Hi Steve,

Stream-entry is also 'supermundane path and fruition', so the passage
you cited does not refer to the attainment of Nibbana.

There is no argument that stream-entry is attainble without jhana.

"... a certain person is complete in virtues, incomplete in
concentration and incomplete in wisdom. Destroying three bonds he
transmigrates as a human or god the most seven times and makes end of
unpleasantness. Saariputta, this is the eighth person who dies with
substratum, released, from hell, from animal birth, from the sphere of
ghosts and released from loss and hellish births."

However further progress requires completion of concentration
development, see "Sa-upaadisesasutta.m - With substratum remaining", AN
4.378.

http://metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/4Anguttara-Nikaya/Anguttara6/09-navakanipata/002-sihanadavaggo-e.htm

Regards, Dmytro

> If you take the Pali Canon to be the Tipitaka, then yes, I do believe
> there are statements found in the Pali Canon that support the
> attainment of Nibbana without the attainment of rupa or arupa jhanas.
> This passage from the Puggalapa~n~nati is perhaps the best example I
> have come across>
>
> ======
> How does a person attain the higher wisdom of insight into things but
> not the inner tranquillity of mind?
> Here a certain person is an attainer of the *supermundane path and
> fruition*, but not of ecstatic meditation accompanied by an idea of
> form or the idea of formlessness. In this way a person attains the
> higher wisdom of insight into things but not the inner tranquillity
> of mind.
>
> Katha~nca puggalo laabhii hoti
> adhipa~n~naadhammavipassanaaya, na laabhii ajjhatta.m
> cetosamathassa?
>
> Idhekacco puggalo laabhii hoti lokuttaramaggassa vaa phalassa
> vaa, na laabhii ruupasahagataana.m vaa aruupasahagataana.m vaa
> samaapattiina.m.
>
> Eva.m puggalo laabhii hoti adhipa~n~naadhammavipassanaaya, na laabhii
> ajjhatta.m cetosamathassa.
> ====
>
>
> It seems that the following passage from Majjhima Nikaya also
> supports the attainment of of at least Stream-entry without the
> attainment of rupa and arupa jhanas.
>
>>From Culadukkhakkhandha Sutta MN14
>
> "Even though a *Noble disciple* has seen clearly as it actually is
> with proper wisdom how sensual pleasures provide little
> gratification,much suffering, and much despair, and how great is the
> danger in them, as long as he still does not attain to the rapture
> and pleasure that are apart from sensual pleasures,apart from
> unwholesome states, or to something more peaceful than that, he may
> still be attracted to sensual pleasures."
>
> Bhikkhu Bodhis notes on the passage from his Majjhima translation>
>
> The "rapture and pleasure that are apart from sensual pleasures" are
> the rapture and pleasure pertaining to the first and second jhanas;
> the states "more peaceful than that" are the higher jhanas.
>
> Rgrds
> Steve.