Fruit of the Contemplative Life
Fruit of the contemplative life: => Samadhi => : trjones June 30, 2014, 11:58:59 PM
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http://mirror1.birken.ca/dhamma_talks/indiv/Khema/04/1050._Ayya_Khema_The_eight_jhanas_Bodhinyana_monastery_16.3..mp3
I found this to be a wonderful Dhamma exposition on the 8 Jhanas from Theravadan (Thai Forest tradition) Buddhist nun Ayya Khema given in 1994. She mentions St. Theresa, translation errors, her marginalization from others in Buddhist community, and other things relevant to our discussion here. As she states "Jhana is the means to Nibbana." She has a deep understanding and experience of Dhamma combined with a sweet, soft energy. I resonate with her understanding and experience of the 8 Jhanas.
Enjoy.
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As she states "Jhana is the means to Nibbana."
I agree.
She also states In the Majjhima nikaya the Buddha stated "jhana is a pleasure I will allow myself."
I also agree with this.
On the other hand I found her discourse was too oriented toward the Vissudhimagga for my taste.
She also states key to jhana is to drop the attention upon the breath at the right moment and bring one's attention upon the piiti (delightful sensation).
I agree.
She also defines vitakka as "initial application," and viccara as "sustained application."
I agree
She sayssuppression does not work, but we must replace sensual pleasure with the pleasure of jhana.
I agree
I wish I had heard this 1994 Ayya Khema jhana discourse (http://mirror1.birken.ca/dhamma_talks/indiv/Khema/04/1050._Ayya_Khema_The_eight_jhanas_Bodhinyana_monastery_16.3..mp3), because it would have saved me a lot of time and trouble.
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I can imagine. I suppose it may be some consolation to know you haven't been entirely alone for the last 20 years :)
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Yes, thanks, trjones; however, I have been a contemplative all along, and I met people from time to time who got a lot more out of their daily practice of meditation than most; who never got their meditation experiences validated by meditation teachers either. We helped each other to understand what was happening, or recommended the odd book, such as Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross.
I finished listening to the entire recorded talk. While I found her description of the 4 material absorptions (rupa-jhanas) reasonably accurate, and suggestive of jhana as an experience, not just a mental projection, or technique. Whereas, I found her description of the 4 immaterial absorptions (arupa-jhanas) not very accurate, and strongly suggestive of mental projection.
I appreciated that she frequently used the term 'absorption' for jhana, which suggests the experiential; however, she did frequently use the term 'concentration' for jhana as well, which I belief is a gross mistranslation. I especially appreciated her interpretation of Vitaka and Viccara, and her comment about how it is commonly mistranslated.
Vitaka is initial application on the meditation subject...
Viccara is continued application on the meditation subject...
They are unfortunately wrongly translated.
Toward the end there is a question from the audience regarding someone's interpretation of something related to jhana, something vertical. I found Ayya Khema's response interesting, but since I could not hear the question I was not completely sure what her response of negating the vertical meant. However, I believe that she was referring to Ub Ba Kin, who was Goenka's teacher, and who seemed to be very negative on jhana.