Mojo wrote:My understanding is that the commentaries teach deep states of absorption where vipassana would not be possible. I believe sutta jhana would be more akin to access concentration?

No, sutta Jhanas and access concentration are not the same. All five Jhana factors are present in Sutta Jhanas.

Given the ways of samsara, it seems inevitable that there comes a point where one has to defend one's religion even with violent means. I doubt those monks want to cause harm; it just appears that the situation has progressed to the point where, for worldly intents and purposes , nothing except vio...

I'm really just looking a signpost that I'm doing the first four steps in such a way that will allow me to progress further. Piti and sukkha seem like sign posts to me. Although piti and sukkha are indeed major signposts, the less exciting ones are simple things like how many breaths you can follow...

Most traditional anapanasati practice works in the sutta Jhana framework - sometimes people call these "Vipassana Jhanas." Deep Jhana is hardly suitable for insight!

I dislike fake Buddha quotes that misrepresent the Dhamma in any way; however, I also realize that the suttas are not the most easily quotable scriptures on Earth, and recognize the value in earnest paraphrases.

I would suggest continuing in your practice until you reach some level of piti or sukkha, ideally Jhana. It may be beneficial to take up walking meditation as well, to satisfy the urge for more bare insight practice that doesn't interfere with your on-the-cushion work.

hahah Arahunting.

There are a few teachers rumored to be enlightened in the modern world today, but too much speculation on the issue is often considered unwholesome.

This is almost certainly a reference to MN 37 (repeated in sutta 61 of the Anguttara's book of sevens) where Sakka asks, "In brief, how is a bhikkhu liberated in the destruction of craving? " and the Buddha replies, "A bhikkhu who has heard that nothing is worth clinging to as me, I, ...

"It's not a totally different "I". It's not like one ball stops rolling, hits another, and the other starts rolling. It's the same ball still." isn't this problematic in terms of impermanence? No, not really. A river is different every moment, but it doesn't become completely di...

When people think about about a being that just died and where it was reborn in a third person perspective they often run into this confusion about how the two beings are related. But if you imagine what rebirth would be like from a first person perspective then there isn't any issue. One experienc...

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.107.horn.html "Now, on being exhorted thus and instructed thus by the good Gotama, do all the good Gotama's disciples attain the unchanging goal[8] — nibbana or do some not attain it?" "Some of my disciples, brahman, on being exhorted and ...

What if you knew that at midnight tonight, someone would knock you with a hammer, erase your memory, and then torture you horribly? Would you be concerned about your relationship with the post-amnesia person or would you realize that, however the connection metaphysically "works," the suff...

The Buddha is simply saying that an eternalist believes that the mind is permanent. The Buddha, of course, was not an eternalist.

As others have said, the precepts here are mostly related to making sure that the mediator has a clear and unimpeded mind. I find that meditation is, for most, far easier when one eats little and avoids things that distract the mind; music,singing, dancing, and other things are not immoral, but they...

http://32parts.com/

This is a very helpful site, but of course I second the advice given by Ben and Tilt.