The question is can rupa jhana proper even be cultivated without the abandoning of the hinderances? Can the hindrances even be abandoned without right effort and right mindfulness? The jhāna forumulas specifically talk about abandoning hindrances, but I don't see anything specifically Buddhist abou...

Why wasn’t he able to end the fermentations under the teachings of the two teachers? Because of a lack of insight, because at that time he was steeped in their doctrines (views). Hmm. This would suggest that “wrong” samadhi could still be rupa jhana proper, albeit without the effective causal power...

If it’s the case that Alara Kalama knew of the jhanas and possibly taught them to Gautama, I think we have to wonder what was different in Gautama’s case such that, upon emerging from the fourth jhana, he was able to develop the three super knowledges (including the ending of the fermentations). Wh...

It would be good if you could point out why. We are talking about Right Jhana aren't we? It’s the same experience. Yes, same experience, wrong interpretation. Obviously the Buddha-to-be didn't have right view as a child. “To him another says: ‘There is, good sir, such a self as you assert. That I d...

Yeah. I was utterly depressed at the time. I was a young adult. And I decided to meditate on a candle flame. As I watched it I believed I could control it. The more demented I became with this thought the sicker I became in the head. Your issue is one of control. You believe that by controlling some...

Sorry to revive an old thread, I just wanted to address the accusations about impropriety and being ejected from Sri Lanka, as they are to the best of my knowledge without any basis. I left Sri Lanka after almost dying from Dengue fever, there are many people who can confirm that - getting dengue a...

"When the mind was thus concentrated, purified, bright, unblemished, rid of defilement, pliant, malleable, steady, & attained to imperturbability, I directed it to the knowledge of the ending of the mental fermentations This is description of Nibbana realized after emerging from fourth jha...

The following argument will suggest that Alara Kalama and Udakka Ramaputa did NOT know the jhanas. Questions are outstanding on how the Buddha reached Nothingness and Neither Nor through the teachings of his initial teachers WITHOUT the jhanas. The jhana formulas have the first four rupa jhanas and ...

the thing is, nobody knows what these four jhānas truly are. Every practitioner, scholar and teacher has their own version. And there are so-called "Buddhaghosa jhānas " -- the way jhānas are understood in the orthodox or classical Theravāda tradition. It is said that a practitioner can n...

At the age of thirty I began working a job that involved carrying ladders, propping up 40 ft ladders. Climbing up these ladders, doing grunt work, then taking the whole thing down. I did this labour for five years. Three years in I developed an extreme sciatica. This inflammation of the sciatic ner...

https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.072.than.html "How is it, Master Gotama, when Master Gotama is asked if the monk reappears... does not reappear... both does & does not reappear... neither does nor does not reappear, he says, '...doesn't apply' in each case. At this point, Mas...

I saw the mark of ill. When I focused into reality I saw that the manner of consciousness is to cling. Everything that is consciousness or perception is a type of clinging. It is a sickness; subject to change. I have also seen extreme anxiety in the utter dissolution of reality before my eyes. There...

At the age of thirty I began working a job that involved carrying ladders, propping up 40 ft ladders. Climbing up these ladders, doing grunt work, then taking the whole thing down. I did this labour for five years. Three years in I developed an extreme sciatica. This inflammation of the sciatic nerv...

I can think of a couple answers. The first is that dependent origination is a “process description” and not a “temporal description”. You can view the existence of the body as a given and then sort out the process which continues the wheel of suffering. When the process is discontinued in the presen...

Greetings Pondera, But to become even established in right view, some amount of wisdom which has been cultivated on the basis of leaving the jhanas is necessary. Is this based on your own thoughts and experiences, or something you're claiming can be found in the Buddha's discourses? Metta, Paul. :)...