notes on the Dhamma

"My brain literally exploded." "My mind was literally blown." I was taught these two definitions for "literal" and "figurative" in grade school, explained nicely here by Miles N. Fowler, Copy editor, coll. newspaper, Pi Delta Epsilon (Journalism) People will get a word into their heads and use it more than they should,  to the point where they are misusing it. I don’t know why, but why have so many people, for so long,  used the word “literally” incorrectly? “A wasp came flying at me, and it was literally as big as a house!” No, it was literally closer to one inch long,  but it might have seemed much bigger at close range.  (Fear causes the mind to exaggerate.) The word “literally” should only be used to describe reality.  It does not mean that something is only found in poetry (literature). It is never “literally raining cats and dogs.”  That would mean that furry creatures were actually falling from the sky.  The correct way of saying that woul...

Intro to article by frankk: The question explored is technical,  so I introduce with a few lines explaining why you should read it: (... cut and paste from my analysis after Sujato's translation and footnote...) And that's why when Sudheera asked that question on suttacentral, Sujato, Brahmali, or any of the other scores of  Bhikkhus on suttacentral didn't answer  (as of the time of this blog article). They don't want to incriminate themselves, and hope the problem just goes away. Or if anyone dares to point out the truth of their corrupt translation and interpretation, those users conveniently get censored, or banned permanently from suttacentral.  Sudheera asked on suttacentral: https://discourse.suttacentral.net/t/what-does-it-mean-to-have-or-not-have-direct-meditative-experience/37804 I find in suttas subject two terms.  Just curious what’s the difference? (then they quote Sujato's sutta passage from MN 70 and footnote, which have serious wrong views)  ...

  yesterday, Part 1: SN 35.245: Ajahn Brahm doesn't know the difference between jhāna, samatha, vipassana Part 2: Ajahn Brahm's "stillness" (samatha)  is a brainless warrior working in conjunction with the wise minister (vipassana/insight) assaulted by 5 hindrances Samatha is supposed to work seamlessly with vipassana,  but Ajahn Brahm's samatha is a totally dysfunctional and useless teammate. When vipassana is pointing out the 5 hindrances and asking samatha to remove them, Ajahn Brahm's samatha just does this: And so, in Ajahn Brahm world, jhāna is completely worthless. The 5 demons (hindrances) overtake vipassana, and samatha is just standing by idle in the stillness of a frozen stupor. In the Buddha's genuine EBT samatha, vipassana, jhāna The four jhāna formula contains both samatha and vipassana. The samatha aspect is the nutriment of passaddhi (the pacification awakening factor that precedes samādhi in 7 awakening factors), The vipassana aspect of jh...

  From a thread on suttacentral , someone asked which sutta contains simile of warrior and minister A. Brahm used. Another user located it in SN 35.245, from Brahm's book.  The simile actually comes from commentary to that sutta, not from the sutta itself. I highlight some of Brahm's erroneous analysis below. From Ajahn Brahm’s Mindfulness Bliss and Beyond To emphasize that jhāna is essential for deep insight,  the Buddha taught the simile of the two messengers.  The main elements of the simile are found in the Kiṃsuka Sutta (SN 35.245) and told in detail in the commentary.  Here, I will paraphrase the simile. An emperor was preparing his son in the skills of governing.  To give the young prince direct experience, he appointed him viceroy over a small state just within the borders of the empire.  He granted his son all the powers of a king and sent him off to learn how to rule. Some months later, a delegation of leading citizens from that state came to...

  a reddit post from one of Ajahn Brahm's cult members:  "Word Of The Buddha" - Ajahn Brahm's Updated Translation Is Done. The "Word Of The Buddha" is an anthology of the Sutta Pitaka using excerpts from the suttas to describe the Buddha's teachings minus the repetition and preamble you will find in the Sutta Pitaka. It weighs in at a slim 100 pages. It was published in 1906 and written by the German Theravada monk Venerable Nyanatiloka Mahathera. Ajahn Brahm (a native English speaker) has completely finished updating "Word Of The Buddha" to use contemporary English translations. "Word Of The Buddha" is a great way to get a quicker overview of the Buddha's teachings "in his own words". I've hyperlinked both the old and new versions in this post, both weighing in at about 100 pages. frankk comment: I took a quick look at the first jhāna sections from Ven. Nyanatiloka's original version, compared to Ajahn Brahm...

maraṇa-s-sati 💀  = death-remembering ‘appamattā viharissāma, tikkhaṃ maraṇassatiṃ bhāvessāma āsavānaṃ khayāyā’ti. ( AN  6.19 ) 1. Never forget, remembering to assiduously practice ☸Dharma for arahantship every moment, giving it everything you got, for the time it takes for one breath, or the time it takes to eat one mouthful of food. If you get sidetracked or forget to be assiduous ( a-p-pamāda 🐘🐾‍  ), the Buddha calls that negligence (pamāda). ( AN  6.19 ). 2. Remembering, not forgetting that fatal accidents can strike at any moment, so practice the ☸Dharma assiduously every moment. Doing this correctly, will activate the  7sb☀️  sequence producing rejoicing (mudita/pamojja) and rapture (pīti) ( AN  6.20 ).     What happens when you get that call? Don't be this: Don't think you can talk your way out or negotiate Either you lived every moment, assiduously (see appamāda  🐘🐾‍ ), ready for the moment, or you die with regrets. "Khīṇā jāti,...

  AN 4.14 Saṃvara: Restraint (2025  SP-FLUENT  translation by  frankk‍  )          AN  4.14.1  - (saṃvara: restraint of  6aya  senses)          AN  4.14.2  - (pahāna: abandon 3 wrong thoughts ☍  2💭  )              AN  4.14.2.1  - (2.1 thoughts of sensuality kāma‍)              AN  4.14.2.2  - (2.2 thoughts of ill-will)              AN  4.14.2.3  - (2.3 thoughts of harming)              AN  4.14.2.4  - (2.4 thoughts of evil un-skillful Dharmas)          AN  4.14.3  - (bhāvanā: develop  7sb☀️  )          AN  4.14.4  - (anu-rakkhaṇā: protect with  5siv⚰️  nimittas) “Cattārimāni, bhikkhave, padhānāni. There are four types of exertion. [They are the same as the four aspects of right effort in the noble eightfold path.] Katamāni cattāri? What are the four exertions? Saṃvarappadhānaṃ, [1] The exertion of restra...

   AN 4.163 Asubha: Ugly          AN  4.163.1  - (painful practice + slow insight ← asubha topics + weak  5ind🖐️  )          AN  4.163.2  - (painful practice + fast insight ← asubha topics + strong  5ind🖐️  )          AN  4.163.3  - (pleasant practice + slow insight ←  4j🌕  + weak  5ind🖐️  )          AN  4.163.4  - (pleasant practice + fast insight ←  4j🌕  + strong  5ind🖐️  ) 4.163.1 - (painful practice + slow insight ← asubha topics + weak  5ind🖐️  ) Katamā ca, bhikkhave, dukkhā paṭipadā dandhābhiññā? And what’s the painful practice with slow insight? Idha, bhikkhave, bhikkhu It’s when a monk a-subh-ānu-passī kāye viharati, lives continuously-seeing the un-attractiveness of the body, āhāre paṭikūla-saññī, perceives the repulsiveness of food, sabba-loke an-abhi-rati-saññī, perceives dis-satisfaction with the whole world, sabba-saṅkhāresu anic...