How fast can the Arupa Jhanas be achieved?

[dhammarelax]

Hi, I have come across this dhamma talk by Bhante Vimalaramsi where he states (m:38) that 75% of his students are using the loving kindness and they are reaching Arupa Jhanas in seven days, has anyone heard something similar from any other teacher?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvKXaY2Dt3c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Smile all the time
dhammarelax

[Wri]

With respect,

I believe that if you are concerned with specific times it takes to reach attainments, you are directing yourself the wrong way. Perhaps limit your focus to whether the method is likely, unlikely, or useless. Worrying about how fast it will take creates impatience, which is generally a hindrance. So just try it out and see if you notice even small changes. Then stick with it. Enjoy the practice for its own sake rather than that flashy reward, and you'll get the flashy reward

Best wishes.

[Aloka]

With respect,

I believe that if you are concerned with specific times it takes to reach attainments, you are directing yourself the wrong way.

A quote from Ajahn Sumedho:

The jhanas are often spoken of in terms of 'attainment', but it's no attainment at all, it's more like abandoning, or relinquishing. Because jhana is a state when the five hindrances are suppressed or abandoned. By cultivating this spacious, expansive mind, you do actually develop the jhana factors -- like rapture, gladness, etc. -- but they arise naturally, without you trying to attain them.

https://sites.google.com/site/gavesako/ ... hn-sumedho

[SarathW]

Aloka

[SarathW]

It is great Dhamma talk by Ven. Vimalramsi.
Very unconventional.
Thanks for the post.

PS: What is the six R's he is talking about?

[dhammarelax]

It is great Dhamma talk by Ven. Vimalramsi.
Very unconventional.
Thanks for the post.

PS: What is the six R's he is talking about?

Hi SarathW

This is a very short video on the six R's: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeJ2LaF ... e=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

More information can be found here: http://www.dhammasukha.org/the-6rs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

smile all the time
dhammarelax

[Siha]

Hi, I have come across this dhamma talk by Bhante Vimalaramsi where he states (m:38) that 75% of his students are using the loving kindness and they are reaching Arupa Jhanas in seven days, has anyone heard something similar from any other teacher?

I never heard anything like it in my life. A whole week of practice just to get the arupas?!?

I mean I've heard of "slow but sure", but this is ridiculous. Take my advice Ms Dhamma Relax and look out for a faster teacher. You need a turbo-charged thera, not a snail-paced slacker like Bhante Vimalaramsi. Any capable teacher should be able to get you to all the jhanas and arupas in about half an hour at the very most.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

Any capable teacher should be able to get you to all the jhanas and arupas in about half an hour at the very most.

Indeed... my lunch break only goes for half an hour or so.

Metta,
Retro.

[robertk]

Hi, I have come across this dhamma talk by Bhante Vimalaramsi where he states (m:38) that 75% of his students are using the loving kindness and they are reaching Arupa Jhanas in seven days, has anyone heard something similar from any other teacher?

I never heard anything like it in my life. A whole week of practice just to get the arupas?!?

I mean I've heard of "slow but sure", but this is ridiculous. Take my advice Ms Dhamma Relax and look out for a faster teacher. You need a turbo-charged thera, not a snail-paced slacker like Bhante Vimalaramsi. Any capable teacher should be able to get you to all the jhanas and arupas in about half an hour at the very most.

[Wri]

Hi, I have come across this dhamma talk by Bhante Vimalaramsi where he states (m:38) that 75% of his students are using the loving kindness and they are reaching Arupa Jhanas in seven days, has anyone heard something similar from any other teacher?

I never heard anything like it in my life. A whole week of practice just to get the arupas?!?

I mean I've heard of "slow but sure", but this is ridiculous. Take my advice Ms Dhamma Relax and look out for a faster teacher. You need a turbo-charged thera, not a snail-paced slacker like Bhante Vimalaramsi. Any capable teacher should be able to get you to all the jhanas and arupas in about half an hour at the very most.

True facts, I've actually gotten into a Jhana in 20 minutes once.

Once.

And it was by accident.

The first Jhana I ever had, way back in my first year of Buddhism, was much better and lasted hours.

It was also by accident.

[dhammarelax]

With respect,

I believe that if you are concerned with specific times it takes to reach attainments, you are directing yourself the wrong way. Perhaps limit your focus to whether the method is likely, unlikely, or useless. Worrying about how fast it will take creates impatience, which is generally a hindrance. So just try it out and see if you notice even small changes. Then stick with it. Enjoy the practice for its own sake rather than that flashy reward, and you'll get the flashy reward

Best wishes.

Hi Wri

I am not specially concerned with the speed of the attainments, I just find this teaching to be very interesting because is a concrete and "fresh" approach.

Also I get to hear and read some passages from the Suttas that I find intriguing to say the least, for example in MN 38 "...this Dhamma which is ... immediately effective..",in MN 148 "Now while this discourse was being spoken, through not clinging the minds of sixty bhikkhus were liberated from the taints.", in MN 111 "During half a month, bhikkhus, Sariputta gained insight into states one by one as they occurred".

This Suttas seem to point in the same direction.

smile all the time
dhammarelax

[manas]

How 'fast' can any jhana be achieved...well I'm not sure it's a race but I do know I'll take a little peace of mind over the arupa jhanas any day.

[Aloka]

Some comments from Ajahn Amaro's Book "Small Boat, Great Mountain" in Chapter 4 "Cessation of Consciousness":

One of the great meditation masters of Thailand, Venerable Ajahn Tate, was such an adept at concentration that, as soon as he sat down to meditate, he would go straight into arupa-jhana, formless states of absorption. It took him 12 years after he met his teacher, Venerable Ajahn Mun, to train himself not to do that and to keep his concentration at a level where he could develop insight.

In those formless states, it is just so nice. It’s easy to ask: “What’s the point of cultivating wise reflection or investigating the nature of experience? The experience itself is so seamlessly delicious, why bother?”

The reason we bother is that those are not dependable states. They are unreliable and they are not ours.

http://forestsanghapublications.org/ass ... _Amaro.pdf

[Siha]

True facts, I've actually gotten into a Jhana in 20 minutes once.

Yeah? Congratulations then.

Keep working at it and I guess some day you'll be equal of my daughter's two guinea pigs. On the left is Tamara who is a master of the kasinas and on the right is Thomas who has been in a state of uninterrupted samadhi since the day he was born. As you can see, Thomas's hair has grown like that Buddha Boy in Nepal.

dhyana masters.jpg (217.04 KiB) Viewed 4254 times

[Aloka]

True facts, I've actually gotten into a Jhana in 20 minutes once.

Yeah? Congratulations then.

Keep working at it and I guess some day you'll be equal of my daughter's two guinea pigs.

On the left is Tamara who is a master of the kasinas and on the right is Thomas who has been in a state of uninterrupted samadhi since the day he was born. As you can see, Thomas's hair has grown like that Buddha Boy in Nepal.

Ahww,wonderful expression on Tamara's face, cant really see Thomas's unfortunately!


Thanks for sharing, Siha.