Hi Dmytro
I'm not sure if you've over-stated how Ajahn Brahm characerises the Jhanas as "cessations". He's certainly been careful to qualify those statements as pointing to the proximity of the jhanas to Nibbana, but I don't see him actually stating that the Jhanas are Nibbana.
So, I am not sure why you say -
However Brahmavamso clearly conflates this epithet of Nibbana with Nirodha-samapatti:
If you pluck out one quote in isolation, off course the statement made by Ajahn Brahm looks uncanonical. But elsewhere, he makes clear that the cessations that are Jhana are temporary.
While "nirodha" is an epithet of Nibbana, "nirodha" is also an epithet for the Jhanas and the formless attainments as attested here in AN 9.(30?) -
Anupubbanirodhasutta
“Navayime, bhikkhave, anupubbanirodhā. Katame nava? Paṭhamaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa kāmasaññā niruddhā hoti; dutiyaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa vitakkavicārā niruddhā honti; tatiyaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa pīti niruddhā hoti; catutthaṃ jhānaṃ samāpannassa assāsapassāsā niruddhā honti; ākāsānañcāyatanaṃ samāpannassa rūpasaññā niruddhā hoti; viññāṇañcāyatanaṃ samāpannassa ākāsānañcāyatanasaññā niruddhā hoti; ākiñcaññāyatanaṃ samāpannassa viññāṇañcāyatanasaññā niruddhā hoti; nevasaññānāsaññāyatanaṃ samāpannassa ākiñcaññāyatanasaññā niruddhā hoti; saññāvedayitanirodhaṃ samāpannassa saññā ca vedanā ca niruddhā honti. Ime kho, bhikkhave, nava anupubbanirodhā”ti.
The point in reinforced by the Buddha in SN 36.11 -
"Well spoken, monk, well spoken! While three feelings have been taught by me, the pleasant, the painful and the neutral,
yet I have also said that whatever is felt is within suffering. This, however, was stated by me with reference to the impermanence of (all) conditioned phenomena. I have said it because conditioned phenomena are liable to destruction, to evanescence, to fading away, to cessation and to change. It is with reference to this that I have stated: 'Whatever is felt is within suffering.'
"I have further taught, monk, the gradual cessation of conditioned phenomena (anupubbasaṅkhārānaṃ nirodho). In him who has attained the first meditative absorption, speech has ceased. Having attained the second absorption, thought-conception and discursive thinking has ceased. Having attained the third absorption, joy has ceased. Having attained the fourth absorption, inhalation and exhalation have ceased. Having attained the sphere of the infinity of space, perception of form has ceased. Having attained the sphere of the infinity of consciousness, the perception of the sphere of the infinity of space has ceased. Having attained the sphere of no-thingness, the perception of the sphere of infinity of consciousness has ceased. Having attained the sphere of neither-perception-nor-non-perception, the perception of the sphere of no-thingness has ceased. Having attained the cessation of perception and feeling, perception and feeling have ceased. In a taint-free monk greed has ceased, hatred has ceased, delusion has ceased.
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka ... .html#fn-3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
These cessations, according to DN 9 come about as training, as part of how the Buddha envisaged abhisaññānirodha in His teaching -
"Seeing that these five hindrances have been abandoned within him, he becomes glad. Glad, he becomes enraptured. Enraptured, his body grows tranquil. His body tranquil, he is sensitive to pleasure. Feeling pleasure, his mind becomes concentrated.
"Quite withdrawn from sensual pleasures, withdrawn from unskillful mental qualities, the monk enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. His earlier perception of sensuality ceases, and on that occasion there is a perception of a refined truth of rapture & pleasure born of seclusion. On that occasion he is one who is percipient of a refined truth of rapture & pleasure born of seclusion. And thus it is that with training one perception arises and with training another perception ceases. (etc etc for the other attainments, before we reach Nirodha Samapatti
....
"Now, when the monk is percipient of himself here, then from there to there, step by step, he touches the peak of perception. As he remains at the peak of perception, the thought occurs to him, 'Thinking is bad for me. Not thinking is better for me. If I were to think and will, this perception of mine would cease, and a grosser perception would appear. What if I were neither to think nor to will?' So he neither thinks nor wills, and as he is neither thinking nor willing, that perception ceases and another, grosser perception does not appear. He touches cessation (So nirodhaṃ phusati). This, Potthapada, is how there is the alert step-by step attainment of the ultimate cessation of perception.
I agree with you when you say-
Nirodha as an epithet of Nibbana is the cessation of suffering (dukkha-nirodha), the cessation of all defilements (sabba-kilesa-nirodha). This cessation of suffering does not require any shutting off of experience, but can be experienced in an awake and present state.
But judging from the suttas above, it seems that the Buddha Himself was sometimes apt to use "nirodha" to describe the stages of the path. I think that when the Buddha Himself used "nirodha" loosely, the point was to encourage the listener, and not fret overly on the technical sense.
Both senses are valid - they just function differently, at different times.
As for the citations you furnished for your belief that one can be attached to the Jhanas, let's look at them-
MN 36 -
"I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. But the pleasant feeling that arose in this way did not invade my mind or remain."
I don't get your point. Are you suggesting that because the Buddha said the above, the possibility of the opposite could be true? I don't believe that to be the case, since there is no logical apparatus by which one can validly infer that because the Bodhisatta was unaffected by jhanic sukha, the possibility exists that jhanic sukha could affect a jhanalabhi. The context of the Bodhisatta's re-acquaintance with the 1st Jhana was preceded by his recollection of his childhood experience -
"I thought: 'I recall once, when my father the Sakyan was working, and I was sitting in the cool shade of a rose-apple tree, then — quite secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful mental qualities — I entered & remained in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born from seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. Could that be the path to Awakening?' Then following on that memory came the realization: 'That is the path to Awakening.' I thought: 'So why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities?' I thought: 'I am no longer afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensuality, nothing to do with unskillful mental qualities, but that pleasure is not easy to achieve with a body so extremely emaciated.
As for MN 111, it's the same logical non-sequitor as above. Just because Ven Sariputta remained unattracted and unrepelled to those jhanic states, does not imply that someone could be attracted or repelled. Is there some logical maneuver here which I'm not au fait with?
I agree with MN 106. It's either bhavatanha or vibhavatanha at work. But the attachment seems to take place outside of Jhana, where the clinging is to equanimity as a feeling that flows from thoughts. We're still having a debate in the other thread about the place of "thoughts" in the jhanas.
As for MN 138, I've given my thought here -
http://www.dhammawheel.com/viewtopic.ph ... 60#p118473" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;