mirco wrote:Dhammanando wrote:I expect Ven. Sujīva's source would be the Visuddhimagga. But in the Suttanta Piṭaka the five masteries (pañca vasiyo) are found in the Ñāṇakathā of the Paṭisambhidāmagga (Paṭi. i.99-100. English translation: Path of Discrimination 97-8).
Patisambhida was personal between the Buddha and Sariputta. Maybe if your teacher asks you to learn this mastery it's o.k. because he knows you well and what suits you, but since the Buddha didn't generally emphasised it, why should we? I think, if it would have been a major point in His method, He would have talked about it more often and we would find it overall in the Suttas or at least in the main training instructions.
Kind regards
He did talk about mastering the Jhanas quite often, and certainly didn't want people to be amateurish and hap hazard with their mental cultivation!
AN4.25 as an example.
"He attains — whenever he wants, without strain, without difficulty — the four jhanas that are heightened mental states, pleasant abidings in the here-&-now."
However there are slightly different wordings depending upon the context. such as
DN15 wrote:"Now, when a monk attains these eight emancipations in forward order, in reverse order, in forward and reverse order, when he attains them and emerges from them wherever he wants, however he wants, and for as long as he wants, when through the ending of the mental fermentations he enters and remains in the fermentation-free awareness-release and discernment-release, having directly known it and realized it in the here and now, he is said to be a monk released in both ways. And as for another release in both ways, higher or more sublime than this, there is none."
MN53 wrote:"There is the case, Mahanama, where a disciple of the noble ones is consummate in virtue, guards the doors to his sense faculties, knows moderation in eating, is devoted to wakefulness, is endowed with seven qualities, and obtains at will — without trouble or difficulty — the four jhanas that constitute heightened awareness and a pleasant abiding in the here-&-now.
You will also find dialogues between two Arahants are not because one does not know the answer but for the benefit of others around at the time. but the Paṭisambhidāmagga is ascribed to Sariputta alone not the Buddha. this is quite easy to find out.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.
He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
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He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill