Ven. Sujato and Ven. Analayo claim that
MN 125 equating first jhāna with 4 satipaṭṭhāna is an aberration, a likely corruption, an oral transmission error
Well how about the standard 3rd jhāna formula which turns up at least 81 times in the suttas (5 nikāyas), in a crude digital search.
Search: 'tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja' in Multiple Sets (digitalpalireader.online)
Is that also a corruption, a transmission error?
"sato ca sampajāno" is embedded WITHIN the third jhāna formula.
Third Jhāna
🚫😁 pītiyā ca virāgā | With [mental] rapture fading, |
👁 upekkhako ca viharati | he lives equanimously observing [☸Dharmas with subverbal mental processing]. |
(S&S🐘💭) sato ca sam-pajāno, | remembering [and applying relevant ☸Dharma], he lucidly discerns. |
🙂🚶 sukhañca kāyena paṭi-saṃ-vedeti, | He experiences pleasure with the [physical] body. |
yaṃ taṃ ariyā ācikkhanti — | The Noble Ones praise this [stage of jhāna in particular because they expect this to be the normal state of the average monk in all postures at all times]: |
‘upekkhako satimā sukha-vihārī’ti | "He lives happily with pleasure, Equanimously observing and remembering [to engage in relevant ☸Dharma]." |
🌖 tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ upasampajja viharati. | he attains and lives in third jhāna. |
So the 4 satipaṭṭhāna are embedded within the 3rd jhāna formula.
MN 125 is not doing anything new, by explicitly equating first jhāna with satipaṭṭhāna.
MN 111 also explicitly list sati and sampajāno as factors of first and second jhāna (whereas standard 4 jhāna formula only mentions 3rd and 4th jhāna having those).
AN 4.41 shows jhāna doing vipassana with sati and sampjāno, just as MN 111 does.
Within the satipaṭṭhāna formula,
SN 47.4 says newly ordained monks, trainees, arahants, all should do satipaṭṭhāna with four jhānas level of samādhi. (ekodi and samādhi don't appear in first jhāna, but in second)
Which blows away Sujato's audacious and fallacious claim that it's unlikely the Buddha would introduce a radical idea like satipaṭṭhāna and jhāna completely overlapping and running concurrently, and being taught to non advanced practitioners.
Many more suttas shows this, MN 119, AN 9.36, AN 8.63, I could go on.
Satipaṭṭhāna is explicitly embedded within the 4 jhāna formula.
4 jhāna quality of samādhi is explicitly shown to be operating within the standard four satipaṭṭhāna formula.
It's [MN 125] not an anomaly, not a corruption, not a transmission error.
It's all over the entire collection of the suttas.
Certain Bhikkhus need to stop following their cognitive biases leading to wrong views,
and stop living in denial and pretending not to see the mountain of evidence experts have been pointing out to them privately and publicly for the last 10 years.
Lots of sutta passages here:
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