notes on the Dhamma

•  You can 👂 hear sounds in the 4 jhānas. : Which samādhis are silent? I did a comprehensive research on that article linked above, and AFAIK it contains every sutta and vinaya reference that sheds light on whether one can hear sounds in jhanas. I also include Ven. Thanissaro's excellent essay on the topic within that article. The conclusion of the study is that there is not a doubt in the EBT (early buddhist teachings), no ambiguity and absolutely unequivocal that one can hear sounds in the four jhanas.  Re: Can We Hear Sound in Jhāna? Edit Delete Report Quote Post   by  frank k  »  Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:51 am robertk  wrote:  ↑ Wed Mar 22, 2017 11:21 pm Dmytro wrote: There's an excellent article by Ven. Thanissaro Bhikkhu: Silence Isn’t Mandatory SENSORY PERCEPTION IN THE JHĀNAS http://www.dhammatalks.org/Archive/Writ ... datory.pdf to me it's anti-Theravada and conveniently ignores the areas of the Tipitaka that disagree with his beliefs What do...

3 min. video, well worth watching.  Below I highlight in the text description where V&V (vitakka and vicara, thinking and evaluation) is taking place. So the important point here is that V&V as vaci sankhara (vocalization fabrications, the 'essence' of the thoughts you think before you speak them out loud), is a fundamental part of the EBT oral tradition, and how communication between people and animals works. vitakka, coherent thought containing linguistic labels, is a fundamental concept and dictionary word with well established meaning over thousands of years, across other indian religions besides buddhism. You can not just arbitrarily change the meaning of 'vitakka' from 'thinking' to 'not-thinking, just placing the mind on a nimitta',  just because you're a famous monk influencer and you want to convert people to your view of samadhi. It would be like changing of meaning of 'red traffic light' to 'go' instead of 'stop...

(This article is part of  🔗 🏦 Bank of Asubha : collection of helpful materials) If you're going out into the wild looking or a live bloated corpse in the stage of  uddhumātaka , be careful.   (4. Anurakkhaṇāp-padhānaṃ) “katamañca, bhikkhave, anu-rakkhaṇāp-padhānaṃ? What (is), *********, protection-exertion? idha, bhikkhave,bhikkhu Here, monks, (a) monk, uppannaṃ bhaddakaṃ samādhi-nimittaṃ (with an) arisen excellent concentration-sign [a vivid image], anu-rakkhati (he) protects (it). (such as the) aṭṭhika-saññaṃ Skeleton-perception puḷavaka-saññaṃ worm infested [corpse] -perception vinīlaka-saññaṃ Black-ish / purple / discolored [corpse] –perception Vic-chiddaka-saññaṃ Full-of-holes [a fissured corpse] -perception uddhumātaka-saññaṃ. swollen [bloated corpse] -perception idaṃ vuccati, bhikkhave, anu-rakkhaṇāp-padhānaṃ. This (is) called, *********, protection-exertion. video exploding whal e 1min, spectacular. I love how the guy runs away after it's too late.  video e...

Quick summary: KN Snp 5.7 is talking about how the highest perception arupa formless dimension of nothingness (7th samapatti), in this attainment the mind that attains nirvana in this samadhi is free from nama-kaya (defined same as nama of 12ps dependent origination). DN 15 is talking about 12ps dependent origination, and labeling the nama-rupa as nama kaya and rupa kaya. KN Ps reference is the anapana breath meditation section, explaining that step 3, the sabba kaya (entire body) referred here, includes both rupa kaya (body of 4 elements) and nama kaya (12 ps nama).  Conclusion In the EBT, you can't find kaya in the 4 jhana context being 'nama kaya' (mental body devoid of rupa body of 4 elements). The most you can get away with, if you consider KN Ps EBT and authoritative on breath meditation, is saying that based on KN Ps it's legitimate to do breath meditation ignoring the physical breath and physical body, and focusing only on the nama-kaya since it is also part of ...

Seinfeld jokes about jhāna, vitakka and vicāra I heard this joke from Seinfeld, I'm paraphrasing from memory: What's with 'grape nuts' * ? You pour it out of the box into a bowl, there are no grapes, and there are no nuts. People can just redefine words into whatever they want now? What's next? 'Shoes' are 'milk'. You put socks on your feet, and then you pour 'shoes' all over them. * 'grape nuts' = the product name of an American breakfast dry cereal that you pour into a bowl, add milk, and eat. Seinfeld might as well have been joking about Visuddhimagga and Ajahn Brahm redefining jhāna. What's with 'vitakka' and 'vicāra' * in first jhāna, according to Ajahn Brahm and Visuddhimagga? There's no thinking, there's no evaluation, nothing that resembles vacī-sankhāra, linguistic labels or communicable speech. You pour first jhāna into a bowl, and there's no vitakka and vicāra to b...

  https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/the-first-jhana-as-an-assimilated-jain-meditation-practice/19263 The First Jhana as an assimilated Jain Meditation Practice Essay, by Gabriel To recall, the culmination of Buddhist meditation or Samādhi is typically described as having four progressive stages, the Jhānas. The first Jhāna has four factors: thought (vitakka), investigation (vicāra), rapture (pīti), and happiness (sukha). Generally, the Buddhist tradition assumes that the Jhānas are a novel contribution of the Buddha (see for a further discussion Arbel 2016). In SN 41.8 Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta – commonly known as the Jain master and Buddha’s contemporary Mahāvīra – claims that there is no avitakka avicāra samādhi, i.e. a state of meditation without thought and investigation, and that it would be like catching the wind in a net. Mahāvīra doesn’t mention a Samādhi with thought and investigation, but the plausible implication of his incredulous comment is that he is very familiar with it...

 On lucid24.org:  4👑☸  →  EBpedia📚    →  kamma  and  rebirth  ♾️👶    misc. articles on rebirth: AN 4.5 the ludicrous notion of a world without rebirth, and Vism. redefinition of jhana B. Sujato criticizes Gil Fronsal's treatment of Rebirth in the suttas: https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/should-you-believe-in-rebirth-whatever/18893 B. Sujato discusses a literal pali word for 'rebirth' https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/a-brief-note-on-the-pali-word-for-rebirth/16913

  audio and sutta text for AN 4.5 here: AN 4 Eng. suttas #1-5 The second kind of person, one who goes against the stream, doesn't make sense in a world without rebirth. Katamo ca, bhikkhave, paṭisotagāmī puggalo? And who is the person who goes against the stream? Idha, bhikkhave, ekacco puggalo kāme ca nappaṭisevati, pāpañca kammaṃ na karoti, sahāpi dukkhena sahāpi domanassena assumukhopi rudamāno paripuṇṇaṃ parisuddhaṃ brahmacariyaṃ carati. It’s a person who doesn’t take part in sensual pleasures or do bad deeds. They live the full and pure spiritual life in pain and sadness, weeping, with tearful faces. 1. Who would ordain into a life of pain if there was no rebirth? Can you imagine what kind of person would ordain in Buddhism, and live their whole life like that, in pain and missing pleasures of lay life?  Especially if they don't believe in rebirth, that this is the only life we get and then annihilation at death? That's not a sensible way to live, you would want to max...

Compare these Buddhist terms  🔬details: Pīti😁 & Pā-mojja😁  (mudita, modati are conjugated forms of pamojja) with the Sanskrit equivalents prīti, modah pramoda,  ORGASMIC RAPTURE AND DIVINE ECSTASY: THE SEMANTIC HISTORY OF ANANDA by PATRICK OLIVELLE (excerpts: a few paragraphs from the article) ... In the AV(S) ānanda and its derivatives are used six times. Twice we have the same phrase: anandā modah pramudo 'bhimodamudas ca ye. At AV(S) 11.7.26 these experiences are among the various elements of the universe that are said to originate from the ucchista, the sacrificial remains, while at AV(S) 11.8.24 they are among the various powers that entered the human body. The contexts of these verses do not provide clues as to the precise meaning of ananda. Sāyana here, as in other places where  the three terms moda, pramud (or pramoda), and ananda are listed together, explains  the first as pleasure derived from seeing an object,  the second as pleasure der...