Re: Anomalies in the suttas?

Dear Khristos,

I would be interested in hearing what others have to say, but in my experience,
in the advanced stages of meditation and total relaxation/peacefulness, breath
becomes so miniscule that one could say (with some metaphoric licencse) that it
ceases,

Metta, Bryan







________________________________
From: k_nizamis <nizamisk@...>
To: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Sat, July 17, 2010 10:54:01 PM
Subject: [palistudy] Anomalies in the suttas?

  
Dear friends,

in the course of my study and research (focussed mainly on the Suttanta Piṭaka)
I'm encountering what seem in one way or another to be 'anomalies' - or at least
'surprises' - in some of the texts.  I'd like to inquire about some of these,
because there is a question here about whether, and how, some texts should be at
least temporarily 'bracketed' because of such anomalies, in comparison to
others, even within the Suttanta Piṭaka.  That in itself is obviously a deep
question and problem: I'm not ready to tackle that one, but fortunately, it
doesn't really affect what I'm primarily working on.

The first example, which I'll put in this post, is a very small one, but still
rather peculiar.  Has anyone come across any further textual 'evidence' that
would support (or categorically refute) what 'seems' to be the 'obvious' sense
of the following:
SN IV.2.2.1 Rahogata Sutta (36.11; PTS S iv.216) has:

atha kho pana, bhikkhu, mayā anupubbasaṅkhārānaṃ nirodho akkhāto.  paṭhamaṃ
jhānaṃ samāpannassa vācā niruddhā hoti.  dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa
vitakkavicārā niruddhā honti.  tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa pīti niruddhā hoti. 
catutthaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa assāsapassāsā niruddhā honti.  (etc.)

(A quick search on the wonderful DPR shows a repetition of this formulation in A
iv.409, and Abhi 5.2.2.(14)5.)

It's the last sentence in this quotation that I'm curious about: "catutthaṃ
jhānaṃ samāpannassa assāsapassāsā niruddhā honti."  Am I to understand, here,
that in the fourth jhāna, inhalation and exhalation cease??

Even internally to the doctrine itself, let alone more mundane practical
reasons, this seems strange, because of the fact that it is usually stated that
breathing stops during saññāvedayitanirodha: i.e., the  kāyasaṅkhārā are the
first to cease upon entering saññāvedayitanirodha.

I will look at the commentary, next, but I'm curious to know how the more
seasoned deal with such seeming 'anomalies'.


Metta,
Krhistos






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