For example:
- mental noting <-> silently observing
jhana is necessary for awakening <-> dry vipassana
the Buddha declared the four rupa-jhanas as samma samadhi and he didn't teach a sevenfold path <-> momentary and/or access concentration are sufficient
not everyone can attain jhana / jhana is impossible nowadays <-> everyone can attain jhana, some even in a very short time
Sayadaw U Pandita's distinction between vipassana jhanas and samatha jhanas <-> every other description of the jhanas
the description of the jhanas in the suttas is different from the jhanas in the commentaries <-> the commentarial description of the jhanas is the same as in the suttas
you have to practice samatha before doing vipassana <-> dry vipassana <-> samatha and vipassana aren't two separated systems
don't practice samatha it just leads to a blissful feeling and to rebirth as a deva <-> samatha and vipassana aren't two separated systems
if you want to practice vipassana you should watch the movement of the abdomen or chest as your primary object because the breath is a concept and therefore a samatha object <-> you can also observe the elements commonly labeled as 'breath' while they are touching your nostrils
body sweeping is just a warm-up exercise <-> Goenka's approach
The phrase "... putting aside greed & distress with reference to the world" in the opening of the satipatthana sutta indicates that one has to attain a jhana and emerge from it first before doing satipatthana vipassana <-> the satipatthana sutta is the defintion of dry vipassana
The satipatthana sutta is the crown of the Buddha's teachings <-> the Buddha never taught the satipatthana sutta. It's rather a compilation of meditation instructions made by meditation teachers after the Buddha's parinibbana
etc.
Anyway, in the last months I tried various meditation techniques. Everytime I read something inspiring (e.g. some books by Ayya Khema, Ajahn Chah, Bhante G., Mahasi Sayadaw, Pa-Auk Sayadaw, etc) I put forth effort in the particular method. But whenever I came across a critique of the technique I tried another one.
That confused me and I stopped practicing meditation...
I began to think that the best thing I could do is to try to develop the paramis and hope that in a future life I will get the chance to get meditation instructions directly from a Buddha or his enlightened disciples.
However, does anyone have any advices how to disentangle this tangle so that I could make some progress in meditation in this life?
PS: I would like to apologize for my poor english skills.