Culadasa, accomplished "jhana-heavy" Vism. Jhana meditator, and his response to sexual misconduct charges

Does  Visuddhimagga's supposedly better "jhana heavy" style of meditation actually confer any benefits over the Buddha's definition of jhana?

Contrary to their claims, I have yet to see any Vism. "jhana heavy" meditators demonstrate any discernible evidence that "jhana heavy" leads to stronger wisdom, sharper faculties,  stronger morality, honesty, and integrity, over the supposedly "easy" jhana the Buddha taught in the suttas. If anything, that extreme samatha fetishism characterizing "jhana heavy" seems to lead to blotting out their moral decision making and one pointedly pursuing their selfish interests.  

Case in point:

2019 upasaka Culadasa

Culadasa is an upasaka lay Buddhist teacher who allegedly claims to be arahant or non-returner, and teaches Buddhism without rebirth (not sure what Arahant means in a Buddhism without rebirth).

He published a best selling book based on Asanga and Kamasila's 9 stages of training the mind with Visuddhimagga's redefinition of Jhana.

9 stages is something like this: http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com/en/index.php/Nine_Stages_of_the_Mind_Staying_-The_Elephant_Path

The title of Culadasa's book:

TMI = The Mind Illuminated

The book is well written, incorporates not just the 9 stages but also the Visuddhimagga redefinition of jhana, which Culadasa claims to be proficient in.

The book seems to be a best seller, appealing to western readers because of its clear, logical style from a Phd neuroscience expert, stripping Buddhism and meditation practice of religious trappings.

On the reddit forum dedicated to this book and teachings has about 34,400 members

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/

(for comparison, r/Theravada forum has about 6000 members)

He has over 170 monthly donating supporters here:

https://www.patreon.com/culadasa

And he has videos on youtube.

2019, this reddit thread has links on the accusations of sexual misconduct:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Buddhism/comments/csp1jo/culadasa_aka_john_yates_charged_with_sexual/

2020, this was Culadasa's post on reddit responding to accusations:

Culadasa's posted reddit comment on accusation in Jan 2020

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/comments/cu5lz0/this_is_not_an_appropriate_time_for_me_to_respond/

Posted by u/upasaka_culadasa

Dear Dharma Friends,

I’m writing to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the harm and suffering I have caused my wife and family. I engaged in adultery and wrong speech, and failed to honor my commitment to my marriage. I’m also sorry for the pain I have caused the members of the Dharma Treasure Board, who have all been supportive friends for many years. And I’m sorry for the hurt, disappointment, and confusion this revelation has caused you who are learning about it now. (To be clear, I engaged in consensual relationships with adult women, none of whom were my students.)

Please bear with me as I take time to understand what led me to my choices and address all that’s happened. I intend to enter therapy, and I look forward to hearing and reflecting upon your responses to this letter as a part of my process of cleaning up and growing up. As part of that process I have also begun to work with dharma peers. Please be patient with me as I begin to understand the full impact of what I’ve done. More information to follow, I’ll communicate with you as I’m able.

In Jan. 2021, This reddit user posted a link to Culadasa's response one year later explaining his side of the story in a 30 page letter.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMindIlluminated/comments/kw6wbl/a_message_from_culadasa/

Here's one user's response to the suggestion that one should not judge the validity of Culadasa's teachings and book, from the imperfections of the teacher Culadasa.

aspirant4 wrote:

Where does the idea come from? Try every second page of TMI (culadasa's book), which repeatedly links meditation skill to behavioural integrity. It really is right there in the book!

Nobody is asking for him to be "a perfect saint". This is an oft-repeated straw man. We just thought he might have at least the average morality of the common man, especially for an "upasaka" with a spiritual nick name, a cloth over his shoulder and a book about how to be a good and kind person via meditation!

From discussion thread responding to this blog article

"Well I guess jhana isn't better than sex after all"

-Anonymous commenter on Reddit.

good business ?
http://culadasa.com/consultations/

Culadasa is now available for personal Dharma and Meditation consultations online.
Working one-on-one with Culadasa is an especially effective way to make rapid progress in your practice, as many meditators have discovered doing solo meditation retreats at Cochise Stronghold.

Culadasa is now available for a limited number of hours each week to provide this same kind of guidance online for those unable to come for a personal retreat. Culadasa is also happy to discuss matters related to Dharma and the challenges of following a spiritual path as a lay person.

The cost for these consultations is $325 for a 45-minute session, payable by Paypal.[
The platform used is Zoom, which is easy to use, very stable and quite forgiving of internet bandwidth problems, and allows for sessions to be recorded
/quote]

Re: Culadasa, accomplished "jhana-heavy" Vism. Jhana meditator, and his response to sexual misconduct charges

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Post by frank k » Sun Jan 17, 2021 7:54 am

Sam Vara wrote: ↑Sun Jan 17, 2021 6:55 am...

There is a very senior Theravadan monk in my country who has a legendary reputation for rudeness and what looks like bad temper, but he still attracts a devoted following!

I'm not trying to defend anger and rudeness by the way, I'm just trying to make a clear distinction between people's cognitive dissonance in drawing unwarranted conclusions such as,
1, "John Doe gets rude and angry, therefore either he is knowingly lying about being able to do first jhana,
2. he think he can do first jhana but is overestimating his ability,
3. or first jhana as taught by the Buddha doesn't work."

There's more nuance to jhana  than that. A stream enterer for example (and to be clear, I'm not claiming to be a stream enterer), still has anger and lust. When they are displaying anger and lust, they are not in first jhana. But when they're not angry and lustful, first jhana is definitely an option that is available to them. Without an accurate divine eye, you wouldn't know whether their claim is true or not (being able to do first jhana), and it would be a wrong conclusion to say because they still display anger and lust they must fall into only those 3 options for John Doe.

I've spent a few hours with Culadasa before, had some time to observe his conduct and personality, and know many people who were students of his.
My impression, and those students I talked to, came away very impressed by Culadasa's conduct, demeanor, in person, in writing, etc. He comes across as very compassionate and wise, patient, not showing signs of lust or anger. Is he really that way, or does he know how to market himself with a polished persona? Only devas (they can read minds) and people with strong samadhi and accurate divine eye can know for sure.

So I mention that point, to warn people that it takes a really long time to know someone's character, and you can't always trust that just because they seem to have this awesome personality living up to what you think a Dharma practitioner should be, they really are that way in their mind.

And conversely, it would be prudent to not dismiss someone's claims or ignore good advice from them because they display anger and rudeness. Suppose you gave me a choice of having to choose a friend, someone you have to rely on for your survival. The choice is between an honest rude asshole with integrity, or someone who has impeccable manners and appearances of an enlightened teacher but who has serious integrity and honesty issues that are well hidden, not easy to see unless you dig deep, I'll take the asshole every time, no hesitation. You could offer to give me the loyal friendship of 1000 seemingly enlightened but integrity challenged people, I would not only reject it, I'm running the opposite direction to get as far away from them as possible.

I'm not defending anger and rudeness, it bears repeating. I'm just saying people often are not too smart about valuing things properly. They prioritize appearance over virtues with far greater intrinsic worth because of slightly damaged appearance on the wrapping.