MN 19 Buddha's jhāna vs. Ajahn Brahm's "jhāna", in pictures

The Buddha's first jhāna simile

The cowherd is resting under the shade of a tree lucidly discerning,

using vitakka verbal thoughts of "those well behaved cows"

to stay alert to their activities.

His eyes may be open or closed, his ears are operational,

he can hear if any cows are misbehaving.

Ajahn Brahm's corrupt redefinition of "jhāna"

The cowherd is in a disembodied frozen stupor where the 5 senses are shut off,

the only thing he is discerning, and not very lucidly,

is a hazy memory of the mental bliss of entering (a corrupt) first jhāna,

while time passes,

and the cows are trampling the king's crops

and wreaking havoc

and attacking villagers.

When the cowherd emerges from "first jhāna",

the cows are gone.

He's confused because his frozen stupor felt timeless.

He has no idea hours have passed,

and the King's guards are there to arrest him.

And in those days, punishment is death.

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AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111: How does Ajahn Brahm and Sujato's "Jhāna" work here?

What these 3 suttas have in common, AN 9.36, MN 64, MN 111, is the very interesting feature of explicitly describing doing vipassana, while one is in the jhāna and the first 3 formless attainments. LBT (late buddhist text) apologists, as well as Sujato, Brahm, claim that the suttas describe a jhāna where one enters a disembodied, frozen state, where vipassana is impossible until one emerges from that 'jhāna'. Since Sujato translated all the suttas, let's take a look at what he translated, and how it supports his interpretation of 'jhāna'. AN 9.36: Jhānasutta—Bhikkhu Sujato (suttacentral.net) ‘The first absorption is a basis for ending the defilements.’ ‘Paṭhamampāhaṁ, bhikkhave, jhānaṁ nissāya āsavānaṁ khayaṁ vadāmī’ti, iti kho panetaṁ vuttaṁ. That’s what I said, but why did I say it? Kiñcetaṁ paṭicca vuttaṁ? Take a mendicant who, q uite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unskill...

Pāḷi and Sanskrit definition of Viveka

'Viveka', Sanskrit dictionary Primary meaning is ‘discrimination’. Other meanings: (1) true knowledge, (2) discretion, (3) right judgement, (4) the faculty of distinguishing and classifying things according to their real properties’. Wikipedia (sanskrit dictionary entry 'viveka') Viveka (Sanskrit: विवेक, romanized: viveka) is a Sanskrit and Pali term translated into English as discernment or discrimination.[1] According to Rao and Paranjpe, viveka can be explained more fully as: Sense of discrimination; wisdom; discrimination between the real and the unreal, between the self and the non-self, between the permanent and the impermanent; discriminative inquiry; right intuitive discrimination; ever present discrimination between the transient and the permanent.[2]: 348 The Vivekachudamani is an eighth-century Sanskrit poem in dialogue form that addresses the development of viveka. Within the Vedanta tradition, there is also a concept of vichara which is one t...

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