Hi June,

I've pasted together a few key paragraphs from Thanissaro's essay,
that I think summarize it better than I could:

" ...
Almost any book on early Buddhist meditation will tell you that the
Buddha taught two types of meditation: samatha and vipassana. Samatha,
which means tranquillity, is said to be a method fostering strong
states of mental absorption, called jhana. Vipassana -- literally
"clear-seeing," but more often translated as insight meditation -- is
said to be a method using a modicum of tranquillity to foster
moment-to-moment mindfulness of the inconstancy of events as they are
directly experienced in the present.
...
But if you look directly at the Pali discourses -- the earliest extant
sources for our knowledge of the Buddha's teachings -- you'll find
that although they do use the word samatha to mean tranquillity, and
vipassana to mean clear-seeing, they otherwise confirm none of the
received wisdom about these terms. Only rarely do they make use of the
word vipassana -- a sharp contrast to their frequent use of the word
jhana. When they depict the Buddha telling his disciples to go
meditate, they never quote him as saying "go do vipassana," but always
"go do jhana." And they never equate the word vipassana with any
mindfulness techniques. In the few instances where they do mention
vipassana, they almost always pair it with samatha -- not as two
alternative methods, but as two qualities of mind that a person may
"gain" or "be endowed with," and that should be developed together.
...
So the proper path is one in which vipassana and samatha are brought
into balance, each supporting and acting as a check on the other.
...
samatha and vipassana are not separate paths of practice, but instead
are complementary ways of relating to the present moment: samatha
provides a sense of ease in the present; vipassana, a clear-eyed view
of events as they actually occur, in and of themselves.
...
Vipassana is not a meditation technique. It's a quality of mind -- the
ability to see events clearly in the present moment. Although
mindfulness is helpful in fostering vipassana, it's not enough for
developing vipassana to the point of total release. Other techniques
and approaches are needed as well. In particular, vipassana needs to
be teamed with samatha -- the ability to settle the mind comfortably
in the present -- so as to master the attainment of strong states of
absorption, or jhana. Based on this mastery, samatha and vipassana are
then applied to a skillful program of questioning, called appropriate
attention, directed at all experience: exploring events not in terms
of me/not me, or being/not being, but in terms of the four noble
truths. The meditator pursues this program until it leads to a
fivefold understanding of all events: in terms of their arising, their
passing away, their drawbacks, their allure, and the escape from them.
Only then can the mind taste release.
..."

Metta, John

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "junet9876" <junet9876@...> wrote:
> Hi John
>
> Would you mind summarizing the essay into a paragraph or so, since
> it's clear to you, but I can't understand so clearly the exact path to
> Nirvana as Thanissaro Bhikkhu is trying to explain it. Because I
> looked at it, and a nice essay it is indeed, and it seems he is trying
> to say you need both, which I totally agree but probably in a
> different way.
>
> Thanks,
> June
>
> --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "John Kelly" <palistudent@...> wrote:
> > Dear friends,
> >
> > Thanissaro Bhikkhu has written an excellent and, for me, clarifying,
> > essay on this very topic:
> > http://accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/onetool.html
> >
> > With metta,
> > John