AN 8.63 samadhi in 3 ways, another fatal problem with B. Sujato's translation, you can't do brahma vihara and jhana simultaneously

 

Here's my translation of AN 8.63 of metta done with jhāna simultaneously

(preliminary practice, proxy for removing 5niv)

“Tasmātiha te,bhikkhu, evaṃ sikkhitabbaṃ:	“Then, monk, you should train yourself thus:
‘ajjhattaṃ me cittaṃ ṭhitaṃ bhavissati susaṇṭhitaṃ,	‘My mind will be established inwardly, well-composed.
na ca uppannā pāpakā akusalā dhammā cittaṃ pariyādāya ṭhassantī’ti.	No evil, unskillful qualities, once they have arisen, will remain consuming the mind.’
Evañhi te,bhikkhu, sikkhitabbaṃ.	That’s how you should train yourself.
Yato kho te,bhikkhu, ajjhattaṃ cittaṃ ṭhitaṃ hoti susaṇṭhitaṃ,	having done that...
na ca uppannā pāpakā akusalā dhammā cittaṃ pariyādāya tiṭṭhanti,	…

(1. 4Bv #1: mettā me ceto-vimutti)

tato te,bhikkhu, evaṃ sikkhitabbaṃ:	“Then you should train yourself thus:
‘mettā me ceto-vimutti bhāvitā	‘Good-will, as my awareness-release development,
bhavissati	(will be) developed,
bahulī-katā yānī-katā	Much-pursued, given a means of transport,
vatthu-katā anuṭ-ṭhitā	given a grounding, steadied,
paricitā su-samāraddhā’ti.	consolidated, & well-undertaken.’
Evañhi te,bhikkhu, sikkhitabbaṃ.	That’s how you should train yourself.
Yato kho te,bhikkhu, ayaṃ samādhi evaṃ bhāvito hoti bahulīkato,	When you have developed this undistractible-lucidity in this way,
tato tvaṃ,bhikkhu,	then

(combine that with samādhi in 3 ways which fulfills 7sb☀️ and 4j🌕 )

	(samādhi in 3 ways fulfills (7sb → 1-6 🐘💭… 🌄) and 4j jhānas)
imaṃ samādhiṃ	this undistractible-lucidty
(1) sa-vi-takkampi sa-vicāraṃ bhāveyyāsi,	(1) with-directed-thought & with-evaluation (you should) develop,
(2) a-vi-takkampi vicāra-mattaṃ bhāveyyāsi,	(2) Without-directed-thought & a-modicum-of-evaluation (you should) develop,
(3) a-vi-takkampi a-vicāraṃ bhāveyyāsi,	(3) Without-directed-thought & wiithout-evaluation (you should) develop,
Sap-pīti-kampi bhāveyyāsi,	(7sb → 4. 😁) With-rapture (you should) develop,
nip-pīti-kampi bhāveyyāsi,	Without-rapture (you should) develop,
sāta-sahagatampi bhāveyyāsi,	Endowed-with-satisfaction (you should) develop,
upekkhā-sahagatampi bhāveyyāsi.	(7sb → 7. 🛆👁 ) Endowed-with-equanimous-observation (you should) develop,

 

AN 8.63 B. Sujato trans.

https://suttacentral.net/an8.63/en/sujato

When your mind is steady and well settled internally, and bad, unskillful qualities that have arisen don’t occupy your mind, then you should train like this: 2.2‘I will develop [metta ceto vimutti] the heart’s release by love. I’ll cultivate it, make it my vehicle and my basis, keep it up, consolidate it, and properly implement it.’ 2.3That’s how you should train.

3.1When this immersion is well developed and cultivated in this way, you should develop it while placing the mind and keeping it connected. You should develop it without placing the mind, but just keeping it connected. You should develop it without placing the mind or keeping it connected. You should develop it with rapture. You should develop it without rapture. You should develop it with pleasure. You should develop it with equanimity. 

frankk comments on the problem

The problem is, the jhana model that B. Sujato follows, does not allow simultaneous metta and jhāna. 

In the Vism. redefinition of jhana and Ajahn Brahm redefinition of jhana that he follows, jhana is a state where one predetermines a length of time of frozen stupor where one has no volition, can not think, mind is divorced from 5 senses. One can not be doing metta while in Ajahn Brahm "jhana". So what is B. Sujato talking about then in his sutta translation?

How would the monks follow the Buddha's instructions in this sutta and end up doing Ajahn Brahm's "jhana"? 

Remember, the suttas are actual meditation instructions that monks follow, they need to actually use words in a common language that they can understand. 

So how would the monks, hearing Sujato's translation, which is telling them to do Ajahn Brahm "jhana" WHILE simultaneously doing metta, which we know is impossible? 

Here's my suggestion. Just as Vism. redefines "body" to mean "not body, collection of mental factors", and they redefine "thinking" to mean "not thinking, just placing the mind on a visual kasina",

we can redefine the word 'WHILE' to mean:

One enters a samatha state of frozen stupor for a predetermined amount of time where the mind has only the perception of a visual kasina, then one emerges from stupor to perform 'metta'.

How's that? Problem solved.

Just let Ajahn Brahm know, when he gets in his time machine to go back to the Buddha's time to let all the monks know there's a new meaning for the word "WHILE", to go along with kaya, rupa, vitakka, etc. being redefined.

One more big problem in B. Sujato's translation

As I highlighted earlier, his translation of 'metta' as love:

I will develop [metta ceto vimutti] the heart’s release by love. I’ll cultivate it, 

What this instruction  sounds like, and it is possible to do in real life, is one should have jhanic quality of samadhi and perform tantric sex for many hours. 

But it would be impossible to do with B. Sujato's understanding of jhana. Unless the meditators are doing that WHILE waiting for Ajahn Brahm to give them the secret decoding ring.

No wait, that above line should say 'while' (normal definition of 'while'), not the B. Sujato redefinition of 'WHILE'. 

See how confusing things get if you try to redefine basic words to force an interpretation out of sutta text?

Doc martin entering his delorean time machine 

A new attempt to enter a time machine

B. Sujato's [metta ceto vimutti], "The Heart's release by *LOVE (metta)"

* To be clear, this is obviously not the definition of 'love' that B. Sujato intends in his translation. But when you translate an important word in meditation practice (metta, which derives from mitta = 'friend'), it's gross negligence to use a loaded ambiguous word 'love', when the actual practice of metta is unambiguously  a platonic friendship, a caring and compassionate family member, neighbor, friend).

Forum discussions

Re: AN 8.63: Lover goes back to the future to file for divorce from Jhāna

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Post by frank k » Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:07 am

mikenz66 wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:23 am...
Personally, I Love the expression "Heart's release by love" .

I'm afraid that, for me, "Good-will, as my awareness-release development" sounds rather uninspiring.
...

Hi Mike,
There are lots of ways I'd like to translate certain terms in EBT as well, but I don't bring my biases in because it would be potentially misleading and harmful.
I understand what people like about the word 'love' (in a universal love type of meaning), but your prime directive should be to do no harm first, and then consider the other preferences.

It may seem like a joke (about metta love and tantric sex), but I can almost guarantee someone or many teachers in the future will use that translation to justify tantric metta sex with their students.

Just look at the triratana founder sangharakshita who died recently. He, using a mahayana type of argument to his student, that one should see the emptyness of everything and not be attached or disgusted by sex, talked his heterosexual male student into having sex with him (the homosexual teacher).

Mark my words, if Sujato's translation of metta 'love' becomes the most popular translation, you'll see sex crimes in the future from Theravada teachers, using that translation as justification.

Also, you can study hundreds if not thousands of documented cases where catholic pedophile priest genuinely loved boys under their care, they genuinely had Christ type of love, but they also had their pedophile love conflated in there. And many of them genuinely are surprised the boy victims were traumatized for the rest of their lives, they thought the 'love' was mutual.

In the Chinese Agama trasnslation, the Chinese went to great lengths to distinguish between 'love' and metta/friendliness to make sure this kind of ambiguity isn't in the language.

If you have all of these tragic lessons from  history, it's your duty to translate responsibly to make sure these tragedies don't keep on happening.