Samatha and Anatta

The cultivation of calm or tranquility and the development of concentration
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mikenz66
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Re: Samatha and Anatta

Post by mikenz66 »

Twilight wrote:The interview where he admitted not to meditate because meditation gives him a headache is this one: http://www.theravada-dhamma.org/blog/?p=9175
I think that's the same interview I referenced. You seem to be interpreting it differently from me:
Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote: In my own case, under the influence of my early Buddhist teachers, I have wanted to understand Buddhism in detail, in its horizontal extension as well as in its vertical depths. Despite my early ambition to plunge directly into meditation, my destiny seems to have steered me towards teachers who did not exclusively emphasize meditation but rather an integration of study, meditation, and character development. They repeatedly guided me in the direction of slow, gradual, patient practice, utilizing a broad approach to spiritual cultivation, and this has agreed well with my own disposition.
Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote: Regretfully, though, because of my poor merits and the debilitating headache condition, I have not reached any attainments worthy of a true practitioner.
To me this says that he does meditate, but, like most (all?) of us, has no noble fruitions yet...

:anjali:
Mike
Akasha
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Re: Samatha and Anatta

Post by Akasha »

Myotai wrote:Daft question maybe, but how does Samatha and/or Jhana bring about a transformation regarding a realization of Anatta or the Emptiness of self?

Thanks...
Hello,

In the first jhana there is no experience of self or boundary.A self Is not applicable.Because the mind is one pointed it eliminates duality/boundaries/separation/division.When the five senses shuts down completely the "I" vanishes.

Metta
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aflatun
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Re: Samatha and Anatta

Post by aflatun »

The Jhanas the Buddha practiced before his enlightenment are distinct from the Jhanas he used to achieve Awakening and subsequently taught afterwards...

This idea is interesting, but its a stretch to say its clearly articulated in the Suttas.

Another twist on this kind of theory would be the ideas of Bronkhorst. He argues that the formless attainments were squarely rejected by the historical Buddha and the true "Buddhist" Jhanas were originally only J1-J4, the inclusion of the formless attainments being a later intrusion of pre Buddhist ideas back into the mix.

For my own part I find this idea and its variants to be really interesting but based on weak speculation.
"People often get too quick to say 'there's no self. There's no self...no self...no self.' There is self, there is focal point, its not yours. That's what not self is."

Ninoslav Ñāṇamoli
Senses and the Thought-1, 42:53

"Those who create constructs about the Buddha,
Who is beyond construction and without exhaustion,
Are thereby damaged by their constructs;
They fail to see the Thus-Gone.

That which is the nature of the Thus-Gone
Is also the nature of this world.
There is no nature of the Thus-Gone.
There is no nature of the world."

Nagarjuna
MMK XXII.15-16
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