Dear John,

Sadhu to your gentle wisdom, which shows you are a very happy person, too. I evcen hazard to say that you smile often. I notice the Forest Monks, pupils of Ajahn Chah (like he himself), often smile naturally, and are every patient in their answers to questions from the laity.

I have personally benefitted from Mahasi Sayadaw's teachings and also from Ajahn Brahm. If we forget the wordy rhetoric, I see almost no problems in terms of actual practice.

However, I sometimes wonder why the "vipassana" monks of Burma hardly smile (not in their portraits, anyway). Are they happy? The Buddha is depicted in the Suttas as gently smiling (showing only a bit of his teeth).

Thanks again for you positive thoughts.

Sukhi

Piya

--- John Kelly <palistudent@...> wrote:

> 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
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