I think that this is an important issue for buddhists in that I think that saengnapha's post seriously undermines one of the core teachings of the buddha.
chownah
Saengnapha wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2018 9:29 amIt is only a belief. Someone told you that this is important. There are no jhanas outside of your thought process. It is a contrived, fabricated mental activity that has no essential reality and is perpetuated through the belief that they will help you realize/understand why you feel as shitty as you do. These beliefs that these things are important and will change you is a fallacy. It is your creation because you create a someone who is in trouble, who should be experiencing something other than what your current experience is. You create a problem and you create a solution to this non-existing 'thing'. Freeing yourself is another myth. How can you free something that doesn't even exist? All this thinking is tied together like a bundle. It is created by history, culture, the past. There is nothing separate in yourself from this that 'observes'. Even the observation is part of this bundle. It is an extraordinary illusion.thepea wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2018 8:22 amYes but why is this important?justindesilva wrote: ↑Mon Jan 29, 2018 7:52 am
jhanas are stages of bringing the mind in to one pointedness. It needs training. As an example it is like training to swim ir to ride a byke. How long one takes depends on one' s interest and application.