Dear Jeff,

I agree with you. Samatha and Vipassana go hand in hand. One who
can initially get into deep samadhi, can easily progress to
absorptions. Buddha's teaching is simple and he made it clear to
every one. It is we who try to make it difficult. Absolute silence
for meditation may be helpful, but it is not an absolute necessity.
Even in the most noisiest place one can meditate peacefully.
Initially it may be difficult, but as mind gets concentrated the
ouside noise is no more a disturbance.

If a meditator could skip samatha and go directly to Vipassana-dry
meditation, so much the better, but Samatha is a necessary
preliminary stage for other meditators who are not that fortunate.

If meditation is properly followed the Buddha says in Satipatthana
Sutta, one can attain nibbana not in seven years or seven months but
in seven days.

with metta,
Hasituppada



> Hello Ven. Bhikkhu Pesala, and thank-you ever so much for taking
an interest
> in my small endeavors. I am honored that you would send me such a
long post,
> however it seems to be full of strange characters that I think
must be Pali,
> but since I have an old worn out Macintosh computer with many
broken parts I do
> not seem to have the font that you are using, which has rendered
the hard
> work in your response useless to me. However I will endeavor to
decipher this
> other wise excellent post.
>
> I am sorry you find my posts are in error. I am a simple
contemplative who
> speaks from personal experience, and reads a little from the
Pitaka every day
> for inspiration, thus I am sure there are many errors in what I
say.
>
> While you say Devadatta was supposedly accomplished in jhana, it
is hard for
> me to imagine anyone as saturated as I have become in jhana ever
feeling like
> harming anyone, therefore I assume Devadatta could not have been
too deep in
> jhana. Maybe he just had a little taste from time to time.
>
> I do not know why anyone who attained "Lokuttara Dhamma, (would)
even
> contemplate such an act." It is beyond me. He even had the Lord
Buddha himself as a
> teacher, and yet he still went wrong. I guess even the best
teachers must
> learn to put up with the worst of students.
>
> I have found no need to alter the Buddha's discourse on
meditation, or the
> practice of Sati as he described it, however I have found it
necessary to
> challenge what appears to be a few small translation errors
because otherwise these
> suttas are almost useless.
>
> A practice based upon the Buddha's discourses has worked very
effectively for
> me, and it works very effectively for my students, so I do not
know why
> anyone would want to change them. But, then the Buddha himself
had Devadatta who
> went wrong, so I am sure there are others in later days who go
wrong thinking
> they are more sophisticated, so think they can change the
practice. Their
> results are due to their actions. This is what is called karma.
I just endeavor
> to practice and teach what the Buddha taught, as close to what he
taught.
>
> I do not find support in the Discourses of the Buddha for a 'dry'
insight
> practice, so I did not practice it and I do not teach it. That
maybe why a
> simple and ignorant layman, such as this one, in a spiritually
backward nation like
> the USA, can practice according to the Sutta Pitaka and attain all
of the
> jhanas and Lokuttara Dhamma.
>
> Those more sophisticated folk of Asia have all of those wise
teachers who
> have come up with many, many practices that they claim are
superior to the
> historic Buddha's practices. But, if their practices are so much
more superior to
> the Buddha's, then why do they say it takes many thousands of
lifetimes to
> achieve enlightenment? Why do they call themselves Buddhists?
Shouldn't they call
> themselves something else?
>
> The Buddha said it only takes 7 years to attain nibbana, maybe
even less. I
> practiced for 30 years by myself, and it thus took a very long
time to get to
> the little bit if attainment that I have. I can only say that
following the
> Buddha's teachings have given me a pleasant abiding in the here
and now that is
> not born of sense contact. If your practice has done that for
you, then I am
> happy for you. Why then should you bother with this insignificant
and
> impoverished layman who only seeks a bowl of rice once a day, or a
week old loaf of
> bread once a week and a bit of cheap nut butter and honey to
spread on it, and
> maybe a rag to wrap around the body once a year? I am happy to
even park my
> van under a tree, and a hose or river to bath in is fine.
>
> I do not wish to argue with the great and wise Nyanaponika Thera,
when he
> says, that life now is too "hectic and noisy" to cultivating the
absorptions
> (jhanas). But I live in a tiny one bedroom apartment with my
teenage son who
> listens to music in his bedroom, the walls are paper thin, so I
hear the TV next
> door. I live in a city of 900,000 people, it is noise with an air
force base
> near by, and an international airport, and police helicopters over
head, and
> barking dogs, and traffic noise, and noisy neighbors on all
sides. But, I just
> empty myself and let all of the sounds become one sound, and like
Bahiya in
> that emptiness there is no me there. Then there is only jhana-
nimitta and no me.
>
> I find no place in the Sutta Pitaka where it says one develops
either insight
> or absorption separately. Perhaps you could point that place out
to me. In
> my experience and reading of the Sutta Pitaka it is clear that
insight and
> absorption are simply two sides of the same coin. One who has
absorption has
> insight, one who has insight has absorption. There is no insight
without
> absorption. There is no absorption without insight.
>
> Why do you sell a dry practice? How can that satisfy the needs of
the
> people? Their lives are already dry, they want the moisture of
ecstasy and bliss,
> that is why they take drugs and pursue so many silly escapes.
>
> When a religion ceases to serve the needs of a people it is time
for a new
> religion to be born.
>
> Many kind wishes for you,
>
> Jeff Brooks
>
> In a message dated 3/7/04 1:33:34 AM, Pali@yahoogroups.com writes:
>
> << Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2004 08:24:00 -0000
> From: "Bhikkhu Pesala" <pesala@...>
> Subject: Re: Common Misconceptions of Jhana
>
> Jeff, your latest post is full of errors and misconceptions.
Please do not =
>
>
> perpetuate these wrong views. Jhāna was indeed much praised
by the Bud=
>
> dha,
> but it does not necessarily follow that one who can attain
jhāna is
> following the Noble Eightfold Path properly. Was Devadatta not
well
> accomplished in jhāna? Did he not try to kill the Buddha? How
come, if=
>
> he
> had attained to Lokuttara Dhamma, could he even contemplate such
an act?
>
> The way of liberation via paññāvimutti is well known, and
most suitabl=
>
> e
> for modern times when most people do not have the right
perfections, or
> enough time to cultivate jhāna.
>
> "Katamo ca, bhikkhave, puggalo paññāvimutto? Idha, bhikkhave,
ekacco
> puggalo ye te santā vimokkhā atikkamma rüpe äruppä te na
käyena p=
>
> husitvä
> viharati, paññäya cassa disvä äsavä parikkhïnä honti. Ayam
vuccati,
> bhikkhave, puggalo paññävimutto."
>
> "What kind of person is one liberated-by-wisdom? Here some person
does not =
>
>
> contact with the body and abide in those liberations that are
peaceful and =
>
>
> immaterial, transcending forms, but his taints are destroyed by
his seeing =
>
>
> with wisdom. This kind of person is called one liberated-by-
wisdom."
>
> One should encourage the practice of jhana, as deep concentration
is very
> helpful to later gain insight. However, some people can be adept
in jhā=
>
> ;na
> without attaining any insight at all -- as was the case with
Devadatta!
>
> The following important point was made by Nyanaponika Thera
in "The Heart
> of Buddhist meditation:"
>
> *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
>
> "We have to face the fact that, in this hectic and noisy age of
ours, the
> natural quietude of mind, the capacity for higher degrees of
> concentration, and the requisite external conditions to cultivate
both,
> have greatly decreased, compared with the days of old. This holds
good not =
>
>
> only for the West, but also, though in a lesser degree, for the
East, and
> even for a not inconsiderable section of Buddhist monkhood. The
principal
> conditions required for cultivating the Absorptions are seclusion
and
> noiselessness; and these are very rare commodities nowadays. In
addition,
> environment and education have produced an increasing number of
those
> types who will naturally be more attracted by, and adapted to, the
direct
> development of insight.
>
> "Under such circumstances, it would amount to a neglect of
promising roads =
>
>
> of progress if one were to insist rigidly on an exclusive approach
through =
>
>
> the Absorptions, instead of making use of a method emphatically
> recommended by the Buddha himself: a method which is more easily
adaptable =
>
>
> to the current inner and outer conditions, and yet leads to the
aspired
> goal. To make use of it will be a practical application of the
Clear
> Comprehension of Suitability. ...
>
> "These reasons of practicability referred to here, will certainly
have
> contributed to the fact that Satipatthāna has obtained such a
strong h=
>
> old
> on the minds of many in modern Burma. The single-minded
application to the =
>
>
> Way of Mindfulness and the enthusiastic propagation of it, by
Burman
> devotees, are based on the conviction conveyed by personal
experience. The =
>
>
> emphasis which the practice of Satipatthāna receives in
Burma, and in =
>
> the
> pages of this book, is however, not meant to be a discouragement
or
> disparagement of other methods or devices. Satipatthāna would
not be t=
>
> he
> Only Way if it could not encompass them all."
>
> *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
>
> It does a disservice to Buddhism to insist on developing jhänas
before
> insight. Forest monks may be able to spend long hours for
meditation, but
> most monks and nearly all lay people require a more suitable
method for
> their busy lifestyles.
>
> The importance of gaining insight during this waning era of the
> Buddhasäsana cannot be overemphasized. Jhänas can be attained at
any time, =
>
>
> even outside of the Buddha's dispensation, but insight requires
the unique =
>
>
> Satipatthäna method taught by the Buddha, there is no other
method,
> whether one develops jhänas first or not.
>
> Ālāra the Kālāma and Uddaka
Rāmāputta were al=
>
> so adept in jhāna. Unlike
> Devadatta, they were virtuous persons and were also the teachers
of the
> bodhisatta, but they failed to gain enlightenment in this
dispensation
> whereas many ordinary lay persons with no special accomplishments
in
> meditation were able to do so by listening to the Dhamma.
>
> Please refer to Sayādaw Pandita's book "In This Very Life"
and read th=
>
> e
> chapter on the Vipassanā Jhānas. Better still, get
yourself to Bu=
>
> rma and
> ordain under that eminent Sayādaw to practise vipassanā
meditatio=
>
> n under
> his guidance. Your jhānas should lead you quickly to attain
genuine
> insight and the realisation of nibbāna. >>