Buddha & Formless Attainments, standard 4 jhāna formula and formless attainments existed way before the Buddha

Dogen asked on suttacentral (Buddha & Formless Attainments):

I’ve seen several times people questioning the validity of Formless Attainments (ayatanas, arupa jhanas) because Buddha mentions being unable to achieve enlightenment with his teachers’ tutelage.

I think a reading consistent with rest of the canon is to understand this matter as the difference between wrong immersion and right immersion.

The part in question is found in MN26:
'This teaching doesn’t lead to disillusionment, dispassion, cessation, peace, insight, awakening, and extinguishment.
It only leads as far as rebirth in the dimension of nothingness.’
It does not fulfill the requirements of the “noble quest”.

‘nāyaṁ dhammo nibbidāya na virāgāya na nirodhāya na upasamāya na abhiññāya na sambodhāya na nibbānāya saṁvattati, yāvadeva ākiñcaññāyatanūpapattiyā’ti.

This is not a critic of Formless Attainments;
it’s a critique of Alara Kalama’s dhamma.

Suttas make a clear distinction of right and wrong samadhi, differentiated with Right View or Wrong View.

An10.103:

Wrong view gives rise to wrong thought.
Wrong thought gives rise to wrong speech.
Wrong speech gives rise to wrong action.
Wrong action gives rise to wrong livelihood.
Wrong livelihood gives rise to wrong effort.
Wrong effort gives rise to wrong mindfulness.
Wrong mindfulness gives rise to wrong immersion.
Wrong immersion gives rise to wrong knowledge.
Wrong knowledge gives rise to wrong freedom.

A (perhaps crude) analogy would be to view Ayatanas as a hammer.
If you try to use a hammer to carry water, it’ll fail spectacularly.
If you use it to nail a wooden plank, it’ll work alright.

Before rushing to talk about conspiracies to see ayatanas as something added by later redactors, it’s wise to see if there is a way to resolve the apparent contradiction with the logic of the suttas.

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another user commented:

It is incumbent on the defenders of ayatanas to explain why, in MN85, the Buddha explicitly says that they don’t lead to enlightenment, and why he explicitly says that the jhanas do.

Frankk response

In addition to what Dogen stated well above,

there are also many other suttas where formless attainments are also encouraged by the Buddha as a way to realize nirvana, become full awakened.

AN 9.36 especially comes to mind:

“Paṭhamampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, jhānaṃ nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	“monks, I say that the first jhāna is a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
dutiyampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, jhānaṃ nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The second jhāna is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
tatiyampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, jhānaṃ nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The third jhāna is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
catutthampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, jhānaṃ nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The fourth jhāna is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
ākāsānañcāyatanampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The dimension of infinite space is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
viññāṇañcāyatanampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The dimension of infinite consciousness is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
ākiñcaññāyatanampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The dimension of nothingness is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
nevasaññānāsaññāyatanampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi;	The dimension of neither perception nor non-perception is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.
saññāvedayitanirodhampāhaṃ, bhikkhave, nissāya āsavānaṃ khayaṃ vadāmi.	The cessation of perception and feeling is also a basis for ending the asinine-inclinations.

Besides the set of 9 attainments that appear frequently as a set (4 jhānas + 5 formless) in the suttas,

there are also these two sets:

8 vimokkha include smd 5-9, as well as 2 other formless attainments and one slot for four jhānas.
8 abhi-bh-āyatana give more variations for the first 3 of the 8 vimokkha.

In contrast to the Buddha's two teachers in MN 85 who didn't know the way to nirvana,

despite having mastery of formless attainments #7 and #8,

In Sutta Nipāta 5, the Buddha encounters 16 brahmans,

who already know how to the the 4 jhānas, and some of them know how to do formless attainments.

They didn't learn samādhi from the Buddha!

 

KN Snp 5.1 Vatthugāthā: Introductory Verses

            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.2 (Evil brahmin threatens Bāvari with curse️)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.4 (Goddess tells Bāvari the evil brahmin is lying️)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.6 (Goddess tells Bāvari about the Buddha️)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.8 (Bāvari tells his students about the Buddha️)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.10 (test Buddha’s mind reading power️)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.12 (all 16 students are jhāna meditators, with their own students️)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.14 (students approach Buddha)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.16 (students ask Buddha about Bāvari’s 32 great marks)
            KN Snp‍ ^5.1.18 (students ask Buddha about head splitting curse)

Their samādhi doesn't lead to nirvana,

But after the Buddha teaches them to use four jhānas to realize nirvana in 

KN Snp‍ ^5.14 Udaya's questions

And in these two suttas, 

he teaches them how to use formless attainment #7 to realize nirvana

KN Snp‍ ^5.15 Posāla's questions

KN Snp‍ ^5.7 Upasīva's questions

Notice Snp 5.14 and Snp 5.15 are meant to read together,

they are a nonstandard way of grouping the 9 samādhi attainments.

Remember, those 16 brahmans already knew how to do four jhānas and 9 attainments

before meeting and learning from the Buddha!

And here are more suttas where non Buddhists can do mundane four jhānas,

using the standard four jhāna formula, but without right view, 4 noble truths,

the standard four jhāna formula does not lead to nirvana.

Non Buddhists doing 4 jhānas

They didn’t learn 4 jhānas from Buddha
AN ^4.123 once returner reborn in brahma realm corresponding to 4j, ordinary person low rebirth
AN ^4.124 only nonreturner, not non buddhist can be reborn in pure abode with 4j
AN ^5.192.2 - (brahmin equal to a god: does 4j🌕 )
DN ^1.3.2.5 mistaken belief that nibbana realized upon attaining any of four jhāna
DN ^17.5 non buddhist king doing four jhānas, four brahma vihāras, reborn in brahma realm
KN Snp‍ ^5.1.12 16 brahmins asking Buddha how to nirvana with their jhāna and formless attainments
MN ^36.3 Buddha recalls accidental first jhāna experience as boy, before he was a Buddhist!
MN ^79.10 - (is there a world of perfect happiness? A path to it?)
SN ^35.132 With Lohicca: union with Brahma, using jhāna (pre Buddhist)

There's also the difference between freedom (vimutti) by wisdom, and freedom by mind (ceto vimutti)

Explored in this recent article
What does it mean to have or not have direct meditative experience?

In short, typically more than half the arahants who became enlightened only had 4 jhānas,

while a smaller percentage were able to do formless attainments, 

and even a smaller percentage had some mastery of psychic powers.