I understand what you're saying. That's what I was taught to believe many years ago.fifthson wrote:There are two types of Arahants - one who attained Arahantship through vipassana (then he or she had no need to gain jahna for the enlightenment), and the one who attained the enlightenment started with samadhi, then vipassana.
So if that Arahant (or the lower level of attainment) is the latter then he or she had the jahna. Jhana is not the requirement for arahantship. The word sammasamadhi=right concentration, vipassana that leads to arahantship is also sammasamadhi by itself (vipassana has no need to have right concentration to the level that gain one of the four jahna).
As I now understand, the concept of Arahant without jhana is acceptable if we are referring to the kind of jhana Visuddhimagga talks about, which is not the same as the 4 jhanas in the Suttas. If you can find any reference in the Suttas on Arahants without jhanas (the Sutta type of course), please let me know.