Hi,

I had several windows opened at once and it took me some time to find
the link below again...having read it, I just wanted to say that
although it's true that many proponents of the "vipassana method" are
quite agressive...that's actually what turned me off in the beginning,
making me think that perhaps they can't attain the jhanas, so they are
saying it is not needed...but whatever the case may be for those
people, there are kind and quiet people out there, who have attained
the jhanas, but still support the "vipassana" method. Unfortunately
they are the ones you don't hear from.

How do you explain those in the Suttas in whom the eye of the Dhamma
"whatever is subject to arising, all that is subject to ceasing" arose
after hearing the Buddha preach? Had they all previously attained jhanas?

I remember reading somewhere, perhaps in one of his biographies, that
Ajahn Mun said that there are many things outside the Tipitaka that
are true. Only the mind can know, as the Tipitaka came from no where
else but a well-developed mind.

Thanks,
June

> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Jhanas/message/7720
> ven. Sujato: It is sad, and not a little weird, how attachment to
> meditation techniques generates such anger. I try to approach the
> matter through remaining cool and relying on the facts, without
> buying into personal stuff. There is a strong vipassana bent in
> Sydney where i live; in fact Mahasi and Goenka dominate the whole
> scene. It is important to positively encourage good relations and
> mutual help in other areas, even if we disagree about meditation.
>
> In Western terms, vipassana develops IQ [Intelligence Quota] but not
> EQ [Emotional Quota], and this causes dislocation and imbalance in
> the community. I think historically this was a result of an attempt
> to rationalize meditation in the wake of the colonial challenge. In
> other words, the vipassanavada is a modern western-influenced idea,
> not an authentic tradition at all.
>
> In my opinion, the whole vipassanavada thing is a big 20th Century
> furphy: it could only arise in a context where the suttas were
> subordinated to the commentaries, and with increasing awareness of
> the suttas it will soon enough disappear. People will look back at
> this odd episode and shake their heads in wonder at how the supposed
> most orthodox of orthodoxies managed to convince the world that the
> Buddha taught a sevenfold path.
>
> [furphy (aussie slang) n.(pl.furphies) 1 a false report or rumour. 2
> an absurd story]
> in Dhamma,
> Bhante sujato
>
> ________
>
> I would like to look at this in some detail if you feel interested. I
> have written several posts over the last few years on sukkhavipassaka.
> Robertk