Skip to main content

AN 4.5 the ludicrous notion of a world without rebirth, and Vism. redefinition of jhana

 

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 maximize pleasure in lay life if there's no true long term benefit in sense restraint.


2. If Vism. redefinition of jhana is true

Then you would expect 99% of all Buddhist monks and nuns to be unhappy (Vism. says only 1 in a million can attain 'first jhana').  On the contrary, you see most monastics seem to be frequently dwelling in pleasant abiding (diṭṭha-dhamma-sukha-vihārānaṃ). That phrase appears more than 50 times in the suttas, and that's not including over a hundred references in the stock 3rd jhana formula.

And that pali phrase, is a code phrase for 3rd jhana, or any of the 4 jhanas :


So the actual observable case, is you see monks and nuns frequently happy, which means they pretty much can do at least a low quality first jhana for at least a couple of seconds. 

Why not trust in the suttas and diligently practice hours a day to stretch those 2 seconds of first jhana into 2 minutes, 20 minutes, 1 hour, etc.? 

first jhāna is easier than you think

don't give up on jhāna, 🔗until you drink from the sutta cup.
AN 5.176 the Buddha and Sariputta tells 500 lay people to work on first and second jhana. Does that sound like something only 1 in a million can people can do?
AN 5.179 same 500 lay people with first jhana from AN 5.176 attain stream entry.
DN 18: 3 ways of using vitakka to attain first jhana. And over 2.4 million lay followers attain stream entry. Does this sound like 'only 1 in a million' can attain first jhana as vism. claims?
MN 68: 🔗MN 68 case study on how easy and accessible first jhana is for newly ordained.
MA 77: agama parallel to MN 68, matches closely. Again, notice how it's expected for newly ordained to get first jhana if they can choose delighting in holy life over 5niv⛅. Also, notice importance of using inspiring ☸Dharma vitakka thoughts to launch 7sb☀️ sequence.
SN 47.4 newly ordained, arahants, and all skill levels in between do the same 4sp🐘 with 4j🌕 quality of samadhi (first jhana or better!) simultaneously.
🔗AN 1 micro first jhana, 37 of them
V&V💭🔗simile of bird corrupted by vism.




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