A. Brahmali cites MN 52 and MN 64 as evidence that one has to emerge from jhāna to contemplate Dharma

 https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/what-ven-analayo-gets-wrong-about-samadhi-part-ii/33515/9

@HinM wrote:

Ven Analayo is correct in saying that Jhana is too refined a state to investigate anything.

@Brahmali response:  

Jhānas are contemplated after one emerges from them, see for instance MN 52 and MN 64.

Let's see what the pāḷi source text actually says:

MN 64 (Frank's Eng. translation) says

STED first jhāna j1🌘 )

🚫💑 vivicc’eva kāmehi	Judiciously-secluded from desire for five cords of sensual pleasures,
🚫😠 vivicca a-kusalehi dhammehi	Judiciously-secluded from unskillful ☸Dharmas,
(V&V💭) sa-vitakkaṃ sa-vicāraṃ	with directed-thought and evaluation [of those verbal ☸Dharma thoughts],
😁🙂 viveka-jaṃ pīti-sukhaṃ	with [mental] rapture and [physical] pleasure born from judicious-seclusion,
🌘 paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati.	he attains and lives in first jhāna.

So yadeva tattha hoti rūpagataṃ vedanāgataṃ saññāgataṃ saṅkhāragataṃ viññāṇagataṃ te dhamme

They see those dharmas there [while in jhāna]—included in form, feeling, perception, co-activities, and consciousness—as

(11ada💩 ways of seeing 5uk as dukkha)

a-niccato dukkhato	(1) im-permanent, (2) pain-&-suffering,
rogato gaṇḍato	(3) diseased, (4) an abscess,
sallato aghato	(5) a dart, (6) misery,
ābādhato parato	(7) an affliction, (8) alien,
palokato suññato	(9) falling apart, (10) empty,
anattato	(11) not-self,
samanupassati.	They see [5 aggregates while in jhāna having those 11 properties].

Now let's look at MN 64, but using Sujato's and B. Bodhi's translation

Sujato has

Householder, it’s when a mendicant, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters and remains in the first absorption, which has the rapture and bliss born of seclusion, while placing the mind and keeping it connected.“Idha, gahapati, bhikkhu vivicceva kāmehi vivicca akusalehi dhammehi savitakkaṁ savicāraṁ vivekajaṁ pītisukhaṁ paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ upasampajja viharati.Then they reflect:So iti paṭisañcikkhati:‘Even this first absorption is produced by choices and intentions.’‘idampi kho paṭhamaṁ jhānaṁ abhisaṅkhataṁ abhisañcetayitaṁ.

Sujato inserted "Then" himself. It's not in the pāḷi. 

B. Bodhi has

4. “Here, householder, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enters upon and abides in the first jhāna, which is accompanied by applied and sustained thought, with rapture and pleasure born of seclusion.
He considers this and understands it thus:
‘This first jhāna is conditioned and volitionally produced.

Sujato, Brahm, Brahmali adding "THEN" is only because they understand their redefined Jhāna (different than the EBT suttas) to be a disembodied mental paralysis which one has to emerge from before contemplating Dharma.

I don't believe the Pāḷi grammar supports such ambiguous temporal distortion where you can freely decide whether something is concurrent, or discrete sequence of incompatible actions (having to first emerge from jhāna, before being able to contemplate Dharma).

But for the sake of argument, let's say Sujato is correct and the grammar does support that.

Frankk shows fallacy in Brahmali's reasoning:

Hypothetical example.

(frank describing what happens):

John is walking, while carrying a cup of coffee. He started drinking coffee.

(sujato describing the same scene):

John is walking, while carrying a cup of coffee. AND THEN He started drinking coffee.

According to Brahmali's reasoning, 

therefore John must have exited the state of walking before one can then begin drinking coffee.

But in reality, we know it's possible to be walking and drinking coffee at the same time.

Conclusion

Drinking coffee does not mean one had to first exit the state of walking before one could drink.

MN 52 and MN 64 is not evidence that one has to first exit jhāna before contemplating Dharma.

And if that's the best evidence Brahmali can come up with, you have to wonder if he has a valid interpretation of jhāna?

Ask him about MN 111 and AN 9.36 for example. 

Why would the Buddha have to make a special explicit statement about emerging from 8th and 9th attainment, and assuming "it's just understood" one has to emerge from the four jhānas?

 MN ¹¹¹ - MN 111 anu-pada: one after another
    MN ^111.1 - (smd1: 1st jhāna)
        MN ^111.1.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.2 - (smd2: 2nd jhāna)
        MN ^111.2.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.3 - (smd3: 3rd jhāna)
        MN ^111.3.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.4 - (smd4: 4th jhāna)
        MN ^111.4.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.5 - (smd 5: infinite space)
        MN ^111.5.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.6 - (smd 6: infinite consciousness)
        MN ^111.6.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.7 - (smd 7: nothingness dimension – perception attainments you do vipassana simultaneously in jhāna/samādhi)
        MN ^111.7.1 - (vipassana while in jhāna refrain)
    MN ^111.8 - (smd 8: requires “emerging” from attainment before doing vipassana)
        MN ^111.8.1 - (vipassana after emerging from attainment)
    MN ^111.9 - (smd 9: requires “emerging” from attainment before doing vipassana)
        MN ^111.9.1 - (Sariputta ended āsavā, becomes an arahant in this attainment)
        MN ^111.9.2 - (vipassana after emerging from attainment)
        MN ^111.9.5 – (there is no further escape beyond 9th attainment)
    MN ^111.10 – (conclusion: Sariputta is son of the Buddha, keeps rolling the wheel of Dharma)

And why is it in the 4 jhānas one can contemplate rūpa (physical form) and not be able to contemplate rūpa in the first 3 formless attainments?

https://lucid24.org/an/main/an09/index.html#9.36

Think about that carefully. If "it's understood one has to emerge from jhāna" before contemplating rūpa,

then in the formless attainments, in AN 9.36 it should allow you to contemplate form, since you've supposedly already emerged from the disembodied paralysis.

But it shows you can only contemplate 4 of the aggregates, excluding form:

9.36.5 – (Ākāsā-nañc-āyatanam: dimension of infinite space)

‘Ākāsānañcāyatanampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, jhānaṃ nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmī’ti, iti kho panetaṃ vuttaṃ.	‘The dimension of infinite space is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.’
Kiñcetaṃ paṭicca vuttaṃ?	That’s what I said, but why did I say it?
Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu sabbaso rūpasaññānaṃ samatikkamā paṭighasaññānaṃ atthaṅgamā nānattasaññānaṃ amanasikārā ‘ananto ākāso’ti ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ upasampajja viharati.	Take a monk who, going totally beyond perceptions of form, with the ending of perceptions of impingement, not focusing on perceptions of diversity, aware that “space is infinite”, enters and remains in the dimension of infinite space.

9.36.5.1 - (doing vipassana while in formless perception attainments, can not perceive rūpa physical body, can realize Nirvana)

So yadeva tattha hoti vedanāgataṃ saññāgataṃ saṅkhāragataṃ viññāṇagataṃ, te dhamme aniccato dukkhato rogato gaṇḍato sallato aghato ābādhato parato palokato suññato anattato samanupassati.	They contemplate the dharma there—included in feeling, perception, co-doings, and consciousness [no form here!]—as impermanent, as suffering, as diseased, as an abscess, as a dart, as misery, as an affliction, as alien, as falling apart, as empty, as not-self.
So tehi dhammehi cittaṃ paṭivāpeti.	They turn their mind away from those dharmas,
So tehi dhammehi cittaṃ paṭivāpetvā amatāya dhātuyā cittaṃ upasaṃharati:	and apply it to the deathless:
‘etaṃ santaṃ etaṃ paṇītaṃ yadidaṃ sabbasaṅkhārasamatho sabbūpadhipaṭinissaggo taṇhākkhayo virāgo nirodho nibbānan’ti.	‘This is peaceful; this is sublime—that is, the stilling of all activities, the letting go of all attachments, the ending of craving, fading away, cessation, nirvāṇa.’

Which means you are still in a formless state while you're doing that contemplation (of 4 mental aggregates).

Ask Brahm, Sujato, Brahmali, Analayo about that.

See what they say.

(sound of crickets chirping).

And this also means you're not in a mental paralysis, which is how LBT Theravāda redefines 4 jhānas and first 3 perception formless attainments.

You can contemplate Dharmas (with non verbal mental processing) WHILE in the 4 jhānas and 7 perception attainments, by means of sampajāno, dhamma-vicaya, upekkha (upa+ikkhati).  

(crickets still chirping).