SarathW had said:
This is one of the biggest damage done by Ven. Abhaya.
One of my friends went to his workshop and claimed that she also attained Jhana.
This is irresponsible propaganda!
By the way, the video is in the English language you all can evaluate this yourself.
Just because someone cannot attain
jhanas, it is not logical to say
jhanas cannot be attained by anyone.
Jhanas correspond to
brahma realms in this world. They can be attained by at least suppressing
kama raga even without
magga phala.
Jhanic states have clearly defined characteristics. In particular, at the fourth
jhana: "“Great king, suppose a man were to be sitting covered from the head down by a white cloth, so that there would be no part of his entire body not suffused by the white cloth. In the same way, great king, the bhikkhu sits suffusing his body with a pure bright mind, so that there is no part of his entire body not suffused by a pure bright mind.."
The above is from the Sutta Central translation of DN2,
Sāmaññaphala Sutta.
That fourth
jhana has been experienced by many people in recent days, and their descriptions match the above
sutta description. The Swedish lady's description matches that too. It may not be very clear since both that lady and Abhaya Thero are not very good in speaking English.
I don't know whether those who have attained
jhana have
magga phala or not. That cannot be determined just by being able to get to
jhanas.
Jhanas and
magga phala are two different things. One can attain
magga phala without attaining
jhanas too.
Furthermore, it is also a myth that
magga phala cannot be attained these days. Of course
magga phala cannot be attained by misinterpreting
anicca as just impermanence or
anatta as "no-self". One needs to see the unfruitfulness (and the dangers) in pursuing material things (sense pleasures) in this world to attain
magga phala, i.e., one needs to see the
anicca nature.
Anicca is much deeper than just impermanence.