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Ajahn Brahmali wrote: Freedom from sensual pleasure means freedom from the five senses... (to rationalize disembodied "jhāna")

from this discussion on suttacentral
(https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/if-jhana-is-total-absorption-without-physical-sensation-why-is-pain-only-abandoned-in-the-fourth-jhana/29410/135)

Ajhan Brahmali wrote:
Freedom from sensual pleasure means freedom from the five senses.
These things are given up together.

replied in a different forum

...
However, if freedom from sensuality came from giving up the senses, then a blind, deaf, etc. person would be liberated.

Also, Ajahn Chah taught

In appanasamadhi the mind calms down and is stilled to a level of samadhi
where it is at its most subtle and skilful. Even if you experience sense
impingement from the outside, such as sounds and physical sensations,
it remains external and is unable to disturb the mind. You might hear a
sound, but it won’t distract your concentration.

(https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/chah/the_teachings_of_ajahn_chah_web.pdf, p. 454)

And Bhante Gunaratana writes, of first jhana:

You do not totally lose all sensation, but the physical senses are off in the background
(Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English, p. 105)

and

When you enter the first jhana you are still in touch with your physical senses. Your eyes are closed but you can still hear, smell, feel, and taste.
(Beyond Mindfulness in Plain English, p. 121)



Frankk comments




level 2

lucid24-frankk·


...

Another way to interpret Ajahn Brahmali's "Freedom from sensual pleasure means freedom from the five senses. These things are given up together."

Is that by entering a disembodied state, one must necessarily be free of sensual pleasures.

We can very easily find two examples to falsify that.

1. Someone in sleep paralysis, feels great fear of being disconnected from the body, and a great DESIRE to reconnect with their body.


2. An arahant is permanently free of desire for sensual pleasures, so at the moment they became an arahant, they become disembodied and their physical body just slowly dies off since "these things are given up together, sensual desire and the embodied state."



Conclusion

Ajhan Brahmali wrote:
Freedom from sensual pleasure means freedom from the five senses.
These things are given up together.


He really said that. It's astounding.

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