OP wrote
Wouldn't this mean there were people in the world who had more natural wisdom and mastery over the mind than the Buddha did?
The suttas that you picked from the Pali canon, AN 9.36 and MN 52, which create such thoughts in you?
did it not occur to you that there is something radically wrong with these suttas
that include the Arupa samapatthis (stuff that was practiced way before Buddha awakened, tried and failed) as Buddha's teachings. There are many suttas eighty or ninety??? that speak of awakening without Arupa samapatthis' assistance.
It puzzled me for a long time why we have a bunch of suttas like AN 9.36??? in the sutta Pitaka. Might not this be the work of Vibajjavadins? It is impossible that Sthaviras wrote or transmitted orally such suttas.
Did Buddha teach the Arupas? It is impossible, since he also taught Paticca Samuppada. These two are totally in conflict with each other.
According to Buddha Nama-rupa needs to be got rid of, and worldly consciousness, in order to terminate suffering.
Can you pl explain how Arupa samapatthis lead to deletion of Nama-rupa, and termination of suffering?
Were there
people in the world who had more natural wisdom and mastery over the mind than the Buddha did?
you wrote.
Are you referring to Alara Kalama and Uddakaramaputta? or the Jain masters?
With love