The OP is applying monk standards to laypeople, and framing things in reverse order. Buddha did say one needs to have samvega, a feeling of dejection about existence, and also to - as part of gradual teaching - accept the doctrine or rebirth throughout the various realms - in order to after that con...

Well, all beings should be happy. Bad people should stop being bad and be happy. Though there seems to be an instance where we should think about bad things happening to bad people. For bad people (and also people we find annoying, etc) the Buddha suggested five attitudes: 1 practicing goodwill towa...

I don't think it really matters, at least for laypeople there is no difference. The 1st jhana is an intense and erratic experience, as Buddha gave the simile of an apprentice kneading soap flakes and suffusing the soap with water, it feels like one is being kneaded by an overwhelming experience of r...

Anusayas - "latencies" /inclinations /tendencies /proclivities would be the subconscious mind, or at least the part of it. All the mentioned anusayas (the seven of them*) seem to be unwholesome. This opens the question what about wholesome tendencies, making way for positing another part o...

What are you talking about? He literally says, " I couldn't tell you the number of times , I'm there, I'm solidly in the eighth jhāna and then the next thing I know I'm in the middle of some paragraph of distraction ." I couldn't tell you the number of times, I'm there, I'm solidly in the...

That is nonsense. Don't spread unfactual stories.

Killing a human is a parajika offense, and punching a human is a pacittiya offense, but what about maiming or otherwise seriously harming a human without killing them? I would suspect that to be more close to parajika than to pacittiya. Is this addressed somewhere?

Leigh: "In eight, you might have time for one simple sentence that doesn't contain the words 'me', 'my' or 'I'. Right? It's really fragile. I couldn't tell you the number of times, I'm there, I'm solidly in the eighth jhāna and then the next thing I know I'm in the middle of some paragraph of d...

"I think that its worth remembering that Ven. Moggallāna, who was a master of meditation, struggled with even the 1st Jhana." - The 1st jhana is the most difficult to enter, one must first master calming down the mind, ie getting into the access concentration, and then master the process o...

Where did Leigh write that? I googled it and there is literally no place on the internet with that senstance except this page of the forum. Even if he did write this, it doesnt say there that there is thinking in the jhanas, it says "next thing", so, it obviously refers to exiting the jhan...

When one enters the jhanas, there are no 'components' and thinking, just experiences of ecstasy, bliss, contentment, and peace (in that order, those being the four jhanas). While in access concentration all thinking which happens is very silent and in the background, we have unbroken focus on the br...

When I was sick and had trouble breathing, I found that relaxing my body and my breathing and doing a short meditation makes my breathing better. Makes sense - if the breathing is not getting enough oxygen as the body needs, reduce bodily activity to reduce it's oxygen needs.

People usually get vitamin D through sunshine, fortified milk, and fortified margarine. The only significant, natural sources of vitamin D in foods are fatty fish (e.g. cod liver oil, mackerel, salmon, sardines), eggs (if chickens have been fed vitamin D), and mushrooms (if treated with UV rays). Su...

Well don't rush things. Or expect things to come quickly. Take for example training the body. You can't expect to train and be able to lift some very heavy weights quickly. You will train gradually, and will get to the heavy weights only after months of training. It's similar here, you are training ...

It is precisely that "trying to keep track of all the factors and hindrances and signs" which prevents jhana, actually prevents access concentration, which is a prerequisite for jhana. You have to train yourself to just focus on the breath, and half-ignore everything else, whatever comes t...