Jhana monks and Dhamma-devotee monks

[TonyConrad]

I thought all of the monks were jhana monks.

Is studying texts considered effort? To me it seems like formal meditation time is correlated with the end of suffering, but this is an assumption. I enjoy reading the suttas more than I do meditation, but when I meditate I'm glad I did!


What do you make of this sutta?

"Thus, friends, you should train yourselves: 'Being Dhamma-devotee monks, we will speak in praise of jhana monks.' That's how you should train yourselves. Why is that? Because these are amazing people, hard to find in the world, i.e., those who dwell touching the deathless element with the body.[2]

"And thus, friends, you should train yourselves: 'Being jhana monks, we will speak in praise of Dhamma-devotee monks.' That's how you should train yourselves. Why is that? Because these are amazing people, hard to find in the world, i.e., those who penetrate with discernment statements of deep meaning."

AN 6.46

Link to the full text:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .than.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Ben]

but this is an assumption.:

That it is.
The path is more than meditation alone.
To put forth effort, one must put forth effort in cultivating all path factors.
The path factors are like the planks in a barrel. You cannot have a functioning barrel with planks of different lengths.
Hence, spiritual progress will not occur if one concentrates on a one or two path factors to the exclusion of the others.

Likewise, pariyatti (study) and patipatti (practice) go hand-in-hand and together create the conditions for pativedha (realization).
All the best,
Ben

[mikenz66]

See this careful discussion by Bhante Sujato about translating this sutta:

Was there a conflict between scholars and meditators?

In AN 6.46 we have an interesting discussion of conflicts between two groups of mendicants. The text gives an idea of some of the tensions that emerged in the Sangha in the years following the Buddha's death. It has attracted several translations and discussions.

However, most, if not all, of this attention has worked under the assumption that the conflict is between scholars and meditators. This assumption is based on the commentary and is not supported by the text. The conflict recorded in the text is between two groups of meditators, one who emphasize wsdom, and the other who emphasize serenity.

This finding suggests that we should be sceptical of commentarial explanations on this topic.

Mike

[_anicca_]

You bring up a very interesting point, so thank you for that.
Truly studying the suttas (not just glossing over them) would be considered effort, definitely.
Meditation is important too, but so is study! It just so happens that one of the two becomes more prevalent at times