Dear Ven. Pesala,

I had just put down a book I was reading when I got your post and
the particular passage I was on seemed relevant. The book is "The
Heart of Buddhism" by Guy Claxton. It is reccommended by The Ven.
H. Gunaratana's Bhavana Society as the first book Westerners should
read.

From pp. 114-5:

In Buddhism, concentration is always an adjunct to insight. Any
experiences that arise as a result of concentration itself are of
little value, except as signs that concentration practice is going
well. In fact these experiences, makyo they are called in Zen, are a
possible trap, for prolonged fixation on a single object, thought or
sound will produce various kinds of hallucination. These are simply
a psychological phenomenon, which you can easily illustrate for
yourself by repeating the same word over and over to yourself under
your breath. Quite quickly the word seems to change into other words
and sounds, to get louder and softer, and so on. With practice,
concentration can become so intense that all sorts of perceptual and
emotional changes occur. You may have vivid visions of Buddha coming
to talk to you, or experience a bright light that seems to contain
Amazing Grace. Or you may just feel incredibly calm and blissful.
And so on.
Buddhism says that if you become entranced with these phenomena, you
are still working on the same old game plan - trying to cling on to
what is pleasant and avoid what is painful or uncertain - and you
have simply added another set of toys to your collection. At some
point you have to come out this enchanted land of absorption, back
into the real world of bad smells, missed trains and crippling
accidents, and your holiday in heaven won't have helped you to deal
with those at all. When you finally emerge from this state of
contrived and contingent bliss, you will be unchanged. If anything,
you will be even more out of sorts, even more inclined to escapism
than you were before. Zen Buddhism says `If you meet the Buddha on
the road, kill him!', meaning `Don't go off on an ego-trip, or get
caught up in such ephemera.' l remember Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a
teacher from the Hindu tradition, and the man behind Transcendental
Meditation, saying something similar in response to a student who
said she was having visions of meeting Jesus Christ, and what should
she do. Maharishi replied, `Just shake hands, and come back to the
mantra.'

In Buddhism, some ability to keep your attention trained on a
specific object is necessary, because it prevents you from
automatically sliding away from anything that floats into the mind
which is upsetting. To be able to `stare into the face of rising
emotion, as Ngakpa Chogyam, an English meditation teacher n the
Tibetan tradition puts it, is essential if you are to gain insight
into where that emotion comes from. and what it means. Concentration
is a very helpful tool for counteracting evasive and restless habits
of mind. But the flights of fancy that are produced by sustained
absorption are just more things to he observed; they have no value
in themselves. This attitude clearly distinguishes Buddhism from
many other traditions which use forms of mediation where such
experiences are sought and cherished.


Best Wishes,

Paul O'Cuana

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Bhikkhu Pesala" <pesala@...> wrote:
> I am having problems formatting my messages for this group. It
doesn't
> seem to like Pali diacritics. Let me try again.
>
> Jeff, your latest post is full of errors and misconceptions.
Please do
> not perpetuate these wrong views. Jhaana was indeed much praised
by
> the Buddha, but it does not necessarily follow that one who can
attain
> jhaana is following the Noble Eightfold Path properly. Was
Devadatta
> not well accomplished in jhaana? 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 paññaavimutti is well known, and most
> suitable for modern times when most people do not have the right
> perfections, or enough time to cultivate jhaana.
>
> "Katamo ca, bhikkhave, puggalo paññaavimutto? Idha, bhikkhave,
ekacco
> puggalo ye te santaa vimokkhaa atikkamma rüpe äruppä te na käyena
> phusitvä 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 jhaana 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 Satipatthaana has obtained such a
strong
> hold 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
> Satipatthaana 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. Satipatthaana would not be the 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
> Buddhasaasana cannot be overemphasized. Jhänas can be attained at
any
> time, even outside of the Buddha's dispensation, but insight
requires
> the unique Satipatthaana method taught by the Buddha, there is no
> other method, whether one develops jhaanas first or not.
>
> Alaara the Kaalaama and Uddaka Raamaaputta were also adept in
jhaana.
> 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 Sayaadaw Pandita's book "In This Very Life" and
read
> the chapter on the Vipassanaa Jhaanas. Better still, get yourself
to
> Burma and ordain under that eminent Sayaadaw to practise
vipassanaa
> meditation under his guidance. Your jhaanas should lead you
quickly to
> attain genuine insight and the realisation of nibbaana.