HI Dmytro,
Dmytro wrote: A couple of quotes from his masterpiece "Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond":
"Happiness in meditation is important, and you deserve to bliss out! Blissing out on the meditation object is an essential part of the path." - p. 140
We should be able to distinguish between wholesome and unworldly sukha and worldly sukha. Pleasure of the 5 sense world is often regarded as worldly , but the pleasantness of samma samadhi is considered by the Buddha as "bliss of renunciation, the bliss of seclusion, the bliss of peace, the bliss of enlightenment."
Aranavibhanga Sutta, MN 139
3. “One should not pursue sensual pleasure…and one should not pursue self-mortification, which is painful, ignoble, and unbeneficial. The Middle Way discovered by the Tathagata avoids both extremes; giving vision, giving knowledge, it leads to peace, to direct knowledge, to enlightenment, to Nibbana…
9. …”One should know how to define pleasure, and knowing that, one should pursue pleasure within oneself”…”Here bhikkhus, quite secluded from sensual pleasures, secluded from unwholesome states, a bhikkhu enter upon and resides in the first (absorption) jhana”… (through 4th jhana). “This is called the bliss of renunciation, the bliss of seclusion, the bliss of peace, the bliss of enlightenment. I say of this kind of pleasure that it should be pursued, that it should be developed, that it should be cultivated, and that it should not be feared.”
“So it was in reference to this that I said, ‘One should know how to define pleasure, and knowing that, one should pursue pleasure within oneself.”
13. Here, bhikkhus, the bliss of renunciation, the bliss of seclusion, the bliss of peace, the bliss of enlightenment, is a state without suffering (dukkha)… and it is the right way. Therefore this is a state without conflict.”
Dmytro wrote:
morning mist wrote: And why did he say that jhana is the practice of letting go ? If we look at the process , we see that to get into jhana we have to let go of the desire, aversion, etc..
Buddha didn't describe it as letting go
The practice of jhana involves some amount of letting go. For example, abandoning the five hindrances, etc... As you move from one jhana to another , there is the need to let go of attachment to the previous one. If we wants to say that jhana is a practice of letting go, it is understandable. I am sure some would prefer to use different terms , that is up to each person.
Dmytro wrote:
morning mist wrote:paṭighasaññānaṃ, patigha : repulsion, repugnance, anger
Your replies show for me where this tendency to reject by wholesale the Pali explanations of terms leads: they are replaced by free personal associations, based on the Pali-English dictionary.
That is the definition for " patigha" given in numerous dictionary. I just post it here for your convenience. But if you think that I made it up, you are more than welcome to look it up for yourself.
When it comes to " patighasannanam" , various translators rendered it as :
"perceptions of resistance"- Thanissaro Bhikkhu ( Access to insight)
" the sense of resistance" - T W Rhys Davids ( Metta Net)
"the sense of resistance" -Maurice Walshe ( Wisdom Publication )
Dmytro wrote:
morning mist wrote:Sylvester pointed out that the updated translation is...
Perhaps a news bulletin of updated Australian Brahmic Buddhism interpretations would be handy?
The recent translation he pointed out was from Bhikkhu Bodhi. No one is making that up. By the way, resorting to name calling and labeling won't help support your claim.
Dmytro wrote:
morning mist wrote:" Nine successive cessations ( anupubba-nirodha):
" By the attainments of the first jhana, kamasanna / perception of sensuality ( perception of five sense objects & sense desires) cease (niruddhā);
The suttas themselves explain Kāmasaññā differently, as the recognition connected with sensual desire
Kama can refer to both objective sensuality and subjective sensuality as well.
káma may denote:
1.objective sensuality, the five sense-objects.
2. subjective sensuality, 'sense-desire';
1. Objective sensuality is, in the canonical texts, mostly called káma-guna, 'cords (or strands) of sensuality'. "There are 5 cords of sensuality: the visible objects, cognizable by eye-consciousness, that are desirable, cherished, pleasant, lovely, sensuous and alluring; the sounds ... smells ... tastes ... bodily impressions cognizable by body-consciousness, that are desirable .... " (D. 33; M. 13, 26, 59, 66).
2. Subjective sensuality, or sense-desire, is directed to all five sense-objects
According to theAneñja-sappaya Sutta:
'Bhikkhus, KAMA is impermanent, hollow, vain, deceptive. It is illusory, the prattle of fools. Kama belonging to this world ( ditthadhammika kama) and kama belonging to the next world ( samparayika kama) , KAMASANNA (sensual perceptions) belonging to this world ( ditthadhammika kamasanna) and kamasanna belonging to the next world ( samparayika KAMMASANNA) : both are the realm of Mara (maradheyyam) , the domain (viyaso: locality, region, sphere, scope ) of Mara, Mara’s bait , Mara’s range ( hunting ground) . They lead to evil , unwholesome mental states: grasping ( abhijjhapi :covetousness), ill will, and contentiousness. They arise for the obstruction of a disciple of the noble ones in training here.
Even the commentary to the Majjhima Nikaya also states that Both objective sensuality and sensual defilements are intended here for "kama" .
With Metta,