notes on the Dhamma

What I wrote already Jhāna-constipation ⛜🌊 : A condition where one is practicing the method of attaining  Jhāna  correctly, but energy channels are partially blocked. jhāna force, and equation‍ : quantitative analysis of jhānic force. J.A.S.I. ('Jazzy')  effect : ”Jhānic Automatic Spinal Inflation”: this is what you feel when the jhāna force is propogating through the space of the entire physical body.  🌟PIE : 🌟PIE = (P)recious (I)nternal (E)nergy.  If you maintain genuine celibacy (not even thoughts of lust), mostly dwell in noble silence (2nd jhāna or better), minimizing talking and other activities that drain PIE,  then your jhāna battery charges and fills with PIE, and the jhānic force gets stronger.  Adding a few more explanations to tie things all together. Sexual impotence and jhānic impotence share a root cause.  Too much sexual activities that drain the PIE, causing a PIE deficit. People can also drain PIE enormously with recreational ...

 This is just one benchmark (for USA adult citizens), but it does tell you something useful, especially when there's a long history. I hadn't checked my credit rating for many years, but now it's common for many banks to give free credit reports, with 'soft' inquiries that don't lower your credit rating. (hard inquiries, for example getting a big loan from the bank, will lower your credit score). Why is my current debt only "very good" and not "exceptional"? Because you have to have activity, you have to have debt and owe money and show repayment history to get the highest score. Besides monthly credit card usage, which I pay off the full amount every month, which is essentially temporary petty cash money that I pay off instantly, I have a large savings (for my lifestyle) and zero debt. I owe nothing to no one (in long term debt beyond one month credit card cycles).  If I wanted a better credit score in this category, one way to do it is get ...

  KN Ud 3.3 Buddha and 500 monks in imperturbable samadhi can’t hear Ānanda talking to them KN Ud 3.3  if they could hear, buddha would have responded to Ānanda talking to him. ♦ tatiyampi kho āyasmā ānando abhikkantāya rattiyā, nikkhante pacchime yāme, uddhaste aruṇe, nandimukhiyā rattiyā uṭṭhāyāsanā ekaṃsaṃ uttarāsaṅgaṃ karitvā yena bhagavā tenañjaliṃ paṇāmetvā bhagavantaṃ etadavoca — “abhikkantā, bhante, ratti; nikkhanto pacchimo yāmo; uddhasto aruṇo; nandimukhī ratti; ciranisinnā āgantukā bhikkhū; paṭisammodatu, bhante, bhagavā, āgantukehi bhikkhūhī”ti. Then a third time, when the night was far advanced, at the end of the last watch, as dawn was approaching and the face of the night was beaming, Ven. Ānanda got up from his seat, arranged his robe over one shoulder, stood facing the Blessed One, paying homage to him with his hands placed palm-to-palm over his heart, and said to him, “The night, lord, is far advanced. The last watch has ended. Dawn is approaching and th...

Re: The Dhamma Wheel Memorization Challenge Post by frank k » Tue Feb 14, 2023 5:03 am In 2022 I started memorizng parayana vagga of Snp (sutta nipāta) in pāli. 16 short suttas from 16 brahman jhāna meditators on the way to nirvana. https://lucid24.org/kn/kn-snp/single/index.html#s5.2 The most important ones of the 16, I memorized in their entirety already. The other ones, I start with just memorizing the most important part, just a few lines, from that sutta. That is, all 16 suttas I have at least a few lines memorized, and I recite what I've memorized daily and add a little bit each day. So roughly, I've probably memorized in raw word count more than 50% of the total. Roughly half of each sutta, the Buddha is giving an answer and the other half the guy is asking questions. So I prioritize the memorizing with the Buddha's answers first (contains the valuable and profound parts). The last things I memorize will be the questioner's verses. But I expect to have the pro...

Re: Jhana Thorn Post by frank k » Sat Feb 11, 2023 5:04 am Have you ever been pricked by a thorn? It's a different sensation than for example brushing your hand against an unexpected object. It's a more accute, sharper sensation. You can hear sounds in all four jhānas. All 6 senses are operative in all four jhānas. That's what it means to be percipient of internal rūpa. (See 8 vimokkha, 8 abhibhayatana, etc.) AN 10.72 says that sound is a thorn in all 4 jhānas, not just the first one. https://lucid24.org/sted/8aam/8samadhi/sound/index.html The experience of sound in first jhāna is different than fourth jhāna. But even the experience of sound in any jhāna is going to vary depending on our physical condition, how charged up your jhāna battery is. For example, someone who has eaten a nutritious and balanced diet to capacity, is well rested, is much more resistant to stress and pressure than someone who is starving, sleep deprived, irritable. Jhāna is like you're on a 5 ...

Re: A tentative Theravada taxonomy of "heresy" Report Quote Post   by  frank k  »  Tue Jan 31, 2023 3:10 am Ok Mumfie, where does this lie in the heresy scale? Derivatives and commentaries of Buddha's original Dhamma (coming hundreds of years after the Buddha) which contain contradictions and incoherence? Obviously the composers were sincere and didn't intend to contradict the Buddha, but they lie to themselves and insist not only are there no contradictions, but you can't understand the Buddha's original teachings without using their corrupt dictionary redefining many important terms. The unorthodox call themselves the orthodox, and all others they call heretics. Ontheway  wrote:  ↑ Sun Jan 29, 2023 3:31 am robertk  wrote:  ↑ Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:51 pm You could also add this: The Expositor  p.37 He who prohibits (the teaching of) Abhidhamma gives a blow to the Wheel of the Conqueror, denies omniscience, subverts the Teacher’s knowledge full o...