younger meditators on jhāna, sex, porn, masturbation

Someone asked: Is porn considered harmful sexual.activity? I don't have a sex life because I don't have a partner and I don't wish to engage in casual sex so I use porn to quench the biological urge to orgasm. I can't see that's it's harmful because nobody is being forced into it. The actors are all paid well and claim to enjoy it etc. The only harm I can see is that it's so accessible these days on smart devices and so children may access it but I believe that this is the parents responsibility to not allow unsupervised use of devices etc. Views? Frankk response: In another thread, you asked about pleasant sensations and jhāna.  I'm guessing you're young, so here's some important advice you won't get from suttas   if you're serious about jhāna.  (since monastics are already celibate by rule)   If you want to attain stable and higher jhānas,   celibacy and noble silence to the best of your ability are the feedstock and prerequiste to tha...
Post a Comment
Read more

SN 48.40 Ven. Thanissaro comments on Ven. Sunyo's analysis

This was Ven. Sunyo's analysis of SN 48.40: https://notesonthedhamma.blogspot.com/2024/05/exciting-news-honest-ebt-scholars-like.html And here is Ven. Thanissaro's response to that analysis: I think there’s a better way to tackle the issue of SN 48:40 than by appealing to the oldest layers of commentarial literature. That way is to point out that SN 48:40, as we have it, doesn’t pass the test in DN 16 for determining what’s genuine Dhamma and what’s not. There the standard is, not the authority of the person who’s claiming to report the Buddha’s teachings, but whether the teachings he’s reporting are actually in accordance with the principles of the Dhamma that you know. So the simple fact that those who have passed the Buddha’s teachings down to us say that a particular passage is what the Buddha actually taught is not sufficient grounds for accepting it. In the case of the jhānas—the point at issue here— we have to take as our guide the standard formula for the jhānas, a...
Post a Comment
Read more

1min. video: Dalai Lama kissing boy and asking him to suck his tongue

To give more context, this is a public event,  * everyone knows cameras are rolling  *  it's a room full of children * the boy's mom is standing off camera a few feet away watching all of this * the boy initiated contact, he had already had a hug with Dalai Lama earlier and then asked Dalai Lama for another hug which triggered this segment  17 min. video showing what happened before that 1 min. clip and after, with some explanation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT0qey5Ts78 16min talk from Ajahn Acalo with his thoughts on Dalai Lama kissing boy, relevance to Bhikkhu monastic code, sexual predators in religion in general, and how celibate monastics deal with sexual energy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK2m0TcUib0 The child's comments about the incident in a filmed interview later https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/world-news/2023/04/18/643eba5d46163ffc078b457c.html The child: It's a great experience It was amazing to meet His Holiness and I think it's a great ex...
Post a Comment
Read more