Suttacentral recently had a massive update and an overhauled improved user interface. I keep waiting for B. Sujato to fix his errors in vitakka, vicara, kaya, rupa in his non EBT interpretation of jhana (he's suppose to be a leader in the EBT movement), but so far he is still clinging tenaciously to his erroneous views.
I've posted many articles over the years with detailed audits exposing his fallacies, contradictions, incoherence on this issue, but I thought with the new release of suttacentral and his refusal to acknowledge his errors, it's a good time to commemorate the occasion by publicizing the fallacies again, try to reach a broader audience.
I'll just make my points very concisely, and refer to my previous articles for the full audit. But first, I leave it as an fun exercise for the readers (also to test your knowledge of Dhamma and critical thinking skills). See how many fallacies you can spot and explain. I'll wait a few weeks, and then add my concise summary.
This is what Dhamma-vicaya-sambojjhanga (investigation of Dharma awakening factor) is all about, and it's equivalent to the 4th frame of satipatthana, seeing the Dharma [teaching that leads to Nirvana] as the Dharma, according to reality as it actually is, rather than a distorted, confused, or even erroneous Dharma [teaching].
In the forum discussion threads for this article, Name that fallacy! (or any error that isn't technically a fallacy)
also watch for whether he follows his own rules of translation:
B. Sujato sutta translation guideline: 1) “principle of least meaning”, 2) “principle of least accuracy”
DN 2: B. Sujato's translation of third jhana, and its simile as of 4/21/2021
4.3.2.7. Third Absorption4.3.2.7. Tatiyajhāna
Furthermore, with the fading away of rapture, a mendicant enters and remains in the third absorption, where they meditate with equanimity, mindful and aware, personally experiencing the bliss of which the noble ones declare, ‘Equanimous and mindful, one meditates in bliss.’Puna caparaṁ, mahārāja, bhikkhu pītiyā ca virāgā upekkhako ca viharati sato sampajāno, sukhañca kāyena paṭisaṁvedeti, yaṁ taṁ ariyā ācikkhanti: ‘upekkhako satimā sukhavihārī’ti, tatiyaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.They drench, steep, fill, and spread their body with bliss free of rapture. There’s no part of the body that’s not spread with bliss free of rapture.So imameva kāyaṁ nippītikena sukhena abhisandeti parisandeti paripūreti parippharati, nāssa kiñci sabbāvato kāyassa nippītikena sukhena apphuṭaṁ hoti.
It’s like a pool with blue water lilies, or pink or white lotuses. Some of them sprout and grow in the water without rising above it, thriving underwater. From the tip to the root they’re drenched, steeped, filled, and soaked with cool water. There’s no part of them that’s not soaked with cool water.Seyyathāpi, mahārāja, uppaliniyaṁ vā paduminiyaṁ vā puṇḍarīkiniyaṁ vā appekaccāni uppalāni vā padumāni vā puṇḍarīkāni vā udake jātāni udake saṁvaḍḍhāni udakānuggatāni antonimuggaposīni, tāni yāva caggā yāva ca mūlā sītena vārinā abhisannāni parisannāni paripūrāni paripphuṭāni, nāssa kiñci sabbāvataṁ uppalānaṁ vā padumānaṁ vā puṇḍarīkānaṁ vā sītena vārinā apphuṭaṁ assa;
"The body as metaphor", B. Sujato essay from 2012 attempting to justify hiding the dead body in the third jhana formula
https://sujato.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/the-body-as-metaphor/
The body as metaphor
While we’re on the topic of misconstrued meditative metaphors, here’s another chestnut that well and truly deserves roasting: the body. The formula for third jhana mentions that one ‘experiences bliss with the body’. Most interpretations of jhanas say that they are purely mental experiences, based on the unification of mind-consciousness, and that it is impossible to experience anything through the five senses while in such a state.
But then, we can’t just have everybody agreeing on everything, can we, because that would be just so so dull. So others take the word body quite literally here, and say that this shows that we can experience the body (and other physical senses) in jhana.
You’re probably guessing that I’m going to side with the non-literalists here, and you’re quite right. I’ve discussed this in more detail elsewhere, but I just noticed this little sutta that brings out the metaphorical nature of the language used in higher Dhammas quite nicely. Here it is, Anguttara 4.189.
Bhikkhus, these four are things to be realized. What four?
There are things to be realized with the body, to be realized with mindfulness, to be realized with the eye and to be realized with wisdom.
What should be realized with the body? The eight liberations.
What should be realized with mindfulness? Previous births.
What should be realized with the eye? The passing away and rebirth of beings.
What should be realized with wisdom? The ending of defilements.
Bhikkhus, these four are things to be realized.
Notice especially here the use of ‘body’ and ‘eye’. Now, it is clearly quite impossible that ‘eye’ means a physical eye here; no-one would argue that one can physically see beings getting reborn. In this context of subtle, abstruse, higher Dhammas, the eye is not a physical eye, but a metaphor for a refined inner vision.
And in just the same way, the body is not a physical body, but a metaphor for the wholeness and directness of experience. As if this were not obvious enough from the context, notice that the things to be realized with the body are the eight liberations, which include the four formless attainments. These are by definition beyond any kind of physical reality. Elsewhere, the Buddha says that even Nibbana is to be realized with the body.
The body is not the body, the eye is not the eye, and thought is not thought. These are all words, inadequate, struggling, messy words, creeping up from the evolutionary slime, groping and grasping towards the light. As long as we keep them weighed down by the mundane, we can never speak of higher things. And since these higher things are things of the mind, if we cannot speak of them, we cannot imagine them. And if we cannot imagine them, we cannot realize them. And that is rather a sad state of affairs.
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