Keren Arbel Jhana

[Ceisiwr]

I'm half way through her book... excellent read. Keeps to the general 'taste' of the suttas and isn't afraid to highlight outlier 'suttas' that are obviously later additions. Gives very short shrift to Visuddhimagga & Commentaries mainly by pointing out that a lot of their teachings are not only missing from the suttas but in many cases are completely contradictory to the Buddha's teachings. Her approach to jhanas appears to align with my own thoughts and the book is one I could have written myself (if I was a hell of a lot more intelligent ).

The free essay does sum up a lot of her points but her section on the 7 enlightenment factors and alignment with jhanas is well worth a read.

From what I know, her method of meditation is very similar to the Burmese vipassana method. Quite amusing.

[Jack19990101]

Regarding Sound vs first Jhana -
When glancing through, I noticed there is mentioning Thorn of Sound vs Jhana.

Pure speculation and out of individual contemplation -

Thorn of Sound ceases in 1st Jhana, but sound is not ceasing in 1st Jhana.

It means the dramatic sound, would not cause tremor. Not startled.

It also means there is no more conceptual inclination towards sound - No more words.
If somebody talks to u, u gonna struggle to get what he wants.

One will lose ability to form sentences or having hard time in finding word in 1st Jhana.

[Jack19990101]

Speech ceases - it is not 'sound ceases.'

[BrokenBones]

I'm half way through her book... excellent read. Keeps to the general 'taste' of the suttas and isn't afraid to highlight outlier 'suttas' that are obviously later additions. Gives very short shrift to Visuddhimagga & Commentaries mainly by pointing out that a lot of their teachings are not only missing from the suttas but in many cases are completely contradictory to the Buddha's teachings. Her approach to jhanas appears to align with my own thoughts and the book is one I could have written myself (if I was a hell of a lot more intelligent ).

The free essay does sum up a lot of her points but her section on the 7 enlightenment factors and alignment with jhanas is well worth a read.

From what I know, her method of meditation is very similar to the Burmese vipassana method. Quite amusing.

No 'method' of meditation is given... but from reading her book I would be very surprised if that was the case. Perhaps you could give details?

[BrokenBones]

From what I know, her method of meditation is very similar to the Burmese vipassana method. Quite amusing.

No 'method' of meditation is given... but from reading her book I would be very surprised if that was the case. Perhaps you could give details?

Perhaps not

[Alex123]

Rūpa aggregate = any object of the 6 senses.

Rūpa is an object of the 5 senses, not 6. More precisely, it is usually a visible object that is seen through the eyes.

Objects of the 6th sense are 4 aggregates. Or dhamma-ayatana, or dhamma-dhatu.

[Ceisiwr]

Rūpa aggregate = any object of the 6 senses.

Rūpa is an object of the 5 senses, not 6. More precisely, it is usually a visible object that is seen through the eyes.

Objects of the 6th sense are 4 aggregates. Or dhamma-ayatana, or dhamma-dhatu.

Based on MN 28, I disagree.

[Ceisiwr]

From what I know, her method of meditation is very similar to the Burmese vipassana method. Quite amusing.

No 'method' of meditation is given... but from reading her book I would be very surprised if that was the case. Perhaps you could give details?

Perhaps not

Truth be told I completely forgot about it.

[BrokenBones]

No 'method' of meditation is given... but from reading her book I would be very surprised if that was the case. Perhaps you could give details?

Perhaps not

Truth be told I completely forgot about it.

So you just made it up?

[Ceisiwr]

Perhaps not

Truth be told I completely forgot about it.

So you just made it up?

No, I forgot to respond to you.

[frank k]

I've updated my research article on 'viveka'
https://lucid24.org/tped/v/viveka/index.html

Found some interesting sutta references from a sutta central discussion thread, which I"ve incorporated into article.

higlights:

a pre-buddhist 'viveka' where it means differentiation or discrimination.

sujato lists a few references tha he believes show 'viveka' must be physical seclusion.
He also doesn't dispute that there are places where 'viveka' might not be seclusion at all.
I've been collecting suttas that show this.

Where I agree with Sujato that those suttas he site must include physical seclusion, I don't think it's sufficient.
In other words, this is TITWOW syndrome in effect.
Just like PBJ is not a jelly sandwich, nor is it a peanut butter sandwich. It's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
A hunter is not just a tracker, not just a distance weapon expert.
It would be a bad translation to render 'hunter' as 'tracker' or as 'archer'.
If 'hunter' doesn't exist in the target language, then you need to make up a new single term, or use existing terms to make a phrase indicating many attributes are attached to the single word translation.

A prime example of the TITWOW syndrome: upekkha is not JUST equanimity.
It's a state of fourth jhāna or third jhāna upekkha that does vipassana, camly and cooly, in an equanimous manner.
I render 'upekkha' as 'equanimous-observation' to retain the important fact that it does vipassana, capable of liberating insight at any time.

So for viveka, I render it as 'judicious-seclusion', not just 'discerment' or 'seclusion' as if they were mutually exclusive characteristics.