notes on the Dhamma

There's an excellent simile in the Theravada non canonical literature explaining the difference between piti and sukha in the first 3 jhanas, reminiscent of the lotus pond in this sutta MN 40. (citation?) As I remember it: Piti = you're in a desert, dying of thirst, as you're approaching oasis/pond, you realize there's water in the distance, that you're not going to die, and you're going to drink that water soon. The thrill and excitement of that is piti. sukha = you've arrived at the oasis/pond, now you're drinking the water. The pleasure from actually drinking the water is sukha. Three questions: 1. what is the citation of that piti sukha simile for the 4 jhanas from? 2. might this sutta, MN 40, be what inspired that simile for jhana piti/sukha differentiation? Should the words piti sukha appear in MN 40 lotus pond, but got lost in transmission? 3. What does the MN 40 lotus pond simile mean on its own terms, just for this sutta? What are the 4 ...

The translation of the sutta passage for 16 APS breath meditation instruction is correct, in that they translate kāya as 'body'. He trains thus: “I shall breathe in … I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body”:  The crime is in redefining the meaning of 'body' to mean something completely different than what it means in all the other kaya anupassana exercises (see MN 10 and MN 119), where kaya is always the anatomical body. Vism. 16APS breath meditation step 3  171.(iii)  He trains thus: “I shall breathe in … I shall breathe out experiencing the whole body”: he trains thus: “I shall breathe in making known, making plain, the beginning, middle and end ( footnote 48 ) of the entire in-breath body. I shall breathe out making known, making plain, the beginning, middle and end of the entire out- breath body,” thus he trains. Making them known, making them plain, in this way he both breathes in and breathes out with consciousness associated with knowledge. That ...

MN 45 is a good sutta to get a holistic sense of how ordinary, gradual, and easily accessible first jhana was designed to be. The contrast between wrong pleasure, the 5 strings of sensuality, and four jhanas, the right kind of pleasure, is what first jhana formula's 'vivicceva kamehi' is referencing.  Especially pay attention to the 3rd case, of the monks who have 'painful practice in the present life.'  Their practice is painful because they constantly suffer from second guessing whether they're missing out on coarse sensual pleasures of life like food, women,  beer, etc.  It says nothing about the more subtle dukkha of rupa vs. arupa, which is what Ajahn Brahm wrongfully claims first jhana is the escape for. (see  rūpa is not a-rūpa, 4 jhānas operate in rūpa ) Why is first jhana an uttari manussa dhamma (superhuman state)? Because it's difficult for people, to genuinely prefer the pleasure of quiet meditation over the coarse  sensual pleasures of foo...

excerpt from MN 36 (eat some food for enough energy to do 4 jhanas) ... (with imperturbable 4th jhana samadhi, reach 3 higher knowledges) ... (samadhi that is jhāna quality after giving dhamma talk) Abhijānāmi kho panāhaṃ, aggivessana, anekasatāya parisāya dhammaṃ desetā. Aggivessana, I recall teaching the Dhamma to an assembly of many hundreds, Apissu maṃ ekameko evaṃ maññati: and each person thinks ‘mamevārabbha samaṇo gotamo dhammaṃ desetī’ti. that I am teaching the Dhamma especially for them. Na kho panetaṃ, aggivessana, evaṃ daṭṭhabbaṃ; But it should not be seen like this. yāvadeva viññāpanatthāya tathāgato paresaṃ dhammaṃ deseti. The Realized One teaches others only so that they can understand. So kho ahaṃ, aggivessana, tassāyeva kathāya pariyosāne, tasmiṃyeva purimasmiṃ samādhinimitte ajjhattameva cittaṃ saṇṭhapemi sannisādemi ekodiṃ karomi samādahāmi , yena sudaṃ niccakappaṃ viharāmī”ti. When that talk is finished, I still, settle, unify, and u...

Crimes (most recent articles listed on top) 2020 Vinaya Vb Parajika 1: B. Brahmali mistranslation a... Pi Tv Bu Vb Pj 3: breath meditation, B. Brahmali t... Pi Tv Bu Vb Pj 4, B. Brahmali incorrect translatio... 2019 B. Brahmali translation of kāya in 16 APS breath meditation is not only wrong, but criminal Comparison of Vism. and KN Pe confirms the crimes ... Late Theravada crime against the Dhamma B. Sujato makes the body disappear in 3rd jhana Theravada Abhidhamma 3rd jhāna gloss corruption solving the murder mystery from 3rd jhāna related: Sautrāntika (sutta-vāda, sutta-method), our EBT Jedi brothers from another era..

The first 4 steps of 16 steps in breath meditation Under Theravada vinaya, parajika #3 killing. https://suttacentral.net/pli-tv-bu-vb-pj3/en/brahmali A monk sits down in the wilderness, at the foot of a tree, or in an empty hut. He crosses his legs, straightens his body , and establishes mindfulness in front of him. Idha,   bhikkhave,   bhikkhu   araññagato   vā   rukkhamūlagato   vā   suññāgāragato   vā   nisīdati   pallaṅkaṃ   ābhujitvā   ujuṃ   kāyaṃ   paṇidhāya   parimukhaṃ   satiṃ   upaṭṭhapetvā. ... When he breathes in long, he knows it;Dīghaṃ vā assasanto dīghaṃ assasāmīti pajānāti,and when he breathes out long, he knows that.dīghaṃ vā passasanto dīghaṃ passasāmīti pajānāti.When he breathes in short, he knows it;Rassaṃ vā assasanto rassaṃ assasāmīti pajānāti,and when he breathes out short, he knows that.rassaṃ vā passasanto rassaṃ passasāmīti pajānāti. step 3 When breathing in, he ...

Here is the full KN Pe four jhanas gloss, word commentary, based on B. Nanamoli's translation from the PTS. I highlight the parts that are relevant to mental/physical, 7sb awakening factors, and the number of jhana factors completely different than late Theravada's 'five jhana factors' scheme. I've added some comments to the highlights in curly braces { }.  Their fantastic explanation of  vitakka/vicara section of course speaks for itself, and is so explicit and detailed there's no way Vism. or B. Sujato could twist it into meaning "having mind glued to a visual kasina." You can see the straight  EBT (early buddhist text, pali) approach I used to establish which factors in jhana are mental and physical, are very similar,  nearly the same as what they arrived at in KN Pe. I based my conclusion from AN 48.37 five vedana/indriya scheme, and 7 awakening factors frequently repeated sequence from SN 46.3. solving the murder mystery from 3rd jhāna KN P...